Chapter 178: Roselle the Great Navigator

Chapter 178: Roselle the Great Navigator

I know this… Justice Audrey’s eyes turned slightly. Raising her chin a little, she happily shifted her gaze toward a stone pillar supporting the dome diagonally ahead.

She quickly withdrew her gaze, preparing to enjoy Mr. Hanged Man’s reaction after hearing the answer.

The Magician, Fors, vaguely understood one thing:

Using these so-called Roselle diary pages, one could exchange for answers to certain questions from Mr. Fool. Perhaps they could even be exchanged for items!

“Roselle’s diary? Those notes written by Roselle using unique symbols that no one else can understand? They’re actually diaries? The Hanged Man sounded certain, and Mr. Fool didn’t refute him…

“I’ve come across so many of them, but because I wasn’t interested, I never bought any. Ah, right, Miss Audrey had quite a few! She was a passionate enthusiast in this regard! But, but, her dog last week—no, maybe the week before last, I can’t quite remember—anyway, it bit apart many books and notes, including all the Emperor Roselle diary pages!”

The sudden surge of delight and the disappointment that followed immediately after filled Fors’s heart, making her want to raise both hands, cover her ears, and scream loudly.

Only that would be enough to express her current feelings.

I hate dogs! The Magician, Fors, thought bitterly.

The Hanged Man’s request was somewhat unexpected to Klein, but for him, it was the easiest kind to fulfill. He gave a low chuckle.

“Very well.

“Do you wish for everyone to hear it, or only for yourself to know?”

The Hanged Man, Alger, answered without the slightest hesitation.

“Only for myself.”

He had no spirit of selfless dedication.

Klein smiled and screened off the senses of the other members. This made Miss Justice feel extremely aggrieved. She had been waiting to see Mr. Hanged Man’s stunned, shaken expression—like someone who had done something extraordinary and, though unwilling to publicize it, still looked forward to others’ reactions once they learned of it.

But now, that hateful Mr. Hanged Man had stolen that joy from me! Audrey grumbled inwardly.

Of course, she knew very well that the other party’s request was entirely justified.

But I already knew the answer… she thought, pursing her lips.

At that moment, Klein leisurely flipped the Card of Blasphemy over and stood it upright, allowing The Hanged Man to directly see Roselle on the card: black armor, crown, and cloak.

The Emperor’s portrait could be seen quite often, and The Hanged Man, Alger, was not unfamiliar with it. He recognized him instantly. More importantly, however, there was a glaring label on the card:

“Sequence 0: Black Emperor!”

As expected! It’s the rumored deck of cards created by Emperor Roselle that hides the pathways of the divine, the so-called prototype of tarot cards! Sequence 0, Black Emperor… Does this card correspond to the road to godhood of the Lawyer pathway? Mr. Fool has always been collecting Roselle’s diary pages. It seems He was searching them for clues to that deck of cards, and in just a few months, He has already obtained one… Alger was shocked, delighted, excited, and stirred all at once.

Abruptly, he felt that the future of the Tarot Club was unimaginably bright.

In the past, he had merely submitted to Mr. Fool’s mystery and power, treating the so-called Tarot Club only as a place to exchange intelligence and items. But now, he began to imagine the benefits he and the other members could obtain after Mr. Fool collected Emperor Roselle’s cards one by one.

When the time comes, the Tarot Club may become the most powerful secret organization! The Hanged Man, Alger, could not help looking toward the future.

At that moment, Klein said unhurriedly, “Card of Blasphemy.”

Then he removed the screen.

The instant her senses recovered, Justice Audrey immediately turned her gaze toward The Hanged Man. Through the blurred image, she vaguely “read” the lingering shock, joy, and longing within him.

That’s exactly how it should be… Audrey instantly felt a tremendous sense of satisfaction.

Card of Blasphemy… As expected, it is connected to the Blasphemy Slate… The Hanged Man, Alger, lowered his head and pondered for a few seconds before beginning to conjure the three newly obtained pages of Roselle’s diary.

Very soon, the three yellow-brown sheets of parchment arrived in Klein’s hand.

He lowered his gaze in an apparently casual manner and began reading at an unhurried pace.

“March 15th. As expected, I am the protagonist! Relying only on a few archaeological clues and folk rumors, I found a ghost ship left behind by the Solomon Empire near the Oradek Archipelago at the edge of the Fog Sea—the ancient Black Throne!

“It’s simply magnificent!

“There are also some ancient books onboard, including a treasure map pointing toward an unnamed island. That island was the final settlement of a great noble from the Solomon Empire who retreated and left the Northern Continent. Everything he left behind is there!

“This treasure will belong to me!”

“March 19th. After repeated consideration and weighing the matter, I finally decided to go on a long voyage. After this, I’ll be entering the kingdom’s army as an officer, and it will be difficult to have another opportunity like this.

