Chapter 996
“Is this your excuse for trespassing?”
Eivass maintained the appearance of a Child of the Moon in his white robe, holding Alistair’s hand as he followed behind Arsen.
He admired the scenery, which was different from Avalon’s.
“Lessar Gnaire… my favorite city.”
Arsen adjusted his wide-brimmed hat and asked in his magnetic, low voice, “How do you find it here?”
“First impression?” Eivass inquired.
Arsen nodded. “Please, tell us directly.”
Eivass looked up at the street.
Lessar Gnaire—this was a city in western Iris that was not wealthy, yet home to many rich residents.
The city’s color palette, predominantly gray with white accents, shone with a Shrine-like Radiance under the early summer sun. The streets were lined with expensive crystalline lamps—these streetlights were Alchemical Products imported from Star Antinomy, high-class goods that Avalon had previously forbidden.
Shaded avenues on both sides were planted with Iris linden trees, and the rhythmic clopping of hooves accompanied by crisp bell sounds could be heard on the streets. On the street, one could see carriages, horses, bicycles, and cars that were about five years older than the models from Star Antinomy…
“It’s a very exquisite city,” Eivass commented. “A place rich people would like.”
“Yes, at least both dukes of Iris have manors in Lessar Gnaire,” Arsen sighed. “It doesn’t have a port, but it’s adjacent to a port city. Big shots like living in such places—transportation is convenient, but not too convenient; the population is dense, but not too dense.”
“Isn’t convenient transportation good?” Eivass asked with interest.
“If transportation is too convenient, it also means more cases… for example, someone committing a crime and immediately taking a boat out of the country to escape, never to be caught; and a dense population means public health conditions can become very poor…”
“Public health?” Alistair asked.
“Yes. Iris is not like Avalon, guided by the Path of Authority—life here prioritizes one thing: freedom,” Arsen said meaningfully.
He mentioned Avalon here because he had roughly guessed Eivass’s identity. Or rather, at least clarified their stance.
“How free, specifically?” Alistair prodded cooperatively.
But Arsen’s words still made her a little uneasy. “You can even see people brazenly defecating by the roadside and then quickly leaving.”
“…Ah?”
“It’s not because they can’t find a toilet, or because there are no public toilets here. It’s that some people protest to the council members in charge of this area by causing inconvenience to everyone…”
Arsen explained this unique Iris-style “protest.”
If he handled this matter properly, he would need to increase police presence and public health investment, thereby reducing the money in their pockets. If they didn’t handle it, it would soon be reported in the newspaper by opportunistic reporters.
Then they would either have to bribe the newspaper office to buy out the news and prevent it from being published—which would mean dipping into his own private funds. Or they would let those reporters, who were keen on exaggeration and sowing discord, blow the minor incident out of proportion, thus attracting the attention of the party whip.
“…I understand.”
Eivass nodded with understanding.
Regarding this matter, Cao Cao had already provided guiding opinions—as the saying goes, “I borrow your head for a moment.” Regardless of whether the council member was at fault or responsible for this incident, they could seize the opportunity to make him take the blame and settle old scores. Once the person was dealt with, the constituents would be satisfied… If his actions had serious consequences, they could add “rectifying previous issues” to the agenda for the following year during the election, thus securing votes for this election.
Although the actual problem was never solved, it would stabilize for a long time.
“Iris people are always like this,” Arsen said. “They perform good deeds for selfish or evil purposes, or do evil for a good, selfless purpose.”
“For example… you?” Eivass’s words were sharp and unforgiving.
“Indeed.”
Arsen’s skin was much thicker than Eivass had anticipated. He lowered the brim of his hat, and the corner of his mouth under the shadow turned up slightly. “I was born precisely for this.
“—Look, those former nobles, great merchants, or great artists are now all showing mercy and acting like saints. Of course, I know… although some of it is an act, there are quite a few who are genuinely doing good deeds.
“But those poor people on the streets have almost nothing clean. It’s already difficult for them to survive. If they insist on staying clean, not only will it be difficult to live, but they will also be ostracized by others. In the most chaotic cities, there can even be a street where every house is stained with blood…
“Why is this? Is it because wealth and fame have legs and run to those with noble character?”
At this point, Arsen let out a scoff. “Don’t be ridiculous.
