42 Death, the Destroyer of Worlds

"Honourable Mr. Fool, please permit me to take the liberty to request you to be the witness to our exchange?" 

"Not a problem." Klein said trying his best to maintain his persona of The Fool.

"This is our honour, Mister Fool." Alger stood up and bent his back slightly to The Fool with his right hand on his chest.

"Continue, both of you." Klein said as he lowered his right palm to them.

Alger nodded and sat down again, he looked at Audrey and spoke. 

"If you can obtain the blood of a ghost shark, get someone to send it to the Warriors & Sea bar at the Pelican Street, in the White Rose Borough of the Pritz Harbour. Tell the owner William that it is what that the Captain wants."

"After I confirm the receipt of the item, would you prefer me to send the potion formula to an address or share it with you right here?" 

Audrey thought for a few seconds and revealed her smile. 

"I would prefer the more confidential option, which is to disclose it right here, although it will be a test of my memory." 

"Mister Fool, would you mind having a few more 'attempts' like this?" 

Alger had been listening calmly until he was also tempted by the suggestion and he quickly followed up. 

"Mister Fool, don't you find such 'meetings' very interesting? Although your strength exceeds our imagination, there will always fields in the world that you don't understand or don't excel in. While the lady sitting opposite me is obviously someone of noble origin, I do have my own experiences, insights, channels, and resources. Even the fellow beside her is at the very least in the know about Beyonders and has astute observation skills."

"In the future, it might be possible for us to help you accomplish insignificant things that may be inconvenient for you." 

'A lady of noble origin… are my actions and accent so obvious?' Audrey's mouth was half open and she froze for a moment, but she quickly recovered and nodded without hesitation. 

"Mister Fool, I believe that this is a great proposal. If the 'meetings' becomes regular, you can leave inconvenient things to us. Of course, they will need to be within our capabilities." 

Klein stretched out his right hand again and tapped the edge of the long table with his fingers. As the initiation and dissolution of the meetings were within his control, even if any problems were exposed, they could be contained quickly. Taking into account that the benefits clearly outweighed the disadvantages, Klein made the call swiftly. His tapping motion ceased and he smiled at the two pairs of expectant and envious eyes. 

"I am a person who appreciates fair and equal exchanges. I will not ask you to help unconditionally."

"Every Monday at three in the afternoon, try your best to be alone. After I make a few more attempts and figure out certain things, perhaps you can apply for a leave of absence ahead of time. You will no longer need to worry about being in inappropriate situations."

Without waiting for Alger to say a word, Audrey said in excitement.

"Then shall we give ourselves call signs? After all, we can't use our real names for conversation."

"Good idea." Nodded Klein.

Max was still sitting next to Audrey and couldn't help but think to himself, 'Is my presence so little that everyone just ups and ignores me? At the very least, Klein should have looked at me once based on his over-cautious nature. But here he is, not having even glanced at me for the past 5 minutes!'

"You are Mr. Fool derived from the Tarot Cards. Then as a fixed, long-term, and secretive gathering, we should be uniform in our designations. Yes, I will also choose from one of the Tart Cards."

"I've decided, I will be 'Justice'!" Audrey exclaimed with her hands raised in the air.

"What about you, Misters?" Audrey asked, finally taking a glance back at the wilting Max.

Alger on the other hand frowned before relaxing it immediately after and saying, "Hanged Man."

Max on the other hand stood up and bowed slightly to Klein, before speaking in a resolute tone.

"Death. I am Death, Destroyer of Worlds."

"… Alright! We can now be considered as the founding members of the Tarot Club!" Audrey had to pause for a moment in awkward silence as Max said his line, before returning to her cheerful state once again.

"Will that be alright, Mr. Fool?"

"You can decide such trivial matters by yourselves." Klein shook his head in amusement.

"Thank you! Ah! Mr. Hanged Man, can you repeat the address again once, I am afraid my memories will fail me."

"Sure." After repeating the address, the conversation flowed into talking about the Tarot Cards, how Emperor Roselle came about to invent them, and how there was a second set of more mysterious cards he had created.

Then Alger suddenly spoke about how the late Emperor had seen the Blasphemy slate and that the special set of cards he had made contained the profound mysteries of the twenty-two paths of the divine. Suddenly, Max felt that Klein was growing weaker and he quickly sent everyone, including Max back to their original locations in the real world. 'So that is how it feels…' 

Max amusedly smiled as he noticed the upper half of the pen that was away from the tip and made up of glass shattered into pieces, while the rest of the pen simply turned to dust and flew with the gentle breeze. He also noticed a strange black circle appearing on the back of his palm before rapidly vanishing. Through this, Max could feel the Sefirah Castle, though he could not enter it or use the connection in any other way other than communication.