Penerjemah: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Saat Klein mengambil buku harian itu, Audrey menambahkan, “Tuan Fool, saya masih memiliki sepuluh halaman buku harian yang akan saya berikan kepada Anda nanti. Ini sebagai pembayaran untuk berkat Anda sebelumnya.”
Dia mengulangi janji pribadinya agar Tuan Fool tidak berpikir bahwa dia telah melupakannya, dan alasan mengapa dia memberikan pembayaran untuk informasi mengenai Twilight Hermit Order adalah untuk menyelesaikan “utang” tersebut sambil memiliki niat untuk sedikit pamer.
Pembayaran untuk berkat... Fors merenungkan kata-kata ini dan tiba-tiba menyadari kelalaian penting di pihaknya.
Dalam masalah mengenai keluarga Abraham, Tuan Fool telah mengirim malaikatnya untuk membantuku mengganggu ramalan! Seharusnya aku membayar dalam jumlah yang pantas... Oh tidak, aku sama sekali tidak menyadarinya... Aku pikir, seperti semua ritual, semuanya selesai begitu ritual itu dilakukan... Untuk sesaat, Fors merasa panik.
Selama sihir ritualistik biasa, jika seseorang berdoa memohon bantuan dari dewa atau eksistensi yang bersangkutan, mereka akan melakukan pengorbanan terlebih dahulu. Membakar minyak esensial, ekstrak, dan esensi herbal yang menyenangkan target setara dengan melakukan pembayaran di muka, tetapi dalam ritual yang berkaitan dengan The Fool, ada banyak langkah yang bisa diabaikan, dan harganya hanya bisa dibayar setelahnya. Terkadang, bahkan tidak perlu menawarkan apa pun. Fors, yang terbiasa dengan ritual sebelumnya, akhirnya hanya mengucapkan terima kasih.
Dia buru-buru melihat ke arah ujung meja perunggu panjang dan dengan sungguh-sungguh berkata, “Tuan Fool yang terhormat, gangguan ramalan Anda telah sangat membantu saya. Saya juga akan mencoba menemukan sepuluh halaman buku harian Roselle sesegera mungkin.”
Melihat penampilan Miss Justice dan Miss Magician, Derrick Berg tersadar bahwa dia telah menemukan cara untuk sepenuhnya mengungkapkan rasa terima kasihnya.
Namun, City of Silver tidak memiliki halaman buku harian dari yang disebut Kaisar Roselle... Yah, Tuan Fool sangat tertarik pada sejarah, jadi aku harus membaca lebih banyak buku dan catatan tentang hal-hal ini... Dengan sebuah pemikiran, Derrick membuat janji kepada Tuan Fool yang duduk tinggi di atas mereka.
The Hanged Man menyaksikan semua ini dari samping dan tidak meragukan bahwa The Fool memiliki malaikat yang melayaninya.
Setiap organisasi harus memiliki karakter seperti Miss Justice... Kekuatan panutan itu tidak terbatas... Dengan banyaknya “utang” yang harus ditagih muncul entah dari mana, Klein menghela napas dengan gembira di dalam hati.
Sebagai Tuan Fool yang agung dan perkasa, dia selalu merasa canggung untuk meminta kompensasi secara langsung, dan dia selalu percaya bahwa membantu anggota organisasinya sendiri adalah hal yang normal dan masuk akal, tanpa perlu membuatnya terlalu bergantung pada transaksi. Oleh karena itu, dia tidak mengendalikan The World untuk melakukan tindakan yang sesuai guna mengingatkan semua orang.
Tentu saja, jika Justice dan yang lainnya bersedia memberikan pembayaran, maka Klein tidak berniat menolaknya.
“Baiklah.” Dia tersenyum dan mengangguk sebelum mengalihkan pandangannya kembali ke buku harian di tangannya.
“13 Januari, kontak dengan Mr. Door stabil.
“Beyonder kuat yang tersesat dalam kegelapan dan terjebak dalam badai itu, tidak mendesakku untuk menyelesaikan ritual yang rumit dan sulit guna membantunya kembali ke dunia nyata.
“Dia tampaknya telah mengerti bahwa dia harus memberikan sesuatu yang akan menggerakkanku, alih-alih memberiku tiga keinginan tak berwujud, agar aku dapat mempertimbangkan apakah aku harus mengambil risiko tersembunyi untuk menyelamatkannya.
