NOVPUB"What happened at the port?"
Aiwass was somewhat puzzled, "Has the shipment smuggled by the former Minister of Commerce arrived?"
He remembered that Sherlock had specially mentioned this matter this morning.
The cargo ship was scheduled to return to the port today. It had been dispatched before Minister Drost was arrested, and there had been no communication from it once offshore, so they would not have known about Drost’s trouble. Therefore, the previous smuggling plan should have proceeded normally.
So, it should have returned fully loaded.
"Shouldn’t this kind of thing be directly handed over to the Supervisory Court?"
Aiwass was somewhat puzzled, "What about Edward?"
Come to think of it, he felt like he hadn’t seen Edward for days.
The last time they met was before Aiwass faked his own death—because Aiwass did not quite trust Edward’s acting skills, he simply didn’t inform him of his faked death.
After all, he was not like Sherlock... Sherlock, with his character that enjoyed acting alone and investigating privately, gave everyone a real scare when he ’died’. Since he was truly likely to encounter danger, he had to inform a bunch of people to prevent startling his own side.
But Aiwass was obviously much more steady than Sherlock, and so he wasn’t as easily deceived, and he didn’t even leave a body.
Therefore, Aiwass needed to let Edward trick others for him—Aiwass himself didn’t need to do anything. With Edward panicking, others would know "Oh, it seems like he truly disappeared" and not that he was hiding.
And after dealing with the matters of the Lohar Society and Minister Drost, what followed were the assassination of the Prince, the attack on the Supervisory Bureau by Prince Wolfram the Giant, the setup to kill the Bone Sculptor, assisting Miss Meg with her Shedding Skin rebirth... Subsequently, it was Aiwass’s advancement ceremony and the final examination.
He had been incredibly busy these past two weeks.
Aiwass had completely forgotten to look for Edward.
And only now did he remember—oh right, I have an older brother.
Now that he thought about it, he had already been "revived" for a week. Why hadn’t Edward come looking for him?
—Or rather, when Prince Andrew passed away, why didn’t Edward attend the funeral?
"I’m not sure, I haven’t seen him for a long time either."
Isabel shook her head slightly.
Although she had begun to get involved in politics under the Queen’s guidance, she still had to focus on her studies and the enhancement of her extraordinary abilities. She didn’t have the energy to directly take over the various political affairs of Avalon.
"Since he didn’t come to Prince Andrew’s funeral, that means Edward might have disappeared a week ago."
Aiwass fell into thought, murmuring to himself, "But His Majesty didn’t mention this specific issue to me. Ligeia didn’t say anything either... So at least he probably hasn’t had an accident."
"He’s not faking his death too, is he?"
Isabel blurted out.
Aiwass nearly choked on his saliva.
"That’s unlikely... It shouldn’t be," logically, it was certainly impossible, but Aiwass was suddenly not so sure anymore, "After all, as Chief Inspector, he’s quite low-key. People who see him tend to either be of high status or have committed some serious crime..."
"You guys don’t know?"
Suddenly, Yanis’s voice rang out, "Edward has gone abroad."
"Huh?"
Aiwass was startled.
All the paintings in the room had just been burned, so where had Yanis emerged from?
Yanis’s voice came from the Demonic Painting above Aiwass’s bedroom—the one that looked like a window. It was so much like a real window that Aiwass had overlooked it being a painting at a glance.
It usually provided Aiwass with fresh air from outside, and at this moment, Yanis poked her head out of that very "window." Because the materials of the Demonic Painting were not ordinary paper, it was able to survive the scorching aura of the Morning Crow Fire.
Right now Yanis appeared like a little dog with its paws on the bed’s edge, resting her hands on the "window" that was the painting, sticking her head inside.
"...How long have you been listening?" Continue your journey with freewebnovel
Aiwass had a complicated expression.
Yanis said with a smile, "From ’I’m really afraid of pain.’"
—Didn’t that mean she heard everything!
"Huh...?"
Isabel looked on curiously with wide eyes.
Aiwass... is really afraid of pain?
She suddenly felt somewhat excited—if that was the case, she might be tougher than Aiwass in this aspect.
—She’s not afraid of pain at all!
During her previous advancement ceremony, even if her head hurt terribly, it didn’t affect her investigation; even if she used a gun to blow her own head off, she could just shake her head and recover.
"Rest assured," Yanis slightly retracted her head, leaving only her eyes full of laughter visible, "I was just watching nearby. I definitely don’t want to become someone inside the painting... If that happened, I would lean towards the Path of Dusk."
Yanis genuinely enjoyed eavesdropping and peeking around. She wouldn’t leak secrets—she was quite tight-lipped—it was just that she was brimming with curiosity and wanted to take a closer look at everything.
Painters could enter any painting, but there were certain distance limitations and they needed to jump continuously; however, if it was a painting they had created themselves, then they could instantly transport themselves over, no matter the distance.
Hopefully, once Isabel reaches a higher level, she won’t learn this bad habit from her teacher...
If Isabel also picked up this bad habit, that would truly spell trouble.
—After all, the Queen has the power to decide on currency.
The banknotes Aiwass was using had started to be widely used about two hundred years ago. Before that, the most common currency had still been various coins.
At that time, coins did not have ridged edges, and with use, they easily became irregular. Some people would clip the edges of the coins or file off some of the metal, and over time, they could accumulate a considerable amount of silver or even gold. As a result, many coins in circulation became smaller and lighter the more they were used.
To eliminate the rampant circulation of such inferior coins, a king over two hundred years ago introduced paper currency. Back then, Crown Prince Lohar had not yet emerged, and the royal family still possessed complete, unrestrained Authority. They could do whatever they pleased, as they wished.
