Klein scratched his head without thinking. He couldn't quite work out why they'd recited his Honorific Name.
But thinking it over, the only people who'd explicitly said they wanted to help him "promote" his name to expand the Tarot Club were "the Lovers" and "Justice." So which of them had referred these two "maids"?
Given how go-getting Miss Justice was about things like this, it was probably her.
He mulled it over for a moment but didn't rush to respond. He decided to do it late at night, then observe their reactions, attitude, and how they handled themselves — a character and competence test.
He found a comfortable position, leaned back, and murmured to himself: "Now I just wait for afternoon to arrive."
...
3 PM.
As several red-tinged figures appeared on either side of the bronze table, another week's Tarot Club was underway. Looking at the familiar grey fog and the hazy outlines of its members, Audrey — who had recently advanced to Sequence 8 — was in excellent spirits. She half-rose from her seat, lifted her skirts in a curtsy, and called out cheerfully:
"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~ Good afternoon, Mr. Hanged Man, Mr. Sun, Mr. Lovers, Ms. Lovers!"
Klein slipped smoothly into the Fool's persona and gave the assembled members a slight nod.
Alger spoke respectfully: "Mr. Fool, as agreed, I have six pages of Roselle's diary for You this week."
Even as he spoke, he materialised the six pages in his hand, ready to offer them to the head of the bronze table — then suddenly remembered something. "Mr. Fool, I've also heard a piece of intelligence regarding the Secret Order."
"Good."
Klein rested his chin in his hand with an expression of mild interest but no urgency, gaze falling on the six diary pages already in his hands.
Alger said evenly: "The Secret Order has ties to the Republic of Intis."
"Oh?"
Klein wasn't surprised. Emperor Roselle had been Intisian; Zaratul had first approached him in Trier, Intis's capital; the Secret Order had later been involved in the famous Intisian coup. "Anything else?"
Alger looked slightly abashed. "That's all I could find. The Secret Order has been so secretive these past years — reliable intelligence on them is always extremely scarce."
Bernadette spoke up: "During Emperor Roselle's reign, the Secret Order had very close ties with Intis. When Zaratul vanished, the Secret Order chose to lay low. Later, when the Intis Empire was overthrown, the Secret Order lost most of its upper echelons during the upheaval. Some surviving members were absorbed by the Republic of Intis and incorporated into the Eighth Bureau. Others have spent their time ever since searching for the missing Zaratul."
Klein's mind stirred: So if I want to obtain later Clairvoyant potion formulas, the Eighth Bureau of Intis could be one avenue to explore?
The reason that idea occurred to him was: yes, as a member of the Evernight Church, his potion formulas and materials could be requisitioned through official channels — but they weren't truly "free." At low Sequences it was fine, but at mid-Sequence, each application cost contribution points.
That would massively slow down his advancement and push back his revenge against Ince Zangwill.
So of course he needed a backup plan.
Even knowing from this meeting that "the Lovers" was very likely a demigod, Alger couldn't help asking: "Ms. Lovers, how did you come to know all this about the Secret Order?"
She said flatly: "A while ago I apprehended some Secret Order members in Intis. The intelligence came from them."
Audrey asked curiously: "Ms. Lovers, why did you capture Secret Order members? Did you have a grievance with them?"
"I just wanted to use their Beyonder characteristics to craft a sealed artifact."
Audrey faltered. Just for that, you killed people?
Alger, seeing Justice's reaction, gave a silent shake of his head: This well-bred young noblewoman still hasn't grasped the brutality of the Beyonder world, has she.
Klein meanwhile had sunk into thought. If that's the case, Ms. Lovers very likely knows later Clairvoyant formulas. But I can't exactly approach her as the Fool to inquire and negotiate — the whole "my Blessed has a request" angle seems flimsy, and it might leave an obvious opening.
Man, I wish I could create an alt account on the Grey Fog — I could send him in for anything I'm not sure about, send him to buy whatever I want, and use him as a scapegoat whenever I need to project authority.
An absolute all-purpose tool.
Too bad I can currently only conjure a stiff, blank mannequin up here.
While he was brooding about this, Ms. Lovers' voice came through: "My apologies, Mr. Fool — no new diary pages from me this week."
Vincent said: "Same here."
Klein gave a small nod and directed his attention to the six pages, reading carefully.
"October 29th. The Secret Order's leader, Zaratul, visited me again… I had a feeling Zaratul was stronger and more mysterious than the rest of them, so almost as an offhand remark, I asked what Sequence he was. He actually answered!
"He said he was a Sequence 2 Miracle Worker!"
Klein felt a jolt. So Sequence 2 of the Clairvoyant's pathway was called Miracle Worker — a Sequence capable of manipulating fate and performing miracles, stronger than most senior archbishops in the orthodox Churches.
Wonder when I'll ever advance to Miracle Worker.