“Mr. Door untuk sementara tidak menyebutkan masalah ini dan malah dengan penuh minat mengobrol tentang kreasi kartu tarotku. Heh heh. Kata 'kreasi' seharusnya ditulis dengan tanda kutip. Dari poin ini, terlihat jelas bahwa Mr. Door mampu melakukan kontak dengan dunia nyata pada waktu-waktu tertentu dan melalui metode-metode tertentu, dan dia seharusnya bisa mengamati banyak detail.
“Saat berbicara tentang kartu 'The Moon', aku teringat masalah yang disebutkan Zaratul. Dia berkata bahwa Life School of Thought memuja bulan, tetapi bukan Evernight Goddess. Ya, paruh kedua itu aku tambahkan sendiri!
“Oleh karena itu, aku bertanya kepada ahli Zaman Keempat, Mr. Door, tentang pertanyaan ini. Dia terkekeh dan tidak memberikan jawaban langsung. Namun, dibandingkan dengan Seer licik yang berbicara setengah benar, yang membuatku ingin menghajarnya, dia jauh lebih terus terang.
“Dia memberitahuku bahwa jika dia harus memilih kartu dari kartu tarot untuk mewakili Evernight Goddess, dia tidak akan memilih The Moon, tetapi—
“The Star!
“Itu membuat segalanya menjadi sangat menarik. Aku mendesak, 'Siapa pemilik sebenarnya dari The Moon?' Jawabannya bahkan lebih layak untuk direnungkan.
“Dia berkata sambil tertawa bahwa The Moon saat ini tidak memiliki pemilik.
“Jika aku tidak salah paham, maka maksudnya adalah puncak dari jalur The Moon kosong. Sequence 0 kosong!”
Itu tidak benar. Bukankah ada Primordial Moon? Setelah melihat ini, Klein tiba-tiba memiliki pemikiran ini.
Dia sudah mengantisipasi bahwa kartu “The Moon” tidak mewakili Goddess. Baik itu keyakinan Life School of Thought, sikap para vampir, atau catatan di Book of Secrets, semuanya secara samar menunjukkan bahwa Evernight bukanlah Moon.
Sebaliknya, Vampire Ancestor Lilith dan Primordial Moon menyerupai Sequence 0 dari jalur ini dalam banyak hal.
Menurut pelajaran sejarah City of Silver, Lilith kemungkinan besar telah jatuh di Zaman Kegelapan, Zaman Kedua. Namun, Primordial Moon adalah eksistensi yang masih dipercayai orang dan memberikan respons hingga hari ini. Tentu saja, mereka yang berdoa kepada “Dia” tidak akan berakhir dengan baik... Mengapa Mr. Door mengatakan bahwa The Moon tidak memiliki pemilik saat ini? Seperti yang terlihat dari Book of Secrets, Primordial Moon masih ada selama Zaman Keempat... Klein hampir mengerutkan kening.
Segera, dia mendapat tiga dugaan. Pertama, Mr. Door tidak tahu cukup banyak tentang Primordial Moon yang tersembunyi, tetapi kemungkinannya sangat kecil; kedua, bahwa Primordial Moon sebenarnya adalah penyamaran dari dewa lain, tidak secara mendasar menduduki posisi Sequence 0 jalur The Moon; ketiga, bahwa “Dia” adalah Sequence 1 dari jalur The Moon atau sedang menyamar dan memiliki Sealed Artifact yang sesuai.
Dan satu kemungkinan lagi, itu adalah respons dari “Uniqueness” jalur The Moon. Klein bergumam dalam hati.
Bahan Beyonder terpenting dalam formula ramuan Sequence 0 yang dijelaskan oleh kartu Dark Emperor bukanlah semua karakteristik Beyonder Sequence 1, melainkan sesuatu yang disebut Uniqueness. Jalur yang berbeda memiliki Uniqueness yang berbeda.
Dewa sejati itu unik!
Selain dugaan pertama, kemungkinan lainnya tidak kecil... Apa jalur Beyonder dari The Moon? Klein beralih ke halaman kedua buku harian itu dan beruntung karena halaman itu terhubung dengan halaman sebelumnya.
“Aku terus mendesak, tetapi Mr. Door menolak untuk bicara lebih banyak. Heh, dia pikir aku akan menyelamatkannya dengan memancing seleraku? Bermimpilah!
“Aku menyembunyikan rasa penasaranku dan mengejek Mr. Door karena tidak cukup hormat kepada dewa sejati. Dia dengan santai, ya—dengan santai menjawabku. Inilah sikap yang dimiliki bangsawan Zaman Keempat terhadap para dewa.
