Royal Agent Aleister

At dusk, in the Silver and Tin Palace.

It should have been dinner time, but the highest-ranking people in Avalon were gathered in the Tea Room, having a serious discussion.

Everyone except Arius the Grand Justice had gathered there.

"The results of the previous on-site investigation are in."

The Grand Guardian looked at the report in his hand and said in a deep voice, "Shadow traces confirmed... It is indeed a Shadow Fiend."

"However, the door to the secret chamber has not been opened. Furthermore, remnants of the Path of Love were detected inside the chamber. Arius and I personally confirmed that the type is Flesh Magic."

"—That must be polymorph, witchcraft. It's reasonable that the Shadow Fiend could infiltrate, but so could the witch... If I'm not mistaken, they must have entered and exited through the ventilation ducts."

The speaker this time was a young woman who looked to be in her early thirties.

She had long, light blonde curly hair and deep blue eyes. Her skin was fair, her figure was full, her ears were slightly pointed, and her appearance gave people a noble and aloof feeling.

She is Shafiya, the Grand Adjudicator of Avalon, and the highest-ranking leader of the Inspectorate. She is also a Half-Elf.

Because of her Half-Elf blood, Shafiya appears younger than her actual age. In fact, she is considerably older than the Grand Guardian.

Even in front of Her Majesty the Queen, her posture was not very dignified.

She crossed her legs, leaned back on the soft sofa, and said lazily, "I told you before, didn't I? The ventilation ducts are in the sealed room, which is definitely not safe."

"Even if the prisoner is sealed and can't escape, you can't rule out the possibility that someone might come in through the ventilation ducts—or even if no one comes in, it's possible that they could just release poison gas to silence them, right?"

"It definitely needs to be renovated."

Queen Sofia nodded and admitted, "The previous Dungeon Secret Chamber is too old. I think its location may have already been figured out... You can have Isabel rebuild the new Secret Prison. This is not something that can be done in a few months, so I will leave it to you."

After saying that, she clinked glasses with Meg, who was standing next to her.

Her glass contained red wine, while Meg's glass was at least three times larger—filled with bitter Black Beer.

Meg downed half a glass in one gulp and let out a satisfying burp.

The oldest-looking woman held a piece of fried cod dipped in sauce in her hand and took a bite. While chewing, she casually asked, "Aren't you going to drink, Shafiya? This Sichuan Pepper Beer is quite fresh."

"No, I'm pregnant."

The Grand Adjudicator refused, saying, "Let's talk about it after the baby is born."

"Pregnant again? Just giving birth won't be enough."

Meg laughed heartily, "Do you want the child to get drunk on milk?"

"Tsk," the Half-Elf lady clicked her tongue and said irritably, "So long-winded."

"Alright, alright, I'll wait until you're done breastfeeding. Then we can go out and celebrate together."

Meg chuckled and said, "If Sofia and I are still alive by then."

"Then you'd better live a long life, and don't drink too much... take it easy."

The Grand Adjudicator glanced at the two elderly women, who were nearing the end of their lives but were still drinking. "I'd like to find a good godmother for my child."

Compared to the three relaxed guys here, the Grand Guardian looked far too serious.

However, he was clearly used to this relaxed atmosphere.

Therefore, he completely ignored the two women, and only after they stopped talking did he begin to read aloud, "The traces of Flesh Magic appeared shortly before the attack on the Bureau of Supervision. We can suspect that someone reached a cooperation agreement with Minister Drost before dispatching members of the Noble Red Society, who were already on standby, to launch the surprise attack."

"I even suspect that one of the reasons the Prince was suddenly cursed to death was to create an opportunity to rescue Minister Drost."

"When it comes to the Path of Love, it is the Iris."

Shafiya went along with the Grand Guardian a little to stop him from talking incessantly. "But rescuing captured spies is not the style of the Iris People."

"Indeed. If it were the Iris People, they would probably send an assassin to kill him directly... just like they did with his secretary."

Meg nodded. "Then it must be the Stibnite Person —where did they find a 'witch'?"

"That's not surprising. The Path of Love is very stressful within the Iris. On one hand, they face assassination attempts, and on the other hand, their bodies might be stolen and transformed into Child of the Moon after death. It's quite normal for persecuted witches to flee to Star Antimony."

The Grand Guardian said solemnly, "But if that's the case... I think that lady codenamed ' Aleister ' is very likely innocent."

Is the demon possessed by the Shadow Demon an innocent victim? A brief silence fell over the Tea Room.

Afterwards, Her Majesty the Queen asked amiably, "You have some thoughts on this, don't you?"

"That's right. We learned of Aleister's existence in the Lloyd's's 'disappearance' case. But we soon discovered that Inspector Gordon's information was inaccurate— Aleister is not male, and his place of origin is different from what he said. So I wonder, is it possible that he is not a member of the Noble Red?"

"We prejudicially believed that Aleister came from the Noble Red. So when he left that ring, we thought it was a provocation from the Noble Red —they have the ability to silently dissolve people in secret chambers."

