Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1351 The Audience of Kind Words

This last honorific title undoubtedly highlights the relationship between the "Goddess of Calamity" and the "Fool".

Indeed, although one of the symbols of the title is "Lord of Mysteries," the members of the Tarot Society have clearly learned that as long as the esteemed Mr. Fool can awaken from this slumber, he will become the Lord of Mysteries, a great being above the order.

This crucial information was revealed by the "Queen," who was acting as the host of the Tarot session, and is also the goddess of misfortune.

At first, Fors did not understand why the Queen did this. This kind of information, which involved the "Old Days," could easily endanger the Tarot Society members who had not yet become angels. It was not the kind of behavior that two friendly deities would do.

But after becoming an angel, Fors realized the importance of the "anchor" to mythical creatures, especially those who became gods. Directly linking the "Fool" with the awakened "Lord of Mysteries" would help the former fight against pollution and madness in its slumber, ensuring that the great being who awakened would still be the one they knew, rather than some unfamiliar "pillar" with a terrifying reputation that spread throughout the depths of the starry sky.

As the relationship between the "Fool" and the "Queen" is revealed, Mr. World's identity is also made clear.

At first, everyone thought that Mr. "The World" was a reclusive but powerful follower of the Fool, the spokesperson for the many believers of that deity in the Tarot Club. He seemed to have been a follower of the Fool earlier than most members, but his initial sequence was not high. His public identities included Gehrman Sparrow, Dawn Dantes, and Merlin Hermes. He was very close to Miss "The Queen," searching for her on his first visit to the Tarot Club, and they eventually became lovers...

Only a few members, such as "Justice" and "Stars," knew that beneath the "World" mask was a Night Watcher, an Avenger, and an ordinary person just like them.

However, as their contact deepened and the members of the Tarot Club progressed in their ranks, some members who learned about the secrets at the top of the path through their own channels began to have new doubts about the identity of "The World":
Almost all of the twenty-two pathways have been located, and the pathway that Mr. Fool is on has been determined. But since he is a god, how did the "world" advance to Sequence 1? Does his power come from the grace of the gods, or did he jump to another pathway when he advanced to Sequence 2?

But with the "Fool's" battle—a "mistaken" divine war—these possibilities were overturned. With two gods occupying all three adjacent divine positions, the "world" should have no chance of advancing to Sequence 1...

It wasn't until Miss "Queen" announced her new title at the Tarot meeting and requested that the last part involving Mr. Fool not be spread, that everyone truly understood the relationship between the two deities.

It turns out that "the world" is "the Fool", and the Queen's lover has always been an incarnation of this deity!

Of course it's an avatar, how could it be the real body? It can't be that Mr. "World" really went from an ordinary person to a god in three years, while Mr. "Fool" has been deceiving everyone all along... Fors muttered to himself, feeling that if he continued like this, he would be punished by the gods sooner or later.

After all, her best-selling "The Great Pirate" and "The Great Adventurer" series, which have sold over a million copies in many countries, have now desecrated two deities instead of one!

Fortunately, most of these speculations and gossips were private conversations among Tarot Club members, as well as Fors' own summaries. Although she didn't like to speak at Tarot Club meetings, as a full-time writer and amateur extraordinary, she had pretty good observation skills. After understanding the close relationship between the two deities, she could recall many of the unusual behaviors of "The World" and "The Queen" at the gathering as evidence.

Even I could tell that Miss Audrey, the "righteous" spectator, must have already... The moment this thought popped into my mind, her chanting of the honored name received a response, and a deep red light lit up before my eyes.

Hugh, standing next to Fors, immediately noticed that his friend was standing there stiffly, his expression blank and motionless.

It seems she was pulled into that gray fog by the power of Mr. Fool... If it were the Queen, Fors would have become a flat image reversed left and right in the mirror... She pondered, looking with great interest at the other's strange, wax-figure-like pose.

After joining the Tarot Club, the two were almost always together, attending Tarot meetings together and leaving the mysterious gray fog together. They rarely had the experience of one of them staying in reality while the other's spirit was taken away.

It seemed that a strange power was protecting Fors's physical body, preventing her temporarily lost spirit from being possessed by evil spirits, or from falling to the ground due to an unstable posture and causing accidental injury... Hugh used the power of "Chaos Hunter" to observe abnormal and unstable factors around him to quickly confirm Fors's condition, then carried her to his side, put her back on the large armchair, and covered her with a blanket.

