"???"
What was that?
Klein thought he'd misheard. "Anything else?"
"Also…" Come on, think. "Also — He told me that if I ever come across other people troubled by the full-moon gibberish, I should give them either His honorific or… yours, and tell them you can resolve the curse."
"Other people troubled by the full-moon gibberish?"
"That's all of it, Mr. Fool."
Klein tapped one finger lightly against the bronze table. "Every full moon, you hear gibberish from some unknown source?"
"Yes."
"How long does it last?"
"Three to five minutes. On a blood moon night, sometimes more than seven." Fors reined in her scattered thoughts and answered honestly.
Klein glanced at the marking on the back of the chair she was seated in, and was almost certain: the owner of that gibberish was "Mr. Door." Roselle's diary had mentioned this entity — he had written that Door claimed to be trapped somewhere, unable to return to reality, and had hoped Roselle would help bring him back. Roselle had played along superficially, drawing out a considerable amount of mystical knowledge from the exchange — but he'd never believed Door for a moment and never had the slightest intention of actually helping.
Perhaps these full-moon murmurs were Door's way of making some kind of appeal, through whatever channel was available to him.
If so, the other people the Lord of Chaos had mentioned — those who could hear the gibberish — might all share some connection to Door.
Fors hesitated, then ventured: "Great Mr. Fool, may I — may I recite your name whenever the full moon comes? I… I'll be your most devoted follower!"
Even as she said it, she felt a flicker of guilt: she still had something of a connection to the Lord of Chaos.
"Heh."
Klein smiled gently. "Are you a follower of the Lord of Chaos?"
"I… I'm not entirely sure."
Fors said uncertainly: "I've only met that presence once. I sought His protection and He refused — but He gave me some special abilities and had me sign a contract, agreeing to do certain things for Him. I don't really know what I count as to that existence."
(Vincent: A free unpaid worker, obviously.)
Behind the Grey Fog, Klein's mouth twitched slightly. That's basically my own situation too.
Wait.
Between his main identity, his "World" sub-account, and the woman in front of him — the Tarot Club now had six people in total, and half of them had connections to the Lord of Chaos?
He'd always thought of the Tarot Club as a collection of double-agents from different factions. Turns out — he was also being double-agented. And the biggest double-agent of all was Mr. Fool himself.
Ah.
Klein exhaled quietly, and with a wave of his hand materialised a set of Tarot cards, placing them on the table before Fors. "Choose one as your codename for future visits."
...
While Klein was receiving Fors, Vincent in the Nation of Disorder was meeting with Sharron again. She appeared in her usual black court gown, and spoke with quiet gratitude: "Great presence — we've successfully eliminated the Indulgence Faction's pursuers. I'm deeply grateful for your assistance."
Vincent smiled. "In truth, I don't think I actually helped you much. The things you were worried about never materialised."
"If not for the ability you granted me," Sharron said seriously, "our operation might not have concluded as cleanly."
"Heh. So how do you intend to thank me?"
Sharron gave a small bow. "My life. My soul. My everything."
Sharron had since heard considerably more about the Lord of Chaos from Kreuch — this mysterious presence apparently asked no more of His Boon recipients than to facilitate cooperation and transactions among others. Nothing beyond that. And this Lord of Chaos had reached a deal with the Queen Mystic, offering help against the Concealed Hidden Sage. Kreuch trusted the Queen Mystic's judgment completely, and his assessment was that the Lord of Chaos was, at minimum, not an evil god.
Given all of that, and with the Temperance Faction on the brink of extinction, Sharron was perfectly willing to place her faith in this presence. Even to use His power against the Indulgence Faction.
"I told you before," Vincent said, shaking his head. "I don't need your life, your soul, or your everything. Just honour the contract and carry out what it asks."
Sharron hesitated for a moment, then said in her husky voice: "But the Rose School's people will find us eventually. When that day comes, we may have no way to resist."
"So you're still asking for protection."
"Yes. I… don't care about my own life or death. But I don't want the Temperance Faction to end with me."
Vincent leaned back, his tone going flat. "That's not something you, a Sequence 5, should be the one worrying about. That's Reinette Tinekerr's concern."
Sharron went very still. "But my teacher… has already fallen."
"Who told you she's fallen."
Sharron blinked.
"You don't know yet?" Vincent said. "Your teacher — Reinette Tinekerr — didn't die."
"!!!"
Sharron's composure shattered. Her pupils trembled. "Teacher — Teacher is actually still alive? Where?"
"The Spirit World."
Vincent offered the answer calmly. "In the battle against the Indulgence Faction's ambush, Reinette Tinekerr was decapitated and her soul destroyed — but in that moment, she seized the opportunity to transform herself into a Spirit World entity, and survived in that form."
"She's somewhere in the depths of the Spirit World, waiting for someone with the right fate to find her. As for how to make contact — I'd think Reinette Tinekerr's own disciple wouldn't need me to explain that."
The heavy weight that had been sitting on Sharron for as long as she could remember seemed to lift all at once. She wanted nothing more than to return to reality immediately and go find out whether her teacher was truly alive.
Then she heard the Lord of Chaos add: "Once you find your teacher — pass my honorific name to her, and ask her to recite it."
Sharron's expression shifted immediately. "But Teacher—"
"Only pass the message," Vincent said, cutting her off gently. "Whether your teacher chooses to recite my name is entirely up to her. You have nothing to decide."
"I understand. As you will, great Lord of Chaos."
Vincent raised one hand, cutting the link. "Off you go."
He watched Sharron's figure dissolve into the golden mist, then propped his chin in one hand and looked at the left tray of the Scale.
If Sharron managed to bring a Sequence 2 Angel into contact with him — that would be a substantial addition to the grey crystals.
A pity that the Shadow Box roleplay progress was still deeply unsatisfying. Even if the grey crystals reached the level needed to advance to Sequence 4, advancement itself was currently impossible.
Just then, the golden mist rippled — a message from the HP-world Bernadette: "I've found a way to simultaneously run the Shadow Box roleplay from this side as well."
Vincent sat straight up, poured spirituality in to open a connection — and found nothing. She'd left her message and apparently stepped away from the room entirely.
"Seriously. Dangling that in front of me and then walking off."
He crossed his arms and harrumphed. "Though I am genuinely curious — after dealing with Voldemort, what on earth is she about to get up to now?"
To be continued…
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