Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 988 Man-Made Fear

Just in case, Aiwass gave Sherlock's letter to Mycroft.

Now that the Grand Chancellor of Avalon has retired due to old age, Mycroft, as the Privy Councilor, has basically become the most powerful minister in Avalon "second only to the second".

Mycroft gradually adapted to his new job and no longer complained to Isabel about the busy work every day.

This is not because he has adapted to the intensity of the job, but because he has found a group of trustworthy young people and gradually transferred key power to them.

In other words, Mycroft has now formed his own team and clarified the new management system - it is running more efficiently than the old queen's tenure, so Mycroft is not so busy.

He returned to his "Barrel Club" and quietly read books, studied and worked on his own things with his fellow enthusiasts on the Twilight Path. Here, no one was allowed to talk to others, let alone ask or pay attention to what others were doing... Even Mycroft, the Minister of the Privy Council, was the same.

After seeing the letter Sherlock sent to Aiwass, he was stunned for a moment, then suddenly looked up at Aiwass.

This man, who looked like a fat seal, with a serene smile, a mustache, a round head and who loved to pat his belly, jumped up from the sofa in an instant and rushed out in a hurry, pulling Aiwass with him.

When he left the club, he spoke quickly as if he had lifted the ban on speaking: "Let's not talk about anything else for now - I think you should already know what problem Sherlock is facing, right? Otherwise, you probably wouldn't come to me at this time..."

"really."

Aiwas nodded. "I think he is being held in the Duke of Vendôme's mansion. He must be trying to get him to find out the truth about a case... I don't need to think about it, it's probably something involving the former royal family of Fleur-de-L'Iris or the current parliament."

Mycroft reached out and pulled Aiwass, and his thick and strong short legs moved quickly, and he kept muttering in his mouth, speaking very quickly and clearly, speaking in long complex sentences that were somewhat difficult to understand:
"You know, Iris is theoretically a 'four-duke co-rule' territory - it was originally pieced together by the Grand Duke of Iris, the Duke of Vendôme, the Duke of Beaufort and the Duke of Harcourt. Later, the Grand Duke of Iris founded a country and formed a kingdom, but even so, the other three dukes still retained the right to recruit soldiers and mint coins.

"As we all know, the 'Thirteenth Uprising' of Iris was basically a humorous series - now it's the fourteenth uprising - although the mobs beheaded the King of Iris in the third uprising, also known as the 'Third Treason', deprived the nobles of their territories and titles, and plundered the manors and private wealth of some foreign nobles... However, the inheritance, family lineage, power and wealth of the three dukes were not affected at all.

"According to the investigation results of the Intelligence Bureau of the Inspectorate, the uprising was actually controlled by the three dukes behind the scenes, so they did not seriously suppress it. The 'hot-blooded young man Louissoix' who first rushed into the palace, captured the entire family of the Iris King, and forced them all to the guillotine on the same day disappeared quietly after the establishment of the new Citizens' Council.

"Now Iris has no nobles in public - even if the previous noble families escaped the 'Fourteenth Uprising', they cannot declare themselves as 'Viscount So-and-so' or 'Count So-and-so' in public. But the three dukes are the only exception. Because they really have their own army... Even the parliament controlled by the Son of the Moon dare not conflict with them. From this perspective, Iris has now become a new country ruled by the three dukes...

"The three dukes all have their own fully independent and fully staffed extraordinary armies that are not under the command of the state; they have their own territories and can establish new laws in their own territories according to their own needs. Although citizen councils have been symbolically established in these territories, the members of the councils are basically composed of people sent by the lords. It can be said that this is actually a country within the country of Iris.

"If Sherlock's investigation may have encountered some danger or touched upon some taboo, it can only come from here. The Duke of Vendôme was a staunch royalist, so the possibility that they were involved in the 'Third Rebellion' was the lowest. The fact that they were allowed to conduct a private investigation means that the pressure most likely came from the other two families... Because even if the parliament itself was unfavorable to Sherlock, the Duke of Vendôme could still protect him..."

Mycroft ran forward quickly, constantly talking about secret information that Aiwass might know or not know.

Although he had never been to Iris, he was well aware of the complex political situation in Iris—he even knew how well Aiwass knew it. He gradually discovered this by observing Aiwass's conversations with Isabel and Aiwass's opinions on government decrees.

"…But if that's the case," Aiwass asked in a low voice, "it seems there's no need to kidnap or silence them."

"So I think there must be a bigger secret hidden in it. Even the extinction of the Iris family is probably related to it - that may be just a symptom, not the purpose itself..."

Mycroft looked short-legged, but he ran very fast. He dragged Aiwass with him and quickly ran to the apartment Sherlock had rented before.

He greeted the landlady in a familiar manner, asked for the spare key and went upstairs. Aiwass also smiled and exchanged a few words with the enthusiastic landlady, then followed.

"Didn't Sherlock move back into your house?"

Aiwass asked doubtfully.

"That's true," Mycroft replied, "but he didn't take all the information with him. Sherlock is like a squirrel. He always likes to bury pine nuts in a scattered manner. The only difference is that he is a little smarter than a squirrel. So even if one of the pine nuts is stolen or lost, he can always find a backup somewhere else, or put the encrypted files in different places so that they cannot be deciphered... Oh, I found it."