Only then did she have time to observe her friend who had been out of sight for over a year.

The clothes were strange; were they from another country? She said she was going to travel to another planet. Did they have countries and civilizations there too? Hugh casually poked Fors's shiny, smooth dress, which didn't seem to be made with current technology. He then pinched her cheek, which was exactly the same as he remembered her from a year ago. Finally, he quietly reached his hands to Fors's waist and gestured with his thumb and forefinger.

She has some extra fat around her waist; it seems that since becoming a "traveler," her exercise has decreased even further. Although her weight doesn't appear to have increased, her muscle has turned into fat... Wait, let's touch her again...

She reached out again, almost lying on top of the other person, only to find the body lying in the armchair in front of her shift, followed by Fors's questioning voice from above:

"Hugh, what are you doing?"

"It's over so quickly?"

Xiu scrambled to his feet, frantically trying to cover up his actions.

Feeling the faint touch on her waist and cheek, Fors nodded and said:
"It was just that Miss 'Empress,' no, the Goddess, had her body checked to see if there were any lingering health issues..."

I only had a physical examination... Wait, did the "Empress" also have a physical examination like this? A series of thoughts flashed through Hugh's mind, and he subconsciously asked:

"No problem?"

“Yes, it’s very clean… but I still have some things to do. I need to report the trip to Mr. ‘Door.’ The Abraham family has some matters to attend to, so I might not be back until tonight.” Fors nodded. “Also, things might get busy afterwards.”

Hugh suddenly forgot the feel of Fors's extra flesh around her waist and asked worriedly:

"Another new mission?"

This question made the latter's expression somewhat strange, and he answered after a moment:

"The Queen asked me to meet Amon, the one who was defeated by Mr. Fool... It is said that He is now just an angel."

— Earlier, in a villa on a quiet street in Queens, a literary salon for the ladies of Backlund was underway.

In the elegantly decorated living room, ladies dressed in clothes that prioritized comfort over extravagance sat in small groups on the sofas and around the coffee tables, discussing topics that interested them, while a piano in the corner played soft music.

At the center of the group, Audrey Hall, dressed in an elegant white dress, was speaking quietly with Laura Swan, the organizer of the salon. Laura Swan was a well-known socialite in Backlund's upper-class social circles in recent years, with a beautiful face and noble temperament, but she was still slightly inferior to Audrey, who was known as "Backlund's most dazzling gem".

To the slight disappointment of the surrounding ladies, the two beauties showed no intention of competing or vying with each other; their conversation was extremely harmonious, and they frequently burst into heartwarming laughter.

In the vast ocean of subconsciousness, watching "Audrey," who had donned an independent personality mask and seemed like another version of herself, calmly handle the attention of everyone, Audrey withdrew her gaze and quickly began to interfere with the subconsciousness of all the guests present, making some seemingly insignificant modifications that would have a significant impact later.

The guests at this salon were carefully selected by Laura, the witch of the "Church of the End Times." Their husbands, fathers, or brothers might be barons on the fringes of their families, officers in the army, businessmen in a certain industry, or newly promoted civil servants, but they all happen to be in a key position that can have a significant impact on the situation within Rune.

As she watched the subconscious islands, not far apart from each other, undergo imperceptible changes under her "modifications," Audrey, whose eyes turned golden and had a vertical pupil in the middle, sighed inwardly, her thoughts drifting.

Not long after Mr. Fool fell into a deep sleep, Ms. Queen, who was temporarily presiding over the Tarot session, gave her two choices:

First, after being promoted to "Dream Weaver," she creates a virtual personality to replace herself, continuing to be her father's obedient daughter, her brother's "psychologist," and the perfect noble lady in the eyes of outsiders. Meanwhile, the real her remains hidden behind the scenes, being both the "arrogance" of the Psychological Alchemy Society and the "justice" of the Tarot Society, but not "Audrey Hall." This way, she can keep most dangers originating from and targeting herself away from her family.

Secondly, he will officially step onto the stage, realize his ideals with his own identity and his own strength, and create a better Rune and a better world. This will inevitably attract attention, both overt and covert. Although he is protected by many gods and is a Saint of the Sequence 3 "audience" pathway, he will undoubtedly bear the corresponding risks.

Feeling a strange sense of urgency, as if time was running out, Audrey chose the latter option.

