Chapter 154: An Entire Volume

Chapter 154: An Entire Volume

Above the boundless grayish-white fog, within the ancient palace that seemed like the dwelling place of gods, crimson lights rose on both sides of the bronze long table and solidified into blurry figures.

Justice Audrey immediately stood, lifted the hem of her skirt in an illusory gesture, and bowed toward the seat of honor.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Fool.”

Her mood could not be called low, but the many things that had happened recently made it impossible for her voice to rise lightly at the end the way it once had.

After the members finished greeting and took their seats, Audrey’s gaze swept across them, and out of habit, she began observing.

Almost instantly, she noticed that The Hermit’s mental state and body language both indicated that she was worried about certain matters.

Is it related to the Queen of Mysteries? Or some other problem? Or perhaps both factors are involved? Justice Audrey considered the possible reasons with slight surprise and curiosity.

After repeated Tarot Gatherings, she had already formed a “psychological profile” of The Hermit. She believed this was a rather contradictory Beyonder: experienced, knowledgeable, calm, capable, yet in certain aspects daring and reckless, like a young girl who had not yet grown up.

Combining this with The Hermit’s displayed relationship with the Queen of Mysteries, Audrey interpreted it as follows: although The Hermit had experienced many things, quite often, those problems had only been resolved smoothly because of the protection and arrangements of that queen. Deep in her heart, there still lived a little girl who yearned for care and protection.

And precisely because of that hidden state, Audrey boldly guessed that when The Hermit faced people who had been “abandoned” yet had not committed any serious wrongs, she would unconsciously pity them, sympathize with them, and help them.

At the same time, based on information such as female, active at sea, strength at Sequence 5, possessing many mystical items, rich knowledge and experience, a fondness for wearing thick glasses, and having crossed paths with Gehrman Sparrow, Audrey believed that if she casually flipped through pirate wanted posters and newspapers, she would be able to confirm The Hermit’s identity beyond any doubt. However, she had not deliberately done so; she merely had a rough guess.

No. The Hermit should now be a Sequence 4 demigod. There are not many things that could worry her this much… It definitely isn’t because of the outbreak of war. A great pirate would not be overly troubled by that… As thoughts flashed through her mind, Justice Audrey, lacking further information, had no other line of speculation besides the direction of the Queen of Mysteries.

At that moment, what echoed within The Hermit Cattleya’s mind were two matters.

“Why did the Queen suddenly send so many diary pages? If I hadn’t already become a Mysticologist and mastered certain secret arts, there’s no way I could have memorized them all in such a short time… What exactly happened? Has the Queen fallen into some kind of predicament?

“And Frank, that fellow, actually wanted to advance by drinking the potion directly without holding a ritual. Fortunately, I stopped him. But the Druid ritual really poses no difficulty for him at all. Mastering the living habits and bodily structures of multiple ordinary animals and three transcendent creatures is something a mad Biologist who is already researching crossbreeding between plants and animals has prepared for in advance. Next week—no, in these two days—he will become a Druid. All he needs to do is write down the knowledge and experience he previously accumulated as part of the ritual…”

Amid her many thoughts, Cattleya suppressed her worry, turned toward the head of the bronze long table, lowered her head, and said reverently, “Great Mr. Fool, this time I have gathered an entire volume of Roselle’s diary.”

An entire volume… Hearing The Hermit’s words, all the members, including The Hanged Man Alger, were visibly stunned. This somewhat exceeded their understanding.

In the past, diary submissions had come two or three pages at a time, or sometimes just one or two pages. This time, it was an entire volume!

Did something happen? Even The Sun Derrick, the one least concerned with such matters and the dullest in this regard, sensed something abnormal.

They all knew that the Queen of Mysteries, Bernadette, was Emperor Roselle’s eldest daughter. It was perfectly normal for her to provide an entire volume of diary pages. What was abnormal was the act of giving an entire volume all at once.

The Hermit Cattleya paid no attention to everyone’s gaze. She continued, “These diary pages are not consecutive, but they all come from Emperor Roselle’s later years.”

“Very good.” The Fool Klein nodded gently, indicating that The Hermit could begin conjuring them.

Page after yellowed page took shape one after another and soon layered themselves into an entire volume.

After receiving it, Klein casually flipped through a few pages without truly reading them. He then set the diary down and looked toward The Hermit Cattleya.

“You may ask your questions.

“Including the questions you saved from last time, you have ten in total.”

He had not read the diary carefully because there were simply too many pages this time—at least thirty. If he read through them all, he would make the Tarot Club members wait too long and affect Mr. Fool’s image. Therefore, he planned to slowly go through them after the gathering ended.

Ten… The Hermit Cattleya immediately felt a headache, because the Queen of Mysteries Bernadette had only asked her to raise two questions this time.

After weighing her words, she said, “Honorable Mr. Fool, may I ask them in separate batches?”

