Since none of them had blocked out the others while talking, Fors had heard the whole exchange, and it left her with a much clearer picture of these seniors: "Justice" was a wealthy young noblewoman, "Hanged Man" was a seasoned pirate, "Sun" was a boy from the god-forsaken land, and "World" was a quiet man who nonetheless commanded an enormous depth of occult knowledge.
Everyone had their own strengths, their own specialty.
So what about me?
What do I have?
The death-summoning whispering I heard on the full moon?
Hmm, come to think of it, that probably did count as a "specialty" — except it wasn't remotely useful.
Anything else?
After racking her brain for a while, Fors suddenly thought of something, took a deep breath, and raised her hand. "So... everyone, I actually happen to have some intel about the Aurora Order. Interested?"
Klein said flatly, "What kind of intel? What do you want for it?"
Fors waved a hand. "Nothing — I mean, I already got to listen in on plenty of occult knowledge for free just now. We're all Tarot Club members, shouldn't we be helping each other out, sharing what we've got?"
Her words made Vincent want to laugh. Looks like he'd thoroughly "corrupted" the culture of the whole club. By rights, sharing intel and occult knowledge at Tarot Club gatherings was supposed to be an equal exchange — paid for.
But he'd made one offhand comment last time about everyone being partners, and apparently that had set a precedent — aside from things like formula-and-material trades that directly touched on people's own interests, hardly anyone bothered blocking others out during conversation anymore.
Of course, that might also have something to do with the fact that, aside from Little Sun's situation, nothing anyone had shared lately had been especially sensitive or high-value.
In the original story, Little Sun had "learned to be smarter" thanks to the Hanged Man Alger's influence — but that arc had clearly already been rewritten, thanks to Vincent's own interference.
Audrey rested her chin on her hand, saying with obvious interest, "Free intel? Of course I'm interested~" Hehe, I bet Fors is about to bring up that whole business with Mr. A that we all went through together.
Alger gave a flat nod. "Go ahead, Miss Magician."
"So, here's the thing."
Fors quickly gathered her thoughts and relayed what Xio had hurriedly told her the day before. "From what I've heard, this week, the Aurora Order and the Witch cult are going to carry out a terrifying attack in Backlund!"
The smile vanished from Audrey's face, and she sat bolt upright. "What kind of attack?"
"A ritual — to bring down an evil god!"
"!!!"
Audrey pressed further. "Which one? The Aurora Order, or the Witch cult?"
"Both."
"..."
Compared to Audrey's shock, Klein remained far calmer — he'd already heard all this from his fellow countryman Charles the week before. What he cared about more was: "Are you sure it's this week?"
Fors nodded firmly. "Yes!"
"But shouldn't something like this be extremely, extremely secret? How would you even know?"
"It's not me who knows — it's my friend." Fors hadn't fully believed it herself at first, not until Xio reminded her that Miss Natasha was now Backlund's new "Mr. A," the one in charge of this evil god's descent ritual — that's when it had all clicked for her.
She chose her words carefully. "My friend... is kind of a mole inside the Aurora Order. She found out about this more or less by accident."
Audrey said, flustered, "Then have you reported it to the official authorities?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Fors sighed. "Because this whole operation is being driven by the Loen royal family... using MI9 to spearhead it."
The Hanged Man, Alger, said, stunned, "Has the Loen royal family lost their minds?"
As a pirate who'd spent years roaming the open seas, Alger had thought he'd seen his fair share of lunatics — he hadn't expected the people on land to be even crazier than the ones out at sea.
Audrey murmured in disbelief, "But why?"
At that, Klein, in his role as the Fool, said, unhurried, "Because... Loen's Emperor, George III, wants to use the disaster the Aurora Order and the Witch cult will create as cover for his own ascension."
He paused, then, meeting everyone's confused stares, added flatly, "George III intends to lay claim to a god's own throne."
"???"
What did that even mean, "lay claim to a god's throne"?
Was it... was it really what she thought it meant?
Klein didn't mention that there was a Sequence 0 above Sequence 1, and offered no further explanation, keeping just enough of the Fool's proper mystique intact.
As for Fors, the one who'd started this whole conversation, she was now completely at a loss: Wait, what's happening here? I just shared some intel about two evil-god cults planning an attack — how did that suddenly turn into someone laying claim to a god's throne?
