Edward's expression turned solemn as he said, "Here's what happened…"
He then recounted to Lilith, in complete detail, all the information he had obtained from the "Creator," leaving nothing out. He also told her his own speculations and doubts.
After listening, Lilith immediately fell into deep thought.
A long moment passed before she pressed her lips together and asked, "So next…are you really planning to follow that 'Creator's' instructions and carry out the so-called ascension of the world's level?"
"Yes. Regardless of whether He lied to me or had other motives, I believe that at least in the matter of resisting the Oldest One's awakening, we truly stand on the same side. The fact that the Ancient Sun God once chose to cooperate with Him at least proves that much."
Edward leaned back, letting his body relax. "As for everything else, we can only think about it after this is finished."
Lilith sighed and shifted closer to Edward, muttering, "Ah, I really hate this feeling. Miss Lilith only wants to live quietly with Edward, Audrey, Susie…all together."
"You will."
Edward held her small hand and smiled gently. "You definitely will."
"Mm!"
She nodded firmly and closed her eyes.
———
The next day, 3 p.m.
As streaks of crimson light lit up in sequence along both sides of the bronze long table, the members of the Tarot Club arrived once more for their weekly gathering.
After several days of spreading and fermenting, news of the assassination of Loen's Emperor George III had basically reached the entire world. For the Tarot members present, the shock was especially great.
Not long ago, Mr. Fool had expressed His stance through Miss Power's actions, indicating that He did not approve of George III's attempt to advance to the Black Emperor. And then—just one week later—George III was dead. It was hard not to associate the two events and conclude that this must have been Mr. Fool's handiwork. After all, while Miss Strength was strong, she was still far from capable of obstructing the advancement of a King of Angels.
They had all thought of this at the time, and thus prayed to Mr. Fool one after another—expressing their shock and their praise. Mr. Fool had neither confirmed nor denied it, which obviously signified a tacit acknowledgement!
Yet as he received their reverent, admiring gazes, Klein felt an unprecedented wave of embarrassment. In the past, when something like this happened, he could simply maintain a faint, enigmatic smile, neither confirming nor rejecting their assumptions—letting them imagine to their hearts' content while he remained unfazed and mysterious.
But today was different.
The one who had actually killed George III was sitting right here at the table, even smiling and waving at him. If he still used his usual method of handling things…wouldn't that be a bit too shameless?
How could I be that shameless?
Thus, Mr. Fool smiled faintly and once again kept his attitude ambiguous.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~"
As always, Class Monitor Audrey rose first, bowing in greeting. She also greeted each member one by one. Everyone naturally responded, offering Mr. Fool their sincere respect and praise.
Despite the world's increasingly chaotic situation—whether on the Northern Continent, the Southern Continent, or the Rorsted Archipelago—the Tarot Club remained as peaceful and orderly as ever. This brought everyone a strong sense of comfort and security.
Once the routine greetings ended, Audrey turned her gaze toward Edward. "Welcome back, Mr. Tower."
Mr. Tower?
Emlyn, Xio, and Leonard all looked over almost simultaneously. For Emlyn and Xio, who had been curious about this "senior" ever since his name first appeared in the club, the surprise grew even greater after learning that he had been preparing to advance to Sequence 1.
Now that he appeared at the Tarot gathering…did that mean he had completed his advancement and become a Sequence 1 archangel? Should they be referring to him as He now?
As for Leonard, he stared fixedly at Edward. After the disastrous misunderstanding involving Miss Magician last time, he had learned that "The World" was Klein, and Edward was the long-missing "Tower."
Thinking back to a few months ago in Tingen, when this colleague he had briefly worked with had still been low Sequence…And now, after only a few months, he was already at least a Sequence 2 angel. It was terrifying.
With that thought, Leonard felt that his past self—who always thought he was the protagonist—had truly been a joke.
After hesitating for a few seconds, the Hanged Man, Alger, asked, "Mr. Tower, welcome back. Last time, Miss Death told us that you were preparing to advance to Sequence 1. May I ask…your current state?"
Edward nodded slightly. "Mm. My luck wasn't too bad. I finally completed the advancement yesterday."
"!!!"
Even though they had mentally prepared themselves beforehand, hearing the news directly from his own mouth still made more than half the people present inhale sharply. Previously, everything had been hearsay—and worse, it had come from a child (Priscilla). But now the truth came straight from the person involved!
Everyone knew that reaching the peak of any pathway meant becoming a Sequence 0 deity. Yet in the entire world, the only publicly acknowledged orthodox gods were The Seven, and all of them had their own orthodox Churches. As for evil gods, the ones most often mentioned were the True Creator and the Primordial Demoness.
