Pastor's Tantra

After crossing the Griffin Bridge, Sherlock, who was walking aside, glanced at the maid Lily pushing the wheelchair behind Aiwass, and then whispered:

"To be honest, I didn't expect Master Yanis to give that painting to you."

"I actually didn't expect it."

Aiwass answered honestly.

"Although Master Yanis looks very friendly, she is actually quite arrogant. If you don't get her approval, Master Yanis will just smile and stare at you with an expression like you are looking at a fool. , without saying a word.”

Sherlock reminded him softly: "The master attaches great importance to you...does he want you to follow the path of beauty?"

"Yes."

Aiwass nodded and joked: "She wants me to be the junior brother of Her Royal Highness the Princess."

"I guess you refused." Sherlock said without hesitation.

"Indeed. How did you guess it?" Aiwass asked.

"Because I don't see any passion for art in you."

Sherlock smiled: "Actually, I quite like playing the violin. I think I'm quite good at it... but I didn't have the opportunity to embark on the path of beauty."

Aiwass blinked: "It's not too late, Mr. Sherlock."

"No, it's too late. In other words, I shouldn't have taken the path of authoritarianism from the beginning. Balance, wisdom or beauty... whichever is more suitable for me."

Sherlock looked at Aiwass and said from the bottom of his heart: "I don't want you to embark on a certain path for a long time only to realize that you are not passionate about it. The adaptability of the path is based on talent, but not hobbies. …But I think hobbies are more important than talents. Talents determine the height you can reach, while interests determine your adaptability on this path.

"If you have no interest in a certain path, but the gravity at the top of the path makes you want to go further...believe me, that kind of self-pulling torture will torture you to madness."

"...Thank you very much for sharing your experience, Mr. Sherlock."

Aiwass knew that everything Sherlock said was valuable information. This is his heartfelt admonition, and it is full of sincerity.

And he and Sherlock didn't meet many times, and he was not the emotionally driven type like Isabel - the source of this goodwill undoubtedly came from his eldest brother Edward.

So Aiwass became a little interested.

Because he actually didn't know Edward that well. The age gap between Edward, himself and Yulia was too big, and he was more like an uncle than an eldest brother. They don't usually interact much... In Aiwass' memory, there aren't many plots belonging to Edward. He doesn't even remember Edward's name.

However, Edward is the direct cause of Aiwass's death in the plot - he sneak-attacked the player with a fatal spell on the orders of his adoptive father, and Aiwass blocked the fatal blow for the player.

Although the primary target of his attack was not Aiwass, Aiwass still couldn't help but shudder when he thought of Edward.

"I have a question, Mr. Sherlock..."

Aiwass couldn't help but ask: "How did you know my brother?"

"We are classmates."

Sherlock replied succinctly: "He is the only good friend I made during my college career."

"...But if I remember correctly," Aiwass asked, "Mr. Sherlock is only in his twenties this year, right?"

"I am twenty-six years old." Sherlock replied.

"But my eldest brother is already thirty-five years old this year...how did you become classmates?" Aiwass asked.

Hearing this, Sherlock couldn't help laughing.

He explained: “It’s not just you young people who have come up from secondary school who can go to university.

"When Edward was your age, he didn't graduate from the Royal University of Law. He graduated from Milton University in Gray County."

Although Wangli Law University is the largest and oldest extraordinary university in Avalon, it is not the only university.

More than three hundred years ago, several professors at the King's Law University were accused by their students of "teaching heretical doctrines that are not permitted by His Majesty the King" and were therefore sentenced to the cruel punishment of cooking. Specifically, the mystical knowledge of the path of wisdom and the path of balance.

After strong protests, the kings of that generation reluctantly changed the result to stripping off their clothes and parading them through the streets. Unwilling to accept this humiliation, the professors fled the Royal Law University.

Bishop Milton from the Eternal Theocracy happened to have opened a seminary in Gray County, far away from the Glass Island.

