After having his fortune checked, he bought a pound of no-so-great mutton; beans, cabbage, onions, potatoes and other items.
"There is really not enough to go around for spending. Poor Benson…"
Benson coughed awkwardly and Melissa just glanced at her oldest brother before continuing to watch the movie.
Klein got back home after buying the staple food. After the nearby tenants left, he still wasn't in a hurry to do the ritual. Klein copied the contents of "The Immortal Lord of Heaven and Earth for Blessings" and related phrases into the ancient Feysac language as well as the Loen language.
Everyone watched Klein scribble in the torn pages of the notebook in different languages. "Is there a fast forward button? Do we have to watch everything in so detail?" Roselle, having less than normal attention span regarding movies– spoke a bit boredly.
He was the type of person who watched dramas and movies in 2x speed to consume twice the content in half the time. It was already a lot for him to watch Klein spend half his day like this since he woke up.
"I don't know, I don't have anything like a remote or something."
"Here should be a remote; there are seats, snack table, screen, there must be a remote nearby." Roselle thought and turned his gaze everywhere to look around himself. The others also looked. Amanises stared at Amon beside her, who just slightly tilted his head with a fake polite smile plastered on his face.
"Get up," The goddess ordered. This time everyone turned to look at her. They realized, 'Was she here all along?' Leonard looked at her and couldn't help feeling that her aura felt familiar. Before he could think more his attention was drawn towards the monocle guy beside her.
Amanises was talking to him, she told him to get up. Amon didn't listen. She got up, taller than the postman-uniformed guy, grabbed his collar and lifted him from his seat. A small rectangular shaped box lay in the corner of the seat.
She simply released her grip and motioned toward the box, it floated to her hands. Roselle got up and saw that it was a tablet.
"A classic case of someone sitting on the remote… The first suspect is the most hated guy. Good job Jiejie."
Amanises just nodded her head towards him and passed him the remote. She sat back down and her presence was minimized once more. Amon settled back into his seat again, ignoring the disheveled state of his shirt collar. Nobody has ever treated him so brazenly before, it felt quite novel to him, he turned to look at the lady beside him the first time.
'With this kind of face, it is only right to keep it hidden.' He turned his head back after a long time.
Roselle tried to find a power button or something like a sensor but couldn't do it.
He passed the tablet to Klein, "You handle it, junior."
Klein curiously took the device, he didn't know it even existed here. Probably it was hidden due to Evernight's concealment, Amon found it but decided not to disclose it...
He lifted the tablet and soon words formed on its surface.
"Great master! This humble one missed you dearly!"
The font was similar to a child's handwriting, looking round and cute with small sparkles in the background of the text.
"...Arrodes?" Klein asked in surprise. 'No wonder Amon didn't tell anyone...'
"It is I, Arrodes at your service Master. Did you miss this servant?"
Seeing the familiar question and answer exchange, Klein had a wide smile on his face, he nodded his head and said he missed it too.
Leonard looked at the magic mirror with a complicated expression.
Fors could clearly see the excited words on the screen from her position, she remembered her encounter with this magic mirror as well, a suspicious blush formed on her face as she mechanically averted her gaze.
Danitz was shocked. This was Gherman's artefact, how can it be here? And it called Klein its master- Considering The Fool as the master, can Gherman take away Fool's servant as he wishes? His head felt like overheating. He shook his head and tried craning his neck to see the words on the tablet.
"Master, apologies for the late introducton," Arrodes tablet floated in front of the audience and announced some instructions and rules after the movements in the screen came to a pause.
"I, Arrodes, am my master's most trusted assistant. I am responsible for controlling the information shown in front of everyone. I will ask a question or ask you to perform a task in exchange for every request of change. I will be still at my master's side, if you need my assistance, just call my name and speak your request, but be aware that it will only be granted after completing the answer. There is no punishment for answering wrong, however, your request will be rejected."
The small screen of the tablet showed a smiling emoticon, while the big screen in front showed Arrodes instructions in classic font.
"So, there's no lightening?" Leonard asked, not expecting Arrodes to reply.
"Yes, this place prohibits violence. If you do not wish to answer or comply with the tasks, you can retract your request. You have asked a question, as per the rules you must answer. Who are you planning to give your salary to?"
Leonard blinked and said without thinking, "To Klein of course, he likes money so much. I don't have much, but I'll give it to him if he wants."
Everyone: Why does this sound like a proposal?
Klein looked at Leonard with his eyes shining, "Really?" He asked.
