Chapter 2: Asymmetry

Chapter 2: Asymmetry

Recalling the major events that had happened recently, The Moon Emlyn quickly locked onto the outbreak of the great smog and the plague. He guessed that the young lady across from him was referring to that.

But I heard it was caused by a Demoness of Despair seeking advancement… And besides, the Church of Storms responded very quickly, creating a hurricane that dispersed everything. How can that be called Mr. Fool saving Backlund? With his race as a source of support, Emlyn was reasonably well informed. Comparing the two versions, he inevitably felt both astonished and puzzled.

Although he had always been proud and was unwilling to spend much thought on social interaction, he still possessed an instinctive fear when facing a hidden existence worthy of being addressed as “He.” He did not dare ask recklessly and planned to listen quietly for a while first.

The Hanged Man Alger, despite drifting at sea, had also received news of Backlund’s great smog. He was greatly interested in the secrets concealed within it and the truth behind the scenes, firmly believing that it absolutely involved a struggle between deities—after all, it had attracted Mr. Fool’s attention!

When we exchange information, I’ll ask Miss Justice about it. Though she may not necessarily know much; her position doesn’t allow her to understand too many of the true details. Heh, her curiosity is very strong. With such an opening, she will definitely try to obtain an answer from Mr. Fool. I hope I’ll have a chance to listen in… With that thought, Alger turned his head to look at The Sun. Seeing that he was neither impatient nor agitated, and that he seemed steady and reserved, Alger knew that he and the exploration team from the City of Silver had already escaped the cycle of fate.

Similarly, Justice Audrey also read from Little Sun’s reaction that their operation had gone smoothly. She quietly let out a breath of relief and prepared to ask about the details later.

After solemnly saluting Mr. Fool, she thanked The World as well, thanking this Tarot Club member who did not look like a good person for having given an advance warning.

“…Mr. World, if not for your warning, Backlund might have lost hundreds of thousands of lives in that great smog.”

“In truth, that also saved me,” Klein manipulated The World to say with a hoarse laugh.

He spoke with utter sincerity, without the slightest element of acting. If he had not informed Miss Justice in advance, and if she had not then warned the Church of the Evernight Goddess, the powerful individual who erased Mr. A would not have arrived so promptly. Klein himself might not have been able to hold out for much longer.

If Mr. A had torn me apart and eaten me, perhaps I wouldn’t have been able to revive… Klein thought in lingering relief.

Mr. A’s “eating” was truly eating!

Immediately after, as The Fool, he leaned back in his chair and replied with a smile, “I merely offered a little insignificant help.”

“No. Your Blessed was the one who truly saved Backlund. His contribution was the greatest among all those involved,” Justice Audrey praised from the heart. “His warning allowed the Goddess—the Church of the Evernight Goddess—to make preparations. They were able to eliminate the Demoness of Despair in time and prevent the Primordial Demoness from awakening, keeping the level of corruption in the great smog within a controllable range. Moreover, he also directly destroyed the Aurora Order’s ritual, once again severing the attempt of the True Creator to descend into the real world.”

Because Audrey had provided the most important information, both Earl Hall and Countess Hall had praised her. They did not hide from her the results of the investigation or some of the details they had heard.

Of course, as parents, they also expressed their hopes: they wished their daughter would avoid becoming too deeply entangled with that hidden organization. It would be enough for her to remain in the outer circle, gather some information, and keep her strength below Sequence 7.

The Primordial Demoness wanted to awaken… The True Creator attempted to descend… What exactly happened in Backlund? At the same time, The Hanged Man Alger and The Moon Emlyn had the same reaction, though their expressions differed. The former merely raised his eyelids slightly, his pupils contracting as he unconsciously sat a little slanted. The latter gave the impression that he was about to leap out of his chair.

Mother Goddess—no, moon above! When did Backlund become so dangerous? Two evil gods actually appeared during a single great smog! That young lady must be lying, right? Although Mr. Fool is a suspected godlike existence, He can’t possibly offend two “Him” of the same level at once… Could it be that He is, in fact, the incarnation of some orthodox deity? Or that behind Him stands an alliance of gods? Is that why the Ancestor had me pray to Him? The more Emlyn thought, the faster his heart beat, yet he had no way to confirm anything.

The Blood Clan being nicknamed “vampires” did not mean they had no heartbeat. It was simply much slower than that of humans. And the heart itself was also one of the Blood Clan’s fatal weaknesses.

As expected! An event worthy of Mr. Fool’s attention… But what benefit can He obtain from ruining the schemes of evil gods? The Hanged Man Alger secretly exhaled.

The Magician Fors, meanwhile, was both shocked and terrified. She had not expected that behind the dreadful great smog, which had already claimed tens of thousands of lives, an even more terrifying truth had been hidden.

If it had not been stopped in time, the whole of Backlund would have been destroyed, and Xio and I would certainly not have survived… Fors swallowed with difficulty.

