Chapter 77: Touchable, Untakable (2)
In the letters of a female martial master, the most important matter is usually found after the words ‘P.S.’
–William Hazlitt1
Watson looked down at her leg with sad eyes for a moment but then nodded with a face filled with firm resolve.
“Alright. I’ll trust you and have a drink first.”
After shaking hands firmly with Watson, I used my lightness skill at full speed and dashed towards the northern entrance of the park.
“…The maid was third-rate, and the one who stole the royal decree didn’t learn martial arts, you said? That’s peculiar.”
Running along the fragrant Hyde Park trail, I recalled the information confirmed through Wiggins earlier.
From the next day, the Homeless Clan kids, who had been following my orders, easily discovered the hideout where the maid and her accomplice stayed by monitoring her daily commute.
Of course, I had another plan ready in case the maid abandoned the hideout and fled.
‘The scent is getting closer.’ Mrs. Hudson had a habit of storing various valuables, including expensive porcelain dolls, in a shrine instead of a safe.
And the thin incense stick she lit daily in the shrine was different from the usual incense sticks.
This special incense was my own invention, characterized by emitting a traceable scent that only I could detect.
If someone entered and left the space where the incense was burning, the scent wouldn’t leave their body for about two hours, making it easier to track them.
The culprit must have reached into the shrine filled with the incense smoke to retrieve the royal decree, so their arms and clothes would be saturated with the traceable scent.
In an open space, the effect wears off within an hour, but catching up before then is enough.
“A fool who can’t even escape properly, yet acts so bold.”
According to Wiggins’s observations, the thief showed no sign of using lightness skills when fleeing with the royal decree.
Of course, even if the thief was skilled in lightness skills, I was confident I could catch up.
“Is it that way?”
I changed direction and sprinted south again.
Beyond the exit, the Albert Hall building, which I occasionally visited for performances, began to appear.
The scent of the trail became stronger.
The thief was definitely in the vicinity.
“Did he escape into the alley?”
Even if someone knows London’s geography, evading me, who has reached the pinnacle of Kung-Fu, without mastering any Kung-Fu is impossible.
Nevertheless, it was easy to guess why they had an ordinary man, with no power, steal from the shrine.
“To think they’d gamble against me, of all people.”
No matter how advanced the world becomes, a surprise attack on a person often takes a primitive and savage form.
The culprits seemed to have given a knife that cuts through walls like cake to a criminal who had never mastered Kung-Fu, believing that a martial artist attempting theft risked detection by Qi Frequency.
Many in the martial world guard against those with the power to kill them at any time, but they tend not to care about ordinary civilians who haven’t mastered Kung-fu.
‘…Wasn’t this a method frequently used by the Afternoon Tea Party?’
Based on my investigation, they hid their identities, gave a few coins to criminals with nowhere to go, and used them to achieve their goals.
Feeding truth serum to a target to extract information, or employing someone without any Kung-Fu abilities to steal an important secret manual.
Of course, there are countless instances outside the Afternoon Tea Party where those without internal energy are given significant roles.
Even the Home Secretary dispatched an attendant who hadn’t learned Kung-Fu to monitor the Church Of Asteroid.
‘Curious. If they thought that far ahead, they would’ve expected me to pursue them.’
Could they have something to rely on?
In fact, there were many unsettling aspects to this case.
Starting with the fact that the poison the maid handled didn’t have immediate effects, to the timing when she began working at the boarding house.
‘Not long after the Debutante Ball ended, her predecessor quit.’
Considering the circumstances, she might have known that those invited to the Buckingham Ball would be given a royal decree.
But if she infiltrated Mrs. Hudson’s house from the start with the royal decree in mind, why did she poison the meals?
Upon checking the components, there wasn’t a single deadly poison.
Thinking thus far, I began to suspect that their ultimate goal might not be the royal decree.
“What on earth are they after…?”
It was then.
While running at full speed, my intuition caught a foreboding sign.
-Crack!
As I extended my left foot forward, I invoked the technique of 1322.77 Pound Weight to execute an abrupt stop.
Immediately after halting, I saw a faint beam of light cutting across the air.
“They really go all out.”
Wires strung randomly between the trees. Processed to be thin and sharp, these dangerous items could slice through even a modest protective device.
A trap set up on the spot to counter my pursuit.
Even without being able to use internal energy, the fact that they managed to neatly cut through the wall with a sharp blade was suspicious.
Seeing them use such expensive items to try to bind my feet, it seems they have some tricks up their sleeve.
The poison the maid used was all fairly pricey, so it’s clear that the mastermind behind this is financially well-off.
Well, it doesn’t matter much since the one trying to escape from me now can’t even hide their presence.
“There you are.”
I picked up a stone from the ground, gathered my energy, and threw it towards the old tree on the right.
-Thwack!
“Argh!”
The stone hit the thief hiding among the thick branches squarely on the head.
The one who hadn’t mastered Kung-Fu fell straight to the ground.
