Avalon's Griffin Minister

After dealing with the Ritual Site, Iver let Sherlock return to the bishop's house on his own.

Sherlock was initially somewhat resistant to this—he had intended to keep it a secret from everyone he knew, not telling them that he had shrunk. He figured he'd revert to his original size once he advanced again.

This immediately energized Sherlock, who had previously had little desire for promotion.

However, he was persuaded by Iver's words, "Don't you want to go back and catch up on some sleep?" He reluctantly chose to give in to his body's whims.

To be honest, I am a little sleepy.

After all, he had just endured the Moron Curse the night before and exerted all his strength to learn two subjects he was not good at. And after he had almost mastered them, his body was reforged by Iver's ritual.

Sherlock, who hadn't eaten or drunk much water all night, returned to his teenage form of thirteen or fourteen years old. He then spent an hour painting the walls while wearing uncomfortable clothes and carrying the dead cow out with Iver —the last task almost made him faint from exhaustion.

"... Do you always have to drag me along when you're working?! Or rather, I'm not really of any help, and in the end you end up doing all the work yourself, right?" Sherlock couldn't help but say.

"That's right, but don't even think about escaping alone."

Iver chuckled, "Working together is what makes a good brother!"

So after forcibly dragging Sherlock to finish the work, Iver used a "Fire Offering" and was full of energy to help Hai Na deal with the griffin matter.

Sherlock has no ability to recover his strength. Moreover, after the "Moron Curse" had been ineffective for a period of time due to the ritual, he vaguely felt his head starting to ache again.

It's better than before, though. Now it's about the level of a normal migraine, which he often experienced when he stayed up late working before, and it's still bearable.

Although he hasn't advanced yet, Sherlock's body is much stronger than before—if he had been dragged to do so much physical labor before completing his initiation ceremony, he would definitely be lying on the ground by now.

Sherlock suddenly realized—what does it mean to work together? You just wanted to test the effect of your ritual! It turns out you didn't even know what the effect of this ritual was! After Iver finished observing, Sherlock felt cold, sleepy, hungry, and exhausted. In the end, he swallowed his previous vow, "I won't tell anyone about this," and slunk back to the bishop's house.

"They're here—"

Ms. Mina, who had just gotten up, came to open the door after hearing the doorbell ring.

She had initially assumed the visitor was delivering newspapers or selling milk. However, upon opening the door and seeing little Sherlock dressed in loose clothing, Ms. Mina stood there hesitantly for a long while.

Then she blinked—and a shimmering, star-like glow enveloped her eyes.

This is the astral vision unique to prophets who Path of Adaptation. It can easily see a person's fundamental spiritual nature, thereby discerning their true identity.

The next moment, Ms. Mina showed a look of surprise:

"... You are, Sherlock?"

"Thank you, madam. You didn't say anything hurtful like 'Whose child is this?'"

The young Sherlock sighed and waved the sleeve that covered half of his fingers, "This is Iver's new invention, isn't it amazing?"

"You're so cute."

Ms. Mina first praised him with a smile before welcoming Sherlock into the house.

She and Bishop Mathers had no children. They had cared for Sherlock as if he were their own child...

Now that he has truly become a younger version of himself, it naturally pleases Ms. Mina even more.

"I would prefer you to say something like that I am young and energetic now."

Sherlock said coldly, putting his hand to the sides of his mouth, raising it to reveal a smile, and chuckled dryly, "Otherwise, I think I'd be dead sleepy by now, haha."

Ms. Mina couldn't help but ruffle his hair. "Oh, poor thing... even your hair has become finer and softer. But you do seem to have more energy than before... for example, if it were you before, you would probably just sigh deeply when you were this tired, and then come in and curl up on the sofa, lazily asking me for a cup of hot apple cider."

Sherlock wanted to argue, but he realized that Ms. Mina was telling the truth. So he chose to remain silent.

Mina exclaimed, "This is incredible, Reversing to Youth Ritual..."

She was not an ordinary person who knew nothing about the path to the extraordinary.

Because she had contact with many secret prophets, she was better able to understand the incredible nature of the Iver ritual.

