Witnessing Mr. Fool's Theft

Seeing the Royal Museum, Odys suddenly had a bad feeling.

It was October 1349, and Klein Moretti had already arrived in Backlund.

Odys didn't want any exciting adventures in this world, so he had never gone looking for Klein or the other members of the Tarot Club.

But today, while the "Roselle Memorial Exhibition" was in full swing, Bernadette had suddenly brought him to the Royal Museum in the middle of the night. He didn't believe she had brought him there to view the exhibition.

Outside the museum, Bernadette once again cupped a hand to her ear, listening.

Then she turned around and placed her index finger against her attractive, glossy lips, making a "keep quiet" gesture.

Odys sensed something and opened his mouth again, only to discover that his lips really wouldn't part.

Finally, Bernadette's fingers moved as if they were dancing. The next second, when she raised her index finger, Odys's left leg rose without warning. When she raised her middle finger, his right leg lifted as well. Neither leg was under his control at all.

Odys was caught between laughter and tears. At the same time, he sensed the power of a Demi-God and the wonder of her Beyonder Ability.

Bernadette made another gesture as if pulling down a hood. She drew a black hooded cloak out of thin air, and her figure immediately grew Illusory.

A black hooded cloak also appeared on Odys, concealing his presence. After that, he followed behind her like a Marionettist's puppet, controlled by Bernadette.

A broad, Illusory avenue flickering with scattered starlight appeared before them. It made the Royal Museum's walls turn Illusory, allowing them to swagger into the "Roselle Memorial Exhibition," which was guarded by Beyonders from the Church of Steam.

In particular, at the four corners of the roof stood members of the Machinery Hivemind. Two of them even wore Sealed Artifacts, yet they seemed to completely ignore Bernadette and Odys.

After entering the museum, the avenue formed from starlight developed a flight of stairs leading upward.

After climbing the stairs and returning to the Real World, Odys discovered that he was on the second floor of the museum, inside the reconstructed Roselle's Study.

He and Bernadette were both perched atop the tall bookshelves. Before them stood a figure whose face was painted with greasepaint, looking almost like a spirit body.

Odys wanted to twitch the corners of his mouth, but he found that his lips were out of his control. That didn't stop him from exclaiming inwardly: As expected, it's Klein! I actually witnessed Mr. Fool's theft!

At that moment, Klein—or rather, the spirit body Klein had summoned himself—was reaching for two bookmarks inside a book.

Bernadette didn't stop him immediately. Only after he had wrapped the bookmarks in his spirit body did she suddenly raise a hand.

"Waa~ waa~ waa~!"

A shrill baby's cry suddenly rang out in the exhibition hall. The voice was extremely Illusory, as if it had come from a place very, very far away.

Klein's spirit body seemed to freeze in place. From the corner of his eye, he saw two hooded figures standing atop the bookshelf, their faces hidden beneath their hoods.

Bernadette asked sternly, "Why did you only take the bookmarks?"

Klein seemed to struggle with all his might, but it was useless. He was completely trapped before the desk in the exhibition hall, unable to move at all.

"Where did you learn that you needed to take the bookmarks?" Bernadette asked again.

A wide grin suddenly appeared on Klein's grease-painted face.

The next second, his nearly transparent figure vanished! The two bookmarks wrapped in his spirit body vanished with him.

Bernadette, sitting atop the bookshelf, suddenly leaned forward. Odys could tell that she was also rather surprised.

But in the blink of an eye, Bernadette's figure turned Illusory and disappeared as well. Following the guidance of her spirituality, she gave chase.

Only after Bernadette had left did Odys react. Big sis, what about me? I'm still here!

The shouts of the Machinery Hivemind members, who had noticed something unusual, were already coming from the distance.

Odys had two choices. The first was to be arrested by the Machinery Hivemind. He had quite a few friends in the organization, so he didn't need to worry about being locked behind the Gate of Truth. He could also rid himself of Queen Mystic Bernadette.

But something had been stolen from the "Roselle Memorial Exhibition." Since he had appeared here, he would certainly be investigated and followed, and might even be interrogated by a Demi-God.

At that moment, he made his decision: I'd better run.

Odys quickly removed his hood, turned his loose jacket inside out at top speed, and tore open its lining.

Inside the jacket's lining was an Octagram Magic Formation drawn with spiritual powder and liquid. At the center lay a small piece of the Beyonder material Ahorna Crystal, which Odys had purchased at great cost. Various colored gemstones were set into the formation's other nodes.

This was an escape device he had spent a fortune creating, and it had also come from one of his previous research projects.

As the footsteps drew closer, Odys was just about to inject spirituality into the Magic Formation when he suddenly noticed grayish-white fog rising from the place where Klein's spirit body had departed. In the center of the fog, a gray sphere the size of a palm took shape.

At the same time, an Illusory light radiated from Odys's body, making everything around him seem somewhat unreal.

He was slightly stunned, but he immediately understood. Sefirah Castle had just formed some kind of connection or resonance with the space he could enter every Sunday.

The moment he figured it out, the palm-sized gray sphere shot toward him. Before Odys could dodge, it sank into his chest.

After Bernadette left, Odys could open his mouth again. He opened it wide and was about to scream, but suddenly realized that he didn't feel any pain at all.

He hurriedly pulled open his collar to look. There was nothing unusual about his chest.

The Machinery Hivemind members' footsteps had already reached the doorway. With no time to inspect it closely, Odys immediately injected his spirituality into the Magic Formation. In that instant, the Beyonder material Ahorna Crystal from the "Door" Pathway opened an entrance to the Spirit World for him.

Odys picked up the hood Bernadette had summoned earlier and immediately leaped inside.

Amid the bizarre, dazzling colors, Odys felt as if he were in a Tornado. His body spun and rolled at tremendous speed. Before he could even make out the scenery of the Spirit World, he was slammed hard into the ground.

At that moment, he felt as if every bone in his body had come loose, but he still sat up abruptly and began vomiting violently.

Everything in his stomach came up. In the end, he even vomited out all his stomach acid before the dizziness gradually faded.

Leaning against a streetlamp, Odys weakly surveyed his surroundings. He was probably more than ten kilometers from the Royal Museum, standing on a fairly narrow street.

He used the streetlamp to pull himself up. "There's still room for improvement."

It still wasn't safe. He had to leave the West Borough as soon as possible.

As he prepared to leave with one hand against the wall, a voice said, neither warm nor cold, "You have quite a few good things on you."

Bernadette appeared from thin air not far from Odys. "Unfortunately, no matter how you run, I can find you with ease."

Odys glanced at the stunning Queen Mystic. "You caught the person who stole the bookmarks?"

"Come on, let's hurt each other!"