"O Fool that does not belong to this era; You are the mysterious ruler above the grey fog; You are the King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck. Thank You for Your grace, which has allowed me to have a wonderful morning..."
The prayers, recited in Ancient Hermes, echoed back and forth within the spiritually sealed room, as if reaching up toward the vault of heaven in infinite reverberation.
Crack!
As if some sturdy outer shell had finally shattered, Snow suddenly felt a jolt to his spirit. Immediately following, a phantom cracking sound accompanied a peculiar sensation that enveloped his spirituality. It felt as if a scoop of water had been poured over him during a sauna; a massive amount of steam began to merge with his body, and an endless heat flooded his entire being.
Without needing any notification, he realized very clearly that his Dilemmist potion had been completely digested.
'However, it seems there's still a bit of mental residue from the choice difficulty... Is it because the Dilemmist part hasn't been fully acted out? Or is it a side effect of forcibly imprinting the mental seal?' In his mind, Snow tried to construct two choices, but his spirituality immediately showed signs of instability. He quickly took out a coin and flipped it, deciding to eat buttered toast this morning, which finally allowed his spirituality to stabilize.
While this instability was far better than the previous situation where he'd nearly lose control just by making a simple choice--indeed, it wasn't even enough to truly affect his mental state--he still decided not to consider advancing to Respondent just yet. Instead, he would try to act as Dilemmist for a while to see if he could digest this remaining negative influence.
As for how to act as Dilemmist...
Naturally, it meant facing many choices and making the correct decisions!
Having sorted that out, Snow ended his life as a shut-in. He hung the "Resumed Business" sign back on his door and, as usual, donned his half-height silk top hat and high-collared double-breasted suit, hiding his handsome face in the shadow of the brim.
This time, however, he didn't bring Lily. Firstly, Lily needed to go out and act as an [Assassin]. Secondly, Lily was too recognizable; carrying her with him would make it easy for his cover to be blown.
Taking a rental carriage to the Cherwood District, he found a residential house he was familiar with and swapped into the cap and overalls of the working class. Then, he continued moving toward the Bridge District.
To put it plainly, Backlund was a place with very clear class distinctions. Whether you belonged to a certain area could be determined with a single glance at your clothes. If Snow, who lived in the West District, went out wearing commoner's clothing, he might be stopped for questioning by patrolling police as a potential thief. Conversely, wandering the Bridge District in a formal suit would surely draw countless eyes, even if he wasn't immediately clubbed and robbed.
Because of this, Backlund had various trading platforms. For instance, Mr. A's platform was located at the junction of the West and Empress Districts, attracting mostly nobles and the relatively wealthy.
In contrast, Mr. Isengard Stanton's Beyonder gathering was located in the Bridge District, meaning he mostly faced Beyonders who needed to take risks.
This wasn't to say Isengard Stanton's gathering was of a lower grade than Mr. A's; it was primarily due to their different objectives.
Mr. A needed to act as a [Shepherd] and develop believers, naturally preferring quality over quantity and hoping to attract individuals of higher status.
As a [Knowledge Keeper] / Detective, Isengard Stanton needed to interact with all walks of life. Compared to high-status figures who just wanted to experience the extraordinary, those with less money who went to great lengths to find a gathering were actually more likely to bring out Beyonder items for sale. Furthermore, their lifestyle of adventuring made their information gathering far more efficient than that of noble scions who never stepped out their front doors.
Following his predecessor's memories, Snow pushed open the door of the Bravehearts Bar with ease. Amidst the assault of sweat and stale beer, he quickly approached the counter. Pressing down the brim of his hat to hide his disguised face in the shadows, he tossed a 1-sulu coin onto the table and asked:
"Is Kaspars here?"
The bartender casually swiped the coin behind the counter and pointed with his chin toward a corner--"Billiards Room 3."
"Thanks." Snow nodded, weaving through gamblers who were venting their adrenaline over betting on a dog catching rats. He didn't knock, stepping directly into Billiards Room 3.
Seeing someone barge in without knocking, the two men playing billiards looked up almost simultaneously. However, seeing Snow's slightly tilted-up hat brim, the half-bald old man with a large nose immediately stabbed his cue stick into the rack and said familiarly, "It's been so long, I thought you were dead!"
"I almost thought I was done for too!" Snow spread his hands. Seeing the other person tactfully leave the room, he gave a wry smile. "Seriously, if the Waltz Party hadn't collapsed, I'd still be nesting in Tingen!"
"So when you realized you were being followed, you should have come straight to me instead of leaving a letter and fleeing Backlund! It was something that could have been settled with a bit of money. I think you just didn't trust me!" Kaspars' tone was somewhat agitated.
Regarding this old man who had a good relationship with his predecessor, Snow just shook his head:
"It's not as simple as you think. The Waltz Party has backing too. Who knows if going through your connections would have made it worse! You know my profession requires a network. If I ruined my reputation, how would I keep working?"
"Reputation? Does "Veterinarian Gentleman" count as a reputation? Or "Heartbreaker of the Noblewomen"? Your dead old man wanted to restore his noble status his whole life, and now you're just focused on "restoring" relations with noble female relatives, eh?" Kaspars' words were quite blunt. Snow gave a dry laugh and moved past the topic:
"Rather than that, I wanted to ask about that gathering you mentioned..."
"Forget about it for now!" Kaspars cut Snow off instantly. "Even though the gathering is still running, the atmosphere is a bit off. I assume you're only asking because you heard rumors? Anyway, wait until things cool down."
Hearing Kaspars' words, Snow relaxed slightly. Not because the gathering was still there, but because Kaspars was trustworthy.
The reason he chose to come here today was that he had seen a message about a meeting for the Eye of Wisdom--Isengard Stanton's Beyonder gathering--in the newspaper. As for why he came to ask when he already knew the code, it was naturally to see if this "friend" from his predecessor's memories was truly reliable.
Since the other party offered such a warning, they were clearly someone worth associating with. Snow readily inherited his predecessor's social connection and said with a smile:
"In that case, I'll wait a bit longer."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika Kagura]
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T/N: The "noble scions" not stepping out of their doors refers specifically to Beyonder intelligence gathering.
A/N: Regarding the limit of Beyonders: while Beyonder characteristics are finite, low-sequence Beyonders can theoretically exist in massive numbers (far exceeding Earth's population) as long as the respective True God permits. Sefirot have self-repairing traits, which might allow for the creation or "sharing" of Beyonder power without conventional potions, as hinted at with the Western Continent's system.