Lloyd's

Secret passages sounded mysterious, but they really weren't all that rare.

After all, they were built for people to use.

Iver led Lu Lu and Sherlock into an abandoned warehouse not far from Pelican Bar. It had once stored stone, but now was covered in dust and rubble.

The back door of the warehouse opened onto a somewhat desolate, run-down wasteland.

There wasn't a soul around. A creek formed from sewage and pooled water blocked their path. The opposite bank was piled high with all kinds of household garbage and bushes, faded and rotten after enduring the wind and rain again and again.

Yet when Iver saw it, he relaxed instead, as though he had found his target. Without hesitation, he crossed the creek and headed toward the garbage bank opposite.

"Keep going straight from here. Once we climb over that big dirt mound, we'll be there."

"...I see."

Sherlock had only barely managed to jump across without dirtying his shoes. Following behind Iver, he muttered, "Using imagery like sewage and garbage, which makes people feel that a place has been 'abandoned' or is 'at the end of the road,' to make them subconsciously believe there's no way through. It isn't a particularly clever concealment method, but it's good enough for ordinary people."

"Because this isn't some advanced secret passage, and it isn't man-made, either."

Iver led from the front while turning his head slightly to explain, "It leads to a chemical plant that was abandoned twenty years ago.

"About seven or eight years ago, a group of young punks from Lloyd District discovered and occupied this secret passage. They're the Sweater Brotherhood, a gang of stranglers."

"...Stranglers? Isn't that the name of a gang?"

Holding up her skirt, Lu Lu struggled to keep up behind Iver as she asked in confusion, "I thought they were the largest gang in Lloyd District."

"Not exactly. The Strangulation Gang is indeed made up of gang members, but that doesn't mean they belong to one common gang called the Strangulation Gang."

Sherlock the newsboy answered her question. "Any gang member who kills and robs people by strangling them is called a strangler. It's precisely the smaller gangs that use this method to make money."

"Then what's the biggest gang?"

"That would definitely be Lloyd's. There's only one Lloyd's in Lloyd District."

Iver replied, "The Lloyd's established by Lloyd Prince over two hundred years ago, back when he was still a merchant, has survived to this day. It's a large organization that sells insurance, predatory loans, overseas intelligence, and commercial secrets. In a sense, they're the only legally recognized gang in Avalon."

"...Aren't predatory loans illegal? How can there be legal predatory loans?"

"Because they don't openly charge excessive interest. Instead, they collect it by selling the Lloyd Weekly at an exorbitant price far beyond what ordinary people can afford."

At this point, Iver gave Lu Lu a helpless look. "My dear, you don't really think buying a weekly newspaper for five red candles is a normal price, do you?

"It's a weekly newspaper. That means more than half the news in it has already been reported by other papers—it's old news. There's a saying in the newspaper business: 'By evening, the morning paper is wastepaper.' It's somewhat extreme... but no matter what, a weekly should be cheaper than a daily."

The newsboy Iver had encountered outside Pelican Bar earlier was one of the "newsboys" raised by Lloyd's.

At the time, Hai Na had sensed that the price of the Lloyd Weekly was wrong. But she hadn't understood who the Lloyd Weekly was actually sold to. Iver hadn't wanted to explain it to her, either.

Given her straightforward nature, she was better off not knowing about such things.

Hai Na had assumed that the newspaper buyers were sailors, fishermen, and laborers... How could they afford that kind of money?

Even if they could, they would only buy meat and beer.

The exhausted and impoverished people of the Bottom Layer had no means to purchase newspapers. They could only ask around in bars for free news.

Little Sherlock sighed. In a low voice, he patiently explained the ins and outs to the sheltered Princess. "Anyone in Lloyd District who borrows money from Lloyd's has to regularly purchase a specified number of Lloyd Weekly copies as additional interest. When the collectors come to inspect them, they check how many newspapers the borrower possesses and cut off one corner of each paper as proof of inspection.

"The same goes for the inside information they sell. Factory owners and company directors directly order a large batch of Lloyd Weekly copies from Lloyd's. The people who deliver the newspapers bring their messages along with them.

"They also investigate designated targets, and they once invited me to work with them. As far as I know, some private detectives accept their employment. When Lloyd's delivers the personal information they've investigated, payment is likewise made with a specified number of Lloyd Weekly copies."

"...Is it because newspapers are taxed?"

Hearing this, Lu Lu immediately understood. "So the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Revenue protect them?"

Although this was her first time hearing of such a gray-market transaction conducted through newspapers, she immediately realized the cleverness of the method.

It meant that Lloyd's would publicly disclose all its income reports to the kingdom while actively paying a large sum in protection fees.

Since they had taken the money without arresting them, that meant this behavior was permitted.

As expected of an organization cultivated by Lloyd Prince.

Although Princess Isabel lacked a great deal of experience, she had a very sharp mind.

Moreover, she had been exposed to a very high level of knowledge, which had also cultivated an excellent political instinct:

"The reason they use 'newspapers' to collect money is that Lloyd's is expressing its respect for the Path of Authority, right? Even though they originated from the forces left behind by Lloyd Prince, they'd still run into trouble if they truly angered the Round Table Hall.

"But if they conduct loan transactions through the sale of newspapers, it means they pay taxes on the 'interest' as net income... Because they don't want to offend the Bureau of Supervision, compared with merchants who are almost certain to evade taxes, their tax payments will instead be more proactive and stable."