"Really, would I lie to Arrodes?" he looked at Klein with his eyes dripping with sincerity.
Roselle was amused with this artefact. He spoke rather excitedly, "Isn't this similar to an AI assistant? It's even better than a remote control. Say, Arrodes, can you fast forward the movie a bit, to when Xiao Zhou starts the ritual?"
"Certainly, but you should answer my question first. Did you spend a few nights with a demonness despite knowing she used to be a he before?"
Roselle choked on his saliva. "That- well, yes..."
His voice grew softer as he spoke, fellow beyonders who knew the truth of the demonness pathway looked at him with eyes that said, 'What is to be expected of an Intis person'
Right on cue, the screen fast forwarded to the moment when Klein set up the ingredients for the luck enhancement ritual.
Klein took the four steps while chanting in low whisper. He closed his eyes and waited in place for a while.
He looked uneasy as he waited. Soon after, he looked as if he was in pain, like he was hearing something he shouldn't hear.
They couldn't feel what Klein inside the movie was experiencing, except Amon. It was Evernight who has shielded everyone here from experiencing crazy ravings transmitted from the movie they were watching, maybe she forgot to protect Amon from it.
If you wouldn't die... if you didn't court death...
A thought was heard among the confusing noises that slipped through Evernight's concealment.
Leonard: "Was it that bad?"
Klein: Not really, I got used to it."
Leonard and the others: "..."
A gray fog appeared out of nowhere...
Or rather, it was Klein who appeared in the gray fog.
Amon's eyes shined as he watched intently at the empty Sefirah.
"What's with this situation?" Zhou Mingrui looked around him and lowered his head down to see that he was floating at edge of an endless fog. The fog was flowing like water and was dotted with a lot of crimson stars.
Zhou Mingrui reached out his right hand to try to touch the crimson 'star' that was seemingly floating on the surface. He was trying to leave this place.
His touch agitated the stars into a crimson burst.
He retracted his hand from the sudden fright, but accidently touched yet another crimson star, which burst upon touch as well.
The scene changed, they saw a luxurious looking villa. A beautiful young girl was sitting in front of a dresser.
Audrey showed little expression on her face, but her voice sounded soft, "So it's me, huh?"
The dresser has antique design, and there was a cracked bronze mirror on the surface.
"Mirror, mirror, awaken..."
"In the name of the Hall family, I command you to awaken!"
Susie secretly glancing at her friend: "..." *simply wagging her tail in amusement*
Everyone: "..." Audrey: "I was young and inexperienced."
Leonard: "Mhm, now Miss Justice has grown up and doesn't do such things." he said as he folded his arms and pretended to agree.
Klein tried to down his chuckle while pretending to cough.
After trying different sayings for more than 10 minutes, she finally chose to give up and pouted, "Father was indeed lying to me. Saying that this mirror was a treasure of the Solomon Empire's Black Emperor, and it's an extraordinary item..." The bronze mirror suddenly glowed with a crimson light that shrouded her completely.
The scene changed to the one over the sea. A sailboat was navigating through a storm.
Alger: So, it's my turn now?Alger Wilson stood on deck, his body undulating with the currents at sea, maintaining his balance easily.
He wore lightning pattern embroidered robes with a quirky-shaped glass bottle in his hand. Bubbles billowed inside the bottle at times, frost turned into snow at times, and signs of gusting wind could be seen at times.
"Mr. Wilson looks so cool." Derrick muttered as he watched the seaweed haired man in the sea. Alger just smiled quietly, proud of himself. Don't know what's he proud of really.
"Still short on the Ghost Shark's blood..." Alger murmured.
Benson wondered what kind of shark it was. Was it a ghost of a dead shark? How can if something is a ghost have blood? He has had many questions, but he didn't ask. He felt he's the only one with least amount of knowledge about this mystical stuff, except his daughter of course; but it's fine for her because she's a child. He was too embarrassed to ask about something nobody asked...
A crimson burst appeared in the space between the glass bottle and the surface of his palm, it soon enveloped his surroundings.
In the fog of gray mist, Audrey and Alger regained their sight. They started reckoning the situation in a state of horror and confusion.
Immediately after, the both of them discovered another mystery person standing not far from them who was shrouded in a gray mist.
The 'mysterious person' was none other than Zhou Mingrui. He was similarly dumbfounded.
"Sir, where is this?"
Alger and Audrey were startled at first, falling silent in the process. They then immediately started speaking in unison.
"What are you planning on doing?"
"Where am I? What do I plan to do here? I would like to know too...' Zhou Mingrui calmed himself down.
