"..."
Alger looked down slightly. "The same."
"Oh."
Audrey covered her mouth. No matter how she tried, she couldn't quite reconcile the Hanged Man sitting across from her with the image of a bloodthirsty pirate.
Vincent cleared his throat. "According to reliable intelligence, the mysterious 'King of the Black Throne' Mr. Hanged Man mentioned — that's a Spectator Pathway demigod."
Alger was genuinely surprised. "How do you know that?"
He'd personally searched for information about that Pirate King inside the Storm Church and been told the Church itself had been in the dark about it for years.
"Oh — Miss Lovers told me."
"And how does Miss Lovers know?"
Klein quirked a smile inwardly: Bernadette — you can't make it today, so let me take this one for you. You were planning to reveal your identity at this session anyway.
"Because Miss Lovers is, in fact, the Queen Mystic Bernadette — the owner of the Dawn that Mr. Hanged Man just described."
"!!!"
Alger's jaw went slack. He forgot to breathe.
Audrey and Klein were equally stunned. One second someone was being described as a legendary figure — and the next, that legend had apparently been sitting right there all along?
That night when she helped us deal with Qilangos — that was one of the Four Pirate Kings? We've been sharing a Beyonder gathering table with a Pirate King this whole time, and she's been sitting less than two metres away from me…
Alger's ambitions ran large. He harboured quiet aspirations of one day overtaking every Pirate King and Admiral on the seas. But right now, in this moment, a Pirate King's standing was still a height he couldn't begin to reach.
After a long, stunned silence, Alger slowly bowed his head and murmured: "Praise Mr. Fool."
Audrey came to herself a moment later. "Praise Mr. Fool." — Hmph. What's a Pirate King? She still shows up to Mr. Fool's Tarot Club just like the rest of us. In here, we're all just fellow believers.
What Audrey didn't know was that the most stunned person in the room right now was the "all-knowing" Mr. Fool she held in such high regard. Though Klein's shock wasn't about the Pirate King title itself — he'd already guessed she was a powerful demigod from the earlier sessions. One more title was one more title.
What actually stopped him cold was the name: Bernadette.
He'd seen that name before. In the Roselle diary.
She was Roselle's eldest daughter — the one the Emperor had adored most.
One name alone wasn't quite enough to be certain, but add in the fact that she'd been systematically submitting diary pages, probing their secrets, and openly stating her belief that the Emperor might still be alive and searching for his whereabouts — that was more than enough.
I've been this close to that fellow countryman's daughter all this time.
Though — why did Mr. Lovers reveal her identity so suddenly right now?
Klein studied Vincent quietly. A moment later, he asked with deliberate calm: "Does Miss Lovers have something she'd like to ask me?"
"Yes, Mr. Fool."
Klein gave the table a quiet tap — and the awareness of everyone else in the hall gently dimmed, their hearing and perception of this exchange cut off.
"What is it she wants to know?"
Vincent chose his words carefully. "Bernadette wants to know — what is your attitude toward her, Mr. Fool?"
Klein was briefly still, mind moving fast. He understood the real question: You and Father are from the same world. What is your attitude toward his daughter?
He was quiet for a moment, then answered, half-truthfully: "If Emperor Roselle is truly still alive — I very much hope to meet him one day. To be friends with him."
That was genuine. Toward Roselle, Klein's feelings were mostly admiration and gratitude — admiration for what the man had built in his lifetime, gratitude for the diaries that had carried him through the hardest stretch of his arrival in this world.
For his daughter, there was naturally something of that warmth by extension.
"As for Roselle's daughter — I'm also willing to offer what help I can. Only… I'm not yet able to intervene in the physical world to any great degree. What I can do is limited."
Vincent gave a small bow. "I understand, Mr. Fool. I'll pass your words on to her."
"If she has further questions, she's welcome to pray to me directly."
"Thank you, Mr. Fool."
Klein gave a quiet nod, and released the perception barrier around the others.
Audrey's attention had snapped back to Vincent the instant she was let back in — she immediately shifted into Spectator mode, studying him for any trace of what had just been said. His expression was perfectly composed. Nothing.
Why did Mr. Fool suddenly decide there was something Miss Lovers wanted to ask Him? And what did they actually say to each other just now?
The curiosity itched — but no one was offering to scratch it for her.
Klein then used the World to ask a few questions about Sequence 6 of the Seer Pathway. If the Magician potion finished digesting before the Church could supply the Faceless formula and materials, he wanted a backup plan ready.
"I happen to have a Faceless Beyonder characteristic. If Mr. World is interested, I can sell it at market rate."
Market rate — meaning no scarcity premium.
"Good. I'll think about it."
The World's low voice responded, then shifted: "I'd also like to issue two commissions."
He paused. "The first: a female friend of mine in Backlund has recently been pulled into some business involving the Demoness Sect, and may be in danger. I need to find her a bodyguard."
Audrey asked: "What kind of trouble?"
"She's been entangled in a Demoness Sect matter. Could face danger at any moment. So she needs someone who can… offer protection."
Going to the Church was the obvious move — but the Church had assigned Klein to infiltrate the Demoness Sect in the first place. Bringing the Church in would end the whole operation. Not going to the Church felt reckless. That left three options: the Lord of Chaos — who was a god, and asking a god to moonlight as your bodyguard twice in a row was frankly embarrassing; Mr. Azik — same problem; or the Tarot Club.
Vincent looked thoughtful. In all likelihood, the 'female friend' is Klein himself. But how did he end up tangled in Demoness Sect business?
In the original novel, it happened because Edessak commissioned him to investigate the riding instructor's death, which gave Trissy an opening to approach him, drawing him in. But the plot had veered completely off-course by now.
"That's possible," Klein said, hedging. "If Mr. Lovers is interested in this commission, he can apply to Mr. Fool to meet with me privately."
He let his gaze linger meaningfully on Vincent.
In the Tarot Club, the one who might actually be useful in this situation was the Lovers — though Klein hadn't figured out yet what to offer a demigod in return. For now — worst case, he'd owe it.
Bernadette would never imagine, Klein thought with some wry amusement, that while she's busy trying to figure out how to get Mr. Fool's help, Mr. Fool is over here desperately hoping she'll come rescue him.
To be continued…
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