Chapter 990 Inner Fears
Almost instinctively, Leonard looked around the table and realized that none of the other Tarot Club members showed any hint of surprise. Instead, they were listening attentively.
They knew of it long ago? That’s right. This is only my second gathering. I haven’t had the chance to learn about many things… The secrets that get exchanged here sure are plentiful… Leonard retracted his gaze and returned to his original sitting posture.
After a slight pause, Audrey glanced at Xio, who sat two seats away from her, before casting her gaze at Mr. Hanged Man. She continued, “He attempted to cue me to interact with different nobles and understand their true attitude over different matters. I would then inform him of them. Thankfully, Mr. Fool had provided me with the blessings of an angel. So I wasn’t influenced in any way. Uh, what should I do next?”
You can even get blessings from an angel? Leonard looked around in surprise once more, only to see no reaction from the other members of the Tarot Club.
Obviously, he wasn’t surprised that Mr. Fool had a few angels in existence under “Him.” After all, the name and title corresponding to Death Consul was one that he had heard numerous times.
He was just surprised that the Tarot Club members were able to pray for assistance at that level. He viewed this secret organization in a new light, finding it more impressive.
Meanwhile, Xio keenly caught onto a few keywords:
Noble… Psychology Alchemists…
Combining it with the blonde hair, emerald-green eyes of Miss Justice’s blurry figure, she began to connect it to a particular friend: Audrey Hall!
However, she couldn’t be sure because blonde hair, black hair, blue eyes, and green eyes were common among the Loen nobles. People just had different combinations. Besides, no one knew how many members the Psychology Alchemists had developed in the noble circles. Therefore, Xio couldn’t directly point it at Miss Audrey from the traits she noticed.
As she tried to do a deeper level of observation, Alger had said, “There’s no need to pay too much attention to this. The various orthodox Churches will provide protective measures to their believers with a rather important status. They will prevent them from being assassinated or hypnotized. This comes from experience that has been built up over a thousand years of history. It wouldn’t be that easily overcome. From another angle, if the Psychology Alchemists really can control the nobles that simply by hypnotizing them, the ones ruling the country wouldn’t be the royal family and the three Churches. Clearly, reality is in conflict with that.
“Yes, just as you said, Hvin Rambis only gave you a cue to observe the true attitudes of the different nobles on different matters. This means that he’s holding himself back greatly, afraid of doing anything too overboard. It’s to prevent himself from leaving behind any clues. In addition, your true status among the nobles should just be in the periphery. You have no way of directly involving yourself in various political matters. Therefore, in contrast, the protection and monitoring over you wouldn’t be too strict. This is also why Hvin Rambis targeted you.”
Mr. Hanged Man’s analysis is really detailed… Although he often taught Little Sun and the others, he would secretly gain something during the process, wishing that he could get more useful information from the feedback. However, there’s none of that this time. Hmm, it’s the same for the suggestions for the punishment operation from before as well… On careful thought, his change has been happening for quite some time. It just wasn’t too obvious in the past. I even missed out on it… Audrey’s professionalism stirred up as she quickly did a mental analysis of The Hanged Man.
She quickly had a theory, suspecting that Mr. Hanged Man was trying to transform his standing within the Tarot Club!
Ever since Ma’am Hermit joined the Tarot Club and showcased her resources and channels at sea, Mr. Hanged Man has been unknowingly been searching to transform himself in a bid to distinguish himself from her… Before problems cropped up with the Artisan, this transformation wasn’t that obvious. Even Mr. Hanged Man didn’t realize it himself. It was only recently that he seemed to finally come to a realization and thought it to be true… Indeed, to maintain one’s standing in the Tarot Club, the raising of one’s strength is one aspect, but providing help to the entire group is another aspect… Audrey’s mind raced as she turned her attention back to the topic at hand.
She pondered for a moment and subconsciously, her tone turned heavy.
“Does this also mean that the orthodox Churches will have certain levels of surveillance, control, and guidance for the important nobles?”
This was something that she had thought about while in the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation’s office.
She had subconsciously drawn a scene that represented her concerns on this matter!
In psychology, elements she drew out in such a state often didn’t point to something particular. It was more like an abstract expression. The “cold eyes” mostly represented her fear for people monitoring and controlling her and her family.
Combining it with her subconscious drawing, her worry of Hvin Rambis’s cueing, and the celebrant of the Mass at the Church of Evernight her parents attended being Backlund’s archbishop, Audrey’s interpretation was that not only was she afraid of the hypnosis and cues of the Psychology Alchemists, but she had also become fearful of the othordox Churches. She couldn’t be sure if they would directly use their Beyonder powers to imbue thoughts into aristocratic believers with high standings, so as to guide them into doing actions that violated their true will.
This was sacrilegious and rebellious to Audrey, who had received an orthodox education from a young age. Therefore, she had tensed up back then, immediately burning that drawing.
