## Chapter 86
### Thousand-Faced Eivass
Eivass quickly adapted to campus life at the Royal Law University.
It was now Thursday afternoon.
Two days had passed since Eivass’s second appearance in the Glass Steps Herald.
The situation was entirely different from the last time at the Pelican Bar—back then, although Eivass had been featured in the newspaper, not many people at school knew about him. This was because very few students would buy an expensive and serious newspaper like the Glass Steps Herald.
The content of the Glass Steps Herald was too solemn, with most of its news being very brief—for instance, the passing of a prominent figure, personnel changes in a certain department’s high command, an industry thriving or in crisis, adjustments to laws and taxes, explanations of key policies for the current or upcoming year, and important events happening in other countries.
There was no gossip or entertainment, nor were there serialized novels, poems, jokes, or interesting GG (General Gaming) that often appeared in other publications. Many news items even lacked completeness in their details, with major events often summarized in a single sentence.
The most frequently appearing words in the Glass Steps Herald were various “names”—and for students, they generally didn’t recognize the majority of these names, which would only give them a headache. The only noteworthy aspect was likely Master Janis’s “Magic Painting.”
Therefore, ordinary students wouldn’t buy such a publication. It had nothing to do with intellect or knowledge… If someone suddenly bought the Glass Steps Herald, it was likely not for the knowledge or information within, as they couldn’t understand it. It would either be a request from their parents or merely an act of showing off, pretending to comprehend it.
At that time, Eivass was merely a “stranger who suddenly made the front page of the Glass Steps Herald” to the students of the Royal Law University, an “other people’s child” towards whom they felt hostility.
After all, both the Pelican Bar and the Demon Scholar were distant matters to these students living in the Red Queen District.
However, the murder case that occurred at the White Dance Shoe Club on Monday afternoon, and the assassin who attempted to assassinate Princess Isabel, were different.
This was an event that happened right beside them, and many students had even witnessed it with their own eyes. Secretary Raph falling from the second floor and crashing at their feet, dying from poison before their eyes; supervisors and inspectors arriving in waves from all directions of the city, forming a long queue at the club’s entrance; and sky cavalrymen in silvery white armor and dragon-headed helmets, riding magnificent white gryphons, soaring rapidly through the air…
“If Avalon were to go to war someday, it would probably be like this!” the students thought, somewhat excited.
In stark contrast to the generally conservative Round Table Hall and the Silver and Tin Hall, the students’ enthusiasm for war was high. Their monotonous, repetitive daily lives were too comfortable, too boring, and the students desperately sought something stimulating.
And this current incident was stimulating enough.
A beautiful female assassin emerged from the shadow of Her Highness the Princess, pursued by an old knight in armor wielding a greatsword. They fought intensely in the streets, various roads in the city were sealed off by Law Spells, sky cavalrymen attacked from above, lightning strikes crackled down, and hurricane winds sharp as blades swept the streets, while thunderous roars from the edge of Glass Island could be heard from the clouds.
The old knight chased her, all the way from the Red Queen District to the White Queen District, and then from the White Queen District to the Lloyd District. His burst of speed was very limited, and he could barely keep up for two blocks before losing her—but fortunately, the Gryphon Knights were still trailing from above, and Director Gordon had also summoned his own gryphon.
However, once they were in the air, it became even harder to track her. The only clue they could see was “a fleeting shadow on the ground, with no physical obstruction present.” The increased distance made it even harder to discern.
Not to mention, the streets of Glass Island were so narrow, making pursuit extremely difficult.
The residents of the White and Red Queen Districts included a large number of Knight families, priests, elves, wealthy merchants, scholars, and officials. There were also honored guests traveling from foreign countries.
That cunning assassin even led them through churches, museums, art galleries, government buildings, courthouses, orphanages, schools, hospitals, and research institutes… Her route was not even a straight line, but rather she deliberately detoured through these places and plunged into crowds, guiding the knights to attack.
But these old knights were not reckless hotheads. They had entered the Round Table Hall and were generally over forty years old. They had passed their impetuous phase and were all very calm.
“If they were to act forcefully, it’s uncertain whether the high-level assassin with Path Adaptation would be okay, but ordinary people would definitely die. And they would die in swathes.”
“It would be better to let the assassin go!”
After all, the assassin had only assassinated a low-level administrative official. Although she had briefly escaped into the shadow of Her Highness the Princess… she had not actually assassinated a member of the Royal Family.
The assassin clearly knew what they were worried about and thus deliberately led them in circles. Using her incredibly skilled techniques of cloning, stealth, and visual deception, she made the Inspection Bureau lose her trail before nightfall. The only confirmation was that the target had entered the Lloyd District before disappearing.
“The Lloyd District and the White and Red Queen Districts carry different weight.”
As a result, the Lloyd District was completely sealed off. The port was temporarily shut down, and even the navy ships docked for rest were alerted. Six entire brigades of the Inspection Bureau, mixed with a large number of inspectors, searched the Lloyd District street by street, all the way until dawn. Still, the assassin was not caught.
The Inspection Bureau simply pretended that they were not pursuing an assassin but were rectifying the security of the capital—they then took down thirteen illegal organizations and arrested over four hundred involved individuals. It could be considered a prestigious large-scale operation.
Since they were already there, they couldn’t go back empty-handed.
