Chapter 4 The Gaze of the Silver Crown Dragon

Not long after Haina left, James Moriarty returned home carrying a heavy suitcase.

"Are the people from the Supervision Bureau leaving just now?"

Old James asked as soon as he entered the door.

He apparently met Haina at the gate of the manor and exchanged pleasantries for a while.

James is a polite-looking old gentleman with obvious wrinkles on his face. The gray pupils are somewhat cloudy, the eye sockets are deep, and the hair is gray and sparse. His skin is well maintained. The cheeks are thin and the cheekbones are high. Although he looks thin when wearing the coat, you can immediately feel that he is not thin when he takes off the coat.

When he spoke, he always spoke softly, with a long drawl, soft and tongue-twisted Elf accent. One look and you can tell that he has a pretty good tutor, and his temper is definitely the same.

He put down his suitcase at the door, took off his long double-breasted trench coat and hat and handed it to the valet standing at the door: "Their people didn't question Aiwass for several hours... Well, Thanks, Dole. Remember to send this box to Aiwass's room later."

"Yes, sir. I have taken note of it." His valet responded in a low voice and stepped back with the things.

"Miss Haina is late."

The old elf did not choose to hide the situation for her, but expressed his dissatisfaction bluntly: "She is always like this, thinking about the top hat and dropping the tie, rashly. If she continues like this, sooner or later she will miss something important and be caught by her Give your boss a hard lesson.”

"Sooner or later, let's wait until 'sooner or later' happens; if she makes a mistake because of her bad habits, then let her mistakes teach her a lesson."

The old man just smiled, narrowed his eyes and said meekly: "Don't scold her now for the mistakes she may make in the future, Oswald. You are only her instructor, not her boss."

He is quite friendly and approachable to his elf butler named Oswald.

This is also normal, because more than sixty years ago, when he was about the same age as Aiwass today, he was also watched by Oswald.

In addition to the old housekeeper, the house also employs sixteen other live-in servants - including a housekeeper, two valets, two valets, two maids, five footmen, and a cook , two helpers, and a coachman. Aiwass's eldest brother usually doesn't go home. Apart from him and Yulia, the only other owner of the house is the old man.

James usually behaves in a low-key and calm manner, and is very polite even to the servants. Although he rarely smiles, he never gets angry or angry at others.

——Or to be more precise, no one has ever seen him get angry or angry in these decades. Even when faced with the most rude guests, the old man always maintained his demeanor without being humble or overbearing.

Yes, old man.

Although James is nominally Aiwass's adoptive father, he is actually old enough to be Aiwass's grandfather.

This makes sense...Aiwass was only six years old when he adopted him. And now he is eighteen years old.

Edward Moriarty, the eldest brother of Aiwass and Julia, was adopted by James when he was eight years old. Now he is thirty-five years old.

"……dad."

Yulia, who was standing next to Aiwass, came over and said hello softly.

Like a well-behaved cat, she put her head close and was petted lovingly by the old man.

"How are you today, Yulia?"

He asked seriously: "Are you taking good medicine?"

"have eaten."

Yulia whispered, her voice giving people a dreamy and transparent feeling.

"Go to bed early and don't read too late. You can never finish learning."

The old man warned carefully: "Don't go to bed later than nine o'clock at night. You are not in good health - did you hear that, Yulia?"

Seeing himself talking, Yulia's eyes began to drift to the side, so he spoke a little louder and emphasized: "Yuliya?"

"Yeah, I know."

Yulia responded vaguely.

The old man sighed helplessly and emphasized again: "Don't stay up late, you silly girl.

"You don't go out, so there is no difference between day and night for you. It's better to go to bed early and read whatever books you have during the day. It's also good for your eyes."

As he spoke, Yulia became silent again.

Old James had no choice but to emphasize: "I'm old now and can't afford to stay up late. I have to go to bed at ten o'clock at night. If you have any questions, I can't answer you. But if you read during the day, If you don’t understand, you can come to me at any time. I won’t have a class tomorrow, so I will stay at home for three days. If you don’t understand anything, you can come and ask me, okay?”

