Professor Moriarty Wants to Retire.

In fact, Dunwich is a typical small rural village. It’s a countryside village in Massachusetts that even some residents of nearby Arkham don’t know exists.

Unlike Innsmouth, which once profited from maritime trade through the Polynesian islands and gained significant benefits from fishing before fully assimilating with the Deep Ones, Dunwich has never escaped its status as a backward rural village.

Even the train station was hastily built after they realized the planned railway line would pass through the center of Dunwich. Now that the line is closed, many people don’t even know if trains ever passed through Dunwich.

Up to this point, Dunwich might seem like the perfect place for Moriarty’s half-joking plan to live a secluded life farming in the countryside.

Unfortunately, Moriarty’s tragic fate seemed to prefer leading its owner down a path of destruction.

“…..”

Here lies a girl, no, an old man, who can’t show that he’s awoken despite regaining consciousness.

He’s been conscious for quite a while. His exhausted body has recovered to some extent, and his mind is clearer than ever.

Yet Moriarty didn’t show that he was awake. The lessons from Innsmouth were etched clearly in his mind.

Where is this place? Who brought me here?

The last scene in Moriarty’s memory was somewhere on the railway, not in this dark interior.

Having almost been forcibly married to a Deep One in a similar atmosphere in that fishing village, Moriarty focused all his senses on the surrounding sounds.

“…..”

He couldn’t sense any presence.

So Moriarty carefully opened his eyes. He had to squint because the place he woke up was too dark.

There’s a limit to what you can understand just by hearing. To investigate anything, you first need to see it. Seeing is believing. This is a truth even his nemesis, Sherlock Holmes, would agree with.

“…..!!!”

But James Moriarty is an incredibly unlucky person.

The moment he opened his eyes, he met a gaze staring right at him.

“….Y-You just opened your eyes, didn’t you?”

“…..”

“I-It’s no use closing them again. I-I saw everything.”

Is this a person, or a ghost?

Even in the dark room, those red eyes were particularly striking.

“…Won’t you turn on a light? Or draw the curtains? I nearly had a heart attack.”

“I’m… weak to… sunlight..”

At those words, the red-eyed girl brought a lamp from somewhere, allowing Moriarty to examine her appearance in more detail.

The first thing that caught his eye was her pale skin. Skin as white as Moriarty’s own.

Unlike other white people who are often called “white” but aren’t actually white in color, her skin was so white it seemed extremely delicate at first glance.

Of course, Moriarty quickly realized that the cause of her paleness was different from his own. Unlike Moriarty, who was practically reborn due to the influence of an outer god, she had said with her own mouth that she was weak to sunlight.

“…An albino?”

“Y-Yes..”

Her hair, which is white at the roots and black at the ends, and her red eyes must all be due to that condition.

“Were you the one who saved me?”

“Huh? Oh, y-yes. At the train station…”

“I suppose it’s proper etiquette to express gratitude first… but if you’ll excuse my rudeness, may I ask where this is? And who you are?”

Having been caught anyway, Moriarty decided to be straightforward and asked the girl.

“D-Dunwich. Oh, y-you might not know it since you’re from outside…”

“Dunwich…”

Naturally, Moriarty was very unfamiliar with the name Dunwich. He wasn’t a citizen of Arkham, a resident of Massachusetts, or even an American.

However, having had a bitter experience in Innsmouth, the mere idea of a closed-off rural village he had never heard of made him uneasy.

“This house… is the Whateley family mansion. Now it’s just me and my father living here. I-I’m… Lavinia Whateley..”

The girl, Lavinia, lowered her gaze while fidgeting with her fingers.

Moriarty carefully observed Lavinia’s appearance. Her skinny body and attitude seemed to indicate low self-esteem and severe shyness.

“…At least the face I see upon waking isn’t ugly, so that’s somewhat alright.”

But at least Lavinia’s face wasn’t as ugly as the old fisherman in Innsmouth. That point provided some small comfort to Moriarty.

“W-What? I’m, I’m not ugly, y-you say?”

“You’re not ugly.”

To Moriarty, who had seen the Deep Ones and residents who looked like Deep Ones in Innsmouth, Lavinia’s appearance seemed quite decent, even without comparing her to those with fish-like heads.

“He-hehe… hehehe…..”

“I’m grateful for your help, Miss Whateley, but may I ask why you saved me? If it seems like I’m doubting you, I have nothing to say, but I’ve been betrayed once before.”

Ignoring Lavinia’s gloomy laugh of joy at the compliment, Moriarty asked. What her true intentions were.

The assumption that people would help others out of pure intentions was impossible in his common sense. Even though his counterpart was a young girl, Moriarty didn’t let his guard down.

“Huh? Oh, um, that’s…. that…”

If very desirable and moral words had come out of Lavinia’s mouth, for example, saying that she had been taught to help those in need, Moriarty wouldn’t have taken Lavinia’s words at face value.

“That… that… this kind of thing, a bit, um… ah…..”

At Moriarty’s question, Lavinia seemed shy, her stuttering becoming even worse.

“Y-You can refuse. I-I’ll understand if you’re offended. It’s, it’s just that…!!”

“…?”

Moriarty was puzzled by her timidness, which seemed almost exaggerated enough to be an act. Even if she had other intentions, was this something to be so embarrassed about?

He was aware that children’s thinking tends to be purer than that of adults. He also knew that children tend to express their emotions more honestly rather than hiding them.

But even considering that, Lavinia’s reaction was very intense. As if she was saying something she shouldn’t. She looked scared and also seemed consumed by anxiety.

“Fr… Fri…”

Expectation and fear, excitement and tension.

“Fri… Friend…”

“..Friend?”

After dragging it out for so long, the words that finally came out of the girl’s mouth were:

“Won’t you… be my… friend…!!”

It was quite unexpected.

――

The Whateley family had fallen.

In the village of Dunwich, and in the word “fallen,” there might not be a family that fits better, perhaps in the entire world.

The Whateley family, which once commanded respect from all Dunwich residents, is no longer. The main gate and walls of the mansion are old and rusted, overgrown with ivy, and the Dunwich residents no longer show respect to the family that declined due to their obsession with the occult.

Witch. That was the first word Lavinia, born into the Whateley family, heard from children her age.

By the time she came into the world, the Whateley family had already declined to a point where they couldn’t fall any further, and that infamy had spread widely among Dunwich residents.

So the arrows were turned towards Lavinia, born into the Whateley family. Sadly, she happened to be born with a rare disease that the ignorant rural residents could call a curse.

The physical and mental violence inflicted on young Lavinia was enough to make her grow into a timid and withdrawn child.

Far from making friends her age, she was only scolded and told she had no right to make friends, so how could her self-esteem not fall?

Even Lavinia’s parents didn’t fulfill their role as parents, not even trying to do so, so it’s not fair to blame only her nature for Lavinia growing up with a gloomy personality.

That’s why when she first accidentally discovered Moriarty, who looked about her age, Lavinia harbored a tiny hope.

People told Lavinia: You’re a witch, a cursed being destined to live alone for life.

Maybe all those words are true, Lavinia thought. Because both children and adults said the same thing. Even her father didn’t deny those words.

She might be betrayed. No, it can’t even be called betrayal. It’s entirely Moriarty’s freedom whether to accept her request or not.

Who would want to be friends with a witch? Who would want to associate with a cursed being who can’t even go out during the day?

“Won’t you… be my… friend…!!”

Yet Lavinia asked. For the first time, she gathered her courage.

Translator’s Corner

At this point, I think the author dropped the novel. There’s an ongoing novelpia competition, and they started posting another novel for it. I’ll just open it over time.

-Ruminas