Glass Island, Lloyd's Quarter.
Sherlock looked around carefully and followed the path in his memory to find the stinking ditch and the garbage mountain.
Perhaps due to the worsening problem of factory sewage discharge, compared with the abandoned chemical plant in the dream, the domestic garbage here has become much more and the water has become more smelly. It has even almost sealed the road and exudes an unpleasant stench. When Sherlock approached the garbage to observe, the disturbed cockroaches crawled out from under the garbage mountain.
Edward, who was following behind him, straightened his back and frowned.
He looked deeply at the garbage mountain with an unpleasant expression, and it was obvious that he didn't want to come over.
"…How did you find this place, Hermes?"
Edward said as he stood there.
"First-hand information obtained during the advancement ceremony, my partner."
Sherlock did not hide anything from his best friend: "Go over that hill from here and you will see an abandoned chemical plant. The Sweater Brotherhood's hidden base is there."
"Then you get out of the way first."
Edward said.
Sherlock obediently retreated behind his best friend and saw that this classmate, who gave people a deep and dark impression, pulled out one of the elven daggers from his waist and pointed it forward.
White glowing runes lit up from his right wrist, quickly crawled towards his fingertips, and all the way to the spine of the dagger.
"—the law gives me the necessary rights of passage."
As he gave the order, pure white light surged and the storm howled.
An irresistible invisible force, accompanied by light, extended from the tip of the sword, pushing the entire mountain of garbage to both sides.
A wide space was left in the middle for ten people to walk side by side, and the ground was covered with a layer of foggy and glowing road.
As the glowing road appeared, three green lights and one black faint light appeared in the surrounding garbage mountains.
"It seems your information is correct, Hermes."
Edward sheathed the dagger and said calmly, "There are traps buried in this garbage mountain. Three are the path of adaptation and one is the path of love. But the energy levels are not high."
"Yeah, I guessed it."
Sherlock was not surprised by this. He just walked forward and observed: "I just noticed that the shape of this garbage pile is not natural. It doesn't look like it was thrown away by someone, nor does it look like it was blown by the wind. There is no garbage where it should be, but an obvious path with the least garbage is deliberately left. The truly safe way is probably to avoid that path and go directly over the garbage mountain."
"It shouldn't be a lethal trap."
Edward followed Sherlock and analyzed, "If there is blood or a body in the garbage dump, it will be easier to expose their whereabouts."
"It seems that the Sweater Brotherhood is really here," Sherlock frowned slightly, thinking, "But this is a bit surprising. I thought they would be demonologists."
"Why do you say that?" Edward asked.
"Because someone told me that the Sweater Brotherhood is connected to the people behind the Pelican Bar."
Sherlock analyzed: "The people behind the Pelican Bar should be the Noble Red Society. You know, they are a group of demonologists who kill, sacrifice, rob and steal. But they have a legacy after all - I mean, the legacy of Xingti.
"If they're helping the Sweater Brotherhood, then this trap at the door seems a little simple."
Edward was silent for a moment after hearing Sherlock's words.
Of course he knew that it would be irrelevant because they were not qualified.
The Sweater Brotherhood is just a group of petty thieves. Although there are extraordinary people among them, they may be a little difficult for ordinary people to deal with... But the "Noble Red" Society should look down on them.
However, it doesn't matter if Sherlock wants to think so.
This is better, Edward thought.
He knew that his lazy and rebellious old friend had a strong adaptability to the path of wisdom and was extremely sensitive to the truth. He followed because he was afraid that Sherlock would really find out something by himself.
Although his father did not say it explicitly, Edward had roughly guessed the conspiracy behind the Pelican Bar.
That group of people came from the Noble Red Society.
On the surface, this is an organization of demonologists composed mostly of Avalonians, with some mentors from Star Antimony mixed in.
But Edward knew better.
They are not a purely illegal organization of supernatural beings, but a group of rebels funded by the Star Antimony Kingdom who intend to subvert the rule of the Knights of Avalon.
The reason is simple: their leader is a giant.