“… It’s just that in other places, commoners don’t have the same strong will to survive as we Iris people. When they encounter tragic fate, they either resign themselves to it or end their lives. Their pressure is internal—while our pressure has always been external.
“If we are wronged, we make others wronged as well; if we are given counterfeit currency, we immediately pass it on to someone else. We hurt each other, each relying on their own abilities—this is also a recognized new order. Saints like those in Avalon wouldn’t survive here for more than a few years.”
“…It sounds a bit radical,” Eivass commented. “I don’t really like this atmosphere.”
Arsen smiled helplessly. “Who would like it? But there’s no choice. I don’t know when it started, but it’s impossible to stop now. It’s like a train has started moving, and you can never stand in front of it. All you can do is either avoid it and watch it leave you blankly; or risk hopping on, where failure means being crushed to pieces, and success also means facing greater crises and opportunities—at least you have a chance to escape your current predicament.
“—This is our Iris. A land neither evil nor good, a place of chaos and order.”
This phantom thief, admired by many, spoke words that were both sorrowful and dispiriting.
He looked at the streetlights and said, “Do you know, these streetlights are only found in big cities. In rural areas, they use cheap tallow lamps. They are simple alchemical candles made from animal fat, very inexpensive—but the key is, precisely because they are so cheap, you can’t be sure if they are really made of animal fat.
“That pungent smell, the greasy smoke, always surrounds the city. The surrounding walls are stained with oil, and the ground flows with excrement and urine—ironically, many Avalonians still think Iris flows with milk and honey.
“But even these cheap animal fat candles are necessities. Because Iris people are fond of harming others, the Church’s influence here is not as great. People even write scandalous news about His Majesty the Pope, daring to portray the Pope as a dramatic character without authorization… Consequently, many cities do not have Bishops.
“—And the number of ‘missing persons’ in Iris is the highest among the Hrasal nations, bar none. Its gap is even wider than Star Antinomy’s… You probably know what that means, right?”
“It means,” Eivass said after a moment of silence, “the poorer the place, the more likely it is to be haunted.”
“Precisely.”
Arsen snapped his fingers. “People believe that light can dispel the Und. So even the poorest places light streetlamps at night to ward off ghosts.”
“That’s useless.”
Eivass shook his head. “The part that is useful is actually the ‘Bishops’—when they light the lamps, they are actually using the light to support an invisible barrier, or to disperse the Und with purifying light. But the light itself has no effect in dispelling the Und.”
“They may not necessarily know this,” the Phantom Thief quipped. “But rather than ‘letting the Church intervene deeper in their lives,’ people prefer to deceive themselves. After all, not many people die from Und attacks, so as long as it doesn’t cause any trouble, it’s fine to leave it alone—at least the Und kill far fewer of their own kind each year than Iris people do.
“Why are there so many people on the streets and in the bars at noon? It’s simple, because people are less brave about staying out overnight. Even in large cities, priests cannot drive out all the Und… Purifying the Und also requires Mana, but the few Clergy available mostly use their Mana to heal others.
“When night falls, it will get foggy here. At that time, unless necessary, people won’t go out often.
“—Where we are, the night belongs to the Extraordinary. This is a natural division. Only those who can ignore the weak Und are qualified to enjoy the moonlight—and to have clandestine affairs.”
At this point, the Phantom Thief’s expression became somewhat subtle. It seemed to carry a sense of grief and unease, yet mockingly about something.
“So,” Eivass asked, “you only steal at night because of this?”
“Because it’s relatively less likely to harm the innocent,” Arsen’s words were compassionate yet ruthless. “We consider it a ‘contract.’ A adherence to convention, an unspoken understanding. Just as in gang fights, no one would rush into a police station and pull out the cops… In the ‘each relying on their own abilities’ phase at night, if someone dies, it’s their own fault.
“—Because when you choose to operate in such a dangerous place, you have already prepared yourself psychologically to be killed.”
“I understand.”
Eivass nodded slightly. In simple terms, the nights in Iris were “unprotected zones.” Only here could Extraordinary individuals “kill freely.” This was different from the situation in Avalon.
In Avalon’s past, let alone people being killed at night… even a warehouse explosion with no casualties or loss of goods, or even just a suspicion that extraordinary power was involved in such a case, would warrant a meeting of five or six Supervisors for repeated discussions. Cases like Eivass’s parents being cursed to death were considered major offenses in Avalon, punishable by death for crimes such as ‘violating the Path of Authority,’ ‘using illegal extraordinary techniques,’ ‘murder,’ ‘cursing others,’ ‘raising dangerous creatures,’ and so on—basically starting with the death penalty.
