Chapter 220 The past is like an enemy and cannot be forgotten
Aiwass carefully looked at the old ritual master in front of him, who was usually quite low-key.
Queen Sofia succeeded to the throne sixty years ago. She was not yet twenty years old at that time.
Since Old Iben knew Sophia at that time, can we say... that he was actually only in his early twenties when he met Jacob Alexander?
He has a white beard and his naturally curly hair is already gray. Even though he is wearing Avalon-style clothing, he can still vaguely capture a hint of the temperament of a foreigner from his facial features.
His oily green pupils were also covered with a layer of gray due to age. If he were young, he might have been a handsome young man with deep eyebrows, black curly hair and a beard.
And what did Jacob look like at that time, so that Iben, who had not seen him for decades, would feel familiar when he saw Aiwass?
Thinking of this, Aiwass was in a daze for a moment.
"Jacob Alexander..."
He then focused his mind and replied softly: "He is my grandfather."
Iben was a little confused: "But I remember that you are not the Moriarty family..."
"James Moriarty is my adoptive father."
Aiwass explained: "When I was a few years old, all my parents and relatives were killed. It was my adoptive father who raised me."
"...It's actually like this."
When the old man heard this, he slightly opened his already cloudy eyes and murmured to himself: "This kind of thing will happen in Avalon..."
He was silent for a while, looking like he had aged a few years.
"They were all cursed to death."
Aiwass continued calmly: "According to my investigations over the years, my grandfather died of 'typhoid fever' fourteen years ago."
"Oh. Typhoid..."
Hearing this, Iben sneered: "It should be the typhoid curse. That is the curse invented by Jacob... His idea about the curse at the time was to keep a low profile as much as possible - it is best not to let people realize that it is a curse.
curse.
"It seems that the person who killed him should have learned curses from him."
It was like an experienced old doctor who suddenly laughed when he heard students discussing a complex disease and intervened in the conversation to give the exact answer.
The sigh that he "had to take action" after all, overflowed with the nostalgia for the past, giving people a sense of calmness and reliability.
Aiwass was still wondering why Avalon's court ritualists were so weak... After hearing Iben's story, he thought Queen Sofia was just interested in his moral character.
But at this time, the strong self-confidence in the old man made Aiwass really feel his self-confidence.
Even if the energy level is low, it does not mean that you are weak.
"At that time, what we, the Scaleless Hands, wanted was just to help people deal with some big shots who had done a lot of evil, to get justice for people, or to teach them some lessons. But the Scaleless Hands didn't want to be so famous that they became people's
trust and reliance.”
Iben sighed: "This is the experience I shared with Jacob."
"……experience?"
"Yes, experience."
Iben's pupils were deep, and there was a bit of sadness that he couldn't let go of: "If you are too famous, then people will always come to you to solve problems. But we are not gods, not to mention that even gods are not omnipotent.
"However, people dare not blame the gods, but they dare to blame us. They will blame the failure on us for not trying our best. Although this is also true, when there are more commissions at hand, we will inevitably have more focus. And if someone
If you come to request but refuse the other party, you will also be blamed by people. Not only that, you will even be criticized and criticized by your partners...
"Is that the fault of the person who came to request? Of course not. But it is not our fault, let alone the fault of the critics. Everyone gathers together with good wishes, but why can't the good original intentions achieve the same good thing?
What’s the ending?”
Iben seemed to be telling something, or whispering something to himself.
"These are the lessons I learned from my hometown. I told these things to Jacob and told him clearly in advance - from the beginning, we are not the saviors of everyone. We will never be able to save everyone.
, so don’t let people’s expectations be too high from the beginning; we can’t accomplish everything, so don’t let people trust us too much.
"Under the leadership of Jacob, the Scaleless Hands have always kept a low profile and exist as a secret society. Only those few who know about our existence can ask us to do something. And these tasks have their heavy prices.
… It’s not that we want to make profit from this, but it’s just to limit people from putting all their hopes on us. According to my experience, that will only crush us.
"Only those who are willing to pay any price for revenge can often get our response. In addition, we are usually the active party - taking the initiative to find what we should do. At that time, we were very free,
Like the legendary Rogue."
The old ritual master sighed: "To be honest, those days are very happy now that I think about them..."
He looked at Aiwass and chuckled, as if testing and self-deprecating: "But don't you think we are too ruthless? It is obviously an association formed to help others, but we do not accept entrustments from others."
