#yuumori novel
This is the second short story in A Study in Scarlet, the first official novel of Yuukoku no Moriarty. If anyone’s interested in translating the full story and needs the raw text, please message @kumoriyami-xiuzhen!
Story description: Louis was assigned with the task of raising some fish and he learns the pains of having an aquarium. He gets especially attached to the fish they named “William”. (Can you guess which fish they named after which person?)We also get to see Moran having an emotional heart-to-heart talk with his new best friend.
Summary length: 6,399 words (Too detailed as usual lol)
In one of the 20 small fish tanks in their residence, one fish is not doing so well. Its movements were weak as it floats at the bottom of the tank. Louis stares worriedly at it, praying that it would get better.
Rewind to 10 days ago.
After admiring the flowers grown by Fred, Louis leaves the greenhouse only to see William outside. William asks Louis if he could do something for him, to which Louis immediately replies yes, much to William’s delight.
They move to the sitting room, where William shows Louis a photo of a man in his thirties. He has beige hair, a pointy chin, chubby cheeks, and distrustful eyes that show just how hard he is to approach.
His name is Jack Stapleton, an aristocrat who owns a large number of assets and territories. He is a well-known expert in natural history and has even presented his discovery of a new species of moths at an academic conference before.
Louis asks if he is their next target, but William replies that he is just a candidate for now. He is suspected to be secretly involved in illegal human trafficking, but there is no proof of it as of yet so William is using MI6’s intelligence networks to make sure if this person is truly worth convicting.
However, supposing he is guilty but MI6 can’t prove it, that means he has some sort of means to cover for his actions. Therefore, William plans to get in touch with the antisocial Stapleton using the latter’s oddly strong interest in plants and animals.
Apparently, Stapleton has a rather fickle personality. Before he was interested in moths, but now it’s tropical freshwater fish that catch his interest. William’s request for Louis is to take care of the fish he got from overseas to capture Stapleton’s interest.
No one else is available to care for it, and they can’t invite outsiders to work in the residence either. Louis was clearly chosen for the sole reason that no one else can attend to it, but he is still rather motivated in doing it as he does not usually get to contribute to William’s plans.
However, these are foreign fish so Louis was worried that there aren’t any guides on how to raise them. William reassures him that they can replace some if they die and that he’ll prepare anything Louis will need. He has already asked Herder for help developing a fish tank for them.
Louis confidently tells William that he’ll do it, which pleases William (which in turn pleases Louis).
Two days later, Fred is utterly dumbfounded by the transformation for their rarely used reception room. They had three 5-meter tanks installed with 20-30 colorful fish and water plants inside.
Captivated by the fish, he listens as Louis explains that they were imported from Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America. Even the water was imported from the river and ponds they were taken from as Louis was worried they would not be able to adapt from the local water.
As Louis talks about Herder sending more equipment later on, he stops as he notices that there are skirmishes between the fish among the tanks. To stop them, he hesitantly puts his hand in the tank and gently waves his hand to make them disperse.
To his relief, the fish do not continue fighting, though Fred worriedly points out that having problems this early in might be a sign of how much work taking care of them will be. Still, Fred sees that Louis is deadset on doing this for his brother.
Two days after the fish arrive, the curtains in the reception room have been drawn shut, making the room a bit dim. The large fish tanks have been replaced with 20 smaller ones, each equipped with cutting-edge technology to keep the fish alive.
Moran and Fred visit the room and ask Louis how the fish are doing, and he informs them that he has finally grasped the nature of each fish properly so there should be no problems here on out.
The device on the top half of the fish tanks catches Fred’s interest, making him ask if they’re necessary, and Louis tells them they’re filters that improve the water quality. These devices are way ahead of their time, and Herder developed them just to raise some tropical fish.
Seeing all the fish originally out in the wild cooped up inside the room makes Moran propose letting them swim in an outside pond every once in a while, or even bringing out the tanks themselves so the fish could get some sunlight. However, Louis replies that the fish would find it hard to adapt if placed in a different body of water, and exposing the fish tank to sunlight would cause moss to grow and the water temperature to rise. So Louis mimics the passing of day and night using illumination instead.
Light bulbs and other devices powered by electricity are not widely used by the public yet, which just proves how frighteningly advanced Herder’s creations are.
Louis and Moran continue chatting as Fred stares at the fish, enamored by them. William then steps into the room, which prompts Louis to ask how work was coming along, to which he replies that things are progressing smoothly.
When William then praises Louis for doing a good job taking care of the fish, Louis looks proud even as he modestly gives credit to William and Herder’s help.
Moran happily watches over their interactions but then asks what they’ll do about the fish once the mission with Stapleton is over. Louis answers that they’ll give them all to Stapleton since he will most likely want them all.
This surprises Moran and makes him ask to at least keep one of the fish tanks, but these fish are just a means to an end for Louis. He is not all that attached to them.
Although they would all gladly give up their lives for William, Louis’ indifference still shocks Moran.
Meanwhile, while the two of them are talking, William gazes at the fish. The bright colors of the Puntius rhomboocellatus (snakeskin barb) in particular catch his eye.
Moran is impressed that William can say the fish’s name so easily because although he and Fred also memorized the fish in case Louis can’t look after it, he can’t really call them by that name.
On the other hand, it cheers Louis to see his brother looking approving as he sees the fish, and recommends checking out the Mikrogeophagus ramirezi (Ram cichlid) too.
William thinks its blue color is pretty and then points out the Neolamprologus brichardi (Lyretail cichlid) as a personal favorite of his. In response, Louis recommends checking out the Julidochromis transcriptus (masked juie) and the Pelvicachromis taeniatustoo.
While Moran is glad to see them getting along, his eye starts twitching as he asks them to stop throwing around such complicated names.
However, the two of them just ignore him and keep on using the scientific names of the fish.
Louis appreciates how practical some of the fish are, like the way the Corydoras paleatus cleans up the leftover feed. Meanwhile, the Chela dadiburjori tends to jump out of the tank if you don’t put a lid on it, while the Boraras urophthalmoides was troublesome to find a good tankmate for.
William brings up that the Siamese Flying Fox must be a favorite of Louis for its practical way of eating algae, which Louis acknowledges. Then Louis brings his brother’s attention to the way the Nannostomus beckfordi are flaring its gills.
Moran finally can’t take it anymore and shouts for them to stop talking, which leaves Louis baffled. The latter was just about to show William the Triple Red Apistogramma cacatuoides (Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid) after all.
Moran explains that he and Fred can’t keep up with their conversation since they keep using complicated names as if this was some university lecture.
Although Moran puts Fred in the same boat as he says this, Fred was actually pointing at each fish the two were talking about and muttering their names to check whether or not he remembered them.
Meanwhile, Louis is puzzled at Moran’s struggle, as he and his brother memorized them easily, much to Moran and Fred’s surprise. The latter is astonished to the point that he freezes as he comments on how they were on a different level.
It’s not like Moran and Fred are particularly on the slow side either. Moran is a noble who graduated from Oxford, while Fred is smarter than the average person. Still, the two can’t hide their awe at how the 3 Moriartys can memorize such complicated names in one try.
Moran then proposes to give the fish nicknames instead of saying words that sound like incantations, which Louis thinks is also a good idea.
Looking around the fish tanks, Moran spies a group of guppies and proposes to call those “Fred”, much to Louis’ shock. Apparently, he chose that name for them since they’re small and agile. Fred on the other hand just looked dubiously at Moran’s enthusiastic explanation.
