Chapter 84: Full Moon Ravings

Chapter Eighty-Four
Full Moon Ravings

Klein had just put on his double-breasted frock coat, picked up his half top hat, and begun walking toward the door when he suddenly heard the layered, echoing sound of illusory prayer.

Who?

He frowned slightly and listened carefully, but could only confirm that the petitioner was a lady, and that her voice was broken and intermittent, seeming to contain tremendous pain.

Thinking that he had nothing especially urgent to do, the newly advanced Magician, Klein, casually tossed the half top hat in his hand, letting it land accurately once more on the coat rack. He himself returned to the bedroom, took four steps counterclockwise, and entered the towering, majestic palace.

This time, he saw no illusory star pulsing and expanding with crimson light. But at the far end of the ancient, mottled bronze long table, beside The Fool’s chair, clear radiance rippled outward in ring after ring.

“A prayer from a non-Tarot Club member… Xio, or that lady with slightly curled brown hair?”

Klein made a guess as he sat down in his own seat.

Because he had already emptied the money from the anonymous account, he did not suspect anyone was attempting to steal his wealth.

Leaning back slightly, Klein raised his left hand. Spirituality extended from it, touching the halo that kept sending out ripples.

The scene around him changed abruptly. He saw an overturned coffee table, a slanted sofa, books and papers scattered all over the floor, and a brown-haired lady struggling like someone at death’s door.

At the same time, Klein heard the other party’s prayer clearly:

“The Fool that does not belong to this era…”

“The mysterious ruler above the gray fog…”

“The King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck…”

“Save me. Save me…”

“Save me”? From the look of her, she seems somewhat close to losing control. Her hair is lengthening at a visible pace, and the keratin layer of her skin has already been covered with an evil white glow. How am I supposed to save her…

Klein observed carefully for several seconds and muttered to himself with considerable difficulty.

Just then, from within the woman’s pain-filled prayer, he distinguished a faint, illusory, inconspicuous murmur.

Yes—ravings!

It was similar to the terrifying ravings he had heard before entering above the gray fog, yet it did not feel mad in the slightest, nor evil, nor did it contain any obvious malice.

“It seems this lady’s near-loss of control was caused by hearing those ravings… If she can no longer hear them, will she calm down and improve?”

Thoughtfully, Klein reached toward the halo constantly rippling outward.

Immediately afterward, he allowed his spirituality to pour out madly, establishing a stable, mysterious connection.

After advancing to Magician, his spirituality had become much more abundant, and the burden in this aspect had become much lighter as a result.

…

Fors’s mind grew more and more confused. She felt as though her thoughts had become boiling water, constantly bubbling, trying to burst through the restraint of her skull.

“Am I about to die… I don’t want to. I don’t want to become a monster…”

No sooner had that sorrowful thought flashed through her mind than a tidal wave of pain drowned it out.

Suddenly, she became clear-headed.

The bone-deep pain, irritation, madness, and despair from before seemed never to have existed. They were only a hallucination.

I got through it so quickly today? During a Blood Moon, doesn’t it always last longer?

Fors opened the eyes she had closed without realizing it, puzzled, and saw beneath her an endless stretch of gray-white fog. Before her stood an ancient, mottled bronze long table.

Where is this?

She looked around in astonishment and saw towering stone pillars, saw a majestic palace supported by those pillars.

Immediately afterward, she discovered that at the very head of the bronze long table sat an exceptionally mysterious figure wrapped in dense gray fog, seemingly looking down upon everything.

What is this place? Who is he?

Fors raised those questions again inside her heart, alert and on guard.

Then she remembered what she had done just now.

Under extreme pain, she had recited the mysterious incantation Xio had found in A History of the Nobility of the Loen Kingdom—the mysterious incantation suspected of pointing toward some evil spirit!

No, not merely an evil spirit! He actually allowed me to temporarily escape the harm of those terrifying ravings… and pulled me into this strange world…

Fors suppressed the fear inside her and, half rising, gave a bow.

“May I ask who you are…?”

Just then, she suddenly remembered the exact content of the incantation and blurted out:

“You are The Fool! Uh—sir.

“You are His Excellency The Fool?”

Klein smiled and nodded.

“You may simply call me Mr. Fool.”

As he spoke, he noticed that the symbolic sign and mysterious patterns made of brilliant stars behind Fors’s chair were rapidly changing.

In only a second or two, they outlined a door whose interior was layered upon itself again and again—a door formed from the overlap of countless illusory doors of the same kind.

“Door”?

The moment Klein saw that symbolic sign, he instantly thought of Mr. Door, whom Roselle’s diary had mentioned.

The other party would draw close to the real world during the full moon and call for help!