Her feelings were also Audrey’s thoughts. Through this event, the noble young lady had truly come to recognize one thing: the peaceful, comfortable, normal, and stable life she had always believed in was, amid the collisions between deities, no more than a soap bubble. The slightest stimulus could shatter it at once.

Or rather, the entire kingdom, the whole of human society, exists only because of the balance between gods—and that balance is extraordinarily fragile… Each time a similar thought surged up, Audrey sank into gloom.

Seeing that someone knew and remembered the contribution he had made, Klein immediately felt somewhat gratified. He smiled and said, “Unfortunately, because of this, he had no choice but to leave Backlund.”

Mr. Fool’s Blessed has temporarily left Backlund? Justice Audrey rose again and performed a sincere salute.

“Please convey my thanks to him.”

Maintaining his image, Klein did not respond aloud. He only nodded.

At this moment, Audrey added, “I am very sorry. Because the three Churches and the military are currently carrying out a cleanup in Backlund, I was unable to obtain the subsequent pages of Roselle’s diary. Please wait another week.”

“That is acceptable,” Klein said evenly, without a ripple in his tone.

Hearing their conversation, The Magician Fors suddenly came to herself. She hurriedly looked toward the seat of honor at the end of the long bronze table.

“Honorable Mr. Fool, I have received three pages of Roselle’s diary.”

Not bad. The more members there are, the more channels there are. Many things will grow rapidly like a rolling snowball… Klein gently nodded.

“Very good.”

Roselle’s diary? The Moon Emlyn felt as though he had once again heard something extraordinary.

Under his puzzled gaze, Fors manifested three diary pages and passed them to Mr. Fool.

It was only at this moment that Klein remembered he had overlooked a certain vampire. With a soft laugh, he introduced, “This is the new member, Mr. Moon.

“This gathering is called the Tarot Club. They are…”

Mr. Moon… I thought the one who chose the Moon card would be a lady… As Justice Audrey politely greeted him, her mood eased a little, allowing her thoughts to drift.

Likewise, Emlyn was guessing whether members such as The Hanged Man and Justice were human or supernatural creatures, which pathways they belonged to, what Sequences they equated to, which organizations they belonged to, and whether they were friendly toward the Blood Clan.

Klein paid no attention to their mutual sizing-up. He turned his gaze to the diary in his hands.

“February 11th. Today, I learned one of the Sauron family’s secrets. Hahahaha, it’s killing me! Hahahaha!

“So it turns out that the Hunter pathway they control changes one’s sex at Sequence 4. Men remain men, while women become men! No wonder none of the high-Sequence experts of the Sauron family I know of are women. An Iron-Blooded Knight truly is an iron-blooded man!

“Hahahaha! If this secret hadn’t come by such hidden means, I would want to mock Florent with it the next time we meet. Perhaps the Sauron ancestor he resembles was originally a woman!

“This potion is way too much of a trap, isn’t it? I hope the Savant pathway won’t have any strange changes after reaching the higher Sequences. I don’t want to discover one day that either I cannot advance, or I have to become a woman.”

Upon seeing this entry, the first thought that flashed through Klein’s mind was:

Emperor, you won’t become a woman, but you did sleep with a Demoness—possibly more than one…

“There really is a pathway where women become men, and it’s one of the ones I predicted… The Hunter represents war, and at Sequence 4 it causes women to change sex… That’s a little off. The Demoness pathway changes at Sequence 7, Witch. They’re not strictly corresponding…” The more Klein thought about it, the more he sensed a kind of distortion and madness, born from an extreme asymmetry.

Could the underlying logic of this world be chaos, distortion, madness, and asymmetry? He forced himself not to frown.

“February 12th. No, I can’t help wanting to laugh every time I see Florent.

“Hahahahaha!”

“February 15th. The improved cannon I designed and supervised has been completed. The effect is a little worse than I expected, but that isn’t a major problem. With it, and with mass production, I will let this world, this era, witness truly advanced tactics!

“To celebrate, I have decided to hold a banquet and invite those fellows who looked down on me. Just wait to be slapped in the face!”

The Emperor really doesn’t let grudges sit overnight… Klein sighed inwardly as he turned to the second page of the diary.

“May 5th. That unspeakable organization has once again convened a gathering of its members.

“Every time, I am shaken by the method they use to summon their members. It is simply a miracle—no, a divine miracle.

“After my previous observations, I raised a few questions at this gathering. For example, among all the Sequence 0 names on the Blasphemy Slate, every one of them possesses sufficient grandeur, but ‘Red Priest’ alone feels unique and not imposing enough. The old gentleman seated beside me told me that ‘Red’ refers to the red of war, and that ‘Priest’ can be understood as one who offers worship to the essence of power.

“Someone disagreed with him, believing that the ‘Priest’ in Red Priest referred to a priest of the original Creator.

“I leaned toward the former explanation, so I quietly asked the old gentleman his name. I do not know the identity of every member here. In the most extreme sense, I only know a portion of them.

“The old gentleman answered me with a smiling expression. He said his name was Hermes.

“Hermes? The Hermes who created ancient Hermes? Hermes, the founder of human mysticism?”