William finally joins in on the conversation, suggesting to give Fred’s name to a fish that can do camouflage such as a leaffish. Still, he does not quite understand why they’re giving guppies another name when the name itself is rather simple.
However, Moran interjects, insisting that it’s fine and they should just go with their gut feeling when giving names. He doesn’t budge on calling the guppies “Fred”.
Then he stares at a small pufferfish that had its own fish tank and calls it “Moran” for its solitary nature.
This fish actually attacked the other fish on its first day moving in, which is why it was given its own fish tank. Louis wanted to inform Moran about it but wavered, not wanting to dampen Moran’s good mood.
Moran misunderstands his hesitation, thinking Louis also wanted to give it his own name and tells him it’s too late because Moran has already named it.
Louis decides to just keep quiet and not burst his bubble. Fred, who had also seen the mess the pufferfish made on its first day here, just averts his gaze with pity for Moran and doesn’t clue him in either.
As he looks away, Fred spots some fish that reminded him of the Moriartys and points it out. Three silver and black striped angelfish are swimming closely together and it reminds him of the strong bond the brothers had.
William laughs self-deprecatingly at this, saying that its angelic name suits them the least.
However, he is countered with the explanation that they are angels in a way. The type of angels that sounded the trumpets in the book of Revelations*, that is. This satirical reasoning makes William chuckle.
(*T.N.: In the Book of Revelations, each time an angel blew a trumpet, catastrophes occur to enact God’s judgment on Earth.)
Louis then agrees with Fred and says the angelfish are very elegant, much like his older brothers. William of course is quick to add that Louis’ soul is just as lofty as these fish, so there’s no need for him to leave himself out like that. This makes Louis shyly thank William for his compliment.
Moran approves of their reasoning and calls the 3 angelfish “William”, “Albert”, and “Louis” respectively, causing William to smile, embarrassed.
With that decided, Moran announces that he’s heading out now. Fred stops him since they haven’t named the other fish yet, but Moran scratches his head, saying he just realized there are too many fish to name. They’ve already given their names to 5 of them so he’s satisfied for now.
Moran’s heedless attitude leaves Fred speechless. Normally, this would be around the time when Louis would assign chores to him, but Louis is too preoccupied with the angelfish right now.
He is currently unaware of it, but he has gotten a little attached to the 3 fish named after them.
Noontime three days later, a week has passed since the fish were brought in.
Moran happily comes in, checking in on the fish. Ever since they named the fish, Moran has gotten into the habit of hanging out in this room and watching the fish whenever he is free. Fred has also gotten into this habit, and Louis even gave him permission to feed the fish.
The moment he entered the room, Moran happily sticks his face close to the guppies’ fish tank which was located near the entrance, and greets “Fred”.
The group of guppies always sticks together so they have no idea which one was originally named “Fred”, so this is just what he calls this whole school of fish.
Then Moran moves on to the pufferfish, talking about how nice it must be to have its own fish tank. Moran speaks to it as though they are very close friends, saying that people must think it’s lonely since it’s on its own, but Moran personally thinks a solitary life isn’t all that bad. That’s the way he lived his life before, alone in the shady side of London to exact revenge on the person who declared that he was killed in action.
The pufferfish looks somewhat flabbergasted that he is suddenly being regaled with Moran’s life story. Moran doesn’t take note of the fish’s reaction at all, and passionately goes on about how back then, he was set on living on his own, but then he met people he could trust like William.
Putting his face closer to the tank, he then tells the pufferfish that although it may be living in solitude now, it will surely meet others that it could trust someday. Do not feel down in the dumps. If it keeps being resolute, it would surely—
Upon seeing two people reflected on the fish tank’s glass, Moran abruptly stops talking. He quietly turns around in dread. Louis and Alfred are standing behind him.
Moran nervously asks when they turned up, and Louis clears his throat and awkwardly explains that they’ve been there ever since Moran moved to the pufferfish’s tank.
Meanwhile, Albert sports a bewildered smile as he expresses his awe at Colonel Moran’s excellent communication skills. He could even talk sociably with tropical fish.
Previously in high spirits, Moran’s mood crashes down as he realizes that they witnessed him making an embarrassingly sincere speech to a fish. He accuses them of being mean for not interrupting him for their amusement, but Louis hesitantly points out that it was Moran who just spilled everything.
Moran acknowledges that, saying the fish’s magical charm must have made him forget that Louis is usually here in this room. It was uncharacteristic for him to make this kind of mistake, so Louis agrees that it may have really been the fish’s charm that made him do it.
But then, Albert gently proposes that maybe they should ask William to give Moran a break if he’s tired.
Seeing Albert interacting with him with genuine kindness instead of his usual teasing attitude makes Moran weakly insist not to treat him with pity.
Although he does want to sleep the whole night now that he is exhausted mentally by accidentally exposing himself like that, he eventually shrugs the matter off and starts watching the fish again.
Albert and Louis look serious are they whisper to each other. Ears reddening, Moran pretends he doesn’t hear a thing.
He walks around the room until he realizes that the fish are not being treated equally and points it out. Louis denies it but Moran then points at the angelfish’s fish tank with his chin.
Louis tilts his head in confusion as Moran brings up how their tank is a little more extravagant than the rest. Compared to the other tanks with plain designs, this tank had aquatic plants and better lighting.
Albert and Louis then start identifying the plants in the tank such as the Alternanthera ReineckiiandEchinodorus Tenellus, but Moran quickly stops them from saying complicated terms again, sick of how the brothers are easily absorbed into their own world.
In any case, Moran notices that the plants in the angelfish’s tank are fancier than the rest and claims that Louis has gotten attached just because these fish are also named after the brothers he idolizes. It’s a feeling he has gotten from Louis for a while now, ever since they gave those fish his brother’s names.
Feeling indignant at his observation, Louis insists that he has no special attachment towards these fish. He only treats them as a means to an end to his brother’s scheme.
Louis can say all he wants, but the current situation contradicts it. Moran then clarifies that he’s not criticizing Louis for his favoritism. Louis just treats these fish in particular a little warmer because they’re called “William” and “Albert”. There’s nothing really wrong with that.
Albert agrees, saying that Louis is free to treat the fish however he wants so long as doesn’t have a harmful effect on them. After all, all that’s important in the plan is that the fish are alive so they can offer them to Stapleton.
Louis wanted to flatly deny any emotional attachment to these “tools”, but now that Albert has said something, he can only stay quiet.
Before leaving, Albert then thanks Louis for the hard work and tells him to keep it up.
Moran then informs Louis that it’s okay to just have fun with it as long as all the fish don’t die. He looks around at the other tanks afterwards before also heading out.
However, as he takes a step out of the room, he glances at Louis. He feels a little uneasy at the serious expression on Louis’ face.
The next morning.
Curious as to how Louis will act after getting called out yesterday, Moran takes Fred to the reception room with him. Fred kept on yawning and his eyes were bleary. He must have worked late into the night. However, the moment Moran opens the door, Fred’s sleepiness vanishes in an instant because of the shocking scene before him.
A corner of the room has turned into a jungle. The angelfish tank was surrounded by many South American trees. When the two entered, they felt that the room was more humid compared to yesterday.
At Moran’s surprised exclamation, Louis’ face suddenly pops up from behind one of the trees wrapped in ivy. He warns Moran against shouting since it would stress the fish out and asks why he shouted in the first place.
When Moran asks what he’s done with the place, Louis explains that he recreated the South American rainforest so his brothe– or rather the tropical fish would feel more comfortable. He ordered these things the other day and they arrived last night. Everything was set up just a while ago.
