The Silver and Tin Palace

The Silver and Tin Palace

Hai Na froze for a moment, then belatedly realized what she had said and felt a wave of fear.

Fortunately, she had asked Mr. Sherlock that question, not Director Kent! "As for why I didn't join the Bureau of Supervision..."

Sherlock said flatly, "Because you and I are similar yet different people. I likewise won't get very far—the higher paths of this world aren't determined simply by talent or excellence. I understood that by the time I graduated."

"...What do you mean?"

"I mean that I'm like you. Compared with the Path of Authority, I'm more inclined toward other paths."

The black-haired young man spoke frankly, without the slightest fear: "What I asked Mr. Kent for was a forbidden book on the Path of Wisdom. I help him deal with difficult problems, and he gives me forbidden books in his own name. It's a fair transaction in which we both make use of each other. At present, my second path is already about to reach the Second Level... Compared with the Path of Authority, the Path of Wisdom is the path I truly long for."

"But..."

Hai Na still wanted to say something.

But her intuition was suddenly stirred. She immediately grew wary and fell silent.

After the two faced each other in silence for five or six seconds, a panting middle-aged man finally ran over from around the corner.

"Hai Na—I've finally found you! I've been looking for you forever! Oh, Consultant Sherlock is here too! Great! The director is looking for both of you!"

"Does Mr. Kent need something?"

Sherlock asked bluntly, "I have other things to do right now."

"He didn't say... But I think you should still go take a look. It won't take long, will it?"

The middle-aged man spoke with a chuckle. "You know, Mr. Sherlock—if it were something boring, Director Kent wouldn't have gone out of his way to invite you here, right?"

"All right."

Sherlock nodded in agreement.

After saying that, he looked at Hai Na. "This is another reason.

"I'm an active person. If I have nothing to do, I become restless... But if you make me do ordinary, repetitive work, I get bored. I need difficult problems and powerful enemies to excite me.

"Your routine patrols are far too dull. With that time, I might as well read a few more books and conduct some experiments. Even traveling alone like a wandering monk would be far more meaningful than repeating the same day over and over.

"I don't want fame, nor do I want achievements. All I want is work that lets me use my wisdom, allowing me to vent the energy I have nowhere to release—and satisfy my curiosity along the way. That's why I cooperate with you."

"All right, Mr. Sherlock."

The middle-aged man smiled wryly. "You should get moving—once you've heard the director's assignment, you can get back to your own business sooner, can't you?"

Sherlock neither agreed nor disagreed. He headed toward Director Kent's office.

Elsewhere.

At the center of Glass Island, the capital of Avalon, lay a crystal-clear lake as blue as a sapphire.

The royal family of the Avalon Kingdom lived in the center of the island within the island—the heart of the lake on the capital's Glass Island. That was the Silver and Tin Palace, blessed by the Silver Crowned Dragon and adorned with Glass Staircases. Beneath the sunlight on a clear day, it shone with brilliant flames of light; even on cloudy days, it radiated a soft, dreamlike glow.

Inside the Silver and Tin Palace, a golden-haired, blue-eyed girl who appeared to be fourteen or fifteen sat quietly reading today's Glass Staircase Newspaper.

She seemed to possess elven blood, making her look somewhat younger than her actual age. Her features were gentle, her back straight, and the smooth nape exposed by her dress reflected the sunlight together with the Silver and Tin Palace around her. She possessed the quiet air of a literary girl, her eyes calm as still water.

Across from the girl sat an elf who appeared to be in her twenties or thirties, smiling brightly with both hands propping up her chin. She possessed both a mature woman's charm and a girl's innocence. The obvious artistic aura around her was no illusion—it came from the influence of the Path of Beauty.

"I didn't lie to you, my little Princess?"

The elven artist smiled. "I told you yesterday that I'd seen a very handsome person. This time, I deliberately left him in the shot for a full twelve seconds, just to preserve that crucial glance and smile.

"My sense of aesthetics is absolutely flawless—that smile was the key. It preserved his charm to the greatest extent possible. Honestly, I even wanted to paint a portrait of him. But I don't think there's any rush. I'm sure we'll have a chance to get to know him later."

