Kingdom of Avalon, Glass Island, Supervisory Bureau of White Queen District.
The Supervisory Bureau was still exceptionally busy this morning.
Men and women in light or leather armor, looking heroic and spirited, hurried past. On the wall of Director Kent's office still hung the majestic, silver-white dragon head — the Silver Crown Dragon watched over them at all times.
Director Kent, now over forty but still robust, sat in his leather chair.
His back was straight, his rounded shoulders and upper arms filling out his loose clothing. His bronze skin and the lines on his face gave him the impression of a fierce, tough man. A deep scar ran from above his left eye to his lip, and he wore a black eye patch, looking like a one-eyed pirate.
As a matter of ritual and etiquette, even though Director Kent had not participated in front-line combat for over a decade, he still had to wear armor to work, maintain a standard posture, and his demeanor could not waver in the slightest. His upper arms, abdomen, and calves—areas not heavily burdened—were covered in metallic, silver-white armor. Other areas were adorned with gleaming plates.
If he were not an Otherworlder of no low Level himself, he would probably be exhausted just sitting there all 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 Supervisory Bureau, responsible for "supervising and protecting the populace"; the Inspectorate, responsible for "inspecting Knights and officials"; and the Arbitration Hall, responsible for "adjudicating right and wrong." At their inception, these three legal institutions held equal status. Important responsibilities were held by Round Table Knight who could enter the Senate.
The national emblem of the Kingdom of Avalon was a green eye, nested within a silver-white triangle symbolizing Authority.
The eye represented the Royal Family, symbolizing their Old Queen Sophia I, who was nearly eighty yet still healthy.
And the silver triangle protecting the Royal Family referred to the Supervisory Bureau, the Inspectorate, and the Arbitration Hall.
However, as the times developed, the Supervisory Bureau became responsible for an increasing number of affairs. Taxation, security, sanitation, fire safety, public order, censorship, imprisonment... Consequently, numerous sub-departments gradually emerged within the Supervisory Bureau, requiring the establishment of branch offices in various locations and the recruitment of a large number of trainee Inspectors, Inspectors, and Chief Inspectors to handle local affairs, thus diluting its Authority.
The Inspectorate and the Arbitration Hall, on the other hand, did not expand in scale because they dealt with more difficult and specific matters. The former became an organization akin to a secret service—responsible for scrutinizing the loyalty of officials, the moral integrity of the hereditary Founding families, and whether grassroots Inspectors had violated discipline and regulations, as well as monitoring foreign spies or independently gathering intelligence abroad; the latter became the current court of law.
The commonality was that they were now both a Level higher than the Supervisory Bureau.
As a result, any talent within the Supervisory Bureau who reached the Fourth Level had to be transferred to the Inspectorate and the Arbitration Hall. The excuse was, "You don't need such talent anyway." Even Director Kent of the White Queen District, a core area adjacent to the Glass Steps, was only at the Third Level.
The young girl named Haina, recently transferred here, was only in her early twenties, yet her strength was already comparable to Director Kent, who was now nearing fifty.
Kent knew without a doubt that the Inspectorate would come to request her transfer.
This was an era that produced geniuses. Whether it was Haina or Sherlock... these new generation of geniuses were far stronger than old-timers like him, who grew up in times of peace.
This isn't a good omen, Kent thought. This might be a sign of impending chaos...
He picked up the telephone on his desk and dialed the rotary. 0—1—2, the call connected.
"Send Haina to my office," Director Kent instructed. "Also, find someone to call our Consultant as well."
Hanging up the phone, he tossed the Glass Steps Gazette onto the desk and rose to walk to the bookshelf.
The front-page headline of the newspaper featured a photo of Haina and the young master of the Moriarty Family.
The handsome young man with a gentle smile was sitting calmly in an elven-art-style wheelchair, a blanket covering his knees, his hands clasped in front of his abdomen, speaking with a gentle and natural demeanor. Haina, standing behind him, stood ramrod straight, her hand on the hilt of her sword, all her muscles tensed.
It was as if he had noticed the photographer, or perhaps was greeting someone familiar near the photographer.
Mid-sentence, the young man's gaze suddenly shifted from the reporter to the direction of the camera.
He revealed a warm smile, bright as the sun, and slightly raised his hand to wave. Yet, it gave the impression that he was smiling and waving at the readers looking at the newspaper.
The next moment, the scene jumped back to the beginning. Aiwass continued to sit in his wheelchair, speaking earnestly to the reporter.
—This was the "Magic Painting" ability from the Path of Beauty.
The Path of Beauty was, by rights, a Path forbidden by law in Avalon, but Master Agnes was an exception. The "Glass Daily News Agency," founded by this world-renowned elven painter, was Avalon's largest and only official newspaper agency.
