Chapter 77: An Indirect Push

Chapter Seventy-Seven
An Indirect Push

I remember that the simple mission Mr. Fool gave was only meant to examine two possible candidates for joining the gathering. Its rough content was to find the person in the portrait, and that person was confirmed to be in Backlund…

Alger Wilson worked hard to recall what had happened at the previous gathering, yet the more he thought about it, the less he understood what any of it had to do with a hotbed for an evil god’s descent.

Was it not just finding someone?

And a person of supposedly low danger at that…

Was there some deep purpose hidden behind Mr. Fool’s simple mission? Was this a silent contest between gods?

The Hanged Man instantly thought of many possibilities. He nearly blurted out a question to Justice, wanting to pay a price to learn the specific course of events.

However, as a veteran official Beyonder, a Seafarer commanding an ancient ghost ship, Alger was experienced and deeply shrewd. He forcibly restrained that impulse, deciding first to use the Church of Storms’ internal channels to ask what major incident had recently happened in Backlund.

Justice Audrey, however, understood Mr. Fool’s sigh immediately. In an instant, she connected the whole matter involving Lanevus clearly inside her mind.

So the little bit of divinity Lanevus possessed was the preliminary vessel for the True Creator to descend into the real world… And the terrible conditions in the East Borough, Dock Borough, and Factory Borough were the hotbed that allowed that vessel to gestate and strengthen rapidly… With one simple mission, Mr. Fool stopped a vast scheme of the True Creator and saved all of Backlund!

Audrey looked toward the head of the bronze long table, her eyes bright and glimmering, unconsciously filled with reverence.

At that moment, the gloomy and reserved World chuckled.

“Yes. Whenever I see and hear of child laborers dying in batches while barely in their teens, of most workers who, because of extreme exhaustion and terrible conditions, rarely live past thirty, of elderly people who barely survive the trials of youth only to lose work when old, with no protection, forced to wander the streets and die of hunger and cold—I do not doubt the existence of evil gods at all. They are on the earth, in the East Borough, in the Dock Borough, and in the Factory Borough.

“Heh. Some investigation reports have even mentioned that workers in certain factories rarely survive for more than five years.

“And in Backlund’s East Borough, there is a saying: the residents there all have grandfathers who must have come from elsewhere, without exception.

“The true meaning of those words is that people there do not live to have a third generation. They have no way to have grandchildren.

“Poverty and hunger make their children terribly weak. Those children can hardly adapt to arduous labor and swiftly wither away in Backlund, let alone marry and have the next generation.”

This was the first time Audrey had heard Mr. World say so much. She instantly fell into deep shock and confusion.

How did I know none of this… The newspapers and magazines I read only mentioned that residents of the East Borough lived very hard lives… This is far more than hardship…

For a brief instant, Audrey’s eyes visibly lost focus. She felt as though her understanding of the kingdom, and of the world itself, had been overturned completely.

All at once, she deeply understood why Mr. Fool had let out that sigh. She understood why He said that such an era, such a Backlund, such an East Borough, Dock Borough, and Factory Borough were hotbeds for evil gods to descend.

It cannot continue like this! Otherwise, one day Backlund will be destroyed because of it!

A powerful impulse suddenly surged inside Justice Audrey. She wanted to go back and learn more. She wanted to remind her father, Earl Hall. She wanted to use the abilities of Spectator and Telepathist to secretly guide the implementation of bills and policies that could improve the lives of those poor people in the East Borough, Dock Borough, and Factory Borough.

At the head of the bronze long table, The Fool, Klein, quietly observed Miss Justice’s reaction.

The sigh he had deliberately given just now, and the detailed explanation he had made through his alternate account, Mr. World, were meant to make Miss Justice—still innocent in some ways, yet born a noble—recognize the seriousness of the problem. Through her, he would indirectly push forward changes within the kingdom.

Before becoming Faceless, I must remember clearly: I cannot personally involve myself in such matters…

He silently set that boundary for himself.

“Thank you, Mr. Fool. Thank you for saving Backlund. Your sigh helped me understand where the root of the problem lies.

“And thank you, Mr. World. You have let me know many things I did not understand before.”

Audrey restrained her emotions and sincerely thanked the two gentlemen seated respectively at the top and bottom of the ancient long table.

Saved Backlund?

The Hanged Man Alger was not unfamiliar with the conditions in the East Borough, Factory Borough, and Dock Borough. What surprised him more was Miss Justice’s wording.

Just how big a matter was this?

He frowned in deep confusion.

The Sun Derrick, meanwhile, listened very earnestly. Although he did not understand all of it, he still listened with great seriousness, trying to learn more about the region where Mr. Hanged Man, Miss Justice, and Mr. World lived.

As for Miss Justice’s thanks, Klein merely smiled and made no further response. He turned his gaze toward The Hanged Man.

