Chapter 174
Alistair’s True Accomplice
The Moriarty Museum was less than a thousand meters from the Inspection Bureau of the Red Queen District. This proximity ensured immediate arrival in case of robbery or theft. It also conveniently allowed Eivass to pick up the Shadow Demon.
Eivass sat placidly in his office chair, sipping tea and reading the newspaper, patiently awaiting good news.
It wasn’t until Lily quietly materialized from the shadow behind him that he asked in a low voice, “Did you find it?”
“I found it this time,” Lily replied softly. “It’s definitely here.” She seemed surprised that Eivass knew about this underground secret chamber.
Eivass understood Lily’s surprise and couldn’t help but chuckle. Of course, he knew. Eivass not only knew the specific location of the Inspection Bureau’s underground secret chamber… he knew of four in total. The Shadow of Avalon version was the first main story he played after skipping the early stages. Returning to Avalon then meant running all over the map. What were once restricted areas in early Avalon had now become bases for various secret organizations, resistance groups, or simply dungeons.
The main story missions of that time involved delivering messages between different organizations in these formerly forbidden zones. Eivass, of course, knew the locations of the mechanisms. With the Inspection Bureau not yet abandoned, directly operating the mechanisms was out of the question. But by reversing the flow through the ventilation ducts, it became feasible.
Lily could transform into a shadow, and the Shadow Demon could flow like liquid. Previously, the Shadow Demon couldn’t leave Eivass’s side, but with Lily as a “mother-child router,” its signal could now reach distant locations. Thus, following the ventilation duct locations Eivass provided, they flowed into the heavily secured prison cells.
Eivass didn’t know the specific location where the two individuals would be held, but he knew it had to be one of the four underground secret chambers. Since there were only four, a brute-force search was possible. Before any incidents in the underground chambers occurred, this was their only option. The more important the prisoner, the more stringent the holding procedures had to be. Following regulations meticulously meant they could blame an external force if something went wrong, rather than admitting negligence.
Glass Island was a prominent peninsula, nearly surrounded by the sea. Excluding the autonomous cities around the Metropolitan Area, the core region consisted of only four districts. Moving eastward from the northwestern inland area towards the coast, they were the largest Metropolitan Area, the Red Queen District, the White Queen District, and the second-largest Lloyd District. Two of the four underground secret chambers for detaining important criminals were in the Red Queen District, one in the White Queen District, and one in the Metropolitan Area. Considering the security level of the Lloyd District, no such facilities were established there.
The Bishop’s home was in the Red Queen District, so Eivass and Lily decided to start with the closest location. The first chamber yielded no sign of Lloyd or Boka, only individuals Lily didn’t recognize, so she quietly departed. They were fortunate; they found them in the second one.
To prevent any lingering imprints, Eivass specifically requested the Shadow Demon to completely envelop Lily. The Shadow Demon, understanding immediately, even reshaped itself into a different form. It adopted a physique superior to Lily’s, with more defined abdominal and arm muscles — said to be the image of the assassin lady.
“Did you leave the ring?” Eivass breathed a sigh of relief and pressed on.
“Yes, I left the ring,” Lily nodded. Leaving the Noble Red Ring on one’s person was always a hazard, but discarding it carelessly could easily expose the truth. This was the perfect moment. President Lloyd had been consumed by the Shadow Demon, leaving no trace of his existence. If nothing were left behind, people might assume he had escaped. But the Noble Red Society’s ring left conspicuously on the bed… that was a provocation. It would divert the Inspection Bureau’s attention entirely towards the Noble Red.
“Oh, Young Master,” Lily said with some trepidation. “Before he died, he left a last message. I had the Shadow Demon consume it.”
Eivass was momentarily stunned. “What was the content?” he pressed.
“He seemed to mistake the Shadow Demon’s voice for mine,” Lily said. “I couldn’t see clearly, but the Shadow Demon said… it was written ‘Alistair,’ ‘Woman,’ ‘Noble Red.’ While the content is incorrect… I thought, if Alistair is truly a woman from the Noble Red, she would be very nervous and try to erase the evidence upon seeing this… Did I do the right thing, Young Master?”
Eivass exhaled in relief. He smiled. “You didn’t do the right thing—but precisely because of that, you did the right thing. High-ranking Law Masters of the Path of Authority can trace the final movements of the deceased. Even though you erased the blood writing, they can retrieve it from his traced image. But clearly, given Alistair’s identity, he shouldn’t know such knowledge. So his erasure of it would seem natural.” This was a fortunate accident.