After hearing what happened to those professors, the young elf felt very sympathetic and took them in. Later, many people wanted to escape from the glass island full of inspectors and the "Eye of Avalon", so Milton University gradually gained a very strong faculty. Although the enrollment scale and the area of ​​​​the college are far inferior to Wangli Law University... their teaching quality is not low.

Before Queen Sophia opened the fifth and sixth departments of the Royal Academy of Law, Milton University was the only academy in Avalon that taught "heretical doctrines" and "forbidden arts." Because of Bishop Milton's close relationship with the Eternal Theocracy, the Palace of Silver and Tin chose to turn a blind eye to this.

Today, Dean Milton is still alive - even after Avalon was destroyed by the Star Antimony, Milton University still exists as a refuge in times of war.

"After Edward graduated from Milton University, he further studied at two universities. In the end, he skipped the Inspectorate directly, joined the Inspectorate, and obtained his own walking griffon.

"Seven years ago, he studied law and legal skills from the Law Department of Wangli Law University... He was already twenty-seven years old at that time, and I was only eighteen years old."

Sherlock said with some nostalgia: "When I first entered college, I was very withdrawn. Because I thought other people were a bunch of noisy idiots, childish, stupid and impulsive. Even though I was already a college student, I was still like this at Wangli University of Law. place, but they don’t look much different from primary school students. Basically, a very small number of smart people from the countryside can communicate normally... However, their knowledge is far from enough, and they have no common topics to talk about.

"So I don't want to socialize with peers. The people I interact with the most are various professors in the school, hoping to borrow their private collections from them. And my lifestyle of often talking to various tutors will make Those idiots moved further away from me.

"Once, I went to Professor Moriarty to ask an astronomy question, but I was bitten by Edward's griffon at the door of his office.

"His griffin bloodline is not pure, its feather color is darker than the ordinary red griffin, and its size is slightly larger. Perhaps because of this, its temper is more violent... Edward is not a light cavalry, so he He was also unable to communicate with his fellow griffin. He also came to see Professor Moriarty at that time, and the gryphon was parked at the door.

"But when he saw me trying to push the door open, the gryphon guarding the door bit me directly. Just one bite left me bloody, and two bites almost broke my thigh... Edward quickly sent me to find Si Zhuda Church, please ask the bishop to use the illumination technique on me personally so that I don’t have any disabilities or scars.

"Although the bishop healed all my injuries, I was indeed frightened. And there was always a vague pain in my legs, which did not disappear until two weeks later. Edward came to my home to visit me and talk to me. I soon discovered that this was a very smart man...he also had extraordinary intelligence. Although his personality was different from mine, we were undoubtedly the same kind of people - smart people without friends.

"—and we became friends with each other. We studied law together. I was a beginner and he was a refiner. But we still had something in common. Then he taught me boxing—he was good at it. Tao, even able to integrate the power of authority into his fists. Stronger than the strongest fighter I know. If he plans to enter the ring, he will still be the star of Avalon... That's what a genius is, no matter he No matter what field you go into, you will be equally good.”

Under Aiwass's question, Sherlock talked about his experience with Edward.

He clearly enjoyed the conversation. Sherlock didn't change the topic until he delivered Aiwass to his doorstep.

When he arrived at the gate of Moriarty Manor, Aiwass noticed a dark gryphon appearing in the yard. It has scarlet pupils, like darker rubies.

——He recognized at a glance that this was the gryphon raised by Edward.

Didn't Edward leave for something and asked Sherlock to pick him up?

Why did he come back first?

Thinking of this, Aiwass asked casually: "What was my brother going to do before?"

"It's still the warehouse explosion incident," Sherlock replied, "It may also be related to those people in the Pelican Bar.

"In terms of various traces, they are very similar to the explosion of the 'Little Jack Cod Warehouse' a few days ago - there are also traces of flame essence, it is also an unmanned warehouse, and there are no casualties. However, what happened this time is Abandoned stone warehouse... We haven't found the common ground yet. But Edward rushed over to accept the case as soon as possible, so he should be able to find out.

