Chapter 55
The man lazily propped himself up against the corner of the desk.
His attire was markedly more dramatic than anything Hoku had encountered; the stranger wore a long, well-fitted coat akin to a civilian officer's, its cuffs embroidered with intricate designs.
Underneath, he had a waistcoat fastened with metal clasps, bearing a delicate design.
A well-pressed shirt and a simple cravat were arranged neatly at his collar, and from his left earlobe hung a silver crescent earring.
The man's hand rested atop two small, unsheathed swords at his belt, their plain hilts of far better craftsmanship than any Hoku had ever seen.
As Hoku took in these details, he noticed black smudges staining the stranger's fingertips, as if he had just run them through fresh ink.
Long, wavy dark red hair fell to the young man's shoulders, the ends curling near the pale corners of his lips.
With that smug expression and relaxed posture, he appeared expectant, rather than alarmed, to see a stranger in his space suddenly.
His icy-blue gaze remained steady on Hoku.
Before Hoku could say a word, the red-haired man spoke in a deep baritone. "You look like you've been through hell and back," he remarked, spreading his hands in a sincere-looking show of amazement. "What happened to you? Did you mean to put on such a performance? Considering how you just lost control of your own device, I can only assume you were attempting some complicated divination. Am I close?"
Although his tone was somewhat joking, there was curiosity in it rather than mockery.
Hoku remained somewhat dazed, curling his hand tightly around the card piece he still held.
After another moment had gone by, the stranger reached into his sleeve and drew out a small object.
He held it up between two fingers, as though presenting a rare gem, then said lightly, "I'm quite skilled at finding answers, so I'm not much offended by your silence."
He turned the little piece in his hand and said, "Say, a figure standing with one hand lifted to the heavens and the other lowered to the plane beneath,"
He nodded toward the Tarot card piece in Hoku's hand, and added, "One of the more high-maintenance paths, though I'll admit, I've always preferred the Knight over the Magician."
Hoku's voice faltered as he repeated the last part of his puzzling remark, "A Knight?"
'Could they be related at all?' It struck him as strangely ironic; just a short while ago, he had been standing by a knight statuette, before Li handed him that medallion.
'But the depiction looks nothing like this person…'
Just then, Hoku had an idea.
He swiftly looked back at the stranger. "Do you happen to know someone called Lunhard?" he asked bluntly.
The young man set the object on his lap, his thoughts briefly circling the question.
He smoothed the front of his shirt before leaning forward from the desk. "Mm...and if I do?" he hummed, taking a few steps away from the desk. "It seems you truly are quite the master of tricks, young man."
Hoku scoffed before demanding, "Was it you? Were you the one manipulating those passages?—"
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a gust swept past him as the red-haired figure appeared right in front of him.
Hoku had only caught Lunhard's shadow at the corner of his eye, closing in with a speed far beyond what any ordinary person could achieve.
At that moment, he felt the swift glide of Lunhard's fingertips along his jawline.
Startled, Hoku sprang back and lashed out with one hand, going for Lunhard's wrist.
Once his fingers seized hold, Hoku glared at him revoltingly. "What are you—"
Before he could finish his question, Lunhard's other hand pressed a small object into Hoku's palm; the very item he'd retrieved from his own sleeve moments earlier.
Almost simultaneously, Lunhard slipped out of Hoku's grasp without a word, then turned on his heel and walked calmly around behind the desk.
Without a hint of urgency, Lunhard lowered himself into the chair. He casually reached for a quill from a small ink jar at the desk's corner.
Hoku remained still, eyeing him warily.
He didn't dare look at the item in his palm, refusing to divert his attention away from Lunhard.
Meanwhile, Lunhard opened a random drawer, drew out a slip of parchment, and began scribbling something on it.
Without lifting his eyes from the page, Lunhard spoke in a casual tone, "Aren't you going to see what you're holding?"
". . ."
After a few seconds, Hoku finally felt safe enough to spare a glance at what lay in his hand.
And at once, his expression turned perplexed.
It was the Tarot card scrap he'd discovered earlier, only now it was whole.
The piece Lunhard had given him was the other half, and somehow, it had fused perfectly with the first.
He didn't know what to make of this sudden occurrence.
Gingerly, Hoku turned the reformed card over in his hand.
The back was still adorned with an ornate, glossy black pattern.
'So this is how he knew…? But how did he even get it? Doesn't the compass usually restore itself after I cast a divination?' He pondered skeptically.
However, when Hoku revealed the card's face, his lips parted involuntarily.
At the bottom, the title "The Magician" was printed in silvery lettering.
Only, it wasn't the title that made his skin abruptly turn cold.
What truly drew his attention was the line of elegant cursive text across the card's surface:
"Let none be deceived by potential; clean water, too, wears away the vessel."
And at the lower corner was the number '23,' printed in the same smoky script.
For some reason, he couldn't help but feel that he had seen this style before.
After failing to come up with a definite answer himself, Hoku approached the desk and drew the card out. "Have you ever written to me in the past?" he inquired tentatively.
All of a sudden, Lunard slid his thumb across the line of wet ink on the parchment, smudging out whatever he had written.
As he looked up to meet Hoku's gaze, he wiped the ink from his thumb with a handkerchief.
Lunhard's voice suddenly turned wistful. "You could say that. I played a part in the sequence that led you here. So I assume you found my note tucked inside that particular book."
"You wrote that note?? In my uncle's library?"
Lunhard lightly tapped a finger against his earring, letting out a thoughtful hum.
"I hid it away before the Archive Hall collapsed into the ruin you saw outside. Someone had been searching for you with surprising persistence, and I chose to give them a small measure of help, just enough to guide you somewhere you normally wouldn't go."
His eyes narrowed slightly. "At first, I believed the 'you' they sought belonged to the original universe. That assumption was reasonable; your counterpart there should look like you. But they're nothing more than a remnant of memory without a body to move in."
"…Yet when you entered, I was confronted with the Navigator, the one who awakens only in the Watchmaker's manor and has no presence beyond the Sequel. And when you touched my stone… There was nothing but a flood of fears. So, I decided we needed to speak directly."
After concluding a brief explanation, Lunhard didn't stop there.
In the same earnest tone, he continued, "I'd like to settle a few matters first, if you'd lend me your ear."
Hoku was momentarily stunned by his words. Even so, he folded his arms and leaned back slightly, using the motion to steady himself and maintain a composed façade.
"...I can't say I've got a schedule to keep, go on."
To be continued…