Chapter 89: An Early Diary

Chapter 89: An Early Diary

Backlund, East Borough, inside a two-bedroom rental apartment in a certain building.

Fors held a round-bellied fountain pen and wrote across a spread-out sheet of letter paper.

This was a letter to her teacher, Dorian Gray Abraham. She told him that, because of a certain danger, she had no choice but to move away from her original residence. Any future replies should no longer be sent there. If he had already sent one, he should change his address as soon as possible—preferably even his identity.

After writing at length, Fors put down the pen, folded the letter, slipped it into an envelope, and affixed a stamp.

Then she changed into clothes suitable for going out, picked up the letter she needed to send, and left the room.

She had not particularly wanted to go out, but this was a new residence. Forget all kinds of alcoholic drinks; there were not even coffee beans, instant coffee, black tea leaves, the day’s newspapers, the newest magazines, or novels.

For the sake of those things, she had no choice but to personally go out, mail the letter, and in passing do some shopping outside the East Borough.

As for Xio, she had already gone out earlier. She was going to send a letter back to the building they had previously rented, stating that “the one Viscount Stratford truly served was the king,” to see whether this could drive Shermane’s monitor into taking some action.

“Honestly, the fear afterward was so strong that I almost forgot to write to Teacher. If I had finished it earlier, Xio could have mailed it together with hers…” Fors put on a soft hat with fine gauze hanging from it, walked down the somewhat dim staircase, and left the apartment.

This was an area near the edge of the East Borough. The residents were mainly skilled workers and lower-level managers. Public order was comparatively better, and newspaper boys could even be seen.

Fors listened to the occasional sound of bells and slowly walked along the roadside.

At that moment, a postman stopped his bicycle, took a stack of newspapers from his mailbag, and entered the apartment building beside her.

Fors casually glanced over and discovered that the newspaper on top of the stack was Sea News.

“Someone here actually subscribes to that kind of newspaper? Is their work related to maritime trade?” Fors withdrew her gaze and muttered a few words in mild surprise.

However, this was not something worth paying attention to. After seeing the mailbox at the street corner, she quickened her steps and walked over.

Meanwhile, the postman entered the apartment building, found several targets among the rows of mailboxes, and separately inserted the corresponding newspapers into them.

Not long after he left, one of the mailboxes was opened, and the newspaper inside was taken out.

The person who retrieved the newspaper walked step by step to the third floor, opened one of the rooms, and sat down in a simple armchair, rocking back and forth as he read.

Beside the armchair was a black wooden table. On it lay a disordered pile of newspaper after newspaper.

Some were folded neatly, front pages facing up; others were bent asymmetrically, revealing a certain inner page. All of them displayed corresponding reports:

“Shocking! The Mad Adventurer Has Fallen Into Being a Wanted Criminal.”
“The Mad Adventurer Reappears: An Unbelievable Hunt.”
“The Man Closest to a King of the Sea, the Ninety-Thousand-Pound Adventurer.”
“Gehrman Sparrow and Three Female Pirate Admirals.”
“Becoming Famous in One Battle: Gehrman Sparrow’s Late-Night Assassination of Vice Admiral Ailment.”

…

Not long after Fors finished her shopping and returned to the rental apartment, Xio also completed her errand and came back.

They had returned with such tacit timing because Monday had arrived, and three o’clock in the afternoon was about to descend.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

As the bells of a nearby church echoed, crimson light like a surging tide emerged before Fors’s and Xio’s eyes at the same time.

Inside the magnificent and majestic palace, beside the ancient, mottled long table, one figure after another appeared almost simultaneously and condensed into form.

As usual, Justice Audrey stood first. Facing the highest seat at the bronze long table, she lifted the hem of her dress and bowed.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Fool.”

Miss Justice’s mood is still rather low… It looks like she is still affected by last night’s news… The Fool, Klein, nodded almost imperceptibly and responded to the Tarot Club members’ greetings.

At that moment, Audrey, who was not in such a pleasant mood, still relied on her sharp observation and became the first to notice that to Mr. Fool’s right hand, there was now a copper-green cross.

Where did this cross come from? Anything that can be placed on the table by Mr. Fool must at least be on the level of a Card of Blasphemy… Who did it originate from? What effects does it have? Questions rapidly emerged in Justice Audrey’s mind, making curiosity difficult to suppress.

This was also the first time a non-Card-of-Blasphemy item had been placed before Mr. Fool!

Immediately afterward, The Hanged Man Alger, The Hermit Cattleya, and the other Tarot Club members also noticed that copper-green cross, which was far more conspicuous than the “cards.” Like Miss Justice, they could not help guessing at the item’s origin, level, and effects.

Among them, The Sun Derrick vaguely sensed an invisible summons. He felt that the copper-green cross was attracting him over.

He immediately remembered a basic rule often mentioned in many courses in the City of Silver:

The law of convergence of Beyonder characteristics!

