Moriarty the Patriot is a series currently being serialized in Jump Square and is based on the famous detective novel "Sherlock Holmes." The story focuses on Professor Moriarty, Holmes's greatest rival, as he secretly works to change the corrupt class system. This time, we've compiled a list of the victims—the corrupt aristocrats who were targeted and purged by Moriarty.
Victims #1: The Moriarty Family and Servants
Albert, the eldest son of the Moriarty family, detested the class system in which everything was determined by social status and the corrupt aristocratic society. His parents and younger brother were the epitome of corrupt aristocracy. One day, he put into motion a plan to murder them and the servants and take over the family home. He conspired with William, an orphaned boy with a genius mind, and his younger brother, Louis, to murder the family and servants under the guise of a fire. He then pretended to have escaped, and used his brother as the real family member.
Victim #2: Baron Lenny Dublin
He was a nobleman who ruled over a territory south of Durham City. He imposed heavy taxes on his workers and lived a luxurious life off those taxes, a typical example of a corrupt aristocrat. He viewed his subjects as nothing more than lowly insects. When a couple's son fell ill with a high fever and begged the Baron for help, he naturally ignored him, resulting in the child's death. Since then, the couple have hated the Baron and have come up with a plan for revenge.
Plan to Murder Baron Dublin
William, who rules the neighboring territory, first gains control of the people by abolishing heavy taxes and lowering land rents, while at the same time creating discontent in Baron Dublin's territory and bringing him to the negotiating table. By presenting the childless couple to Baron Dublin, who is suffering from heart disease, the Baron suffers a heart attack, and in exchange for helping the Baron, he forces him to write a will stating that after his death, he will "leave his land to his tenant farmers free of charge." However, he serves the Baron heart medication and grapefruit, which does not mix well, to make the Baron's death appear accidental.
Victim #3: Dudley Bale, the Landlord
Dudley Bale serves as the administrative accountant for Durham University and is a wealthy landowner who runs various facilities, including hospitals. However, behind the scenes, he repeatedly embezzled huge amounts of donations by concealing and covering up student scandals. He is the true culprit in the suicide of Frida, the daughter of a bartender. Lucien, the son of a prominent family, fell in love with Frida, and she became pregnant. Lucien was planning to marry her, but to cover up the scandal, she kidnapped him, doused him in opium, and then used opium on Frida to kill him, making it look like a suicide.
The Dudley Vail Murder Plot
After obtaining evidence of Dudley's wrongdoing, William sent it to them and rescued Lucien. Fred, disguised as Frida, appeared before them, extracting a confession from Dudley. After extracting his confession, they drove him onto a bridge with a silenced gun and threw him into the river, making it look like a suicide. Dudley's misdeeds were then exposed to the public.
Victim #4: Count Blitz Enders
He's a London aristocrat with a vast fortune and a flamboyant personality. He's also a sitting member of the House of Lords, handsome and popular in high society, but he's also plagued by suspicions that he's a secret human hunter and killer for pleasure. These suspicions are in fact true: he's an arrogant and selfish man who doesn't care if any non-aristocrats die.
The Plan to Destroy Count Blitz Enders
First, he harasses Enders through seemingly coincidental harasses, further stressing him out and leading him to commit a murder while on a luxury cruise ship. He then feigns a coincidence as a witness to the murder, ostensibly acting as Enders' accomplice and suggesting that the body be thrown into the sea. However, the accomplice cleverly retrieves the body and lures Enders to the theater, falsely claiming that the accomplice is still alive. Enders then finds the body and, in front of a crowd, films him finishing it off, exposing himself as the murderer. Then, cornered, Enders commits suicide by throwing himself into the sea.
Victim #5: Count Enoch J. Draper
An aristocrat murdered in the original Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlet." He left Sherlock Holmes' name as his dying message. Of course, the culprit wasn't Holmes himself. He was a villain who forcibly took the perpetrator's fiancée and then sent her corpse back a few days later. He provided the assassin with a murder plan, and the perpetrator, who had sworn revenge, exacted revenge on him.
The Enoch J. Draper Murder Plot
Jefferson Hope, a man seeking revenge after his fiancée was brutally murdered, was given a perfect murder plan and then killed. Holmes apparently had an even more perfect plan, but Hope's goal was to kill Draper, and it was easily discovered by Holmes. Holmes left a message revealing his identity as the culprit, testing Holmes' abilities and whether he had what it took to be a hero who could expose the dark side of the corrupt aristocracy.
Victim #6: Charles Baskerwill and Others
The pleasure killers William drove to suicide, and the pleasure killers who kidnapped children from the slums in Darmtor Forest, which Count Blitz Enders used as a hunting ground for his human hunts, were all seriously psychopaths who murdered crying children in gruesome ways, and enjoyed hunting as a privilege of the nobility. These characters appeared and died in the original novel, "The Hound of the Baskerwills."
The Plot to Kill Charles Baskerwill
This time, the plan was a frontal assault. William, Lewis, Moran, and Fred charged directly in, without any premeditated killings themselves. Their actions were so atrocious that even if they were killed, their families would not even report them. Even if they were killed by direct beatings, it would not become public knowledge. Moriarty in this work is not afraid to get his hands dirty, even resorting to violent, forceful methods when necessary.
Victim #7: Graham, Duke of Dunderdale
In India, a proxy war between Russia and Britain, British intelligence officer Gillian Harris was suspected of being assassinated by a Russian spy. Albert and Mycroft dispatch Colonel Moran and Moneypenny to investigate. However, von Herder's analysis reveals that it was the British, not the Russians, who were smuggling weapons into Afghanistan. In other words, it was Graham, Duke of Dunderdale, the Viceroy of India, who was plotting to continue the war.
The Plot to Assassinate Duke Graham Dundertale
This assassination attempt was not a target William had set in stone, but a request from the British state. During the assassination attempt, William reunites with Daryl, a former Colonel Moran spy with ties to the Afghan military. In other words, he is the culprit behind the deaths of Moran's men. The Duke had his own ideas, and he believed that ending the conflict here would trigger a future world war, prolonging the conflict. However, the fact that he had sacrificed his own soldiers was indisputable, and he was killed along with Daryl in what appeared to be a gas leak explosion that he himself had engineered.
Victim #8: Baron Ronald Rollinson
Ronald Rollinson is a Norwich aristocrat and owner of theaters in various locations, but he is cruel and selfish. Five years ago, he set fire to a theater, faking it an accident in order to collect insurance money. He murdered many theater workers in order to collect the large insurance payout. He didn't believe in the existence of the Criminal Lord, who was rumored to be a righteous thief who exposes and purges the scandals of corrupt aristocrats, and thought it was nothing more than the ramblings of the working class. However, it seems Albert and others had their eye on him.
The Plot to Murder Baron Ronald Rollingdon
The exact method of murder is unknown, and his death is so sudden that the details are unknown, but he was apparently forced to drink some kind of poison. He aroused no suspicion and tried to win Irene Adler over by flaunting his "power"—the power he used to perfectly kill an aristocrat—to his side. In other words, a scapegoat. Pathetic.
[Moriarty the Patriot] Victim List
I've compiled a list of victims who appeared in Moriarty the Patriot and died after being targeted by the protagonist, William. It's quite satisfying to see someone who cannot be punished by law so gracefully condemn them. This work features a fascinating villain as the protagonist. His handsome, devilish intellect, and overwhelming abilities, capable of hand-to-hand combat, are reminiscent of the psychopathic Makishima or Kindaichi's Takato. This work is recommended for those who think a story featuring these protagonists sounds interesting! "Moriarty the Patriot" is scheduled to begin airing in October 2020!
