Misdirection

"I haven't actually graduated yet," Hai Na said softly.

Moreover, this was just an inquiry...

But before she could finish her sentence, Iver interrupted her gently, "You can enter the Bureau of Supervision before officially graduating... I understand, Miss Hai Na is studying at the Royal Law University?"

Iver's accent was standard and clean, without the "Elven twang" that people in the capital were so proud of, a symbol of nobility. But this made Hai Na, who came from a small place to study, feel more favorable towards him.

So she nodded in response, "Ah, yes."

As she spoke, she puffed out her chest with pride, "I was the student council president last year, and also the top female student in the fourth year. As an outstanding graduate of the Royal Law University, I obtained employment permission from the Bureau of Supervision a year in advance. Although my sword hasn't been issued yet, my name is already on the list at the Bureau of Supervision."

"In that case, you can be considered my senior."

Iver crossed his fingers and placed them on his knees.

His upper body leaned back relaxedly as he said slowly, "I am also a student at the Royal Law University. A freshman this year."

"...Really?"

Hai Na was a little surprised, and felt a sense of goodwill because of this commonality, "But I haven't seen you..."

"Because I'm not in good health. I fell seriously ill before entering school. I was bedridden at home for three months because of it."

Iver's somewhat pale face made his words full of persuasiveness.

He's not had it easy...

"I understand. You are indeed innocent... I will report to the director when I get back."

Hai Na nodded repeatedly, feeling pity. The slight jealousy she had felt towards Iver before also dissipated because of this.

She felt ashamed of herself for this. As a supervisor of the Bureau of Supervision, she could be considered half a knight. She had actually forgotten the teachings of humility and compassion that her mentor had taught her... The heart of jealousy is truly ugly.

"Then, Senior," Iver suddenly said, "did you see what was in the fireplace?"

"The thing that was burning..."

Hai Na turned her head and said uncertainly, "I can't really tell. It doesn't look like firewood."

"That's a diary."

Iver said gently, "Maybe it's the evidence of my collusion with the Demon Scholar.

"Just like this book in my hand."

As he said that, he closed the book in his hand and threw it into the fire along with it.

Hai Na was shocked when she heard this.

She took a step forward subconsciously, reaching out instinctively. Without any precautions, she actually intercepted the book in the air before it could fall.

She frowned and looked down. She found that the book was called Selected Eighty Poems of Stella.

Hai Na of course recognized this book. Because this was the textbook used for the first-year Elven Language course.

She flipped through it with concern, confirming that this was not evidence of collusion with the Demon Scholar at all. There were even many key points and difficulties marked in it with different colored pens.

"Just kidding."

Iver's lips curled up slightly: "I'm the victim of the incident, senior. You just said that... Why are you suspicious again just because I mentioned it casually? Do you have so little faith in me?"

Hai Na suddenly realized that this seemingly gentle and refined young man seemed to have some hidden mischievousness.

"This is a very serious matter, not to be joked about."

She put on a stern face, lecturing as seriously as she would at school: "Demon Scholars often use living people as materials for their sacrifices, and they kill the sacrifices after the sacrifice to silence them. That is absolute evil, killing people as materials even if they have no grudges, which is outrageous! How can you joke about this kind of thing?"

Speaking of this, she suddenly thought of something, and her eyes became sharp: "Speaking of which... if you were a sacrifice, how did you survive?"

"They wanted to summon a powerful demon by sacrificing me, but they didn't expect the demon to be more attached to me. So I ordered the demon to kill them all."

The boy said with a smile, the words becoming more and more outrageous: "In fact, the Moriarty Family is full of evil deeds. My father, Professor James Moriarty, is a Demon Scholar with the dream of destroying the world. And I am not his adopted son, but a demon summoned by him from another world. I can completely destroy the Avalon Kingdom within a year."

Hai Na was stunned for more than half the time before she realized that Iver was just talking nonsense.

"...What nonsense are you talking about?!"

She shouted in embarrassment and anger, at least half of which was due to the shame that she had actually taken Iver's strange words seriously for a moment.

This young man, who looks as gentle and beautiful as a poet, is as cunning as a fox, full of lies from heaven to earth!

She was furious, but she didn't dare to speak loudly in front of the old butler, which made her face flushed: "Confess honestly—why did you appear in the demon ritual? Someone anonymously reported that you went to Stone Arch Park yourself, and were not coerced."

"I'm telling the truth, if you don't believe me, take me to the Bureau of Supervision."

Iver shrugged, as if feeling regret from the bottom of his heart.

But Hai Na knew that this was impossible—with the obvious bias of the Bureau of Supervision, she couldn't arrest Iver without evidence. If she really took Iver away, who was still in a wheelchair, she would probably be the one in trouble.

Then, Iver slowly put away that fox-like smile.

He showed a serious expression and said earnestly: "That's what I said. But since you can tell that what I said is nonsense, why can you believe the anonymous report? What's the difference between what I said and that report?"

"...So, what is the truth?"

"I can give you another version of the story—I was attacked and taken to Stone Arch Park while I was out for a walk. When I woke up, I was in a wheelchair. I have no idea what happened in between, and I don't know that I was sacrificed to a demon as a sacrifice, and I don't know how they were beaten away, and how I survived..."

"But this version of the story is too smooth and flawless. It's like a lawyer's defense in court. If I say it directly, you might be even more suspicious."

Iver sighed, as if he was very helpless and innocent again.

He said: "So, which one do you believe?"

...If you exclude the emotional part and judge from a rational point of view. It seems that the latter is more reasonable.

