Audrey gave a slight nod. "Mm."
"Right—Priscilla just said you went to help the wounded." Lilith pulled Audrey down to sit on the sofa and asked, "How is the situation?"
Audrey's expression grew a little heavier. "Nearly a hundred people were blown to death on site, and there were almost a thousand injured. And this was caused by only a few airborne vessels of Feysac that broke through the defensive line. By now, the two nations' border should already be engaged in full combat. People are dying every moment."
Priscilla raised her hand. "Lilith and Medici were just saying that someone is behind this war, stirring trouble."
Audrey's eyes flickered. She said in a low voice, "I know…it's George III. He orchestrated this war to complete the Black Emperor ritual and ascend to Sequence 0."
"Hahahahaha!"
Medici burst into loud laughter. "Little girl, who told you this war was orchestrated by George III?"
"It was…"
She thought for a moment, then said, "I just received the news from the Psychology Alchemist. Isn't it true?"
"George III…well, of course it has something to do with him, but he's merely the one standing in the open."
Audrey still wanted to hear this King of Angels' wisdom continue, yet He stopped right there.
"Want to know?"
Medici grinned. "I'm not telling you!"
"…"
"This is payback to that brat!"
Audrey could only swallow her confusion with some helplessness.
Lilith leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Audrey, what's behind this actually involves several other Kings of Angels and Deities. It's very complicated. It's not that I don't want to tell you—knowing too much would be harmful to you."
Audrey instinctively wanted to ask: Then why can you know, Lilith—your Sequence is lower than mine…
But in the next second, she suddenly realised that Lilith's state on returning this time seemed different from before. Perhaps it was related to that.
"But what I'm curious about is…"
Audrey pondered for a moment and asked, "Once a war breaks out and escalates, it inevitably causes massive casualties. Most of the dead are the believers of the gods—their anchors. Do the gods truly not care?"
"In truth, the anchors a deity needs aren't 'the more the better.' Once a certain number is reached, having more…brings more harm than benefit."
"That's why for thousands of years, the major Churches rarely interfere in wars between nations. No matter how much people fight, as long as those who survive continue to believe in Them, that's enough."
"As for George III's scheme…" Lilith patiently explained, "Do you remember the apocalypse Edward mentioned a long time ago?"
Audrey's heart tightened. "Yes, of course."
"To prepare for the apocalypse, all Seven Gods wish for a 'Black Emperor' to appear. As for who becomes this Black Emperor, They don't particularly care. And when George III, after years of preparation, finally progressed to the final step, the Seven Gods actually had no reason to oppose him."
"This involves the essence of the apocalypse and the method of dealing with it, but I can't tell you that for now."
Audrey was stunned. "So everything George III has done was tacitly permitted by the gods."
"That's right."
For something to be permitted by the gods did not mean it was right.
But if even the gods tacitly accepted it, changing such a matter was bound to be incredibly difficult.
Yet Edessak and Helena, the siblings, still chose to stop George III—they wanted to drag him from the throne and the sacred pedestal, even though their reasons were largely rooted in revenge.
At that moment, Audrey couldn't help but feel a trace of admiration for them. But at the same time, her confusion deepened: What was the meaning of that vote not long ago?
If she had voted for, would the siblings have abandoned their revenge? Would they have joined the Psychology Alchemist in supporting George III?
Was her vote truly that important?
Unless…
A sudden shock surged through Audrey's heart. Unless they knew I was a member of the Tarot Club—knew that behind the Tarot Club stood a deity like Mr. Fool.
She couldn't help thinking back to the earlier incident—when she seemed to have been affected by a psychological cue, almost going to Klein to "confess" and acknowledge kinship. When she thought it through at the time, she had suspected that whoever implanted that suggestion might have been targeting Mr. Fool.
Could these two matters be connected?
Audrey glanced at the two children and the King of Angels in the living room, then rose to her feet. "I'm going to the washroom."
"You're going to pray to Mr. Fool?"
"Mm."
Although everyone present was well aware of Mr. Fool's existence and could be considered members of the Tarot Club, Audrey still wasn't used to praying to Mr. Fool under the gaze of others.
She entered the washroom, lowered the toilet lid and sat down. Pressing her palms together against her forehead, she murmured softly:
"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era;
The Mysterious Ruler above the Gray Fog;
The King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck.
Respected Mr. Fool, I have something important to report to you…"
———
In the Foggy Town.
Klein stood before that wall and attempted once more to draw the symbol he had seen beneath Tingen, as well as the one representing the Fool above the grey fog—yet none of them opened a way out.
His expression gradually turned bitter. He began to suspect that he would be trapped here forever, just like Mr. A, forced to fight those Beyonders the lady had thrown in afterwards until he starved to death or was eaten.
