Shepherd’s Secret Continuation

Chapter 14: The awakened shadow demon

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In the game, when searching Veronica's body, you can get a letter from someone to the Noble Red Society.

This is a must-explode item for the early main quest. It is used directly to start the next stage of the main quest.

And this "someone" was the agent of "a certain minister" who was later involved in the incident.

Aiwass couldn't remember who this someone was, nor who the minister was... but it was enough to know a general range.

It’s just like during the final exam, the teacher has already defined the scope of the exam in advance.

Excluding those people that Aiwass had no impression of and those he knew for sure could not be the person, there were actually only three possible people left.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Attorney General, Trade Secretary.

The common point is that all three of them are middle-aged fat men who hold high positions, are over 50 years old, are usually kind and popular, and when they wear casual clothes, you can't see their shoes when you look down - this is Aiwass's impression of this "certain minister".

The classic three-choice option is yes.

One of the three was bribed by a spy sent by the Star Antimony Kingdom to regularly and secretly deliver some top-secret high-level intelligence to the Star Antimony Kingdom. The remaining two were innocent.

—The medium they use to transmit information is the "Noble Red Society".

The Star Antimony Kingdom, behind the Noble Red Society, intends to overthrow the Kingdom of Avalon - this is the main storyline until version 2.0.

This minister was the traitor in the connection between the Xingti Kingdom and Avalon.

A true traitor.

The letters he exchanged with me were of course top secret. Something this important would definitely not leave my body.

After all, there are many thieves in Avalon. If they steal something like this quietly and then get it made public, they will lose their lives.

If this letter fell into the hands of the Supervisory Bureau, it might not have any effect. If he had planted a nail in the Supervisory Bureau, he might have been cleared out directly.

But when Aiwass got it, things were different.

He could easily follow this letter and trace back to that "someone". Then he would know which of the three choices in this classic case was the traitor.

… My master

A low, roaring, hoarse voice, like a lion just waking up, sounded in Aiwas' ears.

That was the shadow demon under Aiwass.

A slender black snake made of pure shadow, as thick as a girl's arm, crawled along Aiwas's left leg, waist, chest, and all the way to his throat.

The shadow snake's eyes glowed scarlet and it hissed with a smoky black tongue.

Then the lion-like voice turned into a hoarse snake-like voice:

What are you doing in…

"As you can see, destroying evidence of my own crime."

Aiwass showed no fear at all, and did not even lower his head to look at the black snake wrapped around his neck.

He was just concentrating on retrieving evidence from Veronica, and casually replied: "And searching for evidence of other people's crimes."

When communicating with these demons, you must not appear tired or afraid.

Because the more you fear and dread it, the more the devil will look down on you.

The so-called "demon" is not an alien creature from the abyss in other fantasy settings, but a type of phantom demon.

The most accurate statement is that the phantoms from the path beyond are called demons. But after the name was generalized, the phantoms from other paths that do evil, the phantoms with dark attributes, and the phantoms that look like demons were all generalized as demons.

Phantoms are special beings that have no physical body, no life span, and will not die completely. They belong to only one path, have self-awareness, and have the potential to gradually become stronger. Most of them are born by drawing power from different paths, and a small number are transformed from living things.

Aiwas's sister Julia is in very poor health. Specifically, she is in a state of almost perpetual fever - this is because the seeds of the phantom demon are growing in her body. From this perspective, she can be regarded as a sacrifice for the birth of the phantom demon.

A demonologist who mistakenly advanced to the next level could also transform himself into a demon through a complex ritual. In other words, he would directly become a phantom demon.

These are the two main ways to transform into a phantom demon.

Because the orthodox demons all come from the Way of Transcendence, they all have the pure characteristics of "intending to surpass the strong and despising the weak." That is, they have the character of an extremely proud and ambitious person with strength and action.

The demons who signed the contract can gain experience in practicing the path of transcendence when their masters are walking on the path of transcendence. They cannot do this on their own.

Because native demons lack desires of their own—they lack goals to transcend.

As long as the future is promising and there are clear goals and strengths... that is, as long as the demon can prove his determination and ability to walk on the "path of transcendence", the demon will not betray his master for the time being.

