Professor Moriarty Wants to Retire.

“….Hmm?”

It was just as dawn was breaking when Howard Olmstead discovered it.

As he headed to the shore to fish, as he always did, white hair caught his eye.

At first, he thought it was the carcass of a jellyfish washed up by the waves.

“!?”

But as he approached closer, Olmstead realized it was a human head.

A corpse? Approaching cautiously, frightened, Olmstead felt something was odd.

Usually, bodies washed up on the shore are in a terrible state. Bloated with water, decaying faster, and often partially eaten by marine life.

But this was too clean to be a corpse, with no signs of decay. Pale, smooth skin and snow-white hair, even a peaceful expression as if in a deep sleep.

Olmstead found himself unconsciously captivated by this beautiful being that resembled a human but somehow felt inhuman.

“…They’re breathing.”

He felt a faint breath when he placed his finger under the nose. Only then did Olmstead hastily pick it up and head home, lest anyone see.

“Good heavens, didn’t you say you were going fishing? Why are you back already… What’s that in your arms? Is it a person?”

To his wife’s surprised question at her husband’s unusually quick return, the old fisherman looked at the face momentarily before answering.

“A blessing.”

――

I had a long dream.

The fate of Professor James Moriarty, the path I would have walked if I hadn’t chosen to abandon everything.

From all the schemes, even the failure of the capable and loyal Moran to kill Holmes, to the final ending where he was defeated by Holmes at Reichenbach Falls despite finally taking action himself.

Although they both jumped into the falls, Holmes survived, and Professor Moriarty died. Holmes, befitting the protagonist, ultimately triumphed, and Professor Moriarty lost.

The exact scenario that the so-called author had described unfolded in the dream. Sherlock Holmes, who left a letter for his friend Watson before falling down the waterfall, returned triumphantly, but Professor Moriarty’s body was nowhere to be found.

Everything he had built, the empire he had established beneath London’s shadows, crumbled like sand and scattered in the wind.

“…..”

Terrible.

Moriarty’s impression upon opening his eyes could be summed up in one word.

He had abandoned everything to escape that fate. He boarded a ship to America to flee from the final event awaiting Professor James Moriarty.

But…

…Where is this?

The first things Moriarty felt upon opening his eyes were humidity, a fishy smell, and saltiness.

The damp and stinging air commonly felt near the coast and the fishy smell made his head dizzy.

Moriarty soon realized he had opened his eyes in a fishing village, or at least somewhere near the sea.

An old ceiling with missing planks, dripping water.

It wasn’t a sight he could even politely call nice.

The room he was lying in…

A prison? Or the house of a poor village resident?

Either way, it wasn’t a place Moriarty was familiar with.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

Turning his head at the somehow trembling voice, Moriarty saw the owner of that voice.

“I was worried you might not wake up. Are you in pain? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Seeing the appearance of an old man who looked like a fisherman, judging by his clothing and everything else, Moriarty became more certain of his initial guess that this was a fishing village.

Although his appearance was quite strange, don’t human appearances vary even among the same species?

“….Did you save me?”

“Y-yes. I found you collapsed on the shore. At first, I thought you were a washed-up corpse, but when I saw you were breathing, I hurriedly brought you here.”

Above all, this person could be considered his lifesaver. Even for a cold-blooded person, Moriarty wasn’t the type to harm a benefactor without reason.

“But how did you…”

“There was an explosion on the passenger ship I was on. I lost consciousness immediately, and when I opened my eyes, I was here.”

Moriarty thought it best not to mention the outer god. He judged that telling others might lead to unforeseen consequences, and even if he told the truth, most people wouldn’t believe him anyway.

“Thank you. I’ll make sure to repay this kindness someday…..?”

As Moriarty raised his upper body, enduring a headache, he felt something was off.

“….?”

The old man’s manner of speech was too informal for addressing Professor Moriarty, who outwardly appeared to be a similar old man. Instead, it seemed more like talking to someone much younger.

Thinking about it, it was strange. Even if the fisherman was older, the difference shouldn’t be enough to be treated so young.

