When the plot-skips players into the game world

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When Andre Watson regained consciousness, he noticed a child with his hands clasped behind his back, standing to one side and staring at him.

Clutching a cane, the child maintained a solemn expression, looking quite serious indeed.

"Ah..."

Watson, the detective, emitted a hoarse voice, finally managing to recover himself with some difficulty.

But at the moment he was still shivering, and it took a good while before he regained the ability to speak.

The chill was still permeating his body, and the eyes of Watson remained tinged with fear, "What on earth happened... Why would there be The Wild Hunt here?"

"Probably just bad luck, running into it,"

the child asked indifferently, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh..."

Struggling, Watson managed to sit up from the ground. Hayna kindly lent a hand to help—at this moment, he saw the Gryphon beside Hayna, mingled with a slew of white feathers, and his actions stuttered for a moment.

In a flash, young Sherlock narrowed his eyes.

"Thank you, this... Inspector General?"

Watson ventured to ask.

Hayna shook her head, "I am not an Inspector General yet. You can call me Miss Hayna for now—this is Arthur Conan Doyle."

"Greetings, kind Miss and Sir. Thank you very much for saving me."

Watson was pale with a bluish tinge, his lips white.

However, Hayna noticed that his recovery was quite rapid... Once he came to, just a few breaths later, his speech became fluent, and his complexion and mental state visibly improved, "My name is Andre Watson, and I am a detective."

"Oh, hello Watson..."

Hayna had barely begun speaking when young Sherlock suddenly raised his voice, interrupting her:

"—So, Detective Watson," he called out authoritatively, "may I ask what brings you specifically to such a remote village?"

Watson hesitated for a moment before realizing that the child was the one leading the conversation.

Perhaps he was not a child at all.

...Perhaps, he was a dwarf?

Watson's mind suddenly produced this bizarre idea, and he reflexively started to think quickly.

—That person named Hayna, being able to acquire a Pureblood Gryphon in its juvenile phase, implies that she must have at least reached the threshold of the Fourth Power Level. She merely stated that she is not yet an Inspector General, but she didn't specify that she's not from the Supervisory Bureau... Moreover, her stance appears quite casual, indicating she's probably not from the military.

If not from the military, then reaching the Fourth Power Level would mean entering the Arbitration Hall. At that point, as part of Avalon's top combat force and talent reserve, one would receive the queen's commission, become a Knight, and join the Round Table Hall.

Without a doubt, that's the peak of power attainable by ordinary people.

Yet she treated that child with great respect—

Watson was absolutely certain; the emotion was respect, and there was even a bit of fear. When that "child" spoke, she immediately stopped talking. She even tentatively looked to him for guidance.

This undoubtedly indicated the "child's" extremely high status.

A child who could command such respect and fear from a Knight was likely only from royalty. But without question, Avalon could not currently have a male royal family member in this age bracket.

There was only one explanation then.

This person, seemingly a child, had an adult's mind. He was a dwarf!

And most likely a secret administrator for some minister or an agency!

"—Don't get carried away with your thoughts, Detective Watson. Please answer my question."

The child, growing impatient, raised the cane in hand and prodded his abdomen not too gently, not too fiercely. It was like being jabbed by an uncouth child wielding an iron stick; the pain caused him to grimace, yet also awakened him from his deliberation and fantasy.

"Yes, Mr. Doyle..."

He responded instinctively.

But no sooner had the words left his mouth than he saw "Mr. Doyle" quirk an eyebrow. Watson instantly knew he had misspoken again and immediately regretted it.

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He could only force himself to keep going, pretending he hadn't seen anything: "I'm here to find Detective Sherlock Hermes."

"...Hmm?"

Hayna was briefly stunned, her gaze involuntarily flicking towards Sherlock. Explore new worlds at My Virtual Library Empire

And Watson immediately captured this subtle expression.

His heart immediately tightened.

——Why did she look at the dwarf? Is he involved in the disappearance of Sherlock? Was it his doing? Or does Sherlock have something to do with him?

Or could it be... that he is Sherlock?

As soon as such a thought emerged in Watson's mind, a new association formed: indeed, if Sherlock had turned into a child through a ritual, his sudden disappearance would make sense.

Then the Arbiter's respect towards him would also be explainable. The feeling of being dismissively regarded by him, and somehow relieved but also somewhat disdainful, also vaguely resembled Sherlock...

"I am Mr. Hermes's apprentice."

Little Sherlock prodded Watson with that walking stick, bluntly asking, "What do you want with him?"

"He's missing... Some suspect he's been killed."

Watson half-truthfully answered: "I've been commissioned to investigate his whereabouts."

"He's fine. He's just on a secret mission."

Little Sherlock calmly replied: "He'll be back within two months at the latest. Go tell your client that—if there really is such a client."

Watson's heart tightened, he opened his mouth and then closed it, falling silent for a moment.

And Sherlock had already sighed inwardly.

This idiot...

He had felt that Watson wasn't very bright before, and his perception was even clearer now.

Sherlock, having reached the third power level on the Path of Wisdom, could clearly perceive that... Detective Watson had only reached the second power level.

He really isn't smart!

For ordinary people, the mere awakening of an extraordinary profession from the Path of Wisdom seemed to indicate intelligence.

But Sherlock knew the other's identity—

He was the illegitimate son of a Mage Lord of the Daffodil Territory and the Son of the Moon. Being the offspring of two different high-level Transcendents from distinct paths, he naturally had an aptitude for both the Path of Wisdom and the Path of Love.

However, Watson's strength was not outstanding.

At least not significant on the Path of Wisdom.

Naturally possessing an aptitude for the Path of Wisdom, yet at his age he had just scraped into the second power level...

Typically, a fresh college graduate would be about this level!

Watson's father, Dr. Watson, as a fourth power-level senior Mage, could put up a fight even against fifth-level adversaries within his own Mage Tower. And what garnered him most respect was his research as a medical doctor—he was knowledgeable about dental diseases, digestive system disorders, and lymphatic system illnesses.

Sherlock had even read Dr. Watson's papers and learned much from them.

Dr. Watson had once written a treatise detailing the digestion rates of various foods in the human body. He also discussed how, after human death, foods at different stages of digestion would appear in varying ways under different conditions and over different periods of time.

Dr. Watson had also written a paper about how various types of bullets could cause different injuries to different parts of the human body when fired from certain distances, as well as the likely immediate causes of death resulting from such injuries.

These insights were greatly enlightening to Sherlock.

He was also Sherlock's pen friend and external support. Sherlock had once photographed some materials from challenging cases and mailed them to the good doctor, who would kindly provide detailed solutions.

And Dr. Watson had written a letter hoping Sherlock would look out for his child a bit. Otherwise, he might just be taken by the authorities of Avalon to be "exchanged as a hostage."

——Yes, Andre Watson's true identity was that of a spy.

And he was a spy who had long since been exposed and placed under the surveillance of Avalon.