Chapter 51 Lily
After Aiwas woke up, the first thing he did was to clean up his ceremony venue.
The smoked white crystal pendant was no longer pure. Aiwass ground it into powder and set it aside for later use.
After drawing in the energy of the dream world, the spirituality within it became so mixed that the concept of "white crystal" was lost. In any alchemy or ritual requiring "white crystal", it would only lead to failure.
But it wasn't pure garbage either. Its scientific name was "Secondary Dream Crystal," and in alchemy and ritual, it had a weak ability to confuse dreams and reality.
If one part of crystal dust is infused with two opposing magical powers, then mixed with the extract from the entire brain of an adult cuttlefish, and finally added to a bottle of white wine and distilled until only half remains, the result is three parts of forgetfulness water. Drinking one part will allow one to forget their greatest worries like a dream.
During the game's main quest, after Yulia's death, Aiwass fell into grief, becoming visibly depressed and haggard. Under the guidance of Aiwass's adoptive father, Professor James Moriarty, the player crafted this potion using the white crystal pendant Aiwass had given to the player character as a souvenir after his advancement, and had Aiwass consume it.
After drinking the potion, Aiwass fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up, he felt much better.
It was as if that incident had not happened a few days ago, but several years ago.
That was also the first time James Moriarty participated in the main storyline of the game.
...Now that Aiwas has to prepare this potion personally, I always feel a subtle feeling.
However, now that Aiwass thought about it... perhaps from the very beginning of this quest, it hinted that Old James had a fairly good knowledge of alchemy. Because the Water of Forgetfulness wasn't a common potion. At least as far as Aiwass could remember, it hadn't appeared in any of the main quests since then.
Only after cleaning up all the traces of the ritual left in his bedroom did Aiwass leave his room.
He told the housekeeper that his room could be cleaned now. Mrs. Rowe agreed and called for Aiwas's personal maid.
Generally speaking, servants weren't required to constantly follow their masters around like stalkers; they usually worked at different times. Moriarty Manor was located in the White Queens district, after all, so it couldn't be very large. But the main building alone had over twenty rooms... which required servants to keep up with the cleaning.
Usually, for external affairs, they would contact Butler Oswald, and for internal affairs, they would contact the housekeeper, Mrs. Rowe. They were the easiest to find.
The former is the guardian of the Moriarty family, while the latter is merely a hired human housekeeper.
In other knight families, the master does not need to give special orders - as long as they leave their place, the housekeeper will immediately order someone to clean the place where they have been.
But Moriarty Manor is an exception.
Of the four owners here, Aiwass rarely left the house after graduating from high school. Julia wasn't allowed outside, or even near an open window. Edward only came home once or twice a month... only James would go out and come home regularly.
Not to mention banquets and travel arrangements, there wasn't even much garbage to be had. Besides the usual cleaning of the rooms, the servants would gather together to chat out of sight of their masters.
The servants also knew that the Moriartys were a family of extraordinary beings, and that they all studied the occult. The various open books might contain dangerous knowledge that would cause ordinary people to become demented or even die from a single glance; and the various objects placed on the floor and tables might also be part of rituals or barriers.
Therefore, they would not go to the bedroom to clean up the garbage until the housekeeper said "it's OK to clean". Even if they went to clean, they would only restore the original arrangement of various items and try not to move them.
"Good morning, Master Aiwass."
The maid with long flaxen curly hair who was originally tending to the oil painting came over and greeted softly.
"Good morning, Lily."
Aiwass also greeted his personal maid in a friendly manner: "I have good news for you...You can go to school too."
Hearing this, Lily's eyes suddenly widened.
"...Can I go to school too?"
She was the personal maid who had taken care of Aiwass since he first came to the Moriarty family.
Aiwass was six at the time, and Lily was only fourteen. They had already become very close.
Lily was usually responsible for cleaning Aiwass's bedroom, cleaning and changing his underwear, and accompanying him when he went out.
Taking safety, decency and appearance into consideration, these personal servants and maids are usually not of commoner origin in the true sense, but are children of relatives or illegitimate children of other families.
