Klein hadn't expected Melissa's reaction and hurriedly explained, spending half the time convincing her it wasn't a scam but a genuine recognition of his talents by his boss.
"I knew you could do it, Klein." Melissa said, her face breaking into a smile. But after a brief moment of joy, worry crept back in. "Klein, where are you going to live in Backlund? I've heard the rent there is expensive, and the air isn't great…"
She rambled on, listing a slew of practical concerns Klein hadn't even considered, leaving him momentarily stunned.
When she finished, Melissa hesitated before adding, "So, when you get there, make sure to write to us. And if we have time, we'll come visit you."
Benson, ruffling his little sister's hair, looked at Klein and said, "Moving to Backlund for better prospects is a good thing... it's the capital, after all. And don't worry too much about us. If things go well, we might join you there soon enough."
Klein blinked, caught off guard.
Benson smiled and reminded him, "Don't forget, I'm still preparing for the clerk exam. And Melissa will be old enough to apply for university next year. The schools in Backlund are better than in Tingen. We might not get in, but I think Melissa should give it a shot."
"So go to Backlund with confidence, Klein. No matter what, we'll always support you."
…
Though Klein had the support of his brother and sister, freeing him from lingering concerns, he still had to wait for the Nighthawks' headquarters to respond. So, before officially advancing to Magician and leaving Tingen for Backlund, Klein attended another Tarot Gathering.
Above the gray fog, Klein materialized a pocket watch and checked the time, calculating when to pull Sun into the gathering. Reflecting on the past seven days, he felt a wave of relief.
There had actually been another Tarot Gathering scheduled during those seven days, but due to the incident with Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos, both Audrey "Justice" And Alger "The Hanged Man" Had requested leave, unable to attend. Klein had simply canceled that meeting.
"Good thing I canceled it, or I'd have had to host the gathering as a cat…" Klein muttered to himself, glancing at the pocket watch again. Seeing it was time, he began the meeting process, pulling the Tarot Gathering members onto the gray fog one by one.
During this, Klein recalled what Lucifer had mentioned and took a moment to examine Jack's spiritual body. Unfortunately, it looked no different from the others... at least, Klein couldn't detect any signs of past damage.
What kind of accident was it? Klein wondered silently, only to be interrupted by Audrey "Justice" And her ever-energetic voice: "Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~"
The gray fog was once again filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
But before Audrey could go through her usual greetings, Alger "The Hanged Man" raised a hand and quickly said, "Mr. Fool, I've obtained 26 pages of Roselle's diary this time."
He had to be quick. The Sailor pathway didn't enhance memory or learning abilities, and Alger wasn't a genius in that regard. If he didn't manifest the diaries soon, he'd forget them.
Of course, Alger didn't deny that this was also a show of loyalty.
Recalling Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos being turned into a sheep and Archbishop Ace Snake referring to the Fool's favored one as "Him." Alger's tone grew even more humble. He declared the diaries were his due payment, as Mr. Fool had sent a favored one to deal with Qilangos.
But Mr. Lucifer isn't my favored one… Klein gave a wry smile inwardly, though he nodded with a calm smile on his face. "This is the principle of equivalent exchange."
Klein's acceptance wasn't entirely guilt-ridden. After all, Lucifer's intervention had indeed backed him up.
Mr. Fool glanced at Jack out of the corner of his eye, and as expected, Jack wore a thoughtful expression.
After all, Jack knew who had dealt with Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos.
Fortunately, in Jack's mind, Mr. Lucifer was already suspected to be connected to the Fool, so I don't have to worry about my cover being blown… Klein reassured himself inwardly. Then he heard Alger explain that, due to his limited memory, he could only recall six pages at a time and would need to provide the diaries in installments.
Mr. Fool had no objections, nodding with a smile. "No problem."
The other members had little to say on the matter, as it was clear no one else had collected additional Roselle diaries this time.
Thus, Klein naturally moved to the reading phase. His gaze shifted downward, and upon seeing the first page's contents, he confirmed it was indeed Emperor Roselle's diary.
This page mentioned Mr. Door and touched on some Fourth Epoch history, such as the War of the Four Emperors and its participants, as well as how the God of the Death emerged as the ultimate victor, later joining the Primordial Demoness to unleash the Pale Disaster.
This corroborated what Klein had learned from Jack, but one detail caught his attention: the diary's mention that "the God of the Death went mad."
"From Zoroast's diary, I've confirmed the War of the Four Emperors was a conflict between four Sequence 0s. Tudor was a half-mad deity, and now the God of the Death, who gained the most from the war, also went mad. Why? What did the God of the Death gain from it…" Klein pondered, his instincts telling him this was significant.
But with limited information, Klein couldn't piece it together. He moved on to the next diary page, perking up as it clearly belonged to Zoroast.
[September 9, sunny.
The weather's nice today, and I dreamt of that chaos again.
Since Amon devoured me last time, this is the third time. I initially thought it was another of Amon's little tricks, but it seems that's not the case.
Rather, it's precisely because of this chaos that Amon couldn't completely consume my spiritual body.
So what is it? A transmigrator's long-overdue cheat?]
Chaos? What chaos? Klein immediately thought of the gray fog. Not Ascertaining that Zoroast's dream might not be the gray fog, his intuition suggested it could be something comparable.
This also aligned with information Lucifer had shared: that he and Jack weren't vessels for the Celestial Worthy's revival but for another being.
Could the chaos Zoroast dreamt of be related to that being?
***
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