Isabel had heard the Minister of Revenue complain countless times about the difficulty of collecting taxes.

He constantly demanded that the Bureau of Supervision dispatch tax inspectors to companies suspected of tax evasion. Every time, he produced a terrifyingly long list—longer than Isabel's hair. When he held it in his hands, the other end nearly dragged along the floor.

—Isabel clearly realized that if Lloyd's paid its taxes proactively enough, with huge and highly stable sums, then they would indeed receive protection.

The fact that they had obtained distribution rights for Glass Staircase Newspaper already showed the Round Table Hall's opinion of them.

The newsboy nodded. "That's precisely why the Bureau of Supervision won't send anyone to deal with them. And because they voluntarily maintain civil order in Lloyd District, the Bureau of Supervision can only turn a blind eye.

"They themselves operate according to the Path of Authority, and they also respect the legal organizations further upstream along the Path of Authority. In a sense, they're no longer really an organization, but can instead be regarded as a large company with dirty methods.

"So they won't carry out strangling, which might invite an investigation. But their squeezing of other gangs' profit margins causes those other organizations to continually choose to send members to strangle people, break into homes to rob or steal, kidnap, assassinate, and use other illegal methods to obtain funds.

"That makes them easy targets for investigation and arrest by the Bureau of Supervision. In turn, this further compresses the other organizations' room to survive."

"—That's not all."

At last, Iver spotted the rear entrance of the abandoned chemical plant in the distance and relaxed. He casually added, "Actually, after those stranglers ambush and kill passersby and take everything they have, their channel for fencing the goods is still Lloyd's. And certain assassination and theft contracts are also issued by Lloyd's.

"That's why I just said that there's only one largest gang in Lloyd District: Lloyd's."

"...There's more to it?"

Even Sherlock was startled when he heard this.

But after thinking it over, it did seem reasonable. No matter how legal Lloyd's was, it was ultimately a gang organization with dirty hands, not a legitimate industrial company.

Yet Sherlock had never been able to find evidence of their crimes...

Perhaps it wasn't only because the Bureau of Supervision had destroyed the evidence.

Perhaps there had been no such evidence from the very beginning. They no longer needed to do those things themselves.

Sherlock carefully sized up the "Fox" dressed as a priest and, for the first time, began to question his true identity.

He seemed very familiar with Lloyd District and even knew about this secret passage. He was even familiar with Lloyd's secrets...

—Could "Mr. Fox" not be a student at the school, but a gang member? Or perhaps he was an informant from some organization who had infiltrated the church, or even an apostate priest?

With that thought, Sherlock asked tentatively, "Mr. Fox... If I investigate the Sweater Brotherhood, will it cause trouble for you? If it will, I think I can make an exception and let them off. Consider it my gratitude for your help during the ritual."

Hearing this, Iver's footsteps paused.

He turned back to glance at the newsboy, the corners of his lips curving slightly upward.

"If I was willing to tell you about it, I wouldn't be afraid of you investigating. Once you're done with the Bone Carver, arrest the Sweater Brotherhood while you're at it... That would count as ridding the people of a menace. Don't let the Sweater Brotherhood's small size fool you. Every member has at least five lives on their hands.

"According to information I've heard... they may have ties to the people behind Pelican Bar."

—Actually, that wasn't all.

The reason Iver remembered this secret passage was that it was the setting of a main-story dungeon.

He had forgotten all the preceding plot, but he was certain the Sweater Brotherhood was connected to the Noble Red Society. The members of the Sweater Brotherhood who appeared in this dungeon had not only had their bodies greatly enhanced and their minds driven berserk by a ritual performed by the Demon Scholar, they also raised a large group of Demon Dogs made from corpses.

That dungeon had been pretty disgusting.

It was long and winding, and it was easy to get lost if you didn't know the way. The ground was covered in garbage, mud pits, and sewage that hampered movement. Large numbers of Demon Dogs lay in ambush around the corners, activating when the first person passed by, then suddenly charging out and biting the second person.

These Demon Dogs not only wore scrap-metal armor with razor-sharp edges, they were incredibly tough and dealt heavy damage. Their aggro was also chained—once attacked, they would start barking frantically, and the other dogs on patrol would come running after hearing them.

Compared with the boss, whose mechanics weren't particularly complicated, the mobs in this dungeon were far more annoying.

Iver really didn't want to run through this dungeon again. Just imagining those half-human-height, iron-skinned mad dogs, raised on human flesh, pouncing on him and biting him made his scalp prickle.

He might as well have Sherlock wipe them out ahead of time.

It would also give Sherlock something to do, so he wouldn't keep investigating the things behind Pelican Bar. Otherwise, That Lord might assume that his letter had fallen into Sherlock's hands and cautiously begin destroying the evidence and silencing witnesses.

If That Lord destroyed the evidence faster than Iver could investigate, things would become difficult.

Although the identity of the "Fox" was a mystery, to a suspicious and intelligent person like Sherlock, a clue casually offered by a fox encountered by chance during a Dream Realm ritual would instead be more worth investigating than a clue deliberately delivered by someone in reality.

That was because he would question the latter's motives and try to reason backward from a higher level—which couldn't be called wrong. Iver was simply afraid Sherlock would notice his motives, so he had to use an "accidental encounter" to "inadvertently" slip him the information.

—Iver understood Sherlock. He really was that kind of person.