"Thank you, Sasrir."
Rosen didn't really have anything particular he needed. In fact, right now he wanted more than anything to have some time alone to sort through the things happening to him.
Sasrir might have noticed this, or maybe not, but after reaching out to rub Rosen's head, he gently left the room.
With the door closing, even though he knew that if the other party wanted to look in, a door absolutely couldn't block an angel's sight, Rosen still inevitably let out a breath of relief. He then lifted his hand and snapped his fingers, using the Marauder's Uniqueness power to create further isolation. Even if it couldn't stop surveillance entirely, at least it would let him sense it.
Then he fell backward onto the soft, newly obtained bed and started thinking about how everything had happened.
"I didn't do anything weird… so why did I transmigrate? And this monocle…" Rosen muttered in his heart. He removed the monocle from his face and examined this object that used to be an ordinary piece of merch, yet now genuinely possessed the Marauder's Uniqueness.
In truth, after the fight with Amon, Rosen had basically confirmed that he hadn't truly obtained the Marauder's Uniqueness. The Uniqueness itself was still with Amon, but the portion of power belonging to the Uniqueness had been shared onto this monocle.
And in this shared state, Rosen held the dominant authority. As long as he didn't release this portion of power, Amon could not fully use the Uniqueness. Likewise, if Rosen released the authority, he could allow both himself and Amon to possess the Uniqueness power simultaneously—without any weakening.
He had to admit… this was a bit absurd.
"Haha, Amon finally gets to taste this…"
Rosen recalled how oppressive and terrifying Amon had been in the later stages of the original novel, once giving him psychological shadows as a reader. Then he compared that image with the little Amon who was currently being suppressed by lacking his own Uniqueness power, and he couldn't help laughing.
After laughing, Rosen naturally began thinking about why something so ridiculous had happened. How could an ordinary merchandise item allow him and Amon to share power? Was this some strange effect caused by the transmigration? Or was the merch itself unusual?
"It couldn't really have been Amon, right…"
Rosen thought of the Amon cosplayer he once took a photo with and muttered inwardly, though he knew it was impossible. Then he suddenly remembered something and took out several other items from his pocket.
There was a Red Angel keychain, a badge with the Lord of Storms drawn on it, a miniature Zhou Mingrui cotton doll, a gem brooch symbolizing Mr. Door, and so on — basically a whole set of "Lord of the Mysteries Merch Family Pack."
He had bought these at conventions or received them as gifts from enthusiastic cosers. Unlike the monocle, which had obviously changed, these items still looked the same as before, with nothing special about them.
"So only the monocle is special?" Rosen fell into thought, unconsciously kneading the small cotton doll. It was a habit of his—he liked squeezing soft things when stressed.
After pinching it for a while, Rosen lifted the cotton doll by the back of its collar and looked into its black printed eyes. Suddenly, he felt a bit regretful.
If he had to transmigrate into the world of Lord of the Mysteries, rather than seeing the Sun God and Amon, he actually wanted to meet the protagonist — Klein Moretti, formerly Zhou Mingrui.
It wasn't that Rosen had some kind of protagonist obsession. Though he did like Klein, he mainly wanted to ask him one question face-to-face—
"Do you regret it?"
Do you regret becoming the savior forced onto the altar, sacrificing everything for a future that had nothing to do with you?
Thinking of the ending in Circle of Inevitability, and the tiny sliver of humanity Klein had left, Rosen's thoughts scattered for a few seconds. His gaze stayed on those printed eyes.
Naturally, the cotton doll's eyes were standard 2D-style big anime eyes. Since they weren't glass beads, there was no highlight.
Then Rosen saw those eyes blink.
Wait… blink?
Rosen snapped back to attention. He looked at the cotton doll in his hand and saw its originally fixed expression twist into an awkward and slightly panicked smile.
"Um… hello?"
The cotton doll spoke.
…
Klein, wait no — not yet, Zhou Mingrui was panicking.
He couldn't be blamed—anyone who woke up and found themselves turned into a cotton doll would panic.
So… did I transmigrate? But why into a cotton doll?!
Is this scientific?!
"Have you considered the possibility that transmigration itself isn't scientific?"
While Zhou Mingrui was collapsing internally, he heard the child who had originally been holding him up by his collar, now placing him properly on the table, suddenly speak.
Indeed, transmigration itself wasn't scientific… Wait—?!
Zhou Mingrui realized something and looked in horror at the child before him. He had originally thought he had transmigrated into some baby's home, becoming their toy, and had already prepared to deceive them. But what was this?
"Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something weird on my face?" Rosen clearly knew why Xiao Zhou was surprised, but that didn't stop him from saying this.
"You…" Zhou Mingrui paused, as though thinking of something, and cautiously asked, "Sir, is my transmigration because of you?"
To be honest, at that moment he already imagined the boy might be some kind of transmigration god. After all, that was common in novels.
"No. Although I technically count as an angel right now, and in this era's classification could even be called a demi-god, I'm definitely not the transmigration god you're imagining."
Rosen seriously refuted that. He propped his chin with one hand, smiling as he said, "Actually, I'm also a transmigrator, equally troubled by the issue."
Rosen didn't intend to hide this from Zhou Mingrui. Being fellow transmigrators was the fastest way to close the distance between them. Although technically he wasn't from that era either.
So he's a transmigration victim like me? No… wait…
Zhou Mingrui stared at Rosen with sharp, examining eyes and asked,
"You know what I'm thinking?"
Once could be coincidence. Twice was not.
"Not exactly. Only when your emotions fluctuate a lot can I sense what you're thinking." Rosen shook his head—not fully denying it, but explaining.
It was true. Maybe because Zhou Mingrui had transmigrated into a cotton doll, Rosen could indeed sense his thoughts when his emotions were stirred.
Then Rosen saw the cotton doll's face instantly flush red. Obviously, being mind-read wasn't something one accepted easily. The person in question clearly felt embarrassed and annoyed.
Of course, besides that, Rosen also sensed Zhou Mingrui's current thoughts—something roughly equivalent to a groundhog screeching.