Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 992 Curiosity That Makes Me Feel Dangerous
"Mr. Hermes..."

Yasen hesitated, a look of embarrassment on his face.

This Iris man with thick black curly hair, who always maintains elegance and grace, is now as silent as a big boy who smashed his father's vase.

The great detective from Avalon, Sherlock Hermes... Yassen certainly knew where he was going.

Because the other party was kidnapped from his territory.

Now he made an exception and contacted Hawkeye, and it was actually for this matter. He had to rescue his friend.

"...Before answering this question," Yasen asked cautiously, "I want to know where did you get this information?"

"Don't be so long-winded, Lord Yasin."

The Moon Child's words were cold and murderous, but he still gave a detailed answer: "LeBlanc Cafe - that guy told me that if I wanted to contact him, I should go there. I just asked the boss not long ago where the guy who might know where that guy is... He told me that I can find the person I'm looking for at this bar at 12 noon today."

Hearing this, Yasen first breathed a sigh of relief—

Not many people know about LeBlanc Cafe, and even fewer know that Mr. LeBlanc can find them.

In fact, Maurice LeBlanc is Yasin's "supporter" in his work as a phantom thief.

For example, helping him transform various alchemical props - such as a shovel that allows him to dig tunnels quickly, a hang glider that can land from a high altitude, a smoke bomb that makes people around him lose their vision and sense of smell, a spray that makes fingerprints or watermarks visible, and other magical props.

The weapons and protective gear that Yasen is using now were all made by him. He is also responsible for forging Yasen's handwriting, documents, and identity certificates, or driving him to a designated location, or hiding him when he is being hunted...

——And the most important thing is to help him sell the stolen goods.

The reason why Arsene is called a chivalrous thief is because he really knows how to "rob the rich and help the poor."

After Iris eliminated the nobles, people did not live a good life. In other words, only some merchants or "new nobles" took their place and became the new bigwigs. And they were not even as good as the nobles - at least for the nobles, their subjects were their personal property, and for these merchants, people were just consumables.

Then, the "righteous thief" Arsene appeared.

He specifically targeted those with bad morals and those who were rich but unkind, and used various means to obtain their property - stealing, defrauding, or asking the other party to voluntarily give it up and hand it over. Then he would leave a letter for the other party, stating why he came and what crime the other party had committed... Sometimes he left it after completing the action, and sometimes he simply sent it before the action.

Even the process of his "stealing" is itself a kind of punishment and an art.

For example, he kidnapped the wife and daughter of a gang leader who had engaged in human trafficking, and in the process they all fell in love with the elegant Yasen; he pretended to be a tax bureau staff member to check the taxes of a businessman who seriously evaded taxes, and when the businessman realized that he had been cheated and reported the case, Yasen's anonymous report attracted real tax bureau staff, so he collected the same amount of money again...

The story of the "Phantom Thief" is well known to everyone in Iris. The rich hate him, while the poor regard him as a hero.

The key point here is that Yassen would not spend a penny of the stolen money except for making props. All the money would be distributed to the poor in this way after selling the stolen goods.

For example, a widow who has lost the only labor force in the family and still has children to take care of may suddenly hear someone knocking on the door at night. When she opens the door, she will find a letter attached to the door - reminding the other party not to open the door to anyone at night, and a few hundred yuan attached to the letter; or for a poor family where both parents are sick, he will quietly deliver the purchased medicines directly to their home, so that the children will not be cheated out of their money by unscrupulous pharmacists when they go to buy medicine.

In this regard, the Iris people have a unique complexity - on the one hand, they are victims of society, but on the other hand, almost everyone is a perpetrator. Orphans without parents become professional pickpockets, poor pharmacists will look at people's needs and even deliberately charge high prices when they are in urgent need of medicine, and workers, vagrants, sailors and other physically strong professions often work part-time in violent black professions, and even illegally resell various banned materials.