The Glass Daily News Agency was responsible for compiling the most important intelligence of the Kingdom of Avalon daily, summarizing it for the Royal Family and the ministers of the Round Table Hall. All three major legal institutions also provided free copies of the Glass Steps Gazette to their employees.
Perhaps out of imitation, or to keep up with upper-level policies, or simply to express their concern for the kingdom's politics, some wealthy individuals who neither participated in politics nor held diligent positions would also join in the excitement and buy the Glass Steps Gazette. Subsequently, some university students would also purchase it to serve as conversation starters among young students.
Although each issue contained a "Magic Painting" with a cumulative duration of fifteen seconds, and the material cost alone for each newspaper was as high as one red coin, its price was not particularly high. This was because Master Agnes did not need to profit from it. The retail price of the Glass Steps Gazette was only two red coins and five copper coins per issue—the five copper coins were left as profit for distributors, and sometimes there were even discounts. Anyone of a slightly decent standing could afford it.
This kind of newspaper that could display animation was a novel experience. Although it had no sound and was in black and white, at least the images moved—this was basically the most affordable way for ordinary people to truly experience the power of Transcendents.
And in this issue of the Glass Steps Gazette, Aiwass Moriarty alone on the masthead took up a full twelve seconds, leaving only three seconds for a bicycle accident.
Director Kent highly suspected that it was because Aiwass was so handsome and his smile so charming that Master Agnes dedicated a full twelve seconds to him.
"Smiling so beautifully... you can tell he's no good." Director Kent, with his beast-like intuition, pursed his lips and muttered, "I wonder whose daughter he's planning to corrupt..."
...However, he saw it clearly.
Being able to solve such a major case independently at this age, he would surely become a much higher-ranking figure than himself in the future.
This time, they had unexpectedly stumbled upon a great merit, and they must give sufficient rewards—originally, such a big task should have gone to the Inspectorate, and it would never have been their turn.
Moreover, this was also an opportunity to connect with Professor Moriarty.
Therefore, the chosen reward must be good enough, otherwise, to the Moriarty Family, it would be trash. Giving them something they didn't value would instead be an embarrassment to the Supervisory Bureau... It's really troublesome.
"A Shepherd of the Path of Dedication... a student of the Seminary...?" Director Kent murmured, rummaging through the bookshelf.
Suddenly, his movements stopped. He looked towards a corner.
There lay a book with a dark cover, no title on its spine.
The Director picked it up with one hand, and lightly flicked the cover with the other. Sparks burst from the pages, like a hammer striking an anvil.
"This one might work."
He murmured, reading the title: "shepherds apocryphon... Judging by the name, it should be related to'Shepherd,' right?"
This entire bookshelf was filled with good items confiscated by his subordinates during the sealing of forbidden books.
The Kingdom of Avalon strictly prohibited accepting bribes in any form, as it was an act that could shake Authority. But conversely, appropriate profiteering within the scope of one's duties was tacitly allowed. This was also to prevent officials and ministers from being bribed by foreign spies—especially those from the Stibium Kingdom—when they were short of money, or from selling important intelligence and internal resources to the private sector. This would also shake Authority.
One of the tacitly allowed methods of profiteering included selling confiscated forbidden books to the Founding families—from this perspective, this bookshelf could also be considered Director Kent's personal property.
Kent was not a pioneer of the Path of Dedication; he certainly couldn't open this book.
But from the name and the sparks it emitted, it looked like a mysterious classic belonging to the Path of Dedication.
After Transcendents died, their souls would fall into the "Nine-Forked River" of the Dream Realm, flowing into the Path they had traveled furthest. The power within became the "Path Trait" obtained by subsequent travelers in their advancement rituals, while their memories and knowledge scattered everywhere, haphazardly falling into the flowers, fruits, sea of clouds, and tides of the Dream Realm, becoming part of the material that constructed the Dream Realm.
Those Dream Wanderers of the Wisdom Path could capture and collect these fragmented, headless and tailless secret knowledge from the Dream Realm.
They would collect them and compile them into books. Such mysterious classics containing magical knowledge were called "Original Texts."
The text of the "Original Texts" was written in Gupta script. It was a long-extinct script that ordinary people could not understand. This often required a translator from the local Wisdom Path to use mysterious techniques to forcibly translate it before it could be understood.
According to the customary agreement in the translation world, such Original Texts recording Dream Realm knowledge in Gupta script were uniformly translated as "[X] Apocryphon." The prefix depended mainly on the translator's understanding of the Original Text's content.
In an Apocryphon, one could usually obtain a complete mysterious technique—although it might have been reproduced by people in later generations, there was also a considerable chance that it would be a lost technique.
While it might not necessarily be useful, it was, after all, lost.
In other words, it was something that could not be obtained through normal means... "Then, as a prize and a 'gift,' it's prestigious enough."
Director Kent muttered to himself.