Things had escalated so quickly in one night that it left Moran completely blindsided. He points out Louis’ slip of the tongue and recreation of the South American rainforest, saying he had a feeling something would happen.
Normally, when someone’s called out for something, they’d reconsider and hold back a bit, but he sensed that Louis would wholeheartedly go for it. Still, Moran didn’t expect that Louis would go this far.
On the other hand, Louis just calmly thanks Moran for clarifying but once again claims that he is not playing favorites with any particular fish.
Moran is utterly baffled by this and wonders if Louis is just playing dumb, while Fred is impressed that Louis is utterly unfazed by Moran’s words.
In the end, Moran acknowledges that they gave him the freedom to do as he likes to the fish anyway, and just expresses his awe at Louis’ love for his brothers.
Sensing that there was no point arguing with the youngest Moriarty over his methods, Moran just gives up the fight and starts watching the fish again.
However, the trees he sees can’t help but pique his curiosity. He couldn’t resist hurrying into the thicket of trees. Fred follows cautiously.
Moran approaches the row of trees and moves the leaves aside with his hand to go in. There, they find a tank on top of a table with animals with flashy colors– a couple of small dark blue frogs with red patches.
Seeing the two stick their faces close to the tank, Louis warns them not to open it because the frogs apparently have poison that South American tribes use to coat their arrowheads.
Fred and Moran immediately jump way back at his warning. Terrified at how close they were to danger, Moran gets mad at Louis for bringing something that dangerous into the house.
Louis apologizes, explaining that while it is also to recreate the tropical fish’s former habitat, they have also brought in other animals just in case it also catches their target’s interest.
He then skillfully opens the tank a little bit and throws in some insects to feed them, leaving the other two speechless.
Seeing Louis efficiently check on the other tanks leaves Moran dazed to know how much people could achieve in a short period of time…
Moved by how amazing Louis is, Fred and Moran once again enter the thicket of trees, though this time with cautiousness.
Moran is relieved to find that the Three Moriarty Brothers’ tank hasn’t changed. Leading the fish was William, followed by Albert and Louis.
While Moran looks happy as he watches the angelfish, Fred on the other hand squints and meekly points out that one is moving a little awkwardly.
It’s not noticeable at a glance, but once Moran did observe it more carefully, the fish leading the pack did seem to be swimming a little differently compared to the rest.
Their attentiveness attracts Louis’ attention, making him come closer and see William’s oddity himself. He puts his face closer and his expression turns grave.
When Moran asks him what to do, Louis proposes moving the fish in another tank and gets Moran to fetch the smaller tank they have. Then he asks Fred to read the number on the measuring instrument in the tank.
As the two of them go about their tasks, Louis takes out the memo pad in his pocket and double checks the emergency measures he wrote for this occasion.
Once Moran comes back with the small tank, Louis then takes enough water from the angelfishes’ tank for one fish to swim in, double checks the water temperature and quality, and then adds some salt in the water as well.
Louis’ last action makes Moran’s head tilt and ask what that was for, to which Louis replies that saltwater is a good treatment for sick fish, though it’s not always effective.
He then gently scoops William up and transfers him to the other tank. While isolating the fish has its drawbacks, Louis also has to prevent the sickness from affecting the other fish.
He hears the numbers from Fred as he does this, looking more and more perplexed. Water quality and temperature are normal and the tank is clean. There’s nothing wrong with the equipment either. So it might’ve been a problem with the fish feed, or it got stressed by its surroundings…
Moran asks if it got bullied by the other fish, but Louis denies ever witnessing any. So he can only conclude that it’s because of changes in its environment as he glances at the potted plants around the tank.
Fred notices his action and comments that the fish could not have possibly been affected this quickly by them since the trees were just brought in and aren’t inside the tank anyway, but Louis doesn’t discount the possibility. Either way, Louis feels responsible for this outcome since he’s the one in charge of the fish.
The three of them look downhearted at the lonely-looking sick angelfish isolated from the rest of its species.
Three days after the fish got sick, 11 days have passed since all the fish were brought in.
Despite Louis’ attempts to nurse it better, “William” is still in a bad condition. It swims unsteadily as its fins were folded up and its shine has dulled. It also eats very little. Ever since they’ve confirmed that it was sick, its state just turned worse.
Louis bites his lip at his helplessness. There’s nothing he can do aside from watching over it as it drifts in solitude. He also feels very guilty for possibly causing the fish to get into this state because of his careless decisions.
The potted plants were put away in a corner, fearing it would have further adverse effects on the fish. However, removing these plants somehow made the fish tank’s surroundings look a bit deserted.
Fred peeks inside the room, but Louis doesn’t even turn to look at him. The former approaches and asks if he’s okay, but Louis mistakes his concern as concern for the fish and informs him that it is still in a bad state. Louis then reassures him that he’s not neglecting the other fish.
Sure enough, the other fish are looking well. Fred doesn’t try clarifying his question and just observes Louis watching over “William” for the next few minutes instead.
Louis looks fatigued from anxiety. He’s been constantly watching over the fish the whole time. Even during mealtimes, he goes straight back here after preparing everyone else’s food. Everyone comes here to check up on him in worry from time to time, but he still won’t leave the room.
No one knows when Louis has last slept in his own room; There’s no place to sleep in this room, and judging from his complexion, it looks as though he hasn’t been sleeping well.
After hesitating for some time, Fred finally toughens up and tells Louis not to push himself and rest, but Louis just stubbornly insists that he’s fine.
Fred shrinks back at Louis’ cold response but still couldn’t help asking why Louis is going so far for one fish when he previously insisted that they were just a means to an end for him.
Louis looks troubled by this comment, pursing his lips as he looks down and clenches his fist.
He and Fred had clashes while doing missions before. They had differences in opinion about whether to help a child that got injured and couldn’t run away during a noble’s manhunt on poor children.
Fred wanted to help the child, but Louis proposed abandoning the child and prioritizing the assassination of the nobles. While he knows that Louis said that because he was also worried about his brother, Fred still couldn’t help thinking how heartless Louis was for choosing to do so.
Thankfully, Moran stepped in right afterwards, but Fred always kept that moment in mind as proof that Louis could be very cruel if it was for his brother’s sake.
Everyone who is sided with the Lord of Crime is aware of Louis’ personality. And that is why Fred feels that the way Louis is wasting so much effort for one little tropical fish now is very at odds with who he usually is. So, why?
Louis finally speaks, saying that Fred is right. These fish are just tools for his brother’s plan, and he would kill them without hesitation if his brother orders him to. However…
Fred is surprised when Louis’ voice uncharacteristically shakes.
Louis then continues that he can’t help trying to do everything for this fish named “William”, even though they named him that just for fun. He acknowledges that he is being foolish for getting emotionally attached to it, but he can’t help seeing his brother when he looks at the tropical fish.
It might sound silly to those unfamiliar with the brothers’ circumstances, but not to Fred. He ends up sympathizing with Louis’ devotion to the fish.
He then points out with pain that there’s nothing else they can do for it, which Louis also acknowledges.
The room turns gravely quiet, right until someone comes in and points out the somber mood.
At the door, they see William has come inside without their notice. William sounds a little sad as he points out how worn Louis is and tells him that he didn’t ask him to do this task at the expense of his health.
Louis wants to protest but also knows making excuses was useless. Fred clumsily defends him, explaining that Louis just wants to help the fish.
William stops him and clarifies that he didn’t come here to rebuke Louis but to give something important, as he hands a small bottle and a piece of paper.
It was a bottle of fish medicine, and Louis and Fred stare at it in surprise.
