Tarot Club

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

Angel and the young girl both turned their gazes toward the short-haired man.

"My apologies, but please hear my proposal first. Perhaps you'll find it more satisfactory." The short-haired man apologized to Angel before turning his gaze toward the girl.

The girl was looking at him in confusion as well.

Angel suppressed her displeasure at having her conversation interrupted and decided to hear what he had to say first.

The short-haired man gave a detailed introduction to the two Sequence 9 formulas in his possession. One was Sailor, which could grant its consumer outstanding balance, the agility of a fish in water, and even the ability to manifest fish scales. The other was the Spectator potion. Those who became Spectators would gain keen observational abilities, allowing them to glimpse others' true thoughts through their expressions, mannerisms, habitual phrases, and subtle, unnoticed movements.

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

This matched what Angel remembered about mastering potions. After consuming a potion, if one wished to advance further, one had to become an identity that matched the potion's name—just as Cole Granger had stained his hands with blood as an assassin, and incited crimes as an Instigator.

The girl was clearly more interested in the short-haired man's potions. She even sat up straighter.

"And this... lady," the man said, turning toward 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 the same day, and even a week later, the Central Archives in Backlund won't be able to find any flaws."

"It's for 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. Just say Captain sent you. The password 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 words and explained his channel.

Thirty pounds... It seemed her earlier offer had been far above market price. That damned middleman... Angel thought resentfully 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 girl politely waited until the two had finished speaking before asking excitedly, "What about me? What do I need to exchange for the Spectator formula?"

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

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

The short-haired man also stated his demand. "Ghost Shark Blood. At least one hundred milliliters of Ghost Shark Blood."

It sounded like the Main Materials for some kind of potion. The short-haired man was most 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 Materials could not be exchanged for merely one Sequence 9 potion formula, even if the man had laid plenty of groundwork and subtly inflated the formula's value.

The girl nodded excitedly, seemingly not considering at all whether she could 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 not a transaction on Amazon or eBay, where a neutral third party could guarantee the deal. The short-haired man could simply vanish after obtaining the Ghost Shark Blood, or provide a false formula, and the girl would have no way to deal with him.

Wait, a neutral third party...

Angel's heart stirred, and she looked up at the mysterious person who had been silently observing their transactions.

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 you the formula, or I can tell you directly here. I think that with this mysterious gentleman as witness, both of us will feel sufficiently assured."

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

"Sir, you brought us here and possess power beyond anything we can imagine. With you as witness, neither she nor I would dare violate the agreement."

The girl clearly agreed. She also bowed to the mysterious person and said:

"Sir, please witness our transaction."

Angel did not dare lag behind. After bowing as well, she thought of a question.

"Sir, how should we address you?"

They could not keep calling him "Sir" over and over, could they?

The mysterious person lightly tapped his fingers against the long table. After watching for a while, the others felt that staring at him was disrespectful and looked away one after another.

"You may call me Fool."

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

This was clearly a codename, and its ordinary meaning hardly 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 bent into a deep bow.

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

The other two also stood and bowed.

Only after Fool made a downward gesture with his right hand, indicating that they could sit, did Angel return to her high-backed chair.

The girl raised the earlier question again. "Respected Mr. Fool, please forgive my presumption, but could you witness our transaction?"

"A trivial matter. You may continue."

Fool seemed quite interested in their transaction. He kept his hands beneath his chin and patiently played the role of witness.

With Fool acting as the neutral third-party guarantee, the short-haired man's transaction with the girl continued.

"If you can obtain the Ghost Shark Blood, have someone deliver it to the Warriors and Sea bar on Pelican Street in the White Rose District of Pritz Harbor. Tell the owner, Williams, that it's something 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?"

The girl thought for a while and chose the latter.

"Although this will test my memory a little, I still choose the more confidential method. Tell me here.

"Mr. Fool, would you mind holding several more such 'attempts'?"

Angel, who had also gained something here, strongly agreed and echoed:

"Mr. Fool, your power surpasses our imagination, but there are always fields in this world that you do not know or excel in. This obviously noble young lady has her own special channels and resources, that gentleman has his own as well, and I can contact some fairly capable Beyonders. Perhaps someday in the future, we can help you accomplish trivial matters that would be inconvenient for you to handle personally."

Sorry, Madam Sharon. I can only use you to pad out my credentials for now.

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 channels for information. If we can exchange information and cooperate within limits, it will produce wonderful effects beyond estimation!"

The girl, the future Spectator who had benefited the most from this gathering, said excitedly, "Mr. Fool, I think this is an excellent proposal. As long as the 'gathering' becomes regular, anything inconvenient for you to handle personally can be entrusted to us—of course, within our capabilities."

Everyone looked nervously and expectantly at Fool, waiting for his agreement.

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 movement he made while thinking.

The mist surrounding the magnificent hall drifted unpredictably, as though it reflected the fluctuating emotions of the venue's owner.

The tapping stopped.

"I am someone who enjoys equivalent exchange. I will not make you help me unconditionally."