"And to verify this conjecture, I placed Minister Drost in the same secret room."

"The Grand Guardian said in a deep voice."

Shafiya retorted, "So what? Didn't she come anyway?"

"But the Noble Red have also come. If their goal is to rescue Drost, they wouldn't need to send Aleister to assassinate him, because that would only be a mission from Star Antimony, and even if the rescue fails, they wouldn't kill him themselves; conversely, if their goal is to assassinate Drost, there's absolutely no need to send so many people to rescue him."

"That's how I concluded that Miss Aleister is not a member of the Noble Red —in fact, you could say she's fighting against Noble Red. The ring she left behind was meant to draw our attention to the Noble Red."

The Grand Guardian calmly analyzed the situation.

Meg became interested. "So how did she get the ring? You mean, she killed a member of the Noble Red and stole his ring to take his place?"

"No need for that trouble."

"Grand Guardian replied."

He looked at Shafiya: "I checked and found that Inspector Edward had altered the case file. In the Pelican Bar incident, a ' Noble Red ' ring that should have been found at the scene is missing. And at that scene, only Inspector Hai Na and Iver should have been there."

"Do you suspect it's Hai Na, or Iver?"

Meg frowned, her tone turning somewhat displeased. "We need evidence."

The Grand Guardian immediately explained, "What I mean is... I suspect that ' Miss Aleister ' is actually Lily, Iver's personal maid."

"Her original surname was Lily Drost. I've been investigating her background these past few days and discovered that she is Drost's illegitimate daughter, and her mother was assassinated by Lloyd's of Lloyd's —most likely by assassins hired by Drost."

"In other words, she happens to have grudges against both Lloyd's's and Minister Drost. And I checked the Grimoire she took from the Bureau of Supervision; it's called ' The Silken Grimoire,' from the Path of Adaptation. And ' Miss Aleister ' only appeared after the Iris assassin with Shadow Stealth abilities suddenly disappeared... That assassin was clearly also a transcendent being from the Path of Adaptation."

"Is it possible that the assassin secretly attempted to assassinate Iver, but was killed by Iver and Lily instead? Lily then obtained shadow power from her—such as Grimoire or a supernatural item."

"That explains why ' Miss Aleister ' appeared in Iver's dormitory. Because Aleister is Lily."

The Grand Guardian analyzed the situation carefully.

Meg was getting impatient. "So you're going to arrest Lily? Don't forget, there's another possibility— Aleister is the assassin! Couldn't she have been captivated by Iver's good looks and chosen to abandon her mission to serve him instead?"

"Then Iver must be Enticement Demon or a demon to do this; humans couldn't possibly do something like that. This already falls into the realm of mind control."

The Grand Guardian grumbled, "And I saw even more direct evidence... When I left the Bureau of Supervision, I clearly saw Lily's shadow tremble. It was very slight, but it was definitely there. Sometimes when they were staying at my house, Lily's shadow would also tremble."

"Not to mention, she disappeared for a period of time... When she returned, Minister Drost in the basement was dead. It's fair to say she made almost no attempt to hide her identity. And when Aleister first appeared, she happened to be near the Bureau of Supervision."

"—Of course, I don't intend to arrest Miss Lily. Because if Aleister really is Lily, it means she didn't do anything wrong and is completely under control."

"So, is there a possibility..."

At this point, the blond man crossed his arms and said in a deep voice, "If the other party's character is sound, could we use the royal family's name to specially hire ' Miss Aleister ' as our agent? It's always Star Antimony and Iris trying to poach our people...it's about time we poached some of theirs."

"Interesting."

Meg laughed upon hearing this and said cheerfully, "Then let me go—let me have a good talk with those two, master and servant."

"When?"

"Shafiya asked."

Meg replied, "It's too late today, let's do it tomorrow. Tomorrow's Monday, he has to come back to school. I'll go to his dorm to find him after school."

"As the dean of the academic department, it's perfectly reasonable for me to have a heart-to-heart talk with my students, isn't it?"

"Then you can protect Iver while you're at it, Meg. Don't rush off tonight, stay in the shadows and protect Iver."

Queen Sofia pondered for a moment and then gave the order, "I think the Noble Red have some kind of obsession with Iver. This may be related to Iver's background... They might come back again. The place where we can ambush Iver without attracting attention is his dormitory building."

"Should I go too?"

The Grand Guardian was somewhat worried. "They might send a truly powerful expert this time."

"What, you looking down on me, kid?"

Meg glared at her.

The Grand Guardian was so frightened that he quickly apologized. "No, I didn't mean that..."

"I won't go, I'm taking care of my pregnancy."

Shafiya yawned, somewhat regretfully, "Otherwise, I would have liked to join in the fun too."

"Summon Arius?"

"The old man might not be available," Meg replied. "It would be better to call Master Agnes; her spying abilities are very useful."

"OK."

The Queen nodded happily. "Then I'll go and talk to Yanis."

Chapter Two, around 2 PM~