Chapter 538 Mr. Red Wine

In the early morning, Aiwass woke up slowly.

He had already contacted Isabel last night and told her about "The Puppet Show of Hell" and "The Secret Sutra of Puppet Masks".

Isabel had probably already gone to the Candlemas Cathedral, the express delivery storage point, to pick it up. After all, this kind of thing was too valuable and dangerous, so it wasn't convenient to ask someone else to pick it up for her.

And Aiwass can be responsible for handling the relevant affairs in the Church first.

While having breakfast, Aiwass told Sherlock and Lily about the three trolls.

"...Mr. Red Wine?"

Sherlock murmured, "Besides, he also happens to be working in the Southern Continent..."

Aiwass was obviously a little surprised: "Have you heard of his name?"

With Sherlock's excellent memory, perhaps he could bring them some additional inspiration.

“Not sure if it’s the same person.”

Sherlock pondered for a moment, then slowly put down the coffee cup he was holding. "But judging by the image description, I feel like it's at least 80% certain. Even if it's not, I can still... give you some ideas."

...Is there any melon?

Aiwass became interested: "Tell me more."

He used a fork to roll a strip of bacon into a cigarette shape and stuck it on the plate in front of Sherlock.

Sherlock unceremoniously held it between his lips, humming as if chewing a cigar: "This is a point that few people know... Aiwass, do you know Bram Stoker?"

"Sounds familiar."

Aiwass recalled: "Would you like to remind me again?"

"He's a bestselling author."

"...Oh, the one who wrote Dracula?"

Aiwass thought for a while before he finally remembered.

It was Miss Chloe who distributed this book in Avalon back then, and Shadow Demon quite liked using her voice at that time.

Now Shadow Demon has turned into Night Demon and no longer uses Chloe's sweet and friendly voice... Thinking about it, I miss her a lot.

"When Mr. Stoker first started writing novels, he used a pen name because his father did not allow him to write novels."

Sherlock bit into his bacon cigar and drew a triangle on the table with a fork dipped in ketchup. "He used to be called Bram Assad. His father was the deputy director of the Inspectorate - yes, the one who worked for Edward. Iverson must know."

"...So his father wants him to join the Inspectorate?" Lily asked.

Aiwass nodded and said, "That makes sense."

Assad's deputy minister, Aiwas, knew him.

After all, when Isabel first took the throne, all the personnel changes were handled by Edwards.

He had been working in the Inspectorate for a long time, longer than Edward had been in the Inspectorate.

But he truly lacked any talent for transcendence. Not only had he been stuck at the third energy level from a very early age, but his soul had even been damaged at a very young age, thus completely eliminating his potential for further advancement.

The reason the Arbitration Chamber receives high salaries, joins the Round Table, and becomes a candidate for Minister is because they themselves are "Fifth Level Candidates." This preferential treatment is actually an investment in the future... that is, to put all Fifth Levels in a visible and tangible place.

——After all, it is impossible for a transcendent to rise several levels out of thin air. The fifth energy level must be born from the fourth energy level.

Soul damage also meant they had no chance of reaching the fifth energy level. Therefore, those transcendents who barely managed to reach the fourth energy level might not be able to join the Arbitration Hall... They might become grassroots leaders in some places, such as the director of the Supervisory Bureau, but they might not be qualified to enter the Round Table Hall.

Because Deputy Minister Assad had overdrawn his potential early on, even after Edward went to the Iris Kingdom as a diplomat, he failed to become the Inspector General... Today he is still the Deputy Minister of the Inspectorate.

Deputy Minister Assad's obsession with his son, hoping he would inherit his position and complete the path he left unfinished, is perfectly normal in the authoritarian society of Avalon. Authoritarianism isn't limited to the monarch's control over his subjects; the leadership and control of children by parents also falls under the category of authoritarian ideology.

"I remember Deputy Minister Assad is almost sixty years old."

Aiwass recalled: "It's just that he refused to retire, otherwise he would have had the opportunity to retire a few years ago. How old is Bram this year?"

"He must be in his forties. He's at least older than Edward."

Sherlock chewed his bacon and answered casually, "His mother is from the Iris family. She was an amateur writer before she married his father. She's a transcendent of the Path of Beauty... and she came to Avalon at about the same time as Madam Mina. Speaking of which, he should know your parents too."

