Gossip

"This gathering ends here."

At Klein's command, the Tarot Club gathering came to a close.

Justice Audrey and the Hanged Man Alger nodded as well, bidding each other farewell.

Back in reality, Klein let out a long breath. Playing the role of a mysterious entity as a newly advanced Seer took even more effort than he had imagined.

Being the leader of a secret organization isn't easy either... Klein smiled self-deprecatingly.

He instinctively reached to take off his glasses, only to discover that there was nothing on the bridge of his nose.

"I forgot that the sunglasses were conjured up above the gray fog."

Come to think of it, should I buy a pair of sunglasses too...? Recalling his earlier experience at the Divination Club, Klein found himself considering the idea.

The Divination Club... sigh!

The thought of that place filled him with bitterness.

Even though several days had passed, the experience remained fresh in his memory. Even counting his life before transmigrating, he had never encountered anything so embarrassing in all his decades of living.

But if I want to digest the potion, I'll still have to go to the Divination Club... Klein felt a headache coming on.

If possible, he wanted to avoid that place of painful memories.

People are forgetful creatures. If I disguise myself a little, no one should recognize me, right...? Klein thought uncertainly.

"And then there's that man I met at the Seer Club..."

The mere thought of him made Klein instinctively rub his eyes.

"Something went wrong after I took one look at him with Spirit Vision."

"It was the same when I tried divining above the gray fog. Not only did I fail to get a result, I even got... in any case, there's definitely something wrong with that man."

"He must be a Beyonder, but I don't know his specific Pathway or Sequence."

"Should I tell the captain and the others about this...?"

Klein pondered for a moment...

"Forget it. The gray fog is my secret too."

"Until I've confirmed what's going on, I'd better not invite unnecessary complications."

"Melissa probably isn't back yet at this hour." Klein estimated the time and began planning how to spend his day off.

"It's a rare day off. I'll take a bath and get some sleep. Once I wake up, I can make dinner."

This was Daffodil Street, where his family had recently moved. The surroundings were far better than those on Iron Cross Street.

After tidying up a little, he picked up a change of clothes and headed for the bathroom.

Before long, as he watched steam gradually fill his surroundings, Klein suddenly felt the urge to put on a pair of sunglasses again.

Blackthorn Security Company.

The gossip about Dunn and Daly had spread through the entire company at the speed of light.

Only Klein, who had been off duty yesterday, remained completely in the dark.

He pushed open the company's front door as usual.

"Strange. Why does the atmosphere feel so odd today?" Klein was puzzled.

Rozanne spotted Klein and greeted him. However, she seemed unable to contain her urge to share the news and asked, "Klein, do you know what happened yesterday?"

"Yesterday? No idea. It was my day off." Klein shook his head.

"It was something huge!" Rozanne looked excited.

"So what happened?" Her reaction had piqued his curiosity as well.

"Listen, yesterday, the captain and Miss Daly were in the captain's office..."

"Wait, really?" Klein found it hard to believe. Although anyone with eyes could see the subtle, ambiguous attraction between the captain and Miss Daly, he hadn't expected things to progress so quickly.

It had caught him completely off guard.

"Of course! Leonard saw it with his own eyes, and they were being affectionate with each other today too." Seeing Klein's skepticism, Rozanne offered all sorts of evidence to back up her claim.

After chatting with Rozanne for a little while, he headed farther into the company. He had barely gone a few steps when he spotted Leonard, Royale, Old Neil, and Kenley discussing something.

"Klein, you're here." Kenley was the first to notice him and greeted him.

"Yes." Klein nodded, then asked in puzzlement, "What are you talking about? You all seem so happy."

"Well, Klein, have you heard about it?" Leonard asked.

"Heard about what?"

"The captain and Miss Daly," Royale chimed in.

"Oh, I know. Rozanne just told me."

"We're discussing what the two of them should name their child," Leonard said jokingly.

What? Isn't that jumping ahead a little too far? They might not even have made their relationship official yet... Klein was taken aback.

"Mr. Neil, what do you think?" He looked up at Old Neil, the oldest among them.

"I think Kevin Smith is a good name," Old Neil blurted out, stunning him.

Uh... I forgot how irreverent Old Neil could be. Klein lowered his head and pressed a hand to his forehead.

"I could tell a long time ago that those two had feelings for each other.

Yet they actually waited until now to make any progress." Old Neil sounded exasperated with them.

"Why don't we guess who made the first move?" Klein had gotten interested too and proposed a new topic.

"I bet it was Miss Daly. With how proper the captain is, there's no way..." Leonard was the first to speak, but before he could finish, he heard...

"Leonard, what are you guessing about me?"

A woman's voice rang out, clearly in a good mood.

Leonard stiffly turned his head and saw Dunn, whose happiness was tinged with helplessness, and Daly, who was beaming as she held Dunn's arm.

"Ahem!"

Seemingly feeling his teammates' gazes, Dunn grew uncharacteristically flustered and could only cough to cover his embarrassment.

In stark contrast, Daly was all smiles.

"As you can see, I've roped your captain into becoming my fiancé."

Fiancé... Seemingly startled by that title, Dunn could only force himself to sound calm as he said:

"In short, as you can see, Daly and I are dating."

"I don't think this will affect my working relationship with any of you

."

Still smiling, Daly said, "Let's all go out for lunch later. My treat."

The Divination Club.

"The Hornacis Mountain Range?"

"Uh, are you sure you haven't misspoken, Mr. Gracis?" At the mention of those words, Lorne's expression grew noticeably awkward.

As asking the man directly about Lanevus would have seemed strange, Lorne couldn't very well admit that he had overheard him.

Since they were at the Divination Club, he had naturally struck up a conversation about divination.

To his surprise, the man turned out to be a club member.

After chatting for a while, he successfully used questions about divination to steer the conversation naturally toward luck and financial fortune.

Then Mr. Gracis enthusiastically began sharing his investment plans with Lorne.

The gist was that Lanevus had discovered a rich iron deposit while prospecting in the Hornacis Mountain Range. After buying the mine, he had lacked the funds to develop it, so he was raising money from the public by selling shares.

After listening to the man's account, Lorne lowered his head in thought.

Was this the mine owner Lanevus mentioned in the Transmigration Guide?

And Hornacis... Lorne recalled the word he had deciphered in that notebook earlier.

Could it really be such a coincidence?

Was this fate?