Alger instantly understood his meaning and swiftly manifested the final page of Roselle’s diary that he had promised.

Klein received it out of thin air and casually glanced over it.

“January 14th. I discovered a problem. If an unconscious high-Sequence item is not sealed, it will unconsciously attract low-Sequence individuals of the same pathway to approach and intersect with it. The higher its original Sequence, the more likely this is to occur.

“However, this phenomenon does not seem to exist constantly. It appears intermittently.”

This diary entry instantly sharpened Klein’s mind, because he had once had a similar speculation.

After coming to Backlund, he had discovered that he very quickly became entangled with the Secret Order and with Beyonders of the Seer pathway, thereby falling into an extremely passive and extremely dangerous situation. But because of that, he had also obtained the corresponding Sequence 7, Sequence 6, and Sequence 5 potion formulas.

At the time, he had suspected that his transmigration hid some secret; that the fact he possessed a certain ability to revive made him intermittently attract people and objects related to the Seer pathway, such as the Antigonus family diary and members of the Secret Order.

After seeing this diary entry from Emperor Roselle, Klein immediately formed a new thought.

Using the corner of his eye, he swept his gaze across the thick gray fog below and the illusory crimson stars, silently muttering to himself:

“Could the thing causing that attraction not be me, but this gray fog, this mysterious space above the gray fog?

“That too counts as one of the secrets hidden behind my transmigration…”

Lacking more clues or intelligence, Klein quickly reined in his thoughts and read the second diary entry.

“January 16th. The taste of a Demoness really is not bad.”

…

The corner of Klein’s mouth twitched. For a moment, he nearly did not know what expression to make.

Emperor, I have underestimated you far too much… You truly are capable of what ordinary people cannot do… Did you not care about her original sex? Did you not care about her experiences during the Pleasure stage?

Suppressing the urge to exhale slowly, Klein looked at the final diary entry in his hand.

“January 20th. I have finished making the second Card of Blasphemy.

“Let me think. Let me think. Where should I hide it?

“Mm, I plan to disguise it as a bookmark and put it inside a very valuable book. Unless the person who obtains it is fated, it will be very difficult for them to imagine that inside a book already worth quite a lot, the most valuable thing is actually that inconspicuous bookmark!

“Not bad. This idea is not bad!”

…

Emperor, why could you not be clear? Which specific book did you put that “bookmark” inside? Before reading the end, I was full of joy, thinking I could follow the map and obtain a Card of Blasphemy containing the mysteries of godhood…

Rather disappointed, Klein let his gaze stop at the ending.

I hope the Emperor’s later diary entries contain specific information…

He comforted himself with that thought, leaned back slightly, and smiled faintly.

“You may freely converse.”

At that point, The Sun Derrick imitated Miss Justice and raised his hand.

“Mr. World, the Beyonder weapon you gave me was far better than I expected. I have already saved enough merit, exchanged for the materials, and advanced to Sequence 8. In the next few days, I will use the remaining merit to hire helpers and obtain the Mist Treant’s true root and sap. I will be able to complete the trade very soon.”

He spoke in great detail, worried that his image as someone trustworthy might be doubted or damaged.

Of course, everything he said was true. Although that axe did not match a certain expectation he had for Beyonder weapons, its power had astonished him.

That axe can produce a powerful bolt of lightning with almost every two or three collisions. Together with the temporary enhancement from my Bard abilities, I can completely contend against Sequence 7 close-combat monsters. If I encounter the kind that fears lightning, I might even solve it easily… I am now already a Light Suppliant, and possess certain spells. My strength has undergone a qualitative improvement. I can now face more kinds of stronger monsters…

Derrick Berg felt he had already begun to like that Beyonder weapon.

In the City of Silver, strength was reason enough to like something. The thick darkness around them and the monsters in the depths of that darkness forced generation after generation to obey that rule.

“Very well,” the gloomy World said with a gentle nod under Klein’s control.

He immediately looked around and asked once more, “Ladies, gentlemen, do you have any clues regarding all spinal fluid from an Evil-patterned Black Panther and pith crystals from the Elven Spring?”

Justice Audrey shook her head without hesitation. After pondering for several seconds, however, The Hanged Man Alger suddenly said, “On the Sonia Sea, there will soon be a grand gathering among pirates. The fleets of the Four Pirate Kings and the six pirate admirals may all participate—heh, it should now be seven pirate admirals. Someone has joined their ranks.

“At such a gathering, there will certainly be transactions involving Beyonder materials. There is a high probability that Evil-patterned Black Panther spinal fluid and pith crystals from the Elven Spring, which are not particularly rare, will appear.

“I have a chance of participating in that gathering, but what can you give in exchange?

“I imagine you certainly do not have the Wind-blessed potion formula right now, and it will be difficult for you to obtain it later.”