Home Faction and Cardinal Fafner

After a friendly tug-of-war, Yunus led the way and welcomed Iver into the house.

Behind him, Sherlock lagged a few steps behind until he was parallel to Iver.

He smiled slightly and said in a teasing tone, "Did you notice?"

Iver simply looked ahead at Yunus's back, without turning back to look at Sherlock: "Naturally."

Sherlock was referring to the fact that Yunus had recognized Iver's identity.

That's not surprising.

Although Yunus has been active as a knight-errant for a long time and hasn't been Prince Albert for a while... he is still active in Avalon. In other words, although it's unknown whether Yunus returned to Glass Island along the way... he certainly saw the newspapers.

Yunus did not leave Avalon until after Queen Sophia's death and Isabel's formal ascension to the Queen.

In other words, he must have known that Iver was Isabel's only trusted minister when she ascended the throne; and he would also know that Iver was the Minister of Everything in Avalon.

The only problem is that my father-in-law will most likely also read the news about "Miss Aleister".

The long-standing affair between Iver and Aleister... this was the hottest topic in Avalon before Her Majesty the Queen's passing.

This news was originally a tactic used by Iver to divert the attention of the Avalon. Although Isabel knew that Aleister was Iver, so she didn't react... the others obviously didn't know.

In their view, Isabel's bringing Iver into her inner circle was itself a way of competing with the mysterious and noble Miss Aleister for a man.

Sherlock hadn't thought it was a good idea at the time. Now that Iver was going to get a little trouble—or rather, retribution—for his actions, he could only stand by with a smug grin.

If it weren't for the fact that there are so many strangers here... if it were just him and Iver here, Sherlock would probably be circling around Iver, playing his violin freely and singing the national anthem of Avalon.

But Iver remained unperturbed.

He merely glanced sideways at Sherlock and asked softly, "Did you find anything?"

"Some."

Seeing that Iver wanted to get down to business, Sherlock immediately resumed his serious expression. "I didn't go back yesterday because I wanted to confirm my suspicions..."

With that, Yunus ushered them into the inner room. It was a room that looked like a living room, with a huge White Crystal screen that resembled a television. It had a rather modern feel.

A young elven couple sat at a tea table, where the tea had barely been touched.

They all looked quite young.

From a human perspective, he's probably not even thirty years old... Even considering the aging rate of elves, he can hardly be considered middle-aged.

The man wore a moon-white mage's robe, round glasses, and had a gentle, refined demeanor. His wife wore a pale yellow short dress with white stockings, and a flower-shaped hair clip. If one ignored her mature air and only looked at her appearance and clothing, one might even mistake her for a student.

Upon seeing a the Great Collective of people enter, the elven couple politely stood up and nodded to everyone—mainly greeting Iver, who was wearing the archbishop's red robe.

"Let me introduce you both. This is Iver Moriarty, a distinguished talent from Avalon, known to all! Gentle and handsome, dashing and charming, he is the idol of countless young women. Even the Child of the Moon of the Empire was captivated by him, and he even had a relationship with Her Majesty the Queen, who was only nineteen years old at the time—"

Yunus enthusiastically introduced Iver to them.

Iver nodded slightly, smiling gently as he corrected her, "Those were all just rumors—but my feelings for Her Majesty the Queen are real. In fact, Isabel and I are already engaged."

Upon hearing this, Yunus suddenly paused for a moment.

Sherlock couldn't help but smile, but he quickly suppressed it with a stern face.

Then, Iver picked up the conversation. "This is my friend Lily. She came with me to the Theocracy to protect me; you all probably already know Detective Sherlock... He received a letter from Mr. Yunus for help and came to me to bring him here. He is now living in my residence."

"Archbishop Moriarty."

Clearly, the couple had a higher approval rating for Iver than Yunus.

The male mage approached, placed his right hand on his chest, and nodded slightly to Iver: "I have heard about your deeds these past few days. I believe your actions were correct—we all believe so."

Iver politely walked over and said, "I don't know your name yet..."

"I am Maxim Digrock. This is my wife, Grace Dryleaf Butterfly."

Master Maxim introduced the two, "Mr. Yunus came looking for my daughter Anastasia Moonlight... He said he saved Anastasia in Avalon a few years ago and received her gratitude. But in fact, Anastasia turned into a tree twenty years ago."

"However, he produced Anastasia's token. And after we checked the information, we found that the person he knew might actually be Anastasia... This was too strange. So Mr. Yunus invited the famous detective, Mr. Sherlock."

He chuckled as he said this, "But actually, this matter isn't important, it's just a bit strange. After all, Anastasia's soul has already entered the Giant Tree Country, and my wife and I just happened to have some free time. So we decided to investigate... Compared to that matter, it's a greater honor for us to get to know you."

Grace smiled at Iver and gave an Iris People- like bow—though Iver didn't quite understand why one would lift their skirt when wearing a short skirt.

Upon hearing their three surnames, Sherlock covered his forehead, clearly feeling a headache coming on.

In this era, only elves would have such a strange custom: the surnames of the whole family could be completely different and all sound very odd.

Because an elf's surname is a specific name passed down through generations, it must have meaning and can only be translated literally, not transliterated. Furthermore, a child's talents, hobbies, and special skills may not be inherited from their parents, which is why parents usually do not pass on their heritage to their children.

