In the hotel room, Ebner felt slightly awkward. He truly hadn't intended to take advantage of her, but the way they'd returned from the "dream" had been... rather compromising.
Maybe this is a side effect of using the Wheel of Fortune for prophecy… I'm not sure if it's the good luck during the ritual or the price I'm paying afterward...
After offering himself a reasonable internal excuse, Ebner coughed to change the subject and took the initiative to explain what had happened after Fors lost consciousness, particularly highlighting the fate of the three official Beyonders.
To his surprise, Fors was much more composed than he'd expected. She didn't dwell on the earlier "accident" at all. After getting a brief understanding of the other Beyonders' outcome, she took out the "extraordinary items" they'd collected in the ruins.
The "eyeball of the Three-Eyed Thunderbird," the "mechanical organs of the Thunderbird contaminated by the Craftsman trait," the "metallic feathers of the Thunderbird," the "Cursed Item of the Ancient Wraith," the "Ancient Wraith Dust," the "Residual Spirituality of the Ancient Wraith"...
One by one, Fors laid the materials neatly on the table. Then she picked up the Thunderbird's eyeball, thought for a moment, and said to Ebner, "I once saw someone at a gathering offering 7,000 gold pounds to buy a Thunderbird eyeball… I don't think they've found one yet. Once I return to Backlund, I could contact them.
"If I manage to sell it at that price, I'll only take thirty—no, twenty percent as a channel fee. How does that sound?"
By the time I get back to Backlund, Mr. Hanged Man should've scraped together 7,000 pounds...
Fors knew that Ebner, like Miss Justice, had some form of mind-reading or insight ability. He could easily tell whether someone was being honest. So she didn't lie. Still, "only telling the truth" could be just as effective at hiding things.
Unfortunately for her, the man across from her already knew all of her secrets.
Ebner gave her a half-smile, glanced at her a few times, then waved his hand. "No need to split it. You can keep the eyeball—it's all yours, no matter how much it sells for."
It's not like I'm short a few thousand pounds, he thought with no small sense of pride.
"That won't do." Fors wasn't comfortable accepting it just like that. "I didn't contribute anything during that exploration. How can I claim a share of the loot?"
Ebner chuckled. "Didn't you say you'd tell me what happened after you lost consciousness? That must be pretty confidential intelligence... consider the eyeball my payment for the info."
Fors thought it over and found that reasonable. She finally accepted the Thunderbird eyeball and nodded. "Alright then..."
Ebner then picked up the cursed item from the ancient wraith—a crystalline comb—and said with a smile, "This should be one of the main ingredients for your future Recordkeeper potion. But since you're still just a Trickmaster, you can't use it yet. I'll hold onto it for now."
Fors was stunned at first, then pleasantly surprised. She hadn't expected one of the spoils to be a future key ingredient. How lucky!
But then she recalled the image of Roselle she'd seen and realized the ancient wraith had probably been placed in the tomb deliberately by the Emperor. The so-called "guardian" was likely just an excuse—the cursed item was her "payment" in advance.
But if I hadn't gone in with Ebner, I probably would've died at that wraith's hands…
Was this supposed to be a test? That's far too excessive! That ancient wraith, bolstered by the ruin, was nearly at Demigod level. Even two Church teams couldn't handle it... Isn't that just setting me up to fail?
Emperor Roselle's actions are always full of contradictions...
With these thoughts, she casually voiced her suspicions to Ebner. He nodded thoughtfully, but before she could share what Roselle's image had said to her, he interrupted, "Let's find a safer, more secretive place."
With that, Ebner tapped the frame of the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose and spent 50 gold pounds in Alvin's Quiz Labyrinth to "rent" a mansion for a day. He pulled Fors in with him.
Since she'd already stayed in this magical residence once before in Lynn City, Fors wasn't surprised. Upon entering, she naturally poured herself a cup of red tea.
Truthfully, she missed the underground hot springs of this "mansion." If not for the matter of gender, she might've suggested soaking and chatting with Ebner at the same time.
Shaking off such untimely thoughts, she sipped her tea and began organizing her words to recount what she had experienced.
Just as Ebner's prophecy had shown, after placing the God Casket onto the statue, Fors had unknowingly entered a strange space where she encountered a man with chestnut-colored hair and a small mustache.
The man claimed to be Roselle and spoke to her with many confusing and contradictory statements.
"What exactly did he say to you?" Ebner frowned and asked seriously.
"He said that when he left the image, he was fully conscious, thanks to the Chaos Sea's pollution from the gate neutralizing his own corruption temporarily.
"But his next sentence contradicted the first—he said that pollution from the gate wasn't enough to maintain the balance, and it even contaminated the message itself. That's why he arranged for someone holding the God Casket—me—to carry out the ritual to open the door... for safety reasons..." As she spoke, Fors frowned as well, clearly unsure how the concept of "pollution" had anything to do with her.
Ebner, however, seemed to grasp a few clues. He pondered silently:
Roselle's projection was likely still contaminated by the one on the moon. That level of corruption isn't something the gate's residual Chaos Sea aura could neutralize. Anyone else would've been infected just by seeing him.
But the God Casket is probably tied to the Chaos Sea—it could amplify the gate's power. Meanwhile, Fors herself was under the Fool's protection at the time...
Three opposing forces balancing each other—this was just like many of Roselle's earlier arrangements.
As for why it had to be Fors, someone who could hear Mr. Door's ravings...
Maybe it was Roselle's contradiction at play—designing someone who could hear his message while secretly hoping that person would succumb to deeper corruption?
Or perhaps... his future messages are tied to Mr. Door himself.
Still, for Roselle to tell Fors something so dangerous... Thank goodness she didn't understand what the Chaos Sea truly meant. Wait, I really should hypnotize her later—to make her forget that name.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Fors continued, "He also told me that the God Casket has existed since the end of the First Epoch. It contains seven unique souls, each possessing a status equal to that of angels... Their power doesn't follow the current extraordinary system. Instead, their existence resembles the Seven Lights of the Spirit World, each with a different origin...
"And his adopted son, the Dread Duke Yaldabaoth, is one of them—he comes from a place called the Shadow World."
At that, Ebner stood up abruptly in shock. Based on everything he'd learned before, he could finally piece together the true nature of the so-called God Casket.
The "God" in the God Casket—surely it referred to that "God Almighty," didn't it?
Only He could collect followers from different Sources into one box and seal them—just like the Celestial Worthy could seal the Sefirot!
So that's it... this box carrying seven special souls might have been God Almighty's contingency against the Celestial Worthy's revival!
With these Sefirot-linked souls, the gods might not even need to nurture a new Lord of Mysteries to gain indirect control over the Sefirot...
Could that experiment eleven years ago also be tied to this?
Which god was behind it?
But based on the results... it didn't succeed. Survivors like Bianca seemed more like discarded pawns...
(End of Chapter)