The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1048

Chapter 1047
Elimination Method

But the reason Eivass could propose this time limit was because he already had an idea.

“Let’s do it Eivass’s way,”

Eivass looked at the Old Duke and said with immense confidence, “First, bring all the information on the Child of the Moon Counts. We’ll eliminate them one by one.”

Upon hearing this, the Old Duke looked at Arsen.

“Did you hear that?”

The old man spoke with authority, “Hurry up and do it!”

“Eh, alright!”

Arsen sprang up instantly and rushed out.

Although he was ordered to do something, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of displeasure.

Rather, his heart was filled with curiosity—

Twenty-four hours.

In just twenty-four hours, find and capture someone who can change reality and rewrite the hearts of everyone?

Was this even possible?

It was simply like magic, like a “miracle”!

At this moment, Arsen’s heart was filled with the same anticipation he felt as a child when he first saw a magician perform magic.

Condensing and igniting the “unbelievable,” emitting brilliant light and fire—

Arsen, who had learned to perform simple magic tricks he saw back then, had become self-taught within two years. But he never forgot how his small self at the time widened his eyes in disbelief, his heart overflowing with wonder.

Later, when he was engaged in his Phantom Thief career, he always sent a予告函 (pre-announcement letter) before executing a heist—that was a kind of promise magic. It was as if the magician announced, “I’m about to do something,” drawing everyone’s focused attention before performing. People looked at the miracles he created in disbelief, and that feeling satisfied him.

He felt this way again when he first met Sherlock…

The brilliant deductions were like a magic show to him.

—And now, it seemed he would witness it for the second time.

The Iris Grand Duke’s capabilities exceeded Eivass’s expectations—

After Arsen transmitted the order, the preliminary compilation of the “Child of the Moon Count” data was completed in less than forty minutes, and it began to be submitted layer by layer. Finally, it was delivered to Eivass just ten minutes before 2 AM.

Even Avalon, a nation of authority, absolutely could not achieve this!

Eivass was ninety-nine percent sure that even if Isabel—or even the Old Queen herself—issued the order, it would be noon the next day before he saw this information. And it would likely be delivered in a sealed briefcase after layers of review, containing about two to three hundred pages of meticulous information, with about half of it being unnecessary filler.

Of course, one could flip directly to the end to read the summary after reviewing the overview. This was usually how Isabel handled administrative affairs.

And this first batch of handwritten information, including travel time, was presented to them within an hour. A full eighteen pages, all substance, with twenty-two dense lines per page… Eivass didn’t know how long it would take to write this by hand.

It was said that the Grand Duke was even displeased with the speed—apparently because it was past 1 AM when the request was made, and many people were already asleep, so they were woken up temporarily. This speed seemed to make the Grand Duke feel somewhat disrespected, as he went out on his own to reprimand someone.

When Old Argon returned, they received more good news—the second part of the additional information would arrive in three hours, with an estimated forty-eight pages.

—They could even be precise down to forty-eight pages!

Eivass and Sherlock marveled together at the astonishing administrative efficiency of the Iris people… if the Duke’s own scribes could be considered administrative efficiency.

“Sometimes I wonder if His Majesty is too good to them…”

Sherlock flipped through the documents, complaining to Eivass.

Currently, he and Eivass were in the study room organizing information… while the Old Duke decided to go back and get some sleep. Arsen had nothing else to do here, but he had also told Eivass—to be sure to bring him along when they decided to go out.

As for Annie, she couldn’t help with anything… but she still stayed by Eivass’s side.

There was no shortage of male and female servants in the Duke’s Mansion. Even among the servants standing in the hallway, two could be seen in every corridor. But Annie strictly forbade all servants from entering the room—she claimed it was to prevent leaks, and personally brought tea and snacks from the doorway, delivering them to Eivass and Sherlock’s table.

Sherlock always liked to drink coffee and eat desserts while thinking, while Eivass was simply hungry.

“Eat some more, Eivass.”

Sherlock highly praised the Duke’s Mansion’s pastries, “Honestly, what made me feel at ease working here at first was the pastries.”

He referred to the “house arrest” as “work”—and based on Eivass’s understanding of Sherlock, this was not a polite way of speaking, but rather him trying to make a joke.

A very boring joke, whose humor only he could understand.

Eivass chuckled appropriately, “What, are they tastier than Avalon’s?”

“They each have their strengths. But they’re not bad—though if I had to say, I still think my mother’s cake is the best.”

Sherlock made a sharp comment, “But the main meals here are really delicious, much better than the junk food the people of Avalon make.”

“No wonder I felt you’d gained at least five kilograms when I saw you…”

“You’re exaggerating, not that much.”

Sherlock, whose face had clearly become rounder, stated precisely, “Only three and a half kilograms.”

As he said this, he flipped the document in his hand face down.

Annie’s spirit immediately perked up, “What, did you find a clue?”

“Of course.”

Sherlock looked at Eivass and raised an eyebrow, “You must have found something too, right?”

“Actually, three minutes was more than enough,” Eivass said humbly, “The rest was just rest time. After all, I haven’t eaten all day.”

“…You’re hiding some information, aren’t you?”

Sherlock narrowed his eyes, “Otherwise, how could it be so fast?”

“Yes,” Eivass admitted, “but I didn’t want to mislead you.”

“Then let’s compare our answers.”

Sherlock said, using a pen to write on the face-down document, “There are a total of eight Child of the Moon Counts. Five of them were human counts transformed before the era of the Swan King, and three were promoted during the era of the Swan King.

“Among those three promoted counts is Count Harlik. If Count Harlik is an interference, the target can actually be narrowed down to a two-way choice.

“—Count Gould, and Count Dutenborg.”

“Not quite rigorous, brother.”

Eivass commented, “Although Count Harlik is an interference and the other two are suspicious… why did you directly exclude the former? Isn’t it possible that the other party originally had this idea in mind, and deliberately didn’t let themselves benefit?”

“That’s right, it’s possible.”

Sherlock nodded, but then admitted, “After all, his goal is rebellion. And in a rebellion, if your status isn’t high, you’ll just be a pawn for others. He doesn’t know what this head represents or what it can do—you’re too prejudiced. He needs to test the limits of this head again and again before he includes himself in the script.

“So at first, I thought Count Dutenborg was the most likely. Because he was the last to become a count among these counts… and also the one who developed the best during the Third Rebellion. But I later ruled him out.

“The reason is simple—because he held too many banquets in his own home. If the Box of Nothingness was with him, every banquet could lead to information leakage.

“And the Child of the Moon of Iris Flower clearly doesn’t know about this plan—in other words, the Holder of the Box of Nothingness intends to benefit himself. So I turned my gaze to the more reclusive Count Gould…”

“So you think it’s Count Gould?”

Eivass raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, “Are you done?”

“Of course not,” Sherlock denied, “but you go first.”

“I don’t think either of them is. Because I found more direct evidence—the number of offspring, and the import volume of blood.”

Eivass pointed to an inconspicuous line of text in the document, “The one who consumed the most blood… was only Count Orléans.”

(End of Chapter)