Mycroft said this as he searched for papers in a dusty bookshelf.

He soon found a file bag. On the outside was written "Conjectures about the 'Third Treason Case'".

When I opened it, there was no file inside.

In other words, there were only a few thin sheets of paper inside. They looked like they were torn from a book, and they were even of different sizes. There were traces of notes on them, with outlines and strange numbers.

"F147", "D32", "C90".

There are three numbers like this on three pieces of paper.

Aiwass looked at Mycroft thoughtfully, "Is this... a page?"

Mycroft also spoke directly and frankly: "That's right. With Sherlock's memory, he only needs to see one page of a book to immediately recall the contents of the entire book. Therefore, the information he left behind is actually the sixth line of page 147 of "The Helaser Empire - From Peak to Decline", the fourth line of page 32 of "A Little Soldier", and the third line of page of "On Fear - The Cyclic Deterrence of Curses and Rituals" - very simple puzzle keys, even if you see them, you can quickly think of the truth - I don't mean any bad things, sir." "... No wonder he asked me to find you."

Aiwass suddenly realized: "The next step is to find those books?"

You found the right one!

"Just by comparing this code, can we find the real information he left behind?"

"No," said Mycroft calmly, shaking his head, "for I remember the contents of those books, too. I saw at a glance that he had left no intelligence of any particular value.

"The information Sherlock left behind is:

"'The public worship of demons has gradually made the imperial people less afraid of demons. The previous fear was too frequent, which paralyzed their ability to warn of real crises. However, this worship itself has created a new dependence', 'He was so scared that he pulled the trigger to the bottom and emptied the ammunition in the gun in one breath', 'It was that kind of fear that made the blade of imagination sharper and made ordinary words poisonous. This is the original curse'."

"…The common point is, 'fear'?"

Aiwass pondered: "Could it be that people suddenly killed the entire Iris royal family because of the inexplicable fear that came...?

“Does the frequent uprisings in Iris mean that this fear has never subsided?

“Is this fear artificial?”

With a broader vision, he vaguely grasped something.

Speaking of fear, it is the Blood Heavenly Division and the Shadow Heavenly Division. To make the Grand Duke, who is at the pinnacle of secular power, so crazy, and dare not let go after knowing Aiwass's strength and knowing that Aiwass and Sherlock are familiar with each other... I'm afraid it's an incident involving the power of the Heavenly Division.

But, it seems...that this isn't the story that should happen in Iris.

The place where the Blood Sky Master was pulled down was the Narcissus Principality; and the place where the Shadow Sky Master was pulled down should be Avalon.

Could it be that with the collapse of the Shadow of Avalon ritual, the future has taken a turn for the worse?
"I don't know," Mycroft looked at the documents and sighed. "I think he went to Iris to investigate because he was curious about the truth behind this matter. Compared to the letter sent by his friend, I think this is his real motive.

"Since the Heavenly Officials may be involved in this matter... For Sherlock's safety, I hope you won't cause too much noise when you go to rescue Sherlock. It's best to hide your identity - rescue him first and then perform the divine act.

"…The death of the Fallen Angel made people stand in awe of you, but it also gave birth to the seeds of rebellion—the possibility of rebellion against the gods. If people think too highly of themselves, they will go crazy; if people go crazy for too long, they will step into destruction. I don't care whether those maniacs live or die, I just worry about Sherlock's safety."

"I understand."

Aiwass nodded seriously. "In that case, whether we take a boat or a griffin, we may be discovered. In that case, he may do something irreversible under the tension and madness... In order to avoid this situation, I plan to pray to Merlin and ask him to teleport me directly."

He didn't say anything like "Actually, even if something happens to Sherlock, I can still resurrect him."

The conversion rate of the Sin Beast is not a negative state, but a "countdown to becoming a god", so the progress is not cleared after resurrection. Now there is still a 15% conversion rate left before it will turn into a deer.

But even if Aiwass still has enough conversion rate, he will not say such impolite words again.

Life and death are inherently heavy. Resurrecting people at will and killing people at will are equivalent in terms of "arrogance" and "haughtiness", and both are acts of treating the precious life of others as consumables.

Maybe Aiwass would do something like this when he first got this power, but now he has long since come to his senses... This is definitely not something to brag about or publicize.

He finally understood why Master Chongbo never advertised his ability to resurrect... Because just knowing this would make those who tried their best to survive feel that their persistence was so ridiculous. And destroying others' will to survive is tantamount to killing people.

Miracles - are never something that should be promoted.

So Aiwass simply said, "I will bring Sherlock back intact, Mr. Mycroft. Please wait a moment - I will change my clothes and hairstyle and then leave and teleport directly to Iris."

"I'm counting on you, Lord Aiwass."

Mycroft sighed, somewhat helplessly but with full trust: "I only have this one brother... please."

"What a coincidence! I don't have many friends, and this is the only one I have," Aiwass replied calmly. "I was counting on him to attend my wedding."

(End of this chapter)