Chapter 86: Thousand Faces of Aiwass

Aiwass quickly adapted to campus life at the Royal Law University.

It is now Thursday afternoon.

Two days had passed since Aiwass was featured in the Glass Steps for the second time.

It was completely different from the last time at the Pelican Bar - although Aiwass was in the newspaper, not many people in the school knew him.

Because there are basically not many students who would buy expensive and serious newspapers like The Glass Steps.

The content of "Glass Steps" is too serious, and most of the news is very brief - such as the death of a big man, personnel changes in the top management of a department, the prosperity or crisis of an industry, how laws and taxes are adjusted, explanations of key policies this year or next year, and important events happening in other countries.

There was no gossip or fun, nor were there the serialized novels, short poems and jokes that often appeared in other newspapers, or interesting advertisements. Even the details of many news items were incomplete, and many major events were only reported in a short sentence.

The most frequently appearing words in the Glass Steps newspaper were various "names"—and for the students, they basically didn't recognize most of these names, and just looking at them would give them a headache. The only attraction was probably Master Janice's "magic paintings."

So, the average student wouldn't buy this kind of thing. It has nothing to do with intelligence or knowledge... If someone suddenly bought The Glass Steps, it's probably not for the knowledge or intelligence in it, because they wouldn't understand it. It's either because their parents asked them to, or they're just trying to show off, pretending they understand it.

At that time, Aiwass was just a "strange young man who suddenly made the front page of the Glass Steps" to the students of Royal Law University, and he was the "other people's child" who they were hostile to.

After all, both the Pelican Bar and the Demonologist are very far away for these students living in the Red Queen District.

But the murder that took place at the White Shoes Club on Monday afternoon and the killer who intended to murder Princess Isabel were different.

This is what happened around them, and many students even saw it with their own eyes.

Secretary Raff fell from the second floor onto their feet, dying of poisoning right before the students' eyes. Overseers and inspectors arrived from all corners of the city, forming a long line at the club's entrance. Air cavalrymen, clad in silver-white armor and dragon-headed helmets, soared through the air at high speed on tall, majestic white griffins...

——If Avalon were to go to war someday, this would probably be the scene! The students thought excitedly.

In stark contrast to the generally conservative Round Table Hall and the Hall of Silver and Tin, the students were enthusiastic about the war. Their repetitive daily routines were too comfortable and boring, and the students were eager to find something exciting.

And right now, this is exciting enough.

A beautiful assassin emerged from the princess's shadow, pursued by an armored, two-handed greatsword-wielding old knight. A fierce battle ensued between the two in the streets, as roads throughout the city were sealed by legal spells. From above, the air cavalry launched a relentless assault. Lightning crackled, and hurricane-force winds as sharp as blades swept through the streets. From the clouds, a continuous rumble of thunder could be heard even at the very edge of the Glass Island.

The old knight chased her from Red Queen's District to White Queen's District, and from White Queen's District to Lloyd's District. His burst of movement was very limited, and he almost lost her after two blocks - but fortunately, there were still Griffin Knights in the sky following behind, and Commissioner Gordon also summoned his own Griffin.

But after they reached the sky, they became even more difficult to track.

The only clues they can see are "a fleeting shadow on the ground, even though there's clearly no obstacle." As the distance increases, it becomes even harder to discern.

Not to mention, the streets and alleys of Glass Island are so narrow that it is really hard to chase after them.

The residents of the Red and White Queen District include a large number of knight families, priests, elves, wealthy merchants, scholars, and officials, as well as some distinguished guests traveling from foreign countries.

The cunning killer also led them through churches, museums, art galleries, government buildings, courts, orphanages, schools, hospitals, research institutes... Her route was not even a straight line, but she deliberately circled around these places and sneaked into the crowd to guide the knights to attack her.

But none of these old knights were reckless warriors driven by passion. Those who could enter the Round Table Hall were generally over forty years old. They were past that reckless age and each one was calm and composed.

If they were to force their move, the high-level assassins who were used to the path wouldn't be in danger, but passersby would definitely die. And they would die one after another.

It would be better to let the killer go!

After all, the assassin had only murdered a lowly official. Although she had briefly slipped into the shadow of Her Royal Highness the Princess... she hadn't actually assassinated a member of the royal family.

The killer clearly knew what they were fearing, so he deliberately led them in circles. Relying on his exceptionally skilled techniques of clones, stealth, and visual deception, he lost the Inspectorate before nightfall. The only thing they could confirm was that their target had entered the Lloyd's Quarter before disappearing.

——The weight of Lloyd's District and the Red and White Queen District is different.

Lloyd's Quarter was completely sealed off. The port was temporarily shut down, and even the navy, resting ashore, was alerted. Six battalions of inspectors, along with numerous supervisors, combed Lloyd's Quarter, street by street, until dawn, but the killer remained undetected.

The Supervisory Bureau simply pretended they weren't hunting assassins, but rather rectifying public order in the capital—and so they busted thirteen illegal gathering places and arrested over four hundred suspects. It was quite a large-scale, impressive operation.

Since we are here now, we can’t go back empty-handed.

To the public who were unaware of the incident, it seemed like a swift and decisive special operation by the Supervisory Bureau. But to the few who knew the inside story, the Supervisory Bureau became a joke.

