Chapter 992
A Curiosity That Made Him Feel Dangerous
“Mr. Hermes…” Arsen hesitated, a hint of embarrassment on his face.
The man from the Iris people, with his thick black curly hair, exuding elegance and composure at all times, now stood tongue-tied like a boy who had broken his father’s vase.
Sherlock Hermes, the great detective from Avalon… Arsen of course knew where he had gone.
It was because he had been kidnapped from his territory.
Now, he had made an exception to contact Eagle Eye, ultimately for this very matter. He had to rescue his friend.
“…Before answering that question,” Arsen asked cautiously, “I would like to know, where did you get this information from?”
“Stop blabbering, Lord Arsen.”
The words of the Child of the Moon were cold and full of killing intent, yet he provided a detailed answer: “LeBlanc Cafe—he told me that if I wanted to contact him, I should go there. Not long ago, I asked the boss, and he told me where the person I was looking for could be found… He told me that I could find the person I was looking for at this bar today at noon.”
Hearing this, Arsen first breathed a sigh of relief—
Not many people knew about LeBlanc Cafe, and even fewer knew that Mr. Leblanc could find him.
In fact, Maurice Leblanc was Arsen’s “supporter” in his phantom thief career.
For example, he helped Arsen modify various alchemical items—such as a shovel that allowed him to dig quickly, a glider that could descend from high places, smoke bombs that made people around him lose their sight and sense of smell, and sprays that revealed fingerprints or watermarks, and other magical tools.
Arsen’s current weapons and armor were also crafted by him. He also usually helped Arsen forge handwriting, documents, and identification, or drove him to designated locations, or hid him when he was being pursued…
—And most importantly, he was responsible for fencing the stolen goods.
Arsen was called a righteous thief because he truly “robbed the rich to help the poor.”
Even after the Iris people overthrew the nobles, people did not live better lives. Or rather, only some merchants or “new nobles” replaced them, becoming the new powerful figures. And they were even worse than the nobles—at least for the nobles, their subjects were their private property, while for these merchants, people were just consumables.
Thus, the “righteous phantom thief” Arsen appeared.
He specialized in targeting those who were morally corrupt and wealthy but unkind, using various means to obtain their property—either through theft, fraud, or by making them voluntarily give it up. He would then leave them a letter of notification, stating why he came and what crime they had committed… Sometimes it was left after the action, and sometimes it was sent out before the action.
Even the process of his “theft” was itself a form of punishment, an art.
For example, for a gang leader involved in human trafficking, he kidnapped the man’s wife and daughter. During this process, they both fell in love with the suave Arsen; for a merchant who severely evaded taxes, he impersonated a tax official and seized his taxes. By the time the other party realized he had been tricked and reported it, the real tax officials had arrived due to Arsen’s anonymous tip-off, and they levied the same amount again…
The stories of the “phantom thief” were known to everyone in Iris. The rich hated him to the bone, while the poor regarded him as a hero.
The key point here was that of the money Arsen stole, apart from what was used to make items, he himself did not spend a single cent. All of it was distributed to the poor through these methods after fencing.
For example, a widow who had lost the sole breadwinner of her family and was raising a child might suddenly hear a knock on her door at night. Upon opening it, she would find a letter attached to the door—reminding her not to open the door for strangers at night, and several hundred dollars enclosed with the letter; or for a poor family where both parents were ill, he would silently deliver the purchased medicine to their home, so that the child would not be ripped off by a unscrupulous pharmacist when buying medicine.
In this regard, the Iris people had a unique complexity—they were victims of society on one hand, but on the other hand, almost everyone was a perpetrator. Orphans without parents became professional pickpockets, poor pharmacists would treat people differently based on their appearance, and even charge high prices when they were in urgent need. Workers, vagrants, sailors, and other physically strong professions often moonlighted in violent black professions, or even illegally sold various banned supplies.
In Iris, an adult who lived to the age of thirty had basically never committed a crime. It was precisely because of this that people worshipped Arsen as a hero.
