When the Hanged Man, Alger, heard that The Tower wanted to buy it, he was delighted. Still, he looked around first. Seeing that no one else was bidding, he nodded and cautioned:
"This Witch Beyonder Characteristic came from a pirate captain affiliated with the Gnosis Society. She may have had connections in the Demoness Sect, so be careful when you use it."
He himself had no reason to worry. He had immediately offered the characteristic as a Sacrifice to Mr. Fool for safekeeping—a trick he had learned from The Tower.
Behind the Gray Fog, Klein's expression turned peculiar. When the Hanged Man had offered up the characteristic, the Witch's spirit had not fully dissipated. Through Spirit Channeling, he had learned a few things that had thoroughly upended his worldview.
For one thing, the Witch the Hanged Man had killed had originally been a man. Her first wife—the "connection" Alger had mentioned—was a Demoness of Affliction in the Demoness Sect...
And when that Demoness of Affliction had still been a man, she had been Vice Admiral of Ailment Tracy's father. Her wife was the White Saintess Katarina, whom The Tower had mentioned many times...
In short, Demoness families were a tangled mess. Maybe that was why they spread catastrophe to the outside world? Heh. Cheek, the source of all this twistedness, has a lot to answer for! Klein let his thoughts wander, but he did not have the Fool bring it up.
For one thing, hearing such gossip from the Fool would hardly suit his image. For another, he was sure The Tower, with the Earth Mother Goddess behind him, had no need to worry.
Judging by the terrifying things The Tower had carried into the underground ruins that day when they faced the Evil Spirit, even the White Saintess herself