When the plot-skips players into the game world

When Sherlock woke up and called Aiwass "Moriarty," Aiwass's heart skipped a beat.

——Something seemed amiss.

Aiwass knew Sherlock well. The great Detective usually had no sense of boundaries and liked to do things on his own, only explaining himself after everything was done. When talking to friends, he generally called them by name or even nicknames... It was only with strangers or those of sufficiently high status that he maintained a polite and reserved manner.

...Of course, when Sherlock was being pretentious and speaking in a queer tone, he sometimes referred to him slowly and seriously as "Mr. Moriarty."

According to the CG input, Aiwass's relationship with Sherlock in this world line was even closer than with Isabel. Therefore, Aiwass had addressed him directly as Sherlock, in order to prevent the overly astute Sherlock from discovering that "he was not the same Aiwass."

Before meeting him, Aiwass was actually very wary of Sherlock.

Such a friend, too smart, too sensitive, and too suspicious, knew him too well, that it would be very easy to slip up in front of them. Especially since this world itself had the ability to disguise oneself as another or to change another's recognition, being suspicious was not entirely wrong, but could only be considered sufficiently cautious.

He even considered, why not simply knock Sherlock out. When he woke up, knock him out again, repeating the process... Then send him directly to the Holy Nation to complete the mission.

As long as there was no interaction or communication with Sherlock throughout, he would definitely not be exposed in front of him.

...But soon, Aiwass realized. Those things he feared were equally true for "Sherlock."

But merely a single "Moriarty" was not enough to determine there was a problem.

So Aiwass proceeded to probe further.

Sherlock should know that Minister Drost may be planning to harm Princess Isabel. During the interrogation of Sherlock, it became clear that he was aware of this fact, and he may even know the truth — given Drost's ostentatious nature, he would likely boast about it and even say things like "Isabel is already dead" to pressure Sherlock.

So Aiwass deliberately shifted the topic and mentioned "Shafiya," causing Shafiya to speak up and indicate she was nearby.

Sherlock certainly knew who Shafiya was.

Therefore, when Aiwass mentioned Shafiya, and Shafiya's tone and demeanor were very relaxed, Sherlock should have immediately guessed the situation that "the Princess might not have been harmed." Given Sherlock's loyalty to Queen Sofia, he would certainly force himself to ask Shafiya about the situation.

Even the Hall of Silver and Tin had blown up — how could he remain so calm, even unflustered?

Of course, there was also a very small possibility... that Sherlock had already guessed Isabel was still alive, hence was not worried at all.

Therefore, Aiwass proceeded with a third probe.

He told Sherlock "stop thinking." But as a Third Power Level Legal Mage and a Third Power Level Mage, he should have had the condition of "Spiritual Dissonance." The overbearing power of thought made it impossible for him to stop thinking. Even if he had barely adjusted to the dissonance, thinking rather than not thinking should have felt more relaxing for him.

So the moment Sherlock truly stopped thinking — Aiwass confirmed that this was definitely not Sherlock.

——He could only be the "Counselor."

A Third Power Level Mage and a Transcendent from the Path of Wisdom of Star Antimony.

But Aiwass did not make a fuss.

Killing the opponent directly in the shadows, although the most conservative choice, was too inefficient. It did not leverage the advantage of intelligence.

Since the identity of the other party had now been confirmed and there had been no exposure of himself... then even if not planning to use the other to complete his own mission, he could still pass some false information through him or set some traps for the people of Star Antimony.

The more intelligent a person is, the more they tend to believe the information they collect themselves, and trust the conclusions they deduce personally. Very few people are able to completely overturn all their views from the beginning when their logic has not yet reached a dead end — especially when the side with the false information has a complete logic chain and sufficient evidence, while the truth is missing a large piece of logic.

However, to implant some false information, Aiwass alone would not be enough. He would also need the cooperation and support of Isabel.

So Aiwass calculated in his mind and then brought Sherlock back to Moriarty Manor.

Isabel was hiding behind the curtain at this moment, looking in the direction of the Hall of Silver and Tin.

"Aiwass!"

As soon as Aiwass and the others returned, Isabel immediately greeted him with joy: "Are you alright?"

She was originally talking with Professor Moriarty in the living room when she suddenly felt a slight earthquake.

Isabel peeked from behind the curtains, only to see that it was the Hall of Silver and Tin that had exploded — not only was there a violent explosion, but the entire palace was gradually engulfed in flames.

Although Aiwass had taken Oswald and Shafiya with him...after all, there were two legitimate Fifth Power Level Transcendents there, and Aiwass was still unable to summon the Night Fiend.

She was very worried about Aiwass, but knew she was powerless in a battle of such scale... so all she could do was to remain calm and try not to cause Aiwass any trouble.

However, it was clear that the conversation could not continue. She simply didn't have the energy to divide her attention to learn mysterious knowledge from Professor Moriarty while worried about Aiwass.

Luckily, the Death Knell hadn't sounded, so Princess Isabel managed to cling to her sanity.

"I'm fine,"

Aiwass blinked at her, "But Detective Hermes might have a bit of a problem—he's seriously injured. I need to find a quiet place to focus on healing him."

...Hmm?

When she heard this, Princess Isabel was slightly taken aback.

Did Aiwass's treatment... require a quiet place?

From the first time she witnessed Aiwass during the promotion ceremony, he had demonstrated the extraordinary ability of a healer—not only were his healing powers unusually stable, but he could use either hand.

Later, during the Supervisory Bureau's attack, Aiwass alone saved the entire Bureau. It was only afterward that Princess Isabel found out about "Flame Butterfly," Aiwass's special ability which could instantaneously perform powerful healing on a group of people.

Therefore, Princess Isabel immediately understood Aiwass's hint—he very likely had something to say to her in private, away from the others.

Yet, with caution, she glanced at Sherlock and said softly, "May I come with you? I am very worried about Mr. Hermes too."

She usually addressed Sherlock directly, and now, following Aiwass's lead, she replaced "Sherlock" with "Mr. Hermes" without a trace.

Aiwass nodded and reminded, "You can, but keep quiet. Be careful not to wake Sherlock."

The tacit understanding between Princess Isabel and Aiwass made her instantly realize what he meant.

—There were secrets to be discussed, but away from Sherlock.

Sherlock had a problem!

He was the old man known as "Counselor"!

Princess Isabel's intuition told her, her guess was most likely correct.

Thus, she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine, her scalp tingling—the acquaintant she had known for so long now housed another person's soul. He was impersonating the other's identity, mimicking their every word and action, attempting to deceive her.

Just the thought of it made Princess Isabel feel a trace of fear.

"...Come then, Princess Isabel. You could also lend me a hand."

Aiwass said smilingly to her.

Princess Isabel caught the subtext in Aiwass's words—join me in the deception.

So, that was it, discovering one's identity but not killing them... was it for this reason?

—If it's just acting, I'm quite confident!

Princess Isabel's heart was steadfast.

She nodded politely towards Shafiya and Professor Moriarty, then followed Aiwass to his bedroom.

The mysterious knowledge Professor Moriarty told her could always be imparted to Aiwass... It wasn't too late to talk about it after the promotion ceremony.

Now was the time to attend to serious matters, Princess Isabel thought.

But immediately another thought arose in Princess Isabel's mind—

If the Counselor, a person from Star Antimony, could descend in the guise of the Mage Sherlock...

Yulia's mentor, Master Nobel, was an Alchemist; those two Court Ritualists also happened to be Curse Ritual Magicians of the path of Transcendence.

Could they possibly turn into "Stranger" or "Olive"?

Even without meeting these individuals, just the thought made Princess Isabel grow more vigilant.