"James..."
Hearing that name, Sherlock murmured under his breath and instinctively turned to look at Iver.
The moment Sherlock's gaze met Iver's, he realized they had thought of the same thing.
—Although, strictly speaking, there were quite a few people named James. And they had never heard that Professor Moriarty had any connection with the Fairy Queen... But the moment they heard "the spider," they both thought of Iver's adoptive father.
To be safe, Sherlock pressed further. "What was this 'James' like?"
"...You know him?"
Madam Grace looked somewhat puzzled.
She had expected them to continue questioning her about other matters, but she had not expected Sherlock and Iver's attention to immediately shift to that friend of hers.
But Madam Grace clearly did not have the nerve to refuse Iver and the others—the fact remained that Iver was a high-ranking bishop.
Although he was not a Cardinal Bishop... in the Theocracy, a high-ranking bishop could undoubtedly be considered one of the people in power. Not to mention a high-ranking bishop—even an ordinary bishop wielded more authority and held a higher status than people like them.
The Theocracy was, after all, a religious nation ruled by the Nine Pillars God Church. Transcendents of the Dedication Path clearly held a considerably higher status than those of other Paths.
This was not a form of corruption, because the Church had understood its reasoning clearly from the beginning: since dedicators could easily give up themselves, their loved ones, and what they possessed to help others profit, dedicators would have a hard time living well in a natural social environment if nothing was done.
Therefore, as an artificial adjustment, the Church openly favored dedicators. It was telling people that doing good deeds brought good rewards. Even doing good deeds for the sake of those rewards