Then, William goes on to explain that it was made from malachite green aqueous solution. You add some to the water to give the fish a medicinal bath. He had Herder make it in case a situation like this happens. Herder didn’t manage to finish it quickly since he prioritized developing the tank equipment.
William apologizes to Louis for the long and difficult days he had to go through, and Louis happily and sincerely thanks his brother for the precious bottle.
Meanwhile, Fred admires William’s foresight and Herder’s technical prowess upon hearing his explanation.
William just looks warmly at his brother. He then informs the latter that all the fish will be transported away from here in 5 days.
Louis tenses as he hears this.
His brother then explains that they’ve succeeded in getting a meeting with Stapleton. Their target was lured in by the tropical fish as expected and agreed to invite them to his home in exchange for all the fish they have. William will judge whether or not Stapleton is a criminal after they meet.
Louis expresses his understanding, and William continues on to say that he’ll update Louis the moment he makes his judgment.
Once William has left, Fred cheerfully tells Louis that they can finally cure the fish.
However, Louis was calmer in contrast to him. He warns Fred not to be too optimistic since it’s a newly developed medicine.
Even though he was told off by Louis, Fred only stared at his face with hooded eyes.
When asked why, Fred pulls up the corner of his own lips with his fingers and points out that Louis is smiling, causing Louis to cover up his mouth with his hand immediately.
He was obviously trying to look composed, but in the end couldn’t hide his joy. He intentionally talks loudly about using the medicine at once to hide his embarrassment, reading the instructions on the paper and putting the liquid into the tank.
All they have to do now is wait and see. Fred brightly comments that everything will go well, and Louis doesn’t negate his words this time.
And now we’ve reached the starting scene of this story.
Louis is left alone again as Fred finally leaves the reception room reluctantly to do his job as the contact person for the Crime Consultant.
Things have changed. Unlike the weak state that it has shown until now, the fish has now recovered its original sheen.
Louis prays for the fish as he stands in front of its tank, hoping the medicine and the fish’s willpower will help it. He still sees his brother in the angelfish.
Five days have passed, and it’s finally time for the tropical fish to get transported to Stapleton’s residence.
Several wagons are parked outside. Louis silently watches as everyone else carries out the tank equipment and the big portable water jars containing the tropical fish.
He has recovered from his overworked state, regaining a healthy complexion in his face and an accomplished shine in his eyes.
Louis originally wanted to be the one carrying out the fish since he considers it part of his task. However, much to his displeasure, everyone else insisted that he just stand back, relax and let them do all the work since the past few days have been rough on him.
At times, his eyes looked shiny as someone passes by him, carrying out a jar of fish. To cover it up, he fiddles his glasses every time it happens.
The fifth time he does it, William stands by his side and asks if Louis is feeling emotional.
Louis clears his throat and tries to act tough, but the moment he sees the fish tank being loaded into the carriage, he softens up and reluctantly admits that he is.
Upon hearing his reply, William looks at Louis with a soft expression.
As they were talking, the pufferfish and the guppies were being carried out.
Louis then apologizes to William for making them all needlessly worry because of his immature actions. After the fish was given William’s name, Louis went overboard with the tank’s layout and afterwards nursed the fish back to health at the expense of his own.
As he was reflecting on his actions, Moran and Fred were carrying out the tropical trees he ordered to give to Stapleton as presents.
Louis can’t look away from these trees. They represent his own incompetence after all.
Seeing his brother reflect so seriously, William acknowledges that he may have a point, since if Louis collapsed at the time, then the other fish would certainly be affected. William knows that Louis was trying to be careful not to let it happen, but he wished that Louis tried to ask him for advice before letting it get to that point.
Louis naturally feels likes he was stabbed upon hearing his faults pointed out by the brother he adores. The accomplishment he originally felt at finishing his task dissipated.
However, William then kindly encourages Louis to look at it from another aspect.
Although it was inappropriate for Louis to have attached himself to a fish at the expense of his own health, you could also say that he has proven himself as a person of integrity from the way he insisted on not throwing away the life of just one fish.
Sure, William told him that the fish can be replaced if one dies, but you shouldn’t just take those words to mean that it has a replacement and that there’s always next time.
That naive way of thinking can be harmful. If Louis just carried on, thinking everything was okay since they still have 2 angelfish left, all the angelfish might just end up dying in the end. So you could say the way Louis took that one fish’s life seriously was an appropriate thing to do.
William said all of this in an indifferent tone, showing that he wasn’t just saying it to support Louis. He was evaluating Louis’ work from an objective perspective.
This makes Louis very happy. He thought his actions were no more than foolish mistakes, but William took it to mean the opposite. His brother told him that his attachment to the fish is proof of his enthusiasm for his job.
William stops talking as Moran walks by, easily moving the tank into the wagon. Fred is also working hard in transporting everything. Albert actually finished moving all the luggage assigned to him and has left to go to work at Universal Exports.
Seeing the empty tank packed up in the carrier makes Louis think of the 3 angelfish swimming inside it.
The truth is, he had hoped to put back the isolated angelfish with the rest of its species and see them swimming harmoniously in their last day here. He regrets not being able to make it come true.
Fred emerges from the house with a jar of fish in his arms. He asks Louis if he really wants to load it in with the rest of the fish.
Upon hearing Louis’ sad confirmation, Fred solemnly nods and heads toward the carriage.
Louis looks at the jar in Fred’s hands one last time. It contains the angelfish that was sick a few days ago. The fish has regained its elegant swimming, with its scales reflecting the light of the morning sun.
The angelfish actually returned to its normal condition a few days ago thanks to the medicine provided by William. However, immediately taking it out of the medicated water was inadvisable so they had no choice to leave it isolated for the remaining days it was here.
Still, Louis had really hoped to see the Three Brothers back together one last time. He tries to convince himself that they’re just 3 fish. Those fish are not them.
If he were to ask of it, his brother probably would have let him keep those angelfish. But Louis didn’t.
He was the one who insisted that these fish were just a means to an end. He has no plans on taking back those words, and if he can’t manage to get a hold of his feelings now, it might cause irreversible disaster the next time he does a task.
As Louis reluctantly puts everything behind him, he meets his brother’s eyes, and the latter smiles back at him.
This time, William addresses him in a brotherly tone, praising him for his hard work and not letting any fish die.
Louis lively accepts his compliment as he desperately struggles to stop the wide smile that threatens to appear on his face. Still, his bubbling emotions make him tear up.
He did this all for his brother– to help him, to live up to his expectations, and to get a little praise out of him. Finally getting what he’s unconsciously wanted ever since William gave him his task makes him emotional.
Now that everything is all packed up, William announces that it is time for him to start his arrangements. He puts a hand on Louis’ shoulder and tells him that he won’t waste the work his brother has done.
Louis has full confidence in his brother and tells him as much, making William smile.
Then William puts on his Crime Consultant face again and goes back inside the house.
After watching him leave, Louis glances at the carriage before starting to think of the daily work he has to do now, like making breakfast.
The hard days he had with the tropical fish will be kept in the innermost depths of his mind as a faded memory.
(I call it a summary, but it’s so detailed that it’s more than 6,700 words lol oops.)
This is the first short story in A Study in Scarlet, the first official novel of Yuukoku no Moriarty. If anyone’s interested in translating the full story and needs the raw text, please message @kumoriyami-xiuzhen!
Story description: Moran asks William for some monetary help. William decides to invite himself to Moran’s high-stakes poker game the next night “just for fun”. He also gives a short masterclass on how to cheat at poker.
