Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 996 Is this your excuse for trespassing here?

Aiwass maintained the appearance of the white-robed Son of the Moon, took Aleister's hand, and followed Yasen.

He admired the surrounding scenery that was different from Avalon.

"Les Eygents...my favorite city."

Yasen pressed down his wide-brimmed hat and asked in his magnetic, deep voice, "How do you feel about this place?"

"First impression?"

Aiwass asked.

Yasen nodded: "Just tell me."

Aiwass looked up the street.

Les Eygents - This is a city in the west of Iris that is not very rich but has many wealthy people living there.

The city's main color scheme is gray, supplemented by white. It shines like a temple in the early summer sun. The streets are full of expensive crystal lamps - these street lamps are alchemical products imported from Star Antimony, and are high-end goods that Avalon did not allow to be imported before.

The boulevards on both sides are lined with iris linden trees, and the clattering of horse hooves on the roadside is accompanied by the ringing of bells. On the street, you can see carriages, horses, bicycles, and cars that are about five years older than the ones on Xingti...

“A very nice city.”

Aiwass commented: "It looks like a place that rich people would like."

"Yes, at least the two Dukes of Iris have estates in Les Eygents."

Yasen sighed and said, "It doesn't have a port, but it is close to a port city. Those big shots like to live in places like this - with developed transportation but not too developed; densely populated but not too densely populated."

"Isn't it good to have developed transportation?" Aiwass asked with interest.

"If transportation is too convenient, it will also mean more crimes... For example, if someone commits a crime and immediately flees abroad by boat, they will be impossible to catch; and if there are dense crowds, it means that public health conditions will become very poor..."

"Public health?" Aleister asked.

"Yeah. Iris is not like Avalon, where there is no authoritarian path to guide us. The living environment here emphasizes freedom."

Yassen said meaningfully.

He mentioned Avalon here because he roughly guessed the identities of Aiwass and the others. Or at least he made clear their position.

"How free is it exactly?" Aleister asked in cooperation.

But Yasen's words still made her a little nervous: "You can even see people pooping on the side of the road calmly and then walking away quickly."

"……what?"

"It's not because they can't find a toilet or there is no public toilet here. It's because some people are protesting to the councillor in charge of this area by causing inconvenience to everyone..."

Yassen explains this "protest" in Iris's signature style.

If he handles this incident well, more police force and public health investment will be needed, which will force them to put less money in their pockets; and if they don't handle this matter well, it will soon be reported in the newspapers by nosy reporters.

In that case, they would either have to pay the newspaper agency to buy out the news so that it would not be published - which would also mean that they would have to pay out of their own coffers; or they would allow those reporters who were keen on exaggerating and hoping for chaos to make a small matter out of nothing, thus attracting the party whip to report the matter.

"……I understand."

Aiwass nodded in understanding.

Cao Cao had already given guidance on this matter - as the saying goes, "I'll lend you my head for a use." Regardless of whether the congressman was wrong or not, or whether it was his responsibility, he could take the blame and settle the previous accumulated problems. When the person is finally dealt with, the voters will be satisfied... If what he did has any serious consequences, during the election, "making up for the previous problem" can be added to the agenda for next year, so the votes in this election will be secure again.

Although the actual problem has not been solved at all, it can be stable for a long time.

"Iris people have always been like this."

“They will do good deeds for selfish or evil purposes, or they will do evil deeds for a good, selfless purpose,” Yassen said.

"For example... you?"

Aiwass's words were sharp and merciless.

"really."

And Arsen was much thicker-skinned than Aiwass thought.

He pressed down the brim of his hat, and the corners of his mouth slightly raised under the shadow: "I was born for this.

"——Look, those former nobles, great businessmen, or great artists are now all showing mercy and acting like saints. Of course, I also know... although there are some performance elements in it, there are also many people who really do good things.

"But those poor people on the streets have almost no clean hands. It is already difficult for them to survive. If they insist on keeping themselves clean, not only will it be difficult for them to survive, but they will also be excluded by others. In the most chaotic cities, there will even be a street or a house stained with blood...

"Why is that? Is it because wealth and fame have legs and will run to people with noble character?"

At this point, Yasen sneered: “Stop joking.

