Side Quest: "Sinister Hub Pelican Pub"

Early the next morning, Inspector Hai Na headed to Moriarty Manor with the Bureau of Supervision's warrant.

She had clearly learned from yesterday's lesson.

After a quick breakfast, Hai Na rushed over, covered in dust. She arrived before seven o'clock.

Iver wasn't even awake yet. So the butler, Oswald, could only settle her in the drawing room first, instructing the maids to serve some tea and snacks.

It wasn't until Iver had gotten up, washed, and eaten breakfast that Oswald informed him that Inspector Hai Na was waiting in the drawing room.

"...You're here so early, Senior. Wasn't the agreed time half-past nine?"

Iver sat in his wheelchair, slowly pushed into the drawing room by Oswald.

As soon as he entered, he saw Hai Na in "full dress."

Completely different from what she had worn yesterday, Hai Na was now clad in Two-piece Split Leather Armor.

However, this leather armor was more like a uniform than protective gear. It didn't completely cover all her skin. Although it still offered some protection, its significance was probably more ceremonial.

"Armor" had a sacred quality in the Avalon Kingdom.

In the Avalon Kingdom, the main power classes were divided into "Knights" and the clerical system of "Civil Servants." The former included not only the Hereditary Knight Family who could enter the Senate, but also Inspectors, Arbitrators, and the entire Cavalry System. Only "Knights" could wear armor. Senators were also required to be fully armored when entering the Senate; entering the Senate in ordinary clothes was seen as a challenge to the authority of the Round Table Hall.

Apart from Knights, anyone wearing or even possessing armor could be directly sentenced to the harshest penalty of death. Even in Knight Families, the children of the head of the family could not wear their parents' armor without the Queen's authorization.

As a result, one could immediately recognize the identity of anyone wearing armor on the street. One could even discern their rank from the specifications of the armor—the more cumbersome, the more durable the material, the more majestic the appearance, and the closer the color to silver-white, the higher their status.

This wasn't from experience in the game... after all, the Avalon Kingdom had fallen too early. This knowledge 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 hint of oil.

Because of this, Hai Na didn't dare to sit properly on the Moriarty family's sofa. She sat carefully on the edge of the sofa, sitting upright, afraid of soiling it and causing displeasure.

"Better early than late."

Seeing Iver arrive, Hai Na breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly stood up from the soft sofa. "It's okay, Mr. Iver. I can act according to your convenient time—that's what the Bureau of Supervision requires."

Iver raised an eyebrow.

Last time, she was two and a half hours late; this time, she was three hours early...

"I feel like you're a bit extreme."

"What?" Hai Na asked, puzzled.

"Nothing," Iver smiled slightly. "The leather armor looks good."

"The Bureau of Supervision specially approved it for me!"

Hearing this, Hai Na perked up. "My equipment and Griffin have been approved, but they're still being allocated. The Director said it might take another two months to get them.

"But, because I reported your matter, the Director thought that if something happened to you, the Bureau of Supervision would get into trouble, but disagreeing would also cause trouble. And sending too many people to follow you might make you unhappy; but if something happened to you, the problem would be even bigger. 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 and looked over.

That was a leaf-shaped short sword with a silver sheen on its scabbard. It was about twenty-four inches long, or sixty centimeters. The scabbard was etched with a beautiful thorn pattern, and red, green, and blue sand-sized pieces of broken glass were inlaid in the thorns, dazzlingly bright under the sunlight outside the window. It was obviously a very typical elven style—whether it was useful or not was another matter, but at least it looked good.

Because the sword's appearance was too beautiful, it was quite different from the somewhat simple Two-piece Split Leather Armor on Hai Na. On the contrary, it blended very naturally with the elven-style ornaments in Iver's home.

It made Iver think it was one of his own artistic ornaments at first.

So you brought it. Never mind then.

"I will definitely protect you well!"

Hai Na said with incomparable firmness.

Her calloused fingers carefully stroked the thorn pattern on the scabbard. After getting the sword in her hand, the confident aura on her body suddenly burst out.

Different from the timidity, clumsiness, and caution of last night, her whole temperament had changed. Even her eyes became brighter.