—But clearly, there were no small number of important figures who held a grudge against Arsen.
If Arsen fenced the goods himself, he would easily be caught. His public identity was Arsen de Vendome, the husband of Angeleke de Vendome, the second daughter of Duke of Vendome. Although his wife was a full eight years older than him, she was quite beautiful—and she knew Arsen’s true identity.
Or rather, she herself had once been a “big shot” who had been robbed by a “phantom thief.” Because she lacked empathy, she mocked a village girl’s clothes as too rustic and dirty, and got her skirt dirty just by brushing past her. Arsen stole a ring from her. He used it to buy a decent and clean set of clothes for the little girl, so that she “would not feel inferior because she cared about her image”; he also bought Angeleke a set of clean farmer’s clothes and told her, “This outfit is actually quite nice.”
—This kind of meaningless, and completely self-defeating theft, was a classic element in phantom thief stories.
Yes, Arsen was a follower of the Path of Devotion.
It was just that during this theft, Arsen had a minor accident… He also stole her heart. Later, when Arsen was pushed to the brink, Angeleke saved him and took care of the severely injured Arsen until he recovered.
Then they fell in love.
It was with Angeleke’s cover and deterrence that Arsen’s phantom thief activities did not show any flaws; or rather, those who saw the flaws dared not lay a hand on this son-in-law of Duke Vendome.
And Maurice Leblanc was Arsen’s—or rather, the “phantom thief’s”—spokesperson in the underworld. Many people even thought he was the phantom thief himself.
He only told this matter to his friend Mr. Hermes in a foreign country… Since the gentleman before him could know about this matter, it meant he was probably Hermes’ friend.
…That arrogant detective actually had a Child of the Moon friend?
And so fierce…
Arsen suddenly thought about the meaning of this outfit and hesitantly asked, “Are you… Purified Faction or Tainted Faction?”
The alchemist inheritance in the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi was divided into “Purified Faction” and “Tainted Faction.” Purified alchemists vowed not to use materials from their own kind, not to kill, and not to use curses—of course, there was no fixed ritual to prove their faction. After all, if such a ritual could be mass-produced, then breaking the ritual itself could be considered their graduation exam. So this was meaningless.
“Purified Faction.”
“Hmm, I knew it was the Tainted Faction… Huh?”
He was shocked.
The Child of the Moon did not use materials from his own kind, did not use rituals to kill, and did not use curses?!
Was this really possible? Could this really be accomplished?
The vampire with pale long hair narrowed his eyes, gazing coldly at him: “I’m curious… how did you get acquainted with that guy?”
“I heard he was in Iris, and when I got entangled with him, I didn’t even know he knew the famous phantom thief Arsen.”
“…We’ve actually only met once. And it was as opponents.”
Arsen spoke, frankly admitting his identity, and elaborated without reservation: “Mr. Hermes came to Iris once to watch an opera. And at that time, a case occurred.
“I sent a pre-notification letter to an old rich merchant with a heart condition, claiming that because he had stolen others’ ‘hearts,’ I would take his ‘heart.’ That scoundrel was in the land business, colluded with the Eagle Eye organization, and used various black methods such as deception and intimidation to acquire many houses and then flatten them all, planning to build his own building. Many buildings over two hundred years old were destroyed because of this… It was the hard work of many elderly people, and some people died of heart attacks after their houses were tricked away.
“But I never intended to kill him—I only take others’ wealth. The value of a luxury like life is not for someone like me to judge.
“However, his heart condition acted up while he was watching the opera. Because he was used to being alone, he had dismissed everyone. And so he died quietly in the private room by himself… By the time he was discovered, he was already almost dead, and even the church priest had no time to treat him.”
At this point, Arsen grumbled: “He had a serious heart condition, yet he liked to be alone… I actually think that even if this incident hadn’t happened, this person would have been close to death.
“—And because the police found my pre-notification letter on him, I was considered the criminal.