"The phenomenon of people aging with the passage of time belongs to the realm of the Hourglass; while the growth, development, change and aging of the body are related to the Blood Domain in the Path of Love. You two belong to neither balance nor love, yet you have managed to achieve the miracle of reversing time... As expected of him. Now, I think I would not be surprised by any miracles he does."

Mina sighed, "When I did the divination last time, I noticed that his fate was closely related to many ' Greater Phantom Demon '. At that time, I even suspected that he might be a reincarnated celestial being... but after doing another divination, I found out that he was indeed just a mortal."

Sherlock immediately understood what Mina meant.

Besides the usual Greater Phantom Demon, apostles, celestial beings, and Pillar God are also considered Greater Phantom Demon in terms of racial classification.

"To be a mortal and yet have such a close connection with those great beings of the Dream Realm... this is even more astonishing than the reincarnation of a Celestial Master or an Apostle. I no longer dare to perform divination for him... I can see his chaotic lines of fate, and along those clear lines of fate, I can see those great beings one by one. This is probably a kind of benevolent warning."

Otherwise, she probably would have fainted on the spot. It's hard to say whether she'll wake up now.

As an adaptor, she chose to follow the guidance of her heart.

Mina chatted with Sherlock for a while longer about Iver, then went to make breakfast.

Although Sherlock insisted that only his appearance had changed, Mina firmly refused to offer Sherlock hot apple cider.

After Ms. Mina left, Sherlock, who was curled up on the sofa, fell into deep thought.

He always felt that Ms. Mina was hinting at something to him.

Does this mean they'll encounter danger this time? Or is Iver a pawn of the Archangels?

With this lineup, what danger could they possibly encounter? Two Third Level —herself, Third Level Hai Na, Third Level priest, and even a Path of Transcendence professional of unknown level—plus his elusive maid... Sherlock felt they could easily defeat even Fourth Level powerhouse. Because their combat strength was simply beyond the typical Third Level.

But after hearing Mina say that Iver's fate threads were unusually tangled, Sherlock still felt a little uneasy.

... Just in case, let's go to Edward's house and bring him all his spare equipment.

As Edward's close friend, Sherlock knew exactly where Edward was used to hiding them.

At present, Iver is not an official Minister of Everything, nor is he Minister of Everything Secretary Legal Affairs... He is not a member of the Bureau of Supervision or the Inspectorate, and has not obtained formal authorization. As Law Mage, he has lost only a fraction of his former strength.

But all he needs to do is borrow Edward's identity.

By simply wearing Edward's gloves, Ritual Sword, pistol, and identification, he was essentially granted temporary authorization by Edward. Only in this way could he wield the power of the Path of Authority.

Of course, he had another option... which was to directly ask the Queen for a charter. The effect would be the same.

However, Sherlock didn't want to trouble Her Majesty the Queen, nor did he want her to worry about him... just as Sherlock didn't want to tell his brother about this trip.

—Anyway, he stole things to protect his brother, so leaving a note is enough.

Meanwhile, Iver had also fully mastered the new skill [Dawnfire]—seeing it appear on his character panel confirmed that Iver had indeed mastered it. It wasn't an illusion caused by being burned too much.

However, it's clearly not very convenient for him to use right now, because there isn't enough space for him to test it. Also, he's going on a long trip today, and he needs to save some data.

After having breakfast at the Silver and Tin Palace, Iver went to visit the Griffin Minister of Avalon.

This minister lived in the backyard of the Silver and Tin Palace.

It may be one of only two ministers residing in the Silver and Tin Palace.

The other one is Iver.

This minister, whose real name is unknown, was enormous. It was the largest griffin Iver had ever seen.

The Griffin Minister was currently lying on a square, pure white rock, its two front paws, like a cat's, tucked into its chest and hidden by the white downy fur on its chest. Its entire body was pure white, like jade. The rock was slightly small from a human perspective, just enough to accommodate the Griffin Minister's entire body. But for it, it was just right.

This adorable, cat-like pose, however, exudes a sense of majesty—simply because it's so big.

The stone platform is nearly a meter high. And just by propping up its upper body and lying on it, it would be about four meters high.

This is basically the height of a building. Iver has to tilt his head back to have a normal conversation with it.

"The top female student of this year?"