“Orang ini terlalu pandai berakting! Namun, aku benar-benar tertarik pada bangsawan Zaman Keempat, jadi aku mengambil kesempatan untuk bertanya.
“Mr. Door memberitahuku bahwa di Dinasti Tudor, ada lima keluarga bangsawan—Abraham, Antigonus, Amon, Tamara, dan Jacob. Setiap keluarga dikenal sebagai Angel Family, dan mereka memiliki kekuatan yang sangat menakutkan.
“Angel Family, nama itu sendiri menimbulkan banyak masalah. Itu benar-benar membuat orang merindukannya! Mr. Door mengatakan bahwa jumlah Angel Family di Zaman Keempat melebihi lima. Ada keluarga Zaratul dan Zoroast, yang selalu setia pada Kekaisaran Solomon; keluarga Augustus, Sauron, Einhorn, Castiya dari Dinasti Trunsoest; dan keluarga Andariel dan Beria yang licik; serta keluarga Demoness yang berasal dari dewi sejati yang satu tingkat di atas Angel Family.
“Jadi pemenang terakhir Zaman Keempat adalah Dinasti Trunsoest, tetapi ke mana perginya keluarga kerajaan mereka? Empat Angel Family—Augustus, Sauron, dan yang lainnya—membagi Benua Utara.
“Seperti yang Mr. Door katakan sebelumnya, pusat kekuatan terkuat di Zaman Keempat jauh melebihi imajinasiku. Namun, sebagian besar dari mereka telah terkubur dalam abu sejarah. Bahkan keluarga Sauron telah meredup, dihancurkan olehku. Dalam satu atau dua milenium lagi, mungkin keluarga Augustus tidak akan ada lagi. Hanya dewa sejati yang tampaknya mampu menerangi dunia nyata selamanya.
“Meskipun beberapa dewa binasa di Zaman Keempat, jumlah mereka seharusnya hanya sedikit. Ini membuatku memikirkan sesuatu, sesuatu yang sebelumnya tertulis di novel web yang aku hafal. Itu bisa digunakan di sini dengan beberapa perubahan:
“Abu menanti mereka yang gagal menjadi dewa sejati!
“Setelah periode komunikasi berakhir, Mr. Door memutuskan kontak. Dia seperti narapidana yang dibebaskan dengan pembebasan bersyarat untuk jangka waktu tertentu. Dan dia memang tahu banyak. Ketika dia menyebut keluarga Zaratul, ada penghinaan samar dalam nada suaranya.
“Mungkin aku perlu menjaga hubunganku dengan Mr. Door. Selain Gereja God of Craftsmanship, Zaratul, dan organisasi rahasia dan kuno itu, aku harus meninggalkan jalan keluar lain.
“Tidak seperti pepatah, kelinci yang licik memiliki lebih dari tiga lubang!”
Ketika Kaisar Roselle berjuang di akhir hayatnya, dia hanya memikirkan organisasi yang dicurigai sebagai Twilight Hermit Order. Dia sama sekali tidak menyebutkan Mr. Door. Sesuatu tampaknya terjadi di antaranya... Jadi leluhur keluarga kerajaan Loen, keluarga Augustus, sebenarnya sangat kaya dan kuat hingga menjadi Angel Family. Namun, mengapa keluarga kerajaan Dinasti Trunsoest, yang mereka setiai, “menghilang” begitu saja... Klein tiba-tiba memikirkan beberapa hal, dan keinginannya untuk membersihkan kabut yang menyelimuti sejarah Zaman Keempat dan melihat wujud aslinya tumbuh.
Hobi terbesar dari pemilik asli tubuh ini juga sama.
Mungkin, relik bawah tanah dengan dua kursi berdampingan dan roh jahat yang menakutkan itu akan membantuku menjawab banyak pertanyaan... Klein menurunkan pandangannya dan membalik ke halaman ketiga.
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Just as Klein picked up the diary, Audrey added, “Mr. Fool, I still have ten diary pages which will be given to you later. It is for the payment for your previous blessing.”
She repeated her private promise so as to not let Mr. Fool think that she had forgotten about it, and the reason why she had provided payment for the information regarding the Twilight Hermit Order was to first settle the “debt” while having the intention to show off a little.
The payment for the blessing... Fors ruminated over these words and suddenly realized an important oversight on her part.
