The Devil

With Ethan having recalled everything he has ever come across in his entire previous life, he now had a thorough understanding of some of the most important things that happened in the book his son loved.

Before, even if he could recall his son talking about the book on many occasions, at the end of the day, it was just that. He couldn't remember any important information.

But now, with the powers of a Savant, Ethan perfectly remembered some of the details his son had spoken about before.

The most important thing he remembered was the identity of the protagonist, by the way his son talked about him, it seemed the protagonist was some kind of 'God'.

It was a 'God' called 'The Fool', he organized some kind of gathering for other Beyonders and helped them evolve.

Ethan didn't really understand the plot of the book, or how it would follow a 'God', but he did know that this protagonist seemed to be human at the beginning.

He was a person that got transmigrated to this world and used something called 'Sefirah Castle' to become some kind of God.

But Ethan knew this would only happen at the end of the book. The only problem was: Ethan didn't know what part of the book he was at.

Which meant that he couldn't be certain of the protagonist's current situation. He might be a 'God' or he might be still a human.

But Ethan remembered one thing, one minor detail his son talked about when he began reading this book. His son talked about the interesting honorific name of this protagonist as a 'God'.

And so, Ethan now knew it. He perfectly recalled The Fool's honorific name, he only needed to translate it to Hermes, or Ancient Hermes he learned from James' mental imprint.

Thinking about his current situation, Ethan still decided against saying the honorific name and praying to that protagonist.

While his son did say the protagonist was a good person, he didn't know if this had changed when he became a 'God'.

And so, Ethan would try to get more information first. Boarding the steam locomotive to leave Backlund, Ethan bought a ticket to a small village on the outskirts of the city many miles away.

While seated inside the locomotive, Ethan started thinking how he could get more Sequence 9 characteristics.

'There isn't much I can do on the outskirts like this. However, I might be able to find some wild Beyonders hiding in the forests outside the villages.' Ethan came to realize that leaving Backlund would bring a big stump to his advancement as a Beyonder, but still couldn't do anything about it.

Having nothing much to do, Ethan started reading the newspapers, finding nothing really useful to him in it.

…

Rether Village, outskirts of Backlund, three months later.

Ethan was sitting upon a small, wooden rocking chair. He had a book in his hands and was reading the newest newspaper from Backlund.

After so many days living in this small village, Ethan was indescribably displeased. He simply couldn't accept living in such bad conditions when compared to his past house.

This house had no gas at all, if Ethan wanted to take a hot bath, prepare his food, or even light the lights, he would need to go through a strenuous process for that.

However, today was an incredibly special day. It was so because Ethan noticed a very peculiar notice in the newspaper he was reading.

"Private detective, Sherlock Moriarty, contact Unit 15 Minsk Street."

Seeing this notice, Ethan immediately knew what it meant.

"Transmigator…" He didn't know if there were other transmigrators in the book. But it was improbable considering it was a Chinese work.

Seeing this notice, Ethan knew it was time for him to act. He knew that the newspaper was most certainly outdated. As it was from the beginning of September, and it was already October.

However, he also knew there was no way for the protagonist to become a god in so little time. Which meant that, they were still in the middle of the plot of the book called 'Lord of Mysteries'.

Ethan then decided to do a test. He didn't know if it would work, but he would still try.

He got up from the wooden rocking chair and started reciting some things in Ancient Hermes.

"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era; The mysterious ruler above the gray fog; The King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck; I pray for your attention; I pray for you to help me in this moment of need."

Having said all of this, Ethan suddenly felt he was being observed. He couldn't quite put a finger on how he was able to feel this, or where did the gaze come from. But he knew someone was looking at him.

Thinking of this, he immediately did something unimaginable. Knowing that this protagonist was gentle and caring from the way his son talked about him, he knew that he would most certainly help him were Ethan to give him a consistent reason to do so.

Having this thought in mind, Ethan used the power of Sloth to tilt the balance of his existence once again, shaking the foundation of his mind.

By doing this, Ethan instantly showed signs of losing control. He kneeled down to the ground and said, "Please! Please help me! I don't want to die!"

Using his best acting possible, Ethan even went as far as shedding tears.

With this, his vision suddenly changed, being enveloped by a dark red light.

