The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 591

Chapter 590
I did it

Eivass, shrunk by Queen Titania to a size comparable to the Sapphire Bird, narrowed his eyes.
—Fate.
Fate again.
Not long ago, the Lord of Scales and Feathers had told Eivass about his fate—like a lamb being raised in a sheep pen by a shepherd, both protection and nurturing were for the final feast. The only resistance he could offer was to leave the pen and die by the fierce beasts in the Dark Forest, inflicting an unbearable loss on the arrogant shepherd…
Even further back, Cardinal Loki was also such an enigma.
So Eivass spoke, half in peace, half in sarcasm: “Cardinal Loki chose the heir to his destiny, he chose you, and you rebelled; and now, father… you say my arrival is fate.
“Am I the successor you chose? Or just… a key?”
Upon hearing this, the Sapphire Bird was clearly surprised.
He looked at Eivass in astonishment, seemingly unable to comprehend how Eivass had learned these secrets.
But Professor Moriarty did not deny Eivass’s words.
“It seems you know a great deal…”
The bird, James, sighed heavily, his voice emerging from his sharp beak. “But some things are not meant to be known too soon.”
“Why?”
“Because knowledge is poison.”
The bird replied, “I don’t mean the kind that pollutes the mind with curses… but rather, some things, once you know them, your subsequent actions will be guided by them. From this perspective, isn’t it also a kind of worm that exists in the form of ‘secrets’ and can control the mind?
“For example, you know that I am here, and you know that ‘Moonlight’ has the ability to enter the Fairy Kingdom. That’s why you came here to find me—and isn’t it also me manipulating you to come here? If I call this fate, where is the wrong in that?”
The Sapphire Bird’s tone was gentle and calm, without anger sparked by Eivass’s words.
Instead, he taught earnestly: “Eivass, you must understand a principle. When you are moving forward and encounter a crossroads, this often does not mean you have the freedom to choose. All you have is the freedom to not choose. Even the freedom to not choose might be part of fate.
“Because the things that determined which path you would take have already been [determined]. This is the history that has already been determined in the past; even if you were to start over a hundred times, your answer would be the same. You would arrive at the same crossroads at the same time, and after the same contemplation, you would choose the same direction.
“—And this is fate. It is the future, yet it is also inevitable. It is an inevitability determined by the past.”
“…Determinism?”
Eivass murmured.
He didn’t know what this was—it just popped out from the depths of his mind as Professor Moriarty spoke.
Then, Eivass thought of the first Illusion Card he created after awakening his past life memories: The Moon.
He remembered that the creators of the Tarot cards were those prophets who followed the path of “Adaptation.”
The precognitive abilities of the path of Adaptation were top-down, but the principles of prophets and astrologers were completely opposite:
Prophets believed that the future could never be accurately predicted, because every prediction actually changed the future, and there were too many people who could foretell the future, making the act of predicting the future itself meaningless and imprecise; astrologers believed that all unexpected changes in the world were because the predictor did not have all the information, and thus their prediction of the future and the resulting change in the future were precisely because they knew too little.
But Professor Moriarty was different.
On the one hand, he agreed that “knowledge is poison”—which was precisely the thought of the prophets; on the other hand, he agreed with “determinism,” which was the ideology of the astrologers.
But he did not choose either side, but rather integrated them.
In other words…
“So your assertion is that fate can be changed?”
“Naturally.”
The Sapphire Bird said calmly and confidently, “Fate can certainly be changed. While it is an inevitability determined by the past, the only thing that is determined is the [past], and the [present] is still part of the past with regards to the [future]. Therefore, as long as one grasps the present, one can change the future.”
Eivass frowned slightly. “But you also said that everything in the present is determined by the past…”
“Correct, so there is only one exception.”
The bird said, “That is information from the future.
“This is like forbidden knowledge; whoever learns it must be erased. But those who intend to erase it must learn that it is forbidden knowledge to begin with. This is a paradox. The future is also like this.”
As expected…
Eivass clarified one point.
He realized that Moriarty was indeed not someone from the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
In this way, he had basically clarified the camps of the chess players—Eivass still didn’t know what Loki wanted; and his grandfather, Jacob, who was highly likely to be the summoner of the “Divine Entity,” should be a believer or disciple of the Ring Heavenly Envoy; the purpose of the Ring Heavenly Envoy was to devour him after he had fully developed, before completing some Great Deed…
—And Professor Moriarty’s goal was completely different from theirs.
“Eivass, I have a question for you.”
The Sapphire Bird suddenly spoke. “Do you remember why you came to seek me out?”
Upon hearing this, Eivass’s expression froze.
…Right.
It was only then that Eivass realized that at some point, he had strayed from his original goal.
Initially, Eivass investigated his foster father because he learned a secret during his first Ascension Ritual—his biological parents were likely murdered by Professor Moriarty. Eivass had always wanted to find a chance to ask clearly, but he dared not approach him.
Because all the evidence indicated that his foster father was unfathomably deep, a terrifying figure who would become the final BOSS in the future.
And later, it was because Professor Moriarty faked his death and disappeared. Eivass believed that he would not die so easily, so he wanted to find his whereabouts and learn what he was doing.
As Eivass delved deeper into Jacob, the Golden Dawn, and the Divine Entity, he felt that although Moriarty had disappeared, he seemed to linger around him like a persistent ghoul. He urgently wanted to know what he was trying to do and what his purpose was.
Until Eivass came into contact with Freya, Cardinal Loki, and the Lord of Scales and Feathers, and learned about Moriarty’s past and his own destiny… The first thought in his mind had, at some point, become “Is my foster father related to the Ring Heavenly Envoy?”
Unknowingly, Eivass had already deviated from his course.
Like a sailor setting sail in a storm, sweating profusely as he steered the compass, wanting to break free from the waves and sharks. But when the storm subsided, he was completely lost.
“…I do have a question for you.”
Eivass’s expression became solemn. “My biological parents—I mean, Giulio Alexander and Annie Alexander, did they die directly or indirectly at the hands of the Curse Masters hired, commanded, or manipulated by you?”
“I did it.”
The Sapphire Bird said without hesitation, and in a lighthearted manner, “You guessed correctly, I did it.”