Backlund, Cherwood Borough, an apartment.
Fors sat at her desk, a pen in one hand and a coffee cup in the other.
As the pen quickly moved across the paper, lines of words appeared on the manuscript:
"Perhaps, I was indeed deluded by a devil. But no matter what, Carol, please let me embark on this journey with you. Whatever the destination of this journey, I want to face it with you."
The tall, handsome young man said, extending his hand to Carol, his expression sincere and firm.
Carol stared at him blankly.
She opened her mouth, and finally, somewhat deflated, said, "No matter if I agree or not, you'll still secretly follow, won't you? You're always like this…" Her tone was a mix of complaint and helplessness, yet also carried a joy she didn't quite understand herself.
She took his hand.
"Just so you know, don't blame me if we die there."
The morning sun finally rose at this moment, golden sunlight pouring out from the crevices in the rocks behind the two of them.
"Clap—"
"Finally finished… I'm never rushing a manuscript at the deadline again!"
The pen was slammed heavily onto the table, and Fors, who had just been diligently writing, immediately rested her head on the table.
She instantly reverted from her previous state of struggle to a Fors state, too lazy even to open her eyes, and actually began to doze off.
After an unknown amount of time, Fors opened her eyes again.
She instinctively tried to stretch but found something on her head.
Reaching up, she discovered it was a letter.
"Huh, a letter from Teacher Dorian?" Fors immediately started to unfold the letter, while getting up and walking to the living room.
Sure enough, she saw Xio sitting on the sofa in the living room, seemingly reading something.
"What are you reading?" Fors asked curiously.
"The latest bounties in the East Borough." Xio replied without looking up, "Oh, I brought your teacher's letter in for you, did you see it?"
"I saw it." Hearing it was about bounties, Fors instantly lost her curiosity.
She sat next to Xio, took the letter from the opened envelope, and quickly read it.
The letter contained quite a bit, besides daily greetings, it inquired about her recent situation, such as her potion digestion status and her progress in learning mysticism knowledge.
Incidentally, although she was quite a Fors in daily life, for the sake of her life, Fors had been diligent in potion digestion and had successfully advanced to Sequence 7 Astrologer last month, officially becoming a mid-sequence Beyonder, which was indeed cause for celebration.
"Sometimes I really feel like Teacher Dorian treats me like a child…" Fors couldn't help but complain, but her heart felt warm.
Clearly, no matter what she said, Fors herself enjoyed this relationship.
"But…" Fors suddenly remembered something and said, "I always feel like Teacher Dorian's attitude has become more urgent.
He wasn't this urgent before.
Now it's as if he can't wait for me to immediately advance to Sequence 5 and learn all the knowledge."
"I'm actually a bit worried, after all, Teacher is not young anymore…"
The probability of elderly people losing control is much higher than for young people.
"How about I accompany you to visit him later? There's nothing much going on lately anyway." Xio looked up and suggested.
"Xio, you really are my good sister!" Fors immediately gave Xio a sisterly hug.
Xio was a bit helpless, yet also accustomed to it, and merely said, "But I think you might be overthinking it.
Your teacher might just have simply discovered your lazy nature, and that's why he hopes to motivate you to work harder through urging."
"Who are you calling lazy? I work very hard at digesting potions, alright!" Fors immediately protested.
—Lacking crucial information, Fors naturally didn't know that the reason her teacher was so eager to cultivate her recently, to make her capable of standing on her own, was entirely because her teacher had successfully been tricked onto Sefirah Castle two months ago, becoming a newly promoted The Fool believer.
Now Dorian was living with the attitude of living one day at a time, so it would be strange if he wasn't anxious.
From this, we can also see that Dorian's faith in Angel of Judgment was indeed superficial, so even with Angel of Judgment's guarantee, he still hadn't truly regarded The Fool as a true god; changing his faith was merely a last resort and a desperate attempt.
However, it is believed that, through the future Lord of the Mysteries and his teacher's persistent trickery (crossed out) enlightenment, Dorian will sooner or later understand that times have changed, and The Fool is the greatest.
…
Sonia Sea, a certain sea area—
"At this digestion rate, in two months at most, I should be able to fully digest the Wind-Blessed potion."
Inside the captain's cabin, Hanged Man Alger finished his acting of the Wind-Blessed for the day.
After checking his digestion progress, even a cunning person like him couldn't help but show a joyful expression.
"By then, I'll be able to directly advance to Ocean Songster.
The Materials for the potion have all been prepared, and I can try to seek Mr. Fool's help for the ritual then.
But the acting of an Ocean Songster… do I really have to sing?" Hanged Man Alger thought, his brows furrowing.
To be honest, he had some psychological trauma when it came to singing, mainly stemming from childhood experiences—he was even selected for the church choir because of his outstanding appearance when he was young, but he was kicked out because he sang too poorly.
This incident even exacerbated Alger's childhood misfortune to some extent.
Therefore, Hanged Man Alger could be said to have an instinctive resistance to acting as an Ocean Songster.
"Clash…"
Just then, faint singing came from the deck.
Alger looked in that direction, listening to the singing that was no less loud than the sound of the wind and waves, and his brows furrowed even deeper.
"Miss Audrey, this is the school library.
These books were all donated from various sectors of society…" The young woman, dressed very capably, guided Audrey into the library while introducing it to her, her attitude quite solicitous.
She couldn't help but be solicitous, after all, this Miss Audrey was the school's biggest benefactor.
If she just let a little something slip through her fingers, it would be a huge boon for the teachers and students of their school.
It's for livelihood, nothing shameful.
Moreover, this Miss Audrey was truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and approachable… The young woman couldn't help but secretly glance at Audrey, only to see the latter looking at her, revealing a sweet and gentle smile.
"What are the rules for using the library? Can you tell me in detail?"
Audrey inquired, naturally very invested in this school that she had personally helped establish.
…
In the Harvest Church, Emlyn, who had finally finished wiping the candlesticks, pulled out his pocket watch from his priest's robe sleeve and checked the time.
It's almost two o'clock, I need to go home.
I can't attend the Tarot Club in the church… Emlyn thought, looking up at Father Utravsky, who was sitting in the front row of chairs in the main hall, praying with his head bowed, and then went to ask him for leave.
Soon, Emlyn returned home by carriage and began to wait for three o'clock to arrive.
As the distant bell struck for the third time, a familiar crimson burst forth from Emlyn's body.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already above the Gray Fog, seated on his bronze long seat.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~"