Sinister Hub: Pelican Pub

The next morning, Hai Na, the Bureau of Supervision inspector, headed to Moriarty Manor with an authorization order from the Bureau of Supervision.

This time, she had clearly learned her lesson from yesterday.

After a simple breakfast, Hai Na immediately hurried over, arriving before seven.

Iver was still asleep at that hour. So the butler, Oswald, could only settle her in the Reception Room and have the maids bring her some tea and refreshments.

It was only after Iver had gotten up, washed, and finished breakfast that Oswald told him Hai Na was waiting for him in the Reception Room.

"...You came really early this time, upperclassman. Weren't we supposed to meet at nine-thirty?"

Iver sat in his wheelchair as Oswald slowly pushed him into the Reception Room.

The moment he entered, he saw Hai Na dressed in "formal attire."

Her clothes were completely different from yesterday's. Hai Na was now wearing Two-piece Split Leather Armor.

However, this leather armor was closer to a uniform than protective gear. It did not completely cover all her skin. Though it still offered some protection, its greater purpose was probably ceremonial.

Armor possessed a sacred status in the Avalon Kingdom.

In the Avalon Kingdom, the primary ruling classes were divided into "knights" and the Civil Servant system. The former included not only the Hereditary Knight Families that could enter the Senate, but also inspectors, arbitrators, and the entire Cavalry System. Only "knights" could wear armor. Senators were also required to wear full armor when entering the Senate, and entering the Senate in ordinary clothes was considered a provocation against the authority of the Round Table Hall.

Aside from knights, anyone who wore or even possessed armor could be sentenced directly to the harshest penalty: death. Even within a knight family, the head's children could not wear their parents' armor without the Queen's authorization.

Because of this, anyone who saw an armored person on the street could immediately identify their status. One could even tell a person's rank from the specifications of their armor—the more cumbersome it was, the sturdier its materials, the more imposing its appearance, and the closer its color was to silver-white, the higher their status.

This knowledge did not come from the game... After all, the Avalon Kingdom had fallen far too early. His understanding of this subject came entirely from Little Iver's memories and common sense.

Iver could tell that Hai Na's leather armor was brand-new. He could even smell a faint trace of oil.

For that reason, Hai Na hardly dared to sit on the Moriartys' sofa. She carefully perched on the edge, sitting ramrod straight, afraid that accidentally dirtying it would make people dislike her.

"Being early is better than being late."

When Hai Na saw Iver arrive, she immediately let out a sigh of relief and hurriedly rose from the soft sofa. "It's fine, Mr. Iver. I can act according to whatever time is convenient for you—that's what the Bureau instructed me to do."

Iver raised an eyebrow.

Two and a half hours late last time, three hours early this time...

"I feel like you're a little too extreme."

"What?" Hai Na looked confused.

"Nothing." Iver smiled faintly. "The leather armor looks nice."

"The Bureau specially approved it for me!"

Hai Na immediately perked up at his words. "My equipment and griffin have already been approved too, but they're still being allocated. The director said it might take another two months before I can get them.

"But because I reported your situation, the director felt that if something happened to you, the Bureau would get into trouble—but refusing to help would also cause trouble. And if too many people followed you, you might dislike it. But if something happened to you while I was responsible for you, the problem would be even worse. So the director made an exception and approved the armor and sword for me first!"

As she spoke, Hai Na cheerfully patted the sword she had placed on the table.

Iver followed her gaze.

It was a leaf-shaped short sword whose scabbard gleamed with silver light. It was about twenty-four inches long, or sixty centimeters. Beautiful Thorn Patterns were etched into the scabbard, with grains of red, green, and blue glass embedded among the thorns. They sparkled dazzlingly in the sunlight streaming through the window. At a glance, it was unmistakably classic Elven Style—whether it was practical was another matter, but it was certainly beautiful.

Because the sword's appearance was so exquisite, it looked completely out of place beside the somewhat plain leather armor Hai Na wore. Instead, it blended naturally with the elven-style ornaments in Iver's home.

Iver had initially mistaken it for one of the family's art ornaments.

So you brought it here. Then never mind.

"I'll definitely protect you well!"

Hai Na spoke with absolute conviction.

Her callused fingers carefully brushed across the Thorn Pattern on the scabbard. After taking the sword in hand, the confident air around her suddenly flared to life.

