Chapter 59: Roselle’s Beginning

Chapter Fifty-Nine
Roselle’s Beginning

Hearing the Fool’s question, Audrey did not answer immediately as she had in the past. Instead, she opened her crystal-clear eyes and looked at the Hanged Man with an assessing gaze.

Alger unconsciously restrained his body movements. After several seconds of silence, he said, “I found two pages of Emperor Roselle’s diary and memorized their contents.”

“I have one page,” Audrey answered in a tone of observation, her gaze separated from his by the gray fog.

“Very good.”

Klein did not let either his joy or disappointment infect his voice.

He was delighted that there were three whole pages, yet disappointed that there were only three. The first gathering of diary pages was surely the easiest, because it represented the initial digging into their existing resources and channels. After that, it would grow increasingly difficult, involving more factors.

“Should we ‘express’ them now?” Audrey asked calmly.

“Yes,” Klein answered with a concise nod.

He maintained his earlier posture, barely changing at all. Before a Spectator, he had to be cautious.

As his words fell, yellow-brown parchment and dark-red fountain pens instantly appeared before Audrey and Alger.

The two picked up their writing instruments respectively, recalled the symbols in their memories, and supplied the urgent desire to express them.

Silently, line after line appeared on the yellow-brown parchment. Some writing was upright and grand, some delicate and winding, some crooked and uneven.

In less than a minute, the contents Audrey and Alger had forcefully memorized were all imprinted onto the pages.

With a thought from Klein, the three sheets of parchment flashed into his hand.

His gaze swept over them. He quickly read through the diary and discovered that the order of the language was sometimes reversed, with missing words and mistaken characters.

However, experience proved that within a certain range, errors of order did not affect reading Chinese. And as someone who had been tormented for years by online censorship asterisks, Klein feared neither missing nor mistaken words.

“April 8th. I stood at the prow of the Black Throne, spread my arms, and said to Green, Edwards, and the others: ‘Do you want my treasure? Then go search for it at the end of the Fog Sea! I have hidden all my treasure there!’ They completely failed to understand my humor. They actually asked whether I really had extra treasure. How dull. At this rate, none of you can become my Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!”

“April 11th. Discovered an unnamed island outside the safe sea routes. There are quite a few extraordinary creatures on it. No—I prefer calling them extraordinary species. It sounds classier. Aside from them, the island has many strange and bizarre creatures. I think if Darwin transmigrated here, he definitely would not be able to write On the Origin of Species.”

“April 15th. Green has become a little strange. Was he infected by something?”

When did Emperor Roselle, born in the Intis Kingdom, ever sail far out to sea? The Fog Sea should be the ocean west of the Intis Republic… Mm. I need to go to the library and look for historical materials to compare…

Klein finished the first page quickly and turned his gaze to the next.

At that moment, he no longer concealed the fact that he understood Emperor Roselle’s secret symbols, because such behavior matched the identity of the Fool. Audrey and Alger said nothing and sat there quietly waiting. They seemed not the slightest bit surprised by this result, or even thought things ought to be exactly so.

“October 2nd. Without asking me beforehand, they actually decided that I should be engaged to Matilda of the Abel family! Heavens, I have not even met her yet! No. I must refuse! Even if I run away from home, even if I have to live independently from now on and suffer every kind of suppression, I will resist this arranged marriage!”

“October 5th. Miss Matilda is truly beautiful.”

“October 6th. Her personality and temperament are both the kind I like. I have begun looking forward to our marriage.”

Hey, Emperor, where is your integrity…

Klein leaned back in the high-backed chair, not letting his emotions pierce through the gray fog.

He discovered that in Roselle’s early years, the Emperor had not written diaries every day. Usually, only when he encountered some matter requiring complaint, record, or emotional expression did he pick up the pen.

Lowering his eyes, Klein looked at the final entry on that page.

“October 9th. They actually call me the Son of Steam. I rather like it.”

Seeing that the first two pages held little value for now, Klein inevitably felt a small measure of disappointment.

But he was not discouraged. He moved the third page to the top. This page had writing on both front and back.

“May 21st. The Church of the God of Craftsmanship gave me two choices: the starting points of two Sequence pathways. One is Savant, belonging to the complete Sequence chain they themselves control. The other is Mystery Pryer, obtained from the Moses Ascetic Order, lacking the higher Sequences.”

“May 22nd. My choice is simple: Savant! Savant with a complete Sequence! Although mastering more mysticism knowledge would help me find a way home, the problem is that when I am not strong enough, something like transmigration must inevitably rely on external forces. Whether those external forces are good or bad, whether they are benevolent or malicious, cannot be controlled and is therefore extremely dangerous. Since that is the case, it is better to make myself powerful and rely on my own strength to return. Therefore, a complete Sequence is my foremost consideration!”

