The Shepherds Are Dense Chapter 38: Completely Automatic Secret-Revealing Machine

Aiwass couldn't help it—he had underestimated "Lulu" a little.

…It turned out his temporary partner wasn't as useless as she thought she was.

Taking a shallow breath, the "Annie Alexander" beside the window uttered a voice as clear and crystalline as running water.

It was early morning, and the sun had just risen.

But her song imdiately brought back to Aiwass the mory of a warm sumr evening wind sweeping by window wind chis. A free and easy calm seeped into his heart, soothing even the fear he had yet to show.

Like water smothering a campfire.

Aiwass gradually closed his eyes, slowly allowing his mind to unwind.

"—All done, Mr. Fox."

Lulu's voice pierced his tranquility, waking the always-vigilant Aiwass up. He opened his eyes imdiately, having been resting against the door, straining to hear sothing from outside.

"Mm. Good work."

"It was nothing. Easy, really. Even if you carry him while you run, he certainly won't wake up within the next two hours."

The stunning platinum-haired girl's eyes sparkled with self-assurance as she stated, utterly serious, "Even if he fell and hit the ground—so long as he's not shot directly—he wouldn't wake up."

…Fishing for complints, are we?

What a kid.

Miss Lulu must have been quite young.

So Aiwass thought to himself.

He nodded a little and gave genuine complints.

"You did wonderful, Lulu. Because of you—having a wide-awake child with us makes it hard to talk. When little Aiwass was sleeping before, he didn't catch what we were discussing. But when he woke up, we had to keep whispering… and we can't do this in public."

"Even kids rack up doubts after a while. And sooner or later, they may pick up on discrepancies in our routine—and if soone perceives us, we may lose the entire setup altogether."

Aiwass's voice was steady, his face relaxed and confident, as if so person completely in command.

But inside, he was wiping sweat off his forehead.

—He'd almost dozed off himself.

Even given his self-indulgent ntal relaxation… Lulu's singing was imnsely effective.

Her voice was crystalline and pure, with a bell-like, ethereal clarity. Even as she was using "Annie's" body, the quality hadn't worn down much at all.

…Such firm foundations?

Are you actually from Avalon?

Aiwass felt a burst of inspiration at that mont.

A young Avalonian girl, on the Path of Beauty…

—Could "Lulu" be Princess Isabel?

He recalled Isabel did go down the Path of Beauty, and was rather strong. With the in-ga "Cruel Autumn" event, she was with Aiwass and the player character as they escaped to the Eternal Theocracy—joining the main cast.

Regardless, whether she was the princess or not was not really the point to Aiwass's plot.

Actually, if she was.

He would even have fun teasing her more.

—Let's test the waters.

".A wonderful voice," Aiwass remarked with a pleased smile, genuinely complinting.

"Even had you not evolved to be a supernal being, I imagine that you would have been a renowned opera singer throughout the continent."

"Right?!"

Lulu's face was set with unfettered happiness. Her smile was sincere and bright, that of a child receiving admiration from soone she held dear.

"I prefer singing and dancing to painting or sculpture…"

“Speaking of which,” Aiwass added, like suddenly recalling sothing, “the na ‘Lulu’… is it from the opera Lulu’s Magic Flute?”

“Mr. Fox, you’ve heard of it too?”

Lulu bead.

“That’s a magnificent opera.”

Aiwass nodded, genuinely praising it.

And it was indeed magnificent—this opera contained four different Path of Beauty spells, which only transcendent beings with sufficient artistic skill could perceive and learn.

—Two of which were skills necessary for fourth-tier "Piper" and sixth-tier "Queen of the Night" career tracks.

"Right? Right?!"

Lulu trilled excitedly, her eyes gleaming.

"When I was little.my grandmom took to see it. I only heard it once and could already sing it. Especially that one—*'Pa, Pa, Pa, Papagena!'*"

"Oh, I recognize that one," Aiwass nodded.

"That duet with Papageno and Papagena dancing together, right?"

—Don't be taken in by Aiwass's slick reply. He had never witnessed the opera.

But a screenwriter acquaintance of his had once explained to him that Lulu's Magic Flute was an adaptation of Earth's Mozart opera The Magic Flute, with largely the sa music and plot.

Only, in this reality, it was purported to have been written by a fairy nad "Lulu."

Fairies were winged, childish beings from the Illusory Realm—more or less Wind-elental, as demons were more or less Dark-elental.

Aiwass had watched The Magic Flute, so he knew a few scenes more than adequately. singing it himself, of course, was out of the question, but bluffing was ga.

"You're wonderful, Mr. Fox! I thought this opera was extrely obscure in Avalon!"

For a second, Lulu totally forgot she had any other ritual to perform, overjoyed to have finally t soone who knew and valued her enthusiasm.

She even burst into an unrehearsed song:

"Do you belong to forever? I belong to you forever! Now you are my wife, now you are truly my beloved…"

Joy swept into Aiwass's chest.

An airy energy coursed through his heart with the music. He could feel his steps lightening, his body more poised—he was sure that even if he leaped off a third-floor balcony, he would not be hard.

This was the [Lively lody] supernatural power on the Path of Beauty. It gave buffs equivalent to 1%–300% of "Haste" and "Poise" spells to all allies within range.

Initially, the effect was but one-third strength, but it intensified the longer she sang.

Based on the strength of her effect—approximately 10% to 15%—she was giving the entire party virtually a 50% dual-spell bonus. Most significantly, this was a supernatural ability, i.e., it used no mana.

—That's strong enough already.

Aiwass was almost sure.

This must be Princess Isabel.

No re "Polymath" could construct such a sound foundation. To be "multi-talented" typically ant being "diocre at all things."

But she genuinely was multi-talented.

With her talents and basics, she might well match Aiwass's rate of progress.

Her one fault… was not being cautious.

He hadn't even laid a trap or dropped her guard.

It only took a throwaway question, and she blabbed the lot.

A genuine fully automatic secret-revealing machine.

…Hopefully, her tutor would teach her acting a little better before their next session in the Dream Realm.

If she continued with this, Aiwass would feel guilty for having led her astray.

Aiwass never intimidates children.

He held up a hand and pushed gently down, as a conductor would bring a performance to a close.

Indeed, Lulu imdiately ceased singing and was silent.

"Still nervous?" Aiwass smiled kindly.

"Feeling better now?"

".Yes, thank you!"

Lulu's eyes widened in understanding.

So Mr. Fox had been chatting small talk just to put her at ease!

"—Call 'Mr.' no more."

Aiwass reprimanded her:

"I'm Julio Alexander, and you're Annie. In public, you may call Julio. or you may call 'darling.'"

".I think I'll just stick with 'Julio.'"

Lulu spoke softly shyly.

But then, she suddenly rembered sothing:

"Wait, aren't we going to et Bishop Mathers?"

"No, we're not."

"Huh? But why? I know him—he's really strong… He's the royal family's gravekeeper. He'll definitely protect us."

"I believe you," Aiwass said, confirming her statent before turning:

"And since you say so, I'm sure he is strong—strong enough to protect us."

"But. you didn't bring the letter, did you?"

".What letter?" Lulu asked, suddenly nervous.

She had the sense she'd either said sothing stupid or left sothing out.

"I an the original threat letter."

"I… didn't bring it."

"Neither did I. Which ans we don't know what was written in it. On top of that, I don't even know Bishop Mathers personally, so I'd have trouble playing the role of his student."

Though I do have ways to get his protection…

Lulu thought but wisely kept that to herself.

She still had so sense of caution—revealing that would essentially out her real-life identity.

Aiwass squinted like a fox and said slowly:

“You have a task to ‘leave the cathedral,’ too, right?”

“Yes. I’m supposed to head to Justice Square on my own.”

“How many points?”

“One hundred.”

“Low. Mine’s the sa.”

Aiwass comnted calmly:

“Harder, riskier tasks are worth more. So if Bishop Mathers were really a safe haven, why is leaving him for a dangerous place worth so little?”

“…Maybe he can’t protect us?”

Lulu hugged the child tightly, her eyes wide with shock, like soone betrayed by a trusted elder.

“How could this be…”

“It might not be that he refuses to protect us. Maybe he’s simply not there. Or sothing happens, forcing us to leave early.”

Aiwass spoke evenly:

“In that case, we’d be cast out onto the streets with nothing… things could get even worse.

"But none of those tasks are actively attempting to kill us dead, right? That implies that they're designed to assist us in reaching the ultimate goal."

".'Once and for All'? Or perhaps 'Live Longer'?"

Lulu was not sure.

"But you… I an, you're on the Path of Devotion, and I'm on the Path of Beauty. We're not really fighter types…"

Aiwass halted.

So she didn't possess the task 'The Beginning of All Things'?

Which is why we need to leave the cathedral imdiately."

He rested against the door and outlined his plan:

"To make weapons ready."

There was no point in keeping this from Lulu—she wouldn't be made a tool or a decoy. To tell her openly would not arouse her suspicion. And she wouldn't talk with others by herself, either, so there was no danger of leakage.

So Aiwass spelled it all out—to gain her trust, make her know his plan, and get her to agree to carry it out to the letter.

Otherwise, she might introduce so "bright ideas" of her own later.

Aiwass knew how to handle newbies.

"Weapons… guns?"

Lulu sounded concerned.

"Do you know where to find a gun?"

"If not… I might be able to find a good weapon. But since this is fourteen years ago, I don't know if it's out yet."

"I know exactly where."

Aiwass replied calmly:

"Justice Square is directly adjacent to the Pelican Tavern."

"…Ah, I rember!"

Lulu exclaid,

"It's that news report about Aiwass, isn't it?! He—wait. Aiwass?"

She stopped, lifting the boy in her arms and examining him thoroughly.

"You got it right," Aiwass drawled.

"He is that Aiwass. 'We, the couple,' obviously died in the original tiline. That's why he now bears the surna Moriarty."

"You finally caught on."

"But you read my sche incorrectly. I said I was heading to the Pelican Tavern to gear up arms—I never promised I was going to purchase a gun."

"…A supernal artifact?"

Lulu inquired cautiously.

"You have people on in the Pelican Tavern?"

"No."

Aiwass shut his eyes and responded softly:

"Here's the weapon I'm designing: Sherlock Hers. You're correct—both of our Paths are support-based. Even if we did receive weapons, we'd be unable to use them effectively. What we actually need… is a skilled fighter.

"I think—regardless of how we were split, no matter how little we've talked about this in advance—**Mr. Sherlock** will certainly co to the Pelican Tavern to take us up on our offer.

"—Or rather, to take and the Knight up on it."

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