Today's actions are merely a tiny, insignificant part of her many plans.

These ladies and young women had followers of the Goddess of Night, but more of them believed in "Storm" or "Steam," as did the men in their households. If it were two years ago, Audrey's ostentatious behavior would have attracted the attention of the official extraordinary beings in no time, and she could have ended up like "Manipulator" Herwin Lambis.

This is, after all, a city protected by angels. Even when the president of the Psychological Alchemy Society arrived, he only dared to disguise himself as an ordinary person, coming and going quietly, trying his best not to disturb the extraordinary individuals of the major churches.

But in these two years, too many things have happened. Intis’s “Eternal Sun” has fallen, the “Lord of Storms” and the “God of Knowledge and Wisdom” have been silent for a long time, and the churches of the two gods have also quietly shrunk their sphere of influence, as if they were preparing for something.

Meanwhile, the "Church of Fools" and the "Church of the End Times" quietly took root and sprouted in the countries of the Northern Continent, building one church after another.

Based on the information Audrey learned from the Tarot meeting, the Church of Storms and the Church of Knowledge will likely soon end up like the Church of the Fiery Sun.

Correspondingly, her "Psychological Alchemy Society" has also been very active in the past two years. On the one hand, they continue to search for the whereabouts of the last mental dragon "Erdfana". On the other hand, they are doing something similar to what Audrey was doing in the major cities where the council members are stationed, secretly influencing the local situation.

Unlike Herwin Lambis's case, the Church of the Night, the Church of Steam, and other orthodox churches remained unmoved and even subtly supported this behavior.

The tacit approval of the Church of the True God, the actions of the deity behind the Psychological Alchemy Society, and the president's promise that Erdfana's Sequence 2 "Insightful" trait would belong to me... all these signs indicate that the deities are driving changes in the world situation. Is this a new "world trend" or a harbinger of another divine war? With the audience's keen perception, Audrey can naturally perceive the true underlying threads behind many clues, but she is also filled with deep sorrow.

Although she is riding the wave and seems to be going with the flow, she could easily be overthrown by the tide of the times if she is not careful.

With a sigh, Audrey left the sea of ​​her subconscious and returned to her body. Her jewel-like emerald eyes swept over Ms. Laura before her, and she naturally picked up where they left off:

"...I've heard that a person claiming to be an emperor has appeared in the Southern Continent?"

“It seems to be the ‘Black Emperor’…” Laura’s azure eyes crinkled with amusement as she picked up a cat-tongue biscuit from the coffee table, sniffed it, but didn’t put it in her mouth. “But our King is the true emperor of Byron, isn’t he? How can there be another emperor?”

"I don't understand either..."

Audrey shook her head, feigning distress, and spoke in a soft tone, like an innocent aristocratic girl.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"The Black Emperor"... If this isn't some kind of malicious joke, it should be the resurrected Emperor Rosell Gustav... Why would He not restore His own dynasty in Intis, but instead go to the Southern Continent to establish a new empire? No, calling it a new empire isn't quite right either. His actions seem to be helping those countries suffering from the invasions of Intis and Rune to gain independence. This coincides with my intentions, those of the Tarot Society, and the gods of the Northern Continent. Could this also be part of a deal between the gods?

On the return journey in the carriage, Audrey closed her eyes and pondered.

The fall of old gods and the birth of new ones will inevitably lead to violent conflicts due to changes in their status and spheres of influence. Could the Fifth Era be ending under such circumstances...? Did my inexplicable worry and sense of urgency come from a spiritual reminder of this? I feel like I've forgotten something important... Her thoughts raced, and she thought of the "Queen" who recently became a god, and the "Fool" who had fallen into a deep sleep.

It's been over a year, and Mr. Fool's true identity... no, I should say Mr. "World's" true identity still surprises me. I never imagined that Miss Christine and Mr. Dawn, who took a photo with me, are now gods... She thought of that three-person photo at the Rune Charity Foundation, of Mr. Fool's brother and sister, and of Miss Queen's cousin. As a "spectator," her curiosity was almost overflowing from her chest.

Suddenly, a cold voice reached Audrey's ears:

"An impromptu meeting, related to Miss 'Magician'."

It was Fors, who had been gone for over a year and was said to be traveling to the stars... Audrey was overjoyed, but the next second she was surrounded by a deep red light.

(End of this chapter)