"Every Monday at three in the afternoon, try to be alone. Once I make a few more attempts and figure out certain matters, perhaps you'll be able to ask for leave in advance, without worrying about being in an unsuitable setting."

This counted as agreement to hold regular gatherings in the future. The others visibly relaxed, especially the girl, who dramatically clenched her fists and pumped them twice before her chest as though celebrating.

"Since the gathering has been established, shouldn't we give ourselves codenames?" Seeing that the atmosphere was good, Angel offered her suggestion at the right moment. "We can't all communicate using our real names."

Fool nodded. "Good idea."

The girl took over. "You are Mr. Fool, a name 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 from the Tarot Cards as well."

Tarot Cards?

Only then did Angel realize that Fool did not refer to its ordinary meaning, but to the 0 card among the twenty-two Major Arcana.

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

While Angel racked her brains to recall the origin of the Tarot Cards, the girl had already chosen her codename. "I've decided. My title will be Justice!"

Wait, that was the one I wanted...

Angel was one step too late, and the title she wanted had already been chosen. Without hesitating further, she swiftly selected her codename from several alternatives. "Then I'll choose Empress."

After all, she had somehow become a woman.

The short-haired man stated simply:

"Hanged Man."

They were all Major Arcana from the Tarot Cards.

"Then we're the founding members of the Tarot Club?" Miss Justice looked around the nearly empty hall before turning her gaze to Fool. "No problem with that, Mr. Fool?"

"You may decide that yourselves." Fool clearly did not wish to waste energy on such trivial matters.

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

"...Emperor Roselle once saw the Blasphemy Slate. That deck of cards conceals the mysteries of those twenty-two Paths of the Divine..." Hanged Man spoke fluently, recounting everything he knew about the Tarot Cards and drawing repeated exclamations of amazement from Justice.

"Alright, today's gathering ends here." Angel felt Fool's gaze withdraw from her. Then his deep voice arrived, announcing the end of this Tarot Club gathering.

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

Deep crimson light seeped from the dense mist around them and enveloped Angel. She saw Hanged Man across from her and Justice beside her undergo the same change. Their figures became blurry and illusory, and Fool's final words came from within the mist:

"Let us look forward to our next gathering."

Amid the howling storm on the Sonia Sea, a Three-Masted Sailing Ship rose and fell among wave-crests like 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, completely unaffected by the storm.

The deep crimson faded from his eyes, and his consciousness returned to his body. He looked around, and everything was as it had been before.

But Alger knew that everything had changed.

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

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

He paid no attention to the destruction of this precious Beyonder Item. Instead, he clenched his palm and continued standing against the wind and rain upon the violently pitching deck.

Within a luxurious villa surrounded by lush gardens in Backlund, capital of the Loen Kingdom.

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

Starlike deep crimson appeared on the back of her hand, shifting and flowing before sinking beneath her skin and disappearing without a trace.

Only then was she certain 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 curtsied toward the empty air.

"Praise Mr. Fool."

Light Dance Steps echoed through the bedroom.

At 6 Daffodil 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 shuddered as though her soul had returned to her body, then awoke.

The badge in her hand seemed to have endured a thousand years of weathering. It rapidly became mottled and worn before turning into dust in a nonexistent breeze and scattering away.

A teardrop-shaped gem was imprinted upon her palm. A flash of deep crimson passed through it, 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 Fool deepened further. Angel stuffed the revolver back into the desk drawer and prepared to return to the living room to get some more sleep before dinner.

She still had to go collect her "identification" tonight.

Just as she walked out of the study, her entire body stiffened as she remembered something important.

"That badge... wasn't it worth two hundred pounds?"

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

Fool Zhou Mingrui stood in the middle of the room with a bewildered expression. As the Gray Fog receded, he watched the three people he had pulled in disappear together. Then his vision went dark, and he returned to the scene of the Luck Enhancement Ritual in the apartment.

His legs felt as heavy as lead, and his head throbbed with splitting pain. The burden that the completely unexpected Luck Enhancement Ritual had placed on his body was still far too great.

Zhou Mingrui looked at his pocket watch and roughly judged how much time had passed. Time in the Gray Fog was synchronized with reality.

He tossed aside the pocket watch. The torment of his headache made it impossible for him to keep standing, and he could only collapse into a chair and massage 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 witnessing the mysterious world, he did not dare try other methods in the near future.

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

"From now on, I am Klein Moretti." A voice filled with dejection, 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 gathering that had just ended.

People from all over had communicated face-to-face through the Gray Fog, exchanging what they needed. This was practically...

"A social networking platform, anyone?"

The group owner, Fool, mocked himself.

Especially since one of the three people had actually come from Tingen City, perhaps not far from him. When he discovered this, Klein could not help looking at her a few more times, trying to make out Miss Empress's appearance through the Gray Fog. Unfortunately, the mysterious Gray Fog was highly effective at blocking vision. He could only remember her pale golden hair and striking figure, while her features remained indistinct.

"They're just online friends, anyway. Even if we're in the same city, there's no chance we'll meet, right?" Klein shook his head and cast aside that faint urge to meet offline.