On the matter regarding the Abraham family, Mr. Fool had sent his angel to help me interfere with the divination! I should’ve paid an appropriate amount... Oh no, I didn’t realize this at all... I thought, like all rituals, that it was the end to it once it was completed... For a moment, Fors fell into a panic.
During ordinary ritualistic magic, if one prayed for help from a deity or a corresponding existence, they would perform a sacrifice in advance. Burning essential oils, extracts, and herbal essence that pleased the target was equivalent to making an advanced payment, but in the rituals corresponding to The Fool, there were many steps that could be omitted, and the price could only be paid afterward. Sometimes, there wasn’t even a need to offer anything. Fors, who was accustomed to the former, ended up only saying a word of thanks.
She hurriedly looked towards the end of the long bronze table and earnestly said, “Honorable Mr. Fool, your divination interference had helped me greatly. I will try to find ten Roselle diary pages as soon as possible as well.”
Seeing the performance of Miss Justice and Miss Magician, it dawned on Derrick Berg that he had found a way to fully express his gratitude.
However, the City of Silver doesn’t have the diary pages of the so-called Emperor Roselle... Well, Mr. Fool is very interested in history, so I’ll have to read more books and records on these... With a thought, Derrick made a promise to Mr. Fool who sat high above them.
The Hanged Man watched all this from the side and had no doubt that The Fool had an angel at his service.
Any organization should have a character like Miss Justice... The power of a role model is limitless... With a lot of “debts” to collect appearing out of thin air, Klein happily sighed inwardly.
As the high and mighty Mr. Fool, he always found it awkward to directly ask for compensation, and he had always believed that helping the members of his own organization was a normal and reasonable thing to do, without the need for him to make it so reliant on transactions. Thus, he didn’t control The World to put on the appropriate performance to remind everyone.
Of course, if Justice and the others were willing to provide payment, then Klein had no intention of refusing it.
“Alright.” He smiled and nodded before shifting his gaze back to the diary in his hands.
“13th January, contact with Mr. Door stabilized.
“The powerful Beyonder, who’s lost in the darkness and trapped in the storm, didn’t rush me to complete a complicated and difficult ritual so as to help him return to the real world.
“He seems to have understood that he has to come up with something that would move me, instead of giving me three intangible wishes, in order for me to consider whether I should take the hidden risks of saving him.
“Mr. Door temporarily didn’t mention this matter and instead, with great interest, chatted about my tarot card creation. Heh heh. The word ‘creation’ should be written with quotation marks. From this point, it’s apparent that Mr. Door is able to make contact with the real world at particular times and through particular methods, and he should be able to observe a lot of details.
“While talking about ‘The Moon’ card, I thought of a matter Zaratul mentioned. He said that the Life School of Thought worships the moon, but not the Evernight Goddess. Yes, I added the second half myself!
“Hence, I asked the Fourth Epoch expert, Mr. Door, about this question. He chuckled and similarly didn’t give a direct answer. However, compared to the furtive Seer who speaks half-truths, making me want to beat him up, he’s a lot more frank.
“He told me that if he were to choose a card from the tarot cards to represent the Evernight Goddess, he wouldn’t choose The Moon, but—
“The Star!
“That makes things very interesting. I pressed, ‘Who is the real owner of The Moon? His reply was even more worthy of relish.
“He said with a laugh that The Moon currently has no owner.
“If I didn’t misunderstand him, then he means that the peak of The Moon’s pathway is empty. The Sequence 0 is empty!”
That’s not right. Isn’t there a Primordial Moon? Upon seeing this, Klein suddenly had this thought.
He had already anticipated that the “The Moon” card didn’t represent the Goddess. Whether it was the faith of the Life School of Thought, the attitude of the vampires, or the records in the Book of Secrets, they all vaguely pointed out that Evernight wasn’t the Moon.
In contrast, Vampire Ancestor Lilith and the Primordial Moon resembled the Sequence 0 of this pathway in more ways.
According to the City of Silver’s history lessons, Lilith had most likely fallen in the Dark Epoch, the Second Epoch. However, the Primordial Moon was an existence that people still believed in and sent responses to even to this day. Of course, those who prayed to “Her” wouldn’t end up well... Why did Mr. Door say that The Moon had no owner at the moment? As seen from the Book of Secrets, the Primordial Moon still existed during the Fourth Epoch... Klein almost frowned.
Soon, he came up with three guesses. First, Mr. Door didn’t know enough about the hidden Primordial Moon, but that was a very low possibility; second, that the Primordial Moon was actually the disguise of another deity, not essentially occupying the position of The Moon’s Sequence 0 pathway; third, that “She” was a Sequence 1 of The Moon’s pathway or was in disguise and had the corresponding Sealed Artifact.