But the moment this thought surfaced, he suddenly froze. "That's not right. Mr. A, and those other Beyonders—being thrown in here seemed far more like punishment."
"But I'm different. I was sent in by the Evernight Goddess's messenger as Her Blessed, to obtain the Bizarro Sorcerer potion formula. There's no reason They would purposely send me to my death."
"This place was clearly connected to the power of darkness—perhaps even directly to the Evernight Goddess Herself. And as a Blessed, when encountering difficulties, the first thing one usually thinks of is seeking aid from the Goddess."
"So…how should one seek Her help?"
Klein pondered, then once again raised his right hand and sketched a simplified outline of the Dark Sacred Emblem.
In an instant, the scene beyond the transparent door rippled like disturbed water and began to change. Beyond the now-shifting gate appeared a bottomless cliff face, the vast night sky, countless stars, and the crimson moon.
Just as expected…
Klein took a deep breath, placed both hands against the door, and pushed.
Creak—
The door opened with a soft sound. A cold wind whistled toward him, making Klein shiver. He tightened his collar, then tossed a coin and conducted a divination, receiving the revelation that there was no danger outside.
After that, he drew the sign of the Crimson Moon upon his chest in earnest, lifted his right foot, and stepped through the illusory doorway.
Darkness greeted his sight first—then boundless night and a sky full of glittering stars. In the next moment, he realized he stood atop some mountain peak. Aside from lingering snow, jagged stones, and the dawn sunlight, there was nothing around him.
Still, he did not completely relax. He first prepared to control his marionette and open a Door to the Spirit World to leave this place.
If he succeeded, that would mean he had indeed escaped the Foggy town and returned to the real world, allowing him to instantly move away from his current location and avoid danger. If he failed, he would quickly understand the situation and be ready to fend off possible attacks.
Suddenly, a faint noise reached his ears—someone was praying to him!
There was no longer any doubt.
I really did get out.
Only then did Klein finally let out a breath of relief.
"These past two days have been far too thrilling."
Sigh…am I really the Goddess's Blessed or not?
If he was, then why did he have to go through such a convoluted ordeal just to obtain a formula? He could have died in there at any moment! He couldn't help complaining internally:
The Goddess is way too unreliable!
Whoever wants to be Her Blessed can have it!
Of course, that was nothing more than a complaint. Klein still had to visit the church again—properly face the messenger and respectfully say, "Thank you."
"Let's head back to Backlund first."
With that thought, Klein controlled the Traveler marionette and brought himself into the rich, ink-like Spirit World, heading straight for Backlund.
He went to St. Samuel's Church first, retrieving the marionette of the demigod that had been "thrown" near there. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to return to the rented hotel. Not only did he need to respond to the member who had prayed to him, he also needed to quickly sacrifice the Fool card above the grey fog before it caused more trouble.
The moment he stepped out of the Spirit World, Klein sensed something strange in the atmosphere.
He went to the window and looked outside. Groups of pedestrians clustered together talking in agitation. Two newsboys were running down the street shouting while waving newspapers:
"Feysac air raid—death toll reaches two hundred sixty-two!"
"Feysac air raid—death toll reaches two hundred sixty-two!"
"Loen has formally declared war on Feysac!"
"Loen has formally declared war on Feysac!"
The cries echoing down the street made Klein's mind go blank for a moment.
"What is happening? I've only been gone half a day—just visited the Foggy town—and something this huge has already happened?"
Feysac air-raiding Backlund?
Loen declaring war?
Although he had long expected war to break out, when it truly arrived, his heart still felt heavy. Whether Feysac launched war because of Loen's political instability, old grudges, the need to divert domestic tension, or simply due to the ambitions of those in power—
The ones who suffered in the end were always the ordinary people at the bottom.
"Sigh…I don't even know what I can do in all this."
Klein drew the curtains shut, walked into the washroom, and first prayed to himself, sacrificing the Card of Blasphemy above the grey fog. Only after that did he sit upright on his bronze chair and gaze at the swelling, flickering crimson star.
He extended his spirituality into the star, and soon, Audrey's figure appeared within the depths of the grey fog.
"Respected Mr. Fool, I have something important to report."
"You have likely already learned of Feysac's attack on Loen and the outbreak of war. I've just received some hidden information regarding this war. This war…"
Audrey relayed everything she had learned from Edessak and Helena, as well as from Medici and Lilith, all in one breath. At the end, she concluded, "…But all of this is merely what I've heard. Please forgive me for informing you before verifying its truth. I simply felt that this matter involves far too much. I leave it to your judgment, Mr. Fool."
"…"
After hearing Audrey's account, Mr. Fool was completely dumbfounded.
———
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