44 Tarot Club 2nd Meeting

July 2nd, 1349 of the Fifth Epoch

In an underground basement without any windows, Alger Wilson sat by a long table with various apparatuses and goatskin parchments on it. He stared at a black bottle with his dishevelled blue hair before turning his attention to the cock that had just turned to 3 o'clock.

Turning on his Spirit vision, Alger saw a flood of red appear from nowhere and engulf him completely.

…

Backlund, Empress Borough, inside the Hall mansion.

Audrey locked the door and sat straight up in front of her dressing table after dismissing her dance teacher. On the table was a luxurious goatskin book and a fountain pen with a golden tip and imbedded rubies.

"I am so looking forward to it!' She exclaimed softly while repressing her excitement.

As she returned her gaze to the mirror, she did not appear in it. Instead, a deep and endless crimson took up her vision completely.

…

Tingen

Max lay on his course bed as he prepared for the upcoming Tarot Club meeting that would decide whether he would stay in Tingen or move back to Backlund to influence Beyonders.

'If only Samuel knew how to speak Mandarin…' Max sighed to himself at his inability to digest his potion by creating fake diary pages.

As the clock struck three, a red glow engulfed him as Max observed through his Spirit Vision.

…

Above the grey fog stood a majestic divine hall that looked like a giant's residence.

Dark red colours bloomed on both sides of the bronze table, surging like a fountain before pattering down.

Three blurry figures appeared in the same spots as before. Audrey with her soft blonde hard, and tall and slim build, instinctively looked at Klein.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool!" she shouted in a cheery voice.

Following that, she turned to the blue-haired burley man Alger, and continued with the same tone.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Hanged Man!"

Finally, she turned to Max, who looked slightly like a typical villain. He had a scar on his right eye, which could not take away from his blood-red eyes, that were hidden behind silver hair. His build was toned, but not burley like Alger's.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Death!"

Klein smiled and responded in a mysterious tone.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Justice."

Max saw Klein tap his glabella twice, and glance around at all three of them one at a time. Meaning he should currently be observing how our 'Auras' look to his Spirit vision. Audrey had been like a normal human, but Alger's innermost part held his Beyonder power and was thus the same colour as the sea. Perhaps, Max's own colour might as well just be pure and endless black.

"Mr. Hanged Man, did you receive the box of Ghost shark blood?"

"Thank you very much. It perfectly met my expectations. I never expected you to send it to me so quickly."

Audrey smiled humbly. Although she was happy with the result, she had taken the blood from her family's vault. Despite the inventory only stating a bottle and not how much, it could still be discovered. Yet, she was not too concerned with this matter since even if she was exposed, her parents were unlikely to pursue the matter much further.

"According to our agreement, I will tell you the formula to the potion Spectator."

"Low sequence potions are very easy to concoct. Just following the steps provided and it should be ready. But remember that smaller quantities would be fine, but larger quantities of anything would lead to major problems like losing control or worse. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Fool…" Alger turned to Klein and asked respectfully, "Is there a way to have a private conversation with Ms. Justice? After all, she was the only one who has paid the price for this."

This left both Klein and Audrey at a loss for words, while Max's mouth couldn't help but twitch. Klein took a moment to gather himself before nodded and waving his hand. The grey fog surrounded both Alger and Audrey, and Max could no longer hear them, nor could they hear or see Max.

"Spectator. Sequence 9 potion. 80 millilitres of pure water. 5 drops of autumn crocus essence. 13 grams of cow teeth paeonol powder. 7 petals of elf flowers. A mature Manhal fish's eyeball. Add 35 millilitres of goat-horned black-fish blood."

"The final two items are the main ingredients. They are extraordinary creatures from the sea so you have to be careful."

After this, the grey mist wall secluding Max disappeared, causing a brief silence to ensue, before Alger continued. Alger than went on to describe Cogitation and how it was important to survive ingesting a potion as well as the importance of discovering and grasping the meaning of the potion.

Meanwhile, Klein was trying to hide the shame he felt at losing control over the grey fog and allowing it to be dispelled. Now, he could not put it back as it would mean that he had made a mistake, and an esteemed person like the Fool would definitely not do that.

It was now that Klein would have normally intervened. However, Max was faster and spoke up.

"Mr. Hanged Man. It appears you are not that well regarded in you church. Either ways, let me give you a hint, free of charge."

This caused Alger to halt in his rebuttal at Max's blatant insult.