Their giant bloodline comes from the giant dynasty Kingdom of Alctor, which was overthrown by Avalon's founding monarch Lancelot I with the support of the elves four hundred years ago.
At that time, in this small island nation, the powerful and brave Giant King ruled and protected the dwarf humans. They were so powerful that they could maintain peace and independence under the influence of the Empire.
Although there was no evidence to prove that the leader had royal blood from Alqutos, he was undoubtedly a very rare giant on the continent today. In Alqutos, giants were basically nobles - so even if he was not a royal family, he was at least a noble from the previous dynasty.
There are many mixed-blood giants among the other high-ranking members of the Noble Red Society. Although they are not as tall and strong as their leader, they are still better than ordinary people. The "Noble Red" in the name of the society implies their noble bloodline.
Avalon now has no nobles, but is ruled by knights. Although the royal family can grant armor to knights, they basically do not have much real power. They can only indirectly influence the Round Table by developing new knights loyal to the royal family... However, the royal family's actual influence on the new knight class is much inferior to that of merchants. The new generation of knight families, who only have power that needs to be controlled by others but no foundation and no money, are easily influenced by their sponsors.
Edward's adoptive father, Professor Moriarty, is in this business.
Among the older generation of knight families, some were prosperous and some were declining. Some of the latter were willing to accept sponsorship, but some were unwilling.
Some people claim to be noble and are fundamentally different from the new knights who come from the common people; some people are tired of the endless wrangling in the Round Table Hall and the invisible hands that control everything from outside the Round Table Hall; some people are greedy enough and hope to turn the tables and get rid of the financial control of these businessmen and directly seize their money.
Although these people have different positions, they have common demands.
—That is to restore aristocratic rule.
Therefore, in addition to the Star Antimony people, there are also some ministers on Glass Island who secretly support the Noble Red Society.
Edward had no feelings for Avalon. He didn't care about Avalon, nor did he care about Alctorus.
He was an orphan wandering the streets, then became a "Moriarty". Later, he graduated with honors and joined the Inspectorate directly, responsible for monitoring suspected knights, investigating officials suspected of being corrupt, and screening spies from other countries.
In the process, he saw too much ugliness that was completely different from what he had imagined in his youth. The law was not maintained by justice and morality, but by the authority of the Round Table Hall—not even the authority of the Temple of Silver and Tin.
Compared with the knights, repaying Moriarty's kindness in raising him is obviously more important.
Edward had previously asked his adoptive father which side they should be on.
But the answer given by old James was: "Stay on my side, Edward."
Edward is now very glad that the Sweater Brotherhood has nothing to do with the people behind the Pelican Bar. Otherwise, he doesn't know how he should stop Sherlock's persistent investigation.
His old friend was too clever and too sensitive.
Any hesitation or avoidance on my part regarding the truth would probably be noticed by him.
Edward had few friends—very few.
He didn't want to lose an important friend again one day.
—Fortunately, this was a wrong line of inquiry.
"I don't know who provided this information... but thank you. Just continue your investigation in this direction, Sherlock."
Edward thought.
Give this bored detective something to do. It will also prevent him from going back to investigating the Pelican Bar."
When he thought of this, he suddenly had an idea.
He has another case on hand - considering the safety of civilians and his family, this matter must be dealt with as soon as possible. After all, they are not on the side of the Noble Red Society, but want to maintain a balance.
So Edward said, "Maybe it's not completely unrelated.
"I remembered another thing. Recently, the Inspectorate is investigating a case codenamed 'Red Stone'.
"A batch of high-powered, small-sized portable alchemical bombs were smuggled from the Pelican Bar to Avalon. The Inspectorate suspects that the buyers may be high-ranking officials in the kingdom. But no matter how portable they are, they cannot be kept at home. One reason is that it is unsafe, and the other is that they can be easily detected.
"If they haven't been moved yet, they should be in Lloyd's Quarter. You said the Sweater Brotherhood's base is an abandoned chemical plant, so it makes sense that they are stored here..."
When Edward said this, he suddenly realized something.
He heard someone's heartbeat.
