41. Chapter 41: Lloyd’s List

Chapter 41 – Lloyd’s Cooperative

This thing called a culvert sounded as if it was mysterious, but it wasn’t really that rare.

After all, it was repaired for the purpose of being used by people.

Ivars led Lulu and Sherlock, not far from the Pelican Bar, into an abandoned warehouse that had previously stored stone and was now full of dust and debris.

Out the back door of the warehouse was a slightly more desolate and decrepit patch of wasteland.

There was no one here. A small stream formed by sewage and stagnant water blocked their way forward. The opposite bank of the stream was piled up with various kinds of household garbage and bushes, which had become discolored and rotted after repeated experiences of wind and rain.

Aiwas was relieved to see it, and as if he had found his target, he crossed the creek without hesitation, and then headed for the trash bank on the opposite side of the road.

“Keep going from here, over this big dirt slope and you’ll be there.”

“…… So it is.”

Sherlock, who had very reluctantly jumped over without getting his shoes dirty, murmured in a low voice after Ivars, “Using imagery like sewage and garbage, which would make people feel ‘abandoned’ and ‘at the end of the line’, to make people subconsciously to make people subconsciously think that there is no road here. Not a very clever method of concealment, but it’s good enough for ordinary people.”

“Because it really isn’t an advanced secret passage, and it’s not exactly man-made.”

Ivars walked at the forefront to lead the way, while turning back slightly to explain, “It leads to a chemical factory that was abandoned twenty years ago.

“About seven or eight years ago, the cul-de-sac was discovered and occupied by a group of hairy men from the Lloyd District. They are today’s ‘Brotherhood of the Sweater’, a gang of stranglers.”

“Isn’t …… Strangulation Party the name of a gang?”

Lulu, who was carrying her skirt and was barely able to follow behind Ivars, asked in confusion, “I thought that was the biggest gang in the Lloyd District.”

“Not really. It’s true that the Hanged Party are all gangsters, but it’s not true that they have a common gang called the ‘Hanged Party’.”

Answering her query was Sherlock, the newsboy: “Any gangster who would commit murder and robbery by ‘hanging’ is known as a hanged party. It’s precisely the smaller gangs that make money that way.”

“What about the biggest gangs?”

“That would definitely be the Lloyd’s Club. There’s only one Lloyd’s in the Lloyd’s District.”

Aiwas replied, “The ‘Lloyd’s Society’ that Prince Lloyd formed more than two hundred years ago when he was still a merchant status still survives to this day. It was a large association organization that trafficked in insurance, loan sharks, oceanic intelligence, and business insiders. In a sense, they were the only legitimate gang in Avalon.”

“Isn’t …… usury always illegal? Why would there be legal loan sharks?”

“Because they don’t charge exorbitant interest rates from the surface. Rather, they charge interest by selling a form of Lloyd’s Weekly that is far beyond what a normal person can afford, at a super-high price.”

Saying this, Ivars glanced at Lulu somewhat helplessly, “My dear. You don’t think that the price of five red candles for a weekly newspaper is normal, do you?

“That’s a weekly newspaper. It means that a large portion of the news on it is old news that has been reported by other newspapers – there is a saying in journalism that ‘the morning newspaper is a waste of paper by the evening’. It’s a bit radical …… but the weekly should be cheaper than the daily anyway.”

The paperboy that Ivars had met earlier in front of the Pelican Bar was a “paperboy” kept by the Lloyd’s syndicates.

At that time Hajna sensed that the price of the Lloyd’s Weekly was not right. But she didn’t understand to whom Lloyd’s Weekly was sold. And Ivars didn’t want to explain it to her.

With her forthright nature, it would be better if she didn’t know such things.

Hajna had thought that the buyers of the paper would be sailors, fishermen, and laborers …… where they could afford to pay such money.

Even if they did, they would only buy meat and beer.

The tired and poor underclass couldn’t afford to buy a newspaper, they would just ask for free news from the pubs.

Little Sherlock on the side sighed and explained the circles patiently in a low voice to the uninitiated Her Highness: “Those who borrow from Lloyd’s in the Lloyd’s district are required to buy a designated share of the Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper on a regular basis as extra interest. When the loan collector comes to the house, he will check the number of copies of the newspaper in the borrower’s possession and cut off a corner of the newspaper as an acceptance.

“It was the same with all the inside information they sold. Those factory owners or company directors would order a big batch of the Lloyd’s Weekly directly from Lloyd’s. And the person who delivered the paper would bring the message along with it.

“They also had the business of investigating named targets, and once invited me. As far as I know, some private detectives take them up on their offer of employment. And when Lloyd’s sends up the investigated personal information, they also pay with a designated share of the Lloyd’s Weekly.”

“Is …… because the newspaper would pay taxes?”

Hearing that, Lulu immediately reacted, “So the finance minister and the tax minister would shelter them?”

Although this was the first time she had heard of this way of conducting gray transactions through newspapers, she immediately realized the cleverness of this practice.

It meant that Lloyd’s would disclose their entire income financial report to the kingdom and actively pay a large amount of protection money.

Since they were charged and not arrested, it meant that this behavior was permitted.

It’s worthy of being an organization cultivated by Prince Lloyd.

Despite lacking a great deal of experience, Princess Isabel’s brain was in good hands.

Moreover, she was exposed to a high class of knowledge, and thus developed a good sense of politics:

“The reason why they use ‘newspapers’ as a way to collect money is that Lloyd’s showed their respect for the ‘way of authority’, right? Even if they originated from the power left behind by Prince Lloyd, they would be in trouble if they really pissed off the Round Table Hall.

