"Then let me play a game with you lunatics."
After taking her seat, Iluna spoke softly. As she placed her hand on the massive round table and looked toward her two opponents, she frowned slightly. An enormous amount of information flooded into her mind through Another Me—a set of exceedingly complex game rules.
"Miss Pawo said we would be fortunate enough to play a game with a Chosen One. I have been looking forward to this for a long time. Miss, I hope you enjoy yourself."
Professor Onse still wore a smile. After speaking, he raised his voice:
"All players are ready. Mr. Keeper of Secrets, please begin tonight's story."
Before anything else happened, Angelina suddenly trembled all over and grabbed Leisha's sleeve.
Then, accompanied by a clattering sound like dice falling to the ground, a black-robed, hooded figure emerged from the darkness on the western side of the round table—the only side without a chair, untouched by the beam of heavenly light. It was as though it had been standing in that darkness all along, waiting for the three of them to take their seats.
No one could make out any of its physical features. Its robe trailed along the ground, its sleeves concealed its arms and hands, and beneath its hood was nothing but darkness.
For a moment, no one spoke. The eerie Whisper Element made everyone frown. The two High-Ring Arcanists protected the three princesses, though each of them had thoughts of their own.
Iluna frowned slightly. As she turned to look at the black-robed "Keeper of Secrets," her tied-up brown hair swayed. The seventeen-year-old girl was not facing an Angel Level Relic for the first time, and so far, she felt that this relic had not displayed particularly great power.
The black-robed figure did not speak.