Miss Holmes, the Professor Is Not a Villain

21 – The Opium Junkies of the East End (4)

The carriage stopped at the point where the East End district begins, as per Moriarty’s instructions.

Fred Porlock watched with a hint of discontent as his boss, wearing a hat, got off the carriage. However, he soon followed him out in silence.

High-ranking people who knew nothing of the street thugs might call him as such. They weren’t wrong. Fred Porlock was a wandering magician, accustomed to crime, and one of many who had made this way of life their reality.

Yet, the professor was different. It might be a phrase that appealed to children, but the man was genuinely a villain like no other, and he was his superior. He could never fully relax, even when the professor made humourless jokes or engaged in idle conversation.

‘But if I follow the professor, I will succeed too. If I don’t let silly thoughts occupy my mind, I’ll actually gain more.’

Over the past three years, the professor had proven it all. He was a youthful lad, in his early twenties at best. Yet, no one within the organization dared underestimate him because of this.

The wizard followed his professor onto the streets where the Chinese gathered.

Moriarty chose to walk from the entrance of East End partly for curiosity about the area, but mostly to immerse himself in the streets filled with crime and sin.

The East End district, abhorred by London citizens, seemed to have its unique atmosphere from the moment one entered there.

In truth, his senses weren’t deceiving him. The stench was stronger than anything else. Of course, this enormous city was largely dirty, disproportionate to its scale and prestige.

The Thames River had been polluted for decades, tainting the city with its stench. The oscillating black water of the Thames was so far removed from a pristine river that it would feasibly swallow any discarded body.

Although Moriarty had no complaints since he frequently used the Thames to feed the eels, he couldn’t help but frown at the odour.

Living in London meant getting accustomed to such stenches. Furthermore, in the East End district, one needed to be unresponsive even to the odour of criminality.

Often the elite would blame the poor, supposedly born from the seed of crime, but the primary issue in the East End was that it was a massive slum.

Poverty transformed everything into chaos, giving rise to crimes and recurring vicious cycles.

Therefore, it was not for no reason that social activists, receiving substantial personal sponsorship from not just Mr. Marx but also Moriarty, shouted out measures for East End in the parliament.

Of course, such cries were, at least for now, just meaningless noise. Moriarty didn’t want it any other way.

This city needed to be full of crime. Only then could he swallow everything and present puzzles of elegance to the city.

This is why he sponsored social activists and socialists. Their righteousness or wrongness didn’t matter. Their ability to stir people and lead them to violence, thus creating social chaos, was what he considered beautiful and, it helped Moriarty swallow everything.

The East End district itself was quite large, so it was quite a distance to where the Chinese gathered.

The two men began to walk down the filthy, dirty street as though they were casually strolling. Unlike West End, where you could see patrolling police at every block, there was no hint of such here.

The streets weren’t densely populated, but those who passed by all seemed listless, mere existences trying to survive each day. Thankfully, there were no gatherings of street children or street urchins attempting pickpocketing or begging, seemingly sensing something off about Porlock.

“So why is that Chinese fellow looking for the professor?”

Porlock broke the silence. He was not one for pondering. That had always been the professor’s job. But because of this, he believed in the professor’s words. Seeing the solution the professor came up with was far more accurate and convenient than making an idle speculation himself.

“He probably wants us to work under him.”

“Wait, what? Those Chinese have no conscience, do they? Well, moreover, they’re the ones preventing us from selling opium freely. They have no virtue, Professor, those slanted-eye guys!”

“Of course, on the surface, they’ll suggest cooperation, but in reality, they’re asking us to work under them. Don’t worry too much, though, we’re just going to bluff today. There’s still some distance between West End and East End to warrant conflict.”

“Are the opium fiends eyeing what we’re selling lately?”

“That might be the case. The Mariani wine is selling well after all; they might be interested in that. Furthermore, with opium and liquor, we aren’t exactly competitors. Rather, we could make more money together. Recently, the opium dens have been buying our products quite a bit, haven’t they?”

Moriarty jested, but he knew this was far from the truth. No matter how well Mariani wine sold, Moriarty couldn’t monopolize it.

From the beginning, it had gained whirlwind popularity across Europe. It was even rumored that the Pope of Rome had blessed it; it was that trendy.

There were many alternatives, such as wine with a somewhat similar cocaine blend or products from other importers. The organization made a bit more money from those with a higher cocaine concentration, but even that had its limits.