The Griffin Minister, with his claws tucked in, spoke in a deep and authoritative voice like that of an old man, "Then there should have been griffins long ago."

"I guess we were thinking of getting her a White Feather Griffin —after all, she's Meg's last disciple."

Iver said with a smile.

This was actually his first time meeting this Griffin Minister, yet he wasn't nervous at all... This old man was currently the oldest Griffin in Avalon, and also the longest-living Griffin to date.

It is a "founding minister" that has existed since the time of the first Round Table Knights.

Now it is too old and heavy to fight... Its body, which would be too fat for a human, is quite pleasing to the eye for a griffin with half the body of a cat.

It wasn't always the Griffin Minister of Avalon —in fact, the old man had given the position to a human several times.

Griffins are indeed far less intelligent than humans, and their physiological structure makes them unsuitable for handling various documents. Furthermore, because griffins are powerful, can speak, and are the darlings of the Silver Crowned Dragon, they have no worries about suffering any unfair treatment.

After all, strictly speaking, the Griffin Knights, whose lifespans are much shorter than those of griffins, are just nannies and tidyers for the griffins.

It's just that it outlived the previous Griffin Minister, so it's temporarily taking over again until the Queen finds a new one. Anyway, all it has to do is sit here and act as a mascot.

When there are important documents, its secretary will come over and let it peck at them to make a mark.

This is the advantage of the Avalon civil service system—regardless of whether their superiors are human or griffins, the civil servants can still complete their tasks. All the ministers need to do is sign off.

And as an old griffin, its working ability might be far superior to that of a human. At least it won't cause any scandals or be bribed by foreigners.

"Little Meg..."

The Griffin Minister said nostalgically, "Her judgment has always been excellent. Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Please take a look at this document."

Iver squatted down and spread the documents out. He pointed to the area where a signature was required.

The Griffin Minister did not get off the rock, but remained standing.

It simply stretched its neck forward like a spring, easily perched on a meter-high rock, and pecked at the documents.

"And this too."

Iver put the file away and pulled out another one. "Peck at this. Hmm, and here too. Here. Okay, thank you for your help."

"Fine."

The Griffin Minister spoke in a gentle voice, encouragingly saying, "Your name is Iver, right? The Crown Prince is watching you... Do your best."

Iver's hand trembled, and he said with a wry smile, "Yes, I will definitely try my best."

... To be honest, being watched by the Pillar God is not something to be happy about. This put a lot of pressure on Iver.

Fortunately, there were no leaks this time.

The Great Sin Ritual was held because the Fallen Angel died in the future, so Iver dared not tell anyone a word about it.

But the Mithras Ritual did indeed exist thousands of years ago; it was a genuine ancient ritual that originated in the Parthian Ancient Kingdom. And it is indeed a path that Sherlock could use to revive and popularize in Avalon.

Although Iver has used this excuse to lie many times, this time it's true.

He genuinely learned about the ritual from a book, unlike how he forcibly invented it when he created the Paradox Flame Butterfly.

It's like a priest gaining the help of apostles from other paths through prayer, or Blood Mage learning spells from other paths. This is one of the ways the Path of Wisdom gains abilities from other paths.

The two abilities it gains first happen to be the mainstream paths of Avalon —dedication and authority. This profession can be implemented with virtually no pressure, and even the most troublesome rituals can be streamlined into an assembly line.

Once the symbols on the wall are drawn, and after the gaze of the Constant Self is invoked, several cows can be slaughtered at once to help several people complete the ritual. After this group completes the ritual, the symbols on the wall don't need to be wiped off; they can simply be replaced by the next group.

Although one cannot request too many requests for the gaze of the Pillar God consecutively, the Ritual Site does not need to be cleaned up. This optimizes both efficiency and cost.

Of course, perhaps the biggest problem is that Avalon simply can't extract that many high-level mages...

We can't expect all the mages from the Narcissus Principality to come to Avalon, can we? Star Antimony would probably have to fight Avalon to the death.

... But that's not necessarily true. If those mages really did come to Avalon, perhaps Star Antimony wouldn't actually fight with Avalon.

Because that would mean Avalon "truly possesses weapons of mass destruction".

—Hmm, this seems like a good idea?

Iver fell into deep thought, wondering if he could find a way to poach some people.