Chapter 16 The Devil's Temptation

When Haina came back from the basement of the tavern, she felt that she had eaten her fill of dust.

When she went down, she was actually very nervous and uneasy. Haina always felt that there might be some traps, mechanisms or curses in the basement - it might be that some familiars were raised, or that there might be synthetic beasts in jars.

But to her disappointment, she carefully explored for a long time but found nothing.

There was not even the altar full of blood and various broken limbs described in the novel. Except for a few places with traces of life, there was dust everywhere. The most common things were various bottles and barrels of wine that she didn't recognize.

The double bed in the corner was damp and musty, perhaps because of poor ventilation and lack of sunlight. She even felt a little sympathetic to these demonologists - the quality of life was too poor.

She easily found the book "Alchemical Code" that Aiwas wanted.

It was a book that looked very much like a textbook, about the thickness of a required course that could be taught for a semester. It was only about two fingers thick and one and a half palms long. Unlike the textbook, it had a special dark red leather cover that felt like cowhide.

It looked expensive.

At least... it was worth ten white coins, right?

Maybe more, but the price was enough to make people want to steal it.

Aiwass lacked life experience - if he took this kind of thing out, he would definitely be noticed. Even a thief who didn't know anything about the supernatural world and forbidden knowledge could easily judge the value of this book from its material.

And this evil sorceress must have cherished this book.

Because this book was placed on the desk at the head of the bed, and next to it was a wine glass filled with clear water - this was one of the few places in the basement without dust.

Apparently, before they came, the dangerous bald sorceress was reading this book.

Haina did see a ritual site in the open space in the basement. In order to make room, the residents here obviously moved all the wine barrels to the corner, and even stacked two of them vertically together, to make room for this open space with a diameter of only about five steps.

Ten names of unknown meaning were engraved in a ritual circle. There was also a strange geometric pattern in the middle, and she could only barely understand that the mark was "moon".

There was no blood or broken limbs on the ritual field.

She only saw an empty swaddling cloth, lying quietly in the center of the circle. Just in case, she did not lift the cloth.

But in order to prevent the ritual from running automatically, she still used the sword in her hand to cut all the ritual lines and completely destroyed the ritual field before she dared to start investigating.

This is also the way to deal with it taught in school-if you see a ritual arranged by believers who transcend the Tao, don't walk in casually or take out the things inside. First, use a sharp object that has been blessed or cursed to gently cut all the lines. For example, a circle can be cut at any place at will; if it is a triangle, it must be cut three times, and if it is a hexagram, it must be cut six times.

Haina remembered this knowledge very clearly.

Because when she was learning this knowledge, she had an exciting illusion that she was fighting a demon. She had studied the techniques to fight against all kinds of illegal supernatural beings and even the techniques to fight against demons.

But it was not until she was about to graduate that she learned from her colleagues that... In fact, more than 90% of the inspectors may never see a living demon in their lifetime. If they see one, they probably won't have the chance to show off to others alive.

Because demons cannot appear alone. When the summoner of the demon dies, the demon will be sent back.

This means that when a demon is found alone, the evil warlock who summoned the demon must be nearby - and most likely has noticed her. But she couldn't find him.

And when she really encounters such a strong enemy, it is usually handed over to the white gloves of the Inspectorate. It's not their turn to take action.

So Haina fell into a very depressed mood.

Obviously, she has mastered a lot of professional knowledge, but in fact, she can't use it at work.

In most cases, the work is still meaningless, busy, and completely unadventurous work such as tax inspection, checking various identity documents, maintaining public order, and checking hygiene conditions, safety hazards and contraband.

Even in most cases, the sword does not need to be drawn. For ordinary stupid thieves and thugs, they can be fixed in place with just a shout. And for those who cannot be fixed with a shout, at least they have to use the human wave tactics - facing a powerful enemy that cannot be defeated quickly alone is a serious violation and will be punished by confinement.

And when the human wave comes, the sword is even less useful. In this case, close combat with the gangsters is likely to prevent teammates from intervening. It is better to use a gun.

As a result, the legal tactics assessed at the time of employment are actually not used at all.

Haina is quite dissatisfied with this.

——If she had known that the work of the Inspectorate was so boring, she might as well have been an air cavalryman in the army!

Her current griffin has been through the process for two months, but she hasn't seen a single bird feather yet!

Originally, Haina was still dreaming. She wanted to wait for her equipment and griffon to arrive, so she would ride her griffon, wear armor and a sword, and go to the school to show off. He must be extremely handsome. His classmates and junior students will definitely come over to watch his heroic appearance, and the teachers will definitely use him as a role model to teach the younger generations——

...But now it seems that I may not be able to touch my gryphon before graduation.

Haina coughed and pushed the door open with her left elbow. Her right hand flapped the air gently in front of her face, and her left hand carefully held the book like a plate with a teacup.

She saw Aiwass sitting peacefully and obediently in his wheelchair, as if he was afraid of the smell of corpses, far, far away from the corpse with a terrible appearance.

"Does it feel fishy?"

Haina asked casually, then came over and handed the book to Aiwass: "Hide quickly... The Lloyd District Supervisor will be here soon, but don't let him see it."

When passing the corpse, the strong smell of blood suddenly surged up in the air, making her cough even harder.

"That's it, thank you, senior!"

Aiwass happily took the book and responded sweetly.

The corners of Haina's mouth raised slightly. She just likes this feeling of being needed.

