Information Exchange

After the group received the task of collecting Roselle's Diary, Grey Mist Space immediately fell into an eerie silence.

It was the talkative Hanged Man who broke the atmosphere.

"It seems there's nothing else. How about we exchange information, chat about things happening around us? Something unimportant to one person might be an important clue to someone else."

A good suggestion!

Angel silently gave the Hanged Man a thumbs-up. She had been thinking the same thing.

Ever since she had "transmigrated" into this world, she had constantly sought a way back. Previously, with the threat of Mrs. Sharon and her unfamiliarity with everything around her, she could only passively respond to various events. But after joining the Nighthawks, Angel had gained channels through which she could encounter all kinds of Beyonder incidents and occult knowledge.

If they could share what they had and exchange intelligence at the Tarot Club, perhaps she could gain another source of information beyond the Nighthawks' official channels. They might even conduct untraceable "online transactions," like the Hanged Man and Justice trading Potion Formulas!

"I think this should become a regular part of every gathering." Miss Justice, brimming with curiosity about the mystical world, chimed in.

"Agreed." Even The Fool nodded slightly in approval.

"Then let me start first," the proposer, Hanged Man, thought for a moment and slowly said, "That great pirate who calls himself Admiral Ludwell has recently set sail once again to explore the eastern edge of the Sonia Sea."

Who was that?

Angel was completely baffled. She knew that the islands beyond the Ruen Kingdom's coast were crawling with pirates, their black sails stretching from Pritz Harbor all the way to the northern shore of the Baylam Empire. They harassed ports, cut off shipping routes, robbed and murdered for profit, causing passing merchant ships endless suffering and even suppressing the naval fleets of various nations. But when it came to any particular pirate, she knew nothing.

"Ludwell, one of the Seven Pirate Admirals? The owner of the Black Tulip?"

Miss Justice seemed to have heard of him and asked in return.

"That's right."

The Hanged Man nodded.

No third person continued the conversation, and the discussion seemed to end there. Just as the atmosphere was about to become awkward again, "The Fool" rubbed the edge of the Bronze Long Table and murmured as if casually:

"As far as I know, the Secret Order has lost a notebook belonging to the Antigonus Family."

What was that supposed to be?

This was far from the information exchange Angel had imagined. She felt sweat about to form on her forehead. Cole Granger had, after all, merely been a self-taught Beyonder. Having inherited his memories, Angel did not know much more about the Beyonder world than an ordinary person. If Potion knowledge was excluded, she might even know less than Miss Justice, who could at least exchange a few words with the Hanged Man.

The Hanged Man seated opposite her seemed to chuckle before saying, "I'm truly curious how the Church of the Night Goddess would react upon learning this news."

The Church of the Night Goddess!

Angel had finally heard something familiar. She immediately asked, "Why do you say that? Should the Church of the Night Goddess have some special reaction?"

"Because that family was destroyed by the Church of the Night Goddess. As for whether it happened near the end of the Fourth Epoch or at the beginning of the current epoch, I'm not too sure."

The Hanged Man's answer left the others with endless room for speculation.

It was currently the year 1349 of the Fifth Epoch. The end of the Fourth Epoch had been over a thousand years ago. An ancient family exterminated a millennium ago, and somehow connected to the Church of the Night Goddess... It seemed she should keep an eye on matters involving that family... No, wait, there was the Secret Order and an ancient exterminated family. If she did not understand the situation, she should stay far away from such matters...

As Angel analyzed the information she had obtained, she saw that no one else was speaking and said:

"Then it's my turn." She carefully chose her words, trying to share information without exposing herself. "Recently, the Witch Sect in the Ruen Kingdom has been very active. A Sequence 6 Beyonder attacked the Nighthawks' base in Tingen City."

"My goodness, Sequence 6! Did anyone stop him?" Miss Justice asked anxiously.

Although the Hanged Man said nothing, it was obvious that his attention had also focused on Angel.

Seeing that she had successfully stirred everyone's emotions, Angel grew pleased with herself—finally, there was something you didn't know.

"Of course it failed; I heard that this Beyonder was cornered by several Nighthawks and couldn't even escape."

"Praise the Goddess!"

Miss Justice exclaimed softly, but perhaps realizing that this would reveal her faith, she immediately changed the subject. "The Witch Sect? What is that?"

"It's a secret organization that worships the Original Witch. By common standards, it should be considered a cult."

Angel answered briefly. It was not that she did not want to say more, but that this was all the information in her memories. Although she knew that Mrs. Sharon belonged to the Witch Sect, and that official records classified it as one of the cults, her deeper understanding extended only to its faith—the Original Witch.

As for the sect's composition, its objectives, or even the areas where it was active, she knew absolutely nothing.

"I've heard that the sect's upper ranks are all Female. As for why, many suspect it has something to do with the Original Witch they worship." The Hanged Man slowly added.

That I can explain. Once you drink the Sequence 7 potion, becoming Female is no longer optional...

