Chapter 11: Getting Acquainted

Chapter 11: Getting Acquainted

Looking at the Judgement card in her hand, Xio froze for a second before saying,

“This fits my expectations very well.”

The Fool, shrouded in gray fog, gave a slight nod and instructed in an even tone,

“Backlund time, every Monday at three in the afternoon, the gathering will convene here. Make preparations in advance.

“At the gathering, you may exchange intelligence, materials, formulas, and knowledge. You may also pay a certain price to entrust missions to other members.”

After recalling for a moment, Xio said with a sense of understanding,

“Yes, Mr. Fool.”

She originally thought today would end there, but she once again heard a voice come from the head of the bronze long table:

“What did you do before you were corroded by that power?”

So it really was corrosion… Xio calmed herself and fully described how she and Fors had explored the ancient castle. She emphasized the bronze door known as the “pitch-black door,” as well as the castle guards who had once suffered corrosion and become wraiths.

Then she noticed Mr. Fool nod almost imperceptibly. His voice was calm as He said,

“Before Sequence 4, do not enter that castle again.

“Return.”

Xio immediately stood. Following the descriptions from various religious rituals, she bowed respectfully and said,

“Your will is my will.”

The moment her voice fell, crimson light rose before her eyes. When everything faded, she had already returned to the real world, still supporting herself against a thick tree.

Subconsciously glancing at the back of her hand and finding that the black patches on it were rapidly fading, Xio raised her head and looked toward Fors, who was watching her with deep worry.

When their gazes met, Fors first showed delight. Then she immediately revealed an embarrassed smile, opened her mouth, and had no idea what to say.

Xio slowly exhaled and pointed ahead.

“Let’s return to town first.”

“All right!” Fors answered without the slightest hesitation.

At that moment, above the gray fog, the Fool, Klein, was lightly tapping the edge of the mottled long table, pondering the encounter Miss Magician and Miss Judgement had experienced today.

The thing or power sealed behind the “pitch-black door” could corrode the guards and explorers outside even without escaping. Merely thinking of how terrifying that was made one feel fear!

Moreover, this corruption was rooted in the spirit body. To resolve it, Klein had only two options. The first was to have the corrupted person hold a complete secret deed ritual, while he mobilized the power of the mysterious space above the gray fog and completed a purification with the help of the Sun Brooch. The second was to directly pull the spirit body here and use the gray fog to “disinfect” it. Considering that there had been no time in that situation, he had chosen the latter.

“What could it be?

“The most corrosive power belongs to the Devil pathway… Does that place connect to the Abyss? That’s not impossible. According to Little Sun’s descriptions, during the early and middle periods of the Second Epoch, devils often left the Abyss and roamed the earth. Only after the ancient sun god emerged out of nowhere and caused ancient gods to fall one after another did they retreat back to the Abyss and seal it off. According to that, it would be perfectly normal for there to be an entrance to an ancient underground road on the Northern Continent leading to the Abyss… The need to build a castle and send people to guard it is also easy to imagine…

“But the problem is, several thousand years have passed. Why would there still be banging sounds inside? Do the devils want to return to the earth?” Klein made a preliminary guess.

For the time being, he did not plan to explore that abandoned castle and verify his idea, because it did not look as though any major change would happen there in the short term. In his mind, since information on this castle had come from within the Sanguine, he could completely have The Moon, Emlyn, first gather more information and clarify its history.

Gathering his thoughts, Klein removed his citrine pendant and divined whether the matter of the abandoned castle was urgent. The answer he obtained was negative.

He immediately returned to the real world and waited for the local ruler General Mesanyes’s people to bring the deposit.

…

Feynapotter time, two in the afternoon. Haggis, with his hair slicked back and dressed like a gentleman of the Northern Continent, arrived under the protection of a squad of guards, carrying a black leather suitcase. He knocked on Dwayne Dantès’s door.

“Please come in.” A gentle, refined voice sounded from within. It first used Loenese in a Backlund accent, then switched to the local Dutan.

Haggis turned the handle and pushed open the door. He saw Dwayne Dantès, with graying temples and deep blue eyes, pressing the lower edge of his black waistcoat as he rose from an easy chair.

“Good afternoon, my friend.” The Loen gentleman, whose appearance and bearing were both excellent, stepped forward and extended his right hand.

This time, he had switched back to Loenese.

Haggis replied in Loenese with an aristocratic accent,

“It is my honor to be your friend.”

After he and Dwayne Dantès shook hands lightly, he looked around and chuckled.

“Is this your servant?”

He was referring to the mixed-blood young man standing behind and to the side of the arms dealer opposite him. His implied meaning was: Can he be trusted? After all, when Dwayne Dantès visited the general’s residence yesterday, he had not brought any servants.

“Yes. His greatest virtue is that he is good at keeping secrets,” Dwayne Dantès answered with a smile while pointing to the leather sofa across from the easy chair.

Flanked by two guards, Haggis casually closed the door and sat down. He smiled and said,

“I’ve heard an Intisian proverb. Supposedly, it was spoken by Emperor Roselle.

“He said that only the dead can keep secrets.”

Dwayne Dantès burst into a laugh.

“Emperor Roselle also said another line:

“Corpses can speak.”