She hadn't felt it before during the battle, but now that she was free, her eyes couldn't stop drifting to the corpse. And the smell was getting stronger and stronger, making her feel more and more uncomfortable.

Finally, Haina couldn't bear it anymore. She pulled a piece of white cloth from the table next to her and covered the upper body of the sorceress's body.

"If you feel uncomfortable, why don't you cover it?"

"Because I thought that the scene needs to be protected..."

Aiwass said hesitantly: "If you cover it with a cloth, won't it destroy the evidence on the body?"

"What?"

Haina was stunned for a moment.

She looked back at the body and instinctively felt that it made sense.

…But why isn’t this taught in school?

She didn't think of the reason for a moment, so she turned around and said harshly: "Because there are no clues. We all know that she was shot to death by you... Is there anything else that needs to be investigated? I can see it clearly. I You are your own witness, no other evidence is needed.

"Of course, this is not your problem. Your act of shooting was a heroic act of righteousness. I will make this clear to the Supervisory Bureau."

Speaking of this, she couldn't help but sigh - Aiwass is really a good boy who obeys the rules and is polite.

——Completely different from myself.

Haina sighed sadly.

So, she decided to confess.

She hesitated and said, "Mr. Aiwass."

"What?" Aiwass was stunned for a moment.

"There is one thing I want to apologize to you for..."

"No, no, senior sister, there's no need to be so polite... aren't we friends?"

"That's why I'm speaking out."

Haina looked ashamed: "When I was looking for your book down there, I couldn't help but turn a few pages."

——In fact, it was because she was worried about whether there would be any curse or poison in the book.

Feeling strong, she decided to give it a try herself.

But there is no need to say this. Because it sounds too much like an excuse, you might as well just admit that you want to watch it.

...Because she actually did want to watch it.

If it was Haina before today, she would definitely not accept the temptation of such evil ways. But on the way here, after listening to Aiwass's words, she suddenly felt that she seemed too old-fashioned before.

I want to be a "superior", which is the idea of ​​​​the way of transcendence; I feel that Aiwass is handsome, elegant, gentle and educated, which is influenced by the way of "beauty" or the way of "love".

In the same way, after reading this book, I had curious thoughts... that is, I was infected by the ways of [Balance] and [Wisdom].

The path of balance represents knowledge and science, and is the path of equal understanding of the world; the essence of the path of wisdom is related to mystery, rationality, and the pursuit of truth. This is all normal and part of being a normal person.

This is nothing to be ashamed of.

What really deserves an apology is that she touched other people's things and read other people's books without permission.

And what made her feel ashamed...she had to admit that the things in this book did have some appeal.

She just turned a few pages and was immersed in the mysterious and surprising world, which opened her eyes.

Haina stayed down there for fifteen minutes, more than ten of which she read this book. But she could only take a quick look at it, and felt that she had to go and have a look... Otherwise, Aiwass would be very scared to be alone in a room with a corpse.

And after all, this is the Lloyd District with poor public security.

What if a gangster comes outside at this time?

Aiwass is too weak to protect himself normally. He might have accidentally killed someone with one shot.

Killing a demonologist is not a big deal and will even be rewarded; but if you kill a civilian, you may go to jail.

And what if there are more people? He probably doesn't have many bullets left, and he may not dare to shoot, or his weapon may have been taken away...

Thinking of this, Haina ran up to take a look very worried. Only to find Aiwass safe and sound.

Looking back, she felt a little itchy again.

The previous turn did nothing to quench her thirst, but made her even more curious.

"I'm a little curious."

Taking a deep breath, Haina frankly admitted her desire: "I also want to read...that book.

"Afterwards, can I go to your house and see it?"

"But senior sister, as a supervisor, comes to our house when nothing happens... Doesn't this have a bad impact?"

Aiwass declined politely: "This way, there will be some gossip, whether it is my father or my senior sister. You also know that there are indeed some supervisors who have taken money from businessmen and done some obvious favoritism - —I mean, even if you didn’t do it, senior, you can’t refute it when someone says it, because what you really did is even more unexplainable.”

"……really."

Haina nodded dejectedly: "You are right."

"But," Aiwass changed the subject, "Senior sister saved me and avenged me. She also helped me find this book - I want to thank my senior sister for her help both emotionally and rationally.

"So if you want to read this book, senior sister, you can ask me out regularly in your free time. You should know, right? A more private space? Or if not, I can also bring it to school. This There are always such things in local schools.”

Aiwass squinted his eyes and showed a kind and gentle smile, like a cunning fox, following the lead: "There will be some tiring parts in daily work, right? Is there anything worth complaining about, or what big thing has happened to the Supervision Bureau recently? You can talk to me and have a chat at that time.”

Is she actually interested in alchemy...

Aiwass's heart moved. Knowing her personal preferences made things easier. Haina can easily become his thorn and spy in the Supervision Bureau.

...It's really hard to learn well, but it's easy to learn bad things.

Senior Haina, who was originally upright and just, was seduced so easily by herself at the moment when her firm belief in her heart was shaken.

I don’t know who the devil is.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but Aiwass felt that if he were a demon, he would be more professional than the Shadow Demon.

When Haina heard this, she was extremely grateful.

She respected Aiwass's generosity and his gentleness of putting himself in others' shoes, and couldn't help but use honorifics to her junior: "Thank you, Mr. Aiwass! But... won't this bother you too much?" "

Aiwass just smiled and waved his hand: "It's okay, no trouble. This is called everyone getting what they need.

"——After all, I am also curious about the daily work of the Supervision Bureau."