Forged Diary

Aster pushed the suitcase aside and collapsed into the armchair.

"The chairs in this hotel are pretty comfortable... Come to think of it, since transmigrating, I don't think I've ever stayed in the same room for more than a month..." That afternoon, Aster returned to Iron Cross Street in Tingen City and rented another suite.

The time was almost here... Aster took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. Exactly three o'clock. Red light erupted once more and swallowed his body, followed closely by the appearance of the solidified Gray Fog.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool." Following Miss Justice, who seemed to be forever brimming with energy, as she rose, Aster slightly bowed and greeted the Mr. Fool seated at the head of the table.

After directly facing Alidibus's pressure, Aster had gained a more straightforward understanding of high-ranking existences and felt considerably more genuine awe toward the Fool.

He had likewise been intimidated by high-ranking figures of the Storm Pathway in the game before, but that had ultimately only been a game. The so-called intimidation had merely been a debuff displayed on the status bar, and was nowhere near as direct as the shock Alidibus had given him.

"The aura of the 'Lovers'... he seems to have become a little more afraid? I wonder what he's afraid of, and what he's learned... Hmm, the 'Justice' Spirit Body has changed..." "Fool" Klein activated his Spirit Vision and scanned each member.

He noticed that the colors deep within Miss Justice's aura had blended together, becoming pure and tranquil, like a lake clearly reflecting everything around it.

There really was a change... She must have become a Beyonder... Klein was just about to shift his gaze away when he suddenly sensed a change in the high-backed chair she was sitting in.

The brilliant stars on the back of the chair moved rapidly, outlining a symbol representing a "dragon." This change left Klein slightly puzzled. What connection could a Spectator have with a dragon?

Without revealing his emotions, Klein inconspicuously shifted his gaze toward the backs of the other two members' chairs. Though it was difficult to see them with his eyes from his perspective, as the master of Above the Gray Fog, he could sense changes in his surroundings without relying on his eyes.

Klein discovered that the symbol behind the Hanged Man's chair belonged to the storms. Linking the Hanged Man's blue hair with the "Sailor" potion formula he had produced earlier, Klein nodded inwardly. Sailor, Sea's Favored, the symbol of the storms—it made sense.

The symbol behind the "Lovers," however, left him briefly confused.

It was a grotesquely elongated bird. It spread its wings, which had been twisted into a symbol representing death, while its eyes were made up of overlapping, shrinking door-shaped symbols.

What creature is that...?

Klein slightly furrowed his brow. Recalling the occult knowledge he had learned from Old Neil over the past few days, he now had a general understanding of mystical creatures and certain secret organizations.

He had seen the storm symbol behind the Hanged Man's high-backed chair in occult books and within the Church of Storms, so he found it unsurprising. But as far as he knew, the Numinous Episcopate, which controlled the Death Pathway, used a completely different symbolic mark for death from the one behind the "Lovers."

In fact, among the occult ritual magic Klein had learned, all the parts involving death used the Numinous Episcopate's symbol—the mark formed by a twisted Feathered Serpent and a skull, half death and half sleep.

In other words, the symbol behind the "Lovers" isn't exactly orthodox... Or is he a member of some faction within the Numinous Episcopate that doesn't conform to the mainstream?

"Fool" Klein slowly withdrew his gaze and cleared his throat. "The three of you, I have a long-term task to issue."

The three Tarot Club members immediately perked up at this news.

"Justice" was somewhat nervous and somewhat excited, while the Hanged Man's aura was blue, symbolizing caution and thought... The "Lovers" and the "Hanged Man" probably had similar thoughts, but he seemed a little more expectant. He appears to be looking forward to my task... After sweeping his gaze across the three members and taking in their auras and reactions, Klein said in a low voice, "I need you to collect the secret diaries of Roselle Gustav. This will be a long-term task."

The diary?!

Klein saw the Hanged Man's uncertainty, Miss Justice's curiosity, and the somewhat strange movement of the "Lovers."

Mr. "Lovers"'s movement... The motion he just made was more exaggerated than usual, but he was still mostly calm. Does that mean Mr. Fool's request to collect Roselle's Notes—no, his diaries—was beyond his expectations, while he also finds it reasonable...?

Now a Spectator, Audrey Hall instinctively analyzed the "Lovers"'s state of mind.

Mr. "Lovers" covered his mouth. He's... he's holding back laughter... What's so funny about this?

"Justice" Audrey was somewhat confused.