“You may.” Klein nodded with a smile.

That fit his own thinking exactly. Answering ten questions in one breath would be a difficult matter even for Mr. Fool.

The Hermit Cattleya secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“This time, there are two questions.

“First: Why must one ‘beware of Spectators’?”

Beware of Spectators? Justice Audrey was utterly confused. For a brief moment, she could not even find a direction for speculation and instinctively examined herself.

Beware of Spectators? The Tarot Club members such as The Moon Emlyn and The Star Leonard all turned their gazes toward Miss Justice.

The Fool Klein gave a soft laugh and said in a leisurely tone, “Spectators always like to hide in the shadows and manipulate certain matters, making them difficult to notice and guard against.

“Among them, the one who must be guarded against most is the Angel of Imagination, Adam. His apotheosis ritual is to drink the potion within the tide of the era He has envisioned.”

“The tide of the era He has envisioned… making the era’s development conform to His expectations?” Justice Audrey could not help asking Mr. Fool for clarification.

Klein nodded gently.

“Correct.

“A war sweeping across the entire world is precisely what Adam wants.”

This… The Hanged Man Alger, The Hermit Cattleya, and the other Tarot Club members were bombarded by the information revealed in Mr. Fool’s words, to the point that they could hardly think for a moment.

Whether it was an apotheosis ritual or the tide of the era, both involved levels so high—so very high—that they could only look up at them!

Suddenly, they vaguely understood why the Psychology Alchemists had been deeply involved in the royal family’s conspiracy. Those who knew something of the Twilight Hermit Order grasped the essence of what it meant to maintain the tide of the times.

Only an existence on Mr. Fool’s level could know such secrets and participate in such games… The Hanged Man Alger quickly recovered his thoughts and sighed inwardly. His urgency to become a demigod grew even stronger.

He believed this war would bring many opportunities. The only question was whether he could seize them.

While the Tarot Club members fell silent one by one, their thoughts surging, The Fool Klein inexplicably sighed.

A war like this was something he had no power to stop. If making George III’s Black Emperor ritual fail was a goal he could perhaps reach by jumping as high as he could and stretching out his hand, then this war, already becoming the tide of the era, was something he could not truly affect even if he were an angel—even a Sequence 1 angel. If he tried to force it, he would only be crushed to dust beneath the rolling wheels of history.

Even among Kings of Angels, other than an existence like Adam, who had spent one or two thousand years arranging the “plot,” the rest could at most change local circumstances. It would be very difficult for them to fight the general trend. Only a Sequence 0 true god could truly participate in this game… No wonder the Emperor said that only by becoming a god could one protect oneself and the people one wished to protect… What I can do now is let the Resistance in the Rorsted Archipelago make more preparations, and hope they have a chance to shake off colonial rule… Klein withdrew his thoughts, keeping a smile in his gaze.

He was not someone who blindly opposed every war. His education in his previous life, and what he had seen and heard at sea and in East and West Balam, made him supportive of struggles to overthrow colonial rule.

To put it simply, what he disliked and hated were unjust wars.

Sensing Mr. Fool’s gaze, The Hermit Cattleya restrained the chaotic flood of thoughts within her mind and spoke again.

“Second: Where might Emperor Roselle’s undiscovered secret mausoleum be?”

A secret mausoleum? Undiscovered? The Magician Forsi’s attention became increasingly focused. She felt that this already possessed every popular element of a bestselling story.

Justice Audrey and The Hanged Man Alger, however, keenly extracted something from the question.

Roselle’s eldest daughter might still be unwilling to accept her father’s fall. She was still pursuing the traces he left behind, hoping to find clues that could allow the Emperor to revive.

Of course, it could not be ruled out that the secret mausoleum held some other important item. Perhaps that was the true goal of the Queen of Mysteries.

Roselle left behind another secret mausoleum? I wonder what’s inside… The Star Leonard and Judgment Xio cared more about that point.

The Fool Klein had already prepared for this. He smiled and said, “Perhaps in the Fog Sea, on a hidden primitive island once discovered by Roselle, or within the Abyss.”

The Abyss… The Moon Emlyn immediately felt the corner of his eye twitch.

In Sanguine history, there were many records of demons wreaking havoc in the Second Epoch. Even reading them thousands of years later had made him feel agitated during and for a period after reading, as though entangled by chaos.

The Sun Derrick felt similarly, but did not care too much. In the City of Silver, it was common knowledge that reading certain documents would over-consume one’s spirit and unconsciously influence one’s mental state. That was why one had to first receive general education and listen to teachers’ retellings.

The Abyss… Justice Audrey, Judgment Xio, and the others also instinctively repeated that term inwardly.

In their daily lives, the Abyss was more often an abstract description—a synonym for danger, pain, depravity, and filth.

They had not expected it to truly exist, somewhere in the Fog Sea!