When the plot-skips players into the game world

The Moriarty Museum, less than a kilometer away from the Red Queen District Supervisory Bureau.

This was to ensure that the Supervisory Bureau could reach the museum in no time in the event of a robbery or theft. Such proximity also made it convenient for Aiwass to transport the Shadow Demon.

Sitting comfortably in his office chair, Aiwass drank tea and read the newspaper, serenely waiting for the good news to arrive.

It was not until Lily emerged silently from the shadows behind him that he softly asked, "Did you find it?"

"Found it this time."

Lily spoke in equally subdued tones, "It's definitely here."

She was somewhat surprised—Aiwass actually knew the secret of these underground chambers!

Aiwass knew why Lily was astonished and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Of course, he knew.

Aiwass not only knew the exact location of the Supervisory Bureau's underground chamber... but he also knew as many as four of them in one go.

The Shadow of Avalon version was the main storyline he worked on personally after skipping the early stages. That was when returning to Avalon meant running all over the map—places that were off-limits in Avalon in the early days had now become bases for various secret organizations, resistance groups, or simply dungeons.

Back then, the various main quests involved running back and forth in these restricted areas delivering messages for different organizations.

Of course, Aiwass knew the location of the mechanisms. Now that the Supervisory Bureau was still in operation, it was obviously not feasible to go in and press the mechanisms openly—but it would be no problem to enter from the ventilation ducts in reverse.

Lily could transform into a shadow, while the Shadow Demon could turn into liquid and flow at will. The Shadow Demon couldn't leave Aiwass's side before, but now with Lily acting as a "parent-child router," the signal could be extended far away.

So, following the positions of the ventilation ducts provided by Aiwass, they flowed in through the tightly closed doors of the prison cells.

Aiwass didn't know exactly where those two people would be held, but it was clear—it had to be one of the four underground chambers.

Anyway, there were only four, so even the method of exhaustion could figure them out.

When nothing was amiss in the underground chambers, this was their only option. The more important the criminal, the more necessary it was to follow the procedures strictly. Doing everything by the book meant there would be a scapegoat if something went wrong. It would simply mean the enemy was too powerful, not that they'd been negligent in their duties.

Glass Island was a prominent peninsula, surrounded by the sea on nearly three sides. If you exclude the surrounding autonomously governed cities of the metropolitan area, the core region only had four districts—from the inland area in the northwest to the southeastern coastal area, these were the largest metropolitan area, Red Queen District, White Queen District, and the second-largest Lohar District.

Two of the four underground chambers that held important criminals were in the Red Queen District, one in the White Queen District, and one in the metropolitan area. Considering the security level in Lohar District, such facilities weren't built there.

Bishop Mathers's home was in the Red Queen District, so Aiwass and Lily planned to start their search from nearby.

They didn't find it in the first one; neither Lohar nor Boka was there. Instead, there were a few people inside Lily didn't recognize, so she quietly left.

Their luck wasn't too bad; they found it in the second chamber.

To prevent abilities that could leave imprints behind, Aiwass specifically requested the Shadow Demon to completely envelop Lily.

The Shadow Demon got the point right away, even deliberately creating a different figure. It was a figure with a better shape than Lily, more defined abdominal and arm muscles—that was said to resemble Miss Assassin.

"Did you leave the ring behind?" Aiwass exhaled with relief and followed up.

"Yes, I dropped the ring there."

Lily nodded.

Carrying the Noble Red Ring always provoked trouble, but discarding it randomly could reveal even more issues. But now was an appropriately critical time—

President Lohar had been devoured by the Shadow Demon, leaving no trace of his existence. Without leaving something behind, people might assume he had escaped from prison.

But the Noble Red Society's ring blatantly left on the bed... that became a form of provocation. It could completely divert the attention of the Supervisory Bureau towards Noble Red.

"By the way, Young Master."

Lily said a bit nervously, "He left some last words before he died, and I let the Shadow Demon consume them."

Hearing this, Aiwass was slightly taken aback.

He inquired, "What was the content?"

"It seems he mistook the Shadow Demon's voice for mine," Lily said, "I couldn't see clearly, but the Shadow Demon mentioned... it wrote 'Aleister,' 'woman,' 'Noble Red.'

"Although the content is incorrect... I think if Aleister really is a woman who came from Noble Red, seeing this would make her very nervous to erase the evidence... Did I do the right thing, Young Master?"

Upon hearing her words, Aiwass sighed with relief.

He chuckled, "What you did was not right—but precisely because of that, what you did was very correct.

"High-ranking Legal Mages of the Path of Authority are capable of retracing the last actions of the deceased. Although you erased the blood writing, they could retrieve it from his retrospective image.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Obviously, with Aleister's identity, he is not supposed to know such knowledge. Therefore, his act of erasing it would seem natural."

This could be considered a fortunate blunder.

"It seems I can prepare for my return," Aiwass praised, "Thanks to you, Lily. You've completely distinguished me from Aleister."