“Really? This is the first I’ve heard of it.” Haggis rather enjoyed conversing with a Northern Continent gentleman. Only after chatting idly for a good while did he lift the leather suitcase beside him and open it.

At that instant, golden light seemed to spill out from within the suitcase. Under the sunlight outside the window, the entire room appeared to brighten slightly.

Haggis then looked at Dwayne Dantès and said,

“Five thousand Loen gold pounds, as well as gold coins and gold bars worth five thousand pounds.

“This is the deposit.

“As for the remaining thirty thousand pounds in notes and gold, I will carry them with me and pay you once the arms have been handed over.”

Dwayne Dantès glanced at the stacks of banknotes, the gold coins, and the gold bars inside the suitcase, then withdrew his gaze and said with a smile,

“When do we leave?”

Haggis closed the suitcase and handed it to Dwayne Dantès’s servant. He answered simply,

“Tomorrow morning.”

He paused for two seconds, then changed the subject.

“Mr. Dantès, the General has an honored guest who wishes to visit you.”

Dwayne Dantès’s expression did not change. After several seconds of silence, he asked,

“When?”

“Now.” Haggis’s posture turned one of someone who did not dare be perfunctory. “He is downstairs.”

Dwayne Dantès nodded slightly.

“Please invite him up.”

Haggis immediately breathed a sigh of relief and left the room with the guards, descending the stairs with thumping steps.

Before long, Luca, wearing a plain white robe embroidered with brass threads, came upstairs. His full head of silver hair was combed very neatly.

When he reached the door to Dwayne Dantès’s room and was about to raise his hand, a voice sounded from inside:

“Please come in.”

This time, it was in ancient Feysac.

Luca’s expression did not change. He naturally pushed open the door.

He then saw the middle-aged and elderly gentleman from yesterday—one with an excellent appearance and bearing—standing beside the easy chair, turned partly toward him.

Seated in that easy chair was a young man with black hair and brown eyes, a thin face, sharply defined features, and an icy bearing.

Luca froze briefly. Then he stepped forward, entered the room, and closed the wooden door.

After calmly finding a sofa and sitting down, his grayish-green eyes clearly reflected the young man opposite him.

“Gehrman Sparrow?” Luca said, seeming both to ask and to address him.

The corner of Gehrman Sparrow’s mouth curled upward.

“Calling another person by their full name is not polite.”

Luca nodded.

“My apologies. That was discourteous of me. I remember that you advanced to Sequence 5 less than half a year ago, perhaps only three months ago. Mm, it should have been completed in the ruins of the divine battle. I did not expect… that you would already be a demigod. That caused me to lose composure somewhat.”

Gehrman Sparrow smiled slightly but offered no explanation.

After a brief silence, he asked at a steady pace,

“Why did you come to visit me?”

Luca answered calmly,

“I do not know.”

The atmosphere in the room abruptly turned somewhat strange. Gehrman Sparrow seemed to have forgotten that an old gentleman was sitting opposite him and that the man needed him to speak again.

Luca moved his lower jaw almost imperceptibly and continued on his own:

“It is like this. I previously made a prophecy by chance. In that prophecy, I would fall into a rather troublesome predicament in the future, and someone I met here over these few days could help me deal with it.

“I am not certain whether that person is you, but with the thought that I would rather recognize the wrong person than miss the right one, I ultimately decided to come and meet you, so that we could become acquainted.

“My name is Luca Brewster. I am a clergyman serving the God of Knowledge and Wisdom. At present, I am responsible for the Church’s various affairs in West Balam.”

Gehrman Sparrow nodded.

“Good. I know you now. I believe I need not introduce myself again?”

“Of course.” Luca thought for a moment. “You should be a Bizarro Sorcerer. I recently received intelligence saying that the Intis Secret Order has shown unusual movements.”

He did not see any astonishment appear on Gehrman Sparrow’s face. The powerful adventurer famous throughout the Five Seas merely fell silent for a moment before saying,

“Zaratul has returned.”

Luca’s pupils changed at once before swiftly returning to normal.

Then he stood, nodded in farewell, and said,

“Since we are now acquainted, I should take my leave.”

After saying this, he walked to the door, turned the handle, and left the room.

Sitting in the easy chair, Gehrman Sparrow watched as his back was covered inch by inch by the wooden door until it disappeared completely. Then he suddenly chuckled.

“What a charlatan.”

“Yes,” said Dwayne Dantès, standing beside the easy chair. He found a seat, sat down, lifted the teacup on the table, and took a sip.

The graying, blue-eyed Dwayne Dantès and the thin-faced, sharply defined Gehrman Sparrow then glanced at one another and smiled at the same time.

…

Monday afternoon. Dwayne Dantès took out his gold-cased pocket watch, pressed it open, glanced at it, and said to Haggis seated across from him,

“We are nearly at our destination. I believe you should take a rest in advance.”

“A splendid suggestion,” Haggis said, fully agreeing.

Dwayne Dantès pointed ahead along the street.

“There is an inn there. We can rest for half a day and set out tomorrow morning.”

Haggis did not object. He turned forward and instructed the coachman with a few words.

After checking in, Dwayne Dantès declined Haggis’s invitation for afternoon tea on the grounds of taking a nap.

More than half an hour later, above the boundless gray fog, Klein sat in the seat belonging to The Fool.