As he thought back to the recent events, The Moon, Emlyn, was quick to associate it with the great smog and the plague outbreak, guessing that this was what the lady opposite him was referring to.
Although he had always been proud and didn’t wish to spend time on social interactions, he still felt an instinctive fear when faced with a hidden existence that he had to address with “He.” He didn’t dare to open his mouth to ask and decided to listen for a while.
Alger, even though he was drifting out at sea, had received news of the great smog in Backlund. He was interested in the secrets and the truth behind it, confident in the belief that this was definitely a struggle between deities. After all, it had attracted the attention of Mr. Fool!
Similarly, Audrey, who had figured out that the operation was successful from reading Little Sun’s reaction, heaved a secret sigh of relief. She prepared herself to understand what had happened later in detail.
After a solemn bow towards Mr. Fool, she thanked the seemingly unkind Tarot Club member, The World, for his advance warning.
“… Mr. World, if it wasn’t for your advance warning, then perhaps tens of thousands of people would’ve died in Backlund during this great smog.”
“In truth, I was also doing it to save myself.” Klein controlled The World to give a hoarse laugh.
He said it with sincerity and without any trace of acting, because if it wasn’t for Miss Justice who was notified in advance and warned the Church of the Evernight Goddess, then the powerful existence who erased Mr. A wouldn’t have arrived in time, and he himself might not have been able to hold on for long.
Mr. A’s feasting would literally be feasting!
Immediately after, as The Fool, he leaned back in his chair and responded with a smile, “All I did was provide some trivial help.”
“No, your adorer really helped save Backlund. His contribution is the greatest amongst everyone,” Audrey praised from the bottom of her heart. “His warning allowed the Goddess, the Church of the Evernight Goddess to make preparations, wiping out the Demoness of Despair in a timely manner and preventing the Primordial Demoness from awakening. It allowed the contamination of the great smog to be kept under control. Furthermore, he even destroyed the Aurora Order’s ritual, preventing the attempted descent of the True Creator’s once again, keeping him at bay from the real world.”
Audrey received unanimous praise by Earl Hall and his wife for providing the most important information. They hadn’t concealed the results of the investigation and some of the details they had gathered from her.
Of course, they also raised their wish as parents that their daughter wasn’t to get too involved with that secret organization. It would be enough if she stayed in the outer circle and gathered some information, then maintained her strength below that of Sequence 7.
The fact that Sanguine had the nickname “vampire” didn’t mean that they didn’t have a heartbeat. It was just that they were relatively slow, and the heart itself was one of the Sanguine’s fatal weaknesses.
Fors was surprised and frightened. She didn’t expect that the horrible great smog that had taken the lives of tens of thousands of people would conceal an even more horrifying truth.
Her feelings were similar to Audrey’s feelings as well. Through this matter, this young noble lady clearly understood one thing, which was that the life she believed to be peaceful and calm was like a soap bubble amidst a clash between deities. Just a slight perturbation could immediately pop it into nothingness.
Klein was pleased when he saw that someone knew and remembered his contribution. He smiled and said, “Unfortunately, he has to stay away from Backlund as a result.”
“Please convey my gratitude to him.”
Klein maintained his image without giving a reply other than nodding his head.
At this moment, Audrey added, “I’m very sorry, as the three Churches and the military are cleaning up Backlund, I was unable to get the follow-up pages to Roselle’s diary. Please wait one more week.”
“Sure,” Klein said in a flat tone.
Hearing their conversation, Fors was startled as she hurriedly looked to the end of the long bronze table and said, “Dear Mr. Fool, I received three pages of Roselle’s diary.”
“Very good.”
Under his puzzled gaze, Fors conjured three pages of the diary and passed them on to Mr. Fool.
Only then did Klein remember that he had missed introducing a particular vampire. Smiling, he introduced, “This is a new member, Mr. Moon.
“This gathering is called the Tarot Club. They are…”
Similarly, Emlyn wondered whether the members such as The Hanged Man and Justice were humans or transcendent creatures, which pathways they were from, at which Sequences, from which organizations, or if they were friendly to the Sanguine.
Klein didn’t care about them sizing each other up as he cast his gaze to the diary entries in his hands.
“11th February. Today, I found out about a secret of the Sauron family. Hahaha! I’m going to die from laughter! Hahaha!
“So it turns out that the Hunter pathway that they possess will change gender at Sequence 4. Men wouldn’t change, but women will change into men! It’s no wonder that none of the High-Sequence Beyonders of the Sauron family that I’m aware of are female. The Iron-blooded Knight is indeed a true man!
“Hahaha, if it wasn’t for how sensitive this secret was, then I would even feel like ridiculing Floren next time. The Sauron family ancestor that he looks like might’ve been a woman!
“This potion is way too much of a trap, isn’t it? I hope the Savant pathway wouldn’t have any strange changes upon reaching the high Sequences. I don’t want to one day suddenly realize that I either don’t advance, or I have to change into a woman.”
“12th February. This won’t do. I want to laugh whenever I see Floren.
“Hahahaha!
“15th February, the modified artillery I designed and supervised was completed. The effect was worse than I expected, but the problem isn’t that great. With it and mass production, I’ll be able to show the world what true advanced tactics are!
“In order to celebrate, I decided to hold a banquet to invite those fellows who looked down on me. Just wait to be slapped in the face!”
“5th May, that unspeakable organization called for another gathering.
“I’m struck by the way they gather their members every time. It’s phenomenal, no—a miracle.
“With my earlier observations, I raised some problems at this gathering. For example, all the Sequence 0 names have a high-enough level on the Blasphemy Slate. Only Red Priest appears rather unique. It doesn’t sound strong enough. The old gentleman sitting beside me told me that ‘red’ represents the red of war. And priest can be understood as the ritualist of strength at its core.
“Someone objected, believing that the ‘priest’ in Red Priest represents being a priest of that Creator.
“I leaned towards the former and asked for the name of the old gentleman in a low voice. I didn’t know the identity of every member. To put it in an extreme manner, I only know a portion of them.
“The old gentleman answered me with a smile. He said his name was Hermes.
“Hermes? The Hermes who created the language of ancient Hermes? Hermes, the founder of humanity’s mysticism?”
