Shepherd’s Secret Continuation

Chapter 51: Lily

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After Aiwas woke up, the first thing he did was to clean up his ceremony venue.

The white crystal pendant that had been smoked was no longer pure. Aiwass ground it into powder and put it aside for later use.

After receiving the breath of the dream world, the spirituality inside it was too mixed, so that the concept of "white crystal" was lost. In all the alchemy or rituals that require "white crystal", it will only lead to failure.

But it is not pure garbage. The scientific name of this thing is "Secondary Dream Crystal". In alchemy and ritual, it has a weak concept of confusing dreams and reality.

If you inject two opposite magic powers into one part of crystal dust, and then mix it with the extract from the entire brain of an adult cuttlefish, and finally put it into a bottle of white wine and distill it until only half is left, you will get three parts of forgetfulness water. Drinking one part will make you forget your most worrying things like a dream.

—In the main storyline of the game, after Yulia's death, Aiwass fell into grief and became obviously depressed and haggard. At that time, under the guidance of Aiwass's adoptive father, Professor James Moriarty, the player used the white crystal pendant that Aiwass gave to the player character as a souvenir after his advancement as a material to make this potion and let Aiwass take it.

After drinking the potion, Aiwass fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up, he felt much better.

It was as if that incident happened not a few days ago, but several years ago.

That was also the first time James Moriarty participated in the main storyline of the game.

… Now that Aiwas has to prepare this potion himself, there is always a subtle feeling.

However, now that Aiwass thought about it, it was probably from this mission that it was hinted that Old James had a fairly good knowledge of alchemy. Because the Water of Forgetfulness was not a common potion. At least as far as Aiwass could remember, it never appeared in the main missions after that.

Only after cleaning up all the traces of the ritual left in his bedroom did Aiwas leave his room.

He told the housekeeper that his room could be cleaned now. Mrs. Rowe agreed and called Aiwas's personal maid.

Generally speaking, servants don't need to follow their masters around like a tail. They usually work at different times from their masters. Moriarty Manor is in the White Queen District after all, so it can't be too big. But the main building alone has more than 20 rooms... This requires servants to clean in real time.

Usually, for external affairs, they would contact Butler Oswald, and for internal affairs, they would contact the housekeeper, Mrs. Rowe. They were the easiest to find.

The former is the guardian of the Moriarty family, while the latter is merely a hired human housekeeper.

In other knight families, the master does not need to give special instructions - as long as they leave their place, the housekeeper will immediately order someone to clean the place where they have been.

But Moriarty Manor is an exception.

Because among the four owners here, Aiwass rarely went out after graduating from high school. Yulia was not allowed to go out or approach an open window. Edward basically only came back one or two days a month... Only James would go out and come home frequently.

Not to mention the arrangements for banquets and travel, there wasn't even much garbage. The servants, apart from routine cleaning of the rooms, would gather together to chat where their masters couldn't see.

The servants also knew that the Moriarty family was a supernatural family, and they were all studying occult knowledge. The various books that were spread out might contain dangerous knowledge that would cause ordinary people to become demented or die after just one glance; and the various things placed on the table on the ground might also be part of a ritual or barrier.

Therefore, they would not go to the bedroom to clean up the garbage until the housekeeper said "it's OK to clean up". Even if they went to clean up, they would just restore the original arrangement of various objects and try not to move them.

"Good morning, Master Aiwass."

The maid with long flaxen curly hair who was taking care of the oil painting came over and greeted softly.

"Good morning, Lily."

Aiwass also greeted his personal maid in a friendly manner: "I have good news for you... You can go to school too."

Hearing this, Lily's eyes suddenly widened.

“…Can I go to school, too?”

She was the personal maid who had taken care of Aiwass when he first came to the Moriarty family.

Aiwass was six years old at the time, and Lily was only fourteen. They had already become familiar with each other.

Lily was usually responsible for cleaning Aiwass's bedroom, cleaning and changing his underwear, and accompanying him when he went out.

Taking safety, decency and appearance into consideration, these personal servants and maids were usually not of commoner origin in the true sense of the word, but children of relatives or illegitimate children of other families.

