Chapter 172: Egg Heist (1)
Thou shall not steal what belongs to your fellow comrades, nor what belongs to the Heavenly Father.
-The Ten Commandments-
It was my first time meeting Charles Darwin, but I had long been familiar with his renown.
He was a grandmaster who created the new discipline called Evolutionary Mysticobiology, and a giant of knowledge.
And he was a great figure who had inherited the position of party lord of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a small gathering of great Kung-Fuists who had long upheld the development of Britain’s Kung-Fu.
Darwin’s theory, which likened Kung-Fu to a lifeform that lived for long ages using Kung-Fuists’ bodies as hosts, had given me no small shock.
Those bound excessively by religion’s frame, including the monastic clans, could not stop detesting Darwin, yet he was one of the few Kung-Fuists who had earned the respect of me, who had never even met him.
No.
And was it only me?
My master, Phileas Fogg, the Heavenly Demon Red Dragon, had also once paid attention to Darwin’s theory. I still remembered the day it happened, before my master left London.
One day, Phileas Fogg returned to the estate, muttered something like, “Charles Darwin’s theory was true,” then shut himself in the study and locked the door.
The expression I saw on my master that day was extremely unfamiliar.
Confusion and fear.
A face in which those two emotions showed so strongly was not something the Heavenly Demon should ever wear.
And then.
Not long after, my master left on a tour of the world with the maid.
Just as Elder Darwin’s closed-door training had been tied to my master.
I thought perhaps my master leaving Britain might also be connected to Elder Darwin’s discovery.
Not that he would return just because I learned what had happened.
While Darwin stepped away briefly, saying he would change clothes, the maid led us to the drawing room.
In the garden and inside the house, exotic plants collected from travels all over the world were growing.
As we walked the corridor, some places were cool and others warm, to the point it felt as if the weather flipped every few steps.
Like the Chelsea Physic Garden, it seemed they were using civil engineering1, or some method, to create multiple complex microclimates and grow plants that could not originally grow in this region.
One curious thing was that no matter how cleverly it had been set, I could not feel the unnatural flow of Qi that was present anywhere civil engineering was installed.
Perhaps because I had met Ulrich Zuckerberg not long ago. Sitting on the drawing-room sofa with Watson, a sudden curiosity rose.
If civil engineering of this level had been installed, the Zuckerburg Family’s hand would have had a hand in it.
It was well known that most wealthy members of The Royal Combat Society received help from the Zuckerburg Family during the estate construction phase.
Perhaps somewhere in Elder Darwin’s house, there was a Zuckerburg & Co. logo.
As I was thinking that, I saw Darwin, neatly changed, coming down from the second floor with an elderly lady.
Unlike the sweat-soaked state from before, the elder and his companion were dressed with dignity.
“My apologies. I ended up receiving guests with things left in disarray as usual.”
The elder smiled as if pleased when he saw us unable to take our eyes off the rare flowers and trees filling the drawing room.
“Not at all. I have only apologies, for coming to see you of my own accord without notice, though we have no acquaintance.”
I did not know exactly what had happened between my master and Elder Darwin, but I had heard the elder’s closed-door training was connected to my master.
For now, I had to keep low, considering the possibility he held negative feelings.
Good or bad, he was someone tied to my master, so I thought he would let me inside, and he did, but Elder Darwin’s deeper thoughts were still unknown.
Above all, was I not the one who needed his help right now.
Of course, if he refused my request, I intended to reveal I was carrying out a mission given by Her Majesty and borrow royal authority to force cooperation, but since I had committed the discourtesy of arriving unannounced, it was right to be excessively polite first.
“Perhaps I would with others, but I would never turn away one who bears the call sign Little Heavenly Demon.”
As I thought that, Elder Darwin’s response was far gentler than I had expected.
A manner in which no particular ill will could be felt.
Could it be he looked on my master favorably?
To be honest, it was unexpected.
I thought the only people who could look favorably on a character-wrecked man like that were evil-trick2 practitioners who believed strength was everything.
No. Perhaps Elder Darwin was a man of extraordinary character.
As they say, only saints appear in a saint’s eyes, so perhaps the Phileas Fogg he saw was a dignified British gentleman.
“…My master has caused you trouble, Elder Darwin. I apologize in his stead.”
“The Heavenly Demon Red Dragon has never harmed me even once, so why do you apologize?”
“No. Considering my master’s character, he must have caused you some harm. Please do not be angered, Elder Darwin, and accept this Holmes’s apology with broad generosity.”
“Good heavens, despite having said it is truly all right…”
It seemed the elder possessed a personality even more magnanimous than I had imagined.
So many had begun closed-door training after dueling my master, unable to swallow their anger and vowing revenge, that I wondered if Elder Darwin had walked a similar path, but it seemed my worry had been needless.
With character like this, was it not possible he chose seclusion purely to gain enlightenment.
“Hearing you say that, this Holmes’s heart is put at ease, if only a little.”
I answered so, then slowly examined the expressions of Elder Darwin and his family.
Darwin with a robust, dignified impression, and a lady who gave off an elegant, intellectual air.
I had often heard that when spouses live together long, their tastes and preferences come to resemble each other, but with this couple, even their appearance and Qi Frequency were alike.
