Chapter 846
How many more Moriarty’s were there?
As the second painting was completed, everyone who remained in the second painting was teleported back to the fantasy corridor.
This time, they didn’t need to answer questions, as it wasn’t yet time to make a choice.
Before the three doors, a countdown marker appeared on the ground.
Two of the doors had already turned into paintings.
“…’Endless Feast’ and ‘Animal World,’ huh.”
Eivass muttered in a low voice, “What will the third painting be like?”
He could clearly see that the light spots appearing on the third painting hadn’t changed much. It was still accumulating points uniformly, but so far, three rounds of answers had been chosen. The first time was a three votes full vote, but now there were only five votes.
This meant that two people had indeed lost the ability to vote.
…Was it because they were petrified?
After all, according to the distribution, there should have been extraordinary individuals of the Twilight Path in the third painting as well.
He had the ability to petrify others. In this Ascension Ritual that encouraged death, being sealed was far more serious than death.
Eivass didn’t know what had happened to the Child of the Moon in the first painting. He didn’t know if she was ultimately sealed in the painting or in the corridor outside…
Eivass had been here, waiting until the clock on the ground finished. The light spots on the third door suddenly brightened, revealing new traces.
Compared to before, there were two more light spots.
Had someone been unsealed? Or had another person appeared?
If another person had appeared, then it must have been the Crown Princess. Eivass hadn’t seen her in the second painting, so he assumed she must have gone to take risks in the third painting.
She seemed to have survived…
Eivass let out a sigh of relief.
Even though it was the person who had killed him—he still hoped she could live longer.
As the basic template for the third painting, this painting, ‘Be With Me’… barring any unexpected events, Eivass had actually seen it before.
—It was the painting that Master Janis had given to Eivass and Isabel when she left Avalon. It was named by Isabel, and the sentence was spoken by Eivass himself.
And the three directions completed through this painting… the three endings of ‘Ouroboros Ring,’ ‘One Thousand Years Later,’ and ‘Goodbye,’ made Eivass somewhat uneasy.
He once again—and from his own Ascension Ritual—found traces belonging to the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
It was as if someone was always reminding him that he was merely a key discarded by the Ring Heavenly Envoy. One day, the Ring Heavenly Envoy would find him and use him to open that door…
“…I’ll just have to play it by ear.”
Eivass sighed and pushed the door open, walking in.
Including this time, this painting should have had its direction chosen four times, and it shouldn’t have been in its original state anymore.
He hoped to find some familiar traces within it…
Alistair, on the other side, thought the same.
—Until she opened her eyes in a wave of dizziness.
Accustomed to the fairy tale filter in the second painting, Alistair found it a little difficult to adapt to a world with a realistic style all of a sudden…
“…Huh?”
She suddenly widened her eyes.
Alistair felt as if she had suddenly arrived in a world that was both very familiar and extremely strange—
She was currently standing at the top of a bell tower.
In the sky, the sun was shining brightly.
But compared to Avalon’s sky, where a hint of blue could still be seen, the sky here had a more pronounced leaden gray color.
And below the bell tower…
There was heavy traffic.
Familiar and yet unfamiliar.
Cars sped by as if in a race, and towering skyscrapers pierced the clouds. The crosswalks were filled with a dense and orderly flow of people.
On the walls of the skyscrapers, which resembled mirrors, the GG that Alistair seemed to understand but not quite understand was constantly reflected—it sounded like Avalon language, but it was mixed with many words and dialects of Iris Flower and Star Antinomy.
This place was…
“…Modern.”
Alistair muttered in a low voice.
But this place… was not her home.
Her emotions surged.
Her hands subconsciously gripped the railing and then relaxed, her arms trembling uncontrollably, and then her whole body began to shake.
Her heart suddenly began to beat abnormally fast, and she gasped for air as if she had asthma. When her emotions calmed down a little, Alistair took a deep breath, and her power suddenly twisted and deformed the metal railing—
“【Halt】!”
Just then, a Word Spirit descended.
It landed on Alistair and then bounced off.
Alistair only felt a momentary, almost imperceptible stiffness in her body, and the Law Spell disappeared into thin air.
Just then, a middle-aged policeman, standing on a UFO that looked like a flying saucer, suddenly flew over.
“—Hey, girl! Be careful, it’s dangerous there! How did you get up here?”
He shouted from afar, half admonishing and half warning, “Don’t stand by the railing, it’s dangerous, you might fall! I don’t care what kind of student you are or if you’ve learned some superpower and think you’re a superhero, you’re too young! Go back to school!”
Hearing this, Alistair only then realized what was going on.
She looked down at her attire.
A white shirt, a brown plaid pleated skirt, a dark brown short suit, and a striped tie. It did look a bit like a school uniform from somewhere…
“…Sorry, sir.”
Alistair forced down her excitement and agitation, putting on an act like she was about to cry, and said in a low voice, “I’m feeling a bit down…”
“Sigh, you child…”
The middle-aged man, dressed as a policeman, heaved a sigh and flew over on his disk: “Are you heartbroken? You kids…”
It was only then that he saw the metal railing that Alistair had bent, and he was startled.
But seeing Alistair standing obediently beside him, he couldn’t say anything.
After much deliberation, he asked, “Where are your parents? I need their contact information.”
“They’re all dead.”
Alistair said softly, tears almost in her eyes, “When I was very young, they were killed by demons and Curse Masters…”
“…Oh, oh. Damn it, oh… I’m sorry…”
The middle-aged man realized he had said the wrong thing, and he was suddenly choked up, then stammered an apology.
He hovered there, looking at Alistair as if he had something to say.
“…Sir,” Alistair looked up, her eyes seemed to well up with real tears, “I’m a little hungry. Could you treat me to something?”
“…Nothing too expensive, girl.”
The middle-aged man said helplessly, “I don’t have much private money—this can’t be reimbursed by the Inspection Bureau.”
“A hamburger and a soda will do, okay?”
“Oh, of course.”
The man breathed a sigh of relief, as this was clearly within his budget.
He looked up at the sky, “It’s not too early or too late, shall we go have lunch together? Don’t do anything dangerous like this next time.”
Saying that, he gently pulled Alistair onto his flying disk. Then, he flew the two of them directly to the street below the bell tower.
It wasn’t until they were close to the ground that the two disembarked from the disk.
The disk instantly retracted, turning into a shield, and the man strapped it to his back. It was as if some kind of magnetic device was attached to his back, and it clung to him when he simply placed it there.
Alistair politely said in a soft voice, “What should I call you, sir?”
“You can call me Inspector Weber. I usually patrol the Red Queen district. If you’re unhappy about something, you can come to the Inspection Bureau to find me. Except for holidays, I’m usually either on the street or at the bureau.”
The middle-aged man chuckled, “Such polite language, are you a young lady from somewhere? Oh… I’m sorry.”
He found Alistair’s manner of speaking interesting, with an old-fashioned style, like that of an ancient academy that taught wealthy children. But as soon as he said this, he realized something.
“It’s okay, I didn’t grow up in an orphanage either. I was adopted…”
Alistair shook her head and smiled.
“Oh?”
Inspector Weber asked curiously, “What’s your name, girl?”
“My name is Alistair.”
Alistair said frankly, “The people who adopted me… they have the surname Moriarty.”
“Oh, Alistair… wait… which Moriarty?”
Inspector Weber paused, then was startled.
Alistair’s heart stirred.
She stopped in her tracks, tilt her head, and asked tentatively, “How many more Moriartys are there?”
(End of Chapter)