In Iris, there is basically no adult who has lived to the age of thirty without having committed a crime. This is why people worship Arsene as a hero.

——But it is obvious that there are quite a few bigwigs who hold a grudge against Yasen.

If Arsene sold the stolen goods himself, he would be easily caught. His public identity was Arsene de Vendôme, the married husband of the Duke of Vendôme's second daughter, Angelique de Vendôme. Although his wife was eight years older than him, she was also stunningly beautiful - and she knew Arsene's true identity.

In other words, she herself was once a "big shot" who was robbed by a "prankster". Because of her lack of sympathy, she mocked a village girl for her rustic and dirty clothes, and stained her skirt just by passing by, and Yassen stole her ring. She used it to buy the girl a set of decent and clean clothes so that she "would not have to feel inferior because of caring about her image"; she also bought Angelique a set of clean rural clothes and told her "this dress is actually pretty good."

——This kind of meaningless and completely selfless theft is a classic part of the phantom thief story.

Yes, Yasin is a follower of the path of devotion.

However, during this theft, Yasin had a minor accident... He also stole the other person's heart. Later, when Yasin was forced into a desperate situation, it was Angelique who rescued him and took care of the seriously injured Yasin until he recovered.

Later they fell in love.

It was thanks to Angelique's protection and deterrence that Arsene's thieving actions were not exposed; or in other words, those who saw the flaws did not dare to attack the son-in-law of the Duke of Vendôme.

Maurice LeBlanc is Arsene, or rather, the spokesperson for the "Phantom Thief" in the underground world. Many people even think that he is the Phantom Thief himself.

He only told this matter to his friend Mr. Hermes in a foreign country... Since the gentleman in front of him knew this matter, it meant that he was probably a friend of Hermes.

...That arrogant detective actually has a Moon Child friend?

Still so fierce...

Yasen suddenly thought of the meaning of this outfit, so he asked hesitantly, "Are you... a pure school or a turbid school?"

The ritualists of the ancient Parthian Empire are divided into the "pure faction" and the "turbid faction". The pure faction ritualists swear not to use materials from their own race, not to kill people, and not to use curses - of course, there is no solidified ritual to prove their faction. After all, if such a ritual can be mass-produced, then cracking this ritual itself can be said to be their graduation test. So this is meaningless.

"Pure faction."

"Yeah, I knew it was the turbid school... huh?"

He was shocked.

The Moon Child does not use materials from his own race, does not use rituals to kill people, and does not use curses? !
Is this really possible? Can this really be done?

The vampire with pale long hair narrowed his eyes and stared at him coldly: "I'm curious...how did you get to know that guy?
"When I heard that he was in Iris and was involved with you, I didn't know that he even knew the famous Phantom Thief Arsene."

"...We have actually only met once. And that was as rivals."

Yasen spoke up, frankly admitted his identity, and said in detail without reservation: "Mr. Hermes once came to Iris to listen to the opera. And at that time he encountered a case.

"I sent a letter of warning to an old wealthy businessman with a heart disease, claiming that I would take his 'heart' because he had taken the 'hearts' of other people. That bastard was in the real estate business, and he was in collusion with the Hawkeye Organization. He used deception, intimidation and other black means to buy many houses and then flattened them all, intending to build his own buildings. Many old buildings over 200 years old were destroyed by him... That was the hard work of many elderly people, and some people died of heart attacks after their houses were cheated away. "But I didn't think of killing him - I would only take away other people's wealth. The value of a luxury like life is not something that people like me are qualified to judge.

"However, he had a heart attack while listening to the opera. Because he was used to being alone, he dismissed everyone. And he died quietly in the private room... When he was found, he was almost dead, and even the pastor of the church didn't have time to treat him."

At this point, Yassen complained: “He obviously has a serious heart disease, but he likes to be alone… In fact, I think even if this didn’t happen, this person would probably die soon.

"——and because the police found my notice on him, I was considered a criminal.

