Chapter 17: The Shepherd Tantra
Kingdom of Avalon, Glass Island, White Queen's Supervisory Office.
The Supervisory Bureau was still extremely busy this morning.
Men and women in light or leather armor hurried by. On the wall of Director Kent's office still hung a majestic silver-white dragon head—a silver-crowned dragon watching over them all the time.
Director Kent, now in his forties but still in good health, sat in his leather chair.
His back was straight, his rounded shoulders and arms holding up his loose clothing. His bronzed skin and the flesh on his face gave him the air of a fierce, tough man. A deep scar ran from above his left eye to his lip, and he wore a black eyepatch, giving him the appearance of a one-eyed pirate.
As a matter of ceremony and protocol, even though Director Kent hadn't seen frontline combat in over a decade, he still wore armor while working, maintaining a proper sitting posture and maintaining a flawless demeanor. His upper arms, abdomen, and calves—relatively light areas—were covered in silver-white metallic armor. The rest of his armor was covered in gleaming plates.
If he wasn't also a transcendent of a high level, he would probably be exhausted just sitting here for a whole day.
As early as four hundred and twenty years ago, Lancelot I, the founding monarch of the Kingdom of Avalon, established three major legal institutions.
The Inspectorate, responsible for "monitoring and protecting the people," the Inspectorate, responsible for "supervising knightly officials," and the Court of Arbitration, responsible for "deciding between right and wrong," were initially equal in status. Key responsibilities were held by Knights of the Round Table, who were admitted to the Senate.
The national emblem of the Kingdom of Avalon is a green eye nested in a silver triangle that symbolizes power.
The eyes represent the royal family and symbolize their current Queen Sophia I, who is nearly eighty years old and still in good health.
The silver triangle that protects the royal family refers to the Supervisory Bureau, the Inspectorate and the Arbitration Chamber.
However, as time went on, the Inspection Bureau became responsible for a growing number of matters. Taxation, safety, health, fire protection, public security, inspection, imprisonment... As a result, the Inspection Bureau gradually divided into many sub-departments, establishing branches in various regions and recruiting a large number of trainee inspectors, inspectors, and inspectors-general to handle local affairs. As a result, power was also divided.
The Inspectorate and the Court of Arbitration, however, remained relatively inexpensive, as they were tasked with handling more difficult and specific matters. The former became something akin to a secret service—responsible for examining the loyalty of officials, whether hereditary knightly families were morally deficient, whether lower-level inspectors had violated discipline and regulations, and monitoring foreign spies or those gathering intelligence while roaming abroad. The latter, however, became the courts of today.
The common point is that they are now one level higher than the Supervisory Bureau.
As a result, all those within the Inspectorate who could reach Level 4 were transferred to the Inspectorate and the Arbitration Chamber. The excuse was, "You don't need them anyway." Even in White Queen, a core district adjacent to the glass steps, its director, Kent, was only Level 3.
The young girl named Haina who was recently transferred here is only in her early twenties, and her strength is comparable to that of Director Kent, who is now approaching fifty.
Kent knew without a second thought that the Inspectorate would definitely come to ask for someone.
This is an era that produces many geniuses. Whether it's Haina or Sherlock... these new generation of geniuses are far superior to those of them who grew up in a peaceful era.
This is unlucky, Kent thought.
This may be a sign of the coming chaos...
He picked up the phone on the table and spun the wheel. 0—1—2, the call was connected.
"Ask Haena to come to my office."
Director Kent ordered, "Also, get someone to call our consultant."
After hanging up the phone, he threw the Glass Steps newspaper on the table, stood up and walked to the bookshelf.
The front page of this newspaper was a photo of Haina and the young master of the Moriarty family.
The handsome young man with a gentle smile sat calmly in a wheelchair designed in the style of Elf art, a blanket covering his knees, his hands folded in front of his stomach. He spoke with a gentle, natural and generous manner. Behind him, Haena stood straight, holding the hilt of the sword at her waist, her muscles tense.
It seemed like he noticed the photographer, or he seemed to be greeting some acquaintance around the photographer.
The young man was halfway through his speech when his eyes suddenly shifted from the reporter to the direction of the camera.
He smiled a gentle smile as bright as the sun, raised his hand slightly and waved towards us, giving the impression that he was smiling and waving at the readers reading the newspaper.
The next moment, the scene jumped back to the beginning. Aiwass continued to sit in the wheelchair, speaking earnestly to the reporter.
——This is the "magic painting" ability that comes from the path of "beauty".
The Path of Beauty was legally prohibited in Avalon, but Master Yanis was an exception. This world-renowned elven artist founded the "Glass Daily," Avalon's largest and only official newspaper.