“…Could you perhaps bring me a hand mirror? I beg of you.”

“A hand mirror? Wait a moment. Old woman, do we have a hand mirror…”

Moriarty looked at his hands and arms.

The old man’s hands, which should have been bony and full of wrinkles and small scars.

But the hands he saw were very white, without a single wrinkle, and above all, small.

They were still bony, but their appearance was so different.

Definitely not the hands of an old gentleman.

“Here, a hand mirror.”

“…Thank you.”

Moriarty took the hand mirror and immediately reflected his face in it. And… he saw.

It hadn’t changed as much as he thought…

…his hair, at least.

“….What on earth.”

Except that his graying hair had turned completely white and become more voluminous, his hair was similar. Of course, only the hair.

The face below was so different that it could hardly be considered the same person.

“Is this… me?”

Should he call them deep blue, or blue-green?

Eyes that had changed like the sea, with vertically slit pupils like a snake’s.

Clean, pale skin without a single wrinkle and a very small face.

That face was unmistakably closer to that of a young girl. It was certainly not the face of the old Professor Moriarty.

“….May I, rest a bit more?”

“Of course, it would be better for you to rest more. I’ll leave now. Rest well.”

As the old fisherman left the room, a quiet darkness fell over the room.

“…You’re watching me, aren’t you.”

In that silence, Moriarty quietly called out. To the being he strongly suspected was responsible for making him like this.

Of course, I’ve been watching all along.

At his call, the shadows bubbled up like foam, and soon, the outer god revealed itself from within—in the form of a young girl in Egyptian-style clothing.

“….Do you like that appearance?”

Appearance doesn’t mean much to me, but you’d go mad if I appeared before you in another form. This is a kind of avatar. Not what you’re thinking.

The outer god explained as if seeing through Moriarty’s extremely irreverent thoughts about that appearance.

“….Then that’s fortunate… or not. By the way, your manner of speech seems to have changed subtly.”

There’s no need to be kind to someone who looks down on me, right? Isn’t this the most casual and comfortable way of speaking for you humans?

That’s not wrong, Moriarty thought.

“The one who made me like this…. it was you, wasn’t it?”

Of course.

“..Why?”

Honestly, Moriarty had expected the outer god to kill him outright, or transform him into a much more ugly and disgusting appearance. It had that much power, and that much motive.

Since I’m watching anyway, isn’t it better if you’re cute and pretty? Unlike other outer gods, my aesthetic sense and tastes somewhat overlap with humans’.

“So, this appearance results from your taste being reflected.”

A pervert, aren’t you?

Having such irreverent thoughts again. Aren’t you being too arrogant for a mere human? But that’s why I like you more.

Moriarty thought. It seems he had thoroughly pleased this outer god, but in a very bad way.

“….This is going to be troublesome. Both now and in the future.”

With the appearance of a young girl, there would be severe restrictions on his actions. While he could easily create a new identity, he couldn’t do anything about his outward appearance.

The outer god had surely anticipated this and intentionally made him look like this.

Even though it said it just liked the appearance of a young girl, Moriarty thought that a being that enjoys tormenting people wouldn’t have transformed him like this with such a simple mindset and without any ulterior motives.

“Where is this place?”

You have to find out for yourself. But let me tell you one comforting fact: it is America—not the exact destination you had originally set.

If anything, it was fortunate that he had somehow arrived in America. With the outer god’s power, dropping him somewhere in South America or Africa wouldn’t have been strange.

“For now… I should go out. To find out where this is….”

Moriarty, who had risen to prepare to go out, froze in place.

Ah, I didn’t bother to adjust your clothes to fit. Too troublesome.

As soon as the blanket covering his body slipped down, his stark white naked body was revealed.

“…..”

Thanks to this, Moriarty could clearly witness evidence that his sex had changed. Of course, this didn’t give him any comfort.

“…First, I need to find some clothes somehow..”

Heheh.

After watching Moriarty look around for something to wear with amusement for a while, the outer god turned its gaze to the window.

An old sign swaying in the sea breeze revealed where Moriarty had arrived.

Good luck.

[Innsmouth]