The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 114

Chapter 115
Eiv: “Take me with you, I want to go too.”

After discussing matters, Vice President Boka took Eivass to a small banquet.
This was a small gathering of less than ten people, with attendees being mid-level members of the Lloyd Society. They were clearly not among the society’s rare Transcendent beings. Vice President Boka did not mention the Noble Red Society at all, and they seemed to have no concept of it.

Vice President Boka announced that he had personally invited Eivass. Moriarty, who had recently been awarded the Sacred Sword Medal by the Queen, to join the Lloyd Society.
With the Vice President’s guarantee, and in the presence of Vice President Boka’s solemn expression and serious attitude, these individuals were all very enthusiastic.
They were all well-known merchants on Glass Island, with the least affluent being the owner of the second-largest construction company in the Lloyd District. They were all “corporate members” of the Lloyd Society, a rank slightly higher than “individual members” who borrowed money or insured themselves under their personal names.
Some among them even knew Eivass from before. They had been on good terms with Old Moriarty, and one person had been introduced to the Lloyd Society by Old Moriarty himself.

They clearly did not know about Professor Moriarty’s death. Upon learning that Eivass was joining the Lloyd Society, their first reaction was to celebrate.
In their view, this clearly indicated that Professor Moriarty intended to pass on the family business to Eivass. That was why he had asked Vice President Boka to invite Eivass to mingle with their “old friends.”
Of course, these individuals might not be of much use. If they knew of Professor Moriarty’s “misfortune,” they might even turn around and kick him while he was down. Vice President Boka bringing Eivass to meet them was to make the fact that “Eivass was invited to join the Lloyd Society by Boka” public knowledge.
While this might not make the newspapers, these individuals were clearly not the type to keep secrets. They would soon spread this information within their own small circles… and before long, those well-informed on Glass Island would know that Eivass had become a member of the Lloyd Society, and one aligned with Boka’s faction.

This action, in fact, gave Eivass a sense of amusement.
Because Boka’s actions were not exactly favorable from the perspective of the President of the Lloyd Society.
According to the information Eivass had just obtained, Lawyer York, Vice President Boka, and President Lloyd were all Transcendent beings of the Noble Red Society. However, Vice President Boka seemed reluctant for Eivass to meet President Lloyd.
Introducing Eivass to his subordinates before introducing him to President Lloyd, or even without the President’s notification… clearly indicated an unwillingness to allow President Lloyd to reject Eivass’s membership.
—This was completely out of sequence.
How could someone recruit an important member—a spy, aide, and spokesperson of this caliber—without so much as a glimpse of the boss, or even asking for the boss’s consent?

Eivass had already learned too much critical information during their previous conversations. If he refused to join, they would have no choice but to act.
…Similarly, if Eivass agreed to join but Mr. Lloyd refused, they would still have to silence him.
Eivass keenly sensed a sense of urgency—not just from Lawyer York, who had received a death order, but even Vice President Boka seemed a little anxious.
From this detail, Eivass boldly inferred that Vice President Boka and President Lloyd currently had significant contradictions. Lawyer York was a fence-sitter who had not yet decided which side to commit to.
Before this, he hadn’t decided whether to side with the President or the Vice President. But now, he clearly had no choice.
President Lloyd, as a Transcendent cultivated by a giant mixed-blood and humans, might be more inclined towards the Noble Red side. He now served as a unifying force between these two organizations… Therefore, he was the one putting pressure on Lawyer York and ordering him to kill Sherlock.
Boka was likely a fence-sitter within these two organizations. As a merchant, his greedy instinct drove him to want to utilize, and even annex, the dangerous Demon Scholar Society; while as a Transcendent, he was unwilling to cede profits to his superior, President Lloyd, and even wished to replace him.
This was why they were attempting to recruit Eivass.

Recruiting Eivass was a risky move, but merchants were naturally willing to take risks for profit.
Although they already knew Eivass was a First Tier Demon Scholar, they held leverage over him through both military might and politics, and offered enticements and friendship through financial inheritance and demonic knowledge. However, this plan was ultimately very risky, with the possibility of it falling apart at any moment.
The urgency and even hastiness in executing such a plan, despite the risks, actually proved from another angle that Vice President Boka’s current situation was not ideal.
This was also quite normal.
As a Transcendent himself, he was getting very close to President Lloyd ahead of him. President Lloyd must have felt wary and a sense of crisis.
However, there was a Path trap here.
Transcendent beings on the Path of Transcendence, unless absolutely necessary, must never deliberately suppress newcomers to prevent them from surpassing them.
Such behavior was, first and foremost, an obstruction and refutation of the act of “transcendence” itself; second, it symbolized the fear of one’s own talent regressing and inability to continue progressing, which might instead alert subordinates to the fact that their superior had weakened; and this kind of top-down control and suppression was itself the domain of the Path of Authority… The more one sought to control subordinates, the easier it was to deviate into the Path of Authority.

