Permission From Above (6)

When in doubt, speak the truth.
When confused, strike the solar plexus.
-Mark Twain-

Though his Qi Sense had expanded beyond even the day his minor meridians opened through, moved by the fact that he had raised his realm, the Little Heavenly Demon failed to notice that an astonishing change was taking place in the body of the tiny creature living in his bedroom.

-Wriggle

A new nest, sunlight blocked by a metal cover, yet cozy beyond measure.

The White Worm, indulging once again in its richly nourishing meal, deadly poison, in the new flowerpot the Little Heavenly Demon brought to replace the one it had once bored through and escaped, found its mind stolen by the wondrous aura coming from the sitting room.

Something similar had happened before.

A sound caught by the sensory organs spread across the White Worm’s entire surface in thin threadlike strands.

The Essence that shook its tiny body through regularly trembling air gave the White Worm a pleasure no poison could ever match.

Even as a Fantastic Beast with intelligence higher than an ordinary specimen, the White Worm was still a bug that could not understand music.

But the ravenous appetite and the yearning for growth engraved into the larva’s genes made the White Worm indulge in the surging aura.

Food without substance.

Yet the White Worm’s instincts were abandoning the prey it usually enjoyed and seeking a new stimulus.

A sensation it had never tasted even once in the place it used to live.

When it had been jostling with its siblings in a cramped space and then fell away alone in loneliness, one might have wondered what would become of it, but in this moment, the White Worm was basking in supreme happiness.

Each time the sensory organs on its surface absorbed the Little Heavenly Demon’s threadlike aura, strand by strand, the White Worm’s bodily fluids churned.

A Worm whose circulation of internal energy is carried out through bodily fluids, unlike humans.
A new power was beginning to settle into each and every tissue that formed its body.

-Wriggle

The White Worm’s plump little body swelling little by little.

The aura dissolved in the poisons it had consumed until now and the new power it had taken in fused into one, bringing change to the larva’s body.

-Tuduk

The White Worm, having finished its feast, fell asleep in fullness.

The paper-thin hide covering its surface peeled away in a layer and dropped from its body.

A phenomenon that had never appeared even when it listened to the Little Heavenly Demon’s performance before.

No, among the White Worms raised by the Chelmsford Yan Family’s household, fed all manner of poisons, not a single specimen had reached this stage in the past hundred years.

The intent contained in the melody Handel wrote, intoxicated by heaven’s wondrous power.
And the heaven’s aura the Little Heavenly Demon accepted as he awakened to a new intent.

Having come into contact with those two things, even indirectly, the young White Worm finally shed its skin and raised its realm, becoming a second-instar larva.

A tiny silk gland beginning to take root beneath its jaw.
It was an organ wrought by the White Worm’s inborn, special fate.

It would have to molt several more times before it could fully display its function, but repeated heavenly fortune ultimately helped the Little Heavenly Demon and the White Worm recreate a portion of the long-lost Heavenly Silkworm rearing method.

A miraculous scene such that if Yan, the original owner, were to witness it, he would likely bring the entire Yan Clan of Chelmsford to Baker Street and ask the Little Heavenly Demon for the secret.

Unaware of any of that, the young caterpillar buried itself between the flowerpot’s soft soil and fallen leaves, dreaming a strange dream.

A dream that one day beautiful wings would sprout from its back, and it would fly freely through a clear sky at an altitude of ten feet.

Fortunately, the vortex of Qi Frequency that erupted the moment I stepped into a mature Peak Realm did not leave serious damage on the boarding house’s second floor.

At most, a few flowerpots were smashed and the room became a mess.

But it was more than enough to horrify Mrs. Hudson, who sensed something amiss and came up to the second floor.

“Mr. Holmes! Raising your realm is certainly something to celebrate, but this is a bit…!”
“Ma’am, now that I have some leeway, would it be all right if I paid ten years’ worth of boarding fees up front, in one lump sum?”

But when I, with my improved Qi Sense and Poltergeist, held out an ingot of gold as thick as a forearm that had been stored on the first floor, Mrs. Hudson promptly beamed.

“Oh, of course! Truly, truly congratulations! Tonight I’ll prepare a special menu! I must get a banner ready in advance! My goodness! From my humble boarding house, it may not be long before Britain’s youngest transcendent master is born…!!”
“It’s all thanks to 221B Baker Street’s geomantic and geological position being perfect, making it suited for training. That said, it may be rather late when I return today. Would that be all right?”
“Of course. I’ll go do the shopping at once and start preparations when I’m back, so go do your business and return at your leisure. Tonight, I must open the century-old wine I’ve been saving.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”

By Her Majesty’s grace, the problem was resolved swiftly.

There was also the very minor issue of a huge stone bed sitting in the first-floor corridor, but Mrs. Hudson decided to call a trustworthy hired Kung-Fuist, someone she had relied on for furniture moving and the like for twenty years, and have it carried up to the vacant third floor.