She was completely different from the timid, clumsy, and cautious person she had been last night. Her entire bearing had changed. Even her eyes seemed brighter.

To put it simply, she was like the difference between a horror-game player without a gun and one who had just gotten a gun.

Iver gazed deeply into Hai Na's eyes and fell silent, lost in thought.

He noticed that she had clearly slept poorly the night before—she had been too excited to rest.

Her early contact with her sword was certainly part of the reason. But the greater source of her excitement was probably that she believed she could finally "show what she could do."

After yesterday's test, today's interaction, and his investigation into her background, Iver could now roughly trace and organize Hai Na's thought process.

She was clearly not very intelligent. Once things became complicated, she grew too lazy to think through the logic. At the same time, she had probably been born into poverty, yet possessed extraordinary talent in her own field—swordsmanship, for example—enough to make her proud. As a result, her personality had gradually become stubborn. Rather than hesitation, reflection, and complicated analysis, she preferred to trust the conclusions reached by her instincts.

In simple terms, she was a martial fanatic.

Because her background was ordinary, and because she had never dressed up as a village girl, her appearance naturally could not compare with the refined young ladies of the royal capital. As a result, she also possessed a faint, unnoticed sense of inferiority.

That inferiority would turn into aggression and hostility toward people of higher status than herself. At the same time, she feared causing trouble for herself, a person without connections, so it would not become explicit words or actions. Still, it could be revealed in her attitude under pressure and in her instinctive reactions when making choices.

Because of her straightforward personality, approachable background, outstanding grades, and the survival wisdom of not offending people easily, she was popular in school—especially among students whose thinking was relatively simple. Yet someone like her, after repeatedly running into obstacles upon entering society, could easily become confused, be manipulated, and even stray onto the wrong path in life.

She was currently at the moment when she felt lost.

People like this could be used completely.

The weak and helpless state Hai Na had seen Iver in yesterday was precisely the posture he had carefully selected after looking through her information beforehand—the one most likely to attract her immediately.

The act of "reading poetry collections" subconsciously suggested that a person was not active. The wheelchair beneath him further reinforced that sense of "stillness." This prevented a direct confrontation with Hai Na in the fields of "movement," "physical ability," and "swordsmanship," where she was confident, and kept him from triggering her competitive spirit or drawing her attention at the first opportunity.

Iver had looked in a mirror, and his aesthetic sense was normal. He knew perfectly well that this body of his was exceptionally handsome.

So, on that basis, Iver had arranged for his personal maid to apply makeup, creating a face that appeared weak and pale from blood loss. He had adjusted the fireplace to just the right temperature, which gave people a sense of relaxation, while the firelight provided him with a warm-toned filter.

In this way, Iver's image would arouse Hai Na's protective instincts, at least without provoking hostility because of his background. A "weak," "injured," and "handsome" person of high status was now completely within her control. This would make her "hope" that Iver was a good person. As a result, he would not become her enemy.

At that point, Hai Na's instincts would tell her not to continue investigating. Her work experience was still insufficient, and her actions were easily guided by emotion. Once she had given herself an answer, she would merely be looking for evidence to support it.

However, when a person's impression of someone became too intense, that person's image was easily abstracted and reduced to a one-sided version in their memory.

If Hai Na's favorable impression of Iver became too strong, then when Iver did something that failed to meet her expectations, she would "disappoint herself."

For that reason, Iver needed to do something in advance to make his first impression less good, less perfect. So he had used Hai Na's tardiness to say some truths she did not want to believe, making her feel as though he was attacking her.

In fact, since she had been in the wrong to begin with, she had actually been hoping Iver would attack her. That would allow her to relax instead.

After interpreting Iver's strange remarks as attacks, she would subconsciously eliminate the possibility that they were true. Then, when Iver proposed an explanation she could accept, she would immediately cling to it, reducing her guilt and easing her psychological pressure.

Thus, today and in the future, she could become an extremely reliable bodyguard.

After yesterday's interaction, Hai Na would assume that the two of them had become friends. And she urgently needed to display her greatest strength before this noble and innocent, gentle and literary, frail and handsome new friend—her swordsmanship.

If she could truly demonstrate this ability, she would feel that she had "shown off the strength she was most proud of," and would therefore hope to receive Iver's approval.

If Iver affirmed her in this regard and expressed that he truly needed her help, such a request would greatly satisfy her social needs.