“But if it’s a loan transaction in the form of selling newspapers, it means that they’ll pay taxes on the ‘interest’ as a net income …… Because they don’t want to offend the Office of the Ombudsman, they’re more likely than those who will almost inevitably tax evaders, their tax payment behavior will instead be more positive and stable.” Isabel had heard the Minister of Revenue complain countless times about the problem of not being able to collect taxes.

He constantly asked the Inspectorate to send tax inspections to companies that might be guilty of tax evasion. Each time, it came up with a horribly long list of names – longer than Isabel’s hair, the other end of which hated to dangle to the ground when held in her hand.

-Isabel was acutely aware that if Lloyd’s was sufficiently aggressive, substantial and consistent in its tax payments, then they would indeed be sheltered.

The fact that they had been able to get the distribution rights of the Glass Steps Gazette already spoke volumes about Round Table Hall’s opinion of them.

The newsboy nodded, “Because of that, the Inspectorate won’t send anyone to police them. Coupled with their spontaneous behavior of maintaining civil order in the Lloyd District, so the Inspectorate can only turn a blind eye to them.

“That is, after all, a legitimate society that itself practiced the [Way of Authority] and also respected the more upstream existence of the [Way of Authority] as well. In a sense, they’re not really a society anymore, but rather a large corporation with unclean methods.

“So they don’t engage in behavior like ‘strangulation’ that might invite investigation. But their squeeze on the profit margins of other gangs will in turn lead to other societies constantly choosing to send their members to carry out ‘hangings’, ‘burglaries or thefts’, ‘kidnappings’, ‘assassination’ and other illegal means to obtain funds.

“And this can lead to their vulnerability to investigation and arrest by the IG. And so it further squeezes the viability of other associations.”

“–It’s more than that.”

Finally, Aiwas, who had seen the back door of the abandoned chemical plant from afar, sighed in relief and casually added, “In fact, after those strangling parties sneak up on and kill passersby and snatch all the items they have on their person, their way of selling the stolen goods is still the Lloyd’s Clubs. And some commissions like assassinations or thefts are also issued by Lloyd’s.

“That’s why I just said that there’s only one biggest gang in the Lloyd’s District, and that’s the Lloyd’s Society.”

“…… There’s still this?”

At that, even Sherlock was taken aback.

But when he thought about it, it seemed reasonable. No matter how legitimate Lloyd’s was, he was ultimately a gang organization with unclean hands rather than a proper industrial company.

But Sherlock could never find out the evidence of their crimes ……

Maybe it wasn’t just because the evidence was destroyed by the IG.

Maybe from the beginning, there was no such evidence. Because they don’t need to do that sort of thing themselves anymore.

Sherlock took a long look at the priestly Fox, and for the first time began to have doubts about his true identity.

He seemed to be familiar with the Lloyd’s district and knew about the secret passage. He even knew something about the secrets of Lloyd’s ……

–Could it be that “Fox” was not a student of the school, but a member of a gang? Or was he simply the eyes and ears of an organization that had infiltrated the church, or an apostate priest?

Thinking of this, Sherlock tentatively asked: “Mr. Fox …… if I investigate the ‘sweater fraternity’, will it cause you trouble?
“If it would, I think I’ll cast a net over it. As a token of your gratitude for helping me in the ritual.”

At those words, Ivars paused in his steps.

He glanced back at the newsboy, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

“Since I will say it in front of you, I’m not afraid of you checking it out. After investigating the ‘Bone Eagles’, let’s arrest the Sweater Brotherhood by the way …… This is also considered to be ridding the people of harm. Don’t look at the Sweater Brotherhood as a small organization, the human lives in everyone’s hands won’t be less than five.

“According to my gossip …… they might have a connection with the group of people behind the Pelican Bar.”

— Actually, it’s more than that.

The reason why Ivars remembers the secret passage is because this is a copy of the main story.

He had forgotten all about the previous storyline, but he was sure that the “Sweater Brotherhood” had something to do with the Noble Red Association. The members of the Brotherhood of Sweaters who appeared in this copy not only had their bodies and minds enhanced by the rituals of the Demon Scholars, but also had a large number of Demon Dogs that were made from corpses.

That copy was pretty disgusting.

Not only is it long and winding, it’s easy to get lost if you don’t know the way. There are all kinds of garbage, mud puddles, and sewage on the ground that affects movement, and there are also a large number of demon dogs that will ambush at the corner, activate when the first person passes by, and then suddenly rush up and start biting the second person.

These Demon Dogs are not only clad in sharp-edged scrap metal armor, but also do a lot of damage and have a chain of hatred – after they are hit, they will start shouting for the dogs, and the other dogs on patrol will come when they hear them.

The mini-monsters in this copy are much more annoying than the bosses, whose mechanics are not complicated.

Aywas didn’t want to come back and fight this copy again. Just the thought of being pounced upon and bitten by those tin crazy dogs that were fed with human flesh and half a man tall made his scalp a little numb.

Might as well have Sherlock terminate them ahead of time.

And in the meantime, give Sherlock something to do, don’t let him keep staring at the Pelican Bar behind the things to check. Otherwise, “that lord” may think that his letter has fallen into Sherlock’s hands, and vigilantly begin to destroy the evidence and silence.

If the Lord destroys the evidence faster than Ivars, he won’t be able to find out.

Although the identity of the “fox” is a mystery, but for the suspicious and intelligent Sherlock, in the dream world ritual encountered in the fox casually provide clues, on the contrary, will be more worth investigating than the reality of the clues someone deliberately sent up.

Because he would suspect the latter’s motives and try to reason backwards from a higher level – which couldn’t be said to be wrong. Aiwas was afraid that he would realize his own motives, so he had to “accidentally” slip him the information through the “chance encounter” method.

–Ivars knows Sherlock, and that’s exactly what he is.

(End of chapter)