Thousand-Faced Iver

Iver quickly adapted to campus life at Royal Law University.

It is now Thursday afternoon.

Two days have passed since Iver was featured in the Glass Staircase Newspaper for the second time.

This was completely different from the last time at the Pelican Bar —when, although Iver made the newspapers, not many people at school knew him.

Because very few students would buy an expensive and respectable newspaper like the Glass Staircase Newspaper.

The Glass Staircase Newspaper is too serious, with most news items being very brief—such as the death of a big shot, personnel changes at the top of a department, the booming or crisis-ridden state of an industry, legal and tax adjustments, explanations of key policies for this year or next, and important events happening in other countries.

There was no gossip or entertainment, no serialized novels, short poems or jokes, or interesting advertisements that often appear in other newspapers. Even the details of many news stories were incomplete, and many major events were only described in a short sentence.

The most frequently appearing words in the * Glass Staircase Newspaper are all sorts of "personal names"—and for students, most of these names are unfamiliar, making the publication a headache. The only redeeming feature is probably the "magic paintings" by the Master Agnes.

Therefore, ordinary students would never buy such a thing. It has nothing to do with intelligence or knowledge... If someone suddenly buys the "Glass Staircase Newspaper, it's most likely not for the knowledge or information within, because they wouldn't understand it. It's either at their parents' request, or simply to show off and pretend they can understand it.

At that time, to the students of Royal Law University, Iver was merely a "strange young man who suddenly appeared on the front page of the Glass Staircase Newspaper," a "other people's child" whom they were hostile towards.

After all, neither Pelican Bar nor Demon Scholar were things that were very far away for these students living in the Red Queen District.

But the murder that occurred Monday afternoon at the White Shoes Club, and the killer who attempted to murder Princess Isabel, were different.

This actually happened right next to them, and many students even witnessed it firsthand.

Secretary Raff fell from the second floor, landing at their feet and dying of poisoning right before the students' eyes; inspectors and overseers from all corners of the city lined up in a long queue at the club's entrance; Sky Knight in silver armor and dragon-headed helmets rode tall, majestic White Lion soaring through the air at high speed...

"If Avalon were to go to war one day, this would probably be the scene!" the students thought excitedly.

In stark contrast to the generally conservative Round Table Hall and the Silver and Tin Palace, the students were highly enthusiastic about the war. Their monotonous daily routines were too comfortable and too boring, and the students desperately wanted something exciting.

And what we're dealing with right now is exciting enough.

A beautiful female assassin emerged from the Princess's shadow, pursued by Old Knight clad in armor and wielding Two-Handed Greatsword. A fierce battle raged through the streets, roads throughout the city were sealed off by Law Spell, and Sky Knight launched relentless attacks. Cracking lightning bolts and razor-sharp hurricanes swept through the streets, while the rumbling thunder, audible even from the very edge of the Glass Island, echoed through the clouds.

The Old Knight chased her all the way from the Red Queen District to the White Queen District, and then from the White Queen District to Lloyd District. His mobility was very limited, and he lost her after only two blocks—but fortunately, there were Griffin Knights following behind in the sky, and Commissioner Gordon had also summoned his own griffin.

But once they got to the sky, they became even harder to track.

The only clue they could see was "a fleeting shadow on the ground even though there was nothing obstructing it." As the distance increased, it became even more difficult to discern.

Not to mention, the streets and alleys of Glass Island are so narrow that it's really restrictive to keep up.

The residents of the Red White Queen District include numerous knightly families, priests, elves, wealthy merchants, scholars, and officials. There are also some distinguished guests traveling from abroad.

The cunning assassin led them through churches, museums, art galleries, government buildings, courts, Orphanage, schools, hospitals, research institutes... Her route wasn't even a straight line; she deliberately circled around these places and disappeared into crowds, guiding the knights to attack her.

But these Old Knight were not impulsive, hot-blooded warriors. Those who could enter the Round Table Hall were generally over forty years old. They had passed that age of recklessness and were all quite calm.

—If they forcefully take action, it's uncertain whether the high-level assassins Path of Adaptation will survive, but ordinary people will definitely die. And they will die in droves.

It would have been better to let the assassin go! After all, the assassin had only killed a low-ranking official. Although she had briefly escaped into the Princess's shadow... she hadn't actually assassinated a member of the royal family.

The assassin clearly knew what they were wary of, so he deliberately led them in circles. Using his incredibly skilled techniques of creating clones, stealth, and visual deception, he managed to lose track of the Bureau of Supervision before nightfall. The only certainty was that the target entered Lloyd District before disappearing.

—Lloyd District and the Red White Queen District are not the same in terms of importance.

As a result, Lloyd District was completely sealed off. The port Time Stop, and even the navy resting ashore was alerted. Six full squadrons of inspectors, along with a large number of inspectors, searched every street in Lloyd District until dawn, but in the end, the killer was still not caught.

The Bureau of Supervision simply pretended that they weren't hunting down assassins, but rather cracking down on security in the capital—so they conveniently raided thirteen illegal organizations' hideouts and arrested over four hundred people involved. It was quite a high-profile, large-scale event.

Since we're already here, we can't go back empty-handed.