In that case, Iver—who had been suspected, watched, and guarded by her before they met—could become her good friend after only a day of interaction. He could then naturally be brought into her social circle at school.

Although bullying a young girl who had only just graduated made Iver feel somewhat bad.

This was a debt he owed her.

Iver had never liked owing people favors. Once he owed someone, he had to find a way to repay it immediately.

Otherwise, little by little, he would grow too close to others. Having "friends" was extremely dangerous. People often dragged themselves into dangerous situations to help their friends, and they could also suffer devastating betrayal after lowering their guard around them.

Iver had never liked becoming too close to other people.

—It only made him feel tense and uncomfortable.

It was better for both sides to remain in a state of helping and using each other. By maintaining a healthy, efficient, and renewable business relationship, he would not be saddened by the other party's betrayal, nor resentful if they abandoned him... Likewise, he would not hesitate or feel guilty when preparing to betray someone else.

Iver's original self was an example of this.

Because he had been too enthusiastic and naive, he had trusted his pen pals and treated them as friends. As expected, he had paid a devastating price.

But repaying a favor was also very simple for Iver.

In Iver's memories, the game had never contained the name "Hai Na." If nothing unexpected happened, she should have died in battle during the first version of the game, when Avalon was invaded.

Iver was not saving Avalon for her. He was doing it for the stability of his own life. Saving her along the way could not really be considered repayment of a favor.

But given Hai Na's personality, knowledge, and ability, there would inevitably be plenty of villains at school with ulterior motives who would try to become her false friends. Iver could easily identify those people and help her distinguish the trustworthy and reliable friends who were less likely to betray her.

He was very good at analyzing people.

If he had to be honest, the HR profession did have somewhat of an Eastern Depot quality to it.

It required not only a sharp eye and an objective attitude, but also enough ruthlessness to strike hard.

A slight hook of the finger could mean that someone was "eliminated," lost their job, or had their salary reduced... and that was Iver's job itself.

It could be said to be an extremely immoral profession.

Generally speaking, as long as someone was a corporate slave, there was a high probability that their hatred of HR was maxed out.

Iver had only recently endured three full years of unemployment.

He had just found a job, and before he could officially take up the position, he had arrived in this future world hanging by a thread.

Though his attitude was composed and his expression calm, he had already performed a psychological analysis of himself—he currently felt intensely insecure.

He was very satisfied with his life now, but he also clearly knew about the disasters in the future.

He desperately wanted a stable life. He did not want to become a citizen of a fallen kingdom, homeless and drifting from place to place.

To resist the fear brought by the future of this world, he had to climb upward as quickly as possible. Only then could he grasp a portion of the Avalon Kingdom's power. At the very least, when he stood alone against the world's great enemies, he absolutely could not allow the teammates behind him to drag him down.

This was not paranoid delusion.

Iver was certain of that.

His gaze extended much farther than that of most people in this world. Any decisions they made based on known information would inevitably be incomplete and insufficient. And Iver could not easily reveal the future prophecies he had obtained—he was no saint. This prophetic information was a precious asset.

For that reason, Iver needed sufficient influence.

Not his adoptive father's title of "knight." That sort of thing was merely nominal status. Even if he entered the Senate, he would only be fighting wits with a group of old monsters who had grown cunning with age. Trying to do anything would become as sticky and sluggish as porridge, leaving him unable to act freely.

That feeling of having one's life drift with the current, of having one's fate beyond one's control... was unbearable.

What Iver wanted was for those in power to consult his opinion before making decisions. He could not become one of them, and preferably would not draw close to any faction. Nor could he become a sacrifice in internal power struggles... He needed to become an existence above them.

Not to control others, but to prevent himself from being controlled.

So that he would not be sacrificed, and would not need to sacrifice others.

Iver vaguely remembered that this incident would eventually implicate a certain minister directly.

In the original history, the player gained great prestige by resolving this incident.

But in this world, the Player Character did not exist, so he had to join the investigation into this incident.

Fortunately, thanks to Yulia—even though Iver had still skipped the story cutscenes, he remembered some of the details. For example, where the most crucial information could be found, and what enemies would appear in the final dungeon and how high their levels were.

After a chaotic investigation, the first dungeon in the game would open: the Level 10 dungeon, "Sinister Hub Pelican Pub."