"Mr. Z?"
At those words, Julian immediately looked surprised and asked a question he already knew the answer to:
"A letter as a codename... is he one of the Lord's twenty-two Oracles whom Mr. Aripis mentioned the last time we had dinner?"
"That's right."
Hanass nodded slightly.
"Mr. Z is the Oracle responsible for Awwa County, as well as a bishop of the Lord. He resides in Enmat Harbor."
A bishop of the True Creator... did that mean a Rose Bishop?
Julian knew that the True Creator's Oracles generally ranged from sequence 7 to sequence 5 in strength. A sequence 6 Rose Bishop fit neatly within that range.
Moreover, although the Aurora Order was a cult that worshipped an evil god, its faith was ultimately derived from that of the Ancient Sun God in the Third Epoch.
Under the influence of Ouroboros, the Angel of Fate, the titles used for Oracles within this organization certainly would not be arbitrary.
For instance, "ascetic" should correspond to "Shadow Ascetic," "bishop" to "Rose Bishop," and "pastor" to "Shepherd."
Based on these known facts, Julian could be fairly certain that Mr. Z was probably at sequence 6, the same as Madam Sharon, the Demoness of Pleasure.
"There's still something I don't understand, Hanass."
Julian shook his head, looking puzzled.
"Why did you say you needed to report to Mr. Z as soon as I mentioned Lanevus? Is he very important within our organization?"
"That isn't something we're supposed to know... I've only heard a little about it myself."
Hanass Vincent shook his head.
"All I know is that Mr. Z had special considerations when he agreed to let Sirius recruit Lanevus into the Aurora Order. It seemed to involve some crucial matter."
"All right."
Julian did not press him further after hearing that, and simply went back to drinking his tea.
After leaving the Divination Club, Klein Moretti took a public carriage and quickly returned to his home at 2 Daffodil Street.
Neither Benson nor Melissa was home, giving him a quiet environment in which to convene the Tarot Club.
Klein returned to his room and took four steps counterclockwise before arriving Above the Gray Fog.
There was still half an hour until three in the afternoon. The main reason Klein had come up so early was to perform a divination about Hanass Vincent.
According to what Old Neil had said before, many people were trying to dabble in dangerous magical rituals and divination methods. Thus, "magic mirror divination" alone was not enough to make Klein this wary.
What truly made him feel that something was wrong was that Julian seemed to be on very good terms with Hanass.
When he had first arrived at the Divination Club, he had heard that Hanass apparently held Julian's physiognomic divination in very high regard.
Today, he had also caught the two having afternoon tea together on very familiar terms. Although Julian did not constantly participate in the Nighthawks' law enforcement activities, his position as their external consultant was still highly sensitive.
If Julian accidentally disclosed the Nighthawks' law enforcement activities and personnel, or did so under the influence of some supernatural power, it could easily cause the Nighthawks unnecessary losses or even casualties.
"Hanass Vincent harbors definite hostility toward the Nighthawks."
With that, Klein tossed the coin into the air, then caught it.
"Heads up, just as expected..."
Klein muttered to himself. This meant that the divination result was affirmative.
To conserve his spirituality, Klein had incorporated two questions into this single divination statement.
The first was "Hanass Vincent knows that the Nighthawks exist," and the second was "Hanass Vincent is hostile toward the Nighthawks."
Many people might harbor some degree of latent hostility toward the Nighthawks, since they were essentially servants and enforcers of the Evernight Goddess.
Given the public's vague understanding of religious inquisitions, even some devout followers of the Lord of Storms and the God of Steam and Machinery might harbor an indistinct hostility toward the Nighthawks.
Therefore, if Hanass Vincent harbored definite hostility toward the Nighthawks, that meant he knew they existed. In turn, that suggested he was a Beyonder, and that his hostility toward the Nighthawks was not merely incidental.
From there, Klein had grounds to infer that he most likely belonged to a cult hostile to the orthodox gods.
"Hanass Vincent is attempting to obtain information about the Nighthawks team from Julian Albrecht."
This was his second divination question, but this time, after tossing the coin, Klein actually failed to catch it.
*???*
Klein was startled. He watched the coin bounce off the Bronze Long Table, then roll onto the high-backed chair belonging to Mr. Tower, namely Julian.
Rattle, rattle...
Only after colliding with the chair did it finally fall flat.
It was still heads up, but this time, Klein doubted the result.
Was this divination interfered with?
He frowned slightly, rather taken aback.
Klein had previously confirmed that divinations performed Above the Gray Fog were far more accurate than those performed in the real world, and almost never produced ambiguous results.
Although the coin had ultimately given an affirmative result pointing to "yes," the process had been so convoluted that Klein decided to try again using pendulum divination.
He took out his pendulum and asked the same question, only to find that it swung back and forth in a straight line, merely shifting clockwise as it swung.
"...Never mind. It looks like there really is something unusual about Julian."
At that thought, Klein could not help glancing at the swirling, neon-colored clouds interspersed among the crimson stars above the gray fog, then shook his head.
Before the Tarot Club meeting began, Klein settled on a three-part honorific name for the Fool based on his own ideas, planning to tell the three participants during the meeting.
To be honest, he had been greatly surprised by Julian's earlier ability to contact him without using an honorific name. It seemed to be some specialized ability in ritual magic.
When three o'clock arrived, Klein once again selected the stars and swirling colors representing Miss Justice, Mr. Hanged Man, and Julian, the Tower.
Julian had long since made preparations. In advance, he had found a
quiet lounge in the club and waited for the Tarot Club meeting to begin.
Once the neon colors faded, Julian was seated at the Bronze Long Table, once again becoming Mr. Tower.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool!"
Miss Justice's clear, melodious voice rang out right on cue.