Sebastian disturbs William in his study in the middle of the night, apologetically asking if he could borrow £100 (Around ¥2,400,000 by today’s standards). He claims that a girl named Marie at the bar he frequents plans to get married, but needs a large amount of money for the dowry. She came crying to him about it, and he wanted to help her out.
William mulls over his words for a few seconds before asking, “When your sleight of hand was discovered, did the opponent already reveal his cards?” To which he replied negatively since he was called out right after he revealed his hand. Then he realizes that William saw right through his lies, and can’t help asking how William figured it out.
William says it’s obvious since even though it seemed to be urgent business as Moran asked about it in the middle of the night, it looked like he didn’t want Louis to hear about it. The £100 part seemed sincere enough, and there’s only one place Moran would get into trouble in at night– the pub downtown. Additionally, Moran smells like cheap alcohol.
Based on Moran’s personality, there are only 2 ways he could get into trouble at the pub– either because of women or gambling on card games. It can’t be the former since it’s hard to imagine Moran arranging a ton of money for a woman based on what William knows of his association with girls. If it was only to help shoulder the cost of marriage, they would be no need for Moran to come to him late at night. Moran’s lies were a little too far-fetched for William.
That would mean Moran encountered a problem while playing cards. Normally, losing a normal card game wouldn’t have cost £100. Therefore, something must have happened to force him into shelling out that much money. William can only conclude that Moran’s frequent cheating has finally been found out.
Hearing William accurately reason out what had happened, Moran finally gives up, admits that William got it right, and apologizes for lying so badly. William doesn’t mind but is frankly a little surprised that Moran simply agreed to prepare that much money. Moran says he’s just paying for how much he’s swindled up until now and asks William to at least give him credit for not pummeling the other guy to the ground when Moran got exposed. He then talks about figuring out how to collect that much money somehow and walks back to the door, resigned.
William, however, stops him and asks Moran to talk about it in more detail. Moran totally misunderstands what William means by this, and thinks William wants to know more about how he decided to be mature this time around and pay up instead of just solving the answer with his fists like he usually does. He rambles on about how mature he has become and how he’s not barbaric all the time until William finally ruefully clarifies that what he wanted to know more about was about the cheating incident.
It’s a well-known fact among their group that Moran’s sleight of hand is top-notch. It’s surprising that he got found out, so William wanted to know how exactly Moran ended up in that situation.
It is then that Moran realizes how embarrassing he was for insisting on how mature he has become and tries to cover it up by pretending he was just testing to see if William would come to that conclusion. What matters isn’t that he didn’t lay a hand on the other person, but how his swindling was found out! Moran claims this makes him proud to be on William’s side.
William awkwardly agrees and thanks Moran for his words. It was clear to see that William was just forcing himself to go along with Moran’s words. As much as it pains Moran to see William be so considerate, he keeps up his facade and asks William to forget the way he acted like he was all grown up now.
William reluctantly reassures him and finally gets Moran to talk about everything that happened that night.
Four players were playing Texas Hold'em and Moran had just revealed that he had a Full House when someone asked him to wait. It was the final round and everyone had bet most of what they have. Two of the players were regulars of the pub. They looked visibly hopeless even before they revealed their cards and were easy prey for Moran.
However, the thug sitting in front of Moran was different. His name is Johnson and had a round bearded face with shrewd eyes.
Moran had just laid down his cards, on the cusp of gloating about his Full House, and was thrown off by his interruption. Johnson accused him of cheating and Moran was slow to react, especially upon seeing how sure Johnson seemed to be of his accusation.
Seeing him forget to object to this, everyone in the pub started staring at him in suspicion. Then Moran finally came to his senses and protested vehemently as he attempted to slam his fist on the table, but he drank a little too much that night and only skimmed the edge of the table.
Johnson scoffed at his pathetic state and looked at him with assessing eyes. Then he reached out and raised Moran’s gloved hand. Several cards started falling to the floor from inside Moran’s glove, and Johnson turned smug. Everyone watched as he picked up the cards and observed how Moran wore out his cards so it would look no different from the pub’s own deck.
The other players of the game felt indignant and one of them grabbed Moran by the collar. While these guys were no match for Moran, violence would just make things worse so he tried convincing them with words instead. He weakly tried to placate them by telling them he was just joking around, but that just made everyone’s tempers rise even higher.
While two of the players surrounded Moran, Johnson inquired triumphantly how he plans to settle this. Several options popped up in Moran’s head, but before he could speak, the guy holding Moran insisted he give back all his winnings today.
Moran was absolutely fine by this and the other two seemed to have decided the matter was settled, but then Johnson once again jumped in and pointed out how Moran must have been cheating them for some time now judging by how smooth Moran executed it. This made two of the players rear up again in anger, insisting that Moran pay £100 for all the other days he cheated.
Moran countered that there wasn’t even any proof that he cheated on those times, but no one believed him. At this rate, Moran could either pay the price or flee the pub. However, he doesn’t really have the patience to go through the effort of collecting that much money for some small-fry so the former was out. The latter option would be the easiest way to handle this. He could beat these guys up and leave. However…
This guy Johnson was clearly enjoying seeing Moran get cornered by these small-fry after stoking their anger. It was obvious that Johnson was going to ask the other players to give him a little reward for seeing through Moran’s cheating. While he didn’t particularly care about that, Moran really didn’t appreciate how this guy kept looking down on him.
Sure, he could just beat Johnson up right now, but Moran personally wouldn’t be satisfied until this guy suffered a more humiliating defeat.
So Moran came up with a third option and carefully pretended to be a guy driven against the wall with no way out. He first got them to see reason and convinced them that this was his first time trying to cheat. That’s why they shouldn’t insist that just because he seems used to it doesn’t mean he cheated all those other times.
Johnson saw the momentum fizzling and tried to interrupt, but Moran spoke again before he could. He told them that they should prove he’s weak when he didn’t cheat and proposed to play another round. If he won, then that proved that he truly was that strong all those other times he played cards with them. However, if he lost, it would be solid proof that he has just been winning through cheating all this time.
His reasoning was pretty absurd, but the two men he played against were easily manipulated by Moran since they were easy prey who were already worked up from his cheating. They agreed to another game and Moran added that he’d play £100 if he lost. However, as much as he wanted to play against them immediately, he had to prepare that amount first so he asks that they delay the game to another night. He would play against one of these two men, deliberately leaving out Johnson.
As expected, Johnson of course protested being left out of the game. Inwardly smiling at successfully baiting his target, Moran visibly glared at him. He pretended to be faintly uneasy as he opposed Johnson’s inclusion since he wasn’t even present the other nights he played with the two regulars.
Johnson took this to mean that Moran is planning to cheat again, and Moran weakly denies it. Seeing Moran’s unconvincing protests, he designated himself as the one to play against Moran in the next game. The two regulars of course objected at this, but Johnson gave them a fierce glare as he reasoned that they would have never realized that Moran was cheating them out of their money if it weren’t for him. He’s just going to get a small portion of the prize money, so they should just shut up and let him. The two regulars were dejected by this.
Johnson looked like a violent man and it was clear that he was used to intimidating people. Moran speculates that Johnson must have done a lot of dirty work before.
Seeing that no one else was protesting, Johnson wrapped up the matter and declared he’ll be the one to go against this cheater. He usually didn’t play against the same people twice, but he would make an exemption for him. They will play again tomorrow night and the game will be poker. The winner gets £100. Hearing this, Moran bitterly complained that he wouldn’t get any prize for winning. Johnson naturally shut him down by saying Moran should be glad this game could clear the suspicions on him.
