Chapter 252
Edward’s Whereabouts
“What happened at the port?”
Eivass asked, somewhat puzzled. “Did the shipment from the former Trade Minister arrive?”
He remembered that Sherlock had specifically mentioned this matter that very morning.
The cargo ship was scheduled to return to port today. It had been dispatched before Minister Dross was arrested; once it left the shore, communication was cut off, and they wouldn’t have known about Dross’s downfall. Therefore, the smuggling plan should have proceeded as usual.
So, it should be returning full.
“Shouldn’t this kind of matter be handled directly by the Inspection Department?”
Eivass was a bit confused. “Where is Edward?”
Speaking of which, he hadn’t seen Edward in quite some time.
The last time they met was before Eivass faked his death. Because Eivass wasn’t entirely confident in Edward’s acting skills, he hadn’t informed him about his feigned death.
After all, Edward wasn’t like Sherlock. Given Sherlock’s tendency to act alone and investigate privately, his feigned death had genuinely shocked everyone. Because there was a real possibility of him getting into trouble, he needed to inform a circle of people so as not to scare his own people.
But Eivass was clearly much more composed than Sherlock, not as easily fooled, and he didn’t even have a body.
So Eivass needed Edward to help him deceive others. Eivass himself didn’t need to do anything; once Edward got anxious, others would know, “Oh, it seems he’s truly missing, not just hiding.”
After dealing with the Lloyd Society and Minister Dross, it was followed by the prince’s cursed death, the Inspection Bureau being attacked by Prince of Giants Wolfram, the scheme to kill the Bone Sculpture, and helping Madam Meg shed her skin and be reborn. Then came Eivass’s Advancement Ritual and final exams.
He had been incredibly busy for the past two weeks.
Eivass had completely forgotten to look for Edward.
And now, he finally remembered. “Oh right, I still have an older brother.”
Speaking of which, he had already been “resurrected” for a week. Why hadn’t Edward come to find him?
—Or rather, why didn’t Edward attend Prince Andrew’s funeral when he passed away?
“I’m not sure, I haven’t seen him in a long time either,” Isabel replied, shaking her head slightly.
Although under the Queen’s guidance, she was now starting to get involved in politics, she still had to balance her studies and the improvement of her Extraordinary Ability, leaving her with not enough energy to directly take over Avalon’s various political affairs.
“Since he didn’t even come to Prince Andrew’s funeral, it means Edward might have disappeared a week ago,” Eivass mused, talking to himself. “But His Majesty didn’t mention it specifically to me. Lixia didn’t say anything either… So he should be fine at least.”
“He didn’t fake his death too, did he?” Isabel blurted out.
Eivass almost choked on his own saliva.
“It shouldn’t be… it shouldn’t be,” rationally speaking, it was definitely impossible, but Eivass was suddenly unsure now. “After all, as Chief Inspector, he’s usually quite low-key. The people who see him are either very high-ranking, or have committed some major offense…”
“You don’t know?”
Suddenly, Janis’s voice rang out. “Edward has gone abroad.”
“What?”
Eivass was startled.
The paintings hanging in the room had all been burned. Where did Janis pop out from?
Janis’s voice came from the Magic Painting above Eivass’s bedroom—the one that looked like a window. Because it resembled a window so much, Eivass overlooked it as a painting at first glance.
It usually provided Eivass with fresh air from outside, and at this moment, Janis also emerged from that painting. Because the material of the Magic Painting wasn’t ordinary paper, it had survived the burning aura of the Dawn Crow’s Fire.
At this moment, Janis looked like a puppy with its paws on the edge of the bed, her two hands gripping the “window” created by the painting, peering her head in from outside.
“…How long have you been listening here?”
Eivass’s expression was complicated.
Janis said smilingly, “From ‘I’m very afraid of pain’.”
—So she heard everything!
“Eh…?”
Isabel’s eyes widened with curiosity.
Eivass… was afraid of pain?
She suddenly became a little excited—then perhaps in this regard, she was more powerful than Eivass.
—She wasn’t afraid of pain!
Even when her head hurt so much during the Advancement Ritual, it didn’t affect her investigation; even if she blew her own head off with a gun, she only needed to shake her head to recover.
“Don’t worry,” Janis retracted half of her head slightly, only revealing a pair of eyes full of smiles. “I was just watching from the side. I don’t want to become a person in the painting… If I did, I would be skewed towards the Twilight Path.”
Janis genuinely enjoyed eavesdropping and peeking. She wouldn’t leak secrets, and her mouth was quite tight; she was simply full of curiosity and wanted to peek at everything.
“Painters” could enter any painting, but it usually required constant jumping and had a certain distance limit. However, if it was a painting they drew themselves, they could transfer instantly even from a great distance.
Eivass hoped that when Isabel’s level increased in the future, she wouldn’t emulate her teacher…
If Isabel also learned this bad habit, it would be disastrous.
—After all, the Queen could decide the currency.
The banknotes Eivass used today had only started to be widely used about one or two hundred years ago. Before that, the most common currency was various coins.
At that time, coins were not rimmed and easily became irregular during use. Many people would then trim the edges of the coins or grind off some dust, and over time, they could accumulate quite a bit of silver or even gold. Because of this, many coins in circulation became smaller and lighter with use.
To prevent this rampant situation of bad money driving out good, a King over two hundred years ago promoted banknotes. Prince Lloyd had not yet appeared then, and the royal family still possessed complete, unrestrained power. They could do whatever they wanted at will.
