Vincent had barely made it back to his lodgings in the Jorwood District when he heard a faint, murmuring voice filtering through from the Nation of Disorder. He stopped in his tracks.
"What is it?" Bernadette asked.
"It sounds like someone's praying to me."
"Who? Xio? Or Vivian?"
"Mm — I can tell it's a woman, but I can't make out who specifically."
Vincent went into the bedroom and sank onto the sofa. "I'll check. Hopefully it's not Xio in some kind of crisis."
A moment later, he stood upon the stone platform in the Nation of Disorder. The ancient scale hovering in the air was emitting a soft golden mist, flickering steadily.
He stepped forward and let his spirituality flow into it. The golden mist swirled and gradually resolved into a silhouette — a pale blue dress, long golden hair, and a delicate face that remained slightly blurred but was unmistakably lovely.
"Audrey?"
He blinked. How does she know my honorific name? — Oh. Xio must have consulted with him a few days back about making that approach, and apparently she'd moved faster than expected. And to think, she of all people is the first one to "bite." Truly the most boldly reckless member of the Tarot Club.
Well — since she's so determined to satisfy her curiosity, who am I to disappoint?
Vincent channelled more spirituality in, pinpointed Audrey, and established a connection.
A few seconds later, through the golden mist, he saw Audrey sitting on the lid of a toilet seat in a washroom, speaking in an urgent rush: "Mr. Fool — I just now accidentally read the honorific name of the Lord of Chaos! I may have already attracted His attention!"
"..."
Vincent was quiet for a moment. "And?" he said placidly.
"And then—"
Audrey was just about to continue when something made her stop cold. The vision in front of her wasn't quite what she'd expected when contacting Mr. Fool. The golden mist, the mysterious figure enthroned at a distance, the vast, echoing quality of the voice—
This isn't Mr. Fool.
In an instant, all the colour drained from Audrey's face. Her heart felt like it was trying to escape through her chest.
"And then?" Vincent repeated.
Audrey's deepest desire at that moment was to simply faint — to wake up and discover this had all been a dream, that she'd never read that three-part honorific name, never been noticed by this being, and certainly never been asked the same question twice in succession.
Looking down at her for another long moment, Vincent said in a composed tone, "I just heard you calling for 'the Fool.' Has He finally woken from His long slumber?"
"!!!"
Audrey grabbed onto this like a lifeline. "You — you know Mr. Fool?"
The mysterious figure enthroned deep within the golden mist inclined its head slightly. "Of course. Are you one of His followers?"
"Yes."
Oh, so we're among friends.
Audrey's panic eased by the smallest fraction. "I apologise, great... being. I only accidentally read your honorific name and disturbed you. Please forgive me."
"Disturb? Hardly. I rather enjoy having people to talk to."
Vincent paused, then continued: "Tell me news of the outside world — things you've read, things you've experienced yourself, things you've heard in passing. Anything."
"Ah — I should mention: I've been cut off from the world you inhabit for a very long time. Your world is, for me, quite simply the 'outside.'"
"Ah?"
Audrey struggled to make sense of this, then — deciding not to overthink it — proceeded to give a summary of recent events in the Loen Kingdom, including the new policies the king had promulgated and the changes they'd brought about.
"I see."
Vincent nodded faintly, a small smile crossing his features. "Your Loen king, it seems, is a man of considerable ambition."
Audrey perked up instantly. "Great Lord of Chaos — why do you say that?"
"Ha ha ha ha. Curiosity like yours will get you into trouble sooner or later, little one."
Audrey flinched and quickly dropped her gaze. "Then... then I won't be curious."
"Mm. As a reward for telling me your 'stories' — let me offer you something in return."
Vincent waved a hand, and a sheet of sheepskin drifted down before Audrey. "Sign your name. I will bestow upon you the ability of a 'Broker.' Perform well, and I will bestow more."
The ability of a Broker?
Audrey genuinely hadn't expected this. After all her investigating, she'd ended up becoming a Broker herself — the dramatic irony was almost too much.
Looking at the contents of the contract on the sheepskin, Audrey was full of anxiety — but she also knew she had no real choice. She signed her name on the dotted line.
The next second, grey flames ignited the sheepskin, and as it burned, an intense pain shot through Audrey's entire body. The world became a landscape of pure black, white, and grey.
A strange energy pressed in on her from all directions, squeezing into her body, reshaping it.
Then, just as quickly—
Audrey snapped back to consciousness and found herself sitting on the bathroom floor, back against the toilet, with a scorching ache across her backside where she'd clearly slipped and hit the ground during the ordeal.
She let out a long breath and was just beginning to push herself up using the toilet as leverage when the boundless grey-white mist flooded her vision again. A deep crimson light pulsed through it — and the familiar silhouette appeared.
This time, it really was Mr. Fool.
Audrey nearly burst into tears right there on the bathroom floor. Mr. Fool — what took you so long?
On the other side, Klein sat above the Gray Fog in considerable confusion. After receiving Miss Justice's prayer, he'd wasted no time — four steps backwards, up above the Gray Fog — and reached out toward the red constellation representing Miss Justice.
But where he'd expected the usual instant connection, there was nothing. His spirituality seemed to vanish into a void, like water swallowed by sand without a ripple.
Klein had felt a genuine jolt of dread. His mind had immediately leapt through a cascade of possibilities — something wrong with the Gray Fog, something wrong with himself, something wrong with Miss Justice, perhaps something wrong with everything simultaneously.
But he hadn't given up. He'd kept channelling spirituality steadily toward the constellation until, several minutes later, the red form finally bloomed in the depths of the Gray Fog and Miss Justice's hazy silhouette appeared. He'd exhaled in relief.
He swiftly reassumed Mr. Fool's composure. "What is it, Miss Justice?"
"Mr. Fool." Audrey scrunched up her face. "I just met the Lord of Chaos."
"???"
Klein nearly blurted it out at full volume. His fingers tightened on the bronze armrest, though his voice remained steady. "Who?"
"The one who holds the Broker pathway — the Lord of Chaos."
The Lord of Chaos who traded signals with Emperor Roselle — who might also be a fellow transmigrator?!
Klein had been debating right up until now whether he should recite the three-part honorific name — and somehow Miss Justice had already seen Him first?
"Oh? Tell me the whole story."
"Of course, Mr. Fool. Tonight..."
Audrey went through the entire account from the beginning — her investigation into the "Broker," how her friend Xio had obtained the three-part honorific name from the "Broker" lady, how she'd accidentally read it aloud, how she'd prayed to Mr. Fool at once but been intercepted by the Lord of Chaos, and how she'd also been bestowed with the Broker's ability.
"That's roughly what happened."
Listening to Audrey's account, Klein felt his thoughts tangle into a knot. One enormous question mark formed in the centre of his mind: The Lord of Chaos... knows the Fool?
How is that possible?
"Fool" — that name had come to him on the spur of the moment the very first time he'd entered the space above the Gray Fog. Well, not entirely on the spur of the moment — it had been inspired by the beast tamer at the circus who'd been pretending to be a diviner.
Either way, "The Fool" as a name had come about entirely by accident.
So why would the Lord of Chaos appear to know it?
Was He deceiving Miss Justice? Or was it the truth?
If it was the truth — then it meant there really was a deity called "The Fool" somewhere in this world. Was He still alive and in the world, somewhere?
Or — Klein's thoughts lurched to a sudden halt — or was it the previous owner of this space above the Gray Fog?
If so, the name "Fool" he'd chosen might not have been coincidental at all.
To be continued…
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