Chapter 578: Homeland Faction and Cardinal Fafner
After a friendly tug of war, Yunus led the way and welcomed Aiwas into the house.
Behind him, Sherlock fell a few steps behind until he was parallel to Aiwass.
The corners of his mouth rose slightly, and he whispered with a hint of mischief: "Did you notice it?"
Aiwass just looked forward at Yunus's back without looking back at Sherlock: "Of course."
What Sherlock was referring to was the fact that Yunus had recognized Aiwass's identity.
This is not surprising.
Although Yunus had been active as a knight and hadn't transformed into Prince Albert for a long time... he was still active in Avalon. In other words, although it was unknown whether Yunus had returned to Glass Island during his journey... he certainly saw the newspaper.
Yunus first left Avalon after Queen Sofia died and Isabelle officially took office as queen.
In other words, he must have known that Aiwass was Isabel's only trusted minister when she ascended the throne; and he would also know that Aiwass was Avalon's Minister without Portfolio.
…The only problem is that my father-in-law will most likely read the news about “Miss Aleister” as well.
The long-standing scandal between Aiwas and Aleister... This was the hottest topic in Avalon before Her Majesty the Queen's death.
This news itself was a means used by Aiwass to divert the attention of the people of Avalon. Although Isabel knew that Aleister was Aiwass, so she didn't react...but others obviously didn't know.
In their view, Isabel's bringing Aiwass into the ranks of her confidants was in itself a competition with the mysterious and noble Miss Aleister for men.
Sherlock had thought it was a bad idea at the time, and now that Aiwass was going to get into a little trouble—or retribution—for what he had done, he could only smile and gloat over it.
If there weren't so many strangers here... if there were only him and Aiwass here, Sherlock would probably circle around Aiwass, playing the violin and singing the Avalon national anthem.
But Aiwass was not in a hurry about it.
He just glanced sideways at Sherlock and asked softly, "Did you find anything?"
"some."
Seeing that Aiwass wanted to talk business, Sherlock immediately regained his serious expression: "I didn't go back yesterday just to confirm my guess..."
Yunus then ushered them into the inner room. It looked like a living room, complete with a large, white crystal screen resembling a television. It had a rather modern feel.
A young elf couple was sitting at the tea table, and the tea on the table was barely touched.
They don't look very old.
If viewed from a human perspective, he might not even be thirty years old... Even at the elves' aging rate, he is at least not middle-aged.
The man wore a moon-white mage robe and round glasses, exuding a gentle and refined demeanor. His wife, on the other hand, wore a light yellow short dress, long white stockings, and a flower-shaped hairpin in her hair. If one ignored her mature demeanor and focused solely on her appearance and clothing style, one might mistake her for a student.
Seeing a large group of people coming in, the elf couple stood up politely and nodded to everyone - mainly greeting Aiwass who was wearing the red robe of the archbishop.
"Let me introduce you two. This is our Avalon's outstanding talent, the well-known Aiwas Moriarty! Gentle, handsome, and suave, he is the idol of thousands of girls. Even the Moon Child of the Imperial era was fascinated by him, and he even had a relationship with Her Majesty the Queen, who was only 19 years old—"
Yunus enthusiastically introduced Aiwas to them.
Aiwass nodded slightly, then corrected with a gentle smile, "Those previous ones were just rumors—but my relationship with Her Majesty the Queen is real. In fact, Isabel and I are already engaged."
Hearing this, Yunus was suddenly stuck for a moment.
Sherlock couldn't help but raise the corner of his mouth, but he quickly suppressed it with a stern face.
Then, Aiwass took over the conversation. "This is my friend Lily. She came with me to the Church to protect me. I'm sure you all know the great detective Sherlock... He received a letter asking for help from Mr. Yunus, so he came to me to bring him here. He is now living in my residence."
"Archbishop Moriarty."
It is obvious that the couple has a higher degree of recognition of Aiwass than Yunus.
The male wizard walked over, placed his right hand on his chest, and nodded slightly at Aiwass. "I've heard about your deeds these past few days. I think your actions are correct—we all think so."
Aiwass also walked over politely: "I don't know your name yet..."
"I'm Maxim Rockdigger. This is my wife, Grace Leafbutterfly."
Mage Maxim introduced the two, "Mr. Yunus came to see my daughter, Anastasia Moonlight... He said he had rescued Anastasia in Avalon a few years ago and received her gratitude. But in fact, Anastasia had already transformed into a tree twenty years ago."
"But he produced Anastasia's keepsake. After comparing the information, we discovered that the person he knew might actually be Anastasia... This was too bizarre. So Mr. Yunus invited the renowned detective, Mr. Sherlock."
He smiled as he spoke. "But it's actually not that important, it's just a little magical. After all, Anastasia's soul has already entered the Kingdom of Giant Trees, and my wife and I happened to have some free time. So we decided to research it... Compared to that matter, it's an even greater honor for us to meet you."
Grace also smiled at Aiwass and performed the Iris Man's skirt-lifting salute - although Aiwass didn't quite understand why she had to lift the skirt when wearing a short skirt.
When Sherlock heard their three surnames, he covered his forehead and obviously felt a headache.
In this era, only elves would have such a strange custom: the surnames of all family members could be completely different and sound very strange.
Because the elves' surnames are the names of specific inheritances and must have meaning, they can only be translated literally and not phonetically; and children's talents, hobbies and specialties may not be inherited from their parents, so parents will most likely not pass on their inheritance to their children.