Could the ravings just now be connected to Mr. Door? Mm… Today is a Blood Moon, an enhanced version of the full moon… This lady corresponds to “Door,” while the symbolic sign behind Miss Xio’s chair earlier resembles a “Sword of Judgement”…

Klein nodded almost imperceptibly.

From this, he confirmed one point: once a stable connection was established, if the other party was a Beyonder, then the symbolic sign behind the corresponding chair would change according to that person’s actual circumstances. It was not necessary for them to join the Tarot Club and regularly come above the gray fog.

At that moment, a storm had risen in Fors’s heart:

The Fool… So it really is The Fool… That honorific name really points toward a powerful existence!

What does He want? Will He make me trade with my soul?

Heh. At least—at least this is better than losing control amid those terrifying ravings… I’ve picked my life back up. No matter what happens afterward, I’ve already profited…

As thoughts surged through her, she suddenly heard Mr. Fool ask with a smile:

“Every full moon, you hear ravings from an unknown source?”

How does he know?

Fors stared over in astonishment and answered in a daze, “Yes.”

Before her voice had even faded, she abruptly thought of a possibility and blurted out, “You—You know where those ravings come from? You know who is harming me? You know how to resolve this problem completely?”

He is a poor wretch lost in darkness and trapped inside a storm…

Klein had originally intended to answer with words that could very well shape his image, but after thinking about it, he felt he could not confirm that the ravings the lady before him heard truly came from Mr. Door.

In order not to make a mistake, and to avoid embarrassing himself later, he skipped over her question and smiled vaguely.

“He may not wish to harm you. Perhaps he is merely asking you for help.”

That was why the ravings contained no malice, no madness, and no evil.

“Asking me for help? But those ravings make me more and more likely to lose control. If not for your help, I might already have become a monster.”

Fors asked in disbelief.

Klein smiled.

“That is because you are too fragile.”

“I am too fragile?”

Fors was both stunned and confused.

Klein explained briefly:

“Your level of life is far too different from his. Perhaps his ordinary breathing can produce a storm that tears you apart. Perhaps one glance from him would make you die on the spot.

“Of course, if he deliberately restrains his own power, it is not impossible for him to communicate with you normally. But his voice might have to pass through layer upon layer of obstruction before reaching your ears. Deliberate restraint often means the cry for help fails. Heh. I mean, assuming he is indeed asking for help.”

Our levels of life are far too different… One glance and I would die on the spot…

Fors listened in a daze. Only after a long while did she squeeze out a smile.

“That reminds me of a phrase.

“Do not look directly at a god…”

Klein smiled at her and offered no direct answer.

Could those terrifying ravings truly come from an existence close to a deity? Mr. Fool can help me shut out the other party’s influence, and He speaks of this matter with such a calm tone throughout… Does that mean He is at the same level of life as that existence?

The more Fors thought, the more shocked she became. Her body began trembling uncontrollably.

Klein waited a few seconds, then turned to ask, “How long do those ravings last each full moon?”

“Three to five minutes. If it is a Blood Moon night, more than seven minutes,” Fors answered honestly after gathering her thoughts.

Hearing this, Klein increasingly felt that the master of those ravings was Mr. Door.

He temporarily set the matter aside and said with a smile:

“In a few more minutes, you may return.

“There is only one solution to the problem: raise your own level of life.”

Fors hesitated, then said, “Whenever I encounter a full moon, may I recite Your name?

“I—I will become Your devout believer!”

“No. There is no need.”

Klein shook his head with a smile.

“But I do not mind helping you in passing.”

“Thank you so much!”

Although Fors suspected she was making a deal with an evil god, she never wanted to experience that painful “nightmare” from earlier again.

Once that matter was settled, she relaxed considerably. Noticing the many seats around the bronze long table, she probed, “Mr. Fool, it seems there are other people who often come and go here?”

No. Perhaps not necessarily people…

Fors silently added.

Klein smiled with a relaxed attitude.

“There are several people similar to you whom I pulled into this place for various reasons.

“They wished for me to regularly convene a gathering for formula trades, material purchases and sales, information exchange, and commissioned tasks.

“I agreed.”

Fors’s heart gave a sudden thump. Thinking that she had already become involved, she asked boldly:

“Mr. Fool, may I join this gathering?”

“Yes. Every Monday, three in the afternoon. Exclude all interference.”

Klein pointed with a smile toward the tarot cards that had suddenly manifested on the surface of the bronze long table.

“They decided to use the names of tarot cards as their respective code names. You may choose one yourself. The following already have owners and cannot be selected…”

Fors nodded. While shuffling and cutting the deck with great interest, she muttered:

“Let fate arrange my title…”

Soon, she drew a card and glanced at it.

“The Magician!”