"Ms. Justice, this will also be important to you so do listen. It is not about grasping and discovering the meaning. Instead, it is about digesting the potion. In order to do this, you will need to 'act.' As for what you act like, that entirely depends on the potion name. After all, the names are not just for show. Just like Sailor would involve 'acting' like a sailor, the Spectator involves 'acting' like a true spectator."

"The method by which you go about 'acting' is different for each individual, but you must find the truth behind the name of the potion in order to act properly. This will greatly speed up the time it takes to fully digest the potion. Of course, it is only told to the higher-ups of the Church, and those trusted completely by them. Based on my observations, Mr. Fool was just about to correct you on this misunderstanding as well."

Max said with a clearly disdainful smirk at Alger.

"Oh, and by the way, I already knew the potion formula for Spectator. Pure water, autumn crocus essence, cow teeth… should I go on? Kek. Mr. Hanged Man, you think too highly of yourself. And you, Ms. Justice, you are too quick to believe in those around you. Although this potion formula is the correct one and Mr. Hanged Man does not bear any ill will to you for the moment, how do you think that may change in the future? In essence, the two of you have given each other's secret identities away if a Beyonder of sufficient Sequence and conviction from either party were to try, they would find the other person."

Max just shook his head and turned back to Alger.

"Still, Mr. Hanged Man, you should be careful. The gods may be tolerant, but they are not blind. It's best if you do not think too much about this meeting back in the real world. Even thoughts are not safe from the real power-houses of the world."

With that, Max adjusted his seating posture to a more comfortable one and returned to the mute silence that he had maintained from the beginning. Internally, he was smirking as he had achieved a lot. But then recalled that he had basically taken away the part of Roselle's Diary repeatable quest from the two players!

"Ah, but Mr. Fool, does everything with equal exchange. So, there must have been something in mind right Mr. Fool. Some tasks that Mr. Hanged Man and Ms. Justice can do to repay for such advice? Maybe even I can complete this task in return for something I might need."

The Fool simply stoked his chin while trying to act mysterious before nodded.

"Collect Roselle Gustave's secret diary on my behalf, even if it is only a single page."

"Diary? That is a Dairy?" Alger couldn't help but frown.

At this moment, Max decided to speak up once again.

"I once read a book which depicted the item that the still alive Emperor Roselle left behind to be a diary." Max nodded to Alger's odd question.

Klein almost immediately turned his attention to Max, who just smirked internally. Alger also froze on the spot while Audrey took a second longer to realise what Max had just said.

She couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean by Still alive Mr. Death?"

"Well, that will cost you."

"How much!" Alger said in a flustered tone. This was incredibly important information and he could not miss out on the opportunity to gain it. Considering it was something as significant as the Emperor still being alive, he needed to get it.

Young Ms. Justice also nodded.

"Well, I could use some items. They are not any Beyonder Items, but they are a lot of items and it is a chore to hunt for them on my own. Considering my organisation cannot move around too freely at the moment, I would like to commission both Mr. Hanged Man and young Ms. Justice and if Mr. Fool has any free followers, to source these items for me. Of course, I will be willing to pay the market price for the items you bring. So, in all, I am giving you the information for you to search and locate items for me. Will that be alright?"

"Sure." Alger nodded the moment he heard the fact that Mr. Death was going to be handling the money separately.

"Hmm. But it will be hard for me to recall all the items you want as well as my potion formula."

"No problem. Your memory will improve once you become a Beyonder, especially a Spectator. For now, just remember 2 items and try to get them. Remember, this will be a long-term mission. In essence, I just want you and your people to keep a lookout for these items and buy them if possible when they appear. Also, Mr. Fool, is it alright to keep a permanent board in this castle where people like me can write down things were want and others can read up on it whenever possible during meetings, to refresh their memory instead of me having to repeat all items continuously each time?"

Klein paused for a moment before waving his hand, and a piece of yellowish-brown goatskin and fountain pen appeared in front of Max, who had just begun writing wordlessly. He imagined the items in his mind and his hand moved on its own to write it down.

He quickly wrote down all the ingredients for all his sequences from Sequence 7 Fools End to Sequence 0 Singularity. Of course, he completely jumbled them up, added another 20 random items, and increased the amounts of many of the items, to prevent anyone from coming up with the correct formula for his pathways.

In essence, he would no longer have to hunt for them on his own, as he had others to do it for him.

After writing three pages of ingredients, Max finally stopped and placed them at the centre of the table, between Alger and Audrey and returned to his comfortable position before telling his information.