I may have misunderstood Iver again. Is it because the jealousy in my heart has not completely dissipated? —And he really can't summon that level of demon, because Iver is too weak. Hai Na could feel that he was indeed a Transcendent, but the reaction was very weak. At most, he had only lit up one Path.

The transcendent knowledge Hai Na learned told her that even if a pre-Transcendent of this level really summoned a demon, it would at most be the strength of a familiar, and it would never cause that kind of destruction—and the confirmed dead at the ritual site were indeed wanted criminals who had fled to the royal capital.

That person had sacrificed a small village, and was now a third-level Demon Scholar, who could even summon Greater Demons.

...Could it be that after he summoned the demon, the contract failed and he was backlashed by the demon? It's not impossible.

In that case, when the summoner dies, the demon will be repatriated. Iver was just drained of his vitality by the ritual, and then picked up by the old butler. Logically speaking, this possibility is much greater.

...But why did Iver tell me such outrageous lies? Soon, Hai Na realized—

She gave a very reasonable explanation: because her attitude had changed too easily. She hadn't even questioned Iver carefully before declaring him innocent. And Iver, as a truly innocent person, was instead angered by this hasty attitude, so he deliberately said some strange things, satirizing her for being easily prejudiced and trusting others.

So that's how it is.

That's why the director didn't take this matter to heart... because he knew Iver couldn't be the culprit, and probably didn't know any important information, so investigating would just be a waste of effort. That's why he casually sent her on this errand, and she actually thought it was some important mission, insisting on finding some flaws in it...

As expected, I'm still too impulsive. Too young, eager to make a contribution, and as a result, I lost my composure.

She also remembered that another case happened at the same time yesterday—in order to perform large-scale rituals such as summoning demons, Demon Scholars usually need to work in pairs. And in most cases, paired Demon Scholars are in a master-disciple relationship.

If the Demon Scholar acting as the mentor was backlashed by the summoned demon, then it would be reasonable for the apprentice to escape and act alone. If Iver was his assistant, his apprentice, then who committed yesterday's case? If Iver controlled the demon to kill one person, would he let the other one go?

... Hi, what nonsense am I talking about. High-level demons are not so easily controlled by such novices. She mocked herself.

"I'm sorry, I was prejudiced."

Having thought this through, Hai Na simply apologized: "I'm also very sorry for breaking our appointment before. If you still plan to come back to school, I can ask my juniors to give you some convenience.

"This is not compensation, just an expression of apology. If there is anything else you need me to do, please feel free to ask."

"Anything?" Iver seemed a little tempted.

"... Let me state in advance, I have no money."

Hai Na had a somewhat bitter expression on her face, and helplessly added: "Apart from monetary compensation—if needed, I can do some volunteer work."

"It's okay, it's good that the misunderstanding is resolved."

Iver smiled gently: "I actually felt uneasy too. After all, if Senior Sister goes back and someone mentions a word or two, and she becomes suspicious again, and comes back to investigate, that would be troublesome for both of us. Not to mention, if I'm late again...

"Then now Senior Sister might as well guess, why would I know about demons? Although I didn't touch anything, I was unconscious the whole time. But why could I guess that this matter was related to Demon Scholars the moment we met?"

"... I think, this is the legendary deduction method! Just like that famous Mr. Sherlock!"

Hai Na's eyes lit up: "I remember that Mr. Sherlock was also the professor's favorite student. He seems to be good at using this kind of divination-like method to discern other people's details! I've collected newspaper clippings of the cases he solved—I cut out the parts of those newspapers that mentioned Mr. Sherlock and pasted them into a book separately. Now this book is already one-third full..."

She felt that she had met a kindred spirit, and immediately became excited.

Originally, Hai Na felt a little guilty, but now Hai Na couldn't wait to show her friendliness, to show that she really didn't intentionally want to target him. She almost forced herself to show a friendly attitude, and now she finally had a breakthrough—they both liked that Mr. Sherlock! Watching Hai Na get excited and talk non-stop, Iver, sitting in the wheelchair, narrowed his eyes slightly, revealing a harmless smile.

If Hai Na hadn't been so careless and could observe carefully, she would have noticed that the old elf quietly guarding by his side, the shadow under him was motionless. But the shadow cast by Iver's wheelchair was trembling slightly, like a beast breathing steadily in its sleep.

This was all "deduced" by you, I didn't tell many lies.

When it comes to deduction, if you determine the conclusion first and then look for evidence, you will definitely be misled. It seems you are not qualified enough.

—Yes, Iver is indeed a sacrifice.

But at the same time, "Iver" is indeed a participant in the demon ritual.

What he said before was not a lie.

If he hadn't suddenly recalled the memories of his previous life, then he might really have been summoned in the ritual as a "demon from another world," with Iver's soul as a sacrifice.

Because along with those memories of his previous life, there appeared the extremely familiar light screen in front of him:

Iver, human male, comprehensive level 4 Basic Profession—

Priest LV1:

[Basic Prayer-Level 1 (93%)]

Demon Scholar LV3: [Demon Knowledge - Level 1 (13%)], [Basic Ritual - Level 1 (5%)], [Demon Contract - Level 1 (99%)]

Path lit: Dedication - Layer Zero; Transcendence - Layer One

Mana Pool: 1/1 (Light), 3/3 (Dark)

Free Experience: 24 Path Traits—

Transcendence - Shadow Affinity LV1: You have signed a lifebond contract with a Shadow Demon, and can freely use first-level shadow abilities.