He immediately laughed at himself — he was barely Sequence 8 and already daydreaming about Sequence 2. That was truly getting way ahead of himself.
He took a breath and kept reading.
The following pages mentioned the name of the Fortune Pathway's Sequence 1, touched on the life-studies school of thought and its worship of the moon, and noted that Roselle's wife was pregnant — along with the aside that Beyonders could pass their Beyonder characteristics to their children through reproduction.
That meant the saying "dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and the mice's children know how to burrow" was literally true in this world.
This cursed world where everything is about who your parents are.
Inwardly fuming, Klein dismissed the diary pages and looked toward "Justice" and the others.
"You're free to trade or exchange freely."
Audrey was a little disappointed there was no free mysticism lecture from Mr. Fool this week. She turned to the Hanged Man and Ms. Lovers: "Mr. Hanged Man, Ms. Lovers — how did your cooperation go last week?"
She was referring to their agreed-upon hunt for Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos.
Last week, Audrey had witnessed Qilangos in action with her own eyes at Duke Negan's ball — he'd cut off the old duke's head, then walked away without a care. She'd rushed to pray about it and report it to Mr. Fool.
But Mr. Fool had been slow to respond, and only two or three days later informed her that Ms. Lovers and Mr. Hanged Man had already moved against Qilangos.
Bernadette looked at Alger. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hanged Man. I did try to track Qilangos over the past few days, but a high-Sequence entity placed an anti-divination effect on him."
Alger immediately said: "Qilangos is dead! Died right in front of me."
Audrey's mouth fell open slightly. "What?!"
Dead?
Bernadette too was genuinely surprised. Who was capable enough to kill Qilangos right under Adam's nose? Had a god intervened? She looked thoughtfully at the Fool.
"??"
Klein: Don't look at me like that, what did I do.
Alger, in a tone of reverence and gratitude, said: "It was thanks to Mr. Fool sending one of His angels that Qilangos was killed so easily."
Klein knew perfectly well that what had killed Qilangos was Mr. Azik, who had happened to be nearby at the time. And faced with Alger's assumption, he simply offered a faint smile and said nothing.
Vincent was stunned: So Qilangos still ended up dying at Azik's hands? But even at his peak, Azik couldn't have pulled that off with Adam right there.
Unless… Adam deliberately let Azik do it?
But why?
The answer came to him quickly: Creeping Hunger.
For Azik, the Beyonder abilities stored in Creeping Hunger had no value — its significance was its power to help him recover his memories.
And as Azik recovered those memories, odds were things would play out just as in canon: he'd find that man-made god of death, and ultimately "fulfil" the Evernight Goddess's purpose.
Bernadette furrowed her brow, thinking. She looked up at Klein. "Mr. Fool — did You act personally?"
"Hmm?"
Everyone found it strange. The Hanged Man had just said an angel of Mr. Fool's did it — why was Ms. Lovers suggesting Mr. Fool acted personally?
Klein asked mildly: "What makes you think that?"
She glanced at Alger. "When I was with Mr. Hanged Man and we'd already captured Qilangos, a powerful entity intervened. He looked like an ordinary priest — but in reality was a Sequence 1 King of Angels whose power was only a hair's breadth from true godhood."
"!!!"
Alger's jaw dropped.
He'd guessed that something had happened during that moment when he'd lost track of things and Qilangos had vanished — but he could never have imagined it involved a Sequence 1 King of Angels. One a hair's breadth from a true god, at that.
I only wanted to kill a Sequence 6 pirate. How the hell did it end up involving someone like that?
He immediately looked at the Fool with even deeper reverence. "Praise be to Mr. Fool!"
Audrey's eyes went wide in shock. "A mere pirate admiral ended up tangled in the schemes of actual gods?!" That — that is absolutely wild!
But of course Mr. Fool seemed completely unbothered, as though this was nothing worth mentioning — which of course it wasn't, for a true god. That Sequence 1 King of Angels might be only a step below godhood, but that step might as well be an uncrossable chasm.
The collective worship and awe from the others was making Klein genuinely nervous. I just casually rode Mr. Azik's coattails a little — how did I end up connected to something this terrifying?
But he also knew with certainty this had nothing to do with him. So how had Mr. Azik managed to kill Qilangos? Could Mr. Azik also be a Sequence 1 King of Angels?!
Vincent couldn't help pressing his hand to his face inwardly. Without him even needing to wonder, he knew Alger and Audrey's brains were spinning out a full opera of dramatic scenarios right now.
What actually had him curious was why Bernadette would bring up Adam at the Tarot Club meeting at all.
Just as the thought occurred to him, he heard her ask: "Esteemed Mr. Fool, are You acquainted with that 'priest'?" Adam seems to know a great deal about Father's situation, but won't tell me. If Mr. Fool knows Adam, maybe I can get some intelligence from Him.
Klein shook his head slightly. "My apologies. I'm not acquainted with Him."