And with that, it became possible to explain why Aiwass was unharmed—he already had legendary rumors of scandal associated with him, and now there was just one more to add to the collection.

Of course, this was an explanation for the public. People prefer interesting news to the truth. So Aiwass had specifically prepared something that suited their tastes, something they'd rather hear... at most, it would just damage his reputation.

But then again, having his reputation damaged wasn't anything new for him.

As for the official inquiry, Aiwass had another set of excuses ready—secrets related to the Transcendent that officials wouldn't disclose.

However, Lily was still somewhat worried, "With President Lohar being killed... won't the Supervisory Bureau step up their investigation? Shouldn't we hide a bit longer?"

"—No need."

Aiwass shook his head, "On the contrary, my return at this time is the most logical. Because only now, when the Shadow Demon definitely isn't watching over me, could I possibly have a chance to escape.

"If I waited a few more days, that would actually be more suspicious."

—Not to mention, the Supervisory Bureau actually doesn't care all that much whether President Lohar is alive or dead.

Aiwass thought to himself.

He knew Tommy Lohar certainly had dirt on plenty of people.

But the Giant had no idea that such information, if it had any usefulness at all, wouldn't be completely worthless.

If there were only a few or perhaps a dozen Knights with issues in Avalon, then his intelligence would have been valuable... but the reality was the opposite, only a dozen or so Knights were without issues.

So his intelligence was nothing more than a tool for political struggles.

Wanting leverage was easy, wasn't it?

The Supervisory Court was precisely for that purpose.

In fact, Lohar had never received a formal Knight education. Although he inherited the name Lohar, he knew nothing of the rules and secrets of Avalon's upper echelon—because Aiwass knew that this generation's Lohar was actually a "cheater."

He didn't have the right to be Lohar at all but had forcibly taken the name after killing the true heir, Rowetta.

The evidence was… Tommy had no talent for the core matters.

His death was irrelevant to the main story. It even took place beyond the players' view. It was Miss Grey Green, his assassin, who entered the core of the story.

As a Lohar, he hadn't even left behind an adopted son.

Because he disliked humans, he wanted to adopt a Half-blood Giant like himself as his son. But at the same time, he was worried that his adoptee might kill him just as he had killed his own father. To him, it seemed a plausible act for a Giant.

This meant that the Lohar lineage ended with him. Stay tuned for updates on empire

And Tommy's sister—Miss Rowetta, who he had once killed, also returned in the Shadow of Avalon version and became the main boss of the storyline. She had died full of resentment and was branded with the Mark of Sin by the Fallen Celestial Marshal, her remaining memories and soul manifesting as an Incubus.

Merlin, who had become a half-Incubus, had sealed the Holy Sword, and to unseal it required finding another Incubus. However, Incubus were quite rare... Aiwass could only recall Rowetta from his memory.

After defeating her, she had claimed that Bishop Mathers had sought her out not long before.

Sooner or later, Aiwass was bound to reforge the Holy Sword. Hidden within it was a Superior Phantom of the Light attribute.

When that time came, finding Rowetta would become a required part of the ritual. And killing Tommy was also one of the three conditions she set to assist the protagonists' team in the future. The reason Aiwass knew Tommy was long dead was because he couldn't find Tommy at all in this quest chain. Because Tommy had already been killed by Grey Green.

The Supervisory Bureau would keep Lohar in custody... to Aiwass, this seemed like a fishing expedition.

Just as Aiwass had previously said to Sherlock, sometimes a threat is stronger than capture—so long as they had no contact with Lohar, his existence would continue to exert pressure on them.

The value of Lohar as bait far exceeded the value of the information he carried inside him. Noble Red would definitely want to kill him, and some impatient Knights would want to silence him. That's why the Supervisory Bureau had kept him locked up in a highly secure chamber.

The only miscalculation of the Supervisory Bureau was that they hadn't anticipated someone was more familiar with the chamber than they were.

But on the other hand, precisely because of this... it made no difference whether Lohar was alive or dead. Because no one could confirm his death... and as long as the news that Aleister had killed him wasn't leaked, Tommy might as well be alive.

Therefore, the Supervisory Bureau certainly wouldn't launch a high-profile search for Aleister. Instead, they would have to keep completely secret the information that Aleister had killed Tommy. Most of the inspectors wouldn't even know that Tommy was dead—he was still 'generating intelligence,' how could he be dead?

They could only focus on Noble Red. They used the ring as proof that the Noble Red Society had attacked the Supervisory Bureau, attempting to rescue Tommy Lohar. And of course, the attempt had failed—because the other side had failed, they had obtained this ring that served as an identity marker, right?

From this perspective, the real accomplice Aiwass chose for Aleister was neither the Shadow Demon nor Lily.

It wasn't even Boka or Noble Red...

It was the Supervisory Bureau itself.

—Or rather, the Guardian of Avalon.