Chapter 52: The Tarot Club

Chapter 52: The Tarot Club

Regarding Leonard’s “demonstration,” the demigods and Beyonders present nodded one after another, indicating that they fully understood what this Red Gloves captain wanted to express.

One Mandated Punisher raised an arm and took the opportunity to ask a question:

“In other words, the tarot card left at the scene represents the member who carried out the mission?”

“That should be the case.” Leonard did not answer too definitively.

The same Mandated Punisher continued, “Then what did the tarot cards scattered across Lanevus’s body when he died represent? There was no specific designation there.”

Leonard immediately picked up a piece of white chalk, wrote Lanevus’s name on the blackboard behind him, and drew a circle around it.

“I said earlier that the first incident involving tarot cards to truly enter our field of vision in the past two or three years was the Lanevus case. This may very well have been the beginning of everything.

“So, the tarot cards scattered randomly, with no specific designation, may have represented the whole. It meant that the organization using tarot cards as code names had formally stepped onto the stage of history—hehe, please forgive the poetic phrasing.”

“That makes a lot of sense.” Several Mandated Punishers were persuaded by Leonard.

Leonard looked around the room and continued, “Let me draw a comparison with the Aurora Order, which everyone here is familiar with. We all know the Aurora Order has twenty-two Oracles, each responsible for affairs in a region. That organization using tarot cards as code names may be similar. Members such as Judgment, Emperor, and Hermit should each have their own forces and exert influence in certain areas.”

Hearing this, a member of the Machinery Hivemind thought for a moment and said, “But Backlund has consecutively seen three card-holding members—Judgment, Emperor, and Hermit. According to your theory, does this mean that the organization using tarot cards as code names is not actually that large, and its members are all concentrated in Loen, or even in and around Backlund? After all, the Aurora Order has only one Oracle responsible for Backlund. As for the Dark Saint, he oversees all of Loen.”

Leonard slowly nodded, indicating that he understood the other party’s point.

After organizing his words, he said, “That possibility cannot be ruled out. After all, this is an organization that only appeared two or three years ago.

“Of course, there may be another reason: this organization may not divide its scope by region, but by matter—or rather, by field—deciding whether something should be handled by a particular member, and cooperating when matters overlap, as in the Capim case.”

Seeing that the Beyonders of the three great Churches and MI9 had no further questions, Leonard deliberated for a few seconds and said, “Everything above is only my personal conjecture, and there are still some issues within it. Perhaps these are directions for future investigation.

“The first question: What is this organization’s objective?

“If, like the Aurora Order, they seek to spread faith in an evil god, then why have we never discovered believers of The Fool? Even when there are such people, they are scammers using The Fool’s name.

“The second question: What do these few operations have in common? I have not yet found the answer.

“The third question: high-ranking members who use tarot cards as code names should not be low in Sequence and should possess their own forces, yet they have no reputation at all in the Beyonder world. This is very abnormal. As everyone knows, although the Aurora Order’s twenty-two Oracles all conceal their identities, they have more or less clashed with us over time. Under our ‘witness,’ they step by step advanced from Low Sequences to Mid Sequences, and finally took over the position of Oracle after their predecessor died or advanced. They have long been on our lists.”

At this point, Leonard paused before…