"…It's just that the civilians in other places don't have the same strong desire to survive as us Iris people. When they encounter a tragic fate, they will either accept it or end their lives. Their pressure is inward - while our pressure is always outward.

"If you are wronged, then let others be wronged as well; if someone hands you counterfeit money, you will immediately spend the counterfeit money on others. Everyone hurts each other, each based on their own abilities, and no one gives in to anyone else - this is also a new order recognized by everyone. Saints like Avalon will not survive for many years here."

"…That sounds a bit radical."

Aiwass commented: "I don't really like this kind of atmosphere."

Yasen smiled helplessly and said, "Who would like it? But there is no way. I don't know when it started, and it can't end. It's like a train has already started, and you can't stand in front of it. What you can do is either avoid it and watch it leave you stupidly; or take the risk of hopping on the train. Failure means being shattered to pieces, and success will also face greater crises and opportunities - at least you have a chance to get out of your current predicament.

"——This is our Iris. A country that is neither evil nor good, a place of chaos and order."

This chivalrous thief who was admired by the people now uttered sad and depressing words.

He looked at the street lamps and said, "You know, these street lamps are only in big cities. In rural areas, they use cheap butter lamps. It is a simple alchemical candle made of butter, which is very cheap - but the most important thing is that because it is very cheap, you are not sure whether it is butter or not.

"That pungent smell, the greasy smoke, always surrounds the city. The surrounding walls are stained with oil, and the ground is flowing with feces and urine - ironically, many Avalonians still think that irises flow with milk and honey.

"But even these cheap tallow candles are necessary. Because the Iris people are keen on hurting others, the influence of the church here is not that great. People even write gossip about the Pope and dare to write the Pope as a dramatic character without authorization... and naturally, many cities do not actually have bishops.

"——And the number of 'missing people' in Iris is the highest among all the countries of Hellas. It is even higher than that of Star Antimony... I'm sure you know what this means, right?"

"It means," Aiwass said after a moment's silence, "the poorer the place, the more likely it is to be haunted."

"exactly."

Yasen snapped his fingers. "People believe that light can drive away the dead. So even in the poorest places, they will light street lamps at night to drive away ghosts."

"It's no use."

Aiwass shook his head. "The useful part is actually the 'bishop'. When they light the lamp, they are actually using the light to prop up an invisible barrier, or using the light of purification to drive away the undead. But the light itself does not have the effect of driving away the undead."

"They may not be unaware of this." The Phantom Thief said sarcastically, "But rather than 'letting the church get more deeply involved in their lives', people would rather choose to deceive themselves. Anyway, not many people were killed by the attacks of the undead, so it wouldn't be a big deal if they just left it alone - at least the number of people killed by the undead is much less than the number of their own kind killed by the Iris people every year.

"Why are there so many people on the streets and in the bars at noon? It's simple, because people don't dare to spend the night outside. Even in big cities, priests can't expel all the undead... Purifying the undead also requires mana, but most of the clergy, who are already few in number, use their mana to heal others.

“By night, it will be foggy here. By then, people won’t go out much unless necessary.

"——Here, the night belongs to the extraordinary. This is a natural division. Only the strong who can ignore the weak undead are qualified to enjoy the moonlight——and have an affair."

At this point, the thief's expression became a little subtle.

It seemed to carry a certain sad and uneasy tone, but also seemed to be mocking something.

"So," Aiwass asked, "you steal at night?"

"Because it is relatively unlikely to affect innocent people."

Yasin's words were compassionate yet ruthless: "We think this is a 'contract'. A kind of rule that goes without saying. Just like when there is a gang fight, no one will rush into the police station to pull out the cops... In the 'skills' segment at night, if someone dies, it's just as it should be.

"——Because when you choose to hang out in such a dangerous place, you are mentally prepared to be killed."

"I understand."

Aiwass nodded slightly.

Simply put, the night of Iris is a "non-protected area". Only here can the extraordinary people "open the red and kill people". This is different from the situation in Avalon.

In the past in Avalon, let alone someone being killed at night... even if it was just a warehouse explosion with no casualties or loss of goods, even if there was just a suspicion that extraordinary forces might be involved in such a case, five or six supervisors would be dispatched to hold repeated meetings to discuss it.

