When the plot-skips players into the game world

"The murder that took place last night at Baker Street in the White Queen District has already been cleared up,"

Aiwass was seated in the Queen's study of the Hall of Silver and Tin, looking at the newspaper that was delivered this morning, and read aloud the content of the front-page headline, "The dangerous werewolf who assassinated Mr. Griffiths, the newly appointed Minister of Commerce, is in fact a wanted criminal from the Iris Kingdom.

"The Prime Minister of Iris Kingdom urgently called the Hall of Silver and Tin last night, expressing deep condolences for the incident. The Arbitration Hall has increased patrol size to capture the murderer as soon as possible."

He chuckled lightly, "The response is quite fast. It's just that nothing was really explained."

"Indeed."

Lily, the werewolf in question, nodded in agreement.

She had managed to shake off those Gryphons after a whole night by switching back and forth between her human, wolf, and werewolf forms, combined with her Shadow Stealth capability, and had only just returned a short while ago.

After last night's incident, Aiwass went to the next-door place with the reporter Dimitri.

By then, the area near Minister Griffiths' residence had already been covered by Gryphons—more than twenty White-Feathered Griffons were flying in the sky, their flight stirring up Dark Clouds in the night sky, with Thunder rolling within the clouds, emitting roars like that of a lion's.

The assassination of a minister was no small matter; the entire White Queen District was under martial law. Those Arbiters that one would hardly see a few times were already on the scene at the first moment, all members being of the fourth Energy Level.

Aiwass presented his identity, and accompanied by members of the Arbitration Hall, very smoothly managed to take some first-hand photos with Dimitri and his assistant.

Of course, this accompaniment was essentially surveillance.

It was to prevent Aiwass from eliminating some evidence—but indeed, Aiwass did not need to eliminate any evidence.

So, he even invited several Arbiters to accompany him, and even actively helped them look for clues.

This was Aiwass's purpose.

What surprised Aiwass was that Lily had not left traces of the Shadow Demon in the villa as they had agreed upon beforehand.

So Aiwass immediately realized that some special circumstance must have arisen, preventing Lily from leaving traces as originally planned.

The Shadow Demon not immediately returning to him for help indicated that Lily was not in danger. But Lily had turned into a werewolf... This was enough to show that the transformation was not for safety needs but for intelligence purposes.

Without communicating with Lily, Aiwass already knew what information Lily wanted to convey to him.

So, he took the Arbiters from Arbitration Hall through the most stringent procedures to search the entire scene and preserve the evidence.

They naturally found the Hawk Feather Dagger.

—This was the assassination proof that the Hawkeye Organization would leave at the scene after killing someone as a "Hawkeye Organization is responsible for this." After all, in essence, the Hawkeye Organization is a comprehensive special agency with a political tendency rather than a mercenary group that carries out assassinations purely for profit.

After inspection, they also found traces of Curse Poison in the torn and tattered corpse.

Clearly, this case had nothing to do with Aiwass anymore.

After the Supervisory Bureau reported the clues, the Privy Council held an emergency meeting that night to begin discussing the matter.

The "Werewolf Assassin" that appeared last night was undoubtedly a very dangerous criminal. It even assassinated a minister in the White Queen District; an explanation had to be given immediately. Therefore, the next morning's newspapers also had to take a stance on this matter.

So, in the morning, Aiwass received both the newspaper and the report from the Hall of Silver and Tin.

Aiwass flicked the report from the Minister of the Privy Council and praised, "This is written more clearly."

According to the rules, the Minister of the Privy Council had to deliver the meeting records to the Queen's study.

Therefore, the only one who could see this report and freely walk through the Hall of Silver and Tin was Aiwass.

This was not considered overstepping. Because this morning, Isabel had already left Glass Island and, according to tradition, was touring Avalon. Before leaving, she wrote a document, authorizing Aiwass to handle the matter. She also wrote a few blank orders, signing her name at the bottom, and left the "authorized affairs" section blank.

Aiwass could fill in the blank as needed at any time.

What kind of trust is this?

... This was almost like a trust that Aiwass had sidelined.

The appearance of the werewolf on the street, being discovered by civilians, was an obvious fact.

Ordinary people might not know those political details of Irisflower People, but the Knights certainly did.

The "Hawkeye" Organization, as an assassin group that hated Sons of the Moon, had a clear stance opposing the Sons of the Moon and the "Healthy Party," also called the Stability Faction, led by the Path of Love within the Iris Kingdom. Their party symbol was a red heart, hoping to maintain the status quo.

Many yearn for eternal life. Alternatively, the witches with their versatile magic potions, and the witches themselves, whose appearances greatly enhance as their energy levels increase, are also a precious and rare resource.

In the Iris Kingdom, which is largely under the control of the Sons of the Moon, magic potions are essentially a rationed system. As a result, the "Health Party," controlled by the Sons of the Moon, is in fact a faction led by the old aristocracy and major merchants.

The opposite faction, led by the Path of Beauty, is known as the "Great Tree Party," with a green tree as their symbol.

"The Great Tree" refers to the great tree where the elves of the Holy Nation reside. Due to the constant pressure from Antimony, the Iris Kingdom is always prepared for war, with a high military budget and, as a result, increasing tax rates year after year. Moreover, after reaching adulthood, all men and women are conscripted unless they pay a substantial "conscription tax." Hence, anti-war sentiment is high among the people of the Iris Kingdom.

The Great Tree faction aims to become a permanent neutral country like the elves, opening its ports and trading with all races and nations, focusing on economic development, independent from the wars of other nations. They are mainly composed of urban small property owners, intellectuals, and a large number of artists.

These artists have become the scholarly authority, essentially controlling the advancements within the Path of Beauty. Without a doubt, compared to the easily uncontrollable and frenzied Path of Love, the Path of Beauty is more stable and can more easily garner public support. It is also one of the rare paths where a certain level of extraordinary abilities can be mastered solely through dedicated systematic learning.

Just like a senior alchemist instructing students, if the students study hard and have a college-level intellect, they can at least reach the second energy level by the age of thirty; it is the same when great artists teach their students their own "artistic styles"... and with some talent, reaching the third energy level is even possible.

With the increasing pressure of survival in the Iris Kingdom, a large number of talented young artists have also emerged.

It is precisely these young artists from the lower classes, who seem passive and naive, that allow the "Great Tree Party" to become a strong faction on a par with the establishment faction. It is also the party of the current Prime Minister.

Not many people know that the "Hawkeye Organization" actually belongs to the "Great Tree Party."

Officially, the Hawkeye Organization is made up of the successors to the exiled mercenaries from the Black Hawk Duchy.

Because they don't just kill Sons of the Moon, but also some great artists. In other words, they kill on both sides. They just oppose the Sons of the Moon more—since Black Hawk and Narcissus are naturally enemies, this makes sense. Besides, they also engage in hired assassinations.

Many, including the Privy Council, believe that the Hawkeye Organization actually belongs to the third largest faction of the Iris Kingdom, the "Empire Glory Party." They are a rather radical group, claiming that the Iris Kingdom is the rightful heir to the Helasal Empire. They stir up xenophobia and emphasize extreme nationalism.

The violent actions of the Hawkeye Organization undoubtedly align well with the Empire Party's ideology.

Recently, the Prime Minister from the Great Tree Party acknowledged the assassination attempt on the Avalonian royal family and promised a huge compensation. Without doubt, this compensation will ultimately be passed on to the entire populace.

As a result, this has generated a large amount of dissatisfaction with the Great Tree Party within the Iris Kingdom.

However, the Prime Minister did not admit any connections between the assassination of the minister's secretary by the assassins from the Hawkeye Organization and himself. He believes it was a silencing action taken against Antimony spies within Avalon, a long-arm operation by the Antimony Kingdom—in other words, he claims that the Hawkeye Organization is related to Antimony.

As for the public opinion within the Iris Kingdom, the "Hawkeye" was generally assumed to belong to the Empire Party. The Empire Party was also happy to go along with this perception to increase public recognition of their strength. Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire

As a result, they're now hastily declaring that the Hawkeye Organization has nothing to do with them. But once the shit hits the fan, it's hard to disentangle oneself.

In this incident, whether it's the werewolf or the witch behind the werewolf, it's very likely they're members of the Health Party.

Therefore, there are two ways to interpret this event.

The Minister of the Privy Council has made it very clear.

One is to believe that the Health Party's werewolves were impersonating "Hawkeye" assassins to frame and set up the Hawkeye Organization, that is, the Imperial Party, by clearing out their political rivals in advance since it was confirmed that the Great Tree Party could not win the next election.

The second is that someone among the assassins of the Hawkeye Organization has become an uncontrollable "wild werewolf" not under the control of the Health Party.

Avalon has absolutely no need to seek the truth. They can simply go with the flow.

In the former case, Avalon needs to denounce the "Hawkeye Organization," emphasizing that this incident was the work of an assassin; in the latter case, Avalon needs to stress that it was the work of a werewolf.

According to the Supervisory Bureau's investigation, they confirmed the presence of the unique "Curse Poison" of the Hawkeye Organization in the incomplete corpse of Minister Griffiths, which was consistent with the remnants found in the body of John Raff, Former Minister Drost's chief personal secretary.

The emphasis of these two conjectures is actually on whether "the traces of Curse Poison left in the body were deliberate." As for the Hawk Feather Dagger, it doesn't really matter. Hawkeye Organization's assassins leave it at any assassination site, and it's not strange for someone to collect it.

"The viewpoint from the Privy Council suggests going for the second option. The report says, 'Traces of a bloody Demon summoning ceremony were found in the basement where the corpse was located.' This is because both Ministers of Commerce were assassinated one after another, due to their connections with the people of Star Antimony.

"If we choose the first option, it's really of no consequence to the Imperial Party. To their supporters, whether Avalonians or Star Antimonians, both are enemies, with the latter being more detestable; thus, a Star Antimony spy in Avalon, if killed, is just killed.

"But if we adopt the second option, all we need to add is 'we have identified these two individuals as Star Antimony spies,' it would be construed as silencing them. It would be a condemnation that 'the Iris Health Party is colluding with Star Antimony,' insinuating that the assassination actually came from a clandestine operation by Star Antimony's 'Chamber' department..."

Aiwass's lips curled slightly, fingers tapping lightly on the document: "This would throw the Iris Kingdom into chaos, bringing uncertainty into what was otherwise a foregone party election. Excellent s**t-stirring logic... truly a good scheme."

The Irisflower People must be rather baffled by now.

When the spies from the Iris Kingdom get this information, they'll probably think that Miss Croix is indeed still alive, just turned into a werewolf.

...My apologies, Miss Croix.

You'll have to live once more for our cause.