Alger gave a brief introduction to the Aurora Society's Oracle, and Sno added at this moment:
"The Oracle who arrived in Tingen was Mr. A, a Sequence V Beyonder. As for the Evil God Progeny, it is a child conceived by a qualified woman for an evil god through some wicked and twisted ritual. It most likely possesses divinity and is a born Mythical Creature. Once it is born, it will probably be a demigod."
"A demigod?!" Audrey's beautiful eyes opened wide. She was only a Sequence Nine who had just obtained Beyonder powers, yet she was already hearing news about Sequence V and demigods? The Tarot Club truly was on a different level!
But what Sequence was Mr. Devil, who could obtain such intelligence?
"That's right. In fact, the most terrifying thing about an Evil God Progeny is that it might become a vessel for an evil god's descent. That is why the official Beyonders of Tingen City are risking Loss of Control to search for it." Sno spoke meaningfully, but Mr. Fool clearly failed to notice the implication in his words.
Hearing Sno's words, Mr. Hangman felt somewhat unpleasant. Compared to his rather commonplace intelligence, Mr. Devil's information was clearly more precise and secretive, giving him a strong sense of crisis.
Mr. Fool's strength and uniqueness had already been proven. Even if he was not a God, he was certainly a high-level existence similar to The Hidden Sage.
With such an expert presiding over it, the growth of The Tarot Club was practically inevitable. If he wanted to establish himself with the mere strength of Sequence Seven, he needed his own niche.
Miss Justice came from a great Loen noble family and possessed vast funds and connections. He only needed to provide Beyonder knowledge to secure his position.
But now, this Devil seemed to possess Beyonder knowledge and intelligence channels richer than his own, and he might even have the backing of some great family.
This began to affect his identity as an "intelligence provider."
If he wanted to maintain his position within The Tarot Club, he had no choice but to develop a new "persona."
With that in mind, he pondered for a moment before speaking:
"If that is the case, I think I have roughly guessed what happened in Backlund."
Yes, since he could not become its eyes or its purse, he would try becoming its "brain."
Racking his brains, he spoke to Justice and Devil, whose attention had already been drawn over:
"The Aurora Society is made up of crazed fanatics. Even setting aside the strength of the divine child, simply because it is the Progeny of the Fallen Creator, the Aurora Society's people will spare no effort to protect him. But as a Sequence V Beyonder, he may be invincible in a small place like Tingen City. However, once the elite Beyonders of the Three Great Churches arrive, he will most likely be unable to protect that 'child.' In that situation, as the person in charge of the Aurora Society in Backlund, what do you think he will do?"
"Find a way to hold back the elite teams... You mean..." Audrey's potion-enhanced little brain immediately reacted, and Alger nodded as well.
"Without a doubt, the Aurora Society members in Backlund are probably frantically creating Beyonder incidents, and their targets are likely the noble class. Only then can they force those nobles to pressure the Three Great Churches into using the elite Beyonders originally meant for Tingen to protect their safety."
"Worthy of Political Commissar Dao!" Sno considered the Aurora Society's style and found that this indeed fit Mr. A's methods. However, after this, the Aurora Society's strength in Backlund would probably suffer tremendous losses.
Of course, this had little to do with him. After briefly considering the possible consequences of the matter, Sno roughly guessed a part of Ince's new script.
Upon hearing Mr. Hangman's speculation, Audrey nearly refuted him on the spot. But after calming down through the Spectator's powers, she had to admit that the kingdom's nobles truly were capable of such things.
Seeing the atmosphere grow somewhat heavy, Klein waved his hand and ended this Tarot Club gathering. As his consciousness returned to his body, he frowned slightly—
"If things are truly as Hanged Man said, Backlund probably won't be able to send reinforcements for a long time. If only I had kept that lady's hair or something! With the power Above the Gray Fog blocking interference, I definitely could have found her!"
