Fantasy Writers 1860

Chapter 89. This Holmes seems to be a man with a story.

A week passed quickly. During this time, Dorian went to the underground training ground of the Academy of Literature every day to train hard and test the abilities of the illusion book "Million Pounds" and the two illusion manuscripts.

Although I think the possibility is not very high, in case the cult really comes knocking on my door and wants to physically eliminate me, I at least need to have some ability to protect myself.

We should still prepare for the worst.

Fortunately, I now have two fantasy books and two fantasy manuscripts to support me, so I have more than just some abilities.

And what Dislifei said earlier was indeed correct. In training, using the original "Million Pound Stamp" always yielded better results when using it herself.

In addition to training in phantom books and phantom manuscripts, the training in swordsmanship inspiration brought by the "Secret Long Poem" was not relaxed either; in fact, this is the most versatile.

After all, the impact of using the Illusion Book must be considered. You can't just use the Illusion Book to unleash your ultimate skill every time you encounter a thug on the street. However, his extraordinary swordsmanship level seems more normal.

No, it seems it's not impossible.

Dorian recalled the first time he met Lily; they had run into a few thugs, and Lily had immediately unleashed her full power from the Illusion Book—

In short, Dorian felt very fulfilled during this period of working during the day, training after get off work, and writing articles at home in the evening.

"You've improved quite quickly, considering you were a complete newbie not long ago—" Polina reached out her hand to Dorian, who was resting on the ground, her eyes showing more appreciation. "To be honest, with your aptitude, it's a waste for you to be in an office job. Why don't you join my team?"

That way I can keep an eye on you, making it difficult for you to get close to your older sister.

Of course, she only thought the last sentence in her mind and did not say it out loud.

"Thank you for your approval, but I don't have that plan at the moment," Dorian replied.

"Then why have you been practicing swordsmanship and using illusion books so diligently lately? You've even been to the training ground more often than my two teammates!" Polina asked, puzzled.

If you don't plan to join their field team, there's no need to train so hard every day.

"Just in case something unexpected happens, like someone comes after me or something," Dorian said with a smile.

"Well, you really are overly self-conscious. Lentinion is so big, who would be chasing after a nobody like you all day long?" Polina chuckled, clearly taking Dorian's reasoning as Jiahao's.

Could it be that my older sister actually prefers this kind of overly self-conscious style?

Why does she always act so distant towards me?

In fact, Dorian himself had thought so too. If the Dawnless Order really had some big conspiracy, they would be very busy and have a lot of things to plan. They wouldn't be so idle as to chase after a small writer like himself all day.

Even so, it's always good to have a backup plan.

"I hope so—" Dorian seemed to be responding to Polina, or perhaps talking to himself.

A week passed quickly, and finally, the previously teased episode of "Foolish Wilson" in the *Lentinian Weekly* arrived.

The day the serialization began.

Long queues formed outside newsstands, public reading rooms, and bookstores, with many people even arriving the night before to queue.

Having achieved previous successes, many people came to see Mr. Hakimi, whether they liked him or had already set their sights on critical reading, they all lined up obediently.

Even if you're going to criticize, you should at least read what his new work actually is about, otherwise you won't be able to hit the mark.

In this era, the tactic of labeling someone before taking sides is not very popular; most people will at least take a look before labeling them.

In Mr. Bentley's club, many old-money nouveau riche who were not originally very interested in literature were moved by the piece "The Necklace" that Bentley brought, and during this period they also began to pretend to be cultured and dabble in writing.

Nowadays, in addition to the usual daily discussions about reform, law, and business information, the club always has someone talking about literature; it's practically turned into a literature seminar.

Mr. Bentley was naturally the biggest beneficiary.

This time, he also brought several copies of the "Lentinion Weekly" to share Mr. Hakimi's new work with everyone.

As soon as he entered, he saw that the gentlemen in the club were already watching.

The war of words between major newspapers and Iris during this period also brought more gentlemen who were previously indifferent to literature into contact with the author, Mr. Hakimi.

"Hey, you've come at the right time! Let's see what Mr. Hakimi is up to this time!" a gentleman greeted Bentley as he entered.

Everyone began reading with different feelings:

Wilson had plenty of free time, but he never let himself be idle. He was interested in every theory that emerged in the intellectual world, and he would study and experiment with them at home. He had a little hobby, which he couldn't name, and he wouldn't explain the purpose of pursuing it, only saying that it was just for his own amusement.

In fact, he found these hobbies only reinforced his reputation as a "fool." So he became increasingly cautious, unwilling to talk about these things with others. The unnamed hobby was related to people's fingerprints.

[When he was a student at Lentinion University years ago, he met a strange man named Sherlock Holmes, who claimed to be a detective but didn't work for Scotland Yard—on the contrary, he thought the Scotland Yard detectives were a bunch of idiots.]

He could discern a person's identity through strange means, such as mud on the soles of their shoes or dust on their cuffs. He also loved to observe the ashes on the fireplace, the fibers on their cuffs, and even the corpses in the morgue—Wilson learned a few methods of observation and reasoning from him back then.

He once told Wilson that everyone has unique lines on their fingers from birth, and that no two people in the world have exactly the same lines on their fingers, not even twins.

"I always felt that this detective named Sherlock Holmes was someone with a story to tell," a gentleman who had just read this remarked for some reason.

This is Dorian's clever idea.

This novel already has elements of detective work, so why not just have Sherlock Holmes make a brief appearance earlier?

Now that we're in Britannia, how can we not copy Sherlock Holmes?

Giving a heads-up beforehand can pique the reader's interest and also lay the groundwork for future Sherlock Holmes stories.

In the future, people will be surprised to discover that they actually met such a great figure so long ago.

"I did hire a private investigator, but I felt they weren't as good as the Scotland Yard detectives—"

"Although he's an oddball, Mr. Holmes's point of view is quite correct: the detectives at Scotland Yard are a bunch of idiots."

"Haha, isn't saying that a bit too harsh on them?"

"Where do all these stories come from? The main character, Wilson, is now living in the countryside. That Holmes living in Lentinion is probably just a minor character written on the spot, a tool to explain the origin of Wilson's eccentricities—"

Soon everyone continued reading, no one wanted to waste time reading the main text for a minor character who only appeared a few lines.

"However, Mr. Holmes seems to be right about one thing: look at your own fingers, they do indeed have lines—"

Suddenly someone said this, and everyone looked at their hands, and those wearing gloves took them off.

"Strange, how come I've never noticed this before—"

"Yes, there are, but they're too finely detailed to be sure if they're all different."

Just then, Mr. Bentley said, "Gentlemen, let's wait and see. Perhaps Mr. Holmes also has methods for teaching Wilson research?"