The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 288

Chapter 289
The Sacred Entity of Avalon
If it were based on Eivass’s previous understanding, the answer to this question would be very clear.
—He was Eivass Moriarty. He was also Eivass Alexander. And with his past life memories, he was a transmigrator from another world.
But now, Eivass was a little unsure.
Why did he come to this world?
Why was he the only one who came to this world?
Why was he the only one who awakened his past life memories? And coincidentally, he was a player who had played this “game” and had foresight into the future…
When Eivass was born, his grandfather had already arrived at Eagle Cape Village and lived in seclusion. Was his birth also related to his grandfather’s research?
Originally, Eivass was only wary of his foster father—as a master manipulator who appeared and disappeared mysteriously and whose true intentions were unknown, Eivass would assume anything he did was part of some long-term plan.
—But then, Eivass discovered that his own grandfather was actually a mad scientist!
This discovery made Eivass feel uneasy.
Am I also a Swamp Dweller? Or am I someone’s clone?
I might even be Jacob, who has lost his memory!
And Jacob may not necessarily be dead.
…Not to mention the issue of the inheritance of “Fake Death Technique,” a non-legacy skill of Avalon.
If his research were completed, his achievements would be enough to sublimate and become a Disciple.
Then, Eivass thought of another matter—
—Players.
Or rather, players in the game’s setting.
There was no such place as Eagle Cape Village in the game. But perhaps it didn’t not exist, but players couldn’t find it.
Each player had their own background settings when creating a character—they had to set their race, background, origin, as well as personal pursuits and goals. In dialogue, these could become their exclusive dialogue options; some missions also varied depending on the player’s origin.
Eventually, players would arrive at Glass Island and lose their wallets and identification—but before that, they all had household registrations and were real people in this world.
But here’s the problem.
As players who were descendants of the Father of Serpents, according to their backgrounds… apart from players who chose the “orphan” background, other players all had parents and families. Then why weren’t their families descendants of the Father of Serpents?
Or rather, why did players never go home?
From a gameplay perspective, it was easy to explain. Because there were too many origins and backgrounds to choose from, designing personal missions and NPCs related to their past for every origin and background would increase a lot of unnecessary workload.
Therefore, players always encountered various things that gave them no good reason to run home… and later, they were chased and got used to it. After that, Avalon was directly destroyed. In a rough sense, their homes and families were destroyed.
…However.
If there were a player character that was the “Formulaic Protagonist,” that is, the officially determined protagonist… then this person should also be real. In other words, because the protagonist had his own origin and background, this protagonist should also be real—and arrived at Glass Island in October.
But Eivass confirmed repeatedly, and there was indeed no such person.
So Eivass conceived a terrifying yet reasonable idea—
Could the original “protagonist” be a Swamp Dweller created by Jacob?
So they, who should have been mortals, became descendants of the Father of Serpents; so no family members came looking for them due to long-term lack of contact; so players could gain public experience by defeating powerful enemies in an act of transcendence; so players could be resurrected infinitely after death but would lose experience; so players could never find the nearby Eagle Cape Village; so players arrived at the perfect moment to save him when Eivass was in danger…
If that were the case, then everything would make sense!
The “protagonist” controlled by the player was likely an experimental subject created by Jacob using some material related to the Father of Serpents!
But now, the one who obtained the “System” and could use free experience was no longer the player, but himself…
Seeing Eivass sitting on the sofa, head lowered in long silence and thought, the Elder sighed and poured Eivass a cup of tea.
“Don’t think too much, child,”
The Elder said calmly, “Jacob loved you.”
“I was just thinking…”
Eivass hesitated for a moment before asking, “My grandfather… is he really dead?”
Even now, Eivass felt that the coincident fever he and Jacob had was filled with the air of conspiracy.
As a high-level Curse Master—and very likely the highest-level Curse Master in Avalon at the time, he had no reason not to discover that he was cursed, nor could he fail to counter these curses cast by weak Curse Masters. Then his eventual death seemed very suspicious.
Even more suspicious was that all his research notes disappeared after his death.
If it was Noble Red who stole his research results, how did they reach Eagle Cape Village, which was protected by a Fey barrier?
If they really reached Eagle Cape Village, why didn’t they eliminate all witnesses?
Then, if it wasn’t someone from Noble Red who stole them… why didn’t Noble Red come looking in this vicinity? And who took these things?
Eivass felt he already knew a lot.
But the things he didn’t know became even more numerous.
He genuinely felt that the old man related to him was not just foster father James—or rather, he was now like a chess piece in a game between two old men. And Eivass had only just realized that there was another chess player.
Afterward, Eivass inquired further with the Elder, but he could not provide any new effective information.
So Eivass could only politely bid farewell and leave.
The next target for inquiry was the only priest in Eagle Cape Village.
In this village shrouded in the power of Twilight, this priest might also give Eivass more surprises.
And at this moment.
Grand Guardian George was using the Soul Searching Spell, meticulously searching the information in the mind of a high-ranking member of Noble Red whom he had captured alive.