If the demons recognize their temporary masters, they will not defect even if their masters are in desperate situations, and will even fight for them until the very end. Because demons will not dissipate with the death of their masters, they are not afraid of death. If their masters can survive the inevitable death, this strong destiny that transcends the difficulties will greatly satisfy the demons.

Therefore, if the devil feels that you are not pure enough, not capable enough, and have no hope for the future, and cannot provide him with enough food from your inferior behavior, he will plan how to leave you.

It doesn't sound like a big deal, but rather it's quite normal - if you feel your boss is not good enough, just change jobs and companies.

But after signing the contract, the demon scholar cannot leave his body unless he dies. So once the demon dislikes the master he signed the contract with, he will try to kill him. Demons cannot harm their masters, but there are still many ways to kill a person.

Many demonologists would only summon demons that were slightly stronger than themselves, because they were too afraid of demons and worried that they would not be able to satisfy the demons' appetites.

But Aiwass was not afraid at all.

Because in Aiwas's view, these demons are like ambitious workers.

It made him look very friendly.

Some capable and ambitious ones will go to big companies, that is, submit their resumes to high-level demonologists; but there are some demons who like to respond to low-level demonologists, and those are like employees who like to work in startup companies.

Some of them are not capable enough and are not wanted by big companies. These are the lower-level demons and small demons. Some want to start their own company but have no capital, so they invest their technology in start-up companies with the intention of seizing power and usurping the throne one day. These are the high-level demons who deliberately respond to the summons of low-level demon scholars and come because the other party cannot control themselves. Some others are simply deceived - they submitted their resumes to a big company, but ended up being assigned to a subsidiary company with more work and less pay.

It was like being summoned by a high-level demonologist, then controlled and handed over to a low-level demonologist for a contract. In the Xingtan Kingdom, where the path of transcendence was legal, their mentors caught demons for their students in this way.

Aiwass's Shadow Fiend is also of this type.

Of course, the situation of Shadow Fiend is a little more complicated—because Aiwass himself was the sacrifice that lured it here.

The salary card has become a spirit and has turned into a boss.

If only the Shadow Demon was stronger... When Aiwass feeds him some other demons as food, and lets him evolve again, he will be qualified to be sealed into a great beast. At that time, he will no longer be a demon, and will not be able to betray him.

But now, Aiwass still needs to show his abilities in a special way.

… There’s nothing we can do, this is a labor market.

He still has to perform at least a little.

After signing a lifetime contract, you won’t have to worry about the Shadow Fiend devouring your master.

Even though the Shadow Demon was sealed by Aiwass in a wheelchair, it had always stayed in Aiwass's shadow. It must have seen everything that happened before.

This was another purpose of Aiwas's trip—to stabilize the job seeker who had been deceived by showing his planning ability, conspiracy level, and lie level along the way. To give Shadow Fiend enough spiritual food to make it recognize him.

"Now, what do you think of me?"

Aiwass asked casually.

Hearing this, the black snake on his neck melted and dripped, turning into a pure black hound.

It rubbed Aiwas's calf affectionately, making a low sound.

Perfect, delicious, excellent...

Obviously, Shadow Fiend was very satisfied.

The black dog spoke word by word, in a rhythmic way: I am looking forward to your future... our future

"—In that case."

Aiwass threw away the letter that belonged to him: "Then destroy it and leave."

Hehehe…

The shadow demon laughed in a low, hoarse voice.

After several seconds, it responded:

Your will... Master

Looking forward to you waking me up next time...

I wish I could eat real flesh then.

The black dog jumped up and picked up the letter, then sank into the quagmire-like shadow when it landed and disappeared together with the letter.

The letter was melted into nothingness by it, just like a plastic bag roasted by fire, blackening, shrinking, wrinkling, shrinking, and disappearing without a trace.

There is no doubt that if it bites a living thing, it will be dragged directly into the shadows and melted.

This was definitely not something that Aiwass could do with only the first-level "shadow power". It was the result of Shadow Demon's own actions.

—This is exactly how the Shadow Fiend shows off its "hunting" ability to its master.