Iver's Biological Parents

"Your biological father's name is Julio Alexander. He is not a nobleman, but the son of a small-town poet. He also graduated from the seminary you are currently attending."

Bishop Mathers's first words stunned Iver: "And your mother Anne Alexander, was a noblewoman of the Iris family. She eloped to Avalon, abandoning her surname."

... There's so much information in those words.

Iver was immediately speechless.

"Annie is my close friend and was once my roommate. We came to Avalon together and were classmates during the Iris."

Just then, a soft and mysterious female voice sounded from behind Iver.

Iver turned around at the sound and saw someone he had never seen before, yet who felt incredibly familiar—

She had long, thick, wavy black hair that reached her waist. Her skin was fair, her chest was high, and her features were deep and sculpted. She looked somewhat like an elf, yet also Parthian Ancient Kingdom. But what was most striking were her jade-like eyes, which seemed to sparkle with the light of the starry sky.

She was dressed in black gauze, walking barefoot on the soft carpet at home. Jade bracelets hung from her wrists and ankles.

This is Ms. Mina, the manager of the in-game store—the one responsible for gacha pulls, limited-time banners, selling various bundles, and offering discounts and promotions.

When she stands next to the younger version of Mathers, the two look incredibly well-matched—despite being forty-six and thirty-five respectively, they both appear to be in their early twenties. Time seems to have left no trace on them.

Iver had absolutely no recollection of her appearing in the story. But he could assure all players that she left a deep impression.

When the Nameless God Studio hasn't held any promotional events for a long time, players often tag the official account every day to go crazy, posting things like "When are you coming, Madam?", "Madam, I miss you so much!", "Madam, you don't want me to spend money on other games, do you?"

And now, the very first thing she said to Iver when they met caught his attention.

"Are you... Ms. Mina?" Iver asked.

Bishop Mathers with some surprise, "How did you know her name was Mina?"

"I guess it was Meiya who said it."

Mina said with a smile, "Didn't she come all the way to my fortune-telling shop last year to earnestly advise me not to lie to people anymore?"

"That guy just loves to cause trouble."

Mathers snorted somewhat discontentedly, "Just ignore her."

Ms. Mina looked at Iver, somewhat lost in thought, and murmured, "You really... look a lot like Julio and Annie. No wonder Mathers gave you the key to the Small Chapel the first time he met you."

"Was my father also your classmate?" Iver asked curiously.

"Julio is our senior, he's two years ahead of us."

Mina looked at Iver and laughed, "Julio was quite popular with girls back then. His father was a poet, so he had a special artistic temperament, but he didn't have the frivolous personality of the Iris men. A handsome guy who was both calm and gentle, serious and romantic, he had mastered the Illumination Spell before he even graduated—I don't know if you still have it now, but back then, when girls had menstrual cramps, they would go to the senior students at the seminary for treatment. Many people had their eyes on Julio."

"Although he is not good at sports, he is good at singing, and he is a tenor of considerable skill."

"Julio and Annie met in a student theater troupe, where he was a leading actor. Annie was a rising star with considerable acting talent. Your mother was optimistic, cheerful, gentle, and generous during her student days. Although she was an international student, she had many friends. In addition, this was her major, so when she first joined the troupe, she was chosen as the lead actress by a large margin."

"I remember their first opera performance was Lulu's Magic Flute, which is very difficult. But their performance went very well, and even the royal family came to see it. Your parents played Prince Tamino and Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night, respectively... It was after that performance that they started dating secretly."

Mina glanced at Mathers as she said this, "But after that, I married Mathers and moved from the school dorms to his house. I don't know much about what happened after that."

"All I know is that Annie got pregnant before she graduated. She took a long leave of absence to give birth to you, so she didn't have enough credits and had to repeat a year. Your mother took you to class with her... I even held you when you were little."

Mina's voice was gentle, but tinged with sadness. "By then, Annie had already changed her surname. She must have fallen out with her family and been forced to marry Julio."

When she saw Iver, she immediately thought of her close friend who had been dead for more than ten years.

Memories of university that can never be revisited, along with those people I will never see again, resurface before my eyes.

Over the years, Mina thought she had forgotten. But when she saw Iver, those memories, which had turned gray, suddenly resurfaced, and all the past recollections regained their sound and color.

The atmosphere among the four of them fell silent for a moment.

Mathers led Iver into the living room and sat them down. A space around the table for a wheelchair had already been cleared, and Mina poured a cup of hot tea for both Iver and Lily.

The bishop's home was not luxurious at all. The only noteworthy thing was that he lived in the Red Queen District.

But it was very small, even smaller than the Iver at the school. It had only two floors and three bedrooms. They entered through the front door and went to the living room, while "Mrs. Mina's Fortune Teller Shop" was on the first floor through the back door, which was also connected to the living room.

"What would you like to add?"

Ms. Mina composed herself and had Lily sit next to Iver, then asked the two of them.

"Just add milk," Iver replied.

"I want milk too... and I'd like some honey added," Lily whispered.

While waiting for the milk tea, Bishop Mathers sighed, "Your father was once my student, but Professor Moriarty also did me a great favor. So I actually hesitated for a while, wondering whether I should tell you about your background, and whether it would be unfair to your adoptive father..."

"But since you've been attacked by the Demon Scholar multiple times, I think it's time to make things clear to you."

"Your parents were cursed to death by Demon Scholar, which is related to the Jack the Ripper case ten years ago. The culprit is very likely Jack the Ripper's mentor, and the contracted demon is the Iron Hook Demon."

Mathers ' voice was a little hoarse. "The entire Alexander family was cursed at the time, and many people died from this curse of unknown origin. He came to me for help... but I was not at the Candle Holder Cathedral that morning."

As he spoke, he glanced at the deep red key hanging on Iver's wheelchair. "Now you should know that a holy sword is sealed inside this key. But I must tell you, this holy sword is cursed, and the curse is very strong."

"The curse within it was accidentally leaked the night before. To prevent innocent people from suffering, I took it to an abandoned warehouse far from human habitation and asked several arbitrators to help me seal it. By the time I finished my business and returned, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon."

"It was too late then. Your parents were killed by the Iron Hook Demon, but they used their last strength to protect you. From then on, you had no relatives in Avalon. I also seriously considered whether to adopt you, after all, I knew your father and Mina knew your mother. I had that opportunity... but in the end, I sent you to Orphanage. I'm sorry, Iver."

Mathers sighed, somewhat regretfully. "Because I was also having conflicts with my family at the time... Mina alone was enough to make them unable to accept adopting a student's child—I've taught hundreds of students, and that reason couldn't convince them. So in the end, I backed down... And I was also genuinely a little scared; I was worried that something would happen to Mina, Meiya, and my parents."

"To this day we still don't know why the Alexander family was attacked by the Demon Scholar, because the Alexander family members were all dead—only two days after your parents died, your grandfather was killed for the same reason."

"The Bureau of Supervision's claim is that your grandfather may have hidden a special secret in one of his unpublished poems. Because when he died, his manuscripts were all lost and disappeared. And of all the deceased ' Alexander,' only his belongings were stolen. But this reason is obviously untenable, because there was no need to kill your grandfather's Children."

"So I was worried that you had gotten into trouble with someone. That's why I sent you to the Orphanage that Professor Moriarty invested in."

"Professor Moriarty is a good man. At least the Orphanage he invests in are secure. Unlike other Orphanage, they won't send children to work in factories when they turn nine, or to work as newspaper boys or doormen at Lloyd's's, or even directly to the beds of important people."

"When Professor Moriarty finally went to adopt Yulia as his adopted daughter, I mentioned you to him. As it turned out, he actually adopted you... which made me owe him another favor."

Mathers slowly recounted the events before Iver could remember.

"Bishop Mathers ... I would like to know where my grandfather was from?"

Iver asked seriously.

"He lives in Eagle Cape Village, Mubay County, which is also your father's hometown."

Mathers answered without hesitation, clearly having anticipated Iver's question, "I know you care about this, but I don't recommend you go there to look for clues right now. Because although you are very talented, you are still too weak... and your talent will only increase your value. Those evil scholars who study demonology will sacrifice you once, and they will sacrifice you a second time."

As he spoke, Mathers looked at Iver with a complicated expression. "I was thinking... if I had completed my advancement two or three years earlier and reached the Fifth Level, would your parents have been spared from dying?"

"But no matter how I calculated it, the result was all in vain... because I am just a transcendent being who Dedication Path. This frustrates me greatly. As long as the curse of the Red Hilt Sword is revealed that day, I must deal with it—I cannot deal with the curse in the Candle Holder Cathedral, as that would only allow more people to be infected by the curse and spread it throughout the entire Glass Island. I must be responsible for more innocent people."

"Moreover, the principle of Dedication Path tends to sacrifice those close to oneself and save those far away. This is also a kind of 'altruism' in a broad sense. That is to say, if I could step into the Fifth Level, or even foresee the calamity that your parents would suffer, I might still choose to save more ordinary people. That is the result of being influenced and manipulated by the path."

"That state of being selfless yet ruthless terrified me. I realized that even Fifth Level superhumans have things they can't do, and they can be schemed against or suffer tragedies by chance."

"So after that, I stopped advancing. If the Fourth Level couldn't solve the problem, the Fifth Level probably couldn't either... at least that's what I thought at the time."

Mathers sighed and silently reminisced about the past.

Iver slowly sipped his warm milk tea, lost in thought.

Clearly, the deaths of Iver's parents also left Mathers with some psychological trauma.

It was from that time that Bishop Mathers lost the desire to advance further and chose to drift through life. He then sought the help of Professor Moriarty and became a Spiritual Councilor —a non-official member of parliament who, as a representative of the church, could enter the Round Table Hall, participate in meetings, and vote as a non-knight without wearing armor.

To date, there are only six Spiritual Councilor in Avalon. This is a highly prestigious position. It also means that Mathers will have to devote a significant amount of energy to this role, as he will no longer be focused on developing his Extraordinary Ability.

"——Eagle Cape Village?"

At that moment, a somewhat drowsy but indifferent voice came from above.

That was Sherlock.

He was wearing thin clothes and slippers as he slowly walked down the stairs.

His hair was a little messy from sleeping, and you could tell from his face that he was still a bit groggy.

Sherlock, who was awake but not fully awake, blurted out instinctively, "Isn't that Hai Na's hometown?"