The Glass Daily Newspaper compiles the Kingdom of Avalon's most important intelligence daily, presenting it to the royal family and the ministers of the Round Table. The three major legal institutions also provide their employees with a free copy of the Glass Steps Newspaper.
Perhaps following the trend, perhaps to stay abreast of higher-ups' policies, or perhaps simply to express their concern for the Kingdom's political situation, some wealthy individuals who neither participate in politics nor work join in the fun and buy the Glass Steps newspaper. Soon after, some university students also buy it, using it as a topic of conversation among their peers.
Although each issue contained a fifteen-second "magic painting," and the material cost alone for each copy was a staggering one red coin, the price wasn't particularly high. This was because Master Janice didn't need to profit from it. The retail price of "Glass Steps" was just two red coins and five copper coins per issue—the five copper coins being the distributor's profit, and sometimes discounts were offered. Anyone with a decent income could afford it.
This animated newspaper was a novel experience. While it had no sound and was in black and white, at least the pictures moved—this was essentially a way for ordinary people to truly experience supernatural powers in the most affordable way possible.
In this issue of The Glass Steps, the cover of the page featuring Edwards Moriarty alone took up a full twelve seconds, leaving only three seconds for a bicycle ad.
Director Kent highly suspected that it was because Aiwass was too handsome and his smile was so charming that Master Janice gave him twelve seconds.
"Such a beautiful smile...it's obvious that he's not a good person."
Director Kent, with his bestial instincts, curled his lips and muttered softly, "I wonder whose girl he's planning to harm..."
...But he saw it clearly.
Being able to solve such a big case alone at this age, he will definitely become a bigger figure than me in the future.
This time they got a great credit for no reason, so they must be given enough rewards - originally this big job should have been given to the Inspectorate, and it would not have been their turn anyway.
Moreover, this is also an opportunity to connect with Professor Moriarty.
Therefore, the rewards chosen must be good enough, otherwise they will be rubbish to the Moriarty family. Giving them something they don't like would only bring shame to the Supervisory Bureau.
...It's really troublesome.
"A dedicated priest... a seminary student..."
Chief Kent muttered under his breath, searching the bookshelf.
Suddenly, he stopped and looked towards a corner.
There lay a book with a dark cover and no name on the spine.
The director picked it up with one hand and gently tapped the cover with the other. Sparks flew from the pages like a hammer striking an anvil.
"This one might be okay."
He murmured softly, reading the title: "The Shepherd's Tantra... Judging from the name, it should be related to 'priest'."
This entire bookshelf is filled with good stuff that the people down below collected when they confiscated banned books.
The Kingdom of Avalon strictly prohibits all forms of bribery, as it is an act that could undermine its authority. However, modest profiteering within the scope of one's duties is tolerated. This is to prevent officials and ministers from being bribed by foreign spies, particularly those from the Star Antimony Kingdom, when they are short of money, or from selling important intelligence and internal resources to the public, which would also undermine its authority.
One of the tacitly accepted ways of making a profit is to sell the confiscated banned books to the Knight family - from this perspective, this bookshelf can also be regarded as Director Kent's personal property.
Kent is not a pioneer on the path of dedication, so he certainly cannot open this book.
But judging from the name and the sparks that burst out, this is definitely a mysterious text on the path of dedication.
After the death of a transcendent, their soul falls into the "Nine-Forked River" of the Dream Realm, flowing to the path they had traveled the longest. The power within becomes the "path characteristics" gained by subsequent travelers during advancement rituals. Their memories and knowledge are scattered across the land, scattering among the natural world of flowers, fruits, clouds, and waves in the Dream Realm, becoming part of the building blocks of the Dream Realm.
Those dream monks who are proficient in the way of wisdom can capture and collect these headless and scattered esoteric knowledge from the dream world.
They would collect them and compile them into books. These mysterious books containing demonic knowledge were called "original books".
The original text is written in Gupta, a long-lost script that is incomprehensible to ordinary people. It often requires local translators, skilled in the art of wisdom, to forcibly translate it using mysterious techniques.
According to translation convention, texts containing Gupta-language knowledge of the dream world are generally translated as "tantras." The prefix depends on the translator's understanding of the text's content.
In a tantra, one can usually obtain a complete mysterious skill - although it is possible that people will reproduce it in the future, there is also a high probability that it will be a lost skill.
Although it may not be useful, it is a lost art after all.
In other words, it is something that cannot be obtained through normal means...
"Then it's quite impressive as a prize and a 'gift'."
Director Kent muttered to himself.
Finally recommended! Today is another update of more than 7,000 words, please keep reading!
This one seems to be off to a good start, with 12,000 collections already before it's even been recommended! If this one performs well, I feel like I can write more!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