On the other hand... because elves are a long-lived species that primarily follow the Inheritors model, each of them usually has multiple paths to enlightenment. Surnames, in another sense, can also quickly indicate a person's general path to enlightenment.

These two people's surnames are not too rare; Iver had studied them in the Avalon Library.

For example, the Rock-Digging tradition is based on the Path of Wisdom and requires a level of the Path of Twilight; the Dryleaf Butterfly tradition is based on the Twilight Path and requires a considerable level of dance skills.

Knowing someone's surname basically tells you about their personality, strengths, and preferences; but this doesn't mean that Maxim can't have the adaptability and extraordinary level to Dedication Path of Path of Transcendence.

While an elf's surname is not decisive, it does offer some reference value.

Iver then realized why the two were being so friendly and even respectful to him. "Are you opponents of the Controlled Fire faction?"

"That's right."

Maxim nodded. "We're all ' Home Faction ' elves. As for those Controlled Fire people... let's not even talk about whether they're extreme or progressive, but I don't think they've done anything substantial. They're just spouting slogans."

"Home Faction?"

Sherlock, standing to the side, looked at Iver with some confusion.

He came here yesterday, but the other party didn't talk to him about this topic at all.

But Iver shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either.

He only remembered a few of the most well-known—or rather, most powerful—factions in the Theocracy: the Judgment Center, the Mediators, the Historical Site Restoration Society, and the Market Supervisors.

In the original storyline, after the Theocracy split, these four factions quickly established their initial power base. Adding the Controlled Fire, they became five opposing forces within the Theocracy. Players would then need to guide the Saintess to increase their favorability with these four factions, while the Controlled Fire was the most powerful and infamous enemy.

The Judgment Center is the faction currently putting pressure on Star Antimony; they are the extreme Pope faction. Their main responsibility is punishing other small nations that have angered the Theocracy ... Most of the Pope Guard belong to this faction, making it the most powerful church faction in the Theocracy. The Queen Guard sent to Avalon, as well as the guardians of the Founding Family, almost all come from this iron-fisted faction.

Mediators are mainly those elves who like to mediate disputes.

They exist among elves of all ages and classes. Within the Nine Pillars God Church, these individuals are the most numerous.

From wars to petty brawls, they'll intervene whenever they see something. They advocate pacifism, but their weakness is a sense of superiority stemming from long-lived species—many conflicts among Short-lived Races seem laughable and unimportant to them, much like how humans view cats and dogs fighting. And indeed, that's true.

Therefore, their hostility towards other factions mainly stems from their attempts to "mediate," which ultimately dragged them into the conflict.

The Historical Site Restoration Society might be the faction headed by Cardinal Matilda, since she was in charge of "guarding the tombs"; but it could also be the faction headed by the Cardinal of the sixth Seventh Ring.

This is the most conservative force within the Theocracy, and also the faction most hostile to the Controlled Fire —they are also those who resent the Short-lived Races's transformation of the Theocracy and reject the professionalization process.

As for the Market Supervisors, Iver is now certain that it is the faction led by Cyril Cardinal.

—Because Iver now knows that he is the only one among the Cardinal of the Theocracy who understands rituals.

These overseers specifically target the trade in human beings and tissues of various intelligent species, and occasionally the trade in dangerous ritual materials. This is not for the sake of "Heavenly Sin," but simply to reduce the profits from killing.

Ritualists, in general, can accomplish more by using the most powerful, intelligent, and long-lived biological materials. Therefore, not cracking down on this material trade is tantamount to encouraging murder. If someone kills, the corpse can be dismembered and sold at a high price to ritualists or necromancers, thus increasing the killer's profits. Since most people cannot be sold one-on-one, middlemen naturally emerge—the profit margins of which are enormous.

It could even form a sinister black market profit chain, serving as a downstream industry to help other gray and black industries cover up their crimes. The profits generated from this could then feed back into upstream industries, providing them with stronger protection and even secretly cultivating powerful ritualists, Curse Master, and necromancers.

Cyril Cardinal himself was Grand Wizard, with considerable knowledge of rituals and curses. Therefore, he could discern which materials were valuable—by investigating them in reverse order, he could prescribe the appropriate remedy. This was tantamount to diminishing the power of his own lineage, thereby reducing the profits of murderers and evil organizations worldwide... which, for him, was naturally a form of sacrifice.

Without the efforts of the overseers, the Noble Red, with its ample supply of ritual materials, would likely be even more troublesome. However, generally speaking, the overseers are primarily active in the Parthian Ancient Kingdom and the Stibium Kingdom.

When Iver first heard that Master Maxim was quite hostile towards Cardinal Loki, he thought he was a member of the Historical Site Restoration Society.

In response to Iver's question, Maxim nodded. "Yes, I was indeed initially with the Historical Site Restoration Society. But I later realized that conservatism itself is meaningless... Thanks to Cardinal Fafner's teachings, I understood how to use my life in the most valuable way."

Can you tell me about it?

Iver asked.

"The Home Faction is the church faction to which Cardinal Fafner belongs... Cardinal Fafner is the administrator of the Third Ring, and her supreme doctrine is 'the longest and most continuous dedication is building.'"

Maxim enthusiastically introduced—or rather, proselytized—to Iver: "Your ' Silver and Tin Palace ' in Avalon was built by Cardinal Fafner. The other Elven Style buildings are the same... even the Orphanage, nursing homes, and church schools in Avalon were all built under our supervision..."