To give an example, it was like the difference between a horror game player without a gun and a horror game player with a gun.

Iver looked deeply into Hai Na's eyes, falling into silence and thought.

He could tell that she obviously hadn't slept well last night—it could be said that she was restless with excitement.

Of course, part of this was due to getting her hands on her sword in advance. But more of the excitement came from the fact that she felt she could finally "show her skills."

After yesterday's test, today's contact, and the investigation into her background, Iver could now roughly figure out and organize Hai Na's thought patterns.

She was obviously not very smart, and once things became complicated, she would be too lazy to think about the logic. At the same time, she probably came from a poor background, but had extraordinary talent in her own field—such as swordsmanship—that was enough to make her proud. Therefore, her personality would gradually tend to become stubborn, and rather than hesitation, reflection, and complex analysis, she would be willing to believe the results of her intuitive judgment.

In short, she was a kind of "martial arts fanatic."

Because her background was indeed ordinary, and as a village girl who never dressed up, her appearance was naturally not as good as those delicate young ladies in the Royal Capital. Therefore, she also had a faint sense of inferiority that she herself did not notice.

This inferiority would turn into a kind of aggression and hostility directed at people "more powerful than herself." But at the same time, she was afraid of causing trouble for herself, who had no background, so it would not become concrete words or actions. But it could still be revealed in the attitude under pressure and the instinctive reaction when making choices.

Because of her straightforward personality, her more approachable background, and her extremely excellent grades, as well as her survival wisdom of not easily offending people. So she was very popular in the school environment, especially among students with relatively simple minds—but when she first came into contact with society, she ran into walls everywhere, which would easily make her confused, even manipulated, and even lead her astray in life.

Now was the moment when she felt confused.

This kind of person was completely exploitable.

The weakness and helplessness that Iver saw in her yesterday was precisely the posture he had carefully selected after consulting Hai Na's information in advance, which was most likely to attract her attention in the first place.

The act of "reading poetry" would give people a subconscious suggestion that this person was not active. The wheelchair under him further strengthened this intention of "stillness," thereby avoiding Hai Na, who had confidence in the fields of "sports," "physical fitness," and "swordsmanship," from confronting him head-on, preventing himself from arousing her competitive spirit or attention in the first place.

Iver had looked in the mirror, and his aesthetics were normal. He certainly knew that the appearance of his current body was quite striking.

So on this basis, Iver had asked his personal maid to put makeup on him in advance, creating a face that seemed weak and pale due to blood loss. He adjusted the fireplace to just the right temperature, which would give people a sense of relaxation, and the firelight could provide Iver with a warm-toned filter.

In this way, Iver's image would trigger Hai Na's desire to protect him, at least not trigger her hostility because of his background. A "weak," "injured," and "handsome" superior was now completely under her control, which would make her "hope" that Iver was good. In this way, he would not become her enemy.

Up to this point, Hai Na's instinct would tell her not to continue investigating. Her work experience was not rich enough, and her behavior was easily guided by emotions. In the situation where she had already given herself an answer, she was actually just looking for evidence for this answer afterwards.

However, when a person's impression is too strong, his image is easily abstracted and fragmented in memory.

If Hai Na's goodwill towards Iver was too high, then when Iver made actions that did not meet her expectations, she would "disappoint herself."

For this reason, Iver needed to do something in advance to make his first impression not so good, not so perfect. So he used Hai Na's lateness to say some truths that she was unwilling to believe, so that she could feel that he was attacking her.

In fact, she, who was at fault first, was actually expecting Iver to attack her. This way, she could relax a little.

Once she interprets Iver's strange remarks as an attack, she will subconsciously dismiss their possibility. And when Iver proposes a possibility she can accept, she will immediately latch onto it, thereby reducing her guilt and relieving psychological stress.

Thus, from today onwards, she can become her own very reliable bodyguard.

After yesterday's contact and exchange, Hai Na will assume that the two have become friends. And she urgently needs to demonstrate her proudest strength—her swordsmanship—in front of this noble, innocent, gentle, artistic, delicate, and handsome new friend.

If she can truly bring this point into play, she will think, "She has already demonstrated her proudest strength," thereby hoping to gain Iver's affirmation.

