Tarot Club

"I also have two Sequence 9 Potion Formulas here. Perhaps they suit you better than this lady's 'Assassin.'"

Angel and the young woman both turned to look at the short-haired man.

"Sorry, but please hear my proposal first. Perhaps it will satisfy you more." The short-haired man apologized to Angel before turning his gaze toward the young woman.

The young woman was also looking at him in confusion.

Suppressing her displeasure at having the conversation interrupted, Angel decided to hear what he had to say first.

The short-haired man gave a detailed introduction to the two Sequence 9 formulas he possessed. One was "Sailor," which could grant the drinker outstanding balance, let them move through water as nimbly as a fish, and even manifest fish scales. The other was the "Spectator" Potion. Those who became Spectators would gain keen powers of observation, allowing them to glimpse others' true thoughts through their expressions, mannerisms, verbal tics, and subtle, unnoticed movements.

At the end of his introduction, he added, "You must remember: whether at a lavish banquet or on a bustling street, a Spectator is always only a Spectator."

This matched the method of mastering Potions in Angel's memories. After drinking a Potion, to advance further, one had to become an identity that matched the Potion's name—just as Cole Granger had become an Assassin with blood on his hands, and an Instigator by inciting crimes.

The young woman was clearly more interested in the short-haired man's Potions. She even sat up straighter.

"And this... lady," the man said, turning to Angel after introducing the Potions, "if you merely want to obtain a legal identity, I have a more convenient and cheaper channel. You can get it that very day. A week later, even an investigation at Backlund's central archives would reveal no flaws."

"My friend, not me," Angel emphasized.

"Ahem. Then you... your friend in Tingen should go to the Wild Heart bar on Iron Cross Street after ten at night. Say Captain sent you. The passphrase is, 'Half and Half, extra sugar.' Spend thirty Pounds, and you'll get what you want." The man did not expose Angel's obvious lie. Instead, he went along with her story and introduced his channel.

Thirty Pounds... It seemed her earlier offer had been far above market price. That damned middleman... Angel thought bitterly before replying, "Thank you. Your information has been very helpful."

At the same time, she noticed the man's codename, Captain. Combined with the Sequence 9 "Sailor" Potion he had introduced earlier, could that be where the codename came from? Or perhaps it was even the name of a higher-level Potion?

The young woman politely waited for the two to finish speaking before asking eagerly, "What about me? What do I need to trade for the Spectator formula?"

She seemed to recall that she had nearly reached a deal with someone else earlier, so she turned to Angel and said, "I'm truly sorry, but I think Spectator suits me better."

What a polite girl. Angel slowly shook her head. "It's all right. I got what I needed too."

The short-haired man stated his demand as well. "Ghost Shark blood. At least 100 milliliters of Ghost Shark blood."

It sounded like the main ingredient for some kind of Potion. The short-haired man was very likely already a Beyonder, so what he needed should be a Potion to advance to Sequence 8 or Sequence 7.

For any higher Sequence, the main ingredient could not be exchanged for merely a Sequence 9 Potion Formula, no matter how much this man had laid the groundwork and secretly driven up the formula's price.

The young woman nodded excitedly, seemingly without considering whether she could actually obtain Ghost Shark blood. Then she asked worriedly:

"If I can get it, how should I deliver it to you? And how can I ensure that after you receive the Ghost Shark blood, you'll give me the Potion Formula—and that the formula is genuine?"

That was indeed a problem. This was unlike a transaction on Amazon or eBay, with a neutral third party guaranteeing the deal. The short-haired man could simply vanish after receiving the Ghost Shark blood, or give her an incorrect formula, and the young woman would have no way to deal with him.

Wait, a neutral third party...

Angel's heart stirred. She looked up at the mysterious person who had been observing their transactions all along.

The short-haired man had clearly thought of the same thing. "I'll give you an address. Once I receive the Ghost Shark blood, I'll mail the formula to you, or tell you directly here. With this mysterious gentleman as a witness, I think both of us can rest assured."

As he spoke, he bowed toward the mysterious person seated at the head of the long table and said respectfully:

"Sir, you brought us here and possess power beyond our imagination. With you as witness, neither she nor I would dare break our word."

The young woman clearly agreed. She too bowed to the mysterious person and said:

"Sir, please witness our transaction."

Not daring to fall behind, Angel followed with a bow. Then she thought of a question.

"How should we address you, sir?"

They could not keep calling him "sir" forever.

The mysterious person lightly tapped the fingers resting on the long table. The others watched for a while, then felt that doing so was disrespectful and looked away one after another.

"You may call me The Fool."

After a heart-palpitating silence, the mysterious person raised both hands, interlaced his fingers beneath his chin, and spoke calmly.

It was clearly a codename, and its ordinary meaning was not one that inspired respect. Yet Angel did not dare show the slightest disrespect. She rose directly to her feet, placed her right hand over her chest, and gave a deep bow.

