The Roundtable Hold's First Gathering

Meanwhile, in the room next to Leon's.

Klein had finished lunch, but he had yet to take the rest he had planned to get in order to restore his energy.

His jumbled thoughts kept him from falling asleep, and he tossed and turned in bed.

Mr. Stars's identity, whether he was truly from Earth, and why Klein had been guided into that ancient hall after leaving Above the Gray Fog.

What was a "Tarnished," and why did being able to enter that hall already make him one?

And how had that seemingly friendly being learned the name of that flame?

What was the connection between them?

Tormented by so many questions that he could neither sit nor stand still, Klein saw that the appointed time was approaching. He sprang up, walked to an open space, and began his final preparations.

He carefully used the silver dagger he carried with him to raise a Wall of Spirituality around himself.

He opened the pocket watch in his hand and placed it on the table beside the head of the bed, then waited for the appointed time.

How will Mr. Stars summon me? Will it be like Above the Gray Fog?

Klein's thoughts, which he had finally managed to gather, scattered once again.

The instant the hour, minute, and second hands reached the correct positions, a burst of brilliant starlight erupted before Klein's eyes and swallowed his consciousness.

Backlund, Empress Borough.

Audrey Hall leaned against a velvet pillow as the clock on the wall slowly approached the appointed hour of one.

Her gemstone-like eyes resembled two bright jewels. With a satisfied expression, she placed the things she had prepared within reach, one by one.

Emperor Roselle's notes for Mr. Fool, and the information she had gathered for Mr. Stars.

Starting that afternoon, she would be very busy. After all, she had to attend the secret gatherings of two important figures in turn.

This sense of being hidden from ordinary reality often thrilled her.

Even though her Spectator abilities kept her gaze perfectly steady, so that an outsider would notice nothing even if they barged in, the excitement in her heart was as hard to suppress as the anticipation of a long-awaited play.

As the hour hand slowly reached its mark, a burst of dazzling light exploded before her eyes. With a peculiar sensation of looking down from above, she "watched" herself being swallowed by the light.

Amid firelight that flickered like breathing, two figures, a man and a woman, flashed into view and took their seats on opposite sides of the roundtable.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Stars~, and you too, Mr. Sailor." Audrey's voice held its usual lightness and poise, as though she had just stepped away from an afternoon tea.

"May I ask if you've found the answer you wanted?"

Klein, sitting at the other end, also stood and nodded slightly in greeting to the other two.

His posture was a little more relaxed than last time, and his brown eyes darted over Miss Spectator's face the moment he sat down.

But he did not open his Spirit Vision to observe her as he was accustomed to doing at the Tarot Club. Such an offensive act would very likely displease the host of the gathering.

He looked calmly at the being seated at the head of the table. The figure composed of starlight and golden radiance leaned back in his chair, hands folded over his abdomen, as casually as if he were receiving two neighbors who had dropped by his living room.

He knew that powerful beings often had strange dispositions. Friendliness did not mean he could behave presumptuously; instead, it prompted him to tell himself to be even more respectful.

But what he did not know was that Mr. Stars was actually just having some difficulty pulling himself out of Roselle's indecent diary and that piece of intelligence.

"I found some." Leon looked at the two before him and gathered himself a little. He sat upright and opened his mouth.

His voice came through the starlight, unhurried.

"Good afternoon, both of you. Thank you for agreeing to attend a gathering formed on the spur of the moment."

"A week has passed. I hope you've both made progress of your own and have news worth sharing."

He paused, his gaze moving from Audrey to Klein as the corners of his mouth curved slightly upward.

"Of course, if not, we can just have a casual chat first."

"Who would like to start?"

Audrey glanced at Klein, as though waiting to see who would speak first.

Klein did not respond. He sat upright in his chair and tapped his fingers lightly twice on his knee.

"Since no one is volunteering, I'll go first." Audrey's voice broke the brief silence. "A week isn't long, but I did my best to gather a few things. I hope they'll interest you."

As she spoke, she instinctively tried to materialize the information in her mind, just as she did at the Tarot Club.

Halfway through, she realized that Mr. Stars did not seem to have said this place had that function.

She paused, glanced at Klein, and carefully asked Leon, "Mr. Stars, could you restrict the sound so the two of us can speak privately?"

"Of course. Knowledge itself also has value, and reasonable requests should be granted." Leon nodded, then snapped his fingers.

A strand of light floated out from the Greater Grace at the very center and connected the two of them. Leon then looked at Audrey to indicate that it was done.

Miss Justice, Mr. Hanged Man has really led you astray. Are you already turning into an old hand?

You still have to attend my gathering later! Is it really all right to leave me out?

Feeling somewhat excluded, Klein heard this and could not help silently grumbling to himself.

Audrey nodded slightly and leaned forward, lowering her voice.

"I'm very sorry, but my sources aren't that extensive." She spoke slowly, as though confirming each word. "There's very little information I could find about the Erdtree Church. Whether from other gatherings or from written materials, I gathered only a small amount that I believe to be genuine."

She paused.

"What I can confirm for now is that they were once wiped out. Afterward, they went to the Southern Continent instead. A friend of mine far away on the Southern Continent mentioned them in a letter. It's worth mentioning that while I was asking around for information, I attended a salon where a lady happened to mention something that might have been about them, but the truth has yet to be confirmed."

Leon listened quietly to the end. Most of it matched the information the church had given him.

For someone who had only just come into contact with the Beyonder world, gathering this much information was already quite an achievement.

Although he already knew these things, he had made the request beforehand. Perhaps he could give her some money in return?

Leon silently considered it, then ended the encrypted conversation and looked at the two of them.

"Thank you for your information." He gave an affirmative response. "Is there anything else?"

"There's one more thing." Audrey suddenly remembered something.

Leon was just about to start another encrypted conversation, but she declined.

Audrey hesitated, then said, "This may concern Mr. Sailor's brother, so I think it would be appropriate to share it."

Klein's eyes shifted slightly. Controlling his expression so that a Spectator would not notice, he looked at Audrey.

Feeling a little ashamed, he silently apologized to Benson. He had not expected the story he had casually made up back then to earn him a piece of intelligence.

Miss Justice is still too kind.

"It concerns the Frenzied Flame that Mr. Stars and Mr. Sailor mentioned."

Audrey thought for a few seconds and said, "There's a lady in my social circle whose husband works in a municipal department. During a conversation, it came up that over the past few months, there have been several inexplicable cases of living creatures spontaneously combusting in Backlund's sewer system."

She paused.

"There were no traces of an open flame at any of the scenes, and the locations where the corpses appeared were clustered together each time, as though the incidents had erupted from a single point. The fire department couldn't determine the cause and ultimately attributed it to a gas leak."