"...Indeed."

The girl nodded quietly. "Teacher Yanis was right. Mr. Iver's smile makes people think of the sun.

"He's the same age as me and at the same level in his path, yet he personally led people to capture a Demon Scholar far stronger than himself... His investigation, judgment, and reasoning throughout the process were all flawless. He's amazing, and brave."

She said softly, "I couldn't do it. I'm very timid."

The girl's face held both yearning and dejection.

That was the yearning awakened deep within a clear-minded good person upon seeing someone of their kind who was far stronger than themselves, as well as the dejection that came from honestly recognizing that they were far inferior to the other person—without jealousy or self-deception.

"He's amazing."

The girl repeated herself.

"Ah—"

Seeing her like this, Yanis let out a doting—and slightly crazed—sound like someone teasing a puppy. She pulled the girl into her arms and vigorously ruffled her hair a few times. "Little Isa, you're simply too adorable!"

"Please call me Isabel, Teacher Yanis."

Isabel whimpered and covered her hair with her hands as she spoke seriously. "Also, please don't mess up my hair—

"And I don't know what's so adorable about me. I was only telling the truth."

"You're adorable precisely because you're explaining so seriously in a situation where such a sincere explanation isn't necessary at all."

"That sounds stupid. I'm an idiot."

Isabel was somewhat vexed and somewhat dejected. "I can't even draw well."

"You're already very talented, Isabel."

Yanis became serious when the subject came up. "It's only because everyone you've encountered is even more talented than you.

"Isn't your Path of Beauty about to advance as well? Reaching the Second Level at your age is already incredible... Besides, I taught you using a path with a firmer foundation. You started a little later, but you'll be able to go farther afterward."

"I think that's only because my father is Prince Albert."

Isabel lowered her head and said softly, "There's nothing remarkable about me.

"If Mr. Iver were a Prince as well, he would also have advanced earlier and gone farther than I have."

"Iver is an exception. Don't think too much about it. Even Her Majesty the Queen said he was an extraordinary young man after reading the newspaper... You don't need to compare yourself with someone like him."

"...Grandmother too?!"

Isabel was astonished. "Grandmother rarely praises anyone... Is that Demon Scholar really that impressive?"

"It wasn't his combat ability, or even his searching ability. What Her Majesty the Queen valued was his decisiveness when he fired those two shots. In terms of the outcome, those two shots merely killed a Second-Level Demon Scholar, but what they truly revealed was his outstandingly swift judgment, the confidence to trust that judgment absolutely, and his steady execution.

"Her Majesty the Queen said so herself—he has the bearing of a great commander. Think about it. It was only because Her Majesty gave her approval that I dared put him on the front page and give him such a large section. Her Majesty said the young people of the kingdom should learn from him. Though I think they certainly won't be able to, it's still nice to let everyone see a handsome young man."

Yanis shook her head helplessly. "You need to change this habit of comparing yourself only with the strongest people, then immediately retreating into inferiority whenever you can't beat them."

"I think that if I'm going to compare myself with people my age, I have to compare myself with the strongest among them."

Princess Isabel spoke seriously. "Because I've enjoyed the best resources. If I can't become the best, then those resources will have been wasted. They should have gone to someone who needed them more."

"...You."

Yanis sighed, finding Princess Isabel's stubbornness astonishing.

"By the way, Teacher Yanis."

Isabel suddenly asked, "What did Mr. Iver see at the time? What was he waving at?"

"I wasn't there either, actually."

Yanis shook her head. "But I asked the cameraman. He said it was a little girl nearby who was selling flowers.

"That girl called him 'the gentle big brother.' I think he must have politely bought a bouquet from her earlier. Iver really is a very polite young man. If we get the chance, we could invite him to sit in the Silver and Tin Palace. We could talk about what happened then, what he was thinking, and how he made his judgments... I'm sure it would be very interesting. Her Majesty the Queen should allow it as well.

"—You're looking forward to it too, aren't you, Isabel?"

Isabel did not reply. She merely clenched her little fists slightly and widened her beautiful, emerald-like eyes with a childlike yearning.