And one more possibility, it’s the response from The Moon pathway’s “Uniqueness.” Klein muttered silently.
The most important Beyonder ingredient in the Sequence 0 potion formula described by the Dark Emperor card wasn’t all of the Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics, but something called Uniqueness. Different pathways had different Uniquenesses.
A true god was unique!
Other than the first guess, the other possibilities aren’t small... What is the Beyonder pathway of The Moon? Klein turned to the second page of the diary and was lucky enough to discover that it was connected to the previous page.
“I continued pressing, but Mr. Door refused to say more. Heh, he thinks that I’ll rescue him by whetting my appetite? Dream on!
“I hid my curiosity and scoffed at Mr. Door for not being respectful enough to true gods. He casually, yes—casually replied to me. This is the attitude a Fourth Epoch noble has to the deities.
“This guy is too good at acting! However, I really am interested in the nobility of the Fourth Epoch, so I took the opportunity to ask.
“Mr. Door told me that in the Tudor Dynasty, there were five noble families—Abraham, Antigonus, Amon, Tamara, and Jacob. Each family was known as an Angel Family, and they possessed tremendously terrifying strength.
“Angel Family, just the name itself raises many problems. It really makes one yearn for it! Mr. Door said that the number of Angel Families in the Fourth Epoch exceeded the five. There were the Zaratul and Zoroast family, which had always been loyal to the Solomon Empire; the Augustus, Sauron, Einhorn, Castiya families of the Trunsoest Dynasty; and the furtive Andariel and Beria families; as well as the Demoness family which stemmed from a true goddess which was one step up from the Angel Families.
“So the last winner of the Fourth Epoch was the Trunsoest Dynasty, but where did their royal family go? The four Angel Families—Augustus, Sauron, and the others—divided up the Northern Continent.
“Just as Mr. Door said the previous time, the strongest powerhouses in the Fourth Epoch far exceeds my imagination. However, most of them have been buried in the ashes of history. Even the Sauron family has waned, destroyed by me. In another one to two millennia, perhaps the Augustus family might no longer exist. Only the true gods appear capable of forever illuminating the real world.
“Although some deities perished in the Fourth Epoch, they should only be few in number. This makes me think of something, something that was previously written in a web novel which I memorized. It can be used here with some changes:
“Ashes await those who fail to become true gods!
“After the communication period ended, Mr. Door disconnected. He’s like a prisoner who’s released on parole for a fixed period of time. And he does know a lot. When he mentioned the Zaratul family, there was faint contempt in his tone.
“Perhaps I need to maintain my relationship with Mr. Door. Apart from the Church of the God of Steam, Zaratul, and that secret and ancient organization, I should leave another outlet.
“Unlike the saying, a wily hare has far more than three holes!”
When Emperor Roselle was struggling in the end, he was only thinking about the organization that’s suspected to be the Twilight Hermit Order. He didn’t mention Mr. Door at all. Something apparently happened in between... So the ancestor of the Loen royal family, the Augustus family was actually so rich and powerful to be an Angel Family. However, why did the royal family of the Trunsoest Dynasty, to which they were loyal to, “disappear” just like that... Klein suddenly thought of a few things, and his desire to clear away the fog that shrouded the history of the Fourth Epoch and see its true appearance grew.
This was also the greatest hobby of his body’s original owner.
Perhaps, that underground relic with two side-by-side seats and a terrifying evil spirit will help me answer a lot of questions... Klein lowered his gaze and flipped to the third page.
“2nd June, Bernadette massaged my back!
“It’s good to have a daughter. She knows to care for her old father, and although I can see what she wants at a glance, at least she’s willing to put on an act. Besides, she did a good job.
“I asked her which Beyonder pathway she wanted. She said she was undecided, but she liked the maxim of ‘do as you wish, but do no harm.’
“3rd June. I saw Floren again. He’s very different from before, as though he’s a different person. No, he still had his original memories and some of his distinctive characteristics, which is enough to prove that he’s him.
“What exactly happened to him to experience such a huge change?
“Perhaps a metaphor could be used to describe it more precisely. Some monsters are physical sutures, while he is a monster of mental sutures.”
“5th June. I obtained an ancient book. It actually mentions the Primordial Demoness’s name, not one of an honorific name!
“‘Her’ name is Cheek, but that’s a man’s name.
“Is this ancient book fake?”
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