Chapter 146: Arrodes’s Question

Chapter 146: Arrodes’s Question

As Klein finished drawing the final stroke, the light inside billiard room number three abruptly dimmed a little.

Ripple-like patterns spread one circle after another across the surface of the small compact mirror, ultimately becoming deep and dark.

Immediately afterward, one bloody Loenese word after another emerged.

“Ask your questions.”

The scene was filled with eerie horror. Even though the ones opposite it were a Wraith and a living corpse, they seemed to be intimidated for a short moment and did not dare to speak.

Only Klein, with a smile always at the corners of his lips, seemed already accustomed to all this.

Beforehand, he had already instructed the Magic Mirror Arrodes not to ask questions that were too difficult or too private, and not to behave like a servant. If it were not for the fact that Sharron and Maric, who understood the circumstances better, could grasp the key points through their questions, Klein would certainly have preferred to handle everything privately himself, without exposing the fact that he had such a “helper.”

After several seconds of silence, Maric took two steps forward and came before the billiard table, opening his mouth.

Just then, Sharron’s gentle yet emotionless voice suddenly sounded.

“I will ask.”

Without waiting for Maric’s response, she stood as though drifting, looked toward the compact mirror, and asked, “The mummy of Tutanthis II is a trap set by the Loen military against the Rose School of Thought. Is that correct?”

The original blood-red words on the compact mirror abruptly melted and slid downward, dragging out dirty streaks. Only one word barely remained, writhing and changing into:

“Correct.”

As expected, it is a trap set by the Loen military against the Rose School of Thought. This basically rules out the possibility that the Rose School of Thought is targeting Miss Sharron and Maric with this plot. After all, the risk they would have to bear far exceeds the value of one Sequence 5 plus one Sequence 6. No matter how little those people restrain their desire for revenge, they have not gone insane to that extent—unless they already intended to deal with the Loen military and merely dragged the traitors in along the way. But if that were the case, the best place for war should be the Southern Continent or the sea, not somewhere near Backlund. Nobody knows how many terrifying fellows are hidden here…

As thoughts rose and fell, Klein saw the mirror surface turn deep again, showing new blood-red words:

“According to the principle of equivalence, it is now my turn to ask.

“If you answer incorrectly or lie, you will suffer punishment.”

It is still obedient. It did not ask for performance-art behavior…

Klein, gazing at the billiard table, nodded almost imperceptibly.

At that moment, the previous sentence slowly vanished, and new words appeared:

“You…”

That bloody word froze for a full three seconds before continuing:

“…answer the relationship between the Chained God and the Mother Tree of Desire.”

For some reason, Klein felt that the color of the blood-red words in the latter part seemed much dimmer than before. Fortunately, the question belonged to the sort that was not too excessive and that he himself wanted to know.

Wearing a black soft hat, Sharron looked at the compact mirror. Without any change in expression, she said, “At the beginning of the Fifth Epoch, following Death’s fall, the Eggers family gradually lost control over the Star Plateau and the Paz Valley. Those places gained their own Beyonder organization: the Rose School of Thought.

“At first, there was no Mother Tree of Desire—only the Chained God. The Rose School of Thought advocated temperance and established a religious ritual system, including laws. Official members lived austere lives with low desire in order to cope with the aftereffects of obtaining power.

“Then, one day, words like indulgence appeared in the oracles. Many people gradually changed…