On the other hand... because elves are immortal beings whose primary mode of inheritance is to be passed down through generations, they typically each possess multiple paths. In another sense, surnames can also be used to quickly determine a person's general path.
The surnames of these two people are not too uncommon. Aiwass had studied them in the Avalon Library.
For example, the inheritance of Digging Rocks is based on the path of wisdom, and also requires the level of the path of dusk; the inheritance of Dead Leaf Butterfly is based on the three paths of adaptation, beauty, and dusk, and also requires a considerable level of dance skills.
Knowing the other person's surname means basically knowing their personality, strengths and preferences; but this does not mean that Maxim cannot have the adaptability and extraordinary level to devote himself to the path or even transcend the path.
Although the elves' surnames are not decisive, they do have some reference value.
Aiwass also understood why the two were so friendly and even respectful to him: "Are you opponents of the Controlled Fire faction?"
"That's right."
Maxim nodded. "My family are all elves from the Homeland faction. Those people from Controlled Fire... putting aside the question of whether they are extreme or advanced, I don't think they have done anything practical. They are just shouting slogans."
"Homeland faction?"
Sherlock on the side looked at Aiwass with some confusion.
He came here yesterday, but the other party never talked to him about this topic.
But Aiwass shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either.
He only remembered a few of the most well-known - or most powerful - factions in the Theocracy: the Inquisition, the Mediator, the Ancient Monuments Restoration Society, and the Market Supervisors.
In the original storyline, after the Theocracy split, these four factions quickly established their initial power. Adding the Controlled Fire, they became the five opposing factions within the Theocracy. Players must bring the Saint with them to gain favor with these four factions, with Controlled Fire being the most powerful red-named monster.
The Judgment Center is the faction currently exerting pressure on Xingti. They are the extreme papal faction. Their primary responsibility is to punish other small nations that have offended the Theocracy... Most of the Papal Guards are from this faction, making it the Theocracy's most powerful church faction. The Queen's Guards sent to Avalon, as well as the guardians of the Founder's family, almost all come from this iron-blooded faction.
Mediators are mainly elves who like to mediate.
They exist in all ages and classes of elves, and they are the largest in number within the Church of the Nine Pillars.
From large-scale wars to small-scale brawls, they'll intervene whenever they see one. They advocate pacifism, but their downside is that they often have a sense of superiority over the immortal species—many conflicts among the short-lived species are seen as ridiculous and unimportant, much like how humans view a fight between cats and dogs. Although this is true.
Therefore, their hostility towards other factions is mainly due to their attempts at "mediation" and they end up dragging themselves into it.
The Antiquities Restoration Society may be the faction led by Cardinal Matilda, after all, she is in charge of "guarding the tomb"; but it may also be led by the cardinals of the sixth and seventh circles.
This is the most conservative force within the Theocracy, and the faction most hostile to the Controlled Fire - they are also the ones who dislike the transformation of the Theocracy by the Short-lived, and reject the process of professionalization.
As for the market supervisors, Aiwass is now certain that this is the faction led by Cardinal Cyril.
——Because Aiwas now knows that he is the only cardinal in the Theocracy who understands the ritual.
These overseers specialize in cracking down on the population of various intelligent creatures, the trade in human tissue, and occasionally the trade in dangerous ritual materials. This isn't for "heavenly evil," but simply to reduce the profits from killing.
Generally speaking, ritualists can accomplish more with more powerful, intelligent, and long-lived biological materials. Therefore, failing to combat the trade in these materials would be tantamount to encouraging murder. If someone were killed, the body could be dismembered and sold to ritualists or necromancers at a high price, effectively increasing the killer's profits. However, since most people are unable to sell one-on-one, middlemen naturally emerge—and the profit margins are enormous.
There's even a high probability that a sinister black profit chain will form, with the downstream industry helping to eliminate other gray and black industries. The profits generated from this will then feed back into the upstream industry, gaining a stronger umbrella of protection and even secretly cultivating powerful ritualists, curse masters, and necromancers.
Cardinal Cyril himself was a great wizard, well-versed in rituals and curses. Therefore, he knew which materials were valuable—and simply by conducting in-depth investigations, he could prescribe the right remedy. This was equivalent to reducing the power of his own legacy, thereby reducing the profits of murderers and evil organizations worldwide... For him, this naturally amounted to a kind of devotion.
Without the efforts of the Overseers, the Noble Red, which had been adequately supplied with ritual materials, would have been far more difficult to deal with. However, generally speaking, Overseers were primarily active in the Parthian Empire and the Star Antimony Kingdom.
When Aiwas first heard that Master Maxim was quite hostile to Cardinal Loki, he thought he was a member of the Ancient Monuments Restoration Society.
Maxim nodded in response to Aiwas's question. "Yes, I was originally a member of the Antiquities Restoration Society. But I later realized that being conservative in itself is meaningless... Thanks to Cardinal Valrhona's teachings, I finally understood how to use my life in the most meaningful way."
"Can you tell me about it?"
Aiwass asked.
"The Homeland Faction is the church faction to which Cardinal Valrhona belongs... Cardinal Valrhona is the administrator of the Third Circle, and their highest principle is 'the longest and most sustained devotion is construction.'"
Maxim enthusiastically introduced to Aiwass - or preached: "Your 'Silver and Tin Temple' in Avalon was built by Cardinal Fafner. The same goes for other elf-style buildings... Even Avalon's orphanage, nursing home, and church school were built by us..."
(End of this chapter)
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