"...No, you are right."
Aiwass's fingers unconsciously tapped the armrests of the wheelchair and whispered: "No one is omnipotent... Therefore, not all requests can be granted. If you are dragged into a professional field that you are not familiar with because of sympathy, efficiency will
On the contrary, the success rate will be much slower.”
Of course Aiwass didn't blame them. He just felt as if he had been punched by words.
Isn't he himself such a person?
It's just that Aiwass is lucky and hasn't encountered the kind of bad things that would dampen his enthusiasm; or maybe he is strong enough and can always fulfill other people's requests.
——As long as things go smoothly, we are all good brothers.
It's not that Aiwass doesn't know this truth. It's just that he has never failed, so he has become slightly inflated due to luck.
but……
Did it turn out that my grandfather was doing this kind of thing back then?
No wonder my father would embark on the path of devotion and become a pastor...
"So, the manuscript left by Jacob...do you have any clues?"
In a rare encounter with someone who knew his grandfather, Aiwass asked: "Some people say that he may have been killed because of the manuscript he was about to publish."
"Manuscript? This..."
Old Iben showed a guilty look, which was the regret that he wanted to help but could not intervene: "I'm sorry. The Scaleless Hands was formed during the Hangman King era. Two years after I joined, the Hangman King
passed away. The Queen had just ascended the throne when I was arrested. After that, I was taken away by Her Majesty.
"I also went back a year later... because I discovered that Her Majesty Sophia and the 'Hanging King' are not the same kind of people. Maybe we don't need to resist the royal family anymore, we can make Avalon better and heal people's diseases.
Unfortunately. I was planning to form a team of ritual masters for His Majesty, and by taking this opportunity, I could also give the ritual masters of the Scaleless Hand a legal status.
"But when I went back to find Jacob and the others, I found that all our previous strongholds had been abandoned. All contact methods had been cut off, and I didn't get any response when I wrote to them. I guess..."
When the old man said this, he seemed to be choked by memories. His depressed words turned into a long, grainy sigh like a bellows.
——Presumably, they thought I had betrayed.
Although Iben did not say it out loud, Aiwass had already guessed what he was thinking.
Rationally speaking, this is very reasonable. You cannot naively leave the survival of other partners to Iben's conscience just because of feelings and trust.
But that being said, it's still quite hurtful.
...However, that should have been sixty years ago.
The Scaleless Hand gradually disappeared and was replaced by the Noble Red, almost fifty years ago. In other words, Iben really didn't seem to know what would happen ten years later...
It's a pity that the clue has been cut off again.
Aiwass had some regrets.
But he took a chance and continued: "My parents seemed to have been exterminated because of that manuscript. According to my investigation, they should have been killed by the Iron Hook Demon."
"...Iron Hook Demon?"
Iben frowned: "There should be professional curse masters, right? Could it be..."
"No. Probably not from Scaleless Hands."
Aiwass explained: "The curser's name is Aziz. Aziz bin Abdul. What do you have an idea about?"
Hearing this name, Iben's expression suddenly changed.
It was like an old lion suddenly opening its eyes and standing up unsteadily. It was also like a wild wolf that was so weak that it was about to die and opened its eyes under the moon. The desolate and decisive killing intent made people feel chilled.
"--Where is he?"
"...He left long ago. It is said that he passed through the desert and went to a country in the east...maybe Parthia, or maybe Horus."
Aiwass answered the question first, then paused and asked, "Do you know him?"
This was an unexpected development.
He originally thought he could ask Iben about his grandfather...but he didn't expect that Iben knew very little about his grandfather, but he actually knew the curse master who cursed Alexander and his wife.
"A fat black man, huh?"
Iben asked rhetorically.
"Yes. His face is brown and black, and he is a little hunched."
Aiwass nodded in response, recounting the appearance of the man he saw during the advancement ceremony: "He was wearing huge gemstone rings on all ten of his fingers... More than ten years ago, he was a man who looked about
A middle-aged man in his fifties. He should be sixty or seventy now."
"……it's him."
Iben was silent for a long time and then said softly: "I was betrayed by him when I was in Anxi.
"He is my junior brother and my nephew. At the same time, he is also a slave who was rescued by me after the city was destroyed.
"He betrayed us who were wanted, used our information in exchange for the identity of a free citizen, a big house, eight female slaves, and became a curse master serving the good Lord...
