Torn between wanting to complain and being desperate to know more, Klein hurried on to the next page:
"January 13th. Spent the last few days collecting artifacts and old texts here, folk legends... every legend mentions the elf king Sonia Solomon inventing chopsticks, cooking with animal organs and blood..."
"Could this one be the fellow countryman — the first transmigrator?"
"January 16th. Further investigation suggests the elves probably really have nothing to do with transmigrators... which leaves me a little disappointed, and a little relieved. If I ran into another transmigrator, or several, I honestly wouldn't know how to face them."
The diary ended there. Klein stared at that last line, feeling an indescribable tangle of emotions. For Roselle, this had just been a passing remark after a "false alarm." For Klein himself, it was a real problem he actually had to face.
Never mind the Lord of Chaos and the True Creator — two fellow countrymen at the level of gods; they were far enough away that he neither needed to nor could afford to worry about them much. But that "Charles" was in Backlund right now.
Am I really going to pretend he doesn't exist? Just cut off contact for good?
But he did come from the same world, the same country as me. Just because I'm being cautious, being suspicious — should I really abandon the one person who could actually understand me, actually feel what I feel?
After a long moment, Klein quietly sighed and let the diary pages vanish. He looked at Vincent and said, "Miss Lovers wants to ask me a question." He paused. "Along with the last one, that makes two questions she can ask."
Vincent thought it over. "The first question: Miss Lovers wants to know if there are more people in this world who come from the same 'hometown' as Emperor Roselle."
"The second: does Mr. Fool know exactly how these people got here."
Since Klein hadn't blocked out everyone else's hearing this time, the whole group heard both questions. Everyone was startled and puzzled, wondering what Miss Lovers could possibly mean by them.
As for Fors, who'd just joined, she had no idea what was going on. Wasn't "Lovers" a man? Wasn't he sitting right across from her? Why did Mr. Fool say "Miss Lovers"?
Could it be that some other Tarot Club member couldn't make it to this gathering? But wasn't every codename supposed to be unique? Why would two people share the same one?
And — and! Why were all her questions about Emperor Roselle?
According to Miss Lovers, presenting Mr. Fool with diary pages could earn all sorts of precious occult knowledge, or other things. Was "Lovers" some kind of diehard fan of Emperor Roselle, to spend such a valuable opportunity just asking about him?
Fors considered herself half a Roselle reader too, but she'd never do something like that!
Klein thought for a moment, then finally nodded. "Yes. There really are more people in this world who come from Roselle's 'hometown.' As for how they got here — honestly, I don't know either."
He gave a self-deprecating smile. "In this world, there are plenty of things even gods can't find answers to." He lowered his voice, half-serious, half-joking. "And that, actually, is something I've been searching for myself."
Vincent gave a slight bow. "Thank you for your answer, Mr. Fool."
Klein leaned back and waved a hand. "Go ahead, talk amongst yourselves."
Audrey turned to Vincent, her voice crisp. "Mr. Lovers, can I tell Miss Magician about Miss Lovers? She looks pretty confused."
Vincent nodded. "Of course you can."
"Huh?"
Fors blinked, then quickly waved her hands. "No, no need, that's way too much trouble for you."
"Not any trouble at all!"
As Mr. Fool's most devoted little assistant and the Tarot Club's most eager "class monitor," Audrey took genuine delight in answering a newcomer's questions.
Just then, Klein, speaking low through "the World," said with a chuckle, "Miss Justice really isn't being fair. Last week, when I attended my first gathering, I didn't see you being this enthusiastic about answering my questions."
Audrey looked over, surprised. "But Mr. World, back then you seemed completely uninterested in everything."
"Maybe that was just the caution of a first-timer."
"Ah, I see. Well, you're welcome to listen in now too."
Audrey giggled, then turned back to Fors. "Miss Magician, I bet you're pretty confused about why the codename 'Lovers' belongs to two people."
"Yes."
Fors said, "Mr. Fool said every codename is supposed to be unique."
"That's because of the special circumstances with Mr. Lovers and Miss Lovers. They were cursed by a high-Sequence powerhouse, and as a result, the two of them ended up sharing one body..."
Audrey gave a brief summary of the situation, then concluded, "So every four weeks, they switch off — one or the other attends the gathering. That's why 'Lovers' became their shared codename."
Fors listened, stunned. She'd already known how dangerous the extraordinary world could be, but stuffing two people into one body — that was too horrifying, too cruel, wasn't it?
Come to think of it, if someone stuffed Xio into her body, then... Xio would probably be thrilled, since she'd finally get the height she'd always wanted... ugh, what am I even thinking.
Fors quickly shook the nonsense out of her head. "I see, I understand now."
She couldn't help wondering privately: so is that why these two "Lovers" joined the Tarot Club — to try to break their curse? Just like how she was hoping to use Mr. Fool to stop that terrible whispering.
Once she'd finished explaining things to Miss Magician, Audrey — unable to bear watching her friend work so hard — turned to "the World" and asked, "Mr. World, has your friend met that bodyguard I introduced yet?"
Klein nodded. "Yes. They've come to an agreement — for one week, that bodyguard will be responsible for staying close and protecting my friend's safety."
Audrey said happily, "That's great!"
Hearing this, Vincent couldn't help but wonder — that bodyguard Audrey mentioned, could it possibly be Stephen?
Wait, what? After he went missing, he became Klein's bodyguard?
That — that's definitely not right.
Whether or not Medici was behind Stephen's disappearance, whatever took him was, at minimum, an Angel-level existence. And a being like that would never work as someone's bodyguard for money — so what would it be for?
Beyond the Grey Fog?!
First the Nation of Disorder, now Beyond the Grey Fog — that thing is after Source Quality.
Realizing this, Vincent almost opened his mouth to warn Klein — but then remembered that, within the Tarot Club, he wasn't supposed to know the bodyguard's true identity.
That meant he'd need another way to give the warning.
Just then Audrey spoke up again. "Oh right, Mr. World, that person you asked us to look into last week — any progress?"
Audrey had been curious for a while now, because the person Mr. World was looking for was clearly Miss Natasha — but when she'd asked her about it last week, Natasha had refused to say anything at all. So frustrating!
Klein said, "With the help of Mr. Lovers and Miss Lovers, I managed to find that person, and confronted them face to face."
Audrey's eyes went wide. "Really?!"
Miss Lovers was a demigod-level powerhouse. So was Miss Natasha. If the two of them ran into each other, surely a terrifying battle must have broken out?
Could that "gas explosion" at the docks mentioned in last week's newspaper have actually been the result of their clash?
She quickly asked, "And then?"
"And then, we cleared up the misunderstanding. It turned out the reason they'd been secretly watching me was just that they'd mistaken me for someone else — there was no ill intent."
Huh, resolved that easily?
Audrey hesitated, then asked, "So there was no conflict at all between you two?"
Klein smiled. "With Miss Lovers stepping in, that person was subdued in an instant. Hardly what you'd call a conflict."
"???"
Audrey was even more confused. Even if Miss Natasha was weaker than Miss Lovers, there's no way she'd get subdued instantly... What exactly was going on here?
To be continued…
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