The Fool in the game world is also collecting Roselle's diaries... Is he trying to decipher them? But unfortunately, with an NPC's imagination, he'll probably never be able to decipher diaries written by a transmigrator in Simplified Chinese... And to be honest, it would be better if you couldn't decipher them. After all, that Roselle guy...

Aster was certain he hadn't been laughing. It was merely that the corners of his mouth had risen on their own.

In the game's setting, Roselle was an emperor of great talent and ambition, but among the players, his image had completely transformed into that of a comic relief character.

The appearance of this character could be traced back to the period shortly after the release of Sequence Wars. After the game had enjoyed a period of booming sales, it also became widely popular among overseas players. Naturally, that caught the attention of a certain bureau.

At the time, the superior who came down to speak with the game's planners said, "You're a Chinese company, yet you made this kind of foreign game instead of promoting Chinese culture. You must rectify it!"

The game planners and players were speechless. This was a Western medieval, Lovecraftian game. What Chinese elements could they possibly add?

So the planning team racked their brains and added content about the Western Continent to the game's story. The residents of the Western Continent wielded the power of talismans and could confer titles upon ghosts and gods, while its background was likewise based on ancient China.

Surely you're satisfied now, right?

But the bureau's inspectors weren't so easy to fool. They said, "Do you think I'm blind? What use is a mere backdrop? Continue rectifying it. If you can't, we'll shut down your lousy game entirely!"

With no other choice, the planning team changed the character of Roselle Gustav, an Intis emperor modeled after Napoleon, into a transmigrator. They also changed the contents of his diaries to Chinese and filled them with large amounts of supplementary lore and strategy tips. This forced many foreigners to painstakingly chew through the Simplified Chinese diaries with translation software, and the matter was finally settled.

For Chinese players, this had been beneficial overall. Roselle's diaries could be bought from many NPCs, and the strategy details and hidden lore written in them also satisfied most players.

However, perhaps even the planning and writing teams had never expected that some details of Roselle's life, added to make the diaries more substantial, would become even more popular than the strategy information...

The phrase "A Demoness's taste is really something" had made not only the original author, Emperor Roselle, famous, but also countless players of the Demoness Pathway.

Returning his thoughts from the game's setting to Above the Gray Fog, Aster wasn't actually surprised that the Fool had issued a task to purchase Roselle's diaries.

Because in the game, the rewards for many quests were simply Roselle's diaries. But once players collected all of Roselle's diaries and posted them on the forums, they lost their usefulness to the players. To balance the reward system, players could sell Roselle's diaries to the Fool in exchange for reputation points with the Tarot Club. According to the setting, the characters controlled by players in the game couldn't understand Roselle's diaries, so their only use after being obtained was to hand them over to the Fool. It made perfect sense.

This had originally been a perfectly ordinary recovery mechanic. Similar settings existed in other games as well. Aster was merely somewhat surprised that the true god who genuinely existed after his transmigration—the "Fool" who led the Tarot Club—was still collecting Roselle's diaries.

Then Roselle, that senior transmigrator, probably really did exist in this world too... As Aster considered the Fool's intentions, he also began pondering what this meant...

I've collected some of Roselle's diaries before. I could transcribe them and hand them to Mr. Fool right now, but that might expose the fact that I can understand Roselle's diaries. With this true god currently attempting to decipher them, I might be completely confined and used as a translation machine. No, in the worst case, He might directly extract my Spirit Body and draw out all my knowledge of Chinese characters while I'm unconscious... I can't trust a god's mercy, even if this Fool has always seemed harmless... I'll wait until next time to submit one...

As Aster listened to "Justice" ask somewhat nervously what would happen if a domesticated pet consumed a potion, and to the "Hanged Man" give an answer laden with implications, he idly considered which diary he should hand over next.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him.

Wait. The protagonist in the game doesn't understand Chinese and doesn't dare deceive the Fool, so he can only collect Roselle's diaries step by step. But I'm different! I understand Chinese characters!

That means I can completely forge Roselle's diaries!

In any case, the original versions of Roselle's diaries don't exist anymore. Almost everyone can only collect fragments that have been recopied and transferred an unknown number of times. Besides, He's probably only trying to decipher them and can't understand them at all!

The diaries I forge will at least have coherent language and logic. I can even add a few pieces of information I know but can't openly reveal... Wouldn't that be better than those shoddy products cobbled together from random strokes?

Aster muttered inwardly, growing more and more justified.

As for the possibility that the "Fool" could understand Roselle's diaries, Aster didn't consider it. If He could understand Roselle's diaries, then some things would actually become much easier. As long as he passed this god some later-story details that he still vaguely remembered, many disasters could presumably be resolved with ease.