"Oh, by the way. Do you know what the Flame Spirit is?"

"It's similar to devil's blood, a red powder that's as salty as salt. It's just the traces left by the fire-attributed phantom in the material world." Aiwass replied.

"Indeed, but what you are talking about is a standard definition. Fire-attributed phantoms are quite rare, but it is not complicated to imitate the flame spirit through alchemy, and the raw material is just ordinary sulfur. So when the Supervisory Bureau mentions the flame spirit, it usually It refers to [imitation flame essence]. The purity of imitation flame essence is lower than that of natural flame essence, but the effects and uses are actually similar."

Sherlock explained: "It is a commonly used spell-casting material for mages. It is also one of the ritual materials that demonologists must use when summoning any demon.

"Just like 'salt' is the essence of the sea, if you put it into water in proportion, it can turn the water into sea water, giving the water a stronger concept of 'water'. The fire essence only needs to put a little bit into the fire to make the fire burn. More prosperous, so that the concept of 'fire' is strengthened.

"For low-level mages, it is difficult to use high-temperature flames without relying on flame essence. It is a necessity, but it is also a dangerous item with limited purchase.

"If enough flame essence is added, things that were originally incombustible will be able to burn because the concept of fire is strengthened...such as ice, steel or stone. What was ignited this time was the stone in the stone warehouse. "

Hearing this, Aiwass's expression froze slightly.

……etc?

Something seems wrong.

Aiwass remembers... wasn't it the evil warlock Veronica from the Pelican Bar who blew up the warehouse for the first time? Because he controlled the shadow demon, she went to summon the demon again the next day. If she failed to summon the demon, there was a real chance that the failed ritual would cause the warehouse to explode.

But she had been killed by Aiwass himself.

Could it be that the association sent people to summon demons again?

That's not right... It has already failed once, so there's no way we could let a newbie come in who might make the ceremony fail again, right?

Sherlock comforted him: "Don't be afraid, this case is actually solved.

"Because the purity and structure of the flame essences synthesized by alchemists from different schools and different techniques are slightly different, just like the composition of salt extracted from different seawaters is also different. The previous batch of flame essences has been sent for testing , and cooperate with this time's Flame Essence... When the final results come out, we will know where their Flame Essence came from."

With doubts, Aiwass said goodbye to Sherlock.

Butler Oswald, who came out of the manor, nodded to Lily and took over Aiwass' wheelchair.

"You came back at the right time, Master Aiwass."

The old elf, who had been silent all this time, lowered his body slightly after entering the door and said softly: "Please come here to treat Miss Yulia first. The condition of the miss is not very good."

...Strange, didn’t I have treatment this morning?

Aiwass was a little confused, but didn't say anything.

He motioned for Lily to leave, and then pushed Aiwass into Yulia's room.

Aiwass suddenly opened his eyes wide.

He saw that Yulia was bound by silver luminous shackles, while Edward stood aside with a serious expression, his pupils shining with white light.

Yulia's head was soaked in cold sweat, and her consciousness was obviously a little blurry.

She didn't notice Aiwass entering the door at all, she just muttered in a low voice as if she had a high fever and talked nonsense that no one else could understand.

There were obvious scorch marks on her pajamas, and her fair skin was covered with red glowing cracks, like ice-cracked porcelain or glass that had shattered under the high summer temperature. From time to time, faint tongues of fire emerged from the cracks for a moment, and then were suppressed again.

Edward controlled the silver chains to restrain Yulia, squeezing her body and slowly "sticking" her broken body back together with external force.

After getting closer, Aiwass noticed that Yulia's sweat was not transparent... but like very light blood.

——When it dries, a red powder remains.

An update of more than 7,000 words is here!

I'm already drawing the character designs of Haina, Yanis, and Dad. I'll open the character cards as soon as the pictures come out. Don't rush me, don't rush me~