Chapter 1054
Killing Permit
After Eivass and Alistair left, only Arsen and Sherlock remained in the carriage.
These two were once mortal enemies—the Phantom Thief and the Detective were naturally at odds.
What’s more, Arsen, who grew up in Iris Flower, disdained authority, while Sherlock did his best to maintain it. Whether it was their Paths, professions, or ideals, they were simply not the same kind of people.
The fact that they could now be friends was partly because they had gone through hardship together, and partly because they both possessed a sense of morality and noble ideals.
Seeing Eivass and Alistair leave, Arsen couldn’t help but sigh, “These Children of the Moon… what a bunch of scourg–”
After all, he was once a member of the Eagle Eye organization.
Although he had left the organization, he still agreed with its ideals in his heart—Iris Flower was for the Humans of Iris Flower and should expel all Children of the Moon.
“It’ll be soon.”
Sherlock said absently, flipping through the documents in his hand.
“What will be soon?”
“Everything will be soon.”
Sherlock looked up and gave Arsen a meaningful glance, which sent shivers down his spine.
“…You mages of the Path of Wisdom are so annoying.”
Arsen clicked his tongue, pulled out a bottle of chilled champagne from the carriage’s side compartment, and poured a glass for himself and Sherlock. “Can’t we just talk properly?”
“We can.”
Unexpectedly, Sherlock pointed a finger at an empty space. “Pour two more cups… no, one is enough.”
“One cup?”
Arsen blinked in surprise and then realized, “Oh, right. That young lady looks quite young, she shouldn’t be drinking.”
“It’s not for that reason… Never mind, you’ll know later.”
Sherlock said, staring intently at the thin document in his hand.
There were clearly only a few lines of text on the paper, yet he didn’t seem to know what he was reading…
Arsen curled his lips, thinking Sherlock was simply trying to look cool—or perhaps he was just too lazy to explain it to him. He had known Sherlock for many years, and occasionally wrote down some mysteries he encountered and sent them to Sherlock via letter. Sherlock always enjoyed being enigmatic like this.
It was just like a Prophet of the Path Adaptation, saying things that made no sense at the time, but upon reflection afterwards, one would realize he had been right all along, but you just couldn’t figure out his meaning. This would lead to a sense of frustration from a lack of wisdom, and thus genuine admiration for his intelligence—What a joke!
He wouldn’t be tricked! That was simply because Sherlock enjoyed hearing people say things like, “I really don’t understand, Sherlock.” As long as the other party admitted defeat, he would smile and patiently and meticulously explain things with elegance and calmness.
As an Extraordinary of the Path of Beauty, Arsen’s logic skills were indeed lacking, but his innate vision was sharp enough.
—According to Arsen’s perception, this was likely due to a lack of recognition during his childhood. Perhaps there was someone among his parents, siblings, or classmates whom Sherlock could not compare to in intelligence, and the frustration from that time made him so obsessed with “victory” and “correctness” now.
This was also probably why Sherlock didn’t have many friends… He wanted clarity and for the other party to realize the gap in strength between them. If the person was weaker than him, they had to admit they were weaker; if the person was stronger than him, Sherlock would be genuinely convinced… just like his admiration for that stronger person in his childhood.
This was probably the true source of Sherlock’s adaptability to the Path of Authority, unlike what he confessed in his letters about “inheriting from his father.” Sherlock’s ability to reach the Third Tier in his early twenties was definitely driven by an inner impulse. His later resistance to the Path of Authority… In Arsen’s opinion, it was actually Sherlock’s deep-seated resistance to “loneliness.”
—The higher one walks on the Path of Authority, the fewer friends one will inevitably have.
Only those of the same level and on the same path can accompany each other. If someone ascends to a higher position, their relationship will also change.
After all, the peak of the Path of Authority, the Silver Crown Dragon, is also an absolute loner—no friends, no companions, no family, no love.
Sherlock must have instinctively realized something, but he was unsure of the key point, which was why he felt anxious…
Arsen watched Sherlock fall into thought, but at that moment, the carriage door was opened from the outside.
Eivass slowly entered from outside, sitting alone in the seat opposite the two of them. He looked at the golden champagne still bubbling in front of him and grinned, “Yo, you still saved a sip for me, Great Detective.”
“…It’s over so quickly?”
Arsen looked at Eivass entering and was very surprised, “Did you… give up on this target? Or was that Count not present?”
He glanced at Sherlock, clearly, the latter already knew.
But… why?
“Question.”
Sherlock looked up and asked Eivass, “Where are we going?”
“Orleans Earl’s Mansion.”
Eivass first ordered the coachman, then asked Sherlock in return, “Correct?”
“Correct.”
Feeling the carriage start moving again, Sherlock exhaled and closed the document he had been flipping through hundreds of times, “It seems it won’t be needed.”
“Then… Count Halick?”
Arsen subconsciously asked, “Did you kill him?”
Eivass glanced at him and smiled, “Yes.”
“As for the other targets… that depends on how fast Alistair can fly. After all, the other Counts don’t live in Lessar Gnaire, so it might take a long time to fly there. If she can’t make it back, we’ll handle it ourselves.”
…Was it still necessary to exterminate them even though the Box of Nothingness’s misleading spell had been removed?
No, it couldn’t be considered extermination. After all, these were at most just Children of the Moon from a few Earl’s Mansions.
In terms of the overall scale of Iris Flower, this was only a drop in the bucket. Even though the Eagle Eye organization had been hunting all humans who transformed into Children of the Moon as a deterrent, the number of Children of the Moon still increased every year. It was said that the current number of Children of the Moon had already exceeded 1% of Iris Flower’s total population.
Even during the Hrasal Empire era, there were never this many Children of the Moon—after all, Children of the Moon only sought descendants from high society. 1% of the total population meant they likely held a significant position in high society.
Even if all the Children of the Moon from several Earl’s Mansions were killed, it would probably not improve the situation of Children of the Moon dominating Iris Flower’s upper class…
As if sensing Arsen’s thoughts.
Before he could ask, Eivass shook his head and proactively said, “This is not to solve the problem, merely a… warning. Or you could say, this is sending a signal.”
“I understand Eivass very well.”
Sherlock picked up his champagne, took only a sip, and put it down. “He possesses a special sense of morality that does not belong to this era. Therefore, I can guess… when he truly witnessed the atrocities of the Children of the Moon in Iris Flower, he would never let them go.
“As a former Pope, he somewhat represents the stance of the Church, so it might be inconvenient to interfere in another country’s internal affairs—given the current depth of control the Children of the Moon have over Iris Flower, ruthlessly eliminating them would have already involved this forbidden matter. Of course, we all know that this kind of taboo is actually a ‘courtesy’ for the Church to restrain itself, and does not have any decisive binding power.
“—But there may be ways to circumvent this.”
“Yes.”
Eivass nodded.
He looked at Sherlock and Arsen, thought for a moment, then clasped his hands together and said devoutly, “Actually, on the way here, I have already prayed.”
“…Prayed?”
Hearing this, Arsen couldn’t help himself, “Held their funerals in advance?”
“Of course not. Children of the Moon are actually a special kind of Phantom Demon with flesh and blood… Their essence is close to monsters when the Beast Path manifests in the world. In other words, even if they die, their souls will not go to the Dream Realm. The souls truly belonging to these identities have already gone to the Dream Realm when they transformed.”
Eivass spoke words that Sherlock already knew, but which shocked Arsen immensely.
And the next sentence further shocked him beyond words, “My killing of the Children of the Moon is permitted by God.”
(End of this chapter)