The initial banknotes were printed with the royal portrait, just like the ancient silver coins that bore the triangle of Avalon. However, counterfeit currencies quickly appeared soon thereafter.
Even if that king used the Nine Pillar Gods’ "Eliminate" spell, it didn’t help—the counterfeit money was rampant, once disrupting Avalon’s economy and causing chaos within the nation. Consequently, the king was forced to reinstate the coins alongside the paper money.
But things continued to spiral into greater disorder. It wasn’t until a hundred years ago that a king creatively decided to abolish the circulation of gold coins, making silver coins the highest denomination, followed by red copper and copper coins, and printed an entirely new series of banknotes.
He covered these coins with a ridged edge, so it would be easily noticeable if anyone clipped them; he also printed the symbols of the Silver-Crowned Dragon, the Candle Master, and the Hourglass on both the coins and banknotes. He declared that this was the currency used under the supervision of the Pillar Gods, and that to make or use counterfeit currency was equivalent to blasphemy.
The Holy Nation was invigorated when they heard this. Therefore, they requested the assistance of the bishops of Avalon to enforce and promote the regulation—almost from that point on, counterfeit money vanished from Avalon.
When people encountered counterfeit banknotes with the king’s head or the Avalon mark or inferior coins with inadequate weight, they were likely to pretend ignorance and discreetly spend them. As a result, more and more counterfeit and substandard coins circulated in the market.
—But when it came to the Nine Pillar Gods, people dared not take the risk.
Ordinarily, even if they spent counterfeit money, it was no big deal, considering they didn’t make it themselves. If found out, they would simply replace it with a genuine one; but now, using counterfeit money carried the risk of committing blasphemy—even though, in all probability, the Nine Pillar Gods wouldn’t scrutinize every single person using the currency, or might even have no interest in such matters at all.
But people didn’t dare gamble on it.
Because in this world, gods truly exist.
This was the way the royal family of the Path of Authority solved problems.
And if Isabel became Queen, she would have another solution—that was to imprint all coins with her own hand-drawn pictures, and even the slightly larger denominations could be directly printed as Demonic Paintings. This was doubtlessly the best anti-counterfeiting feature, and once produced in volume, the cost could also be suppressed.
In this case, Isabel’s "eyes and ears" would be spread all over the country.
Anyone who carried money would become a surveillance camera for Isabel. She could also leap or teleport through these banknotes at will…
That would be far too terrifying.
If people found out about this, it might trigger a panic.
…And Aiwass had a premonition. If Isabel did such a thing, he might also end up printed on the money.
He hoped Isabel wouldn’t think of this—or rather, he hoped that when Isabel came up with this idea, he would still have time to stop her.
Aiwass’s thoughts shifted, and he asked, "Has Edward gone to the Holy Nation?"
His first reaction was to wonder, "Has Edward gone to see Mr. Oswald?"
Their butler said he would be back soon, but now it was almost half a month, and there was still no news. If Aiwass did not know that Oswald’s combat power was equivalent to the fifth energy level, he might have suspected that something had also happened to him.
—It would be rather comedic if the foster father went missing, the butler went to look for him and also disappeared; and then Edward went looking for the butler and vanished too.
Just like the Calabash Brothers saving their grandfather, right?
"No, it’s not the Holy Nation, it’s the Iris Flower."
Yanis answered, "The Queen’s order—you still remember the girl who attempted to assassinate you? According to the investigation by the Supervisory Court, her grandfather is the Vice Chairman of the Iris Flower Public Safety Committee, a fifth energy level strength of the Iris Flower, equivalent to our Grand Adjudicator. This has already turned into a diplomatic incident… In order not to jeapordize the interests of Avalon and yourself, Edward volunteered to handle this matter."
"It was supposed to entangle on his side for a while due to lack of evidence, which was troubling. Fortunately, Lars Graham showed a flaw—without a doubt, this time we are going to emerge victorious."
"If you are curious about the harbor, you actually don’t need to go there. Because Lady Red has already gone to arrest someone… This time, a smuggler who was in contact with Drost came along with the ship. He is the living proof that was sent right to our doorstep."
"Oh, right. You might not recognize… Lady Red is almost like Edward’s deputy. You can go directly to the Supervisory Court and wait. However, I think she can handle this matter quite well."
...Lady Red?
Aiwass still remembered this person.
She seemed to have some connection with Minister Drost, and she also seemed to have some connection with the Lohar Society… but Aiwass was not quite sure.
He exchanged a glance with Lily to confirm that their perceptions were not missing anything.
—Need to meet her. Not only to see the smuggler but also to see Lady Red.
However, the smuggler who came from Star Antimony to deliver goods to Drost…
For some reason, Aiwass always felt a bit of deja vu.
Then, Aiwass spoke, "Then we might as well take a trip to see for ourselves. Isabel, do you have an exam this afternoon?"
"No."
Isabel shook her head: "I only have one subject left, and it’s tomorrow afternoon."
"I’m almost there too," Aiwass said with a smile, patting her hand, "Shall we go then?"
"...Are you going to wear that? Maybe I should turn away for a moment, you can find me after you’ve changed your clothes."
Isabel crisply replied.
But...
Hasn’t his hair gotten longer?
She looked at Aiwass’s platinum blonde hair, which had grown to shoulder length, and felt a twinge of confusion.
Isabel indeed knew that Aiwass had been reading the Codex Book—the servants had already told her.
—Is this some kind of hair-growing secret?
Would Aiwass turn into waist-length hair after reading it again?
Isabel felt a tickle of curiosity.
She decided that after finishing her exams, she would draw a Demonic Painting of Aiwass with waist-length hair—although Aiwass’s hair was far from that length, her imagination could make up for it!