The best way to avoid being surpassed by a successor was to continue moving forward, constantly upward. One could not stop for a moment, or they would be overtaken and lose everything they possessed.
Therefore, competition on the Path of Transcendence mostly occurred among peers, or through subordinates backstabbing their superiors. The attitude of superiors towards subordinates was generally more amicable.
President Lloyd clearly knew this taboo. Thus, he could not act against Boka, but this did not mean he was not tense.
The “transcendence” on the Path of Transcendence was not as simple or friendly as a footrace.
The most legitimate form of plunder was in the instance of defeating a stronger opponent with a weaker one. The more beautifully one won, and the more plunder they obtained, the more Path Power they would gain from this act of resonance with the Path. Devouring the dead and the defeated to grow, this was the essence of the Path of Transcendence.
Conversely, engaging in meaningless bullying or oppression of the weak often signified a weakening or dulling of the Transcendent Will, and could even lead to stagnation or a regression in one’s own growth. For example, justifications for war in the Star Antimony Kingdom could only be “to restore Star Antimony to its former glory,” “to make Star Antimony great again,” or “to continue Star Antimony’s expansion,” but not “to suppress the development of neighboring countries.”
For this reason, to prevent an opponent from having the opportunity to surpass them again… Transcendent beings would strip their targets of everything that could be plundered. They would tear, defeat, and destroy their opponents completely, leaving them no chance for revenge.
Vice President Boka had clearly set his sights on the person above him.
President Lloyd wished to continue moving forward; he could not suppress Vice President Boka at this juncture. To advance further, he would have to inherit the wish of Prince Lloyd—to usurp royal power. This was no easy feat.
But he could not overtly suppress them without reason. However, within reasonable bounds, he could “incidentally suppress Vice President Boka.”

For instance, using the excuse that “Eivass had offended the Noble Red Society,” he could reject Eivass’s membership and silence him by killing him. This way, President Lloyd would resolve Boka’s predicament. Should Eivass die here, Lawyer York, who brought him, would also be implicated.
From Vice President Boka’s perspective, the situation would most likely unfold this way. Thus, he had taken the risk of offending President Lloyd to forcibly push this matter forward.
It seemed the Noble Red and the Lloyd Society were ready to tear each other apart at any moment… which was understandable. After all, one side was entirely merchants, and the other entirely Transcendants. Common interests alone were no longer enough to unite them; a common enemy might be necessary.
And now, the Royal Family was too weak, seemingly on the verge of extinction while still enduring… Thus, on the eve of victory, the Noble Red and the Lloyd Society could not resist attacking each other.
—Since the conflict had reached this point, things became simpler.
Eivass already knew what he needed to do.
After repelling those Demon Scholars, he could fabricate a scene.
…For example, in his dormitory, he could create traces of Demon Scholars using a ritual to summon a Shadow Demon to attack him, then directly hide, disguised as if he had disappeared. Leaving his wheelchair behind at the scene would serve as proof of his abduction.

Shadow Demons of this era were difficult to contract, but it was possible to summon them to cause destruction. And Eivass genuinely possessed a Shadow Demon, making it easy to leave behind genuine evidence.
At this point, what would Mr. Boka think? He would believe that President Lloyd had made the move, attempting to forcibly kill Eivass to disrupt his plan.
But what would President Lloyd think, knowing he hadn’t done it? He could only assume that people from the Society, distrusting them, had acted on their own—after all, Master Dazhi and his disciple were from the Society, and they had summoned a Shadow Demon once before.
But if the Society also knew they hadn’t done it, they would then suspect the Lloyd Society.
If it were other organizations, they could use “taking an oath” to prove their innocence. However, the Noble Red Society coincidentally inherited the Art of Oathbreaking, rendering oaths effectively meaningless.
Regardless, Eivass, a mere First Tier entity who even acquired his Demon Scholar knowledge from the Society, was undoubtedly innocent—a pure victim. Moreover, a Shadow Demon, an Upper Demon, was not something anyone could summon.
In this case, Eivass could then directly control the Shadow Demon to attack the Lloyd Society.
Simply put, his plan was so simple it could be summarized in one sentence—often, the simpler the plan, the more effective it is, because it directly targets the most vulnerable weakness of giants.
—That is, “Since you all faked your deaths, I’ll fake mine too!”