“Edwards and Green are willing to follow me on this adventure through that sea filled with fog.

“In truth, I’m not doing this purely for treasure. I also want to verify a question. From the sun, to the red moon, from the paths of the stars in the sky, to the alternation of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, all kinds of signs and differing data prove that the world I am in should be a planet. Since that is the case, it should not only have the Northern and Southern Continents. Judging by various data, the combined area of the Northern and Southern Continents is less than ten percent of this planet. Could all the other places be nothing but ocean and archipelagos?

“To the west of the Northern Continent lies the Fog Sea, and to the east lies the Sonia Sea. I suspect that at the end of these two great seas, there are other continents, just as the end of the Berserk Sea is the Southern Continent. Perhaps I can discover an entirely new continent—the Western Continent!

“Set out, great navigator Roselle Columbus Magellan Gustav! Go prove your hypothesis!”

The Emperor was really reckless when he was young. With only a treasure map whose authenticity was unknown and whose dangers were unclear, he dared to sail out on a long voyage. No, even after he grew old, he was just as reckless—the Card of Blasphemy is proof… Klein could not help grumbling inwardly.

This diary page seemed to connect with one he had read before. At most, one or two pages were missing in between. Therefore, Klein could roughly confirm that during this voyage, Roselle, because he had lost his way, had found a primitive island outside the safe shipping lanes. There were many extraordinary creatures on it. In the process, he had also used jokes about the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” and “Pirate King” to tease Green, Edwards, and the others who had followed him to sea.

In addition, Green—the man Roselle had praised as the smartest among them—had become increasingly strange after they discovered that primitive island, and had ultimately died in the Fog Sea.

Speaking of which, the view that this world is a planet has already been widely accepted and confirmed by astronomy… Klein turned to the second page of the diary.

“April 18th. Among the ancient texts aboard the Black Throne, I discovered the term ‘Western Continent’!

“The Western Continent really exists!

“But even in the Fourth Epoch, even during the Solomon Empire, even when deities still walked the earth, the Western Continent was only a rumor. It is said to be the homeland of the elves and involves that ancient god named Soniathrym.

“But the problem is that, in the end, the elves were trapped on Sonia Island, then later scattered into various deep mountains and the different islands upon the sea. There has never been any legend of them trying to return to their homeland.

“In short, the end of the Fog Sea may contain the Western Continent and the homeland of the elves. Then what about the end of the Sonia Sea? Is there truly an Eastern Continent? In which fragments of mythological texts is it hidden? Could it be the elusive Land Forsaken by the Gods?

“Keep going, Roselle. You’re about to reach your destination!”

Western Continent, Eastern Continent… Roselle guessed that the latter might be the Land Forsaken by the Gods… Right, Mr. Hanged Man once said that many members of the Aurora Order searched the Sonia Sea for the “sanctuary” of the True Creator, while he suspected that the “sanctuary” was the Land Forsaken by the Gods… This is somewhat close to Emperor Roselle’s thinking… This world still hides many, many secrets… Klein’s gaze moved downward to the final few short paragraphs of the page.

“April 20th. All signs indicate that we are about to reach land—and not an island, but a true landmass!

“Can getting lost have this kind of benefit? Am I about to discover the so-called Western Continent?”

“April 21st. I saw the Abyss.”

The Abyss? Roselle saw the Abyss? Does he mean the Abyss in the mystical sense? Klein’s pupils contracted slightly, and he hurriedly turned the page.

But the third diary page made him question life and doubt the Chinese education he had received for so many years.

It was filled with large numbers of sentences like the following:

“Ah sun hu hunger invited people inside residence.”

This… Klein immediately understood. This page was most likely a forged Roselle diary page made by later generations. They had taken the existing “symbols” and randomly cobbled them together into a pile of sentences.

At that instant, Klein felt as if he were looking at garbled text, and he had the urge to curse the forgers.

He badly wanted to confirm whether the Abyss mentioned in Roselle’s diary was the “Abyss” referred to by terms such as “source of all evil,” “land of corruption,” and “dwelling place of demons.”

The true Abyss is the dark side of the cosmos where even deities can be corrupted. It should exist independently of the real world like the spirit world. At least, that is how The Book of Secrets and the texts I once came into contact with in the Nighthawks team recorded it… If it wasn’t the true Abyss, what did the Emperor mean by the abyss? Klein thought it over repeatedly but could find no explanation. He felt extremely displeased, as though a web novel he had been following had been abandoned at the most crucial moment.

He swept his eyes over the page once, calmed himself, and made the diary disappear from his hand.

“You may begin,” he said with a light laugh from the seat of honor at the long bronze table.

The Hanged Man, Alger, immediately turned his head toward The Sun and asked, as though not particularly concerned, “Did you manage to learn anything from that former captain of the exploration team?”