Oh right, Mr. Fool was also an existence on par with a true god.
In short, for most people here, the power of Sequence 1 was something utterly unreachable—something they didn't even dare to imagine. One could even say that so long as the true gods did not descend, Sequence 1 was the strongest level of existence in the mortal world.
The good news was that Mr. Tower was a member of the Tarot Club. In an era where gods could not casually intervene, having a Sequence 1 archangel in the group gave nearly everyone a tremendous sense of security.
The bad news was…Mr. Tower advanced way too fast. His sheer "competitiveness" made the rest of them feel embarrassingly inferior. If one day Mr. Fool decided to use him as the benchmark for advancement, wouldn't the rest of them all be expelled?
To this, Mr. Fool silently expressed: If that happened, I would probably be the first one who needs to resign out of shame!
After everyone finished their internal monologues, they finally noticed the luxurious-robed man seated beside Mr. Tower. Compared to the others—who were either serious, nervous, or solemn—this man looked entirely relaxed and at ease.
This sight shocked the group.
This was clearly a new member. Yet which of them had not been nervous to death during their first Tarot gathering?
Why was he so calm?
Mr. Fool smiled lightly then and said in an offhand tone, "As you all can see, Mr. Tower, whom we have not seen for quite some time, has finally returned this week. At the same time, we also welcome a new member—Mr. Emperor."
"Good afternoon, Mr. Emperor!"
Audrey immediately rose and bowed in greeting. Even with the layer of faint mist obscuring features, she quickly confirmed that this Emperor was none other than Emperor Roselle!
Her heart surged with shock.
Wow! Even Emperor Roselle—who advanced to the Black Emperor—has joined our Tarot Club! Doesn't that mean we now have two deities in the club? Our strength already surpasses any Church or organisation!
The others also began offering welcomes to both Mr. Tower for his return and Mr. Emperor for joining.
Roselle waved his hands to both sides, greeting them while rambling offhandedly, "Don't mention it, don't mention it."
"We're colleagues now. If anything comes up, just drop my name."
"Hahaha, hello, hello!"
Just then, a series of "cough, cough, cough" sounds rang out. Roselle immediately froze like someone had hit a pause button. Then he followed up with a polite cough of his own and said, "Ahem, well, actually…I'm not exactly a new member of the Tarot Club. I just…never officially participated in gatherings before. I've always been an auxiliary member—an external contributor—and also a Blessed of Mr. Fool, quietly helping Him with His work."
"Strictly speaking, I'm actually Member 001 of the Tarot Club."
Little Sun Derrick didn't doubt a single word and bowed respectfully. "Good afternoon, Mr. Emperor."
The others, who didn't understand what was going on, all turned their curious gazes toward Mr. Fool.
Mr. Fool merely smiled mildly. "Yes, Mr. Emperor was indeed the first to join the Tarot Club. He is considered your senior."
The moment these words came out, the one most shocked was Audrey. It was as though she had stumbled upon an earth-shattering secret.
If Emperor Roselle was truly a senior member of the Tarot Club, then the matter of stopping George III's advancement was likely far more complicated than it appeared!
Up until today, she had always thought Mr. Fool interfered with George III for two reasons:
first, because He loathed George III's abhorrent character; and second, to support Lady Strength.
But judging from the final results—George III failed and died, while Emperor Roselle successfully advanced to the Black Emperor—how could she not think that this entire affair had been planned jointly by Mr. Fool and Emperor Roselle from the beginning?
Seven Gods had tacitly approved George III's ascension to Black Emperor, yet Mr. Fool disagreed and instead personally raised a different Black Emperor to the throne.
This—this—this was simply way too cool!!!
Her imagination ran wild, and naturally her expression became somewhat uncontrollable. Alger, always observant, picked up on this right away.
Mainly because—up until now—he had always believed he was one of the founding members of the Tarot Club. But suddenly a "Mr. Emperor" appeared and declared himself the true Member 001. Alger immediately felt a strong sense of crisis.
Thus, he glanced toward the other supposed "founding member"—Miss Justice.
And what he saw made his heart sink—
Miss Justice kept looking between Mr. Emperor and Mr. Fool, her emotions shifting visibly, as though she had discovered some earth-shattering secret—something she knew that Alger did not.
I'm being excluded?!
No! That couldn't happen!
He had to do something—anything—to prove his value.
Thinking this, Alger cleared his throat and declared loudly:
"Mr. Fool, this week I memorised a total of eight pages of Roselle's diary!"
A few diary pages could never shake the foundation of "Mr. Emperor," their senior—but at the very least, he had to prove to Mr. Fool that the Hanged Man was also very capable!
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.