Cases like the one where Aiwass's parents were cursed to death were considered multiple crimes in Avalon, including "breaking the law", "using illegal supernatural skills", "murder", "cursing others", and "raising dangerous creatures" - basically a major case that starts with the death penalty.

But in Iris, if this happened at night, it might not even make the newspapers. People would just ignore the bodies. Unless they were really blocking the road and taking up space, they would call the health department to have someone come and dispose of the unwanted bodies.

Even if it was reported in the newspaper, it would only appear in news such as "Eleven bodies appeared in a certain city last night", becoming just one of the components of a cold number.

...It's just Little Gotham.

Aiwass exclaimed.

They arrived at their destination while chatting.

This is not a residential area, but it is not where Yasen lives.

"We can't go home," Yassen explained. "We can't even go to the Leblanc Cafe. It's full of spies."

"Sherlock is at your house?"

Aiwass asked directly.

Hearing such an intimate name, Yasen's heart was moved.

——The subtle possibility in his mind rose again.

"To be exact, his body is lying in my house."

Yasen sighed, "I killed him."

"what is going on?"

"I originally wanted to ask him to investigate another matter... In order to facilitate communication, I brought him to my home. When my cheap father-in-law, the current Duke of Vendome, heard about this, he solemnly invited our smart Detective Hermes to come and have a talk.

"--He never came out after that. If I hadn't gone in to confirm that he was still breathing, but just fell into a deep sleep... I would have thought he had been killed by my father. And then I understood what had happened--he was taken to the dream world."

Yassen frowned. "After that, his agent - you know who it is - received a letter from the Queen of Avalon. This letter is very important to Iris now, and even the Duke of Vendome must treat it with caution. So Sherlock returned to his body, wrote the letter himself, and then fell into a deep sleep again."

"In other words," the Moon Child in a white robe raised his eyebrows, "We can actually go directly into the Duke of Vendôme's Palace and kidnap the people?
"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 the secret method, or release Sherlock...it's actually possible, right?"

Aiwass said slowly: "As long as he doesn't dare to stop me at all."

...After all, you are His Holiness the Pope, who dares to stop you?

Yasen said helplessly in his heart.

——Now he has basically guessed the identity of this "White Robe Son of the Moon".

Aiwass just said it casually, without hiding his identity at all: "I also believe in your determination to save Sherlock. But after you roughly guessed my identity, you didn't take me home - so I judged that you also have something to investigate, right?"

“…I actually suspect that these two things may be the same thing.”

Yassen finally said, "It involves my mother."

"your mother?"

"I am an orphan. My mother died when I was very young, so I was born in an orphanage... You must have guessed it. I was also a member of the Hawkeye organization."

Yassen said frankly: "But thanks to the Duke of Vendome, I was able to leave the organization and not have to complete the tasks assigned by the organization, and not be hunted down by the organization because of 'defection'. Therefore, I am grateful to this father-in-law.

"But from another perspective, the Duke of Vendome knew my parents. I think there may be some secrets in their deaths... The fact that I was accepted as a son-in-law by the Duke of Vendome may also be related to this matter. I found some important information not long ago... and what I want Sherlock to investigate is this matter.

"——So, I'm sorry...sir."

He finally swallowed the word "Pope" and added after a moment of silence: "I haven't been able to contact Sherlock since then. But I suspect that the matter investigated by the Duke of Vendome may also be related to that secret...

"I can rescue Sherlock and end the investigation, but that means I may never get the truth I'm looking for... This is my selfish desire. I admit that this is not moral... I will apologize to Sherlock later."

"...I can understand your thoughts now."

Aiwass nodded slowly. "I believe Sherlock also wants to know the truth. He is buried in the mystery like a cat in the food bowl. If you take him out at this time, he will breathe heavily.

"Don't worry, I will help you. For your honesty - and I also want to go to the dream world to do something.

"It's just that there's one thing I don't quite understand..."

Aiwass looked at his surroundings and tried his best to keep his tone calm.

"…Why did you drag us to the university girls' dormitory to enter the dream?"

"I have acquaintances here."

Yassen whispered.

"I think you have it somewhere else too!"

Aiwass screamed.

(End of this chapter)