In the era Moriarty lived in, the concept of drugs was extremely vague. Opium was a concoction for commoners’ colds or an all-round remedy, and yet-to-be-refined imported coca leaves and cocaine from South America were suitable condiments. Morphine was there to forget fatigue after a long day.

Despite knowing these were drugs that someday ruin the body, Moriarty mostly avoided them.

That being said, he didn’t feel guilty about selling these goods. After all, he had done nothing wrong.

For as the ancient Greeks said―ignorance is sin. Thus, it was their fault for consuming things without knowing the harm.

However, it was also true that Fu Manchu’s behavior did not sit well with Moriarty. For some time, he had been preparing to swallow him slowly, but he needed to expedite that process now.

“Or perhaps, it might have something to do with Fu Manchu’s eldest son seeking Miss M.”

“…I told you clearly not to consult at that time, Professor. If something goes wrong, it’s all your fault, you know? By the way…there were no consultations that could be a particular problem at that time, right?”

Instead of answering, Moriarty replaced it with a faint smile, and Porlock seemed to feel some mood and deliberately shook his body and bowed his head.

After a moment to organize his thoughts, Moriarty opened his mouth again.

“Fu Manchu has four sons and one daughter, he says. All from different mothers, proper Chinese indeed. And the youngest son is the late-born, but he seems to be receiving a lot of his father’s love already. He’s the child of Fu Manchu’s favorite concubine, it seems.”

“How would you know that?”

“I heard it before. Once I put something in my head, I don’t forget.”

“Why can’t you remember people’s names always then?”

“I simply tuck them away in the annals of my memory. A person always needs to tidy up, Porlock. Just as you couldn’t find the hat you always wear this morning and stole George’s. By the way, the hat you were looking for is likely to be dropped in the bathtub, so look there.”

For a moment, Porlock silently stared at the professor, but soon shook his head and spit out as if it was ridiculous. Surprisingly, because it was the professor’s words, there was such conviction that it must be true.

“No… it’s truly terrifying how you know such things every time, Professor?”

“Isn’t the problem with people who don’t know such easy things? Anyway, the important thing is that the Chinese king of East End is old, and it’s time to designate a successor.”

“Oh.”

Silence again.

No matter how much Moriarty perceived Porlock as a dullard like others, Porlock also had learned something from working with him, so he didn’t need the professor’s special lecture.

Orientals gradually appeared in the street, and as they went forward, they began to increase. The entrance to the real Chinatown was visible.

“Speaking of successors, I thought I was the second in command, wasn’t I, Professor?”

“…What nonsense all of a sudden?”

At Porlock’s joking words, Moriarty had no choice but to squint at his foolishness. For a moment Porlock was scared at that sight, but thanks to the sharpness developed while living on the street, he was able to realize that he could continue the conversation a little more.

“No, that’s what you said in the carriage, that you need a friend who is a secretary and plays a head role. I thought it was obvious that I was doing that.”

“Porlock, if you insist on being specific, you are in charge of a department.”

“Well, it’s a shame. Don’t you plan on promoting me then?”

“Do you want to quit?”

“I’m just kidding, I’m always dedicating everything to the company, boss.”

The business talk continued. Of course, this was only because Moriarty himself wanted to chatter. Porlock quietly listened to the professor’s words.

The professor was obviously smart and arrogant, but because he was, after all, a professor who likes to show off in front of students due to his main job, he always liked lecturing.

Of course, if this was pointed out, he would never admit it and might even get angry.

“Porlock, if you think a little, you’ll know how foolish you sound. You don’t know the full scale of our company.”

“…Only you know that, Professor.”

“That’s right. No one but me knows the full size of it.”

“So, shouldn’t we also hurry up and decide on a successor or second in command? By the way, Professor, you don’t have a woman and you live a boring life, so when are you going to get married? Surely, you’re not like the folks on high who enjoy the guys? If you’re going to leave something for the child, start preparing in advance. It’s hard for everyone when a child is born to an old man.”

“I’m a bachelor. And we are, ah, Porlock, you’re old, so I have to exclude you, I’m still young, I can’t disappear until I swallow this city.”

“Darn, I should retire before the professor gets old. I feel like I’ll see something I don’t want to see then.”

As they continued their chat and walked down the street of Chinese people, they felt the gaze of unfamiliar faces around them becoming conscious of their presence. It was as expected.

However, they couldn’t anticipate the sudden action of someone shoving Moriarty and running forward as if fleeing.

Moriarty could hear the growl of a beast as he fell.