Chapter 23: Suggestions

Chapter 23: Suggestions

Good question… The Fool, Klein, inwardly praised her, then expressed the Red Angel evil spirit’s explanation in his own words:

“The seven gods all hope for there to be a Black Emperor, but their opinions are not unified on who should become that Black Emperor.

“After George III secretly made preparations and successfully obtained that ticket, regardless of whether the seven gods approved of Him, they could only tacitly accept it.”

So that was how it was… Apart from The Moon Emlyn and The Sun Derrick, who were not fully aware of the situation, the remaining Tarot Club members all came to a rough understanding. They more or less grasped why the major Churches had shown somewhat contradictory behavior in the Backlund Great Smog, the Feysac airship attack, and George III’s “assassination.”

Immediately afterward, a question surfaced in all of their minds:

Since George III had already prepared everything, reached the final step of conducting the ritual, and obtained the tacit approval of the seven gods, why did He still fail?

They then thought of an answer:

Because Mr. Fool did not agree.

Mm… In the matter of George III’s Black Emperor ritual being sabotaged, the Churches probably didn’t try too hard to stop it. They may even have provided some help to Mr. Fool’s subordinates… Did the Church of Storms use the chaos to do something in secret? No, they probably wouldn’t have bothered concealing too much… The Star Leonard recalled all the details he had noticed earlier and gained a more complete grasp of the overall situation.

The seven gods tacitly approved… Mr. Fool voted against it and sent The World and other blessed ones to secretly sabotage George III’s apotheosis ritual… But what does this have to do with the Queen? Why did she notice that Gehrman Sparrow had disappeared? Mm, Black Emperor… Perhaps the Queen participated in the operation led by Mr. Fool and later discovered that her collaborator had gone missing… The Hermit Cattleya used her broad experience and knowledge to form a guess regarding the truth of the matter.

Only at this moment did The Moon Emlyn finally connect all the scattered points they had just discussed and understand what kind of changes had taken place in the outside world while he had been placed under protective custody:

George III had secretly plotted to become a god, obtained the tacit approval of the seven gods, but Mr. Fool sent His blessed ones to sabotage the ritual, causing Him to perish on the spot!

Seeing everyone fall silent for a moment, The Fool Klein looked toward The Hermit Cattleya and asked, “Any more questions?”

“Not this time.” Cattleya lowered her head even more than before, her reverence toward the great existence seated at the very top of the bronze long table deepening.

Although she had long since known that Mr. Fool had three angels under Him—the Snake of Fate, the Death Consul, and an Ancient Evil—and secretly controlled the Life School of Thought, she still had not expected that the power Mr. Fool could mobilize in the real world could sabotage a king’s apotheosis ritual and even frustrate the schemes of a King of Angels, the son of the Creator.

Mr. Fool’s hidden forces are far more exaggerated than I imagined… What use do we Tarot Club members have to Him? The powers behind us? Our own growth potential? Or are we merely backup plans? At that instant, The Hermit Cattleya thought of many things. For a brief moment, she almost forgot that she herself was already a Sequence 4 demigod, someone who would count as a high-ranking figure in any organization.

Only the things Mr. Fool has revealed are enough to make a saint lose confidence… Justice Audrey merely glanced at Madam Hermit and interpreted her mental state.

At that moment, The Fool Klein nodded.

“You may begin.”

Hearing this, The Star Leonard immediately turned toward the very bottom of the mottled long table and asked The World, “How is your current situation?”

Magician Forsi, Judgment Xio, Justice Audrey, and the other Tarot Club members also turned their gazes toward The World Gehrman Sparrow, expressing concern for his circumstances.

In their view, Mr. World, who had been caught between Mr. Fool and the Angel of Time Amon as a tool in their conflict, was probably not in a particularly good position. The fact that he was still alive was already sufficiently fortunate.

Sensing more or less concern from everyone, Klein controlled the dummy The World and gave a low laugh.

“Not too bad, but not exactly good either.

“Thanks to Mr. Fool’s protection, I finally obtained a certain secret from Amon, but I still have not completely escaped Him.”

Without waiting for the seated members to react, he continued on his own:

“I am currently in a rather troublesome predicament.

“Relying on Mr. Fool’s power, I have entered a certain hidden state and temporarily escaped Amon. However, if I end that state and return to reality, I can only appear where my original body was, and Amon is very likely still wandering nearby.

“I want to first try finding a solution. Do any of you have suggestions?”

The surface meaning of The World Gehrman Sparrow’s words was clear: he wanted to rely on himself first, and only if that failed would he request Mr. Fool’s help.

