"…" Hastur fell silent. Clearly, Will enjoyed watching chaos even more than he did.
----------------------------------
The Tarot Gathering.
As usual, Klein arrived early at the Sefirah Castle before summoning Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man for the meeting.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool."
"Good afternoon, Mr. Hanged Man."
Miss Justice, Audrey, greeted them with her usual warmth. She was in excellent spirits.
After the last gathering, one she had strongly insisted on holding, she had gone to Mr. Hastur again and purchased two more original pages of Emperor Roselle's diary. As a bonus, Mr. Hastur had given her two additional handwritten copies for free.
Four diary pages in total. That meant she could make another small request of Mr. Fool.
Originally, she had thought to save this opportunity for Miss Fors, but Mr. Hastur had already helped Fors resolve her issue with the full-moon murmurs.
That meant Audrey could keep this little favor for herself.
Compared to her bright and cheerful demeanor, the Hanged Man, Alger, appeared far less at ease, his expression tinged with hesitation and inner conflict.
Klein glanced at them both before turning his attention to the diary pages Audrey had submitted.
One of them was simply a record of Emperor Roselle's daily life. Aside from sighing in mild exasperation, and a touch of disdain for the emperor's scandalous exploits, there was little of real value to be found.
The second page, however, contained something far more significant.
"March 6th. As usual, I was chatting idly with Mr. Door when he mentioned a certain diary belonging to the Antigonus family.
This diary is a high-sequence mystical item that affects those on the Seer pathway, possessing both wondrous and terrifying powers.
Mr. Door said the diary was meant to lead Beyonders of the Seer pathway toward death, and that such an ending is the inescapable fate of all Seers."
Reading that, waves of unease surged within Klein's heart.
The Antigonus diary, that strange and powerful item mentioned by Roselle, he was connected to it inextricably.
And he, too, had chosen to walk the Seer pathway.
Was all of this really just coincidence? Coincidence… or arrangement?
Klein couldn't help recalling a previous diary entry in which Roselle described a mysterious pen capable of creating coincidences, of bringing predetermined stories to life in the real world.
Could it be that he himself was a character written by that very pen? That he was simply acting out a story already scripted by someone else?
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. One coincidence could be chance, two could be luck, but a chain of them? Someone was clearly orchestrating this from the shadows.
And when he considered everything that had happened recently, he felt almost certain: someone was holding that magical pen, manipulating his fate from the dark!
Perhaps not just his own fate, but that of the Captain, Old Neil, Leonard, everyone around him.
What was that person's goal?
Klein took a deep breath, suppressing his racing thoughts, and read on.
"March 17th. My friend Green encountered an enemy Beyonder of the Death pathway. That man had only been a Sequence 5 Gatekeeper not long ago, yet after some time, he advanced to Sequence 4 of the Night pathway, a Nightwatcher. Could this be what happens when high sequences allow pathway substitution?
Curious, I asked Green for details. He told me that enemy had advanced to Sequence 4 by consuming the ashes of something sacred, transforming from a Gatekeeper of the Death pathway into a Nightwatcher of the Night pathway."
"March 21st. I had sworn to separate myself from my previous life of indulgence and corruption, yet when Baron Will invited me to a ball, I couldn't resist.
Don't misunderstand me, it wasn't because of my friendship with Baron Will. The real problem was his wife. She happens to align perfectly with my aesthetic tastes."
"March 28th. I finally captured a Seer-path Beyonder! Although he was merely a Sequence 8 Clown, and I am already Sequence 4, a demigod.
Out of sheer dislike for how Seers never speak plainly, I left him in a dungeon for a month to repent and helped him become a true clown.
Ah, how kind and helpful I am. Truly, Roselle the model citizen."
Klein blinked. Interesting.
According to Roselle, the Death and Night pathways could apparently substitute for one another at high sequences.
And that "Death pathway Sequence 5 Gatekeeper" sounded familiar.
The Captain had mentioned a bishop who had stolen a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, 008, and defected from the Church of the Evernight.
That bishop, if Klein remembered correctly, had been a Gatekeeper, Sequence 5 of the Death pathway.
The same pathway as Miss Daly.
Klein's brow furrowed deeper.
Grade 0 Sealed Artifact 008…
The Captain's files had no details on it, so he had no idea what kind of artifact it was.
But if everything connected this neatly, could 008 be that same magical pen Roselle mentioned?
Its abilities certainly sounded worthy of a Grade 0 classification.
If that was true, then the mysterious figure hiding in Tingen, the one pulling the strings, had to be that very bishop, the one who stole 008!
A Sequence 5 Beyonder wielding a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, operating from the shadows… what could he be planning?
The answer was almost within reach.
He must be trying to use 008's story-weaving power to promote himself to Sequence 4, a Nightwatcher!
That's why he came to Tingen. That's why he's targeting the Nighthawks.
Everything fit together, the logic sound and complete.
The only uncertainty came from how little Klein still knew.
Once this Tarot Gathering ended, he would go straight to Dunn for answers, about the bishop, about 008, about what exactly the Nighthawks guarded that could tempt a Sequence 5 Gatekeeper.
With that thought, Klein almost wanted to end the meeting immediately.
But he held back, forcing himself to remain calm and finish reading.
In the end, he could only give Roselle two short comments: degenerate and shameless.
"You may speak freely now," Klein said, signaling that Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man could enter the free discussion phase.
Audrey shared some bits of Beyonder knowledge she had learned from Mr. Hastur but made no mention of Miss Fors.
Alger chatted briefly with Audrey, conducted a small trade, then said, "I've received intelligence that the pirate admiral known as Hurricane Qilangos has secretly come ashore and infiltrated Backlund. His purpose remains unknown."
Hurricane Qilangos? One of the Seven Pirate Admirals?
Audrey's eyes widened slightly. She nearly broke her "Spectator's" composure.
"Mr. Hanged Man, do you require my assistance?"
"Yes," Alger replied. "I hope you can help locate his whereabouts and uncover his purpose in Backlund. If you find yourself in danger, you may end the transaction at any time. I'll compensate you according to the contribution you've made."
"Alright, I'll take the task," Audrey said with a bright smile.
She didn't particularly care about the payment. What mattered was that this was her first true commission within the Tarot Club.
"Mr. Fool," Alger continued, "if necessary, may I request aid from your Blessed?"
"If he's available," Klein replied with a faint smile, neither agreeing nor refusing.
"I'll share all I currently know, then…" Alger began describing everything about Qilangos.
Klein listened silently.
The Little Sun, Derrick Berg, listened too, though such events were distant and irrelevant to him.
Still, he found them fascinating.
"Shepherd… that ability sounds a lot like a Sequence 5 Shepherd from the Secrets Prayers pathway," Derrick finally commented, glad to contribute something he knew.
Klein was intrigued by the mention of the mystical item "Creeping Hunger," though he knew the odds of obtaining it were slim.
When the free discussion concluded, Klein ended the gathering and lingered a moment alone in the Sefirah Castle, deep in thought.
Then he decided: once he returned, he would head straight to Blackthorn Security Company to verify his suspicions with Dunn.
…
Outside Tingen, on a small estate surrounded by a verdant lawn and a dark-red chimney rising above the garden, a study window stood half open.
Behind it, on an unassuming desk, lay an ordinary-looking diary.
A pale hand gripped a pen that moved on its own, writing line after line across the page:
"That enigmatic Klein… the Klein who should have died long ago… has somehow learned about Ince Zangwill and the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, 008."