After finishing preparations to go out, I used lightness skill indoors, greeted Mrs. Hudson as she bustled about in a frenzy, and then took Watson south out of Baker Street to enjoy a late lunch.

With profits beyond expectations in hand, I ordered from the waiter a menu laden with elixir and was leisurely savoring it, when I noticed Watson, her face flushed red since we left the house, wiggling her fingers as if she had something to say.

“Watson.”
“Hm? Hm?? What is it.”
“Your moustache is crooked.”
“…!!”

Afraid her disguise might be exposed, Watson covered her philtrum with both hands, rolled her eyes around to scan the surroundings, and only then carefully adjusted the angle of her fake moustache.

“You’ve had the look of someone with something to say for a while now. What is it?”
“…Ah, well, you see.”

Watson brushed her bangs back with an expression that tried hard not to show embarrassment, then took a bite of her sandwich.

“I was thinking what an extraordinary person you are, and… I was admiring you….”

It was praise I heard often enough, but today Watson’s sincerity came through, and I found myself smiling with quiet satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Watson, the one who had offered the compliment, looked somehow, for some reason, as if she were vexed.

“Don’t laugh! I’m speaking seriously, aren’t I!”
“Rest assured, Watson. I always listen to your words with sincerity.”
“……”

Watson bit her lip tight, as if self-conscious.

“If I were you, after being bestowed gold ingots and even a treasure, I wouldn’t have come to my senses for a full week. I’d likely have been going around making donations at gambling halls that were at least double my usual amounts. But you, on top of reading Her Majesty’s bestowed secret manual and gaining enlightenment in the midst of it all, you’re moving to solve a case as if nothing were different.”
“Is it not only natural? One who walks the path of Kung-Fu must devote himself to training instead of letting his heart be stolen by wealth and fame. If one walks the righteous path, the rest follows of its own accord.”
“…That’s what I’m saying is extraordinary.”

Watson let out a deep sigh, then continued.

“I’ve always taken pride in having lived diligently in my own way. Even after going to war as an army doctor, I faithfully did the work entrusted to me at the hospital, and I put effort into training too. Because I didn’t want to die from the side effects of meridian blockage disorder.”
“……”
“But compared to the lofty purpose you hold and your frame of mind, there are times when my own half-baked attitude feels shabby. You make plenty of slips of the tongue and you don’t try to mind other people’s feelings, but no matter what anyone says, aren’t you walking the path of a gentleman?”

For a moment I thought she was insulting me, but as I chewed on it slowly, it sounded like a sincere confession rising from the very bottom of Watson’s heart.

“You often agree readily even when asked to take cases that don’t seem profitable. Compared to you, I’m far too worldly a person. Every time I feel my shortcomings, it makes me sick to my stomach. Even though I might collapse at any moment when meridian blockage disorder flares up, there are too many times my heart is stolen by pleasures right in front of me. Is it truly all right for someone as ordinary as me to be at your side? No matter if I’m your assistant, my realm and my mindset don’t measure up to yours….”

Watson’s self-mocking words made my chest tighten without me realizing it.

“…Don’t say such things.”

I brushed the bread crumbs from my hand and looked into Watson’s eyes, tinged with red.

“I don’t know whether you’ll believe me, but what I’m about to say is the truth, without a single speck of falsehood.”
“……”
“The reason I can devote myself to raising my realm and solving cases is entirely because you are by my side, Watson. Only if my later stage deepens can I cure your meridian blockage disorder, so I can pour my heart and sincerity into training in order to step into the next realm.”

Watson said I was walking the path of a gentleman.

And it was also true that I often said such things as a joke.

But only after transporting the Vermilion Phoenix’s egg to the North Sea with several Kung-Fuists and saving London from a sea of flames did I realize it.

The true gentlemen were them.

Kung-Fuists who walk a lonely road no one recognizes, and do not seek acknowledgment.

I am nothing more than a fortunate man mixed among them.

If there had been no one at my side to watch my conduct and call it chivalry, I would not be here.

Without those who observe and record, the countless tales of gentlemen recorded in folklore and myth could not be passed down.

And among those who record chivalrous deeds, a great many are included among the people the so-called gentleman sought to protect.

Watson is no exception.

Half of all my actions are to save her from meridian blockage disorder.

And the reason the toil and pain I taste while walking this road can be a joy is because Watson is an existence I would not trade for anything.

“Holmes….”
“Above all, you are not ordinary. You have only been blocked by the wall of meridian blockage disorder and unable to reach a higher realm. Each time your condition recovers, you will achieve growth at a level you never imagined.”

I saw Watson’s eyes brim with red.

A brief silence passed between us.

Feeling awkward for no reason, I paid first and called for a carriage.

“Let’s go now. If we’re any later, Sir Fawcett may leave to attend to his business.”

When I turned my head, I saw Watson following behind, smiling.

At last, it was the face I wanted to see.