“Your choice of position considering the wind direction was appropriate, but it was too obvious. Your breathing gave you away.”
“Ugh… Damn it…”
Even if he couldn’t smell the scent of the tracking incense himself, he was aware of its presence.
Of course, he must have realized it when he saw me chasing him, but he seemed to have at least some sense.
Well, not that it matters since he can’t even use a pinch of internal energy against me.
-Tap, tap!
I sealed the thief’s acupoints to immobilize him, then retrieved the dagger from his waist and my royal decree.
“You have something nice here. It’s too good for you, so I’ll take care of it instead.”
Seeing how it sliced through the thick wall like butter, this must be a weapon crafted by a skilled craftsman from rare materials.
When placed in the hands of someone like me, who has mastered Kung-Fu, it could be used for much more varied purposes than merely cutting through walls.
Honestly, I was curious about the identity of the mastermind who tried to steal the royal decree by handing such a valuable item to someone who wasn’t a martial artist.
‘There’s no harm in letting the maid go.’
I rolled up the royal decree and tucked it into the inner pocket of my coat.
The important thing is to interrogate this man to find out who’s behind it all.
There is no need to call Lestrade.
Someone who isn’t a martial artist wouldn’t be able to withstand the torture of acupoint pressure.
At most, in three minutes, he’ll spill everything he knows.
‘…For something prepared for so long, it’s rather anticlimactic.’
There was something unsettling about the whole situation.
For someone who almost put me in danger by stealing the royal decree, the time it took to capture him was too short.
If I were the criminal, I would have prepared a trump card, such as calling a high-level martial artist to fight me in case of an emergency.
It’s too easy, too simple.
Just as I thought I’d be disappointed in the mastermind if it ended like this.
A sound of air bursting came from the blind spot.
-Whoosh!
-Bang!
Turning my head, I saw a sphere the size of my head shooting through the darkness.
-Boom!!
I immediately raised the Heavenly Demon Cane to deflect the attacker’s strike.
“Who are you?”
A heavy impact traveled through the Heavenly Demon Cane to my palms.
A strike imbued with a considerable amount of Essence.
The attacker’s weapon was a blunt weapon with a ball-shaped weight at the end of a long rope, a Meteor Hammer.
-Whoosh!
The person in black, who had been concealing their presence, began to close the distance while spinning the Meteor Hammer attached to the rope.
Though her face was covered with a veil and her silhouette was distorted by her attire, the gloved hands were undoubtedly those of a woman.
“Attacking a gentleman with a weapon out of the blue at midnight is quite discourteous, Lady.”
“……”
Her silence in response to my words conveyed a firm determination not to provide any clues.
The clothes she wore were made of black silk, specially treated to not reflect light and absorb the wearer’s Qi Frequency.
They were undoubtedly made of the same material as the stealth outfit that wrapped the gift given to me by the Home Secretary.
Thanks to this, it was difficult to detect her energy, but judging by her ability to freely channel Essence into the ropes and weights, her level was at least that of a mature first-class. She did not seem easy to confront.
“You have something interesting there.”
The Meteor Hammer is a rare unique weapon that one hardly gets the chance to face.
And wielding it was a mysterious woman trying to put me in a difficult situation.
An unexpected combination and a foreboding feeling.
All things I am utterly in love with.
-Sreung!
I drew my sword from the Heavenly Demon Cane and assumed a ready stance.
“You should have started like this from the beginning.”
Finally, my interest in this case began to pique.
“It’s not common to see someone handling a Soft Weapon in London Murim, so I’ll take this opportunity to learn a thing or two.”
Having already retrieved the royal decree and tucked it away, my interest shifted from catching the thief to uncovering the identity and Kung-Fu of the black-clad figure before me.
The woman in the standoff was wielding a Meteor Hammer, a rare unique weapon with few users.
‘A heavy and difficult-to-balance unique weapon. Being able to handle it freely means she’s quite skilled.’
When I blocked the attack earlier, I realized the weight of the hammer far exceeded that of a typical Meteor Hammer.
It was to the point where I wondered if it was made from meteoric iron.
Moreover, isn’t that a Double Meteor, which uses heavy hammers on both ends of the rope?
In a place like Afternoon Tea In Garden, where even using an ordinary Meteor Hammer often results in injury to the user, there’s no need to explain how difficult it is to perform techniques with a Double Meteor.
“I wish to first witness your Kung-Fu prowess, but it seems it will be difficult. With the silk robe concealing your Qi Frequency, I cannot gauge the level of your Kung-Fu, so I fear offering Lady First2, might incur your wrath.”
“……”
“This Holmes will unleash half his strength from the start, so I ask the lady to forgive this impropriety towards a lady.”
The moment I drew the sword from the Heavenly Demon Cane, the long rope extended, and two hammers flew simultaneously towards me.
- TL/N: The original quote is as follows—The most important thing in a letter is the postscript ️
- TL/N: Three seconds of courtesy ️