"Respected Mr. Fool, thank you for telling us your name."

The other two also stood and bowed.

Only after The Fool pressed his right hand downward in a gesture for them to sit did Angel return to her own high-backed chair.

The young woman raised the earlier question again. "Respected Mr. Fool, please forgive my bold request. Could you witness our transaction?"

"A small matter. You may continue."

The Fool seemed quite interested in their transaction. Still resting his hands beneath his chin, he patiently played the role of witness.

With The Fool serving as a neutral third-party guarantee, the short-haired man and the young woman continued their transaction.

"If you can obtain the Ghost Shark blood, have someone deliver it to the Warrior and Sea bar on Pelican Street, White Rose District, Pritz Harbor. Tell the owner, Williams, that it's what Captain wants.

"You can give me an address now. Once I confirm the item, I'll mail the Potion Formula there—or I can tell you directly here?"

After thinking for a while, the young woman chose the latter.

"Though it tests my memory a little, I'd still prefer the more confidential method. Tell me here.

"Mr. Fool, would you mind making several more attempts like this?"

Angel, who had also gained something here, strongly agreed. She chimed in:

"Mr. Fool, your power exceeds our imagination, but there are always fields in this world that you do not know or excel at. This obviously high-born lady has her own resources and channels, that gentleman has his own special contacts and resources, and I can reach some fairly capable Beyonders. Perhaps someday, we may be able to help you accomplish trivial matters that would be inconvenient for you to handle personally."

Sorry, Mrs. Sharon. For now, I can only use you to make myself look more impressive.

The short-haired man nodded in agreement. "Mr. Fool, don't you think this kind of gathering is quite interesting? We have different backgrounds, different resources, and different sources of information. If we can exchange information and cooperate to a limited degree, it will produce wonderful effects beyond estimation!"

The young woman, the future Spectator who had benefited most from this gathering, said excitedly, "Mr. Fool, I think this is an excellent proposal. If the gathering becomes regular, anything you find inconvenient to handle personally can be entrusted to us—as long as it is within our abilities."

All of them looked at The Fool nervously and expectantly, waiting for his approval.

The Fool removed his right hand from beneath his chin and slowly tapped the edge of the Bronze Long Table. This might have been an unconscious gesture he made while thinking.

The mist surrounding the grand temple drifted erratically, as though reflecting the fluctuations in the master of this place's mood.

The tapping stopped.

"I am someone who likes equal exchange. I will not have you help me unconditionally."

"At three in the afternoon every Monday, try to be alone. Once I make a few more attempts and clarify certain matters, perhaps you will be able to ask for leave in advance without worrying about being in an unsuitable setting."

This amounted to agreeing to hold regular gatherings in the future. The others visibly relaxed, especially the young woman, who exaggeratedly clenched her fists and pumped them twice before her chest as though celebrating.

"Since the gatherings are now fixed, shouldn't we give ourselves codenames?" Seeing the atmosphere was favorable, Angel made her suggestion at the right moment. "We can't all communicate using our real names, can we?"

The Fool nodded. "Good idea."

The young woman took over. "You are Mr. Fool, from the Tarot Cards. Since this will be a regular, long-term, secret gathering, our titles should be as consistent as possible. I think we should choose them from the Tarot Cards as well."

Tarot Cards?

Only then did Angel realize that The Fool did not refer to the word's ordinary meaning, but to the 0 card among the twenty-two major cards of the Tarot Cards—the Major Arcana.

The Tarot Cards had not existed for long in this world, less than two hundred years, yet they had already become one of the world's mainstream forms of divination. Their inventor, Emperor Rosell, Rosell Gustav, was considered one of the Fifth Epoch's most legendary figures.

While Angel racked her brains trying to recall the Tarot Cards' origins, the young woman had already chosen her own codename. "I've decided. My title will be Justice!"

Wait, that was the one I wanted...

Angel had been one step too late, and the title she wanted had already been taken. Without further hesitation, she quickly chose a codename from several alternatives. "Then I'll choose Empress."

After all, she had inexplicably become female.

The short-haired man said concisely:

"Hanged Man."

They were all major Tarot Cards.

"Then we count as the founding members of the Tarot Club?" Miss Justice looked around the temple, which contained only a handful of people, before turning her gaze to The Fool. "No problem, Mr. Fool?"

"You may decide that yourselves." Clearly, The Fool did not wish to waste his energy on such trivial matters.

The excited Miss Justice began discussing the Tarot Cards' history with Mr. Hanged Man. Worried that speaking too much might expose something, Angel merely listened quietly from the side. Yet she felt The Fool's gaze sweep over her from time to time, making her somewhat uncomfortable.

"...Emperor Rosell saw the Blasphemy Slate. That deck of cards conceals the mysteries of the twenty-two Pathways of God..." Hanged Man spoke fluently, laying out everything he knew about the Tarot Cards and earning repeated exclamations of amazement from Justice.

