The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 80

Chapter 81
Bad Woman Radar is Beeping
— Dross.
This surname belonged to Lily’s biological father, the still vigorous Trade Minister.
Old Knight Gordon first subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, and then his brows furrowed again.
Since a powerful minister was involved… this matter was most likely unrelated to the royal family, which was the biggest good news so far. It also avoided the worst-case scenario.
But conversely, the chief private secretary of the Trade Minister was also a big figure.
Secretary Raph was an official in the civilian system. In the Ministry of Trade, besides Minister Dross, he only needed to report to the Permanent Vice Minister. Although he looked almost fifty years old, there was still a possibility of further promotion.
And this instead expanded the scope of suspects.
Knight families made knightly oaths upon being armored, thus they could not harm the royal family.
If the killer’s original target was Princess Isabel, then all members of the Knight families in the club could be directly excluded.
But now…
“Has the cause of death been determined?”
Director Gordon asked, lost in thought.
He had taken a general glance and knew that the deceased had probably fallen from the railing on the second floor to the first floor.
This was about five or six meters high. This height could indeed be fatal. But next to him were high-level priests who could use the Illuminate Spell.
Fall injuries at this height, unless the back of the head landed precisely, could definitely be saved.
The young inspector shook his head: “It’s uncertain if it was poisoning or a curse, but it was definitely not a fall. It should be related to the dagger behind the deceased; it may need to be sent for examination later. But it is certain that death was very rapid, taking less than ten seconds from injury to death, almost instantaneous. The priests who took over the treatment first could also confirm this.”
“In other words, the deceased fell after being attacked by the killer. And died shortly after landing?”
Director Gordon’s brows were tightly knitted, feeling that the situation was becoming more and more troublesome.
After a moment’s thought, he gave an order: “Immediately conduct a full body search of all personnel on the second floor of the club!”
“Such dangerous things must have containers for storage, or special tools for their use, go find them!”
“Secretary Raph might have been talking to someone before his death. Then find everyone on the second floor who was near the railing when it happened, people who weren’t talking to others, people hiding in corners suspiciously, and people seen by others moving rapidly after the incident, and bring them down!”
“Also,” Eivass, who had been watching quietly, suddenly added, “On top of that, please also check if the members on the second floor are carrying any documents or document bags.”
Hearing Eivass’s voice, the young inspector and Director Gordon both turned back.
Looking at Eivass sitting in his wheelchair, Director Gordon easily recognized his identity.
“…Mr. Eivass, right. I’ve heard about the case you handled in the Lloyd District.”
The old knight said in a deep voice.
He did not look down on Eivass because of his young age, but seriously asked him, “Do you think this matter is related to the documents Secretary Raph was carrying?”
“Just a hunch. There’s no evidence.”
Eivass did not smile, but said seriously, “But generally speaking, would people who come to the White Dance Shoe Club to listen to music carry so many documents? Even if they carried documents, wouldn’t they use this bag to put them in? Looking at so many documents by the railing on the second floor, it’s easy for some to fall out.
“So I think he might have just opened the document bag, or just received documents from someone else. So I specifically want to check if someone wanted to steal something—or rather, if he was killed for being discovered stealing documents, that’s also a possibility.”
In fact, this was an excuse Eivass made up. He only wanted to propose this possibility; being unprofessional would make it more reasonable.
Anyway, he and Isabel were being held here, and Edward would come later. They would definitely check this eventually… and if he said something too professional, he might attract attention.
The real reason was that Eivass looked at the deceased and found him increasingly familiar.
And upon hearing his name, he finally remembered his identity and recalled the cutscene that Eivass had skipped!
This middle-aged secretary with gold-rimmed glasses and thinning hair was the “someone” in the [Letter to the Noble Red Society]!
In the game, players first learned that this “someone” was very likely a confidant trusted by a certain powerful figure. Then, from a main story dungeon called the “Sweater Brotherhood,” which only appeared months after the “Corpse Loss Case in Hanging Square,” they obtained a document written in code.
Through Sherlock’s deciphering of this document, players learned that this document was actually a series of locations and numbers. Roughly speaking, it involved delivering varying quantities of explosives stored in a废弃 Chemical Plant to specified locations at specified times.
Later, for some reason, the player and Eivass were discovered inside sealed crates and jumped out to fight the opponents.
Thinking back now, it was possible that the player and Eivass had daringly hidden in the crates, intending to infiltrate and investigate. According to the agreed time, Sherlock or someone else would deliver the crates to the designated location, but upon arrival, they discovered something was wrong.
After defeating these people, they searched for another document from these individuals and narrowly escaped under the pursuit of corrupt inspectors.
