With Klein finishing his final stroke, the lights in Billiard Room 3 dimmed.
On the dainty makeup mirror, aqueous patterns rippled out before turning into a dark scene.
Immediately, one bloody word after another appeared:
“Raise your questions.”
This scene was filled with a sense of supernatural horror. Even though standing there was a Wraith and a Zombie, they couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed as they momentarily didn’t dare say a word.
Only Klein continued wearing a smile as though he was accustomed to all of this.
He had previously exhorted Arrodes to not raise questions that were too difficult or private, and also to not act like a servant. If it wasn’t because Sharron and Maric could ask much more targeted questions as a result of understanding the situation better, Klein was more inclined to handling it himself and not exposing the reality of having such a “helper.”
After a few seconds of silence, Maric took two steps forward, came to the billiard table, and opened his mouth.
At this moment, Sharron gentle but emotionless voice sounded:
“I’ll ask the questions.”
Without waiting for Maric to answer, she floated up into a standing position and looked at the mirror.
“Is the Tutanssess II mummy a trap that the Loen military set up to target the Rose School of Thought?”
The mirror’s blood-red words melted away and slid down, dragging away the stains, barely leaving two words behind which wriggled to form:
“That’s right.”
“Based on the principle of reciprocity, it’s my turn to ask a question.
“If you answer wrong or lie, you will be punished.”
At this moment, the words from before slowly vanished, presenting new words:
“You…”
As the bloody word froze for a full three seconds, it followed up:
“…are to answer with the relationship between the Chained God and the Mother Tree of Desire.”
For some reason, Klein felt that the remaining parts of the sentence had its blood-colored text darken significantly. Thankfully, the question wasn’t too out of place, and it was something he would like to know.
Sharron looked at the mirror and replied in a deadpan manner, “Since the Fifth Epoch, after the perishing of Death, the Eggers family gradually lost control over the Star Highlands and Paz Valley, allowing those places to have their own Beyonder organization, the Rose School of Thought.
“In the beginning, there wasn’t the Mother Tree of Desire, only the Chained God. The Rose School of Thought advocated temperance and established a religious ritual system, including laws. Formal members led ascetic lives to deal with the repercussions of receiving powers.
“One day, a divine revelation added terms about indulgence. Many people slowly changed and restored ancient but bloody primitive sacrificial traditions. Later, the School of Thought’s upper echelons began secretly calling the Chained God the manifestation of the Mother Tree of Desire.”
At this moment, Sharron had switched to asking, “What problems does the Tutanssess II mummy possess?”
On the mirror’s surface, the blood-red text squirmed and changed into a complete sentence:
“It’s filled with hexes, a manifestation of hexes. It has the possibility of automatically becoming a Zombie.”
After Arrodes answered, it followed the principle of reciprocity and raised its question:
“You…”
“…have been trying hard to increase your Sequence. Why do you do so?”
This time, it had used the same bloody text as the opening, but the words that followed after a few seconds didn’t appear that bright.
Sharron stood there in silence before gently moving her lips.
“In the beginning, it was to not be bullied by others. Now, it’s to have the strength to protect myself and my companions, and revenge, as well as spread the principle of temperance… If everyone can temper their desires, to not have wars and killing, there will be less misery.”
Klein was surprised by what he heard. His impression of Sharron was that she was a woman of few words.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t say that many words, but that even if she had much to say, she held back greatly and didn’t provide any additional descriptions. For example, in her answer to the first question, she had simply recounted the situation, and although she appeared to say a lot, she hadn’t said one word more or anything subjective. The words she added towards the end was a relatively talkative act based on her character.
They were lands with plenty of slavery. There were batches of people from the lower class who died of hunger and sickness. There were constant wars and live sacrifices.
After learning of the situation regarding the Tutanssess II mummy, Sharron asked again, “Apart from Mahmosi, who are the High-Sequence Beyonders that will appear in this trap?”
The mirror surface’s aqueous wave rippled and formed a bright light, one that enveloped everything. Nothing else could be seen.
Sharron nodded slightly as she continued staring at the mirror, awaiting the secret existence to raise “His” question.
The blood-colored text squirmed and no longer paused like before. Everything appeared at once.
“What are your thoughts regarding your teacher?”
Sharron pursed her lips.
“I respect ‘Her’.”
Including the orthodox Churches and the various major Beyonder organizations, Grounded Angels were very rare. There might only be one or two. He originally imagined that Sharron’s teacher was a Sequence 4 or 3 saint with a peak strength equivalent to Sea King Jahn Kottman. To his surprise, she had used “Her” as a pronoun. In Loen, ancient Feysac, and even Jotun and Elvish, this pronoun was very different from his, her, its!
The mirror turned dark again as the bright red text vanished.
After a while, new words appeared again.
“Continue.”
“I no longer have any questions. Thank you for your help,” Sharron curtsied as she said slowly.
With her saying that, the mirror returned to normal. The lighting in the billiard room wasn’t dim any longer.
Sharron looked at Klein and said in a tone without any abnormalities, “We shall forgo this matter.”
Clearly, she also understood the meaning behind the blast of light that appeared during the hidden existence’s final answer.
Klein shook his head and smiled.
“There’s no need to rush into a decision. Let me ask you a few more things. Perhaps there might still be a chance that doesn’t require us to take too much of a risk.”
“What is it?” Maric couldn’t help but ask.
