Hobart returned to his bedroom and rubbed his slightly sore stomach. Donna was such a delight; she always made him laugh heartily. Tonight, he had laughed so hard that his stomach hurt a little.
Just as Hobart was preparing to rest, he suddenly heard a prayer coming from the Country of Disorder.
After becoming Sequence 7, he could hear prayers more clearly and could already identify their source. It was Elliot.
After all, only three people currently knew the Creator's Honorific Name. Of them, only Elliot was a devout Believer. One of the other two was the king of traitors, while the other had simply vanished.
Hobart shook his head with a bitter smile, locked his door, and entered the Country of Disorder.
Sitting upon the Iron Throne, Hobart saw that the star representing Elliot was indeed flashing continuously. He extended his spirituality toward it and heard Elliot's voice:
"Great Creator, Elder Calvin told me that from Sequence 7 onward, the speed at which one digests Potions gradually slows. He also taught me a shortcut for digesting the Bribor Potion and allowed me to read some of the family's precious records.
"From the ancient documents left behind by the family, I learned an earth-shattering secret. It turns out our surname is not Balke, but Trensoost. It is said that we are descendants of the Night Emperor.
"May I ask who the Night Emperor was? Is he connected to the family Curse? We have remained in the Town of Nonexistence for too long, and much information about Extraordinary history has been lost.
"Furthermore, my ancestor mentioned in the documents that bribing a god is a shortcut to digesting the Bribor Potion."
Elliot's tone suddenly turned somewhat mournful. "More than ten years ago, my elder sister gave the Extraordinary Characteristics at home