Is this a high-level Sealed Artifact of the Sun pathway? Derrick suddenly came to a realization.

Magician Fors and Judgement Xio recognized that copper-green cross as the Sealed Artifact the two of them had sacrificed. Their pupils both dilated slightly, as though they wanted to see it more clearly.

Mr. Fool actually values this item so much? Is it even more important than Xio and I imagined? Fors felt a wave of astonishment, unable to conceal her curiosity.

When matters involved gods, her thoughts would absolutely not develop in a romantic direction.

Xio’s thoughts were similar to Fors’s, but neither of them spoke. They both felt that, in such matters, Miss Justice would certainly take the initiative to ask.

Just as Justice Audrey was considering whether to raise her hand slightly, The Hermit Cattleya closed her eyes, turned first, and faced the highest seat of the bronze long table.

Before she could bow and speak, The Fool, Klein, suddenly chuckled softly.

“There is no need to worry. The pair of glasses conjured here can seal your Eyes of Mystery Prying.”

He was very clear that Madam Hermit had already pushed open the door of demigodhood, obtained divinity, and become a Mysticologist.

On one hand, this was because Star Admiral Cattleya had prayed to The Fool before holding the ritual and consuming the potion, hoping to advance under His gaze. This way, even if she ultimately failed, she could receive protection and would not directly lose control or go mad. Afterward, she could still find a way to expel the excess characteristic and try again.

As for this matter, Klein was actually not at all confident. He had never attempted anything like it, and divination had produced no effective answer. Even so, he had agreed to Madam Hermit’s request. His thought was that, if she failed but did not die, it would naturally be thanks to Mr. Fool. If she directly lost control or went mad, then she would no longer care whether Mr. Fool was a fraud. In short, Klein’s main objective had been to give her some confidence and assurance, making her state more favorable for advancement. After all, Star Admiral could not find any other existence to provide similar protection.

When he witnessed Madam Hermit successfully advance to demigod, Klein breathed out in relief while inwardly mocking himself a few times.

“Sometimes, pretending to be a god is easier than pretending to be human. When believers encounter danger, there are often only two outcomes: either they live, or they die. If they live, it is naturally the god’s blessing. If they die, no one will care what they think…”

On the other hand, after becoming a half-god, half-human existence and being able to mobilize more of the mysterious space above the gray fog, The Fool, Klein, could easily see the state of the Tarot Club members’ astral bodies, thereby interpreting their current Beyonder pathways and Sequence levels.

The Hermit Cattleya, who had proactively sealed her Eyes of Mystery Prying, breathed out in relief upon hearing this. She spoke respectfully:

“Great Mr. Fool, this time I have a page of Emperor Roselle’s diary.”

There is a Roselle diary page? Has the Mystery Queen’s matter finished? But there have not been any abnormal changes in Backlund… Hmm. No one noticed Böklund Street being invaded by Amon or a demigod battle occurring at Rose Song Manor either… The Fool, Klein, nodded without changing expression.

“Very well. You may think of your question or request.”

As he spoke, The Hanged Man Alger, Justice Audrey, and the others keenly interpreted a piece of information from the earlier conversation:

Madam Hermit had just been worried that the conjured glasses would not be able to seal her Eyes of Mystery Prying, but she had never shown such concern during their many previous gatherings.

This meant that Madam Hermit’s Eyes of Mystery Prying had improved substantially… Hmm, why would they suddenly improve so much? Has she advanced to become a demigod? Does our Tarot Club now have a second demigod member? Justice Audrey connected this with the fact that The Hermit Cattleya had been purchasing mythical creature blood and instantly formed a guess.

Following that train of thought, she swept her gaze over the male members opposite her. She discovered that Mr. Hanged Man’s sitting posture had unconsciously changed, taking on a faint defensive quality, as though he too understood that Madam Hermit had become a demigod. Little Sun’s gaze remained fixed on the copper-green cross, without much reaction. Mr. Moon looked up at Madam Hermit several seconds late. As for Mr. Star, he was similar to Little Sun, except that his gaze was slightly unfocused, as if he were waiting for the diary segment to pass.

“Respected Mr. Fool, may this question be accumulated until next time?” The Hermit Cattleya responded at this moment.

Accumulated until next time… Does that mean the Mystery Queen still does not wish for her mood to be affected? Then why did she suddenly provide a diary page? Did she prophesy something? To maintain The Fool’s image, Klein did not ask why. He only nodded gently.

“You may.”

Cattleya said nothing more. She conjured the diary page and watched it flash into Mr. Fool’s hand.

Klein seemed to casually sweep his gaze across it, taking most of the contents into view:

“July 19th. Night of the Blood Moon.

“Mr. Door’s answer allowed me to confirm one thing: the second Blasphemy Slate that I saw inside that ancient secret organization was incomplete!”