Unaware that Mr. Fool seemed to have developed a strange habit of collecting other people's hair, Sno had already sat back up. After handing dried fish to Lily, who had been guarding the door for him, he began considering his next move.
He had originally planned to return to Backlund soon, but after receiving intelligence about Backlund from Miss Justice, he abandoned that idea.
Although he did not know how much of Mr. A's actions had been influenced by Ince Zangwill, there truly was not much left for him to interfere with.
After thinking for a moment, Sno turned his gaze once more toward Lily, who was gnawing on dried fish. Seemingly understanding his look, Lily held up the dried fish and began chewing three times faster, as if saying—whatever it was, it could wait until she finished eating.
"Looks like I have to move again!" Trissy peeked through the edge of the bed at the official Beyonders passing by outside, lightly biting her lip as she began packing her luggage.
Though it was called luggage, she had been moving so often recently that there was actually little to pack. The important things were all in the suitcase. Once she stuffed her changes of clothes and bedding inside, she could set out once again in search of a place to stay.
By applying the Makeup Art obtained through her potion in reverse, her harmonious and beautiful face quickly became plain and ordinary. This makeup technique, which did not involve any Supernatural Ability, could effectively evade most forms of detection and allow her to leave right beneath the official Beyonders' noses.
"Such a pretty face. It's a little wasteful for you to paint it like that."
"!" The suddenly appearing voice immediately put Trissy into a fighting stance. If not for her concern that official Beyonders might be nearby, she would have almost instinctively used her Supernatural Ability.
"Can't you stop appearing silently like this?" Trissy looked at the Black Cat before her, fear lingering on her face. She had clearly moved several times already, so how had this guy found her again?
"I've told you many times not to put too much faith in Counter-divination ability." Sno, possessing Lily's body, split his mouth in a rather eerie smile. Under White Horse is Not a Horse's high status, he could easily bypass the Witch's Counter-divination ability and directly pinpoint Trissy's location. As for the source of that lock, it was rather amusing—it was a lock of hair Trissy had voluntarily given him back then.
"Forget that. What is it this time? Who do you want killed?" Trissy twitched the corner of her mouth. In the end, she did not pursue the matter further, while Sno put on a hurt expression.
"Don't make it sound like I only come to you when I need someone killed. I'm a very peace-loving person!"
"Yeah, peace-loving you. We've known each other for twenty days, and you've already asked me to kill three people. That's an average of one a week..."
PS1: The more logical and reasonable The Writer's ability is, the less it consumes. The reason Ince Zangwill had to write "this is logical" and "this is reasonable" every time was precisely because it was not actually that reasonable, making it somewhat difficult to accomplish.
Conversely, using Mr. A to shake Backlund this time was very logical. The nobles truly behaved this way, and the Aurora Society really would do this. As a result, 0-08 would not even need to pay attention to Backlund. As long as it ensured Mr. A issued the order, everything would naturally fall into place.
Having Mr. A write a letter to Backlund was definitely easier than directly making a meteor fall from the sky.
And 0-08 truly could make a meteor land wherever it wanted.
PS2: The idea of the three churches negotiating a rotation of defenses is overly idealistic. In reality, although the Three Great Churches were not hostile due to their Sequences, they were hardly close-knit either. For example, you could not make Old Storm Pigeon, with his male chauvinism, protect a believer of a Goddess who believed women held up half the sky.
Secondly, those who have read the original work should understand what kind of place Backlund is. If the Aurora Society slipped into the East Borough or the Bridge Borough, it would find Evil God believer reserves everywhere and fertile ground for evil gods to descend. Give those people who could no longer survive a little food, and they would be willing to help conduct rituals or even blood sacrifices. If the Aurora Society's people truly went around causing trouble, it would not be strange for them to create hundreds of evil god descent rituals in a single day. Although most would probably be defective products with little effect, the official Beyonders would definitely not dare gamble on that. They would inevitably be run ragged.
Before you continue