For example, Lily is the child of an old knight and a prostitute.
Her original surname was Droste, but she lost it after becoming a maid to the Moriarty family.
The Droste family didn't want a prostitute's child to have a chance to inherit their estate, and they felt that if she went to school under the Droste name, it would damage the Droste family's reputation. However, leaving her to fend for herself would also be a disgrace.
In the end, the old knight asked old James to hire Lily as his personal maid.
While this was called hiring a maid, it could actually be considered a form of foster care. Professor Moriarty treated her very well—even though her job as a maid prevented her from continuing her education, her junior high school education was enough for her to master the basics. The family also provided her with various books, allowing her to study her interests in her spare time.
"Of course, even though you're just accompanying me. But you have to sit in on the class as well."
Aiwass smiled gently and patted the wheelchair under him. "I can't let Mr. Oswald accompany me to school, right? I'll be laughed at by my classmates. I need someone to push the wheelchair."
"Then...what about Mr. Wade? He can still protect you."
Wade is the name of James's personal valet.
Aiwass shook his head: "I'm not qualified yet."
According to Avalonian etiquette, only those of high status could possess valets, much like only knightly families could employ valets. Merchants, upstarts, and high-ranking civil servants who had not yet received their ordination could only employ female servants. Not only did valets perform many manual labor tasks, but valets also served as guards and bodyguards, working alongside the butler to protect the mansion's security.
The Moriarty family had two valets, one for James Sr. and the other for Edward, the eldest. Edward had his valet housed in another of his houses in Red Queen District. He had bought an apartment near the Inspectorate for easy commuting. He only brought his valet home with him when he returned home.
When he went to see Bishop Mathers before, he was taken there personally by Butler Oswald because Bishop Mathers had a high enough status.
But it was impossible for Butler Oswald to take care of him every day.
Until Aiwass can obtain the third level of shadow affinity and fully control the shadow demon, or until his dark mana pool reaches 50 points and he can create a blank card to seal the shadow demon, he will obviously be unable to leave the wheelchair.
It's okay at home, or in a place where no one is around.
Even if the Shadow Fiend remained silent, as long as Aiwass stood on his own shadow, he would conceptually "link" with his own Shadow Fiend. Then his shadow would immediately boil—becoming thick and solid, constantly wriggling and smoking.
This was clearly going to cause an accident. Pushing the wheelchair myself, while not impossible, was too tiring.
"…Can I really?"
Lily was a little nervous and reached out to clench the hem of her clothes. "My father...that man said he doesn't want me to go to school. And...and even if I push your wheelchair, your classmates will still talk about you."
She obviously wanted to go, but was afraid of getting in trouble, and it was more like she was trying to convince herself why she couldn't go than to convince Aiwass.
"How could that be?" Aiwass laughed. "They'd be envious. After all, I have such a beautiful girl to go to class with."
Of course, the real reason was... he knew Lily wanted to go to school very much and was thirsty for knowledge.
Although he wasn't technically qualified for a male servant, his situation was special after all, so the school should be able to grant him special permission.
But Wade wasn't interested in this, so he decided to give the opportunity to Lily. After all, she was the older sister who had been taking care of him since he was a child...
In the original world, Lily would have died during a side quest three or four months later. Her death was trivial and insignificant.
It would be better to let her come to school with me.
These characters that do not appear in the "plot" also have "unknown" possibilities in a sense.
"...That's not true. You're too kind."
Hearing this, Lily blushed.
Although she had a little girlish confidence in her appearance, she actually knew that Aiwass was joking and comforting herself.
The serious-looking housekeeper beside her couldn't help but smile.
She was obviously quite fond of this polite and somewhat introverted young maid. She gently patted Lily's shoulder and reminded her, "Why don't you thank Master Aiwass quickly?"
"Thank you, thank you..."
Lily finally reacted and bowed deeply.
She couldn't control her tears and her vision was a little blurry.
Because she realized that Aiwass was not just saying it casually or jokingly - he was serious.
This made her feel happy.
Even the slightly blurry world in front of me seemed to be shining brightly at dawn.
(End of this chapter)
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