"He's been sickly since childhood, a bit better than little Yulia, but not much better. Work at the Inspectorate is very busy, and it's all confidential...Edward, as the Chief Inspector, rarely went home, and the Deputy Chief was even less so. So, he's been with his mother since he was little, and his relationship with his father is very cold."

"Then I understand."

Aiwass nodded. "Then, I think, his father wanted him to join the Inspectorate, and he wanted to become a writer, so they had a big argument... That's probably how it developed."

"Almost, but they didn't argue. On the surface, he obeyed his father's wishes and joined the Inspectorate. But behind the scenes, he secretly wrote books under the pen name 'Mr. Red Wine'..."

Sherlock's memory was recovering rapidly, and his narration gradually became clear: "At that time, he published several novels in his spare time from work, and they all sold well. However, after that, the first book he wrote suddenly became a hit.

"It was a novel called 'The Duties of a Clerk in the Inspectorate and Stories in the Office.' I don't know how many books it was, but it seems he was trying to write a comedy, but his sense of humor was so lacking that the book was incredibly boring. It was filled with awkward jokes that made you laugh uncontrollably, so not many people bought it.

"But then a critic found the book. He praised the details and complaints about the 'work of the Inspectorate' as being very realistic, just as he had known them. He said the book allowed people to understand how those high-ranking Inspectors worked, and it became an instant hit.

"The Chief Inspector at the time wasn't Edward yet, but an elderly man. He was rigid and conservative, so he considered this a 'shameful leak of secrets, a loss of respect for the Inspectorate, and a discredit to his colleagues.' He was furious. He conducted a full-scale polygraph test within the Inspectorate and easily identified him—even discovering that he had read illegal sutras. Thus, everyone in Avalon knew the true name of 'Mr. Red Wine.'

"For Deputy Minister Assad's sake, he was only fired and spared imprisonment. But Deputy Minister Assad could only be a deputy minister from then on... Edward was promoted to the position after that, skipping over Deputy Minister Assad, who was a senior official.

"After that, he ran away from home. His unfinished novel manuscript and tantra were confiscated by the Supervisory Bureau.

"After leaving Avalon, Bram changed his last name to Stoker - that was his mother's last name before she got married. After that, he no longer used a pen name, but only wrote under his real name Bram Stoker. Nowadays, few people remember who Mr. Red Wine is..."

Sherlock sighed a little: "I remember him because I quite like his novels. I didn't expect to hear his name in a place like this..."

"And then?"

Aiwass asked, "Did he go to live in the Southern Continent?"

"No, after he left Avalon, he first settled in Iris. So Dracula also came from Iris.

"About two years ago, when Dracula was first published and became a huge hit, he was interviewed by Iris Reporter. At that time, he mentioned that he frequently traveled to the mysterious southern continent and the ancient Parthian Empire to gather material... If that 'Mr. Red Wine' is truly him, I'm afraid he's been using this as a cover to travel back and forth between the two places to engage in the troll trade."

"Isn't this illegal?" Lily couldn't help but interrupt.

"certainly."

Aiwass narrowed his eyes slightly. "That great writer should still be in the Theocracy. He's somewhere between the first and fifth circles."

"Speaking of which, Sherlock...how strong is he as a transcendent?"

"I'm not sure. But it shouldn't be strong anyway."

Sherlock shook his head. "When he was expelled from the Inspectorate, he was only at the Second Level. In fact, if he had reached the Third Level, he wouldn't have been expelled. If someone could reach the Third Level in their early twenties, they could very well become Chief Inspector or even join the Court of Arbitration. But at the time, he was already nearly thirty, and still only at the Second Level."

"So he should be on the path of beauty? Judging from his personality, perhaps he also has some elements of adaptability to the path..."

Aiwass pondered, "Since he is a transcendent of the Path of Beauty, I must go and ask Master Yannis."

"Go find Cardinal Loki first."

Sherlock drank the coffee in his cup, wiped his mouth elegantly, and said calmly, "I'll go with you so that you don't miss anything."

"Then I'll go too."

Lily said happily.

Come back after dinner and continue!

I should finish writing earlier today than yesterday~

(End of this chapter)