Moran looked unhappy at this, but things actually went just as he planned. His goal was to see Johnson in tears tomorrow. Although he was trembling like some prey that about to get shot down on the outside, he was like a hunter who has set aim on his target on the inside.
Moran finishes talking all about the incident. He and William have moved to the living room and Louis, Fred and Albert were also there listening.
Louis and Fred are the first to react, talking about how he shouldn’t be so smug when it was only natural he would get caught cheating and in the end, Moran clearly just wanted revenge on the guy for seeing through his tricks.
Meanwhile, Moran just insists that they should praise him for his maturity and skill in manipulation, but Louis drags him further by pointing out that Moran didn’t even have that amount of money so he had to ask William for it.
Moran then changes targets and angrily scolds Albert for drinking wine elegantly while Moran told his story, as if it was just something to listen to as he drank wine. Albert neatly sidesteps his accusations and calmly claims that he’s actually agonizing over the fact that Moran’s sleight of hand was discovered since this might mean Will can’t depend on Moran to carry through tasks successfully. They might just assign menial work for Moran from now on.
Unfortunately, as much as Moran wanted to talk back to Albert, Moran only has himself to blame for getting caught, so all he can do is clench his fist in bitterness. Seeing him vexed like this cheers Albert even further.
Meanwhile, Louis is exasperated at Moran’s sulking. He uses Moran as an example for Fred, telling the latter not to gamble lightly like Moran does. Fred agrees with Louis and treats Moran’s story as a cautionary tale, making Moran even more annoyed.
Compared to the other three, William is sitting somberly on the sofa in deep thought, until he suddenly straightens up and inquires Moran if it was his first time meeting Johnson.
Moran confirms it, saying that he only thought Johnson was a guy who was oddly good at playing cards, but apparently, there have been rumors about this guy for a while now downtown.
When asked why he thinks he lost, Moran answers that it was a combination of a lot of things– he had too much to drink that night, got carried away since there were women around, and became too complacent at doing sleights of hands.
However, William once again emphasizes that Moran is a master at sleights of hands so ordinary people should not have caught on to it.
But Johnson did, which can only mean either of two things– that Johnson is extraordinarily observant, or that he was also cheating like Moran was. It can’t be the former, otherwise, he would’ve pointed out Moran’s sleight of hand right when he did it instead of after he revealed his cards. Which means it can only mean the latter. Something in Johnson’s own cards must have alerted him that Moran was cheating and so he called him out with certainty.
Unfortunately, Moran wasn’t able to check Johnson’s cards since he was being interrogated by everyone else at the time.
Moran is impressed at William’s ability to deduce everything that happened, and William gives credit to Moran’s detailed retelling of the event, saying that his memory is perfect even though he was drunk at the time.
Moran looks like he’s enjoying his banter with William even though it didn’t completely sound like William was complimenting him, so Louis spoils his fun by pointing out that William wasn’t really complimenting him. The fact of the matter is, Moran did get outwitted by Johnson.
William cheerfully watches them bicker, before asking Moran if for his game tomorrow night, William is correct in thinking that you either win in poker by going all-in or getting more chips than your opponent. Moran confirms it, but in his opinion, Johnson might make it an unconventional game.
William then says they should get ready for the game, and Albert jokingly offers MI6’s assistance. This makes William smile, answering that it isn’t necessary but he does enlist Fred for help.
Louis and Moran try to convince William not to meddle since this is Moran’s personal matter and has no contribution to their plans for Britain, but William just grins broadly in response and explains that he is just using this matter to cut loose and relieve his boredom.
Moran feels both amused and chilled at William is playing a high-stakes game just a way to relieve his boredom, while Louis smiles in resignation. The latter tells him to have fun and not to drink too much.
William thanks him, assuring Louis that he is worried for nothing. William is just doing this for his enjoyment.
The next night, a lot of people are in the pub waiting for Moran to arrive. Johnson is one of them and he is sitting arrogantly with his feet up. When Moran enters the pub, boos come from the people inside, along with thrilled screams from the ladies.
As Johnson tries to rile Moran up when he appears, Moran announces that he wants to introduce Johnson to someone, and two people come forward. He calls one of them “Willy” and says that the other person is just some boy they bumped into outside.
William formally introduces himself as “Willy”, claiming that he is an old friend of Moran’s who loves gambling, and apologizes for the mess his friend has caused.
As everyone else has figured out from William’s looks and clothing, Johnson points out that William is a noble. He definitely sticks out in the pub that has mainly working-class people as its customers.
Moran explains that he could only ask William to borrow money that large. Additionally, William was way too interested in the kind of poker people downtown play so he insisted on coming along.
William backs this up and politely asks if he could also join their game.
Johnson outwardly glares at him while thinking of how to scam more money out of this easygoing fellow. He finally agrees, but then starts talking about how he is at a disadvantage because he is not like William is. William must be able to calculate the odds of which cards would appear better than Johnson.
To even the odds between them, Johnson proposes they play only a single round of poker instead. Moran is opposed to this, as there is no point even betting with poker chips if that was the case. It takes all the fun out of playing poker.
Johnson pretends to be disappointed by this too but insists this is a necessary measure to even the odds between them. He then goes on to insist that they won’t be playing Hold'em anymore but something akin to Draw Poker instead.
They’ll each draw 5 cards instead of 2. Each player has one chance to throw away up to three cards to draw some more from the deck to replace them. Compared to Hold'em where there are community cards (cards shared by all players in the center of the table), it is much harder in Draw Poker to predict your opponent’s cards since all cards in the opponent’s hand won’t be revealed until the end of the game.
William is intrigued by his proposal. True enough, this type of game does rely more on luck and the probability of certain cards appearing is harder to predict.
Although William denied being able to calculate the probabilities of cards appearing earlier, the truth is back when he was a child, William had been able to do exactly that the moment he saw the cards on the table.
Whether it was truly just because of William’s appearance that he proposed to do this, it does prove to William and Moran that Johnson’s a little different from the average player. However, that doesn’t exactly mean that he is an extraordinary player.
They have already expected Johnson to prepare some sort of plan like this beforehand, but for appearance’s sake, Moran to protest for William, claiming it’s unfair that he’s suddenly changing the rules when the rest of them are all here to play their usual game.
Johnson just tries to provoke William in response, asking if the esteemed noble will be backing out now since he would become a laughingstock if he were to lose that much money to a punk like Johnson.
At this, William just shows a faint smile and takes a seat in front of Johnson. He politely thanks Johnson for letting him play and adjusting the rules for him at short notice, while also adding another £100 to the table aside from the one Moran borrowed for him as an entry fee to his own participation. He agrees to the rules and offers Johnson to choose another person to join in since William and Moran being friends gives them an unfair advantage, and Johnson does just that.
William then proposes that they have the young man he and Moran bumped into the way here as their dealer, but Johnson is opposed to it, saying only an idiot would believe that William and the boy aren’t acquainted. So Johnson looks around the pub a few times for someone who didn’t look invested in their game, then chooses a young man located outside the pub whose face cannot be seen because his hat was pulled down too low. William and Moran evaluate the young man for a bit before agreeing.
The young man was called into the pub and was just asked to be the dealer without any explanation. He seemed uncomfortable with the unsettling atmosphere within the pub and turned his gaze downwards, making his expression harder to make out.
Right as they were about to start the game, William speaks up again, saying that he heard that the £100 was supposed to be his friend’s payment for his suspected cheating on the other days he played with them. Johnson confirms it and calls this high-stakes game an occasion for the cheater to be sanctioned. He then claims that criminals are doomed to be put on trial like this. Small fries like Moran cannot win without cheating and are sure to meet an ugly end in his opinion.
Clenching his fist at Johnson’s cheap remarks, Moran is glad he set up this game to get revenge. He’s very much looking forward to the moment the lowlife Johnson goes from looking triumphant to dismayed.
Meanwhile, William tries to urge Johnson to be more lenient in giving sanctions on Moran. After all, the Bible clearly states that one must not judge others. There’s no need to make large bets when they could all just play for fun.
The crowd jeers at this, and naturally Johnson does not agree with him either. He insists that destiny will be the one to decide the winner of this game. In other words, the fate of this game is in God’s hands.
At this, William asks if whatever the result of this game will be considered divine providence and Johnson confirms it, saying that evil people will receive divine punishment. The cards are going to show this to them and he likens it to an amusing tragicomedy.
Then William asks if Johnson is prepared to acknowledge the results, Johnson finally gets annoyed at all the questions William keeps throwing him, and angrily answers that yes, he is obligated to accept whatever outcome there is.
William smiles ominously at this, claims he’s relieved to hear it, and talks about looking forward to this divine punishment.
Satisfied that “Willy” is finally amiable to the game, Johnson acts all devout, preaching about God in the Old Testament would even burn whole cities to death if its people would do wicked things.
William knows they too will be judged for their actions someday. However, he’s going to prove who is more sinful among the two of them. He keeps silent as he tries to push down his dark side that almost showed on his face.
The game begins and the young man deals the cards among the four of them. The panicked way he distributes 5 cards to each player makes the onlookers jeer at him.
First up is Johnson, who looks at his cards expressionlessly. Meanwhile, the person he picked to play with them grimaced as soon as he saw his own cards. It is clear that he doesn’t have the deceptive skills to win the game.
On the other hand, Moran doesn’t show any reaction to his own cards like Johnson. He starts observing his opponents right after checking his cards.
However, Johnson isn’t looking at his own cards, but rather staring stupidly at someone with his mouth agape instead. And this someone is William.
William did not look at his cards, let alone touch them. He doesn’t seem to sense everyone else’s bewildered reactions and just kept grinning calmly.
Johnson asks him why he isn’t checking his own cards and William keeps his smile pasted on his face as he replies that since Johnson said God has already decided on the winner, then William would rather just wait and see what the outcome was.
Betting a large number of chips without even checking one’s own cards is actually a technique some poker players use to make their opponents falter. However, it’s pointless to use this technique to make their opponent back down on a one-round game like this one.
Johnson then informs William that those words are just a metaphor and wonders if William is giving up his right to change some of his cards.
Williams confirms that he will do exactly that and will simply accept God’s will.
Johnson is utterly flabbergasted by this indulgent noble. He doesn’t know if “Willy” is just an incredibly easygoing character, so if £100 is nothing but small change to him. Either way, it’s easy money for him.
He then goes on to put down 2 of his cards to exchange for new ones. Afterwards, his friend also asks the dealer to change 4 of his own cards. He goes pale as soon as he sees his new cards. His reactions are so plain to see that it makes Moran suspicious of him.
Meanwhile, Moran only changes one of his cards. William of course doesn’t move to change his own cards. It’s as if he’s already thrown the game.
This game should be relying only on luck, making it a fair game for everyone regardless of their social status… if he weren’t involved.
Johnson glances at the young man chosen to be their dealer. His victory had been set the moment he was chosen, that is why he can say this is an occasion to punish Moran.
First up to reveal his cards is the player Johnson picked, who had a High Card. In other words, none of the suits or even numbers match. Moran is relieved to know that this man wasn’t just putting up a weak act.
Next up is Moran’s hand– 4 of Hearts, 4 of Spades, 4 of Clubs, 2 of Spades, and 2 of Diamonds. A Full House.
Seeing him miraculously pull of the same thing as yesterday, the two other players he went up against yesterday stand up and want to accuse him of cheating again. However, they were monitoring Moran’s hands the whole time and did not see any suspicious movements. So they could only dejectedly sit down.
Since Johnson claimed the results are all set by God, Moran declares that God must love him then for him to get these cards.
If this were truly just a game based on luck, it should be next to impossible to get anything better than Moran’s hand. However, Johnson is unshaken by this. He proceeds to say that winning against all odds is the real miracle and reveals his own hand– 2 of Diamonds*, 6 of Hearts, 6 of Clubs, and 6 of Diamonds. It’s a Four of a kind, which is considered one rank above Full House.
*T.N.: This seems to be an error by the author, since 2 of diamonds already appeared in Moran’s hand…
Moran grinds his teeth at this. Johnson gleefully talks about how cruel God is to give Moran hope to think he’s won only to bring him down like this. He then gives his cohorts behind him a thumbs up. This dramatic development is something Johnson and that person cooked up.
This trick has a big weakness so he has to pick his opponents carefully when carrying it out. However, when they do execute it successfully, the rewards are rich.
At first, he only tried doing this trick once as an experiment and got his friend to pretend to do “it” on coincidence. He was a little worried about pulling it off again here, but it looks like no one caught on to their trick.
While inwardly mocking all the intelligence of the crowd hyped by the turn of events, he starts glaring at the sole calm noble in the pub and loudly prompts him to reveal his hand. As he does this, Johnson was already making plans to drinks with his cahoots somewhere else, assured of his victory.
William calmly declares that the judgment which Johnson beckoned has arrived and turns over his cards for everyone to see.
At that moment the whole pub went speechless. “Willy” has 7 of Hearts, 8 of Hearts, 9 of Hearts, 10 of Hearts, and J of Hearts. It’s a Straight Flush.
It’s turnaround after turnaround. If we’re talking about winning against all odds, William has achieved just that. The crowd in the pub was going wild, while William and Moran are staring at Johnson.
Stunned by William’s Straight Flush, he then grabs the dealer by the collar, accusing him of fixing the match. Everyone was bewildered into silence by his reaction.
William stands, asks him to unhand the young man, and reveals that he is a good friend of his. Johnson is shocked by this, and the dealer uses that opportunity to take Johnson’s hand off him and beckons someone else to come into a pub– someone who has the same face as him and looks ashamed of himself.
Johnson and his cohorts went pale as soon as the man went in.
William then explains that the newcomer is someone who should have been the dealer, while the dealer they had used in the game (Fred) was William’s friend who dressed up to look like the newcomer.
He reveals that they were aware of what Johnson was going to do right from the start. That’s why he lost in such a spectacular fashion. He knew right from the moment Johnson pointed out that his friend (Moran) cheated that Johnson was tricking everyone. He heard that only his friend had revealed his cards and no one else, so William suspected Johnson had the same cards.
Johnson argues that it doesn’t prove that Johnson was cheating, but William quickly shoots him down by saying Johnson should have questioned his friend why they had the same cards if that were the case. Instead, Johnson groped around Moran’s hand. He obviously knew he would also be expected of cheating if he revealed that he also had the same cards.
To clear himself out of suspicion, Johnson didn’t reveal his own cards and instead searched at the place Moran would most likely hide the cards.
Johnson steps back and groans upon hearing “Willy” accurately deduce his actions. Willy then goes on to explain that he figured out how Johnson cheated when Johnson uttered that he never plays against the same people twice.
On one hand, you can just interpret this as some rule Johnson personally set for himself, but you could also take it to mean that his method is more likely to be seen through if he did it twice. William only needed to think of which methods can’t be used multiple times.
Taking the deck of cards from Fred, he starts smoothly demonstrating different kinds of tricks, such as Second Dealing (dealing the second card in the deck, instead of the top card) and Bottom Dealing (dealing the bottom card instead of the top), while making it look like he’s dealing normally.
Then he demonstrates another method by putting the deck on the table and then flipping his hand, only to reveal another card still in his hand. This method is called Palming.
The crowd is very impressed with his smooth execution and explanation of these tricks and claps for him, much to Moran’s strained amusement.
True enough, William certainly was doing this for his own enjoyment. Day by day, William has been orchestrating crimes and death in London, but now he was just having fun by entertaining these people in the pub.
William thanks the crowd for the applause, and then continues on to say that this would only be effective if he himself was the dealer. There are other factors to take into consideration such as the atmosphere of the betting place, and if he could even get the opportunity to be the dealer.
However, if he could somehow manage to get an accomplice pretending to be a stranger to be the dealer, claiming it was to make sure it was fair for everyone, then he could get that accomplice to fix the game for him.
This makes the two easy prey he played against yesterday remember that Johnson did choose someone outside the pub to be their dealer. This newcomer looks remarkably like that youngster, now that they looked more closely at him.
The newcomer gave a big reaction after being found out, which just further proved it. This also explains why his method could not be used twice.
Moreover, if Johnson truly wanted to play a game purely based on luck, it would have been much simpler to just draw the cards in order and bet on who has the bigger card, but he seems to be insistent that it has to be poker. Even the day before he made sure that cards would need to be dealt.
William then thanks the crowd for listening with a bow. The crowd starts staring at Johnson with the same loathing and scorn he had for them earlier for not being able to detect his trick.
Johnson then asks about the boy William and Moran brought with them from the start, and William reveals that this boy really was just some stranger he met on the street. If Johnson chose him to be the dealer, then it would have become a game truly based on luck.
Will tells him that God saves those who have faith. Johnson lost because he doubted someone else’s kindness.
When Johnson claims that his mistake was in misjudging Willy, William corrects him, saying it was his friend (Moran) he misjudged. He then compliments Johnson for seeing through his friend’s cheating and his unerring skill of observation that helped him get away with his trickery up until now. It must have been tough to choose his opponents so he could change the dealer without protest from them.
Johnson made some fatal errors last night– he dismissed Moran as some weakling, got greedy and volunteered himself as the rematch representative, and used the same method again.
Then William asks if he hasn’t realized how Moran purposely pretended to be driven to a corner last night so he can lure Johnson into playing a match with him again, aiming to reveal Johnson’s own trickery.
Johnson stares, stunned at Moran, while Moran tells Johnson off for getting overconfident after pulling it off successfully too many times and his habit of looking down on his opponents. His cheap pride made it easy to pull the rug from underneath him.
Moran then ends his speech by calling him a damn rat that had just a bit of cunning. This sentence coming from someone he viewed to be lower than him hurts Johnson’s pride and makes him see red.
He signals at his subordinates behind him with his eyes, and they all stand up menacingly in unison. The crowd backs up in fear while William, Moran, and Fred stay calm in the center of the ring the crowd ended up forming.
William comments on how appalling it is that Johnson is resorting to violence now that he’s lost in an argument, and Johnson replies that he did not grow in luxury like William so he does dirty work on an everyday occurrence, which taught him that physical threats are useful at negotiations.
Then they pull out knives from their pockets and break the bottles in the pub to use as weapons to attack William’s group.
William is disappointed at their response and starts preparing for a fight, but Moran interrupts and asks him to leave the fighting to him. This was his mistake to begin with and he wouldn’t be satisfied until he beats them up himself.
Upon seeing the fierce smile on Moran’s face, William and Fred stand back to let him do as he wants.
Their unfazed demeanor gets on Johnson’s nerves. At his signal, Johnson’s subordinates rush to attack Moran. The numbers are against him but Moran is not bothered by this at all. He showed the kind of ferocity that would scare even tigers into fleeing.
The four of them are in a carriage on the way back home and Moran feels all happy and refreshed after the fight. Judging by his good mood, you can tell that he had no trouble fighting all of them alone.
Johnson and his subordinates were beaten up so badly that they could only trudge away from the pub in silence. Johnson’s dealer seemed to have sensed their defeat coming a mile away and ran right before the fight even started.
The pub became a mess because of the fight, but the onlookers were satisfied with the exciting turn of events and cheered on happily for Moran. Only the pub owner seemed to be in despair.
Moran is in high spirits after venting his anger as he got on the carriage with William and Fred. The latter looks exasperated at Moran’s satisfaction from beating up his target. After all, Moran boasted about he was all mature now yesterday but still ended up acting like a brute today.
William looked a little worried because, in the end, Moran’s matter wasn’t really wrapped up properly so he can’t go back to that pub again anytime soon.
However, Moran is not bothered by this since there are many other bars in London. He does think it is a bit of a shame though since he considered the ladies in the bar top-notch.
William is amused at Moran’s obstinate personality. Meanwhile, Fred and Moran comment on how William seemed to have a lot of fun tonight. Moran talks about how William usually operates in the background, so it’s rare to see William enthusiastically giving a speech as he shows off his skills.
Their comments make William reflect on his actions and admit that he was a little too flashy earlier, but it should be okay to do it for just one night. He sounded rather riveted as he said this though, perhaps from being able to cut loose for the first time in a long while.
Moran mischievously asks if William actually wanted to join in on the fight earlier, but William denies it, saying he was invigorated by just watching Moran go wild. Playing cards just to have fun was satisfying enough for William.
William and Fred believed Moran would succeed so they just watched the fight go on from the sidelines, but those who don’t know him would definitely find it odd to see a noble calmly watching a fight closeup.
Although this all started because of a mistake he made, Moran feels accomplished that he got to provide a way for William to relieve his boredom.
However, he then noticed that they left empty-handed. Apparently, William gave all the money to the pub owner to compensate for the mess they made. Moran then regrets going all out in the fight earlier since was the one who caused all that mess that had to be paid for.
Placing a hand on Moran’s shoulder, William asks him to be Louis’ assistant if he wants to compensate for it. Shuddering in fear at this, he says he’d rather be suspended than do such a thing.
Then William proposes doing the chores while he’s in suspension, and of course Moran is also opposed to this, saying that’s practically the same thing as being Louis’ assistant. He then reminded William about how he earlier preached about not judging others earlier. Moran felt as though William seems to have ill intentions as he proposed these things, and asks if he has done something to warrant it.
William denies it, saying he’s actually thankful to Moran for the opportunity to have fun tonight. He proves this by declaring that he’s having so much fun right now.
Hearing William say those words sincerely made Moran realize exactly what he means. He grows pale at the thought of being the target of William’s teasing for the rest of the night.
William then brings Fred into the conversation, informing him of how Moran gave a passionate speech about how mature he’s grown last night and cheerfully asks if he wants to hear all about it later, much to Moran’s protest.
It’s rare that Moran gets teased to death like this, so Fred takes him up on the opportunity.
Moran is disappointed at Fred’s betrayal (and William’s, for telling Fred about it when William promised him yesterday that he’d keep it a secret), but he sensed that resistance is futile once he sees William direct a gentle smile at him.
And that’s how the Lord of Crime had fun the whole night.
Note: It wasn’t very clear here in the summary since I wasn’t translating their lines word per word, but Moran and Fred’s names were never revealed to anyone in the pub. Johnson just kept referring to Moran as the “damn cheater” while Fred was always just a “young man” for everyone else. William just kept referring to Fred and Moran as his “friends” (or whatever term you prefer for the word nakama). William was the only one who used an alias (Willy).
Also, for a demonstration of Second Dealing and Bottom Dealing, check out 2:45 onwards of this video:
