Lloyd's York Holmes

Although Sherlock's reasoning was very complete and logical, only Iver knew that Sherlock's answer must be wrong.

Because he lacked a crucial piece of information, but Iver was the one person he couldn't tell Sherlock.

Following the lead provided by Iver's grandfather, Sherlock traced it back to the Noble Red Society. Combined with the Pelican Bar, the Giant Remnants, and the Smuggling Case, he logically concluded that Iver's parents were killed by the Noble Red Society.

This inference is perfectly logical.

However, during the Dream Realm ritual, Iver, posing as the Deformed Limb Demon, interrogated the Curse Master "Aziz Ben Abdul," from whom he learned that the latter served Professor Moriarty. Moriarty was the true master of the Iron Hook Demon, and had murdered the entire Alexander family.

But he was not Demon Warlock of the Noble Red Society.

He wasn't even Avalon, and had absolutely nothing to do with giants or Stibnite Person... He was Parthians.

This information was something Sherlock himself mentioned to "the Fox" during the Dream Realm ritual.

At the time, Sherlock only knew that "the mastermind eventually left the country, his destination being either the Horus Empire or the Parthian Ancient Kingdom." But Iver had seen the man's face with his own eyes and even knew his Parthian Ancient Kingdom- style name.

In other words, the Alexander family, as the founders of the Scaleless Hand, were connected to the Noble Red Society, and the Noble Red Society had both the motive and the ability to kill them; yet the person who ultimately carried out this plan was a foreign Curse Master hired by Professor Moriarty.

The party with motives does not act, and the party with actions has no motives.

The key point is that Iver had never heard of Professor Moriarty having any connection with the Stibnite Person or the Titans. If they did, Iver wouldn't have been attacked by the Noble Red Society in the first place and chosen as a sacrifice—he was actually sacrificed and almost silenced.

By then, Iver had been corresponding with the Demon Scholar for a long time. If they knew anything about the professor, there was no reason for them to risk angering him by sacrificing Iver.

—This incident was filled with an unnatural atmosphere and involved a wide range of people, which gave Iver a headache.

He felt he had missed a crucial clue. But without going to Hai Na's hometown to investigate in person, he couldn't confirm it.

Iver could only put this aside for the time being.

The only clue he could grasp was that the person who attacked Sherlock was definitely suspicious. The fact that they needed Sherlock to fake his death and have Sherlock family help him put on a show meant that the person most likely knew Sherlock and was connected to the Hermes Family.

Most importantly, Sherlock almost immediately identified the suspect—

Sherlock returned after washing his face and sobering up, his expression returning to its usual indifferent state. As if nothing had happened, he earnestly answered Iver's questions.

"Speaking of which, this matter is somewhat related to you... Mr. Fox."

"I?"

Iver was a little puzzled. "What does this have to do with me?"

Sherlock calmly sipped his honeyed black tea, his voice steady without the slightest tremor, as if what Iver had seen before was all an illusion. "You told me about the secrets of Lloyd's's and the Strangulation Gang in my dream that day. I was very surprised at the time."

"I knew about Lloyd's's long ago, I knew their history very well, and I knew that they were actually a gray money lending institution. I also knew that they used Lloyd Weekly as Credit Currency to collect profits and transferred tax revenue to Avalon. But I knew all this, except that they actually employed Strangulation Gang."

"Moreover, in all my previous investigations, I had never found this to exist—which is very illogical. So I immediately realized that someone was preventing me from accessing Lloyd's's deep secrets."

"—The fact that he could do this so easily means that 'he' is your source of information."

Iver smoothly continued, "And you think this source is very reliable—at least within Lloyd's's and even the Lloyd District, you consider him the most reliable expert."

There is only one possibility.

Now, Iver fully understood Sherlock's incredibly powerful investigative abilities. In less than a week, without even leaving the Glass Island, they were able to trace Jacob and the Scaleless Hand through Iver's lead. This was not something that could be accomplished simply by "checking information."

In other words, Sherlock must have used his connections. His main investigative method was to consult with people about various matters he wanted to ask, through his extensive network of contacts and their connections.

Therefore, if one wants to "poison Sherlock's intelligence," one must become an expert in this area.

"Once he gains your complete trust, you will definitely come to him first whenever you want to ask about this matter. Because you will think he is the most reliable person."

"Not bad." Sherlock nodded.

—No wonder it's called a "Fox".

Sherlock greatly admired Iver, who could always keep up with his thinking.

He nodded approvingly, adding in a calm and detached tone, "Moreover, this person should also be closely connected with Lloyd's's interests."

"As it happens, I do know such a person. He is my uncle, my father Arthur Holmes ' half-brother— York Holmes."

Sherlock put down his teacup, interlacing his fingers in front of his stomach. "He is the vice president of the Avalon Bar Association and also the editor-in-chief of Lloyd Weekly. A high-ranking official at Lloyd's's... their legal advisor. I told you in my dream before that Lloyd's's had invited me... it was him who invited me."

"—In fact, you've met him before."

"I've seen him before?"

Iver was somewhat puzzled.

Sherlock nodded. "Right at your award ceremony. He was sitting next to Inspector Gordon."

"... That middle-aged lawyer with short blond hair?"

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, Iver recalled the lawyer in the white suit.

He was somewhat surprised. "But he's blond..."

"My father and I inherited our black hair from my Grandmother."

Sherlock said calmly, "And Uncle York inherited my grandfather's blond hair. As the eldest son, he was supposed to inherit the Hermes family's armor."

"But that year happened to be the ' Ten Day War '. My uncle didn't want to go to the battlefield, so he passed on the family armor to my father. My father was in charge of the vanguard at the time. Thanks to His Excellency the Grand Arbitrator, this war, which was originally expected to be very brutal, only lasted ten days. After the victory, my father was promoted to Minister of Royal Affairs."

"... So your father was the Minister of Royal Affairs."

"You've never mentioned this before," Iver exclaimed.

The duties of the Minister of Royal Affairs mainly include planning various ceremonies and events involving the royal family, presiding over royal weddings and funerals, and appointing and dismissing servants and ladies-in-waiting within the Silver and Tin Palace. They are essentially equivalent to a butler in an ordinary knightly family, or even higher—they have the authority to supervise the education and conduct of royal members and to discipline Prince and princesses for misconduct.

Sherlock sighed. "Because my father and Her Majesty the Queen were once fellow theatergoers. Unlike me, he is a passionate literature enthusiast. Therefore, I believe this appointment is influenced by Her Majesty the Queen's personal feelings and is not something to boast about."

"Because of this experience, Her Majesty the Queen signed a special order, giving my father an additional power: he could veto any new play, force changes to the plot of any existing play, or revoke the performance license of a new theater. However, before my father could even use this power, he suffered a calamity for no reason."

"A calamity?" Iver pressed.

"It's a curse."

Sherlock replied, "However, at the time we hadn't found any trace of the curse and all thought it was poisoning—because Prince Kant's symptoms looked exactly like he'd been poisoned. His liver, lungs, and brain were almost completely melted, and blood was gushing from his mouth and nose. The priests who examined him also confirmed it was poisoning."

"Since the royal family members died of poisoning, the first to be implicated were the servants responsible for the His Highness the Prince life. They were tortured and had their memories extracted... and naturally, they didn't get any information."

"At this time, an anonymous letter accused my father of being the one who poisoned me. Later, the Bureau of Supervision found the same poison in my home. Under these circumstances, I had to undergo a brain scan to prove my innocence, but the Law Spell for scanning memories would burn the brain... In other words, my father was going to die no matter what, the only difference being whether he was innocent or not."

"—Obviously, things took a turn for the better later," Iver nodded in response.

Although Lord Arthur has now stepped down as minister, he is clearly still alive.

"Yes, Her Majesty the Queen issued an emergency order to release my father. She said directly, 'I don't think Arthur would do such a thing,' and without looking at the 'evidence' submitted by the Bureau of Supervision, she exonerated him and reinstated him to his original position."

"My father was deeply grateful, but he still resolutely submitted his resignation."

Sherlock sighed. "He was right. Because we later learned that it was just the beginning. Later, every member of the royal family died in a different way, which confirmed that it must be some kind of curse. Logically speaking, a country with such a strong curse could only be Star Antimony... but actually, this statement is neither absolute nor scientific."

"The Path of Love also possesses the power of curses," Iver replied, "So the Iris Person is also a possibility."

"That's right," Sherlock nodded. "The Iris Flower Kingdom is under heavy pressure from the Stibnite Person. They desperately want Avalon to share some of the firepower."

"The cursed ones may also come from the Giant Remnants. After all, one of the paths the giants followed was to Path of Transcendence, and they also had the ability to curse; they might even be the Scaleless Hand or the Noble Red, who also had a lineage of curse studies."

"Could it be," Iver vaguely realized something, "That Avalon actually doesn't know the origin of the Cursed Ones?"

"Yes. Such a difficult-to-detect curse, and the frequency of execution of the curse is so low. The propaganda says it is the Stibnite Person, simply because we have a long-standing feud. This makes it easier for the public to understand and also makes them feel more urgent—after all, quite a few people know that we are actually no match for the Star Antimony. Setting up a target that we can't defeat can effectively prevent us from being held hostage by public opinion."

If Avalon doesn't know exactly who the enemy is, the moment it chooses the wrong target to wage war, it means its inevitable defeat.

Because the side that was originally cursing the royal family would not join the war immediately; they would only take advantage of the situation—or even wait for both sides to be weakened before reaping the benefits.

"Luckily, my father ran fast. Otherwise, he would have been held responsible later."

Sherlock narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze sharpening. "And my uncle always claimed to love being a lawyer. Now that I think about it, he also had the motive and possibility of framing my father."

"I used to have a pretty good relationship with my uncle... When I was little, he would take me hunting, while my father only liked watching plays. During the two weeks my father was away on the battlefield, he was the one who came to our house to take care of me. The main reason I suspect him is that he was the last person to visit me before the bombing."

"He asked me about the ' Sweater Brotherhood ' and repeatedly asked me to confirm who my source of information was and why I didn't confirm with him before 'risking my life to investigate'—because before that, I had always asked him about Lloyd District and Lloyd's's of London."

"I explained to him that this was information from a dream, another possibility from history. But obviously, I didn't convince him."

"He invited me to Lloyd's's again... I already knew the inside story of Lloyd's's, so how could I agree? I refused without hesitation."

"You should have agreed first," Iver couldn't help but say.

"How could I have known he would do something like that? York was furious at the time, but he calmed down quickly. He told me he would come back in the afternoon with my father—meaning I shouldn't go far. After he left, I suddenly felt a little sleepy, so I decided to take a shower and go back to sleep."

"But just as I was finishing my shower, there was a sudden loud bang outside, and the house collapsed. The water in the showerhead burst, and smoke, cracks, and caved in from the walls."

"Luckily, I reacted quickly enough to collect samples on the spot and use the water from the burst pipe to freeze into an ice shield, which protected me from the first wave of impact and prevented me from dying immediately. But I broke at least twelve bones in my body, suffered severe internal bleeding, and lost my sight and hearing. I lay on the ground, unable to even get up."

"—Judging from the time and the scale of the explosion, he certainly hadn't gone far at the time. He could have easily turned back the way he came after hearing the explosion... but he didn't."

"Not until the very end," Sherlock muttered.

He looked somewhat sad.

"I felt someone shaking my body—my remaining sanity told me it must be the landlady. I told her not to shake me, gave her the Bishop's contact information, and the Alchemy Potion in my storage box that could temporarily keep me alive. I was only able to survive thanks to the first aid of Bishop Mathers, who lived nearby."

"After I was revived, I immediately contacted my Mycroft Holmes and told him everything. Then I told him to announce to the public that I was dead and see how Uncle York would react."

He looked at Iver solemnly and said seriously, "Now that I think about it, the person who framed my father back then might have been him—if we start from this point, he might be connected with the Cursed One, which is why he was able to get that bottle of Curse Poison."

"This matter involves not only my personal grudges and family feuds, but also the future of Avalon... and even Princess Isabel's safety. If all goes well, we might even be able to unravel the mystery of the curse—"

"Edward has the ability to search his memories, but he can only use it at the most crucial moment. I can't be sure how deeply Uncle York is involved in this matter, and the opportunity is only once. If they find out that I am actually still alive, they will probably become alert immediately. This lead will be cut off immediately."

"The landlady has been placed under protection. The only people outside who know I'm still alive are my Mycroft, you guys, and Edward."

"I'm afraid my faked death can't be hidden for long, and this matter needs to be resolved as soon as possible. I'm leaving everything to you, my friend. If you need my help with the analysis, please feel free to contact me."

Sherlock solemnly issued his mission to Iver.