A few suppressed snickers could be heard in the watching room. 'Ah, it can't be helped. Xiao Zhou's comments really can be funny sometimes, especially in serious situations like this.'
What left the deepest impression on him were neither the sentences formed b words nor the meanings behind them, but the display of bewilderment, vigilance, panic, and reverence by the couple!
Zhou Mingrui thought of two options: The first option was feigning victimhood to hide his true identity, and in turn gain a considerable amount of trust. He could then take a wait-and-see approach and take advantage of his circumstances where necessary. The other option was to maintain his mysterious identity in the eyes of the couple. He could then affect the subsequent development while gleaning valuable information from them.
He made an immediate decision to try out the second idea.
Exploit the psychological state of the others to gain the greatest advantage for himself!
After a few seconds of silence in the fog, Zhou Mingrui chuckled. With a low but not heavy tone, he calmly spoke as though he was replying to the polite greetings from the visitors, "An attempt."
Audience: "..."
Will: "This guy sure is something... Cleaning a crime scene, going to grocery shopping with a gun, not hesitating to point the said gun on someone's head, performing a ritual with said groceries, involving random passerbys into the ritual and eventually forming a cult now turned religion! And most of it on the same day! Have some shame!"
Klein, shrugging: "It's not like I had a choice. I wanted to return home as soon as possible, I couldn't not try everything option I could think of."
Silence...
*cough*
It was Alger who couldn't take it this time. Seeing things from an outsider's perspective... he could see things more clearly. It can be said that this situation escalated because they assumed too highly of this gentleman. Who wouldn't if they were in his position?
Audrey took a breath, revealing an impeccable, courteous smile. She asked in a somewhat perturbed way, "Sir, is the attempt over? Might you permit our return?"
Alger Wilson also had similar questions, but he held back his impulse and only took on the role of a silent onlooker.
Zhou Mingrui looked at them and observed. He could make out their distinct features but cannot see them clearly.
Once he became stronger or had a deeper understanding of the foggy world, perhaps it was possible for him to see through the fog and discern the girl and the man.
In this situation, they are the visitors, and I'm the master!
After changing his mindset, Zhou Mingrui instantly noticed that they resembled the image of those two crimson red 'stars' beyond the gray fog, their incorporeal projected image had an intangible connection to him.
The projection would disappear once the connection is cut, and the couple would then return… Zhou Mingrui nodded mildly and looked at the blond, chuckling. "Of course, if you make a formal request, you can return this very moment."
When she did not identify any ill intention from his tone, Audrey heaved a sigh of relief. She believed that since a gentleman who was capable of such miraculous things had given his word, he would definitely abide by it stringently.
With her mind somewhat mollified, she surprisingly was in no hurry to request her leave. She rolled her virid eyes left and right, which sparkled with an abnormal radiance.
She said in an anxious, anticipative and tempted manner, "This is such a wonderful experience… Yes, I have always been hoping that something like this would happen. I mean—I like mysteries and supernatural miracles. No, my point is—what I mean is that, Sir, what can I do to become a Beyonder?"
Klein: "Miss Justice, I've always had this thought, if you were to encounter any other group or organization with actual evil intentions, you could've ended up with bad consequences. If I was an evil god and wouldn't have acted in your favour, what would you have done then?"
Audrey: "Nothing actually, I was but a mere fledgling, I couldn't have done anything except for feeling that it's unfair. Well, that's the kind of person I was before meeting the Fool. Thanks to him, I got to see the world outside of its rose-coloured windows. Thank you." She expressed her gratitude with a sincere smile.
Melissa had never guessed that Miss Audrey's first encounter with beyonder world would be related to her brother. Listening to her brother talk about 'evil gods' and organizations so casually made her realize once again the dangers of the world.
Benson... He just stopped thinking altogether. 'Whatever let's just accept it and move forward. I absolutely do not care who these people are and what they're talking about. Not like it's related to me anyway...I don't even understand any of it.'
'Good question! I would also like to know the answer...' Zhou Mingrui complained inwardly.
Klein, looking at the screen: "If you were to be considered a fledgling, then I hadn't even gotten out of my eggshell!"
Leonard: *choking on his spit, coughing, wheezing*
Klein: "You alright?"
Leonard shook his head and managed to control his laughter. "Sorry, it's just... it's hard to compare you with The Fool. Your mind is so colorful~"
Klein just rolled his eyes and continued watching ahead.
As he was pondering on an answer to maintain his unfathomable image, he felt that it was quite unbecoming of him to talk while standing. He imagined there to be a palace, a long ancient table, mysterious high back chair engraved with ancient patterns.