Is this... is this even something I'm supposed to know about?
Alger, as if catching up a beat late, turned to look at the Fool with burning intensity. He'd been wondering all along what might be special about the newly joined Miss Magician — and the moment she opened her mouth, she'd dropped a bombshell like this. It had to be the Fool's doing.
He must have wanted this news delivered to everyone deliberately.
All of this had to be the Fool's own design.
The one thing he couldn't quite work out was — why would the Fool want them to know this? This was far too big a matter; surely something the Tarot Club's current members had no business getting tangled up in.
Could the Fool be hoping they'd report this to the Church? But why go through such a roundabout way to do it?
Alger was convinced there was something here he still hadn't grasped — convinced the Fool must have some purpose behind all this.
After a full thirty seconds of silence, Fors finally, haltingly, finished what she'd meant to say. "...So, if any of you are in Backlund this week, please stay somewhere close to a church. It should be a bit safer that way."
"..."
Everyone remained silent, apparently still digesting what they'd just heard.
After a while longer, Vincent spoke up, breaking the quiet. "Everyone, I'd like to put out a commission."
Seeing all eyes turn to him, Vincent manifested Stephen's portrait. "I'm looking for this man. If anyone spots him, please contact me right away."
Audrey and Fors both recognized the face in the portrait instantly — though this time, Fors was smart enough to stay calm and say nothing.
Audrey hesitated a moment before asking, "Mr. Lovers, why are you looking for this man?"
She glanced casually at "the World," but saw no reaction at all.
Vincent said, low and serious, "This man is suspected of being controlled by an evil god, and he's plotting something — he's extremely dangerous. If we can't find him quickly, the consequences could be unthinkable!"
"!!!"
Audrey's heart skipped, and she nearly lost her composure entirely: How could that be? Sure, Mr. Stephen looked a bit sketchy, not exactly upstanding, but a dangerous puppet of an evil god? Could Mr. Lovers have gotten something wrong?
Fors was thoroughly rattled too: Wait, I actually shared a carriage with someone that dangerous — and he even saved me once!
"Y-you're sure, Mr. Lovers?"
"This intel was gathered personally by Miss Lovers."
"..."
Audrey pressed her lips together, panic creeping in. "But... I just introduced Stephen to Mr. World's friend as a bodyguard."
Recommending someone controlled by an evil god as a bodyguard — wasn't that basically putting that friend in harm's way?
She glanced at "the World" again, but found no unusual reaction there either — "the World" was, after all, just a small alter Klein had constructed; without him actively controlling it, it was little more than an empty shell.
Klein, of course, had already recognized the man in the portrait — the very same one who'd struck up conversation with him at the Church of the Evernight's square before, and secretly slipped him a blank note.
He'd later used divination Beyond the Grey Fog to read what was written on that note, but nothing had come of it since — it hadn't seemed relevant to him at all.
He hadn't expected to see the man again here, at a Tarot Club gathering, and even less to see him plastered on Mr. Lovers's own wanted portrait.
"Hm?"
A thought suddenly struck Klein — he recalled the words that had been on that note: "Amon is inside me."
At the time, he'd assumed that might mean the man belonged to some Fourth Epoch Beyonder family, possibly a powerful Beyonder in his own right — but he'd completely overlooked Amon's other identity: the Angel of Time!
If Amon was inside that man's body, wasn't that basically equivalent to the Angel of Time being inside him?
He'd been confused before about what "inside him" was even supposed to mean — but now, thinking it over, it probably referred to some way of describing being controlled by an evil god.
So this was why Mr. Lovers wanted to find him?
Unfortunately, he'd only crossed paths with the man once — no idea where he might be now. Hmm, could that note actually be used for a divination to find his location?
Just then, Vincent pressed further. "Miss Justice, do you know the man in this portrait?"
Audrey bit her lip, glanced over at Mr. World for the third time, then gave a small nod. "I do. I... I once had him work for me as a bodyguard for a while — during the time Mr. A was after me."
"And just last week, I introduced him to Mr. World, to work as a bodyguard for his friend."
Whoosh!
Every gaze in the room instantly turned to "the World."
To be continued…
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