Crossing Gryphon Bridge, Sherlock, walking alongside, glanced at the maid, Lily, who was pushing Aiwass's wheelchair, and quietly began to speak:
"Really, I didn't expect Master Yanis to give that painting to you."
"I didn't expect it either,"
Aiwass answered honestly.
"Although Master Yanis seems very approachable, she is actually quite proud. If you don't earn her approval, Master Yanis will just smile sarcastically and look at you with an expression as if staring at a fool, without saying a word,"
Sherlock softly hinted, "The Master values you greatly... does she want you to follow the Path of Beauty?"
Aiwass nodded and joked, "She wants me to be the princess's junior brother."
"I guess you must have refused," Sherlock said without hesitation.
"Indeed. How did you guess?" Aiwass asked.
"Because I don't see a passion for art in you."
Sherlock laughed, "Actually, I quite like playing the violin. I think I play pretty well... it's just that I never had the opportunity to follow the Path of Beauty."
Aiwass blinked, "It's not too late now, Mr. Sherlock."
"No, it's already too late. Or rather, from the very beginning, I should not have chosen the path of Authority. Balance, Wisdom, and Beauty... any of these would have suited me better."
Sherlock turned to Aiwass and said with heartfelt sincerity, "I hope that you don't spend a long time on a path only to realize later that you have no passion for it. The suitability of a path is based on talent, but not necessarily on interest... but I believe interest is more important than talent. Talent determines how high you can reach, but interest determines your adaptability on that path.
"If you have no slight interest in a path, but the attraction of high positions on it makes you madly want to advance further... believe me, that kind of self-torment will drive you insane."
"...Thank you very much for sharing your experience, Mr. Sherlock."
Aiwass knew that all Sherlock had said was valuable advice. It was a sincere warning, coming from the heart.
And he hadn't met Sherlock many times, nor was he the emotionally driven type like Isabel—this kindness undoubtedly stemmed from his elder brother, Edward.
Therefore, Aiwass became somewhat curious.
Because he actually didn't know Edward that well. Edward was much older than himself and Yulia. Rather than a brother, he was more like an uncle. They also didn't interact much... In Aiwass's memory, there weren't many stories about Edward. He even couldn't remember Edward's full name.
However, Edward was the direct cause of Aiwass's death in the plot—he, following his adoptive father's orders, launched a fatal spell attack on the players, and Aiwass took that deadly blow for the player.
Although his primary target wasn't Aiwass, nowadays Aiwass couldn't help but shiver when he thought of Edward.
"I have a question, Mr. Sherlock..."
Unable to hold back, Aiwass asked, "How do you know my brother?"
"We were classmates,"
Sherlock answered succinctly, "He was the only good friend I made during my university days."
"...But if I remember correctly," Aiwass began, "Mr. Sherlock, you're just over twenty years old this year, right?"
"I'm twenty-six this year," Sherlock replied.
"But my elder brother is already thirty-five... How did you two become classmates?" Aiwass pressed.
Upon hearing this, Sherlock couldn't help but laugh.
He explained, "It's not only young people like you who have risen from secondary school that can go to university.
"Like you at your age, Edward did not graduate from the Royal Law University. He graduated from Milton University in Grei County,"
Although the Royal Law University is the largest and oldest Transcendent university in Avalon, it is not the only one.
Over three hundred years ago, several professors from the Royal Law University were accused by their own students of "teaching heretical doctrines not permitted by His Majesty the King" and were sentenced to the gruesome penalty of boiling alive. To be specific, it was the forbidden knowledge of the Path of Wisdom and the Path of Balance.
And following strong protests, that generation's King reluctantly changed the sentence to parading stripped of clothes through the streets. Those professors, unwilling to accept such humiliation, fled the Royal Law University.
The Bishop of Milton from the Eternal Theocracy had just established a Theological Seminary in Grei County, far from Glass Island.
Upon hearing of the professors' plight, the young elf felt sympathy and thus sheltered them. Later, as many people wanted to escape from Glass Island which was infested with Inspectors and the "Eye of Avalon," Milton University gradually acquired a fairly strong faculty. Although its enrollment size and campus area were far less than the Royal Law University... their teaching quality wasn't inferior.
Before Queen Sofia opened the fifth and sixth divisions of the University of Law, Milton University was the only Transcendent institution in Avalon that taught "heretical doctrines" and "forbidden spells." Due to Bishop Milton's close relationship with the Eternal Theocracy, the Hall of Silver and Tin chose to turn a blind eye to this.
Today, the Dean of Milton is still alive—even after the destruction of Avalon by the Star Antimony people, Milton University still exists as a refuge during the chaos of war.
"After graduating from Milton University, Edward continued his education at two more universities. Ultimately, he bypassed the Supervisory Bureau, joined the Supervisory Court, and got his own Gryphon as transportation.