If Iver affirms her in this regard and indicates that he does indeed need her help, this request will greatly satisfy her social needs.

In that case, Iver, who was clearly a suspect and was regarded with vigilance and wariness before contact, can conversely become her good friend after just one day of contact. From this, he can naturally pull Iver into her social circle at school.

Although bullying a young girl who has just graduated makes Iver feel a little bad.

This is his debt.

And Iver has never liked owing favors. Once he owes a favor, he immediately wants to find a way to repay it.

Otherwise, over time, it becomes easy to get too close to others. And having "friends" is a very dangerous thing, often dragging oneself into dangerous situations to help friends, and easily being betrayed miserably because of letting one's guard down against friends.

Iver has never liked being too close to others.

—That only makes him feel nervous and uncomfortable.

It is best for both parties to maintain a state of mutual assistance and mutual utilization. Staying in a healthy, efficient, and renewable business relationship will prevent sadness due to the other party's betrayal, resentment because the other party abandoned him... and likewise, there will be no hesitation or guilt when preparing to betray others.

Iver's predecessor is an example.

Because he was too enthusiastic and naive, and trusted pen pals, regarding them as his friends, he paid a painful price.

But it is also a very simple matter for him to repay favors.

And in Iver's memory, there is no name "Hai Na" in the game. If there are no accidents, she should have died in battle during the Avalon invasion in the first version of the game.

Iver is not saving Avalon for her sake, he is doing it for the stability of his own life. Therefore, saving her along the way cannot be regarded as repaying a favor.

But with Hai Na's character, knowledge, and ability, there must be many villains in the school with ulterior motives, just like himself, who will try to become her fake friends. Iver can easily find those people, and then help her distinguish those trustworthy and reliable true friends who are not so easy to betray.

He is very good at analyzing others.

If you really want to talk about it, the HR profession is somewhat like the Eastern Depot.

Not only does it require a sharp eye and an objective attitude, but it must also be ruthless enough to be able to make ruthless decisions.

Just a slight hook means letting someone be "eliminated," losing their job, reducing their salary... and this is Iver's job itself.

It can be said to be a very immoral profession.

Basically, as long as you are a wage slave, there is a high probability that your hatred for HR is maxed out.

Iver had just experienced three full years of unemployment not long ago.

He had just found a job and came to this world with an uncertain future before he was officially employed.

Even though his attitude is calm and his expression is calm, he has already done a psychological analysis of himself—he now feels a strong sense of unease.

He is very satisfied with his current life, but he clearly knows the disasters of the future.

He urgently hopes to have a stable life and does not want to become a subjugated people, homeless and wandering around.

To combat the fear from this world's future, he had to climb as high and as fast as possible. To grasp a portion of the Avalon Kingdom's power. At the very least, he couldn't allow his teammates to drag him down when he was fighting the world's great enemy alone.

That was not a persecution complex.

Iver was sure of it.

His vision was longer than most people in this world. Their decisions based on known information were bound to be incomplete and inadequate. And Iver couldn't easily reveal the future prophecies he had obtained—he was not a saint. This prophetic information could become his valuable asset.

Therefore, Iver needed to gain enough influence.

Not his adoptive father's title of "Knight." That kind of thing was only a nominal status. Even if he entered the Senate, he would only be fighting wits with a group of cunning old men. Trying to do anything would become as sticky as starch paste, impossible to execute.

That feeling of life drifting with the current, of fate not being in his own hands… was very uncomfortable.

What Iver wanted was to make those in power consult him before making decisions. He couldn't become one of them, and it was best not to get close to any faction. Nor could he become a victim of internal power struggles… but rather become an existence higher than them.

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

It was to prevent himself from being sacrificed, and to avoid having to sacrifice others.

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

In the original history, it was the players who gained lofty prestige by resolving this incident.

But in this world where there were no player characters, he had to join the investigation of this incident.

Fortunately, thanks to Yulia—although Iver still skipped the cutscene, he still remembered some details. For example, where the most crucial information was, and what enemies were in the final dungeon and how high their levels were.

Because after a messy investigation, the first dungeon of this game would be opened: the level 10 dungeon, "Sinister Hub Pelican Pub".