As soon as this thought surfaced, the gray fog started to churn, giving both Audrey and Alger a shock.
In an instant, they saw a number of towering stone pillars around them. Above them was a vast dome that encapsulated them.
This entire edifice looked magnificent, grand and lofty, just like a legendary palace for giants.
Directly under the dome where the gray fog gathered, a long, bronze table appeared with ten high-back chairs on either side in a symmetrical arrangement, along with a chair on each of the two ends of the long table The back of each chair dazzled and shone faintly with crimson red, drawing the outlines of weird constellations that differed from reality.
Audrey sighed while looking at the familiar structure of the club meeting room. The rest of the Tarot club members also couldn't help but remember their past meetings. It has been too long since they met up like that after Mr. Fool went into slumber.
"It's nostalgic..." Fors quietly muttered to Xio, Emlyn sitting beside her also heard and involuntarily nodded his head.
However, now they also had mixed emotions after discovering the origin of the lofty palace where their weekly meetings used to be held. They thought it was thousands of years old... In truth, it wasn't even older than any of their ages!
The girl could not help but mumble looking around the palace, "How fascinating…"
It is certainly fascinating… Zhou Mingrui extended his right hand and caressed the edge of the bronze table a little while maintaining an unperturbed expression.
After inspecting the surroundings in silence Alger opened his mouth, and answered Audrey's question, "Are you from Loen?"
"If you want to become a Beyonder, join the Churches of either the Evernight Goddess, the Lord of Storms, or the God of Steam and Machinery.
"...."
Alger began explaining the basic information about beyonders and how rare it is to encounter one among normal populace.
Klein listened attentively but tried his best to present himself as paying no mind to it.
Benson who felt like a primary schooler accidently stepping into 12th grade math class, wondering why there are so many alphabets in instead of numbers... He felt as if he got an introductory guide to this foreign class. He listened carefully like an underachieving student who wanted to score higher.
Bennett didn't care about all that. Ever since Alger started explaining weird stuff she didn't understand, she got up from her seat and walked towards the adorable golden retriever and started playing with her fur.
Audrey claimed to know all the general information, even including the Nighthawks and Mandated Punishers. She said she didn't wish to lose her freedom by joining official churches.
After a bit more of probing into 'other options' Audrey got Alger to spill information of the beyonder potion he possessed. Two sequence 9 potions, Sailor and Spectator. He explained each in detail and Audrey chose the latter.
They discussed the transaction price, potion formula in exchange for Ghost Shark's Blood. They decided the address to receive the mail and the potion formula to be told by mouth right there.
"As for promises, I think that both you and I can feel assured under the witness of the mysterious sir."
As he said this, he swept his eyes towards the Seat of Honor.
"Sir, the fact that you brought us here shows that you have tremendous strength unimaginable to us. Neither one of us would dare violate a promise with you as a witness."
"That's right!" Audrey agreed with excitement.
From her perspective, the mysterious gentleman who had unimaginable abilities was definitely an "authoritative" witness.
How could I or the guy opposite me dare trick him!
"Sir, please be the witness of our trade." She then realized that she was all too impolite. She asked hurriedly, "Sir, how should we address you?"
Alger nodded slightly, and echoed the same question in a serious manner, "Sir, how should we address you?"
Zhou Mingrui was taken aback. He gently rapped his fingers on the bronze table. The contents of the earlier divination flashed across his mind suddenly.
He leaned back, withdrew his right hand, and crossed his ten fingers, placing them below his chin. He gave the duo a faint smile.
"You can address me as…"
Upon saying this, he paused for a moment. He said amiably and calmly, "The Fool."
"If only there was a cool background music- It wouldn't feel so pretentious!" Roselle raised his tone while speaking, indicating that he was teasing Klein.
"My name sounds more fun than you Emperor Caesar." Klein replied in the similar playful tone.
"You should be named 'One punch man' because you use one punchline and make others speechless."
Evernight couldn't hold back her laugh. She didn't bother hiding herself now, her presence just a little more than before. She has been slowly increasing the tolerance of the people around her, so that her appearance wouldn't cause any problems. This was her spirit projection, yet she has to be cautious. That's why she was quiet and acted invisible.
It still wasn't the time yet, so her small laughter didn't cause much reaction among the audience. Except, Dantiz was worried about her sense of humor.
'Dogshit- One punch man? Rather than a punchline, it sounded more like a literal punch, the kind that you hit someone's face with... '
Notes: