Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 1039 Scare yourself

“…Not dead yet.”

Old Argon repeated Sherlock's conclusion: "So that's it..."

He exhaled slowly, clenching his fists and then gradually loosening them. It was as if he had finally let go of some worries and doubts, or as if he had expected this... or perhaps he had some regrets.

——Obviously, this was not the answer the old duke expected or feared.

"If I'm not mistaken," Sherlock looked at Argon, his words sharp and merciless, "The answer you want... should be to find the organization that the person behind the scenes belongs to.

"Whether it's a conspiracy by the Hawkeye Organization or the manipulation of a certain Grand Duke other than you... I think it might be more in line with your needs to directly state a person's name."

Hearing this, Aiwass was stunned for a moment, then raised his head and looked at the old duke.

He was the first to understand the hidden meaning in Sherlock's words.

The old duke "invited" Sherlock to come here, I'm afraid... it's not just about getting an answer.

——In other words, his need is not just to "know the truth", and the motivation that drives him to do such a dangerous thing is definitely not curiosity.

"…What do you mean, father?"

Anne was keenly aware of the sudden change in the atmosphere, and she looked up in confusion.

Yassen opened his mouth, but then closed it again.

As a son-in-law, he decided to give his father-in-law some face. After all, there were big shots present here that even his "expensive father" couldn't afford to offend, so it wasn't his turn to say this.

Aiwass said softly, "It's very simple. If there is a person behind this incident, and this person has gained enough benefits from it... then after Sherlock sees through the truth and pulls this person out... can we be sure that the 'Third Rebellion' itself is a conspiracy?
“People were exploited by the mastermind, which led to the end of the Iris Dynasty. After the monarch left Iris, people’s lives did not get much better.

"Although the nobles' fiefs were taken back by the state, they were bought back by the nobles and wealthy businessmen; although they no longer had private soldiers, they had 'long-term mercenaries' from security companies; although the inherited noble titles no longer existed, the status of parliamentarians was still passed down from generation to generation.

"The Iris people no longer have nobles, but the power of the mayor and town chief has been expanded; even when people see the three grand dukes, they still have to salute them respectfully."

"——Perhaps the only difference is that the rich always had to be humble to the nobles in the past, but now they are doing much better than the old nobles."

Aiwass sighed and began to tell Anne the essence of the matter from the beginning.

What Iris went through during the “Third Rebellion” was not fundamentally different from what Lloyd did at Avalon last year.

This is actually a necessary path. In the past, high-end technology was basically monopolized by alchemists and mages, and the role that ordinary people could play was basically farming, animal husbandry, fishing, forestry and hunting, and all of these required the permission of the lord.

But with the development of industrialization, the value generated by factories gradually began to exceed the former. Therefore, the status of workers gradually surpassed that of farmers, herdsmen, fishermen, hunters... and factory owners who controlled machines gradually began to conflict with nobles who controlled land - after all, the population was limited, and if there was more here, there would be less there. But up to this point, the nobles' basic advantage was far greater than that of factory owners.

Until after a certain critical point...the things that money can buy suddenly become more, and the nature suddenly changes.

Although the nobles would suppress the factory owners, they basically did not dare to eliminate them directly, because they also wanted to use cheaper and more reliable industrial products, and not only import those obsolete alchemical products that were not so advanced but very expensive from foreign countries at high prices, and use the price of buying gold to buy some second-hand garbage; but on the other hand, the factory owners could unscrupulously and even impatiently manipulate and even eliminate all the nobles.

Looking back, how did the knight class of Avalon come to be controlled by Lloyd's, a merchant union with no real power and no strength? They could have obtained the current benefits without any risk if they had only united and controlled these merchants with violence.

The reason is simple, because these knights are wary of and opposed to each other, and the profits brought by the merchants are not enough to feed everyone.

Just like the Knights of the Round Table would argue in the Round Table Hall, discuss each motion, and decide whether it can be passed based on their own positions. However, it is impossible for these knights to reach the same conclusion on everything, so there will always be opposition and hostility between them. Because of these oppositions, the knights actually don't know how many people have been manipulated, so they dare not reveal their intention of "not wanting to cooperate".

Of course, they could easily control these merchants with violence - only five arbitrators were needed to kill Lloyd's without any casualties.

But the question is what happens after that? How do they distribute it?

If the merchant's tribute is divided equally, then no one will have enough to eat; but if it is only provided to a small number of people, who can be sure that they will not be excluded from the group? If the five of them take it all, will the other knights unite to kill them?

Everyone had been poor before, and no one wanted to go back to the hard times. If the sponsorship was cut off, no one would be able to survive. Obviously, there was another way to ensure that everyone had enough food - that was to reduce the number of "high-level officials" who shared the benefits to a small enough number.

Therefore, the powerful knights were controlled by the weak merchants. In fact, the problem was not with the merchants, but with the knights themselves. These corrupted knights were not afraid of the merchants, but other knights - their equally corrupt colleagues.

The problems faced by the nobles of Iris are the same.

The first and second rebellions were complete failures, because in this world where supernatural powers monopolize knowledge, it is even difficult for supernatural people to be born among the pure, poor civilians.

They couldn't get the secret book to start the inheritance on their own, nor could they learn the complete theoretical system from a specialized teaching institution. Even if they became extraordinary people by chance, they didn't have the money to start the promotion ceremony - they might not even know what the promotion ceremony required.

In this case, a rebellion by civilians would not be successful. No matter how powerful it was, the extraordinary people could easily suppress it.

"—but the situation of the Third Rebellion was different, for their monarch had died."

"……I see!"

When Aiwass said this, Anne opened her eyes wide and blurted out: "Because they are scared!"

"Yes."

Sherlock nodded, calmly and leisurely picked up the tea. "It's because the nobles don't know who is behind this incident... He was able to bypass the sentries of the Hawkeye Organization and the three archdukes, bypass the guards, kill his way to the palace, kill through the imperial guards, capture all the royal family members, and behead a large number of fourth-level extraordinary people among them."

As he spoke, he pinched his throat and made a disgusting sound: "'Who on earth could do this?' 'Even His Majesty the King was killed, how could we resist?' 'This is not a rebellion initiated by civilians at all, but a coup launched by a big shot for dictatorship!' 'If we stand in the way, I'm afraid we will be eliminated as well!'"

"—So, they were terrified."

At this point, Sherlock couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a sarcastic sneer.

Because this matter is so interesting - at least for him as an Avalonian, it is so much fun. This is also the reason why he becomes more and more obsessed with it.

Although he was half-abducted and half-tricked to come here, he was still very interested in investigating the case. Not only because of his curiosity, but also because the case was really interesting and particularly delicious. If it wasn't inconvenient to tell outsiders about this matter, he would definitely find a reporter to make it public.

"...You mean," Anne said in disbelief, "that these nobles...were frightened to death by themselves?"

"That's it."

Sherlock gave his own conclusion of the investigation: "From the very beginning, there was no 'behind-the-scenes pusher'. The nobles surrendered quickly and accepted the confiscation of their property. The quick surrender of other nobles made those nobles who had not surrendered even more afraid.

"It's like when soldiers on the battlefield collapse out of fear, the number of knights trampled to death by their comrades and lost in the chaos far exceeds the number of people who are actually killed. And except for the very few who engage in the battle, the others actually don't know what is happening. They are just being swept away, and they can't move forward even if they want to.

"—it was a dramatic rout."

"But," Anne still found it hard to understand, "wasn't there even one person who stood up? During the Third Rebellion, wasn't it just the property of those nobles that was taken away? So many people were hanged, kidnapped, and some were even kidnapped and sold as slaves in Parthia... It's impossible that they would rather accept this fate than dare to take action, right?"

Even in a group of pigs, there is always one particularly brave pig.

Among so many people, is there not even one who dares to resist?
"...Of course not."

Sherlock's eyes were deep, and the sarcastic smile on his face faded a little, and he looked at old Argon.

His words were cautious, calm, and meaningful: "I think this is why the Grand Duke asked me to investigate this matter."

"--It's us."

Argan said, “The people who executed those who rebelled came from our three families.

"The prototype of the Hawkeye Organization, the 'Stonemason Brotherhood', has a close relationship with those people. They have also mixed into the Third Rebellion Team... So it cannot be said that there are no extraordinary people among them.

"The Duke of Harcourt, the Minister of War, ordered the army not to move out. He said that this was an order from His Majesty - the Iris army could not target the Iris people. Therefore, even if they killed His Majesty, the army was not sent to quell the rebellion.

"And I am responsible for making those nobles that His Majesty hates take the opportunity to get into trouble. Anne, the nobles you mentioned earlier... those who were hanged, kidnapped, and sold... If you investigate carefully, you will find that they were all nobles who had committed serious mistakes but were covered up because of power, or they were just guys who ignored the monarch's orders and acted recklessly."

The old man's tone was calm, slow, and leisurely, but full of ruthless and decisive killing intent: "This itself was not instructed by Your Majesty... but when I realized that the entire royal family was killed without any movement... most likely there was a traitor among us.

“In that case, what I have to do is to send all the damned people to death—at least on the long table of the new government, there will be no plates and knives and forks left for them.

"——I don't know who the traitor is, but I can at least make sure that the most damned and unworthy people don't have any power. That way, even if they participate in the rebellion, they won't get any benefit from it.

"And I... am not really good at political struggles. I don't know if they have formed some kind of interest alliance in secret, but no one has invited us to join. But appropriately, my family is quite popular. So many people are willing to help... It may also be because everyone dislikes those people."

"You mean..."

Anne's eyes widened.

"That's right, Annie," the old man said calmly, stroking a large ring on his hand, "the people who did what you said... are from our family.

"Royal power is not just a sword, it is also an umbrella. And it protects not only its own people...but more importantly, the nobles at the center of the umbrella. When the umbrella falls, they are the first to bear the brunt."

"I noticed something very subtle."

When Aiwas heard this, he smiled easily.

He pointed out the detail: "Nobles who do not obey the king's orders are often the most unpopular. They are the ones who deliberately bring poverty and famine to the Swan King in order to cause trouble."

Although this seems to be a coincidence, it is subtly very reasonable.

——How brave must a person be to resist even the king’s orders! If a person dares to bully even the king, won’t he bully the people below him?

"Yes," the old prince nodded, "this is retribution."

"That……"

Yasen couldn't help but be curious, so he asked, "What did Duke Beaufort do again?"

Although the three Grand Dukes are all considered to be countries within countries, their specific powers and responsibilities and classifications are somewhat different.

The Duke of Harcourt, also known as "The Wolf Duke", was a pure soldier; while the Duke of Vendôme was called "The Ice-Heart Duke", and the Vendôme family had a great influence on the literary and art circles - this meant that he basically indirectly controlled the high-end extraordinary people in the entire path of beauty, and had controlling stakes in theaters and troupes across the country.

The Iris Theater that went to Avalon to perform received investment from the Vendôme family.

The Duke of Beaufort controls the financial power.

"The formation of the 'Citizens' Council' was proposed by the Duke of Beaufort."

The old duke said slowly, "He was the one who organized the new government of Iris... He said something like 'even the worst order is better than chaos' and urgently demanded an end to the rebellion. In fact, he is the one I doubt the most."

"Now that we can prove that everyone is innocent... isn't that good?"

Anne was very puzzled.

"It's very simple..."

Aiwass spoke up and expressed the old duke's inner thoughts: "Because what grandpa is thinking of is actually a war. A 'war to clean up everything' to solve all the backlog of Iris. That's why he is desperately looking for a 'culprit'.

"--If I am right, he wants to overthrow the Citizens' Assembly.

"Start the fifteenth rebellion of Iris."

(End of this chapter)