"Emperor Roselle is not dead in the simplest definition of the term. As all Beyonders should know, that knowledge is not only power, but it also corrupts and is the downfall of even the greatest beings. Similarly, Emperor Roselle also became a bit too curious about the knowledge he should not have had, so he ultimately ended up in a half-alive and half-dead state. I do not know where he is or how to find him, but I can personally guarantee that he most definitely is alive, and will be till at least the year 1352 of the fifth Epoch." Max stopped speaking for a moment before his words finally settled into the minds of the three others before changing the topic.

"Anyways, Mr. Fool. I will do my best to collect the diary pages of Emperor Roselle, no matter how small they are."

Alger also recovered from his shock at the revelation and nodded to Mr. Fool. He then turned to the still slightly stunned Ms. Justice and began to explain to her the important aspects of being a Beyonder and being a Spectator that she must keep in mind.

Klein on the other hand ignored most of this as his mind buzzed with questions, not one that he had an answer to, and not one that he could directly ask Mr. Death. Although he could clearly see Death's real appearance, he did not know who he was and could not break his persona as The Fool.

'If only I had a Smurf account.' Klein ruminated.

"It seems like there is nothing else." Alger sighed after his long monologue.

"Perhaps we can have a casual chat. We can talk about things happening around us. Perhaps it is something very normal to you, but in the ears of others it may be very important."

"Sure." Klein put his impressive mental recovery skills on display as he nodded slightly to Alger's suggestion.

"Then shall we begin with you, Mr. Hanged Man?"

"The infamous pirate who calls himself, Lieutenant General Deweyville has begun his voyage to explore the eastern end of the Sonia Sea again."

"Oh? The owner of the Black Tulip?" Audrey asked after some thought.

"Yes," Alger replied with a nod.

"According to what I know, the Secret Order has lost an Antigonus family notebook," Klein said off-handily.

"An Antigonus family notebook?" Alger questioned with a smirk, "I am really curious how the church of the Evernight Goddess will react to this if they ever learn of it."

"Why are you curious?" Audrey asked all of a sudden, unable to hide her confusion and curiosity.

"Well, the Antigonus family was destroyed by the church of Evernight after all."

"Alright, my turn." Audrey began with a bunch of irrelevant information about her daily life before realising her fault and bringing up an interesting topic.

"After the failure of the battle on Balam's eastern short, the king, premier, and gentlemen are under immense stress. They eagerly wish to change. They believe that the government's structure is too chaotic. In every election, if there is a change in the ruling party, personnel are also changed from top to bottom. It makes a mess of things and not only did it cause us to lose the battle, but also inconveniences the civilians."

At this moment, Max interjected before Alger could make his snide remark about the nobility of Leon and their idiocy.

"Well, just change the form of governance then. Make the positions requiring expertise to be filled only by those who meet the requirements, and these positions do not need to change with the ruling party. Make the tests and screening rigorous such that only the most qualified people are selected, and only the highest positions of power are to be held by the ruling party, and to be changed each election."

"This way, the ruling party will have full control over the officials, but when the party changes, everything other than the top orders remain the same. His way, there is also a direct link of responsibility that each official holds and will have to answer to in a court of law."

Max went on to elaborate on Klein's master plan and made sure to tell her not to hurry to change everyone, since that would cause more pandemonium.

Klein simply stared at Max in shock. This was exactly what he was going to suggest, except he was going to suggest slightly different things. Instead of holding regular tests as Klein was originally going to say, Max instead suggested immediately making every applicant go through a board of members of universities and schools from all over Backlund who taught those particular subjects for that position; at least for the individuals at a higher level.

Then, these individuals selected can create a comprehensive screening process for his direct subordinates and supply it to this board of members, as well as the king, who together would accept it and allow the screening of those lower to begin until all positions were gradually taken over by the most competent individuals while leaving others vacant for more competent people from Leon's workforce to join.

"That is simply brilliant!" Audrey exclaimed as the gears of her mind rapidly turned to finally understand how much this would change Backlund, and the Leon kingdom as a whole.

"Alright, it is my turn for news. Well, I do not know much myself, but an ex-member of the Nighthawks is currently in Tingen with an item whose name cannot be called. After all, some objects and beings are so terrifying that even knowing about them means they intern… know about you. Either way, that is all I know."

Alger simply nodded stiffly upon hearing the latter half, while Audrey only nodded with a confused expression. Klein on the other hand had stiffened as he realised that he too was in Tingen! Was something bad going to happen in Tingen?

"Alright, we will end today's meeting here." Klein waved his hand.

Alger, Audrey, and Max stood up, bowing to Mr. Fool, "By your will," before vanishing, leaving behind a pensive Klein.

[AN: Sorry for the overly long chapter of almost 3k words. As compensation, the next chapter will be shorter! Kek]