For example, Lily is the child of an old knight and a prostitute.

Her original surname was Droste, but she lost it when she became a maid for the Moriarty family.

The Droste family did not want a prostitute's child to have the opportunity to inherit the estate, and they also felt that if she went to school with the Droste surname, it would damage the reputation of the Droste family. But if she was left outside to live on her own, it would also be a shame.

Finally, the old knight asked old James to hire Lily as his personal maid.

This is called hiring a maid, but it can actually be said to be a kind of foster child. Professor Moriarty was also very good to her - although the work of a maid prevented her from continuing to go to school, the junior high school level of education was enough for her to master the basics. The family also provided her with various books so that she could study what she was interested in after work.

"Of course, even though you're just accompanying me, you have to sit in as well."

Aiwass smiled gently and patted the wheelchair under him: "I can't let Mr. Oswald go to school with me, right? I will be laughed at by my classmates. I need someone to push the wheelchair."

"Then...what about Mr. Wade? He can still protect you."

Wade is the name of James' personal valet.

Aiwass shook his head: "I'm not qualified yet."

According to Avalon etiquette, only people of high enough status can have a valet, just as only knight families can hire valet. Merchants, nouveau riche, and senior civil servants who have not yet been awarded armor can only hire maids. Not only because many physical jobs need to be done by valet, but also the valet also has the identity of guard and bodyguard, responsible for protecting the safety of the mansion together with the butler.

The Moriarty family has two valet servants, one for old James and the other for the eldest brother Edward. Edward's valet was placed in another house in the Red Queen District - in order to facilitate work and travel, he bought an apartment near the Inspectorate. He would only bring his valet home when he went home.

When he went to see Bishop Mathers before, he was taken there personally by Butler Oswald, because Bishop Mathers had a high enough status.

But it was impossible for Butler Oswald to take care of him every day.

Until Aiwass can obtain the third level of shadow affinity and fully control the Shadow Fiend, or until his dark mana pool reaches 50 points and he can create a blank card to seal the Shadow Fiend, he will obviously be inseparable from the wheelchair.

It's OK at home. Or in a place where no one is around.

But even if the Shadow Fiend remained quiet and did not cause any trouble, as long as Aiwass stood on his own shadow, he would have conceptually completed the "link" with his own Shadow Fiend. Then his shadow would directly boil—becoming thick and solid, and constantly wriggling and smoking.

This was obviously going to cause an accident. Although it was possible to push the wheelchair by myself, it was too tiring.

“… Can I really?”

Lily was a little nervous and reached out to grasp the hem of her clothes: "My father... that man said that he doesn't want me to go to school. And... and even if I push your wheelchair, your classmates will still talk about you."

She obviously wanted to go, but was afraid of getting in trouble, and it was more like she was trying to convince herself why she couldn't go than to convince Aiwass.

"How could that be?" Aiwass said with a smile. "They are so envious. After all, I have such a beautiful girl to accompany me to class."

Of course, the real reason was... He knew that Lily wanted to go to school very much and was thirsty for knowledge.

Although he was not qualified to have a male servant in theory, his situation was special after all, so the school should be able to grant him special permission.

But Wade wasn't interested in this, so he decided to give the opportunity to Lily. After all, she was the older sister who had been taking care of him since he was a child...

In the original world line, Lily would die in a side quest three or four months later. Her death was insignificant and unimportant.

It would be better to let her go to school with me.

These characters that do not appear in the "plot" also have "unknown" possibilities in a sense.

“… No way. You’re praising me too much.”

Hearing this, Lily blushed.

Although she had some girlish confidence in her appearance, she actually knew that Aiwass was joking and comforting herself.

The serious-looking housekeeper at the side couldn't help but smile.

She obviously had a good impression of this polite and somewhat introverted young maid. She gently patted Lily's shoulder and reminded her, "Hurry up and thank Master Aiwass."

"Thank you, thank you..."

Lily finally reacted and bowed deeply.

She couldn't control her tears and her vision was blurry.

Because she realized that Aiwass was not just saying it casually or jokingly - he was serious.

This made her feel happy.

Even the slightly blurry world in front of me seemed to be shining brightly at dawn.