But in Iris, such an incident, if it occurred at night, might not even be reported in the newspaper. People would simply ignore the corpses indifferently. Unless they truly blocked the way or occupied space, they would call the hygiene department to deal with the unclaimed bodies. Even if it were reported in the newspaper, it would only appear as news like “eleven corpses were found in a certain district last night,” becoming part of a cold, numerical figure.
…It’s like Gotham. Eivass mused.
They chatted as they reached their destination.
This wasn’t a residential area. Nor was it Arsen’s own residence.
“We can’t go home,” Arsen explained. “We can’t even go to LeBlanc Cafe; it’s full of spies.”
“Is Sherlock at your house?” Eivass asked directly.
Hearing such an intimate address, Arsen’s heart stirred.
—The subtle possibility in his heart rose again.
“To be precise, his body is lying in my house,” Arsen sighed. “I harmed him.”
“What exactly happened?”
“I originally wanted to ask him to investigate another matter… For convenience of communication, I brought him to my home. My cheap father-in-law—the current Duke Vendome—heard about this, and solemnly invited our intelligent Great Detective Hermes for a chat.
“—After that, he never came out. If I hadn’t gone in to confirm he was still breathing, merely fallen into slumber… I would have thought my father had killed him. And at that time, I understood what had happened—he was taken to the Dream Realm.
Arsen frowned deeply. “And after that, his proxy recipient—you know who—received a letter from the Queen of Avalon. This letter carries significant weight for the current Iris, even Duke Vendome had to treat it cautiously. So Sherlock returned to his body, personally wrote this letter, and then fell back into slumber.
“In other words,” the Child of the Moon in white robes raised an eyebrow, “we could directly enter the Duke’s Mansion and kidnap him?
“Although I don’t know what secret method he used to imprison Sherlock’s soul. But as long as I can force him to hand over this secret method, or release Sherlock… it is possible, right?”
Eivass said slowly and deliberately. “As long as he absolutely dares not stop me.”
…After all, you are His Majesty the Pope; who would dare to stop you? Arsen thought helplessly.
—He had now basically guessed the identity of this “Child of the Moon in white robes.”
Eivass, on the other hand, was just speaking casually, making no effort to hide his identity. “I also believe in your determination to save Sherlock. But after roughly guessing my identity, you didn’t take me home—so I deduce that you also have something you want to investigate, right?”
“…I actually suspect these two matters might be related,” Arsen finally said. “It involves my mother.”
“Your mother?”
“I am an orphan, and my mother died when I was very young, so I grew up in an orphanage… You must have guessed. I was also once a member of the Eagle Eye organization.”
Arsen stated frankly. “But thanks to Duke Vendome, I was able to leave the organization and not be chased for ‘desertion.’ Therefore, I am grateful to this father-in-law.
“But from another perspective, Duke Vendome knew my parents. I think there might be some secrets surrounding their deaths… My being taken in as a son-in-law by Duke Vendome might also be related to this. I recently found some important information… and what I wanted to ask Sherlock to investigate was this very matter.
“—So, I am sorry… Your Excellency.”
He ultimately swallowed the word “Pope,” and after a moment of silence, added, “After that, I couldn’t contact Sherlock. But I suspect that what Duke Vendome is investigating might also be related to that secret…
“I can directly rescue Sherlock and terminate the investigation, but that would mean the truth I’m seeking might never be found… This is my selfishness. I admit it’s not moral… I will apologize to Sherlock later.”
“…I can understand your thoughts now,” Eivass nodded slowly. “I believe Sherlock also wants to know the truth. He buries himself in puzzles like a cat burying its head in its food bowl. If you pull him out at such a time, he will hiss.
“Don’t worry, I will help you. Because of your honesty—and I also need to go to the Dream Realm to do something.
“It’s just that there’s one thing I don’t quite understand…”
Eivass looked at his surroundings, trying his best to maintain a calm tone.
“…Why did you bring us to a university dormitory to enter the Dream Realm?”
“I have an acquaintance here,” Arsen whispered.
“I think you should have one elsewhere too!” Eivass exclaimed.
(End of this chapter)