He soon found himself seated upon a long, mottled bronze table. His surroundings were filled with a grayish white fog. There was a gigantic palace above him that looked like an Ancient Greek structure.

And at the end of the long, mottled bronze table with twenty-two chairs around it: There was an entity, surrounded by boundless gray fog, he was wearing a black tailcoat, a black felt top hat, and had a calm smile on his face.

Ethan was certain who this 'person' was. He was 'The Fool'.

…

A few minutes ago.

Klein was about to prepare himself to receive the Tarot Club members when he suddenly heard a raspy male voice's illusory plea in his ears.

Already ready to go above the gray fog, Klein immediately looked over to one of the crimson stars that was glowing with a bright light.

Looking inside the prayer point of light, Klein saw the outline of the figure that prayed to him.

It was an old gentleman with raven black long hair and green eyes. He was wearing a full black tail suit with silver embroidery and black gloves made from velvet.

The man was kneeling on the ground and begging for help, he seemed to be about to lose control.

Analyzing his Spirit Body, Klein found the problem. The man seemed to have many blemishes on his Spirit Body that were consuming him.

It was like the old man had many different Spiritual Bodies that simply couldn't coexist inside his Material Body.

Coming to this conclusion, Klein knew that he could help the man by bringing him up the gray fog, as it would calm his Spirit Body when separated from the other Bodies that made his existence.

But Klein couldn't decide if he should help the man or not. After all, it might just be a trap from the True Creator or some other evil god.

Thinking to this point, Klein still decided to help. He didn't think it would be so simple to invade the gray fog like this, and he also felt bad for the old man's bad situation.

…

Having been transported to a different dimension, Ethan couldn't help but fail to respond for a second.

He looked at the person seated in the seat of honor and surrounded by gray fog, and suddenly stood up.

He gave an elegant bow, and immediately said, "Thank you!"

…

Hearing the old man's words, Klein looked at him for a few seconds and replied, "Don't worry, your Spirit Body is now safe from falling apart."

His tone was casual and devoid of any emotion, like a true god.

…

Hearing the reply from the fog covered figure in front of him, Ethan looked up once again and proceeded to say, "My lord. I came by thy honorific name in one of my dreams, that's why I decided to pray and ask for your help when I was about to completely lose control."

He treated the 'god' in front of him with a lot of subservience, after all, even if Ethan knew he was just a human, it could still be seen that he had very strange and complicated powers.

Seeing the chair around him, Ethan decided to say, " Your excellency. Are there more people that come here?"

Ethan already knew the answer to this question from the details his son talked to him about, but he still asked it.

…

Hearing the old man's words, Klein looked around and said to him, "You may call me 'The Fool'. And yes, there are others that come here. They asked me for help in convening their gathering and I agreed to it. They will come here in just a few more minutes."

After Klein said so, he saw the old man in front of him open his mouth with a surprised tone and say, "Then, Your exce- Mr. Fool, may I participate in this gathering?"

Seeing the look of reverence that the man gave him, Klein felt a bit bad about it and succinctly replied, "Sure. They use tarot card names as their code names."

Then Klein tapped the side of the long table, conjuring a deck of tarot cards upon it.

The old man looked at the conjured cards on the table with genuine surprise and went to draw one of them.

Klein was curious to what card this old man would draw. After all, he simply couldn't discern the old man's pathway at all, and the chair behind him was constantly changing with different symbols.

With the old man pulling his card, Klein saw the result in the man's hands.

"The Devil"

…

After drawing his card, Ethan was a bit surprised by the result. 'It seems this world really has quite a complicated destiny to it.'

Having drawn his card, Ethan saw it disappear from his hand. He looked at Mr. Fool and heard him say, "The gathering will begin in the next few minutes. It will happen every Monday, three in the afternoon. Backlund time."

With this, Mr. Fool didn't say much else, he allowed Ethan to stay in the palace surrounded by gray fog, waiting for the gathering to begin.

After a few minutes, Ethan saw many dark red lights suddenly flashing to the side of the long table. They formed into different figures that couldn't be very well seen with the fog's obstruction.

One of the figures stood up from her chair, and just as she was about to look at Mr. Fool, Ethan saw her look directly at him. As a Spectator, Ethan could tell her gaze was filled with curiosity.

With this, she proceeded to look at Mr. Fool and say, "Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~"