Chapter 367
Actually Faced Him
“Alistair… a spy for the Star Antimony Kingdom?”
Hearing Captain Camus’s words, Alistair felt it was absurd, like a dream.
“Does Miss Alistair herself know she’s a spy?”
“She doesn’t!”
“I don’t either!”
The key point was that Alistair’s persona was entirely fabricated by Alistair. And Alistair hadn’t been very attentive when creating it, not even bothering to invent a surname. This led to Alistair not knowing if “Alistair” from “Miss Alistair” was a first or last name – it could be a given name, a surname, or even a middle name. It was precisely for this reason that Alistair had chosen the alias.
“Wait a moment.”
Alistair cleared his thoughts and immediately grasped the complex information conveyed in Camus’s words: “Are you saying this intelligence was discovered by a Star Antimony spy within the Iris Flower nation, then intercepted by our spies within the Iris Flower nation during its transit back home?”
“…Can this secondhand intelligence be trusted?”
Strictly speaking, it was even thirdhand. It was entirely possible that the Star Antimony people had fabricated false intelligence for the Iris Flower people, or even that the Iris Flower people had intentionally leaked it to Avalon. After all, Avalon’s spies were all from the Inspection Department, mostly Supervisors or Law Masters, generally lacking aptitude for Path Adaptation. Avalon didn’t even have an assassin organization, while Star Antimony and the Iris Flower nation were quite adept in that regard. It wasn’t entirely impossible that Avalon’s spies had been operating right under their noses from the very beginning.
There were also motives to consider. From the Star Antimony perspective, Alistair was an Avalon fiend who had contracted a Shadow Demon. Her existence directly disrupted the foreshadowing laid by Noble Red and Trade Minister Dross, giving Star Antimony a motive for sowing discord. Not to mention, at the last Ascension Ritual, “Alain” had received an offer of recruitment from Count Leipzig. If Count Leipzig had intentions, it was reasonable to find a way to accelerate things. In short, it was like inciting rebellion.
—It was like Song Jiang offering guidance.
However, the Iris Flower nation’s perception of “Miss Alistair” was entirely different. According to the intelligence intentionally leaked by Alistair, Alistair was actually the missing and renegade assassin Miss Chloe de Cirlex.
Seeing Alistair’s slightly subtle expression, Edward nodded: “I know she once saved you. So it’s normal for you to find it hard to believe. But the intelligence is very detailed, and we’ve verified it… Therefore, according to the principle of avoiding suspicion, this matter will not be handled by you. But to prevent you from interfering with the excuse of ‘I don’t know,’ you need to know the full picture.”
“Verified?” Alistair felt incredulous for a moment: “How was it verified?”
“This is intelligence confirmed by the Inspection Department. The content is very complex and involves multiple cases.” Edward said solemnly: “We collected all the intelligence currently circulating about Miss Alistair. The final investigation result is… there is no such person as Alistair in Avalon. Her place of birth, educational background, housing, and family situation are all fabricated.”
“And when we investigated this matter, we found that the former Minister Dross’s people had accessed this intelligence. We are now clear about Old Dross’s identity—given that he had handled this intelligence, its credibility would naturally decrease. Now, investigating further, we’ve found it to be entirely void. This can only mean that former Minister Dross deliberately erased her existence.”
“Conversely, the spies obtained more detailed information.”
“…Then tell me. I’m quite curious about this intelligence.” Alistair said somewhat helplessly: “What is Miss Alistair’s full name?”
“Her name is Alistair Crowley.”
Captain Camus said in a low voice: “From the Crowley Family of Star Antimony.”
“That is a renowned family of Demon Scholars, deeply trusted by the Royal Family,” Edward added. “Alistair is the third daughter of the family head. She is not a fiend, but a Demon Scholar—her father helped her contract a Shadow Demon when she was very young. Her mentor was General Leo Karl of the Karl Family, which is why she joined the Star Antimony Kingdom’s First Army Special Operations Unit at a very early age.”
Alistair’s expression grew even more subtle. *Ah, my surname is Crowley? This is the first time I’ve known…*
“Then why did she come to Avalon?” Alistair found it amusing. He was now very curious about how comprehensive a story the Star Antimony intelligence department had fabricated for “Alistair.”
Captain Camus, clearly very familiar with this intelligence, answered without hesitation: “In fact, Alistair was not sent to Avalon, but to the Iris Flower nation—this is why the Iris Flower spies collected this intelligence. The Star Antimony people believe that the Iris Flower’s ‘Eagle Eye’ organization has an inseparable connection with the Iris Flower Prime Minister. Thus, they dispatched a special team into the Iris Flower nation several years ago. Alistair’s mission was to track Chloe, the granddaughter of Thomas Trener Debussy Marco de Cirlex, the Master Assassin of the ‘Eagle Eye’ organization. Having mastered the ‘Shadow Assassin’ inheritance of the ‘Eagle Eye’ organization at a young age and reaching the Fourth Tier, she was considered the next generation’s Master Assassin. Alistair dispatched her Shadow Demon into Miss Chloe’s shadow, following her on missions while she herself monitored from the shadows…”
As Captain Camus spoke, Edward continued: “Later, Miss Chloe was dispatched to Avalon as one of the executors of the ‘Blood Stopping Operation.’ Then she became your classmate… and you know the rest. By the way, the ‘Blood Stopping Operation’ was an opinion-smearing campaign by the ‘Eagle Eye’ organization, an extreme human faction of the Iris Flower nation, against the Children of the Moon in all areas surrounding the Iris Flower nation. Ostensibly to prevent the infiltration of Children of the Moon, the actual intention was to use this opportunity to suppress the political influence of the Children of the Moon domestically through international public opinion.”
Edward explained in detail to Alistair: “My trip to the Iris Flower nation earlier was to handle the aftermath of this matter. The Iris Flower people insisted they had no intention of assassinating you or Princess Isabel. To preserve Chloe’s reputation, they were even willing to admit to Lars Graham’s assassination attempt on the Royal Family and paid a huge price for it—a price that could set back the entire Iris Flower nation’s economy by several years, no less than a defeat in war. Under the Iris Flower’s system, this would cause public dissatisfaction with the current Prime Minister and might even affect the next prime ministerial election.”
“Why would they do that?” Alistair was somewhat surprised.
“I don’t know. This action is unusual and unreasonable… unless they believe Miss Chloe is not dead.” Edward said solemnly: “And according to our intelligence department’s analysis, it is highly probable that Alistair contacted them and handed Chloe back. A future Fifth Tier Master Assassin with shadow abilities is worth them paying such a price. This also exposes the close relationship between the Iris Flower Prime Minister and the ‘Eagle Eye’ organization. So we don’t believe this is false intelligence deliberately leaked to us by the Iris Flower people, as this information also holds significant value.”
*Huh? I contacted the ‘Eagle Eye’ organization? When?*
Alistair gasped. He even started to suspect that someone was impersonating him or that someone had stolen Chloe’s identity and returned to the country. What he found most incredible was that some of this intelligence actually matched… No, it should be said that everything matched except for the most crucial part!
—Other than the fact that there was no such person as Alistair, the rest was all accurate!