The more Klein's understanding of the mystical and Beyonder world deepened, the more he'd come to understand that the gods of this world, though powerful and inscrutable, were absolutely not omniscient and omnipotent.
Gods had limits. Gods could be cornered.
Admitting he simply didn't know one Sequence 1 figure wasn't going to dent Mr. Fool's image of being powerful and unfathomable.
Bernadette hid her disappointment. "Understood. Thank you, Mr. Fool."
Alger hesitantly asked: "Ms. Lovers, do you know why that… priest, saved Qilangos?"
"At the time, He only said that Qilangos had come to Backlund on a commission from Him to carry out a certain task."
Audrey asked: "The task that he believed, once completed, would have made the Four Pirate Kings into Five? So there was such a powerful figure behind him all along — no wonder he was so confident."
Alger fell into deep thought, something forming at the edges of his speculation.
Klein leaned his cheek on his fist, watching Ms. Lovers thoughtfully: he'd suspected for a while that "the Lovers" was something more than she appeared, with the highest Sequence among all current members. But now it seemed like she was even more remarkable than he'd imagined — because most people couldn't identify a King of Angels whose power was only a step below godhood.
Either she happened to have relevant intelligence on that angel, or she knew him personally, or… she'd deduced it from her own strength.
And Klein also noticed that Mr. Hanged Man's demeanour toward Ms. Lovers had distinctly shifted this week — far more careful and respectful than before. No need to think about why: he'd obviously seen her power during their meeting last week.
So what exactly is "the Lovers'" Sequence?
Could she actually be a high-Sequence Beyonder?
But I couldn't have pulled in anyone that high-Sequence with the spirituality I have.
During all this cross-table chatter, Little Sun Derrick listened with both eyes glazing over with incomprehension: had no idea what the Secret Order was, had no idea what Intis was… Only knew that Mr. Fool's angel was incredibly powerful, Mr. Fool was incredibly powerful, and so followed everyone else's lead in praising Mr. Fool and hollering his praise.
But what he cared about more was how to get the formula for the Sequence 8 Lumen Lancer.
Right as that thought occurred, he heard Miss "Justice's" voice: "Mr. Sun, might I trade with you for dragon-related intelligence?"
"Sure — I'd like the Sequence 8 Bard pathway potion formula."
Audrey said readily: "I'll find the Sequence 8 Bard pathway formula for you as soon as I can — not today, but can you accept that?" She glanced at the head of the ancient table. "We could have Mr. Fool act as witness."
Klein smiled: "Miss Justice — perhaps I can cover the Lumen Lancer formula for you."
Audrey's eyes lit up immediately, though a flicker of worry followed. "Of course! But I'm not sure… what I could offer in exchange."
What on earth can a god want from me?
Surely not gold pounds?
That's literally all I have left to give.
Klein gave a faint smile. "No rush — I'll announce a task in a moment."
Oh?
Audrey's ears perked up, eyes going wide with a mix of surprise, anticipation, and nerves. "What task?"
"Not yet."
Klein pressed a hand down and summoned a yellowish-brown sheepskin, laid out with the complete Lumen Lancer formula including substitute materials and archaic names, all translated into Giant language.
"Miss Justice — we can discuss dragon matters now. Should I block the others out?"
Audrey glanced at Ms. Lovers, hesitated a second, and said: "No need." — Even though "the Lovers" couple had kind of looked down on her before, which was a little annoying, they also openly shared mysticism knowledge during meetings. If they could be that generous, she certainly wasn't going to be petty.
Besides, if she blocked them out, they might start blocking her out when they shared things. Then she'd lose her free knowledge pass.
"Mr. Sun, please just go ahead."
Alger had some interest in dragon intelligence and wasn't willing to pay to listen, but since Miss Justice was being so generous, why not enjoy a free listen.
Derrick looked around at everyone, organised his thoughts, and began: "Dragons are the mortal enemies of the Giant King's Court, and they look like scaled-up lizards…"
He recited from memory: "…Regarding the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt, there's a legend that says: whatever it imagined would be given form; whatever fantasy realm it conceived would descend upon the material world; whatever future it proclaimed would come to pass and become reality."
"!!!"
Klein's brow suddenly creased, and he barely managed to keep his composure from slipping — why does this description sound so much like Sealed Artifact 0-08?
Derrick continued: "Its son, the Dragon of Nightmare, Alzuhod, was equally terrifying… it would engineer all kinds of coincidences, turning the fates of many living beings toward tragedy."
All kinds of coincidences — this one actually sounds even more like Sealed Artifact 0-08.
Wait — is 0-08 made from this "angel's" characteristics?
If so, how unimaginably powerful is it?!
And how am I supposed to take revenge against Ince Zangwill, who has an artifact like that?
But wait...
Klein suddenly felt something didn't add up: an artifact this terrifying had to be watched with obsessive care by the Church. So how had a mere Sequence 5 like Ince Zangwill managed to steal it?
To be continued…
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