After hearing Mr. "Tower"'s words, neither Miss "Judgment" nor Miss "Magician" showed any special reaction. After all, Ebner had already explained the situation to them privately, so they weren't surprised.
Miss "Justice", Madam "Hermit", and a few others, however, cast slightly strange looks toward Mr. "World" at the very end of the long table. After all, according to rumors, the "Mad Adventurer" Gehrman Sparrow had once been linked by gossip to the "Vice Admiral of Ailment".
Why are you all looking at me? I have nothing to do with Tracy! Besides, she's a demoness—only people like Old Huang and Old Liu wouldn't mind! Klein grumbled inwardly as he secretly glanced at "Temperance" Sharon. When he saw that she showed no extra reaction, he felt a bit disappointed, but also let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Next, "World", under all those strange gazes, opened his mouth and asked, "Why do you say those people have already become expendable pawns?"
Hearing this, everyone snapped back to their senses, stopped dwelling on the question of the "Vice Admiral of Ailment"'s "affiliation", and shifted their attention back to Mr. "Tower".
"Because the 'ritual' is almost complete…" Ebner sighed. He deliberately glanced toward the "Fool" seated at the head of the table before continuing, "It's not that I don't want to tell you, but Mr. 'Fool' believes that most of you are not at a high enough level yet. Knowing some things too early would be dangerous."
I believe that? Why don't I know about this… Mr. 'Tower' is getting more and more audacious. He even dares to use my name as a pretext right in front of me now… and I still have to cooperate!
Klein felt helpless inside, but on the surface he had Mr. "Fool" meet the gazes of the other members and smile in a profound, unfathomable manner.
After that, once everyone had exchanged a few more matters, the Tarot Club entered the "study" segment involving various kinds of knowledge, until it finally reached its end.
When the figures of the others vanished, and only Ebner and Klein remained once more on either side of the ancient long table, the latter handed over the diary provided by Madam "Hermit" this time while carefully asking:
"What exactly does the Loen royal family want to do?"
Ebner casually replied while reading the diary in his hand, "I'll tell you once you become a demigod."
"You really have a lot of confidence in me… Not to mention the 'Trickster Abomination', even the 'Spirit World Plunderer' of 'Calderón City' isn't something I'm very confident about… let alone that ritual!" Klein mocked himself.
By this point, Ebner had already memorized the contents of the diary. To be honest, aside from letting him know that Mr. "Door" and "his own" daughter had some sort of unclear relationship, it didn't contain any particularly important information.
After all, he had long known that the ancestor of the Constantine family was his and Ghosinham's daughter, and he had never relaxed his vigilance toward the "God of Luck".
However, Roselle's line of thinking might indeed be correct. It really would be good to pay more attention to the layout of the 'Calamity Seal'… for example, those 'Three Divine Artifacts' that it instigated Old Huang to create!
Thinking this internally, Ebner said outwardly to Klein, "You've already accepted the gift of 'fate'. Even if you don't want to, you'll still be pushed forward constantly by 'fate'!"
Klein looked at him deeply and complained, "Can you speak like a normal person?"
You're a 'Seer'—what right do you have to say that about me? Ebner grumbled inwardly, but still "translated", "What I mean is that many existences are expecting your advancement, so naturally there will be big shots arranging things behind the scenes. You just need to do your best to handle what you're capable of."
Klein sighed and said, "Being pushed forward so passively—aren't you afraid?"
"Is being afraid useful?" Ebner asked in return.
"It's not… But if it were just me alone, I'd do my best to repay that 'gift'… Yet now I have friends, I have family. One misstep, and they'll be dragged in as well," Klein said worriedly.
"With that little bit of trouble of yours, you think you can drag me down?" Ebner shot him a sideways glance, then smiled and said, "Besides, your friends and your family are also growing. You need to learn to rely on them, not shoulder everything yourself.
"What's more, your greatest enemy, Amon, was just 'tricked' by me. In the short term, it'll be hard for him to gather enough power to cause trouble again. You have plenty of time to grow."
Hearing this, Klein fell silent for quite a while before quietly nodding.
Seeing this, Ebner curled up the corner of his mouth and deliberately teased, "And besides, you still have Mr. 'Fool' as your backing. What is there to worry about?"
...
Backlund, inside a detached house in the Cherwood Borough.
"Hermit" Cattleya opened her eyes and sat up from the bed.
She then tidied her clothes, opened the door, left the room, and entered the adjacent living room, where the "Queen of Mystics" Bernadette was already waiting.
After the Tarot Club meeting last week, Cattleya had worried that the "Queen of Mystics" might have used unconventional methods to repel the "Abyss", and was concerned about her physical condition. That was why, after arranging her Future, she had hurried to Backlund over the weekend.
After confirming that there was nothing wrong with Bernadette's body, and with Monday arriving, Cattleya didn't rush to leave. She planned to wait until after the Tarot Club meeting and then directly relay the information she obtained to the Queen before departing.
Looking at Bernadette standing by the window, gazing at something unknown, Cattleya pushed up the heavy glasses resting on the bridge of her nose and greeted her simply:
"Good afternoon, Your Majesty."
Bernadette turned around, a faint smile appearing on her face, and said, "The gathering is over? Did you gain anything?"
Cattleya nodded slightly and replied, "The four symbols you instructed me to ask about—when combined, they mean the elven subordinate deity, the 'God of Luck'.
"As for the question regarding 'Giuseppe', the accumulated contribution is still insufficient."
"'God of Luck'?" Bernadette's straight, long eyebrows furrowed slightly. Although she had heard of that ancient god's subordinate deity, she didn't know much about him.
"If you wish to know more, you could ask Mr. 'Tower'… As far as I know, he has been searching for information on the 'God of Luck' all along," Cattleya suggested.
"'Tower'… him again? People connected to the 'Calamity Seal'—could they also be connected to that hidden existence, 'Liu Bo'?
"Father told me not to get close to people related to the 'Calamity Seal'… Was it because he didn't want me to investigate 'Liu Bo'?
"But I already…"
As her thoughts turned, Bernadette took out three prepared pages of diary and handed them to Cattleya, saying calmly, "These are the diary pages for that person next week… This time, the question is whether the two symbols 'hometown' mean 'a spiritual place of return'."
Afterward, once Cattleya had recorded the contents of the diary and the Queen's question, she reluctantly took her leave.
Although Madam "Hermit" wished to stay by her side, as the "Admiral of Stars", she also bore responsibility for an entire ship's worth of people.
After Cattleya left, Bernadette once again cast her gaze toward the window and softly said, "Since you're here, come out."
Before her words had even fallen, a figure dressed in formal attire and wearing a top hat shifted from illusory to solid, appearing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.
It was Ebner.
(End of the chapter)