The Supervisory Bureau, which was almost fully mobilized, failed to catch a single person - compared to the fact that "the killer was not caught", the Supervisory Bureau's overly serious attitude was more likely to cause ridicule.

But on the contrary, Commissioner Gordon, who was the first to catch up, was not only not punished, but was commended instead.

Because what he did in the first place was exactly the right thing: not to launch a powerful attack on the assassin, but to push him away from the princess first.

Even though this push actually helped the other party escape safely, Gordon had already achieved his primary goal, which was to protect Princess Isabel.

—Again, if the killer were to be released, only a minister's personal secretary would be killed. If the killer were to be trapped in the club, she would go on a killing spree, and countless students would be killed or injured. Compared to their safety, letting a criminal escape would be a more acceptable outcome.

Of course, his commendation wouldn't be issued immediately, but Aiwass had heard from Isabel that Commissioner Gordon would be transferred to the Inspectorate as a senior inspector responsible for managing and supervising discipline in all regional inspectorates on Glass Island.

Going from director to senior inspector seemed like a half-level demotion, but in reality it was a promotion of one and a half levels—and he even managed to continue to manage his previous department.

Compared to the Supervisory Bureau, whose commotion had spread throughout the city, Aiwass, motionless in his wheelchair, seemed even more formidable. After all, anyone could see how much damage Aiwass's shot had inflicted on her. To exaggerate, perhaps Aiwass's damage was all that had been done to her.

The students who witnessed the "big event" with their own eyes were extremely excited and even exaggerated the incident to other students who did not see it.

Because there were so many students present at the time, no one could really see the whole picture - at least 80% of them did not notice that there was a thin knife the size of a little finger stuck in Secretary Raff's back; and only those around him heard Aiwass calling Director Gordon.

Although the newspapers praised Aiwass highly, Aiwass also adopted the mysterious attitude of "I won't tell you, you guess for yourself" when he was interviewed.

Because of this, they rely on their own imagination and understanding to try to complete this seemingly happy event.

With students left to guess, almost everyone told a slightly different story. Those who heard the story felt compelled to share it with others. So they went back to someone else to tell it again, adding to their memories.

——Through permutations and combinations, by lunch break the next day, there were more than seventy versions of the story.

During lunch, almost every table in the cafeteria was telling this story. And each table's story was different, as if they were from different timelines.

There are relatively normal-sounding versions such as "Evans is the female assassin's ex-boyfriend" and "The assassin is Edwards' stepmother"; there are also somewhat subtle speculations such as "Evans is Her Royal Highness the Princess's secret guard" and "Evans is a prophet".

In the end, there are even stories with legendary plots and twists and turns, such as "The assassin's target is actually Queen Sofia", "The assassin is a vengeful princess of the previous dynasty", and "The assassin is a demon in human form".

Now it seems that some students are planning to use Aiwass as the protagonist in a secondary creation plan...

Now Aiwass has become a real celebrity.

Just as he had originally planned, he gained the goodwill and recognition of his classmates, but the way was not what he had expected.

He had become an urban legend with a thousand faces. Aiwass believed that even if a professional spy came to the university to inquire about him, he would probably be confused.

How come everyone can give a different answer?

Is Aiwass so mysterious?

In the end, Aiwass gained fame, Director Gordon got a promotion, the students present got something to talk about, and the students not present had fun.

Although other departments were verbally criticized, no one actually accepted the punishment - the knights' previous judgment of the matter was completely correct. After all, the assassin was not really planning to assassinate Her Royal Highness the Princess. Therefore, Her Majesty the Queen would not be too obsessed with that slippery and difficult-to-catch killer.

Although the commotion was considerable, the most damage they inflicted was probably the destruction of some walls in Lloyd's Quarter. These losses could be fully included in the budget for the "eleven illegal organizations" operation, with even a fair amount left over.

The only two people who felt sad were probably Aiden and Isabel.

Isabelle was simply sad about not being able to go to the White Shoes.

In this incident, the White Dance Shoes Club was temporarily closed down.

Although Isabel believed that she would eventually be unblocked, she finally had the chance to join her first student organization. However, before she could make friends or even talk to strangers, the organization closed down.

Aiden was incredibly unlucky.

As a student who had come into contact with the assassin, he was transferred to the Supervisory Bureau for two special interrogations. Even the copy of "Dracula" was confiscated.

Even though Aiden didn't really listen much in class, after missing two classes in a row, he started to miss going to class.

The main thing is that Aiden felt a little anxious: the final exams are coming soon, how can I make up for the classes I missed!

"--Can't you just come two weeks later?!" he complained.

That way, if I don’t do well in the exams this semester, I can go home and directly blame it on you!

There is still nearly a month left before the final exams, and I feel extremely uncomfortable being in the middle of nowhere.

What made Aiden even sadder was that his budding first love ended before it even began.

The "mysterious lady in a white dress who might have a crush on him" turned out to be a cruel and vicious woman - this hit him hard.

When Aiwass heard his complaints, he just smiled and said nothing.

It's okay, bro. Stay calm...

——Sooner or later, you will get used to it.

(End of this chapter)