บท 128: Tarot Club 18th Meeting

Oct 29th, 1349 of the Fifth Epoch

At three o'clock sharp. While the chiming of the hanging clock was still reverberating through the air, Audrey had already appeared inside the majestic palace via the dark red, illusory light and found herself beside the ancient long table. She smiled, stood up, and bowed in the direction of the seat of honour.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~"

Having received a light nod in response, she then respectively greeted The Hanged Man, The World, and company. She keenly noticed that The Sun seemed to be a little uneasy.

"What are you worried about?" Audrey asked.

This spared Klein's need to speak, having also noticed that Little Sun didn't seem right. Entering this mysterious space ahead of time, he tidied the items on the table, tossing them into a corner along with Azik's copper whistle, the Biological Poison Bottle, Numinous Episcopate's copper whistle, and other things.

He had then covered them with a thick fog. Presently, there was only the Dark Emperor card on the table before him. This was an item that matched the identity of The Fool!

Only Derrick didn't hide anything and immediately recounted his successful 'malingering' and how he was sent to the bottom of the spire to be isolated for treatment.

Finally, he asked, "Honourable Mr. Fool, will that mystical item detect my participation in the Tarot Club?"

Klein tapped his finger on the edge of the long bronze table and replied in a 'relaxed' manner, "Generally speaking, it wouldn't make any discoveries. But some mystical items possess special effects."

Seeing that Mr. Fool had given an affirmative answer, Derrick was immediately relieved. He tersely gave acknowledgment and said, "I'm not sure of its special effects either. It's one of the City of Silver's top secrets."

At this point, he suddenly thought of what the former captain of the exploration team had told him. He blurted out a question, "Have any of you heard of a person named Amon?"

'Amon?' After a moment's thought, Klein remembered the source of the familiarity. But he didn't answer in a hurry. Instead, he looked at The Hanged Man, knowing full well that this middle-ranking member of the Church of the Lord of Storms also knew "Amon," and perhaps he knew even more than he did. He did not turn to Mr. Death, since he himself has stopped the man from speaking this time around as well.

Similarly, Audrey also looked at The Hanged Man. She had also heard the name from him the last time. Fors listened with a blank face, feeling that the things discussed here were always outside the scope of her knowledge.

Alger frowned and asked in confusion, "You ran into a man who called himself Amon while you were exploring the surrounding areas of the City of Silver? Or perhaps, you discovered related records?"

Derrick nodded seriously and said, "Yes, forty-two years ago, an exploratory team encountered a man claiming to be Amon in the depths of the darkness. After they returned to the City of Silver, they lost control one after another. Only one of them was left, and he was imprisoned at the bottom of the spire, in the cell next to me."

"Maybe he went mad too and that was just a figment of his imagination..." Fors, with a wealth of novel creation experience, postulated a guess.

Alger glanced at Mr. Fool who sat at the end of the table. Seeing him appear staid and without expressing anything, he boldly said, "Imagination is a possibility, but one shouldn't imagine the name 'Amon' for no reason."

He turned his head to The Sun and said, "In the Fourth Epoch, uh—about 1500 years ago in the kingdom we live in, there was a family with strange powers. They belonged to the Tudor Dynasty, and their surname was Amon. Even in an era with numerous High-Sequence Beyonders, the surname of the clan was taboo."

Meanwhile, Max pulled out the golden monocle he had with him, but it was bright red, just like his own projection. Still, he put it on and turned to Mr. Fool while pointing at it exaggeratedly.

Klein waved his hand and lifted the mute on Max with a sigh, but he still did so because he recalled the warning about the monocle.

"Beware the monocled menace. For it will steal you. It corrupts your mind and soul until you join it as a monocled menace. Think, and it is too late, you no longer remember what you thought. Act, and it is too late because you no longer remember what you were going to do. Know him, and it is too late, he is already inside you! Beware the monocled menace Amon, for he is the closest thing to Error."

With that, he closed his mouth and grinned, no longer speaking anything but his words caused cold sweat to trickle down Alger's, Klein's, and little Sun Derrick's backs.

What kind of terrifying existence was that, 'He could steal you? Knowing him meant he was inside you? Was he a Beyonder or a rapist?'

But then, Max turned to the Sun and added softly, "Remember the advice I told you. Even if you reach Sequence 1, just run from it if it appears before you. Scream Adam to get a chance to escape. And if he asks who told you this information, tell him the Primordial Unity and the Mother Goddess of Depravity told you. But remember, use the name for anything or anyone other than Amon, and both those existences will simply turn their attention to you because of a missing target of Amon, and you will just lose control instantly. So do be careful, little Sun."

Then, Max finally returned to absolute silence, and he also put away his golden monocle, crossing his hands in front of his chest and silence descended on the meeting room.

After a while, the Sun, slightly afraid of Mr. Death, turned to Mr. Hanged Man and asked more about Amon. Alger gave him a brief of who the five great families of the Tudor Dynasty were, and how Amon was the most mysterious family of them all. Plus, they called themselves the descendants of the Ancient Sun God.

Thankfully, this time around, Alger did not tell him to communicate with the man since he understood the gravity of the situation where even Sequence 1 Angels needed to run from the Monocled Menace.

Then Audrey asked for a private exchange and gave more pages of Roselle's Diary.

Audrey had already long thought of her question. She remained reserved for a second before saying, "Mr. Fool, I wish to ask one question. Why is it said that the Cards of Blasphemy hide the profound secrets of the deities?" Great question! Klein smiled secretly. Giving her a look for her to figure it out herself, he said deeply and calmly, "Sequence 0, Dark Emperor."

'Sequence 0? There's still a Sequence 0? There's a Sequence 0 above Sequence 1? Is that a Sequence representing a god? The Dark Emperor is a god?' A series of questions suddenly surfaced in Audrey's mind.

This caused her to be pleasantly surprised, satisfied, and shocked! Restraining her agitation and unconcealable excitement, she took a deep breath and conjured the three pages of Roselle's diary.

Klein began reading it silently, all the while Max was grinning rapidly. Yesterday, he had had a masterful idea, and tested it. Surprisingly, it had worked!

He had used the memories of the Chinese writing in the pages of the notebook, as well as the translations of those pages he recalled from the novel. Then he used the chip from the Spectrum Beyonder who was rather unfortunately killed, to make a proper translation for anything he wrote thought about and entered into the chip, and the way those worlds would look in simplified Chinese.

Still, it had taken him a day and a half, and he had only been able to make a single page of nonsense. This meant, he no longer needed to learn Chinese from Klein, but as long as he did not start learning the language from the fellow, he would keep thinking that he really did not know the language, and would not suspect the writing in the pages he would hand over.

After Klein finished reading the page in his hand, Max finally spoke, of course, he was 'sealed' from the other members and only Klein heard him.

"I got a page if you are interested. Just give me some extra divinations in the future. Deal?"

Klein sis not say anything but waved his hand, and Max just concentrated on the page and finished in a few seconds. Klein took the page and began reading.

"I just learned something interesting. Apparently, there was this crazy person called… The Angel of Time; Amon…"