To the general public unaware of the matter, this appeared to be a swift and decisive special operation by the Bureau of Supervision. However, for the few who knew the inside story, the Bureau of Supervision had become a laughing stock.

The Bureau of Supervision mobilized almost its entire force but failed to catch a single person—compared to the fact that they "failed to catch the killer," the Bureau of Supervision's overly serious attitude was more likely to be ridiculed.

Conversely, Chief Gordon, who was the first to catch up, was not only not punished, but was instead commended.

Because his immediate action was entirely correct: instead of launching a powerful attack on the assassin, he first pushed him away from the Princess.

Even though the push actually helped the other person escape safely, Gordon had already achieved his primary objective: protecting Princess Isabel.

—To reiterate, if the assassin is released, the only person who will die is ultimately a minister's private secretary. But if the assassin is kept in the club, she could go on a killing spree, resulting in the deaths of countless students. Compared to their safety, letting a prisoner escape is a more acceptable consequence.

Of course, his commendation wouldn't be issued immediately. But Iver had heard from Isabel that Chief Gordon was being transferred to the Inspectorate to serve as a senior inspector responsible for managing and overseeing discipline in all Bureau of Supervision on Glass Island.

Going from bureau chief to senior inspector might seem like a demotion, but in reality, it's a promotion of one and a half levels—and he even gets to continue managing his previous department.

Compared to the Bureau of Supervision, which caused a city-wide commotion, Iver, sitting motionless in her wheelchair, seemed far more formidable. After all, anyone could see the extent of the damage Iver's shot had inflicted on her. To exaggerate slightly, the damage Iver inflicted might have been the full extent of her damage.

The students who witnessed the "big event" were extremely excited, and even exaggerated the story to other students who hadn't seen it.

Because there were too many students present, no one actually saw the whole picture – at least 80% of them didn't notice that Secretary Raff had a small knife about the size of a little finger stuck in his back; and only those around Iver heard him call out to Chief Gordon.

Although the newspapers lavished praise on Iver, Iver maintained his mystique during interviews, saying, "I won't tell you, you can guess for yourselves."

That's why they tried to fill in the gaps in this seemingly joyful event using their own imagination and understanding.

With the students left to guess, almost everyone's story had subtle differences. Those who heard the stories felt they should share them with others. So they went to find someone to tell the story a second time, embellishing it based on their memory...

—With various permutations and combinations, the story had over seventy versions by lunchtime the next day.

At lunchtime, almost every table in the cafeteria was telling this story. And each table had a different story, as if they all came from different Timeline.

There are versions that sound relatively normal, such as "Iver is the female assassin's ex-boyfriend" or "the assassin is Iver ' stepmother"; there are also more subtle speculations, such as "Iver is the Princess's secret bodyguard" or "Iver is a prophet".

In the end, there were even legendary and dramatic stories with plot twists such as "the assassin's target was actually Queen Sophia", "the assassin was a former princess seeking revenge", and "the assassin was a demon in human form".

It seems that some students are even planning to use Iver as the main character for derivative works...

Now Iver has truly become a celebrity.

As he had initially planned, he gained the kindness and recognition of his classmates, though in a way that Tai Yi what he had imagined.

He has now become an urban legend with a thousand faces. Iver believes that even if a professional spy came to the university to inquire about him, they would probably be completely baffled.

How come everyone can give a different answer?

Was Iver really that mysterious? In the end, Iver gained fame, Chief Gordon got promoted, the students present had something to talk about, and the students who weren't there had some fun.

Although other departments received verbal criticism, no one actually accepted punishment—the knights' previous judgment was entirely correct; the assassin was ultimately not truly intending to assassinate Her Highness the Princess, therefore Her Majesty the Queen would not have a strong attachment to that slippery and elusive killer.

Although the incident caused a great commotion, the largest damage they inflicted was probably just breaching some building walls in the Lloyd District. These losses could easily be included in the operating budget for "dismantling thirteen illegal organizations," with a considerable surplus.

The only two who felt sadness were probably Aiden and Isabel.

Isabel was simply sad because she couldn't go to the White Shoes Club.

In this incident, the White Shoes Club was temporarily shut down.

Although Isabel believed Arun would eventually lift the lockdown, she finally had the chance to join her first student organization. But before she could make friends or even exchange a single word with a stranger, the organization shut down.

Aiden was incredibly unlucky.

As a student who had previously been in contact with the assassin, he was transferred by the Bureau of Supervision for two separate interrogations. Even his copy of "Dracula" was confiscated.

Even though Aiden didn't really listen much in class, after missing two classes in a row, he started to miss going to class.

Aiden felt a little anxious: Final Exam are coming up soon, how am I going to make up for the classes I missed!

"Couldn't you have just come two weeks later?!" he complained.

If I don't do well on my exams this semester, I can just blame it on you guys when I get home!

There's still almost a month until the Final Exam, and being stuck in the middle of nowhere is incredibly frustrating.

What saddened Aiden even more was that his budding first love ended before it even began.

The mysterious woman in the white dress who "might have feelings for him" turned out to be a ruthless and wicked woman—which dealt him a heavy blow.

Iver heard his complaints but just smiled and remained silent.

It's okay, bro. Calm down...

Sooner or later, you'll get used to it.