The specific content of this document was completely unknown because Eivass had skipped it. However, Eivass remembered a bit of the dialogue after the cutscene – in any case, after Sherlock’s careful analysis, it was discovered that the three documents, which appeared to have different handwriting, were actually written by the same person.
A little more than a week later, an official committed suicide by taking poison at home because he was discovered accepting bribes by the Inspection Department.
Although this matter only appeared in a small corner of the “Glass Steps Herald,” Sherlock keenly noticed something was amiss. He specifically investigated the actual time of this official’s death and found that this official had “committed suicide” precisely after the player and Eivass’s infiltration investigation failed and they switched to a frenzied stealth mode.
Upon learning this, the player infiltrated the mansion and stole the documents that Secretary Raph possessed before his death. By comparing the handwriting, Sherlock confirmed that this “someone” was this secretary. Thus, it was determined that the “powerful figure” collaborating with the Noble Red Society was Minister Dross!
— Although Eivass had skipped all the intermediate plot, fortunately, when he spoke with Sherlock, a news clipping of “Official X committed suicide at home due to fear of crime” had popped up.
Eivass did not remember his name or appearance, but he remembered his hairstyle.
And now, seeing Secretary Raph’s gold-rimmed glasses again, he finally recalled this plot point—
Minister Dross, Lily’s biological father, was the mole bribed by the spy dispatched by the Star Antimony Kingdom, who regularly supplied top-secret intelligence to the Star Antimony Kingdom through the Noble Red Society!
Being able to find the mole so quickly was undoubtedly a cause for celebration.
Moreover, Eivass had not yet been exposed; he was still operating in the shadows. Unlike in the game, where he was discovered because he was too reckless.
But this made the current problem even more complicated.
And among everyone present, including the killer… perhaps only Eivass truly understood the complexity of the current situation.
Because Eivass also recognized what that sheathless poisoned blade was—
It was the signature assassination weapon used by “Eagle Eye,” a special agent organization of the Iris Kingdom.
Its nature was completely different from Avalon’s Inspection Department. Although it was also a special agent department, the white gloves of the Inspection Department were official organizations and power organs in all senses.
And this organization of the Iris Kingdom had always been a clandestine assassin organization on the surface. They mainly operated domestically and rarely went abroad.
Because “Eagle Eye” was an assassin organization, and mystical arts related to invisibility, stealth, and poison were in the Path Adaptation, and even the organization’s name contained “Eagle,” they were widely believed to be a secret society of refugees from the Black Hawk Duchy who worshipped the Lord of Scales and Feathers.
— It wasn’t until the middle of Version 0 that players learned for the first time that the secret leader of this assassin organization was actually the Prime Minister of the Iris Kingdom himself!
The old Prime Minister used this assassin organization to assassinate political enemies from opposing factions, their capable subordinates, or to frame them, or to eliminate rivals within his own party. He disguised all of this as contract killings, creating a perception of mutual vendettas between two factions within Iris that worshipped the Paths of Love and Beauty.
The radical faction, to which the old Prime Minister of Iris belonged, had a core demand of extreme racism. They advocated for the expulsion of the “Children of the Moon” within the kingdom, and to emulate Avalon’s method of purifying paths by abandoning the inheritance of the Path of Love within the country, in order to alleviate the increasingly intense path conflicts within the Iris Kingdom.
Thus, Eivass immediately thought of the elegant and beautiful senior student that Aiden had mentioned, who gave him “Dracula.”
The one who would later cause Aiden to become entangled with the “Child of the Moon” racial influence.
Thinking of this, Eivass looked at Aiden with a complicated expression.
Noticing Eivass’s gaze, Aiden scratched his head blankly and looked back, “What’s wrong, Eivass?”
“Nothing.”
Eivass sighed, shook his head, and said softly, “Of course, inconspicuous things like documents might also be hidden… for example, tucked inside a book you carry with you. You have rich experience, Mr. Director Gordon, I’ll have to trouble you to supervise this carefully.”
He couldn’t directly say “the killer is a beautiful female student who likes to read.” Deductive reasoning wasn’t that outrageous.
After all, Eivass himself had never even seen what she looked like.
So he could only give precise information, one piece at a time.
“…I’ll go up and take a look myself.”
The old knight pondered for a moment and felt that Eivass’s words were reasonable.
Watching Director Gordon’s back as he went upstairs, Eivass sighed.
— To be honest, Aiden, your bad woman radar is really accurate.
There are three days left this month, but the exceptionally diligent Cat the Cat has already updated 199,000 characters this month!
Cat’s rotating schedule has shifted to writing at 10:50 in the morning without having had dinner yet, hungry, sleepy, and dizzy… At the end of the month, I plan to take a day off to preserve my cat life, tentatively on the 29th or 30th!