Chapter 585 Who dares to embezzle the gods’ funds?
Sherlock raised his cane and tapped the table where Aiwass and Yunus were drinking, causing the crystal glasses to vibrate, signaling them both to look at him.
"Think about it, Mr. Yunus—"
Sherlock repeated the question with a serious expression.
——An elf girl named Anastasia left a token of gratitude to Yunus for saving her life and invited him to visit her home.
——After her father got the token, he told Yunus directly that she had died long ago and had never been to Avalon.
"Normally, shouldn't he first ask you... what exactly happened? 'Why did you get it?', 'Is Anastasia still alive?'... He might even suspect her body was desecrated by a necromancer—although normally, tree-transformation would be incinerated without leaving a body. But didn't he consider the possibility that Anastasia could become a Candlestick Apostle or some other phantom demon, and be summoned into the material world?
“He said Anastasia completely transformed into a tree more than 20 years ago—but didn’t he go to Horus to build a house more than 20 years ago?
"If he was so grief-stricken that he had to devote himself to his work... then why was he so uninterested in the information you brought?"
Sherlock said meaningfully: "Under what circumstances can a father who loves his daughter be so indifferent to her intelligence?
"There's only one truth—he's actually been able to see Anastasia all along. And he knows her current situation... That's why he's been so welcoming to you, yet so indifferent to your doubts and my investigation. He knows you did save Anastasia, but he can't explain why he knows and understands this.
"He stayed in Horus for so long, and went to Iris a few years after returning. He just returned now. But he knows Anastasia's current situation? And he knows that she met you in Avalon?
"That means one thing—he sees Anastasia wherever he goes."
"—So the situation is clear. Anastasia didn't die of the tree disease at all, but was secretly sent to the fairy kingdom... There's a fairy forest nearby, and even a fairy cave. And Anastasia was given the surname "Moonlight" at a young age. But from your description, she was just a child—she had no chance of inheriting the full inheritance, so how could she have received a surname?
"That's simple. The Moonlight legacy can only come from Maxim or his wife's original surname. They later gave up their family heritage and inherited the legacy of others, so they changed their surnames.
"Their child, Anastasia, is not yet old enough to inherit the family name, so she can only use the original surname temporarily..."
——It’s like Inerith inherited the surname of “Flowers”.
When Aiwass said this, he added silently in his heart.
"And Maxim helped the Star People build a railway two hundred years ago. Back then, he was already a 'Rock Digger'.
"therefore……"
“—It’s me.”
A sweet voice like a young girl suddenly came from the corner of the wall: "My previous name... was Grace Moonlight."
The three of them turned their gaze away.
I saw Grace Leaf Butterfly standing there silently without knowing when.
She wore a short, light yellow dress and long white stockings, and a forsythia flower hairpin in her hair—the color was very similar to Nilim's dress. Judging from her appearance alone, she didn't look like a mother at all, but more like a young schoolgirl of seventeen or eighteen.
Meanwhile, Nilim was quietly resting on her raised finger, resting there as quietly as a moth, sound asleep.
It was like a butterfly turning into a dead leaf. At first glance, she was completely invisible.
It was obvious that she had been standing here for a long time. At least since before Sherlock entered the room, she had been staying here quietly... Nilim's sudden disappearance must have been caused by her capture.
"I guessed it."
Aiwass nodded slightly. "I had a rough idea of what was going on when that underage goblin appeared. When I touched the headband and confirmed that it was a normal item and not an extraordinary one, I roughly understood it.
"The Dead Leaf Butterfly inherits the three paths of Adaptation, Beauty, and Dusk, and also requires a considerable level of dance skills. This means that your level of the Path of Beauty must be very high... and the main path of the 'Moonlight' inheritance should be the Path of Beauty."
"...As a human being, you actually know this?"
Grace looked at Aiwass in surprise.
Aiwass nodded and said modestly: "It's just that I read a lot of books..."
——In a sense, what he said was very refreshing.
Because this time he really saw it in a book, it was no longer "mysterious information" whose source could not be revealed.
"You guessed correctly... Archbishop Aiwass. Moonlight is a tradition concerning fairies and illusions, a realm of beauty and adaptation, and a close relationship with the Fairy Queen. I only mastered the legacy of the Dead Leaf Butterfly in the past few years."
