"Oh—Lady Strength!"
Derrick finally understood. In his knowledge, there were only two members of the Tarot Club capable of coming to the Forsaken Land of the Gods: Lady Strength and Mr. Tower. And since Mr. Tower had been out of contact, the only possibility left was "Strength."
"You…why did you come…I…he…"
He wanted to say something, but with his City of Silver companions beside him, he didn't dare reveal anything. Yet leaving "Lady Strength" hanging felt far too impolite. Torn between fear and manners, he ended up flustered and incoherent.
At this moment, Chief Colin stepped forward and asked:
"Your Excellency, may I ask—were you two at the Giant King's Court just now?"
"That's right."
Lilith nodded. "You're planning to go there as well?"
"Yes. We are from the City of Silver. After being abandoned by the Creator we once believed in, we have survived in darkness and despair for thousands of years. With Lord Steph's help, we finally reached Afternoon Town. Now that we have seen the Giant King's Court, we want to go there to search for a way to leave this hopeless land."
As he spoke, the people of City of Silver all revealed heavy expressions.
Lilith's own expression became serious. "Don't rush. And don't go forward anymore. It shouldn't be long before Mr. Fool comes to take you out of here."
Whoosh—!
The people of the City of Silver—hearing this for the very first time—burst into murmurs. They couldn't suppress the shock on their faces, instantly curious about who this "Mr. Fool" was.
"Mr. Fool…" Colin looked at Derrick, who had lowered his head. "Is this the great being Derrick believes in?"
"Yes. He already knows about the City of Silver's situation. Once His strength recovers a bit more, He will be able to take you away."
Lilith repeated, "So don't go any farther. The Giant King's Court right now is dangerous even for a Sequence 1 Archangel."
Colin's grayish-white eyes trembled. After thinking for a moment, he nodded. "I understand."
He placed his right hand over his chest and bowed slightly.
"On behalf of all of the City of Silver, I thank the great Mr. Fool. We are willing to offer Him our most devout and sincere faith."
The people of the City of Silver immediately followed suit, bowing as well.
"Alright, I'll pass it on for you."
Colin hesitated for a few seconds, then turned to Lovia.
"Lovia, take them away first." He paused. "Derrick stays."
"Yes, Chief."
Lovia did not question him at all. She led the excited, ecstatic, yet anxious group away quickly.
Once only a few remained, Colin lowered his gaze. His voice became low and pained.
"Your Excellency…may I ask…the Lord we once believed in…has He already fallen?"
Steph, who had been keeping His head down, looked over.
Lilith gave a small, gentle smile. "He did fall. But He revived."
Colin's entire body trembled.
Lilith might hate Adam enough to want him dead, but that didn't stop her from deeply admiring the former Ancient Sun God. If possible, she would have preferred that after Adam fused with the True Creator, the resulting consciousness would be that of the restored, rational True Creator.
She had always believed that possibility existed.
After all, when the two fused, Adam had only been Sequence 1. This would have been the perfect opportunity to eliminate a terrifying enemy without even needing to fight—something she found delightful.
But judging by the current situation, things had not gone as she hoped. Adam not only had not been assimilated by the higher-ranked True Creator, but had likely tricked Him and taken control.
Thinking of this, she spoke—partly to comfort Colin, partly to comfort herself:
"Don't worry. It'll be fine. Everything will turn out fine."
———
Above the Grey Fog
Klein sat quietly at the bronze table, sorting the real spirit body extracted from today's slain Spirit World Plunderer, along with the associated dust. He placed them into a box and casually tossed it onto the miscellaneous pile, then covered it with the grey fog.
With Mr. Azik—a true angel—helping him, and Edward's messenger leading the way, hunting Spirit World Plunderers had become extremely easy and smooth.
So easy, in fact, that Klein handled most of the combat himself through manipulation of his Marionettes, finishing the kills largely on his own. Mr. Azik mostly prevented his preys from escaping.
After the hunt, they had gone to a nearby restaurant near Mr. Azik's residence to share a meal, exchanging their recent experiences.
Once they were full, Klein hesitated for a long time before finally telling Mr. Azik about his intention to hunt a demigod-level powerhouse for the sake of revenge.
Azik glanced at Priscilla and said coolly, "Klein, you may have forgotten—I also have a grudge against Ince Zangwill."
Only then did Klein remember. Back then, in order to lure Edward away, Ince Zangwill had first arranged for Priscilla to nearly be crushed to death by a meteor, and then indirectly caused her to be killed by the Numinous Episcopate—no, not "nearly." If Mr. Azik hadn't used a special method to save Priscilla, she would have died.
When Klein considered it carefully, he realised Mr. Azik seemed to have even more reason than he did to seek revenge against Ince Zangwill.
"You're certain Ince Zangwill has already lost that Sealed Artifact?"
Klein nodded. "Yes."
"Good. Then I'll join when the time comes."
"Hey!"
At that moment, Medici's figure appeared. He sat cross-legged on an empty chair, arms folded, and huffed, "Are you two treating me like air? Discussing killing my partner right in front of my face?"
Klein fell silent. Crap—I actually forgot.
Priscilla immediately said seriously, "Medici! You've already turned over a new leaf! You can't keep working with bad people to do bad things! I'm pulling you back from the road of no return!"