“Just as I was pondering whether to personally unravel the mystery, Mr. Hermes easily pointed out the real culprit. And after that, I went to see him once… After we fully exchanged our opinions, although we still couldn’t reach a consensus on some matters, we had become friends. I had never met such an intelligent and rational person…
“The reason I summoned him this time is also to ask for his help. Because I encountered a rather troublesome case… And when he was almost done dealing with it, he was taken away by a group of people.
“I know those people—they are my father-in-law’s personal soldiers of the Duke of Vendome. Since then, I have never seen him again…”
As Arsen narrated, the Child of the Moon suddenly waved his hand.
Arsen closed his mouth, not understanding why. Alice, who was beside him, suddenly exclaimed, looking around in surprise and confusion.
—The hawk feather ornament hanging on her chest had just trembled.
It meant that someone holding an “Eagle Feather” dagger was nearby.
After her last incident, the Eagle Eye organization had given her this set of equipment for her safety. It could sense the number of people holding Eagle Feathers nearby and immediately send them a rescue signal saying “I am here.”
Could it be… that a fight was about to break out?
Alice was a little nervous.
But she still didn’t want the Eagle Eye people to appear and fight with Mr. Arsen…
They were both friends of the poor, and they both had thieving professions. However, when Arsen regarded Alice with hostility, the hostility towards Eagle Eye was greater than the hostility towards her, the “young lady”—this made Alice somewhat confused.
The next moment, Alice’s eyes widened.
A female assassin, blended into the shadows, slowly emerged from the shadow behind the white-haired vampire.
“The person who was tailing us has been dealt with.”
Her voice was quite gentle, yet Alice felt her worldview becoming chaotic:
That was undoubtedly the unique skill of the Eagle Eye organization—Shadow Stealth! Apart from the genius Chloe, only excellent members known as “Master Assassins” could master this secret.
Why… was the Child of the Moon and a Master Assassin from Eagle Eye mixed together?
Even Arsen was stunned.
Just then, the door of the bar was pushed open again.
A little girl who looked no more than eleven or twelve years old swayed as she pushed the door open. What a beautiful little girl she was—she had long black hair, and her features were so exquisite they were like a doll’s, with a strange sense of lifelessness.
But everyone in the bar ignored it, and no one told her that “minors are not allowed here.” Obviously, she had been in before, or rather… her guardian was here.
“I checked, and there was indeed a Child of the Moon lurking nearby,” the girl walked up to the white-haired vampire and affectionately sat on his lap. “I ate them all, meow.”
As she spoke, she let out a撒娇 (sājiāo – coquettish) meow. It seemed to be hinting at something.
The white-haired vampire remained expressionless and lightly tapped her forehead.
“…Your daughter?”
Arsen subconsciously asked.
—Hearing this, the vampire actually thought for a moment!
“Yes.”
He replied, but after thinking for a moment, he promptly and rigorously added, “Sort of.”
“It is!”
The little girl was obviously displeased and shouted loudly: “It totally is!”
She smiled and extended her hand to Arsen, like a little adult: “Hello, Mr. Arsen… My name is Alistair.”
“…That sounds like a boy’s name, Miss Alistair.”
Arsen couldn’t help but say something tactless, but he still clasped the girl’s fingers as a polite handshake: “Hello.”
This name, when read in the Iris language, would become a common male name—or rather, surname.
Alexander.
Arsen had a feeling that he had heard this surname somewhere recently.
“In a sense, yes.”
Miss Alistair chuckled, revealing two sweet dimples, and inexplicably agreed: “In all senses.”
Arsen surveyed the strange configuration of the three people:
A Child of the Moon in white robes, from the “Thirsty Land” of the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi; a female Master Assassin from Eagle Eye who commanded his trust to the point of ceding her own shadows; and a little girl who was a Child of the Moon with a clear “aristocratic aura,” and was even the daughter of that white-haired Child of the Moon…
What a strange trio! They clearly looked like mortal enemies…
—How did they come to be together?!
Were they all Sherlock’s friends?
In Arsen’s heart, a curiosity that made him feel dangerous was gradually born.
(End of this chapter)