And the true meaning was essentially the same: first look for a way to bypass the restriction, and if that truly failed, consider surviving as a dead spirit.

A solution? The Hanged Man Alger and the others suddenly felt somewhat excited, because the suggestions they provided would be used against a King of Angels.

If their ideas were adopted and proved effective, that would be something they could secretly boast about for the rest of their lives!

Justice Audrey eagerly prepared to speak, but when the words reached her lips, she withdrew them again. She knew that suggestions could not be given carelessly; perhaps a careless idea would result in Mr. World being caught by Amon.

Judgment Xio considered it carefully, then found she could offer no useful opinion and chose to simply watch and learn.

“Must it be the place where your original body is? Do you have any blood or hair stored elsewhere?” After some thought, The Hanged Man Alger framed his suggestion as a question.

The Fool Klein considered this, then made the dummy The World shake his head.

“That will not work.”

Compared to his original body, one or two tubes of blood formed far too small a proportion.

Thinking of this, inspiration suddenly came to Klein:

Perhaps those two tubes of blood could be used as material, combined with other things, to create a new body through life alchemy!

There are two problems. First, life alchemy requires a spirit body’s participation; otherwise, the final product may not count as my body. Second, I currently do not know any demigod capable of completing life alchemy. The only one even slightly related is Frank Lee… In the end, would I become a mushroom person? I’d rather be a dead spirit… As Klein thought further, he nearly shivered.

After The Hanged Man’s proposal was rejected, The Hermit Cattleya started from her own mysticism knowledge and asked after some deliberation, “Do you have a Sequence 3 sealed artifact?”

“Why do you ask?” The World Gehrman Sparrow asked in response.

“A Sequence 3 sealed artifact can respond to prayers within a certain range. You can make use of that.” The Hermit Cattleya gave a simple explanation.

Klein roughly understood what Madam Hermit was thinking:

“Are you referring to descent?”

“Yes. Have someone set up a descent ritual at the edge of the range. In your active hidden state, you should also be able to respond.” The Hermit Cattleya first glanced at The Sun, explained the specific plan, and only afterward realized something and asked, “Do you truly have a Sequence 3 sealed artifact?”

Originally, she had intended to suggest that The World seek a bestowment from Mr. Fool.

“I am already Sequence 3,” Klein controlled the dummy The World and answered briefly.

“…” The Tarot Club members were instantly speechless.

They all knew very clearly that Mr. World should have advanced to Sequence 4 and become a demigod only at the end of June.

And now it was December of the same year!

The Queen once said that, because I advanced using the Snake of Fate’s blood, becoming a Sequence 3 Prophet in the future will be easier for me than for others… Also, the Tarot Club has brought me plenty of precious mysticism knowledge, allowing me to digest the potion by a large margin… But even so, I still need another half a year or so before I have any hope of attempting Sequence 3… The Hermit Cattleya instinctively looked around and discovered that the other Tarot Club members all seemed caught between numbness and envy.

She silently sighed and asked, “Is my suggestion useful, Mr. World?”

The World Gehrman Sparrow shook his head.

“In that state, making a response has great restrictions.”

Once he chose descent, it would mean beginning the rest of his life in the state of a dead spirit—no, the rest of his ghostly life.

Perhaps the two methods can be combined… Mm, I can use a descent ritual directed at The Fool, the Sea God, or the Protector of Magic to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods. But there is no hurry. It would too easily expose the truth… The Fool Klein thoughtfully made the dummy The World look toward The Star Leonard.

Leonard instantly understood what he meant and gave a soft “Mm.”

“I’ll go back and search through the information, see if there are any other approaches.”

Clearly, what he truly meant was that he would go back and ask the old man. That one was an angel who understood Amon quite well. Perhaps he could propose something no one else could think of.

This was exactly the answer Klein wanted. He immediately made The World Gehrman Sparrow say, “All right.”

The discussion on how to escape temporarily ended. The World Gehrman Sparrow turned toward Magician Forsi.

“Help me ask the Abraham family whether they have any Star Worms whose spirituality has not completely drained. If so, what would they require in exchange?”

A Star Worm was a high-level spiritual material. In most cases, it did not contain Beyonder characteristics, so its spirituality would undergo irreversible loss. Without special methods, it was difficult to preserve for long.

Star Worm… Magician Forsi froze briefly before nodding.

“All right.”

After receiving the answer, Klein made The World turn his gaze toward The Hermit Cattleya.

“If Miss Magician cannot trade a Star Worm from the Abraham family, I would like to entrust you with a task.”

“What task?” Cattleya asked with considerable interest.

The World Gehrman Sparrow smiled.

“Hunt the Aurora Order’s Saint of Secrets, Botis.”