"I don't need to turn over a new leaf!"
"You do!"
"Don't!"
"You do!"
Medici: "…" I really must be crazy—stooping to argue with this idiot girl.
Mr. Azik asked calmly, "Lord Medici, are you truly planning to cooperate with Ince Zangwill?"
"Yeah, I agreed. What about it?"
Medici couldn't help clicking his tongue. Obviously it was Lilith who pushed him into this mess—so why was he the one getting blamed now?
"And you really intend to help him hunt down a Saint of the Church of the Evernight Goddess?"
Medici said coolly, "Heh. Since all of you already decided to use this opportunity to eliminate Ince Zangwill, does it matter whether I intend to or not?"
"But I'll say this ahead of time—I might not go easy on you when the time comes…"
He let out a cold laugh.
"Be careful you don't die in my hands."
"Medici!!" Priscilla yelled.
"Hahahahahaha!"
———
One Week Later
The situation on the Northern Continent changed drastically. After Feynapotter officially declared war on Loen, the war that had been in a stalemate finally collapsed out of balance. Loen and its allied nations—Lenburg, Masin, and Segar—lost vast territories, leaving only a few final defensive lines, barely holding on and already on the verge of breaking.
Just as Earl Hall predicted, Backlund was soon affected. Prices soared, people starved, and corpses appeared daily.
Even former members of the middle class quickly lost most of their wealth due to wartime disruptions. Even a plain white bread roll became a luxury.
At this week's Tarot Gathering, aside from the usual trades, the main topic discussed was the war sweeping across the Northern Continent. A heavy gloom hung over everyone's hearts. Even the usually lively Miss Justice lost her energy.
During the meeting, Audrey sincerely apologised to Moon Emlyn, saying the supplies she had promised last week might not be fulfilled for now—but she could provide some outdated firearms.
Emlyn naturally understood. In the past week, the Southern Continent's rebellion had surged dramatically. They had captured nearly all the colonies belonging to Loen, Intis, and the others, driving them entirely out of the Southern Continent.
The rebels had since begun regrouping, preparing to face the armies of West Balam—but before that, high-sequence Beyonders would certainly clash first. Only after that battle ended would it be the soldiers' turn to slaughter each other.
The Hanged Man, Alger, added that the Rorsted Islands' natives had also rapidly united, toppling several colonial rules in succession.
The Church of the Lord of Storm's Sea King was dispatched afterwards but was repelled, greatly boosting the rebels' morale. They fought harder, reclaiming lost land after lost land.
———
Backlund, Early Morning
At dawn, Audrey was at the East Borough charity hall, overseeing the distribution of bread and broth. Following Mr. Hanged Man's suggestion, the bread distributed today was of relatively low quality—an intentional way to filter for those truly in need.
Seeing the masses of people before her—expressionless, hopeless, hollow—Audrey deeply realised the truth of her father's words. Too many people needed help. A single Hall family could never achieve anything meaningful alone.
Unless all the wealthy and landowners of Backlund released their hoarded supplies—
But that was impossible. In fact, not only would that group refuse to help, they would seize the chance to hoard even more and raise prices outrageously, bleeding the lower class dry.
As for how many would die because of it—what did that have to do with them?
Would it affect their balls?
Their fine cuisine?
Their status?
To them, the cheapest thing in this world was human life.
Hoo—
Audrey exhaled softly. In her mind surfaced the books she had been reading lately. Indeed, to truly solve the problem, one had to destroy the original order and rebuild it entirely.
And how could one destroy and rebuild?
Reforms alone were not enough.
Only a revolution could do it.
Yet, at that thought, Audrey felt lost. Though she understood the theory, she had no idea how to carry it out.
Her world was different from Edward's. The world Edward came from had magic, but its practitioners had long chosen reclusion, not participating in ordinary political struggles for centuries.
But in her world, even though most ordinary people didn't know Beyonders existed, Beyonders were tightly intertwined with society and the state. In this ongoing war, Beyonders could be seen everywhere.
Most Beyonders were defenders of power or churches. Launching a bottom-up revolution here…was incredibly difficult.
Just then, Audrey suddenly spotted a familiar figure—Mr. World, Klein. He looked heavy-hearted, lost in thought.
He saw her as well and gave a small nod before quickly stepping back into the crowd and disappearing.
"What are you looking at, Audrey?"
Lilith tugged on her sleeve.
"Oh, I just saw Mr. World."
"Klein, huh." Lilith thought for a moment. "At the last Tarot meeting, didn't Priscilla mention the plan to hunt Ince Zangwill was scheduled for this week?"
"Yes, but there's still no exact time. I don't know whether Ince Zangwill is being too cautious or if something else is going on."
At that moment, a commotion rippled through the crowd. Many people turned to look behind them.
A squad of MI9 soldiers was putting up a large poster on a wall nearby. Even from a distance, one could clearly read the bold characters at the top:
"Tomorrow at 9 a.m. His Majesty the Emperor will deliver a speech at Memorial Plaza."
———
[Note]: 1510 Powerstones for an Extra Chapter tomorrow! Go, VOTE!
And if you are like me and want to read 40 Chapters in advance of the current story right now, you can support me on my Patreon. Thank me later~
Link - (P)atre(o)n.c(o)m/ Iseeblack [Remove the brackets]