Alger couldn't help himself. "So — so you've been trying to decipher the diary in hopes of finding Emperor Roselle's whereabouts?"
"That's right."
Feeling the gazes converging on him, Klein's heart was quietly in turmoil — This is news to me too, alright? — yet outwardly he remained perfectly composed. "Unfortunately, based on the diary pages I've read so far, I've found no indication that Roselle is still alive."
He paused, then asked, "Miss Lovers — why do you and your family believe Roselle didn't die?"
"Yes," Audrey chimed in. As a former devoted admirer of the Emperor, she had to know. "Emperor Roselle was assassinated at the White Maple Palace. The Church and the Intis Republic's official bodies jointly confirmed it. There's no way that could have been fabricated."
Bernadette shook her head. "These are things my elders told me. The specifics, I honestly don't know."
Klein's fingers tapped a quiet rhythm on the bronze armrest. After a long internal debate, he finally asked: "Have your elders ever mentioned anything to you... about the Lord of Chaos?"
Bernadette was startled.
After the last gathering, Vincent had come back and told her that Mr. Fool seemed to know about both the "Broker" and the Lord of Chaos. She'd been astonished at the time — because by all rights, those things should have originated with Vincent.
And now Mr. Fool had brought it up again.
She glanced at Vincent, then nodded. "Yes, in passing. My elders only told me it was a profoundly mysterious existence. Beyond that, nothing more."
"Mm."
Klein gave a mild nod and let the subject drop.
A brief silence settled over the table. Then Alger spoke: "Mr. Fool, everyone — I've come across a new piece of intelligence. Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos has infiltrated Backlund to carry out a difficult mission. The matter involves an extremely important object — one said to be capable of rapidly elevating Qilangos to a higher sequence. Qilangos believes that once he completes the commission and obtains this object, he'll very quickly stand alongside the King of the Five Seas, Nast, and others of his calibre — turning the Four Pirate Kings into Five, and reducing the Seven Pirate Admirals to six."
Bernadette's brow lifted slightly. "Qilangos is only Sequence 6. What kind of object could make him confident enough to leap multiple sequences and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Four Kings?"
"That... I'm not entirely sure either. But that's what the intelligence says."
What Alger actually hoped for was that Mr. Fool would dispatch one of his blessed followers to take down Qilangos then and there. But Mr. Fool showed no particular interest. So Alger fell back to sharing more details about Qilangos: his fondness for raw fish, his love of strong spirits, and how he had to submerge himself in the sea every few days, among other things.
Throughout all of it, only Miss Justice showed any real enthusiasm. Alger knew she was just a young noblewoman who'd entered the Beyonder world not long ago — he silently hoped she had sufficient backing in Backlund.
"Mr. Hanged Man."
The usually quiet Mr. Lovers suddenly spoke. "If I needed to provide evidence clearly establishing that Qilangos is a man with rivers of innocent blood on his hands — someone thoroughly evil — could you supply that?"
"Ah?"
Alger blinked, not quite following why he'd made that request.
"All the charges against Qilangos are listed clearly on his bounty poster, actually."
"I know." Vincent began spinning a story on the spot. "The thing is, I know a certain powerhouse — someone who considers themselves a champion of justice. Their greatest hobby is hunting down and eliminating irredeemable villains. But to avoid catching any innocent bystanders in the crossfire, they always require solid evidence before taking action."
"So if you can provide that evidence, I can talk that powerhouse into going after Qilangos."
Alger thought it over for a moment. "All right, I'll see what I can do."
Audrey murmured from the side, "I'd really love to meet this 'champion of justice' someday." Justice had been her calling from the very beginning — it was why she'd chosen this Tarot card.
Vincent: You already have.
"Thud. Thud. Thud."
Mr. Fool knocked on the table. "Very well. That will be all for today."
Everyone rose at once. "As you will."
After cutting the connection with each member, Klein tumbled swiftly down through the Gray Fog and departed the mysterious space. The mottled palace fell silent once more.
Until—
A red light coalesced back into solid form. Vincent appeared in the space above the Gray Fog again.
"What the—?"
Why am I still here?
And Mr. Fool had already left.
He stood there for several minutes, then began circling the bronze table, carefully sensing any changes in the space above the Gray Fog or within himself.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He hadn't formed any connection to this place the way he had with the Nation of Disorder. He couldn't draw on any of its energy at all.
He walked up to Mr. Fool's seat, reached out, touched it, sat down in it. Still nothing.
Then a thought struck him, and he glanced back over his shoulder. Well, he thought with a crooked smile, isn't this its own kind of NTR?
He turned and scanned the space, found his bearings, and walked toward the depths of the mysterious place above the Gray Fog — toward the staircase of light that looked like the ascent to Heaven itself.
Regrettably, those stairs only had one level. The distant grey clouds looked a mere few steps away but were actually separated by an unbridgeable gulf. He couldn't cross.
Yet—
Vincent could clearly feel it: somewhere up there, beyond that staircase, beyond those towering grey clouds that seemed to belong to a giant, something existed. Something that was sending a faint, elusive pull in his direction.
What is that?
Why is it hidden in the deepest reaches of the Gray Fog?
I'm the owner of the Nation of Disorder — so why do I have this strange, inexplicable connection to the space above the Gray Fog as well?
"Bloody hell. I haven't even got a handle on the Nation of Disorder's secrets yet, and now there's this on top of everything else. Is the universe doing me a favour by handing me multiple cheat codes at once — or is it trying to bury me?"
Just as the thought crossed his mind, he felt his spirituality send out a sharp warning. A moment later came a faint, stabbing ache — his spiritual power was draining faster than it should. Oh right, this place belongs to someone else. Of course it'd cost me to stay.
But how do I get out?
"Back to reality?"
He murmured the words softly. The next second, the vast boundless Gray Fog swallowed everything, and Vincent dissolved back into a deep crimson light and vanished.
Back in Tingen.
The moment Klein returned to reality, he sneezed several times in a row, rubbing his nose in bewilderment. "Strange. Am I coming down with something?"
He walked to the sitting room, pulled on his overcoat and hat, and was just about to head out when Melissa came hurrying over. "Wait, Klein."
She reached up and plucked something from his hat — a small, very green leaf. "Where did you pick this up?"
"No idea. Must have snagged it on the way back without noticing."
Klein stared at the leaf and thought to himself: A green leaf on your head — not exactly a good omen. But then again, I've been single my entire life, both before and after transmigrating, so there's no one to betray me anyway.
To be continued…
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