Madam Grace sighed softly and bowed slightly to the others: "But please let us go..."
“…Let him go?”
Yunus murmured.
"Perhaps it's because 'Trandization' is considered a sacred act in the Church."
Sherlock reminded from the side: "After all, it is close to our ancestors."
"Not entirely."
Aiwass shook his head.
At least judging by the attitudes of this generation's Eternal Saint, she personally clearly didn't think the Eternal Pope's transformation into a tree was a good thing. The same was true for the other cardinals... almost no one truly considered it an honor.
But in a sense, it is obviously not okay to publicly say that tree disease is bad.
This is a kind of "political correctness" in the Church: the giant tree used its own flesh and blood to create the elves, and dedicated its body to them, becoming the kingdom of giant trees that carries the elves. The life form approaches the giant tree, repeats the miracle of the giant tree, enters the dream world, and comes to the giant tree and Sizhu. What's wrong or bad about that?
"...But both I and Maxim have a more pragmatic attitude."
Grace whispered, "We don't want...Anastasia to be summoned to the dream world by Shuen before she even has a childhood.
"I want... at least to let her have fun happily and healthily for decades. And Maxim simply doesn't want his daughter to die.
"More than twenty years ago, one of our human friends reminded me of this, and that's how I came up with this method - sending Anastasia to the fairy kingdom. When we want to see her, we summon the fairies and use real illusions to manifest her. As long as we don't return to the material world in our physical form, her tree-like disease won't deteriorate to its final stage. She can still play happily...
"...In the Theocracy, we claim that Anastasia has been transformed into a tree, and we have incinerated her tree-like body and all her belongings."
——However, whether it was falsely claiming the tree-transformation had died, or forcibly stopping the tree-transformation through extraordinary means... these were definitely taboos that were forbidden in the Theocracy. Especially the latter... it would be like having the fairies of the Path of Beauty poach people from the Path of Devotion, and the Fairy Queen was only at the level of a Celestial Master.
The giant tree is the apostle of the candlestick, and can also be considered a descendant of the gods. And those summoned by the tree disease will directly become "apostles of the apostles", which is the same level as Sister Sasha.
If the nature of this matter were replaced by other paths, it would be equivalent to the Fallen Angel using the Sin Brand to turn Sister Sasha, who had not yet entered the dream world, into a succubus.
Aiwass and the other two were silent.
Grace said sincerely, "The Anastasia Mr. Yunus saw wasn't a real illusion. That was the real Anastasia—for some unknown reason, she suddenly fell out. It seems she passed by a fairy cave and was sucked out. Thanks to Mr. Yunus who rescued her from the bandits, the fairies were able to find her again. Otherwise...
"—We don't intend to keep Anastasia here forever! We just want her to live happily for a few more decades—our elves' work efficiency is usually quite low. Once she's had enough fun, she can return and transform back into a tree, and then ascend to the Dream World..."
Aiwass understood.
Grace and the others just wanted to create a time difference.
They took a huge risk—perhaps even the risk of having their souls punished by the candlelight—in order to keep Anastasia for a few more decades.
That's not very long.
In the elves' sense of time, it is equivalent to just a few years in human terms.
And all this time was just to allow Anastasia to have a happy childhood.
Fifty years from now, Anastasia will return and transform into a tree... then the Theocracy's "accounts" will be reconciled.
This can also be considered a form of embezzlement of public funds - except that the embezzlement is from the apostles of God.
Dare to instigate Grace and his wife to do such a thing...
Who is this person?
What is his purpose?
...Wait, instigation?
"Oh right, that human friend..."
Aiwass suddenly had some intuition and asked anxiously, "What's your name?"
"…I actually never knew his full name. He called himself 'Spider'."
Grace shook her head. "And the Fairy Queen calls him 'James.'"
Caught up! 6,000 words! Please give me a monthly pass!
I feel unwell again... I'll take a day off tomorrow to have a rest. There are only three days left in this month. I have updated 160,000 words so far and have only taken two days off. I still have one leave note. I'll use it up before the end of the month!
There are only two days left, so perfect attendance should be no problem!
I'd like to offer you another new book, "Is This Considered a Full Count of Evil?", which was also published by a friend.
(End of this chapter)
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