"Just when I was thinking about whether to solve the mystery myself, Mr. Hermes simply pointed out the real murderer. After that, I went to see him once... After we fully exchanged opinions, although we still couldn't reach a consensus on some things, we had become friends. I have never met such a smart and rational person...

"I summoned him this time because I needed his help. Because I encountered a very troublesome case... and when he was almost done with it, he was taken away by a group of people.

"I know those men—my father-in-law, the Duke of Vendôme's personal soldier. I have never seen him since then..."

Just as Arsen was narrating, the Son of the Moon suddenly waved his hand.

Yasen closed his mouth, not knowing what was going on. Alice, standing next to him, suddenly let out a "huh" and looked around in bewilderment.

——The eagle feather decoration hanging on her chest just shook a little.

That means someone holding the Eagle Feather dagger is nearby.

After her last accident, the Hawkeye organization gave her this equipment for her safety. It can sense the number of people holding eagle feathers around and immediately send them a rescue signal of "I'm here".

Is...are they going to fight?
Alice was a little nervous.

But she didn't quite want Hawkeye's men to show up and fight Mr. Yassen...

They were all poor people, and they were both thieves. But when Arsene was hostile to Alice, his hostility toward Hawkeye was stronger than his hostility toward himself, the "young lady"... This made Alice a little confused.

And the next moment, Alice suddenly opened her eyes wide.

I saw an assassin girl who blended into the shadows suddenly emerging slowly from the shadow behind the white-haired vampire.

"The stalker has been dealt with."

Her voice was quite gentle, but Alice felt that her worldview had become confused:
Without a doubt, it was the unique skill of the Hawkeye Organization - Shadow Stealth! Apart from the genius Chloe, only the outstanding members known as "Master Assassins" could master this secret.

Why... did the Son of the Moon and Hawkeye's Master Assassin get mixed up together?

Even Yassen was stunned.

At this moment, the door of the bar was pushed open again.

A little girl who looked no more than eleven or twelve years old pushed the door open unsteadily. What a beautiful little girl she was—she had long black hair, a face as delicate as a doll, and a strange sense of inactivity.

But everyone in the bar turned a blind eye to this, and no one told her that "minors are not allowed to enter here." Apparently she had been in here once, or...her guardian was here.

"I checked and there are indeed Moon Children lurking nearby," the girl walked over to the white-haired vampire and sat on his lap intimately, "I ate them all, meow."

As she spoke, she meowed coquettishly, as if hinting at something.

The white-haired vampire had a blank expression on his face and tapped her head lightly.

"…your daughter?"

Yassen asked subconsciously.

——Hearing this, the vampire actually thought about it!
"Yes."

He answered, but after thinking for a moment, he quickly and seriously added: "I guess so."

"that is!"

The little girl was obviously dissatisfied and shouted loudly: "It's obviously!"

She smiled and stretched out her hand to Yasen, like a little adult: "Hello, Mr. Yasen... My name is Aleister."

"…It sounds like a boy's name, Miss Aleister."

Yasin couldn't help but say something out of turn, but he still squeezed the girl's fingers as a polite handshake: "Hello."

This name, if pronounced in Iris language, becomes a common male name - or surname.

Alexander.

Yasen always felt that he seemed to have heard this surname somewhere recently.

"In a sense, it is true."

Miss Aleister smiled with a pair of sweet dimples and agreed inexplicably: "It is true in every sense."

Yasen looked at the strange configuration of the three people in the group:
A Moon Child wearing a white robe, who came from the ancient Parthian Kingdom, the "Land of Thirst"; a female Hawkeye Master Assassin whom he trusted enough to let go of her own shadow; and a Moon Child girl with a clear "noble sense", who was even the daughter of the white-haired Moon Child...

What a strange group of three! They seem to be mortal enemies...

How on earth did they put it together?!
Are they all Sherlock's friends?

A curiosity that even he felt was dangerous gradually arose in Yasen's heart.

(End of this chapter)