"……good."

Yulia did not pretend to be deaf this time. She raised her head seriously and stared at the old man with ruby-like eyes: "I have been reading a book on alchemy recently...an exposition from the path of [Balance]. Dad understands In this regard?”

"Dad knows all the books at home."

The old man said calmly: "Father knows a little bit about the nine paths."

His tone was calm, but he felt confident.

"Then I will go to bed early today."

The girl stretched out two fingers and pointed to the sky by her ears, and said seriously: "I swear, I will keep my word——"

"Don't."

But the old man just stretched out his hand, gently bent the girl's fingers, and retracted his fist.

"do not do that."

James said seriously: "This is a [simple oath], a spiritual gesture. If you violate the oath, you will really be punished."

"...I just want to try."

Yulia whispered: "I just read it in the book today... was the gesture I just made correct?"

"Correct. So don't do it again next time."

The old man sighed tiredly: "Go and eat quickly. I have something to talk to Aiwass."

Yulia responded and followed Oswald to the restaurant. There were only two people left in the living room.

James returned to silence and sat opposite Aiwass.

The old man picked up the cup of tea that Haina Supervisor had not touched, poured it out and then added a cup of hot tea for himself.

Looking at Aiwass who was silent, he held the tea cup and asked softly: "How do you feel... about your current state? Is it still stable?"

What he was talking about was the Shadow Demon contracted by Aiwass.

There is no way this kind of thing could be hidden from my adoptive father.

Since Aiwass was lying at home when he woke up, it means that it was probably housekeeper Oswald who brought him back from his coma. Then James must have checked his body and performed a simple universal seal. At least he didn't let Shadow Demon take over Aiwass's body while he was unconscious.

It can be said to be very considerate.

In the "future" scene, the crazy, gloomy, stooped James Moriarty and the kind old man who cares about him in front of him look like they are not the same person at all!

What he remembers are all images of James loving him——

When Aiwass was in his early teens, he once accidentally said that he missed the special fried cod steaks that Aunt Missu would make for them during the holidays in the orphanage.

As a result, Aunt Misu was invited to work as a cook at home for a while with a high salary the next day. Not only the special fried cod steak, but also other "civilian dishes" she knew were also taught to the cook at home. When he asked her to leave later, he also gave her an additional reward.

Aiwass was so frightened at the time that he did not dare to say what he wanted to eat or want for at least half a year. I was afraid that as soon as I finished speaking, the back leg would immediately buy it.

Even little Aiwass, who has not yet recalled his past life memories, has always had a clear understanding of himself - after all, he is not James Moriarty's biological son. He doesn't deserve this privilege.

That is to say, Aiwass himself is more sensible and has not turned into a playboy under such pampering.

So now when Aiwass looks at his adoptive father, he always feels mixed emotions. He also has a sense of luck.

...Is there a possibility that the adoptive father was not the mastermind behind the scenes at the beginning of the plot? Or could it be that he fell into evil ways when the Kingdom of Avalon fell apart?

This is not impossible.

In the original plot, when the Kingdom of Avalon fell apart, Aiwass followed the protagonist and fled to the Theocracy. Since that time, he and his adoptive father have been separated. When we met again, it was already three years later.

maybe……

What happened in the past three years?

...However, that cannot explain the fact that Aiwass, as a spy, infiltrated the "player".

"——Aiwass?"

Seeing that Aiwass was lost in thought again, the old man called softly again: "If that doesn't work, I'll go find the bishop to help you get rid of the possessed demon, right?"

"...Ah, I have no problem, father. The demonic knowledge I obtained from their group happens to contain the means to seal the Shadow Demon."

Aiwass raised his head and said with a comforting smile: "I was thinking about other things just now."

"Then I believe you."

The adoptive father nodded slowly: "I have brought you the materials you asked me for yesterday. The ropes on the gallows are easy to find... the nails on the heads of the deceased who were tortured by chariots are really difficult to find. . After the Queen ascended the throne, she abolished the chariot punishment. I found it in the museum.