Sherlock was a second late, and as if he had noticed something, he immediately raised his head.
A blue-white light flowed in his pupils, and Sherlock issued an order without hesitation: "Stay still!"
A brilliant light like that of a rising star burst out from him and spread out in all directions.
In the corner behind him, an assassin who was crouching there was suddenly shaken out of his invisible state, and his entire body was covered in white light, like a stone statue.
After half a second, he broke free.
Realizing that the binding force was not strong, the assassin's eyes suddenly turned fierce. He shook the dagger in his hand and held it in a straight grip.
He crouched slightly and slipped back into the shadows. He wanted to rush forward and kill Sherlock first, then escape.
However, the assassin's heart suddenly trembled, and a strong sense of crisis struck him -
"-arrest."
Edward issued the order coldly.
Two pure white triangles condensed out of thin air at the wrists of the assassin who was sneaking again, and then a huge magnetic force attracted and handcuffed his hands together. The assassin who had just rushed forward was unbalanced by the force, staggered and almost fell, but the poisoned dagger could not be used because his wrists were tightened, and fell to the ground with a clang.
Then, the two triangles that overlapped to form a hexagram flew directly upwards, remaining level with the ground... and directly hung the assassin in the air.
What a lucky guy. I got it right.
Thinking of this, Edward showed a rare smile.
He slowly walked up to the restrained, panic-stricken young assassin.
"The fish is caught, Hermes."
Edward said slowly, "I'm going to do it... Remember to plug your ears."
"No need. I'm not some innocent little girl. Besides, these hangmen will be sent to the gallows square sooner or later."
Sherlock crossed his arms and said calmly, "I asked you to bring a handkerchief, which means I had thought of this before. After all, it's not easy for me to do it... But you are the Inspectorate and have the power of temporary execution.
"I'm more curious. Your subordinates - I remember there was a little girl who admired you very much? Has she seen you search the memories of criminals?"
"What do you think the Inspectorate does, Hermes? We do much dirtier things than this."
Edward scoffed.
"Then I was really lucky that I didn't follow you into the Inspectorate."
Sherlock said lazily, "I just think that since you are the leader of the Inspectorate, you don't need to go on missions."
"I also started out as a frontline worker, Mr. Hermes. And I'm not a big boss. I can't say much about other things because they are still confidential. In three years, I will be able to tell you what my first mission was."
As he spoke, he slowly pulled out his white handkerchief from his chest pocket and slowly approached.
The shadow cast by his tall figure and his slow but steady movements were terrifying.
"No, don't... I'll tell you, I'll tell you... Spare my life..."
This strangler who is used to the road has a surprisingly young voice.
"I won't let you off, little thief. You'll die sooner or later."
Edward said coldly: "How many people have you killed? Five? Six
"You thought no one could detect you, you thought you were smart enough to bury the evidence..."
He slowly unfolded the white handkerchief soaked in anesthetic potion and pressed it hard against the assassin's face.
Let him make whimpering sounds while struggling.
The next moment, Edward's pupils glowed with brilliant white light. Five runes extended from the fingers holding the assassin's cheek, moving quickly on the assassin's head, making his greasy black curly hair shine.
"—The law gives me the necessary power to search."
Edward declared solemnly.
Along with the screams that sounded muffled by the handkerchief, several streams of grayish-white smoke floated out from the assassin's facial features and were slowly inhaled by Edward.
Finally, he loosened his grip and released the restraints of the Law: Arrest.
The assassin's body fell to the ground helplessly. Blood slowly seeped out from the handkerchief stuck to his face. The white runes on his throat, behind his ears, and on the top of his head that the handkerchief could not cover also gradually extinguished.
Edward did not pick up his white handkerchief.
Anyway, his soul-searching spell can only be used once a day, and a face covered with a handkerchief can also mean that the person has been "searched".
"We've come to the right place, Hermes - at least part of it. The Sweater Brotherhood is indeed connected to the Noble Red Circle, you're right.
"—One of the batches of alchemical bombs is currently stored in this abandoned chemical plant."