"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool, ladies and gentlemen~"
Perhaps because life at her family's castle in her hometown had been rather comfortable, Justice Audrey's tone was especially cheerful today.
But Hanged Man Alger had no time to appreciate it. Sitting between Empress and World, he felt like a clown.
Driven off by Vice Admiral Dusk's fleet, the Blue Avenger, which should have arrived at Bodo Port on Monday morning for repairs and resupply, had departed from its original route and was still drifting at sea. As a result, fully one-third of the Tarot Club's members had no choice but to attend the gathering aboard this Ghost Ship.
Early that morning, Angel had secretly sought out Hanged Man Alger and asked him to find a way to distract Gehrman Sparrow so that he would not disturb her during the Tarot Club gathering.
While this request confirmed for Alger that Empress still did not know World's identity, it also left him deeply puzzled.
Weren't you two very close? When I asked whether you wanted separate rooms or to stay together, both of you hesitated noticeably. During the journey, you spent every day together, studying Ancient Feysac and the history of the Fourth Epoch. Why didn't Empress know that Gehrman was World?
But considering that the gains he had obtained from his adventure on Primitive Island were still in Angel's hands and had yet to be divided, Alger could only agree. He found two sailors, "ran into" Gehrman as he was preparing to head to Angel's room to tutor her, and invited him to play cards in the lounge.
Sure enough, World Gehrman, who likewise did not wish to expose his identity, readily agreed. As the Tarot Club gathering approached, he found an excuse to leave the card table, slipped into the ship's crude