"All right, today's gathering ends here." Angel felt The Fool's gaze withdraw from her, followed by his deep voice announcing the end of this Tarot Club gathering.

"As you will." The others hurriedly bowed and bade The Fool farewell.

Deep Red Light spilled from the surrounding mist and enveloped Angel. She saw Hanged Man across from her and Justice beside her receiving the same treatment. Their figures turned blurry and illusory as The Fool's final words echoed through the mist:

"Let us look forward to the next gathering."

Amid the howling storm on the Sonia Sea, a Three-Masted Sailing Ship rose and fell between wave-formed mountains like a toy in a Giant's hand.

Hanged Man, Alger Wilson, stood on the deck at the bow, as though his feet had been nailed to the ground, entirely unaffected by the storm.

The deep red faded from his eyes, and his consciousness returned to his body. Looking around, he found everything unchanged.

But Alger knew that everything had changed.

The strangely shaped Glass Bottle in his palm shattered with a crack. Like snowflakes meeting boiling water, its fragments melted in his hand within seconds, falling with the torrential rain onto the deck and leaving no trace that they had ever existed.

A hexagonal snowflake mark appeared in Alger's palm, flickered a few times, then faded and vanished.

He paid no attention to the destruction of this precious Beyonder item. Instead, he clenched his hand and continued standing on the swaying deck against the wind and rain.

In the capital of the Ruen Kingdom, Backlund, inside a luxurious villa surrounded by lush gardens.

Justice, Audrey Hall, sat before her dressing table and watched the ancient bronze mirror before her turn into fragments.

A starlike deep red appeared on the back of her hand, flowing endlessly before sinking beneath her skin and disappearing without a trace.

Only then did she confirm that she had not been dreaming.

Unable to suppress her excitement, Audrey's lips curved upward. She rose from before the dressing table, lifted her skirt, and bowed to the empty air.

"Praise Mr. Fool."

Light dance steps echoed through the bedroom.

At 6 Narcissus Street in Tingen City, inside a cluttered study.

Empress, Angel Gray, held a gun in one hand and a bronze badge in the other. She trembled as though her soul had returned to her body, then woke up.

The badge in her hand seemed to have endured the ravages of a thousand years. It rapidly became mottled and weathered, then turned to dust in a nonexistent breeze and scattered away.

A teardrop-shaped gemstone was imprinted on her palm. Deep Red Light flashed, and a mark of the same shape sank beneath her skin. Then all the strange phenomena vanished, and the study returned to calm.

If not for the changed angle of sunlight outside the window, she would have almost believed everything that had just happened was an illusion.

Her respect and fear for The Fool deepened further. Angel stuffed the Revolver back into the desk drawer, preparing to return to the living room and catch another nap before dinner.

She still had to go collect her "identity card" tonight.

She had just stepped out of the study when her entire body stiffened. She remembered something important.

"That badge... was it worth 200 Pounds?"

On the second floor of Franchi's apartment on Iron Cross Street, Tingen City.

The Fool, Zhou Mingrui, stood in the center of the room with a bewildered expression. As the gray fog receded, he watched the three people he had pulled inside vanish together. Then his vision went dark, and he returned to the scene of the Transportation Ritual in the apartment.

His legs felt filled with lead, and his head throbbed with splitting pain. The burden placed on his body by the Transportation Ritual, which had far exceeded his expectations, was simply too heavy.

Zhou Mingrui checked his pocket watch and roughly determined how much time had passed. Time in the gray fog and reality passed at the same rate.

He tossed aside the pocket watch. Tormented by the headache, he could no longer hold himself up and could only collapse onto a chair, massaging his temples with both hands.

"It seems I won't be able to go back anytime soon," Zhou Mingrui thought dejectedly. The method of returning the way he had come had clearly failed. After seeing the mysterious world, he did not dare try any other methods in the short term.

At the very least, he would have to wait until his strength improved and he gained a deeper grasp of mysticism.

"From now on, I am Klein Moretti." A voice filled with loss, pain, and melancholy echoed through the apartment.

To ease the negative emotions that were nearly crushing him, Klein turned his thoughts back to the Tarot Club that had just ended.

People from all over had met face-to-face through the gray fog, exchanging what they had with one another. It was practically...

"A social networking platform, anyone?"

The group owner, The Fool, mocked himself.

What was more, one of the three people had actually come from Tingen City. Perhaps she was not far from him. Upon realizing that, Klein had not been able to stop himself from looking at her a few more times, trying to distinguish Miss Empress's features through the gray fog. Unfortunately, the mysterious gray fog blocked his sight effectively. He could only remember her pale golden hair and impressive figure; her face remained blurry.

"Anyway, she's just an online friend. Even if we're in the same city, we probably won't have a chance to meet." Klein shook his head and cast aside that faint urge to meet offline.