In Sefirah Castle, the members of the Tarot Club held an impromptu gathering concerning Raphael Collins.
After the Hermit, Cattleya, interpreted the World's divination, Justice Audrey slowly nodded. "Based on my preliminary observations, although Raphael Collins appears crazy on the surface, he is actually fairly calm inside."
At that point, the World said to Judgment Xio, "Tell everyone about your investigation into Raphael."
When Klein had tracked down Raphael, he had asked Xio, who had an intelligence network in Backlund, to investigate this "lunatic."
Xio Derecha said, "According to the information I received from my informants, Raphael Collins used to be a minor leader in the Skeleton Party. I had already suspected that the Skeleton Party was a gang backed by a mid- or high-ranking member of the Rose School.
"Their former boss was a Sequence 8 Lunatic of the Prisoner pathway. Two of the leaders under him were Sequence 9 Prisoners, and another was a Sequence 9 Criminal.
"Before this year, Raphael hadn't done anything particularly outstanding. But about three months ago, he suddenly began to change.
"In battles against other gangs, he skillfully secured considerable gains and won plenty of benefits for several important subordinates, quickly gaining a few gang members who were utterly devoted to him.
"About two months ago, he successfully assassinated the Skeleton Party's boss and used his characteristic to advance.
"Then he demonstrated considerable skill in handling people. Using leverage over the other leaders or suppressing them by force, he quickly secured his position as boss. He renamed the Skeleton Party the Mafia and called himself the Godfather.
"After that, he launched several attacks on the surrounding gangs and won them all. The Mafia is now one of the three largest gangs in the Bridge District.
"And according to my informants, Raphael is highly respected among the workers."
The Star, Leonard Mitchell, occasionally dealt with Backlund's gangs as well. He found this rather hard to believe. "A gang boss is highly respected among the workers?"
Generally, workers and ordinary people would steer clear of gang bosses like that, while secretly seething with hatred for them.
"That's what my information says," Xio replied. "I'll need to make further inquiries to find out exactly how he managed it."
The Hanged Man, Alger, offered his analysis. "He's a 'rational lunatic'!
"Or rather, he looks crazy, but he's actually quite shrewd."
Then he smiled. "Dealing with someone like that is easier than dealing with a lunatic."
Alger said to Justice, "I suggest you observe Raphael for a while, then demonstrate your abilities to intimidate him.
"After that, give him some tasks. As for his rewards, you can trade with members of the Temperance Faction.
"Establish steady contact first. Once you understand him better, you may discover what's special about him."
In fact, the names "Mafia" and "Godfather" had already revealed one of Raphael's peculiarities to Klein: he was a transmigrator!
Justice accepted the Hanged Man's advice and nodded. "All right."
Then Xio said to Justice, "You'd better find a way to persuade your father. Besides asking the Church of the Evernight Goddess for help, he'll certainly approach MI9 as well.
"If that happens, they might catch Raphael very soon."
Justice Audrey was about to speak, but the Hanged Man, Alger, said, "I'd wager that Raphael will be very difficult to find."
Xio paused in surprise. "Why do you say that?"
He was only a Sequence 8. Even if there was something special about him, official Beyonders should be able to find him easily if they deployed a demigod.
Alger smiled. "Everyone, think back to Mr. Fool's description when he assigned Miss Justice her task.
"He subjected Raphael to Fooling, and that Fooling seems to be ongoing.
"I believe there's no need for me to explain which pathway Mr. Fool represents. His Fooling will surely cause all divination to bypass Raphael."
The other members were taken aback. As always, Mr. Hanged Man's analysis made a great deal of sense.
Even the World, Klein, thought, The Fool himself hadn't considered that.
Audrey returned to the real world from Above the Gray Fog. Sure enough, Raphael hadn't noticed that she had "left."
Raphael and his two companions changed disguises three times, took an omnibus and then a cab, and finally walked some distance before arriving in the Bridge District.
By then, all three had changed into dirty, coarse-cloth coats and stiff cloth trousers, with flat caps on their heads-the usual attire of ordinary workers.
Audrey had also been forced to dress as a male worker. When Raphael applied her makeup, nothing he did could conceal her air of refinement.
At first, Raphael had repeatedly tried to make Audrey look ugly, but something extraordinary about her always shone through.
In the end, Raphael gave up and simply wrapped bandages around her head, pretending she had suffered a head injury. Only then did she stop attracting so much attention from people along the way.
It was just when the dockworkers and factory workers were getting off work. The three joined the workers heading home, made their way upstairs in a dilapidated apartment building in the Bridge District, and knocked on the door of Apartment 301.
The man who answered was middle-aged, had only one leg, and used a crutch. He smiled. "Sir."
Raphael nodded, glanced both ways down the corridor, and stepped inside.
The entrance opened into a room that served as both living room and kitchen, with two bedrooms beyond it. The shared washrooms were at either end of the floor. By the standards of Backlund apartments for ordinary people, this was fairly spacious.
The apartment was sparsely furnished, with only a few shabby pieces of furniture. Still, its owner had clearly made a point of tidying up, and it was reasonably clean.
After entering, Raphael first went to look out the window. Then he rubbed his stomach, which was already hollow with hunger, took a two-soli banknote from his wallet, and handed it to the middle-aged man.
He instructed him, "Go buy some noodles, enough for four people, a cabbage, and two bulbs of garlic. Oh, right, make sure you get half a penny's worth of cumin."
The middle-aged man with the crutch immediately smiled. "Yes, sir."
As he handed over the money, Raphael sighed inwardly. Prices in Backlund really are high. Two soli is roughly equivalent to a hundred yuan, and it only buys this much.
Of course, there would still be two or three pennies left over, but he had no intention of asking for the change.
After the middle-aged man left on his crutch, Raphael glanced at Audrey. Unfortunately, he couldn't glean anything from her expression.
Audrey adjusted the bandages on her face. "What sort of expression were you hoping to see?"
Raphael smiled. "I thought the kindhearted Miss Audrey would be angry with me for ordering a disabled man to work, and feel sorry for Mark... ahem, for our host."
Audrey said nothing. Those thoughts had indeed crossed her mind, but her training as a Spectator had kept her from showing them.
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