Which made sense, because Charles Darwin’s mother had been a woman of the Wedgwood Family, the same as his wife.
Since Charles Darwin and his wife, Emma Darwin, were cousins, it was fully understandable to find many commonalities between them.
The Wedgwood Family was a prestigious palm technique house, and along with the Zuckerburg Family it was counted as one of the wealthiest Kung-Fu Noblesse.
Just as the Zuckerburg Family made enormous money through sharp intellect in sugar refining and distribution and Civil Engineering installation contracting, the Wedgwoods likewise did so by applying their household Kung-Fu, a marvelous palm technique, to pottery production.
The pottery the Wedgwood Family produced under the Wedgwood name came to be loved by the royal family and nobility, and by great clans and their wealthy lay disciples, and now it accounted for a share of Britain’s representative luxury goods.
“Gentlemen, before we begin, how about a cup of tea. A fine black tea has just come in.”
“Then I will not refuse, ma’am.”
Even on the teapot and cups Mrs. Darwin had the maid bring, I could see the Wedgwood crest.
As she said, the elixir tea the maid prepared gave off a fragrance so rich it was hard to describe.
Without question, it was a top-grade item.
That they served expensive elixir tea even though I had arrived suddenly was proof the elderly couple truly held no ill feelings toward my master.
I began to feel certain that even if I asked for help, Sir Darwin would not refuse.
“I worry the house seems disorderly. I ended up placing flowers I liked wherever I pleased, and it became like this.”
“Not at all. Thanks to you, I can only be grateful to have seen such rare sights.”
When I spoke, Watson added a word.
“Usually one only sees such a sight in a Physic Garden. For such otherworldly flowers to be growing not in an estate garden but indoors, it is simply astonishing. Are you using civil engineering?”
Elder Darwin began to laugh heartily as if it were a question he had been waiting for.
“Zuckerburg’s Kung-Fuists taught me this and that. They said there is a way to regulate the indoor climate without the trouble of placing the components and mediums that make up civil engineering.”
“…You mean you created microclimates without civil engineering?”
Elder Darwin nodded.
The situation was indeed pressing, but my instinct urged me to ask him the detailed principle.
I had a feeling I might gain knowledge useful for solving this case.
“They told me the exotic plants I brought each hold a Qi of differing nature, and that simply by placing them correctly in fixed positions, one can change the flow of Natural Qi. As I’ve aged, being inside civil engineering that uses artificial mediums has become quite uncomfortable. The Zuckerburg Family helped me with various things.”
“I didn’t know such a thing was possible.”
I recalled the day I faced the Phantom Fist.
At the time, Ulrich Zuckerberg amplified the flow of Natural Qi not only by transplanting the garden’s trees, but also by rearranging several artificial structures.
That did make the civil engineering effect stronger, but by Watson’s account, she felt a subtle dissonance when entering the hotel garden.
Watson likely sensed the twist in Qi created when the Wood Qi Lightning Attraction Formation overlapped with the preexisting soundproofing formation.
The reason I could not feel civil engineering’s characteristic dissonance in this house was because all the components were living flowers.
‘If it is enough to encircle the garden and house, the absolute range cannot be called small…’
Considering that no one staying at the hotel suspected anything even though Ulrich Zuckerberg used artificial objects when installing civil engineering, a system made only of natural things would be even less likely to draw notice.
For me, who had to deceive Irene Adler to seize the Vermilion Phoenix’s egg, and further deceive the Tsar to stage Irene Adler’s death, I could not leave this information unused.
I knew one expert in Civil Engineering.
And also an expert who handled corpses.
“Pardon me for a moment.”
I took Watson’s hand and rose from my seat.
“May I ask you one favor, Watson.”
“Hm?”
“Take the carriage waiting outside, find Mycroft, and deliver this.”
Fortunately, I had brought my notebook today, so I quickly tore out a page and scribbled a few lines.
“This is—”
Reading the note, Watson nodded as if she had realized something.
She emptied her teacup, finished greeting the Darwins, and dashed to the front door.
“…It seems there is some urgent matter.”
Perhaps flustered by Watson’s sudden departure, Elder Darwin looked at me with baffled eyes.
A mere rising prodigy had come to his home without notice, and then the companion drank a cup of tea and fled as if running away.
A situation that was hard for anyone to understand by common sense.
“Ah, it is nothing. London’s fate will be decided within three days, so everyone is simply moving busily.”
“What sort of absurd thing is that, all of a sudden?”
Which meant it was the best timing to tell him about the series of events, since he needed an explanation.
“To cut to the chase, the Vermilion Phoenix is flying toward London.”
“…?!”
“Its young is about to hatch from its egg. If we cannot stop it, London will become ashes.”
Perhaps because I had entered the main point before he could prepare himself, Elder Darwin couldn’t continue speaking.
“Then you came to find me…”
“It seems the Tsar, who originally had the egg, knows a way to avoid the Vermilion Phoenix’s wrath, but he would never answer even if I asked, so I had no choice but to come to you, elder. Please help me.”
In heavy silence, the Lunar Society Party Lord finally nodded.
“A Vermilion Phoenix… We will need the secret manual John Gould3 left behind. Come with me.”
- TL/N: formations ️
- TL/N: Demonic Arts ️
- TL/N: John Gould FRS was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds ️