Chapter 44

## Chapter Chronology

**The Two Criminals Act 1** (The Two Criminals Act 1 犯人は二人 第一幕, *The Two Criminals Act 1 Hannin wa Futari Dai Ichi Maku*) is the 44th chapter of the MORIARTY THE PATRIOT manga series.

## Summary

Sherlock announces that Milverton is the one blackmailing Mary. John only knows of the guy as a bigshot businessman who owns a number of major media companies.

Sherlock then informs John of the other side of Milverton that the public is clueless about-- his terrible hobby of enjoying watching people fall to ruin during the peak of their life. Sherlock even calls him the absolute worst trash there is.

The truth is, Sherlock has taken cases where Milverton was involved, and they were horrible ordeals for Sherlock.

Back then, Milverton's methods had Sherlock baffled because Milverton would always demand for an amount that he knows the other person could never be able to pay with the assets their own or the connections they have.

Normally,  if you're blackmailing for money, you'd ask for amount that would be just the around the amount that the other person could barely afford to get. However, Milverton has never actually gotten cash from blackmailing.

From this, Sherlock was able to deduce that Milverton's goal is not the money but the ruin of the other person.

Sherlock believes that Mary is being blackmailed because he found out about the treasure of Agra somehow. Now that Mary has reached a turning point in her life (marriage), he took it as an opportunity to blackmail her.

However, Sherlock believes that Mary is being blackmailed not with the treasures of Agra, but something else.

This is when Mary admits something that happened while she was a university student.

For the longest time, Mary had been attending a boarding school, so she decided to go to a university in Paris to widen her horizons. She was very ignorant about a lot of things back then and got mixed up in a student movement for Paris Commune *("A radical socialist, disestablishmentarian, and revolutionary government that ruled Paris after the collapse of the Second French Empire)*.

Even if she only handed out flyers, the French government would not let off easily if evidence was ever reported to them. Even if John did not mind what she had done, the French government certainly will. After all, the club she joined was pretty much an antigovernment organization. And that is the weakness Milverton is using to blackmail Mary.

To save her Sherlock and John will try to negotiate with Milverton. A few days later, Milverton comes to Sherlock's office.

Sherlock explains that the treasure of Agra he asked Mary for had sunk in Thames River and cannot be recovered anymore. He asks if she can just pay the price equal to that amount.

Milverton replies that it ultimately depends on their sincerity. He then starts calling Sherlock's office as his own, and puts the ash from his smoking pipe into the teapot and then serves John tea with it.

Then he gets his assistant to pee all over Sherlock's violin, and asks Sherlock to play a piece for him. John of course protests at all his actions, but Milverton replies that if they want to negotiate, they need to show that they would give it a sincere effort. However, they so far have done no such thing.

Milverton then announces that he is hungry so Sherlock gets Ms. Hudson to fix something up for him. Before Ms. Hudson entered the room with food on a tray, she chastises John, telling him not to fold so easily to Milverton's demands.

Upon seeing Ms. Hudson, Milverton beckons her in to *his* office. Fed up with the whole situation, Ms. Hudson storms in, slams the tray of food onto the table and tells him not to order her around because this is her house.

Milverton responds by kicking the table, knocking all the food down the floor and stepping on the sandwich she made. He does not care at all if food for satisfying one's empty stomach. He personally does not feel satisfied unless he does something like that, which makes Ms. Hudson burst into tears.

Sherlock then says it's a waste of food. He picks up the sandwich and takes a bite, much to Ms. Hudson and John's shock.

On the other hand, Milverton is amused by this. He asks Sherlock if this is his way of striking back at Milverton, but Sherlock plays dumb about it.

Milverton then says that it won't work on him. Sherlock's power of deduction can never win against Milverton's power because Milverton knows everything about all the people in London, from their addresses, to their jobs, their loves, and their affairs. Who has commited crimes, who has grudges, who is on the verge of killing someone... When an incident happens, he can immediately tell who is responsible. There's no need to deduce any of it.

Sherlock then comments that if someone had that kind of power, he wished they would use it to stop crime... and then says rather provokingly that obviously that's not possible if the person who has that ability is the trashiest sort like a person he knows.

Milverton is absolutely entertained by Sherlock's response and says he's glad he met with the latter. He then informs them that he is not willing to compromise. The treasure has to be given to him at noon that coming Saturday. Sherlock agrees and as Milverton was leaving, asks if there really is evidence about what Mary has done.

Milverton confirms it, saying he has it securely stored in safe at his house.

After he leaves, Sherlock reveals to John that his real violin has been in the cabinet all along. In the past, Milverton ruined his ashtray, much to his dismay, so now Sherlock knew to prepare beforehand.

Since collecting all the treasure from the bottom of Thames river is impossible, Sherlock jokingly suggests to steal that amount of treasure from the British Museum instead. At least that way, Mary and John would become accomplices together.

John for a moment considers it possible with Sherlock's help, but of course he wouldn't want to make trouble elsewhere just so the two of them could get married.

So Sherlock proposes they steal the evidence from Milverton's estate instead.