Because they all knew he had the Soul Searching Spell, it was too difficult for him to capture someone alive… Before being captured alive by him, the opponent would commit suicide.
It was only now that he finally captured someone. The opponent had been lurking on Glass Island for a long time and suddenly decided to leave today. As a result, during the transfer, he was caught by the returning Grand Guardian—using sneak attack methods, he captured his first high-ranking live captive to date.
George decided to thoroughly search the opponent’s memories.
As soon as he began reading memories, he encountered a problem—he was not familiar with the terminology the opponent used. This was because reading memories did not include arcane knowledge, which was also a protection for Spell casters.
“…Sacred Entity?”
The Grand Guardian frowned deeply. “What is that…”
He tightened his grip on the opponent’s cheek, and the opponent’s body convulsed more violently, with large swathes of white smoke seeping from the opponent’s facial features, which the Grand Guardian slowly inhaled.
He obtained information he had never obtained before.
In his understanding, the only demand of these giants from Noble Red should have been to retaliate against Avalon, to become independent from Avalon, or to seize Avalon’s territory. And their most fundamental purpose was to allow the Bear Heavenly Envoy to return to the position of Pillar God.
For this purpose, they had to stir up a large amount of violence worldwide, making the world chaotic and disordered, thereby shaking the concept of Authority.
One could tell from their names and declarations—
“—We are all wounded fists, blood-clenched hands, and scale-less blades.”
The Grand Guardian knew that the predecessor of the organization Noble Red was called Serpent Hand.
It was a large armed organization composed of Extraordinary who did not wear armor and were not loyal to the Silver Crown Dragon. Its essence was a rebel army of Extraordinary who launched a rebellion against the former king, the tyrant “Choking King” Tudor III.
After Queen Sophia ascended the throne, gradually pacified the citizens, and resolved the many problems left by Tudor III, Serpent Hand lost its core cohesion.
Because they hadn’t done anything, or rather, had done almost nothing. But life had improved on its own, and it would continue to improve… so they could actually return to their daily lives.
But the power and heritage of this spontaneously formed rebel army of Extraordinary attracted the attention of the Star Antimony Kingdom. With the substantial aid provided by the Star Antimony Kingdom at any cost, Noble Red, re-formed with the former Prince of Giants as its core, was born.
They were richer and more powerful than Serpent Hand—they did not need to provide operating funds spontaneously like Serpent Hand, or carry out assassination missions to obtain funds. They did nothing, and the organization would pay them regularly. They were a completely de-resourced underground organization.
However, greed could not be filled. Their connections with the Star Antimony allowed them to facilitate smuggling.
Eventually, Avalon discovered them by tracking smuggled goods.
Otherwise, an Extraordinary organization that received no domestic funding, had strict membership requirements, and actively eliminated witnesses was virtually invisible in an era without big data, and even bank data could not be interconnected in real-time.
Conversely, since they took money from the Star Antimony people… they were essentially working for the Star Antimony people.
The purpose of the Star Antimony people was, naturally, to disrupt Avalon.
…But now, the Grand Guardian had received an unexpected answer.
The memories in the mind of this high-ranking member of Noble Red revealed… their “revenge” and “rebellion” against Avalon were merely to swindle money and obtain support from the Star Antimony.
Noble Red was not as they thought, a puppet of the Star Antimony. They had their own conspiracy, or rather, their own demands.
Of course, the core demand was indeed related to Supreme Heaven.
But they did not intend to seize power by force, nor did they plan to cause chaos—this was indeed a behavior befitting the intelligence and personality of giants, however, the Prince of Giants was an unexpectedly wise and calm type.
They gathered on Glass Island because Wolfram obtained information from a prophecy that a [Sacred Entity] was currently on Glass Island. If they could obtain it, it would be of great help to the second coming of Supreme Heaven.
But what this Sacred Entity was, the prophecy did not mention. Finding it was simply like catching a needle in a haystack. The only clue they could confirm was that this Sacred Entity was related to transcendent gods like the Father of Serpents or the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
And the reason they were withdrawing now was also very simple—
Because this morning, news came from headquarters—the [Sacred Entity] they were looking for was no longer on Glass Island.
Update complete!
Friendship recommendation, also an Amber flow!
“Your Notoriety is Known to All”
“The wicked king of tyranny, the despicable prophet of shamelessness, the source of sinful conspiracies, the lowly sage with supreme wisdom… these are the infamy bestowed upon you by the citizens.
‘Because they fear your achievements and your personality, they also shun these titles, and are more accustomed to calling you—that person.’
‘Of course, you have also gained some good reputation. Many underground organizations have bestowed upon you the esteemed title of Savior, but these organizations are currently all wanted by the Empire.’
‘What are your thoughts on these matters?'”
A reporter asked Rogues.
“‘Slander! They are slandering me! All I wanted at first was to gain a tiny bit of security…'”
Before Rogues could finish answering, several young boys and girls kicked open the door of the interview room, shouting about friendship, bonds, and the future, and rushed towards Rogues.