After hearing Miss Justice’s question, Alger scoffed.
“Isn’t that very normal? When living in human society, one has to accept a certain level of surveillance, control, and guidance.
“I know what you’re afraid of, but think about it. Compare someone using their power conferred from their standing, using money and weapons to control and guide others, to using Beyonder powers to do something similar. In essence, is there any difference?
“The difference is that one knows that they don’t wish to do it but ends up having to do it; the other is that they do not even have the thoughts of being unwilling to do it.”
Audrey nodded and said, “Yes, this means the loss of freedom of one’s mind and thoughts. It’s the most terrifying.”
Alger chuckled once more.
“How can there be a completely free mind and thoughts? By choosing your faith and beliefs, you’re naturally bound by your faith and beliefs. Yes, let’s focus only on the Loen Kingdom. The three Churches are equal, and together with the royal family, this creates a balance between each other. If the Church of Storms goes overboard towards its believers, that believer can easily convert their faith to the Church of Evernight. Therefore, under most situations, the orthodox Churches will tend to use their standing and beliefs as a religion to guide important believers instead of using Beyonder powers.”
Balance… Audrey pondered over this term. She came to a new realization of the kingdom’s upper circles and the entire world. This was something she had come into contact with before but had never deeply understood the word.
At this moment, many of her thoughts matured.
“Thank you for your explanation, Mr. Hanged Man.” Audrey sincerely addressed him with an honorary title. “Then, how should I deal with Hvin Rambis?”
Alger calmly said, “The problem with him isn’t anything to panic about. You fully have the ability to run circles around him. You can provide him unimportant information while keeping the core secrets to heart. You can seek this opportunity to obtain potion formulas and even their Beyonder ingredients.
“After some time, when there are corresponding changes, you can consider switching strategies. Of course, you can’t be too careless. Duke Negan is an example of this mistake.”
Just as he said that, sitting at the bottom of the long mottled table, The World Gehrman Sparrow glanced at Miss Justice. He said with a hoarse smile, “When the time comes, even if Hvin Rambis were to die, no one will suspect you.”
Even if Hvin Rambis were to die… die… He’s a demigod… Mr. World has plans of attacking Hvin Rambis? Uh, it’s possible. He has always been investigating Cuarón’s suicide case. He was even the one who informed me of Hvin Rambis’s true identity… Audrey’s eyes widened slightly as she felt perturbed.
Even when she hated and felt the most fear towards Hvin Rambis, she had never had thoughts of killing this Psychology Alchemists councilor. All she considered was the means to avoid being guided. On the one hand, it was because she didn’t have such thoughts, and on the other hand, it was because he was a demigod.
This meant the top-ranking power in the kingdom and Churches!
“I understand what needs to be done. Thank you, all of you.” Audrey drew a breath and politely thanked them.
…Klein sure sounds bombastic these days. Yes, he even wishes to get rid of Amon’s avatars in Backlund. Hvin Rambis is really nothing… Leonard looked at The World Gehrman Sparrow with mixed feelings.
Cattleya and company also remained silent.
With the topic of the Psychology Alchemists coming to an end, Klein controlled The World Gehrman Sparrow to make him look towards himself.
“Honorable Mr. Fool, I wish to communicate privately with Mr. Star.”
Klein temporarily didn’t wish to let the other members of the Tarot Club learn about the eradication of Amon’s avatars. It wouldn’t be good for keeping the matter confidential, and it might lead them to be targeted by Amon.
“Sure.” The Fool Klein naturally didn’t deny his own request.
As Leonard was feeling poignant at the possibility of private communication, he informed Klein of the main points in Pallez Zoroast’s reply. It also included the problem of the Worm of Time Beyonder characteristics loss.
This made Klein suddenly realize how he could use his Worms of Spirit to create charms and bullets.
Split off a few and kill them. When the characteristic contained in them return to my body, the remaining material can also be used like a Worm of Time!
The only problem is that killing Worms of Spirit deals a certain level of damage to myself. After all, each Worm of Spirit contains a part of my Spirit Body. Yes, I have to limit the number each time. Only after I fully recover can I do it again… In thought, Klein got The World Gehrman Sparrow to reply, “I will try my best to confirm if a blessing of Concealment is possible before I give you an answer.
“If there’s no problem, we can attempt to seek out Sealed Artifacts of the Marauder pathway at the demigod level. Of course, I will try to think of the means to identify the grafting of fate.”
Klein wasn’t sure if “observation” from above the gray fog would allow him to see the truth of fate, just like how he was able to see his believers being parasitized. Hence, he planned on using the Paper crane to contact Snake of Mercury Will Auceptin and gain his expert opinion.
“Alright.” As Leonard grumbled about how Old Man would’ve recovered further if demigod-level Sealed Artifacts at the Marauder pathway were that easy to find, he nodded slightly in response.
