Chapter 41 Lloyd's

The secret passage may sound mysterious, but it is actually not that rare.

After all, it was built for human use.

Aiwass took Lulu and Sherlock into an abandoned warehouse not far from the Pelican Bar that had previously stored stones but was now full of dust and gravel.

Coming out of the back door of the warehouse, you can see a slightly desolate wasteland.

There is no one here. A creek formed by sewage and stagnant water blocked their progress. The other side of the creek is filled with various domestic garbage and bushes, which have become faded and rotten after repeated exposure to wind and rain.

But when Aiwass saw it, he was relieved, as if he had found his target, he crossed the creek without hesitation, and then walked towards the garbage beach on the opposite side.

"Continue to walk forward from here and climb over this big slope."

"……I see."

Sherlock, who barely managed to jump over without getting his shoes dirty, followed Aiwass and murmured in a low voice: "Use images of sewage and garbage that make people feel 'abandoned' and 'at the end'. It makes people subconsciously think that there is no road here. It is not a very clever hiding method, but it is enough for ordinary people."

"Because this is indeed not a high-level secret passage, and it is not considered man-made."

Aiwass walked at the front and led the way, while turning back slightly to explain: "It leads to a chemical plant that was abandoned twenty years ago.

"About seven or eight years ago, this secret passage was discovered and occupied by a group of young boys from the Lloyd District. They are now the 'Sweater Brotherhood' and a gang of stranglers."

"...The Strangler Party, isn't it the name of a gang?"

Lulu, who was holding up her skirt and barely able to follow Aiwass, asked doubtfully: "I thought that was the biggest gang in Lloyd District."

"That's not the case. The Stranglers are indeed gang members, but that doesn't mean they have a common gang called the 'Stranglers'."

The person who answered her question was the newsboy Sherlock: "Any gang member who kills and robs by 'strangling' is called a strangler. It is precisely those small gangs who make money in this way."

"What about the biggest gang?"

"It must be Lloyd's. There's only one Lloyd's in Lloyd's."

Aiwass replied: "Prince Lloyd founded more than two hundred years ago when he was still a businessman, and the 'Lloyd's Society' still exists today. It was a large-scale company that sold insurance, loan sharking, ocean intelligence, and business insider information. They are, in a sense, the only legal gang in Avalon."

"...Isn't loan sharking illegal? Why is there legal loan sharking?"

"Because they do not charge excess interest on the surface. Instead, they charge interest by selling Lloyd's Weekly at a very high price that is far beyond what normal people can afford."

Having said this, Aiwass glanced at Lulu helplessly: "My dear, you don't think the price of buying a weekly newspaper for five red candles is normal, do you?

"That's a weekly newspaper. This means that most of the news on it is old news that has been reported by other newspapers - there is a saying in the journalism industry that 'the newspaper in the morning is useless paper by the evening'. Although it is a bit extreme... but anyway , weekly newspapers should be cheaper than daily newspapers.”

The newsboy Aiwass met at the door of the Pelican Bar was the "newsboy" raised by Lloyd's Club.

At that time, Haina felt something was wrong with the price of "Lloyd's Weekly". But she failed to understand to whom Lloyd's Weekly was being sold. Aiwass didn't want to explain to her either.

With her straightforward nature, it would be better not to know this kind of thing.

Haina thought the people who bought newspapers would be sailors, fishermen and laborers... How could they afford such money?

Even if they did, they would only buy meat and beer.

The tired and poor people at the bottom cannot afford to buy newspapers. They only get free news from bars.

Little Sherlock on the side sighed, and in a low voice patiently explained to the inexperienced Princess the convolutions involved: "Anyone who borrows money from Lloyd's in the Lloyd's District must regularly purchase a designated share of "Lloyd's". Weekly newspaper as extra interest. When the loan collector comes to inspect, he will check the number of copies of the newspaper held by the borrower and cut off a corner of the newspaper as acceptance.

"The same goes for the inside information they sell. Factory owners or company directors will order a large number of Lloyd's Weekly newspapers directly from Lloyd's. And the people who deliver the newspapers will bring the messages with them.

"They also have the business of investigating designated targets, and they once invited me. As far as I know, some private detectives will accept their employment. When Lloyd's submits the investigated personal information, it also uses a designated share. Lloyd's Weekly made the payment."

“…Is it because newspapers pay taxes?”

Hearing this, Lulu immediately reacted: "So the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Taxation will protect them?"

Although this was the first time she heard about this method of gray trading through newspapers, she immediately realized the cleverness of this approach.

This means that Lloyd's society discloses all its income and financial statements to the kingdom and actively pays a large sum of protection fees.

Since they collected money without arresting them, it means that this behavior is allowed.

It is indeed an organization cultivated by Prince Lloyd.

Although she lacks a lot of experience, Princess Isabel's brain is very good.

Moreover, she came into contact with a very high level of intellectuals, so she also developed a good political sense:

"The reason why Lloyd's uses 'newspapers' to collect money is to show its respect for the 'authoritarian way', right? Even though they are the power left by Prince Lloyd, they will get into trouble if they really anger the Round Table.

"But if they conduct loan transactions through the form of selling newspapers, it means that they will pay taxes on the 'interest' as a net income... Because they don't want to offend the Inspectorate, their tax payment behavior will be more active and stable than those businessmen who are almost certain to evade taxes. "

Isabelle heard the Minister of Taxation complain countless times about the problem of not being able to collect taxes.

He kept asking the Inspectorate to send tax inspectors to companies that might have engaged in tax evasion. Every time, he would come up with a terrifyingly long list of names - longer than Isabel's hair, and when she held it in her hand, the other end almost hung down to the ground.

-Isabelle clearly realized that if Lloyd's paid taxes actively enough, the amount was huge and very stable, then they would indeed be protected.

The fact that they were able to obtain the distribution rights of the Glass Steps newspaper already showed the Round Table's opinion of them.

The newsboy nodded: "Because of this, the Inspectorate will not send anyone to manage them. In addition, they spontaneously maintained the civil order in the Lloyd's district, so the Inspectorate could only turn a blind eye to them.

"After all, it is a legal association that practices the [authoritarian way] and also respects the existence of the [authoritarian way] upstream. In a sense, they are no longer a society, but can be regarded as a large company with dirty means.

"So they will not engage in "strangulation" that may lead to investigation. However, their squeeze on the profit margins of other gangs will cause other gangs to continue to choose to send members to carry out illegal means such as "strangulation", "burglary or theft", "kidnapping", and "assassination" to obtain funds.

"And this will make them easy to be investigated and arrested by the Supervisory Bureau. This further compresses the living space of other gangs."

"——More than that."

Finally, Aiwass, who saw the back door of the abandoned chemical plant from a distance, breathed a sigh of relief and added casually: "In fact, after those strangling gangs sneak attack and kill passers-by and rob them of all their belongings, their way of selling stolen goods is still Lloyd's. And some commissions such as assassination or theft are also issued by Lloyd's.

"So I just said that there is only one largest gang in the Lloyd's District, and that is Lloyd's. "

"... There is also this matter? "

Hearing this, even Sherlock was surprised.

But when he thought about it carefully, it seemed reasonable. No matter how legal Lloyd's was, it was ultimately a gang organization with dirty hands rather than a legitimate industrial company.

But Sherlock could not find any evidence of their crimes...

Perhaps it was not just because the evidence was destroyed by the Inspectorate.

Perhaps there was no such evidence from the beginning. Because they no longer needed to do such things in person.

Sherlock looked carefully at the "fox" dressed as a priest, and for the first time began to doubt his true identity.

He seemed to be very familiar with the Lloyd's district and knew this secret passage. He even knew something about the secrets of Lloyd's...

- Could it be that the "fox" was not a student of the school, but a gang member? Or was it simply a spy from an organization that had infiltrated the church, or a rebellious priest?

Thinking of this, Sherlock asked tentatively: "Mr. Fox...If I investigate the 'Sweater Brotherhood', will it cause trouble to you?

"If so, I think I will let it go. As a thank you for helping me in the ceremony."

Hearing this, Aiwas paused.

He turned his head and glanced at the newsboy, with a slight smile on his face.

"Since I'm going to tell you this, I'm not afraid of you checking it out. After checking the 'bone carving', let's arrest the Sweater Brotherhood... This can be regarded as eliminating harm for the people. Although the Sweater Brotherhood is a small organization, each person has no less than five lives.

"According to my gossip... they may be connected to the group behind the Pelican Bar."

- In fact, it's not just that.

The reason why Aiwass remembered this secret passage is because this is a main line copy.

Although he forgot all the previous plots, Aiwass was sure that the "Sweater Brotherhood" must be related to the Noble Red Society. Because the members of the Sweater Brotherhood who appeared in this copy not only had their bodies greatly strengthened and their minds violently violent by the rituals of the demonologists, but also raised a large number of demon dogs made from corpses.

That copy is quite disgusting.

Not only is it long and winding, it is easy to get lost if you don't know the way. In addition, there are all kinds of garbage, quagmires, and sewage on the ground that affect the movement, and there are a large number of demon dogs that will ambush at the corners. The horn activates when the first person passes by, and then suddenly rushes up to bite the second person.

These demon dogs are not only covered with sharp-edged scrap metal armor, but also have high damage. The hatred is also chained - after being hit, they will start to shout dogs frantically, and other patrolling dogs will come after hearing it.

Compared with the BOSS with simple mechanisms, the monsters in this dungeon are much more annoying.

Aiwass doesn't want to play this dungeon again. Just thinking about being bitten by those half-human-high iron-clad crazy dogs fed with human flesh makes his scalp numb.

It's better to let Sherlock kill them in advance.

Also find something for Sherlock to do, so that he doesn't keep staring at the things behind the Pelican Bar. Otherwise, "that lord" might think that his letter fell into Sherlock's hands, and start to destroy evidence and silence him vigilantly.

If "that lord" destroys evidence faster than Aiwass, it will be difficult for him to investigate.

Although the identity of the "fox" is a mystery, for the suspicious and intelligent Sherlock, the clues provided by the fox who met by chance in the dream world ritual are more worthy of investigation than the clues deliberately sent by someone in reality.

Because he will doubt the latter's motives and try to reverse reasoning from a higher level-this cannot be said to be wrong. Aiwass was afraid that he would notice his motives, so he had to "accidentally" give him the information through "encounter".

—— Aiwass knows Sherlock, he is indeed such a person.