The first banknotes were printed with the royal family’s portraits, just like the ancient silver coins were engraved with Avalon’s triangle. But soon, counterfeit currency appeared.
Even though the King used the Nine Clans Elimination technique, it was futile—counterfeit currency was rampant, once disrupting Avalon’s economy and causing chaos throughout the country. So the King was forced to bring back coins, and banknotes and coins were used together.
But it became increasingly chaotic. Until over a hundred years ago, a King made the creative decision to abolish gold coins, setting silver coins as the highest denomination, with red copper coins and copper coins as the lower denominations, and printed new banknotes.
He had these coins rimmed, so if they were cut, they would be easily discovered. He also had these coins and banknotes printed with the symbols of the Silver Crown Dragon, Candlemaster, and Hourglass. He claimed that these were currencies used under the supervision of the Pillar Gods, and producing or using counterfeit money was equivalent to blasphemy.
The Church was invigorated upon hearing this. Thus, they requested the Archbishops of Avalon to assist in the promotion—it was roughly around that time that counterfeit currency in Avalon was eradicated.
When people encountered counterfeit coins with the King’s head or Avalon’s mark, or underweight inferior coins, they would most likely pretend not to know and secretly use them. The result was that more and more counterfeit and inferior currency circulated in the market.
—But once it was related to the Nine Pillar Gods, people dared not.
Originally, even if they used counterfeit money, it wasn’t a big deal. After all, they didn’t make it; if caught, they would just exchange it for the real thing. But now, if they used counterfeit money, there was a risk of blasphemy—although probabilistically, the Nine Pillar Gods couldn’t possibly monitor every person using money, and might not even bother with such matters.
But people dared not gamble.
Because gods truly existed in this World.
This was the royal family’s way of solving problems on the Path of Authority.
And if Isabel became Queen, she would have another solution—that was to print her own paintings on all coins, and even slightly larger denomination coins could directly be printed as Magic Paintings. This would undoubtedly be the best anti-counterfeiting measure, and once the volume increased, the cost could also be reduced.
This would mean that Isabel’s “eyes and ears” would be all over the country.
Anyone with money on them would become Isabel’s surveillance camera. She could also arbitrarily jump and teleport through these banknotes…
That would be too terrifying.
If people knew about this, it might cause panic.
…And Eivass had a premonition. If Isabel really did this, she might even put herself on the money.
Eivass hoped Isabel wouldn’t think of this—or rather, he hoped that by the time Isabel had this idea, he would still have time to stop her.
Eivass changed his train of thought and asked, “Did Edward go to the Church?”
His first reaction was, “Did Edward golooking for Mr. Oswald?”
Their old butler had said he would return soon, and it had been about half a month now, with still no news. If Eivass didn’t know Oswald’s combat power was equivalent to Fifth Tier, he would suspect that he had also encountered trouble.
—If his foster father went missing, and the butler went to find him and also went missing; then Edward went to find the butler and also went missing, that would be hilarious.
Like the Calabash Brothers saving their grandpa, right?
“Not the Church, but Iris Flower,” Janis replied. “It was a command from Her Majesty—do you remember the girl who tried to assassinate you before? According to the Inspection Department’s investigation, her grandfather is the Deputy Chairman of the Iris Flower Public Safety Committee, a Fifth Tier expert of Iris Flower, equivalent to our Grand Judge. This is already a diplomatic incident… To prevent Avalon and your interests from being harmed, Edward volunteered to handle this matter.
“His side was supposed to entangle for a while longer because we lacked evidence, which was troublesome. Fortunately, Lars Graham made a mistake— Undoubtedly, we will achieve great victory this time.
“If you are curious about matters at the port, you don’t actually need to go to the port. Because Madame Red has already gone to apprehend people… There’s a smuggler who was in contact with Dross who came on that ship together. He is the witness who delivered himself.
“Oh, right. You might not know… Madame Red is somewhat Edward’s subordinate. You can just wait at the Inspection Department. Although I think she can handle this matter perfectly well.”
…Madame Red?
Eivass remembered this person.
She seemed to have some connection with Minister Dross, and also some connection with the Lloyd Society… but Eivass wasn’t entirely sure.
He exchanged glances with Lily, confirming that their impressions were not amiss.
—I must go and see her. Not only to meet the smuggler, but also to see Madame Red.
However, a smuggler selling goods from Star Antinomy to Dross…
For some reason, Eivass felt it sounded somewhat familiar.
Then Eivass said, “Then we should still go and take a look. Isabel, do you have an exam this afternoon?”
“No,” Isabel shook her head. “I only have one left, which is tomorrow afternoon.”
“I’m about the same,” Eivass said with a smile, patting her hand. “Then let’s go?”
“…You’re wearing this? Shall I step aside first, and you can come find me after changing?”
Isabel replied crisply.
However…
Has his hair grown longer?
She looked at Eivass’s soft, white-gold hair that had now become shoulder-length, feeling a slight confusion.
Isabel did know that Eivass was studying Grimoires—a servant had already told her.
—Is this some kind of hair-growing Grimoire?
If Eivass studied it again, would his hair become waist-length?
Isabel felt a bit itchy.
She decided that after her exam, she would draw a Magic Painting of Eivass with waist-length hair—even though Eivass’s hair was nowhere near that long yet, her imagination could compensate for the length!
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