To the public unaware of the situation, this was seen as a swift and decisive special operation by the Inspection Bureau. However, to the few who knew the inside story, the Inspection Bureau had become a joke.
The Inspection Bureau, which had mobilized almost entirely, couldn’t catch a single person—compared to “not catching the assassin,” their overly serious attitude was more likely to invite ridicule.
Conversely, Director Gordon, who was the first to pursue, was not punished but commended.
This was because his initial actions were entirely correct: not to launch a powerful attack on the assassin, but to push her away from the Princess first.
Even though this push helped the other party escape safely, Director Gordon’s primary objective had already been achieved. That was to protect Princess Isabel.
“To put it the same way, if the assassin were let go, then ultimately only a minister’s personal secretary would have died. But if the assassin were cornered in the club, where she could wreak havoc, who knows how many students would have been killed or injured. Compared to their safety, letting a criminal escape was a more acceptable outcome.”
Of course, his commendation would not be issued immediately. But Eivass heard from Isabel that Director Gordon would be transferred to the Inspection Department to serve as a senior inspector responsible for managing and supervising the discipline of the Inspection Bureau in all areas of Glass Island.
From Director to Senior Inspector, it looked like a demotion of half a rank. But in reality, it was an upgrade of one and a half ranks—and he could even continue to manage his previous department.
Compared to the Inspection Bureau, which caused a city-wide commotion, Eivass, who remained motionless in his wheelchair, seemed even more formidable. After all, anyone could see how much damage Eivass’s shot had inflicted. Exaggerating a bit, perhaps the damage inflicted by Eivass was the entirety of the damage.
The students who witnessed the “major event” were exceptionally excited, even embellishing the story as they bragged to classmates who hadn’t seen it.
Because there were so many students present, in reality, no one truly saw the complete picture—at least, more than eighty percent of them didn’t notice the small, thumbnail-sized dagger sticking out of Secretary Raph’s back; only those near Eivass heard him calling out to Director Gordon.
Although the newspaper lavishly praised Eivass, Eivass maintained his usual mysterious stance during interviews, saying, “I won’t say, you guess for yourselves.”
Because of this, they used their own imagination and understanding to try and fill in the gaps of this seemingly amusing event.
When students had to guess for themselves, almost everyone’s story had subtle differences. And the people who heard the stories felt compelled to share them with others. So they would go find someone to tell the story for a second round, embellishing it further with their own memories…
Through permutations, by lunchtime the next day, there were over seventy versions of the story.
During lunch, almost every table in the cafeteria was discussing the story. And the stories at each table were different, as if they all came from different timelines.
There were versions like “Eivass is the female assassin’s ex-boyfriend” and “The assassin is Eivass’s stepmother,” which sounded somewhat normal; and there were subtle speculations like “Eivass is Her Highness the Princess’s secret bodyguard” and “Eivass is a prophet.”
Eventually, there were even stories with legendary plots and dramatic twists like “The assassin’s target was actually Queen Sophia,” “The assassin is a former princess seeking revenge,” and “The assassin is a demon in human form.”
It seems there are even students planning to use Eivass as the protagonist for secondary creations…
Now Eivass had truly become a celebrity.
Just as he had planned initially, he had obtained the goodwill and recognition of his classmates, although the method was not what he had expected.
He had now become an urban legend with a thousand faces. Eivass believed that even a professional spy trying to gather information about him at the university would be utterly baffled.
“Why does everyone give a different answer?”
“Is Eivass that mysterious?”
Ultimately, Eivass gained fame, Director Gordon received a promotion, the students present obtained conversation topics, and the absent students got some entertainment.
Although other departments were verbally reprimanded, no one truly faced punishment—the knights’ judgment of the situation had been entirely correct; the assassin was not truly preparing to assassinate Her Highness the Princess, therefore Her Majesty the Queen would not have a strong obsession with that slippery and elusive killer.
Despite the significant commotion, the most extensive damage they caused in this incident was to the walls of some buildings in the Lloyd District. These losses could be fully accounted for in the operational expenses for “taking down thirteen illegal organizations,” and there was even a considerable surplus.
The only two individuals who felt sorrow were likely Aiden and Isabel.
Isabel was simply sad because she couldn’t go to the White Dance Shoe Club.
The White Dance Shoe Club was temporarily sealed off during this incident.
Although Isabel heard from Allen that it would definitely be unsealed later, she had finally joined her first student organization after more than two months of enrollment. But before she could even make friends or say a word to a stranger, the organization shut down.
Aiden was unluckily disastrous.
As a student who had previously interacted with the assassin, he was summoned by the Inspection Bureau for interrogation twice. Even his book “Dracula” was confiscated.
Although Aiden didn’t pay much attention in class normally, missing two classes in a row made him miss attending classes.
The main reason was that Aiden felt a sense of anxiety: the final exams were approaching, how would he make up for the classes he missed!
“—Couldn’t you have come two weeks later?!” he complained.
“If I don’t do well on the exam this semester, I can just blame you when I go home!”
It was still almost a month until the final exams, and this awkward, in-between timing was making him miserable.
What made Aiden even more sorrowful was that his budding first love had ended before it even began.
That “mysterious lady in a white dress who might have a good impression of me” turned out to be a ruthless villainess—this struck him hard.
When Eivass heard his complaint, he simply smiled without speaking.
“It’s okay, brother. Stay calm…”
“—Sooner or later, you’ll get used to it.”