Angel held herself back from saying those words, but she still lowered her head and looked at her body—she, or rather Cole Granger, who had personally drunk the potion, was also one of its victims.

"Finally, it's my turn."

Seeing that everyone else had already shared their information, Miss Justice spoke as well.

"Ever since the Kingdom lost the war on the Baylam East Coast, the King, the Prime Minister, and all the officials have felt enormous pressure and a pressing desire for change. They believe the current governmental structure is too chaotic and inefficient. Whenever an election ends and a party changes hands, an entire new group is installed from top to bottom, turning everything into a mess and making efficiency extremely low. This has not only caused military defeats but also brought great inconvenience to the public."

She paused before continuing.

"Unfortunately, they have yet to find a good way to replace this system."

After listening to Justice's account, Angel quickly grasped the heart of the problem. She was not familiar with the Ruen Kingdom's political structure, but comparing it to Earth's history, the cause of the governmental chaos was clearly the lack of a stable group of Affairs Officers.

"Then why not retain the regular staff when parties change?"

Angel tried to steer the discussion in a more specific direction.

"But those are benefits reserved for the victorious party. Every party transition is also a process of redistributing the cake." Miss Justice countered. "Any proposal that changes this could never pass."

"Wouldn't retaining Affairs Officers solve that? Leave political appointments for internal party distribution, while keeping the neutral Affairs Officers, who need more experience and stability."

"Political appointments... Affairs Officers..."

Justice's eyes lit up, as if she had found the key to the issue.

Angel also gradually drew upon her memories of modern administrative systems. After organizing her thoughts, she spoke more and more smoothly.

"Political appointments, such as ministers and mayors, are positions responsible for policy and administration. They are the cake of the victorious party, and their posts do not involve specific day-to-day matters, so frequent replacement will not affect the government's ordinary operations. More specific and complicated positions, from senior Cabinet secretaries to clerks in county governments, can be filled by selecting the most suitable elites from the public through examinations, like university entrance exams. Once they pass, they can hold their posts long-term without being affected by party transitions."

"These examinations can be held regularly, gradually filling the Kingdom's administrative positions, then increasing according to the Kingdom's expansion and vacancies as needed. Once a stable corps of officials has formed, these outstanding people drawn from the public will allow the Kingdom to maintain basic and relatively efficient operations, regardless of which party is elected or who their political superiors are."

Of course, actual implementation would certainly involve all kinds of difficulties: fairness in examinations, bureaucratic attitudes caused by job security, increasingly redundant and unwieldy government employees, and so on. But what did any of that have to do with a few people merely discussing theory on paper?

Could anyone sitting in the Tarot Club really influence the Kingdom's upper ranks and create this world's civil service system?

Watching Miss Justice sink into thought, Angel silently wondered.

Perhaps only the mysterious Mr. Fool possessed such influence, but he did not seem like someone who would be bothered by mundane affairs.

Emperor Rosell's Diary, the grievances between the Goddess of the Night and an ancient family—those were the matters important figures should care about. He probably could not even be bothered to answer such a simple question!

Oh no, she had been a step too slow organizing her thoughts and hadn't expected someone else to beat her to it.

"The Fool," Klein, sat upright in his High-backed Chair, staring in astonishment at "Empress" Angel, who had answered Miss Justice's question before he could.

He believed that his long experience surfing the internet and engaging in grand discussions would have allowed him to answer the question more comprehensively. He could even sharply point out quite a few loopholes in Empress Miss's answer. But would speaking now undermine The Fool's image?

He pressed his lips together and continued to remain silent.

"That sounds like a simple but extremely effective solution!"

Miss Justice carefully considered Angel's words, her eyes gradually brightening. Based on the elite education she had received and the political knowledge she had absorbed from her father and brother, she only needed a little analysis to recognize the advantages of this method.

"Thank you, Empress Miss. Your suggestion has helped me greatly."

Of course. This was the essence distilled from over a century of British Empire administrative experience, which itself had learned from that Eastern nation's millennia-long tradition of civil service...

Angel felt that the sense of inferiority caused by her meager occult knowledge had finally eased considerably.

But why was Miss Justice so happy, even happier than when she had obtained the Spectator potion? Judging from her manner of speech and lively personality, she was probably around eighteen, just the age to attend university. Could this have been homework assigned by one of her professors?

As Angel pondered this, The Fool's deep voice reached her ears.

"Let today's gathering end here."

Angel hurriedly stood up, and Justice and the Hanged Man hastily did the same.

The three answered together, "We obey your will."

The next instant, Angel's vision brightened, and she returned from the enormous palace shrouded in Gray Fog to her sunlit study.

Her right hand was loosely clenched, but the Steel Pen she had secretly held earlier had vanished without a trace.

"Still so miraculous... I can't bring anything out either. Could that space actually be..."

Angel frowned, recalling every detail of the Tarot Club gathering.