“May 23rd. I became a Savant. Through the power of the potion, I actually recalled completely the knowledge I learned before: physics, chemistry, and so on and so on.

“Not only did I remember it, I also deeply understood and mastered it. Haha. This is simply a ‘profession’ tailored for an outsider like me, maximizing my advantages! I have to say, if I returned in this state—returned to my senior year of high school—I would definitely become the top scorer. And with more standardized, deeper professional study, becoming a scientist would not be too difficult a goal.”

“May 26th. I very much enjoy the identity of Savant. A strange thing: when I regard myself as a Savant, and the things I do match its positioning, those whispers that almost drove me mad become much quieter. The temper that occasionally explodes out of me has also come under control, and I finally remembered the matter of writing a diary.

“Is this the ‘acting’ that the mysterious Mr. Zaratul once mentioned to me? Perhaps this is the key to resolving the hidden dangers of potions.”

Reading this page of diary, Klein deeply felt the obvious differences between himself and Emperor Roselle in both personality and style.

For example, regarding the matter of going home, Klein thought more about deeply mastering mysticism knowledge to avoid danger and achieve the goal. Emperor Roselle, by contrast, believed in relying on himself, in holding danger within his own hands.

“I must admit, sometimes I envy people like that. Perhaps everyone longs for what they themselves do not possess… Of course, I should also consider strengthening myself. I need to grasp with both hands, and both hands must be firm…”

Thoughts surfaced one after another in Klein’s mind, making him sigh with emotion.

Roselle’s description of the potion’s hidden dangers decreasing also gave Klein much more confidence in his own summary from last night, and a clearer grasp of the essence of “acting.”

Setting down the three diary pages, Klein lifted his head and looked toward Justice and the Hanged Man. Smiling faintly, he said, “My apologies. I was absorbed in reading.”

Audrey smoothed away the envy in her heart and smiled calmly.

“I can understand. I look forward to the day when I can exchange something with you for the contents of Emperor Roselle’s diary.”

“That will require a price.”

Klein smiled and glanced at Justice, taking the opportunity to sweep his gaze over the silent Hanged Man as well.

Audrey placed her clasped hands before herself.

“Mr. Fool, Mr. Hanged Man, I have three questions I would like to ask. If you believe the answers have high value, tell me what you want. I will do my best to find it afterward.”

“No problem,” Alger answered simply and steadily.

Klein nodded lightly and leaned back more comfortably.

Audrey thought for several seconds before saying, “The first question: What exactly does ‘acting’ mean? I discovered that the potion’s residual spirit has very little influence on me. Is that because I have been acting as a Spectator during this period?”

Alger did not speak. He turned his gaze toward the Fool, as if also waiting for an explanation.

Klein lightly tapped the edge of the long table with his fingers and spoke in a relaxed tone.

“I will use a rather vivid example. The core power of a Sequence potion is a heavily guarded castle. Those residual spirits that can cause backlash live inside that castle. Our goal is to resolve them and truly become the castle’s master.

“We currently have two methods. The first is to force our way in. This may not succeed, but it will certainly injure us, unless we possess overwhelming superiority. Clearly, we do not.

“The second method is that we have an invitation from the castle’s master. This invitation allows us to pass the guards’ inspection and smoothly infiltrate the castle, then easily deal with the enemy. The problem is that the invitation contains the guest’s physical characteristics and corresponding description of temperament. Therefore, we must disguise ourselves and ‘act’ as the invited guest. Do you understand?”

Alger immediately asked back, as though he had long possessed certain guesses, “That invitation is the name of the Sequence potion?”

“Yes,” Klein answered affirmatively.

Audrey understood in a flash. She felt she had completely grasped the meaning of “acting.”

With her emotions somewhat stirred, she immediately slipped out of the Spectator state and praised him delightedly.

“What an outstanding method! I feel—I feel it suits your title very well. Its style matches ‘The Fool’ perfectly… I never imagined ‘acting’ would function in this way. Fortunately, during this period, I have instinctively been acting as a Spectator.”

She paused, then said, “I believe this is an answer of very high value. I cannot accept it with peace of mind like this. Mr. Fool, what kind of exchange do you require? Of course, I remember that I still owe you one page of Emperor Roselle’s diary.”

“More of Roselle’s diary. Or…”

Klein paused for a moment.

He had originally intended to ask for any information related to the Seer Sequence, but he felt that such a low-level request would damage the Fool’s image. Thus, he abandoned the idea temporarily, planning to find an opportunity later to ask without leaving a trace.

In any case, I advanced not long ago and still have not thoroughly digested the Seer potion…

He consoled himself this way and, without changing expression, added, “Or any information about the Antigonus family, even if it is something I already knew before.”

Alger fell silent for several seconds. He looked cautiously toward the head of the bronze long table and spoke in a deep, slow voice.

“Mr. Fool… in that case, I can pay you right now for the answer you just gave.”