"I don't know if you want more in the future. I brought back the four existing ones. The collection records are also very clean, so there is no need to worry about anything. If you want anything else, just tell me... Don't trust outsiders easily anymore. "

...Find it so quickly?

Aiwass couldn't believe it.

He didn't expect that only one day later, his adoptive father would actually find them.

Is this the power that the Moriarty family can exert while the Kingdom of Avalon still exists?

"Great! With them, I can seal the shadow demon more stably."

Aiwass felt warm in his heart and said with heartfelt gratitude: "Thank you, Dad!"

The two ritual materials he asked for were not actually used to seal the shadow demon. Because sitting in a wheelchair is the simplest and most stable sealing method, this is the optimal solution tested by the demonologists of the Star Antimony Kingdom four years later.

"Then I won't have dinner today!"

He felt a little itchy in his heart and looked a little impatient. Aiwass was originally such a fan of mysticism, and there would be no sense of violation in his actions now.

"Let me do it."

Seeing Aiwass trying to push the wheelchair away, Old James quickly took two steps forward, held the back of the wheelchair, and pushed Aiwass to his room.

On the way, the old man said softly: "Aiwass, although you may be unhappy when I say this... Dad still has to say something.

"In the ceremony, you must not use humans or human corpses as materials and sacrifices. Apart from that, Dad will find a way to find you any materials you want... Can you promise Dad?"

Hearing this, Aiwas, who was sitting in a wheelchair, slightly widened his eyes in surprise.

It was not because he was surprised that his adoptive father, who was the mastermind behind the scenes, actually made such a seemingly moral request...

But because he knew that what the old man said was completely correct.

It was not until the advent of the "Fallen Angels" and the level cap of demon scholars was raised that the demon scholars of the old era realized that their path was completely wrong.

They all thought that the focus of demon scholars was on "demons", but they did not expect that the focus was on "scholars".

Humans cannot use humans as ritual materials, and elves cannot use elves. If it is a transformed undead, the bones of any animal cannot be used as materials. This is the taboo of "Heavenly Sin".

Any demon scholar who has used sacrifices of the same race and violated the punishment of Heavenly Sin cannot be promoted from this profession to "Scholar of Great Sin". Those level 40 demon scholars can only transform themselves into various demons. That can't even be considered an advancement, it can only be regarded as exchanging one's own professional level for a race template stronger than humans.

Undoubtedly, such a limit and ability will be much weaker than the "Great Sin Scholar" as a hero profession.

And players cannot use their own race as ritual materials from the very beginning, so they cannot meet the conditions for wrong advancement.

Now, James has told this secret so clearly.

Is it a coincidence, or...

Aiwass's heart moved, and he just nodded seriously.

He stretched out two fingers of his right hand, raised them to his ears and swore word by word: "I swear that I will not use the lives and corpses of my own race as my ritual materials and sacrifices."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly saw a vision-

In the dark night, on the snowy mountains.

Wearing a silver crown on his head, the dazzling dragon that looks like crystal, diamond and silver looked at him quietly.

The illusion lasted only a very short moment, even less than half a second. But when Aiwas woke up, he was already covered in cold sweat.

[You feel the gaze of ‘authority’]

[You get the feature: Authoritativeness-Silver Scale]

[Authoritativeness-Silver Scale: With this mark as a seal, the Silver Crown Dragon is watching you, and a certain oath you made cannot be violated. When you attack someone who violates the oath at will, you gain +1 advantage (divinity)]

“…I don’t know if it’s your luck or misfortune, but just a ‘simple oath’ made Him notice you. It should be a coincidence…”

The old man behind Aiwass seemed to feel something and paused.

He was silent for a long time before he continued to push the wheelchair slowly, saying softly: “But no matter what, the God of Authoritativeness heard your oath, so you can’t violate it.”

“Of course…”

Aiwass closed his eyes a little tiredly, feeling his heart beating so hard that it felt a little blocked: “I will never take the path of depravity that there is no turning back.”