“It seems I can prepare to return,” Eivass praised. “Thanks to you, Lily. You’ve completely separated me from Alistair.” This also explained Eivass’s unharmed state. He already had a legendary reputation for romantic entanglements; this would merely add another chapter. Of course, this was the explanation for the public. People preferred interesting news to factual reporting. Eivass had prepared something tailored to their tastes, something they would be more inclined to believe… at most, it would tarnish his reputation further. But then again, his reputation had endured worse.
As for official inquiries, Eivass had another set of excuses ready—confidential information related to the extraordinary, which the authorities would not divulge.
Lily still seemed worried. “With President Lloyd’s death this time… will the Inspection Bureau intensify its investigation? Should we perhaps hide for a while longer?”
“—There’s no need.” Eivass shook his head. “Rather, my return at this time is the most logical. Only now, when the Shadow Demon is not guarding me, is there a possibility of escape. If I waited a few more days, it would seem unnatural.”
Not to mention, Eivass thought, the Inspection Bureau didn’t care that much about President Lloyd’s survival. He knew Tommy Lloyd must have had leverage over many people. But that giant surely didn’t realize that such leverage, if it had any real use, would have been employed by now. If Avalon had only a few or a dozen problematic knights, his information would indeed be valuable. But the reality was the opposite: only a dozen or so knights were without issues. Therefore, his information was merely a tool for political struggle.
Wasn’t it easy to get leverage? The Inspection Department was exactly for that purpose. In fact, Lloyd had never received proper knightly education. Although he inherited the Lloyd name, he was ignorant of the rules and secrets of Avalon’s upper echelon. This was because Eivass knew the current Lloyd was a “cheater.” He wasn’t qualified to be Lloyd but forcibly took the name after killing the true successor, Rowena. The proof was… Tommy lacked the talent for dungeons. His death was unrelated to the main storyline, even occurring outside the players’ view. The Grey Green Lady who killed him, however, entered a dungeon. As a Lloyd, he hadn’t even left behind an adopted son. He harbored no affection for humans and wanted to adopt a hybrid giant like himself. Yet, he feared the possibility of being killed by his adopted son, just as he had killed his own father. In his view, giants were capable of such acts. Thus, Lloyd’s legacy ended with him.
Tommy’s sister, Miss Rowena, whom he had killed, returned in the Shadow of Avalon version and became a BOSS in a main story dungeon. She died filled with resentment and was branded with the Mark of Sin by a Fallen Heavenly Envoy. Her residual memories and soul transformed into a Succubus. The Holy Sword of the past was sealed by Merlin, a Half-Demon, and to unseal it, another Succubus was needed. But Succubi were quite rare… in Eivass’s memory, only Rowena fit the description. After defeating her, she mentioned that Bishop Mathers had visited her not long before.
Eivass would sooner or later need to reforge the Holy Sword. A high-level light-element Phantom Demon was sealed within it. At that time, finding Rowena would be essential for the ritual. Killing Tommy was also one of the three conditions she gave for helping the protagonist team. Eivass knew Tommy had been dead for a long time because, in that quest chain, he couldn’t find Tommy at all. This was because Tommy had already been killed by Grey Green.
Eivass believed the Inspection Bureau detaining Lloyd was essentially a fishing expedition. Just as Eivass had told Sherlock before, sometimes threats were more potent than sacrifices. As long as they couldn’t reach Lloyd, his existence would continue to exert pressure on them. Lloyd’s value as bait was undoubtedly greater than the contents of his stomach. The Noble Red would undoubtedly want to kill him, and some impatient knights would want to silence him. Thus, the Inspection Bureau had placed him in an absolutely secure secret chamber. The Inspection Bureau’s only miscalculation was underestimating someone’s familiarity with the chamber.
Conversely, Eivass reasoned, it made no difference whether Lloyd was alive or dead. Because no one could confirm his death… as long as the news of Alistair killing him wasn’t leaked, Tommy was effectively alive. Therefore, the Inspection Bureau would absolutely not conduct a widespread search for Alistair. Instead, they had to keep the information of Alistair killing Tommy completely confidential, and most inspectors would not know Tommy was dead—he was still “producing intelligence,” so how could he be dead? They could only target the Noble Red. Using that ring as evidence, they would claim the Noble Red Society attacked the Inspection Bureau, attempting to rescue Tommy Lloyd. The outcome, of course, was failure—because the other party failed, they were able to obtain this ring as proof of identity, weren’t they?
From this perspective, the true accomplice Eivass chose for Alistair was not the Shadow Demon or Lily. Not even Boka and the Noble Red… but the Inspection Bureau itself. Or rather, the Grand Guardian of Avalon.
Let’s grab a meal, I’ll write the second chapter afterwards!
