Chapter 60 Flame Essence

After crossing the Griffin Bridge, Sherlock, who was walking aside, glanced at the maid Lily pushing the wheelchair behind Aiwass, and then whispered:

"To be honest, I didn't expect Master Yanis to give that painting to you."

"I actually didn't expect it."

Aiwass answered honestly.

"Although Master Yanis looks very friendly, she is actually quite arrogant. If you don't get her approval, Master Yanis will just smile and stare at you with an expression like you are looking at a fool. , without saying a word.”

Sherlock reminded him softly: "The master attaches great importance to you...does he want you to follow the path of beauty?"

"Yes."

Aiwass nodded and joked: "She wants me to be the junior brother of Her Royal Highness the Princess."

"I guess you refused." Sherlock said without hesitation.

"Indeed. How did you guess it?" Aiwass asked.

"Because I don't see any passion for art in you."

Sherlock smiled: "Actually, I quite like playing the violin. I think I'm quite good at it...but I didn't have the opportunity to embark on the path of beauty."

Aiwass blinked: "It's not too late, Mr. Sherlock."

"No, it's too late. In other words, I shouldn't have taken the path of authoritarianism from the beginning. Balance, wisdom, and beauty... whichever is more suitable for me."

Sherlock looked at Aiwass and said from the bottom of his heart: "I don't want you to embark on a certain path for a long time only to realize that you are not passionate about it. The adaptability of the path is based on talent, but not hobbies. …But I think hobbies are more important than talents. Talents determine the height you can go, while interest determines your adaptability on this path.

"If you have no interest in a certain path, but the gravity at the top of the path makes you crazily want to go further... Believe me, that kind of self-pulling torture will torture you to madness."

"...Thank you very much for sharing your experience, Mr. Sherlock."

Aiwass knew that everything Sherlock said was valuable information. This is his heartfelt admonition, and it is full of sincerity.

And he and Sherlock didn't meet many times, and he was not the emotionally driven type like Isabel - the source of this goodwill undoubtedly came from his eldest brother Edward.

So Aiwass became a little interested.

Because he actually didn't know Edward that well. The age gap between Edward, himself and Yulia was too big, and he was more like an uncle than an eldest brother. They don't usually interact much... In Aiwass' memory, there aren't many plots belonging to Edward. He doesn't even remember Edward's name.

However, Edward is the direct cause of Aiwass's death in the plot - he sneak-attacked the player with a fatal spell on the orders of his adoptive father, and Aiwass blocked the fatal blow for the player.

Although the primary target of his attack was not Aiwass, Aiwass still couldn't help but shudder when he thought of Edward.

"I have a question, Mr. Sherlock..."

Aiwass couldn't help but ask: "How did you know my brother?"

"We are classmates."

Sherlock replied succinctly: "He is the only friend I made during my college career."

"...But if I remember correctly," Aiwass asked, "Mr. Sherlock is only in his twenties this year, right?"

"I am twenty-six years old." Sherlock replied.

"But my eldest brother is already thirty-five years old this year...how did you become classmates?" Aiwass asked.

Hearing this, Sherlock couldn't help laughing.

He explained: “It’s not just you young people who have come up from secondary school who can go to university.

"When Edward was your age, he didn't graduate from the Royal University of Law. He graduated from Milton University in Gray County."

Although Wangli Law University is the largest and oldest extraordinary university in Avalon, it is not the only university.

More than three hundred years ago, several professors at the King's Law University were accused by their students of "teaching heretical doctrines that are not permitted by His Majesty the King" and were therefore sentenced to the cruel punishment of cooking. Specifically, the mystical knowledge of the path of wisdom and the path of balance.

After strong protests, the kings of that generation reluctantly changed the result to stripping off their clothes and parading them through the streets. Unwilling to accept this humiliation, the professors fled the Royal Law University.

Bishop Milton, who came from the Eternal Theocracy, happened to have opened a seminary in Gray County, far away from the Glass Island.

After hearing what happened to those professors, the young elf felt very sympathetic and took them in. Later, many people wanted to escape from the glass island full of inspectors and the "Eye of Avalon", so Milton University gradually gained a very strong faculty. Although the enrollment scale and the area of ​​​​the college are far inferior to Wangli Law University... their teaching quality is not low.

Before Queen Sophia opened the fifth and sixth departments of the Royal Academy of Law, Milton University was the only academy in Avalon that taught "heretical doctrines" and "forbidden arts." Because of Bishop Milton's close relationship with the Eternal Theocracy, the Palace of Silver and Tin chose to turn a blind eye to this.

Today, Dean Milton is still alive - even after Avalon was destroyed by the Star Antimony, Milton University still exists as a refuge in times of war.

"After graduating from Milton University, Edward studied at two other universities. In the end, he skipped the Supervisory Bureau, joined the Inspectorate, and got his own griffin.

"And seven years ago, he studied law and legal magic at the Law Department of the Royal Law University... He was already 27 years old at that time, and I was just 18 years old."

Sherlock said with some nostalgia: "When I first entered university, I was very withdrawn. Because I thought that other people were a bunch of noisy idiots, childish, stupid and impulsive. Obviously, I am already a college student, or in a place like the Royal Law University, but I don’t look much different from elementary school students. Basically, only a few smart people from the countryside can communicate normally... However, their knowledge is far from enough, and there is no common topic to talk about.

"So I don't want to socialize with people my age. The people I interact with most are the various professors in the school, hoping to borrow their private collections from them. And my lifestyle of often talking to various mentors will make those fools stay away from me further.

"Once, I went to Professor Moriarty to ask about an astronomy question, but was bitten by Edward's griffin at the door of the office.

"His griffin is not pure blood, the feather color is darker than the ordinary red griffin, and the body is slightly larger. Perhaps because of this, its temper is also more explosive... Edward is not a light cavalry, so he can't communicate with his griffin partner. He also came to Professor Moriarty at the time, and the griffin stopped at the door.

"But when he saw that I wanted to push the door, the griffin guarding the door bit me directly. Just one bite made me bloody, and two bites almost bit off my thigh... Edward quickly sent me to the Candle Cathedral and asked the bishop to use the lighting technique for me personally, so that I didn't leave a disability or scar.

"Although the bishop healed all my injuries, I was indeed frightened. And there was always a vague pain in my leg, which slowly disappeared after two weeks. Edward came to visit me at my home and talked with me. I soon found that he was a very smart man... He also had extraordinary wisdom. Although his personality was different from mine, we were undoubtedly the same kind of people - smart people without friends.

"-So we became friends with each other. We studied law together. I was a beginner and he was a master. But we still had common topics. After that, he taught me boxing - he was good at it and could even integrate the power of authority into his fists. More powerful than the strongest boxer I know. If he planned to go to the boxing ring, he would still be a star in Avalon... A genius is like this, no matter what field he goes to, he will be equally good. "

Under Aiwass's question, Sherlock talked about his experience with Edward.

He was obviously happy to talk about this topic. Sherlock did not change the topic until he sent Aiwass to the door of his house.

When he arrived at the door of Moriarty Manor, Aiwass noticed a dark griffin in the yard. It had scarlet pupils, like a darker ruby.

- He recognized it at a glance. This was the griffin raised by Edward.

Didn't Edward leave for something and asked Sherlock to pick him up?

Why did he come back first?

Thinking of this, Aiwass asked casually: "What was my brother going to do before?"

"It's still the warehouse explosion incident," Sherlock replied, "It may also be related to those people in the Pelican Bar.

"From all the traces, it is very similar to the explosion of the 'Little Jack Codfish Warehouse' a few days ago - there are also traces of fire spirits, and it is also an unmanned warehouse and no casualties. However, the accident this time is an abandoned stone warehouse... We haven't found the common point yet. But Edward rushed over to accept the case as soon as possible, so it should be possible to find out.

"Oh, by the way. Do you know what fire spirit is?"

"It's similar to demon blood, a slightly salty red powder like salt. It's just the trace left by the phantom of the fire attribute in the material world." Aiwass replied.

"Indeed, but what you said is the standard definition. Phantoms of the fire attribute are quite rare, but it is not complicated to imitate fire spirits with alchemy, and the raw material is just ordinary sulfur. So when the Supervisory Bureau mentions fire spirits, it generally refers to [imitation fire spirits]. The purity of imitation fire spirits is lower than that of natural fire spirits, but the effects and uses are actually similar. "

Sherlock explained: "It is a common spellcasting material used by mages. It is also one of the ritual materials that demonologists must use when summoning any demon.

"Just like 'salt' is the essence of the sea, adding it to water in proportion can turn the water into seawater, giving the water a stronger concept of 'water'. Just adding a little bit of fire essence to the fire can make the fire burn more vigorously and strengthen the concept of 'fire'.

"For low-level mages, it is difficult to use high-temperature flames without relying on fire essence. It is a necessity, but also a dangerous item with restricted purchases.

"If enough fire essence is added, things that were originally incombustible can also be burned because the concept of fire is strengthened... such as ice, steel or stone. This time, the stone in the stone warehouse was ignited."

Hearing this, Aiwas's expression stagnated slightly.

...Wait?

Something seems to be wrong.

Aiwass remembers... wasn't it the evil warlock Veronica from the Pelican Bar who blew up the warehouse for the first time? Because he controlled the shadow demon, she went to summon the demon again the next day. If she failed to summon the demon, there was a real chance that the failed ritual would cause the warehouse to explode.

But she had been killed by Aiwass himself.

Could it be that the association sent people to summon demons again?

That's not right... It has already failed once, so there's no way we could let a newbie come in who might make the ceremony fail, right?

Sherlock comforted him: "Don't be afraid, this case is actually solved.

"Because the purity and structure of the flame essences synthesized by alchemists from different schools and different techniques are slightly different, just like the composition of salt extracted from different seawaters is also different. The previous batch of flame essences has been sent for testing Now, with the help of the Flame Essence this time... when the final results come out, we will know where their Flame Essence came from."

With doubts, Aiwass said goodbye to Sherlock.

Butler Oswald, who came out of the manor, nodded to Lily and took over Aiwass' wheelchair.

"You came back at the right time, Master Aiwass."

The old elf, who had been silent all this time, lowered his body slightly after entering the door and said softly: "Please come here to treat Miss Yulia first. The condition of the miss is not very good."

...Strange, didn’t I have treatment this morning?

Aiwass was a little confused, but didn't say anything.

He motioned for Lily to leave, and then pushed Aiwass into Yulia's room.

Aiwass suddenly opened his eyes wide.

He saw that Yulia was bound by silver luminous shackles, while Edward stood aside with a serious expression, his pupils shining with white light.

Yulia's head was soaked in cold sweat, and her consciousness was obviously a little blurry.

She didn't notice Aiwass entering the door at all, she just muttered in a low voice as if she had a high fever, talking nonsense that no one else could understand.

There were obvious scorch marks on her pajamas, and her fair skin was covered with red glowing cracks, like ice-cracked porcelain or glass that had shattered under the high summer temperature. From time to time, faint tongues of fire emerged from the cracks for a moment, and then were suppressed back.

Edward controlled the silver chains to restrain Yulia, squeezing her body and slowly "sticking" her broken body back together with external force.

Only after Aiwass got closer did he notice that Yulia's sweat was not transparent... but looked like very light blood.

——When it dries, a red powder remains.

An update of more than 7,000 words is here!

I'm already drawing the character designs of Haina, Yanis, and Dad. I'll open the character cards when the pictures come out. Don't rush me, don't rush me~