Part 1. The Joker Chapter 59: Rossel’s Initiation
Hearing the “Fool’s” question, Audrey did not answer at once as before, but opened her crystal eyes and looked at the “inverted man” with a critical attitude.
Alger unconsciously collected body movements, silent for a few seconds and then spoke:
”I found two pages of Rossel the Great’s diary and memorized their contents.”
”I have a page.” Audrey, whose vision was spaced out by the gray mist, replied in an aside-like tone.
”Very good.” Klein didn’t let his elation and disappointment infect his voice.
He was elated that there were three full pages, and disappointed that there were only three, because the first collection must have been relatively easy, a tap into the potential of his own resources and channels, and by the time it followed, it would be more and more difficult, and would involve more factors.
”Shall we ‘express’ it now?” Audrey calmly solicited.
”Yes.” Klein nodded succinctly.
He maintained his previous posture, barely changing it; caution was necessary in front of an ‘audience’.
As his words fell, tawny parchment and dark red pens instantly appeared in front of Audrey and Alger.
The two picked up their writing instruments separately and began to recall the memorized symbols within their minds and give urgency to the emotions expressed.
Wordlessly, line after line of text was added to the tawny parchment, some proper and atmospheric, some showy and meandering, and some seven crooked.
In less than a minute’s work, all of what Audrey and Alger had forced down was topologized.
With a movement of Klein’s mind, the three pages of parchment flashed into his hands.
Sweeping his eyes over, he skimmed through the diary and found that there was a reversal of the order of the language, and there were omissions and typos in the content.
However, experiments had proved that errors in order within a certain degree did not affect the reading of the Chinese language, and he who had been tortured by asterisks for a long time was even more undaunted by omissions and typos:
”On April 8th, I stood on the prow of the ‘Black Throne,’ opened my arms wide, and said to Green and Edwards and the others, ‘Want my treasure? Then come and find it at the end of the Sea of Mists, where I have hidden all my treasures!’ They didn’t get my humor at all and asked me if I really had extra treasure, how boring, you guys can’t be my Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse like that!”
”On April 11th, an unnamed island not in the safe channel was discovered, and there are quite a few transcendental species on it, no, I prefer to call them transcendental species, it’s more forced. In addition to them, there are so many other strange and bizarre creatures on the island that I’m sure Darwin couldn’t have written another theory of evolution if he had traveled back in time.”
”April 15th, Grimm is getting a little weird, is he infected by something?”
When had Rossel the Great, who was born in the Kingdom of Intis, ever sailed far away? The Sea of Mists should be the ocean to the west of the Republic of Intis …… Well, I have to go to the library to find some historical information to cross reference …… Klein flew through a page and cast his eyes to the back.
At this time, he no longer hides the fact that he knows the secret symbol of Rosel the Great, because this belongs to the behavior that is in line with the identity of the Fool, while Audrey and Alger both did not say anything, quietly sitting there and waiting, they seem to be the result of this phenomenon does not feel the slightest bit surprised, and even think that this is how it should be the right thing to do.
”On October 2nd, they actually decided to get me engaged to Matilda of the Abel family without consulting me beforehand! My God, I haven’t even met her yet! No, I’ll refuse! Even if I run away from home, even if I have to fend for myself from now on and be oppressed, I will still rebel against this arranged marriage!”
”October 5. Miss Matilda is so beautiful.”
”October 6th, her personality, her temperament, are all my favorite type, I’m beginning to look forward to our marriage.”
Hey, Great, where are your modesty …… Klein leaned back in his high backed chair, not letting his emotions penetrate the gray fog.
He’d realized that early on, Russell didn’t keep a journal every day, usually putting pen to paper only when something came up and he needed to spit it out, to record it, to express his emotions.
Moving his eyes down, Klein looked at the last entry on the page of the diary:
”October 9th, they actually called me the Son of Steam, I like it.”
Seeing that the contents of the previous two pages were of little value for the time being, Klein was inevitably a little tiny bit disappointed.
But he did not lose heart, and replaced the third page of the diary at the top, which contained the contents written on the front and back of the page:
”On May 21st, the Church of the Artisan God gave me two choices, the beginnings of two sequential pathways, a ‘Generalist’, which belongs to that complete chain of sequences they themselves hold, and a ‘Secret Peeper’ that comes from the Moss Ascetics and lacks the higher sequence.”
”On May 22, my choice was simple, the ‘Tomesters’! The ‘Generalist’ with the complete sequence! Although acquiring more knowledge of the occult would help me find a way to get home, the problem is that when one is not strong enough, such things as traversing are bound to be done with the help of external forces, which are good or bad, well-intentioned or ill-intentioned, uncontrollable, and very dangerous, and since this is the case, it would be better for me to make myself strong, and to go back on my own, so the complete sequence is the primary factor in my consideration! ”
”On May 23rd, I became a ‘generalist’, relying on the power of the magic potion, I actually recalled the knowledge I had learned before in its entirety, physics, chemistry, and so on and so forth.”
”Not only did I recall them, I also deeply understood and mastered them, haha, this is simply a ‘profession’ tailor-made for me, a visitor from a foreign land, to maximize my strengths! I have to say, if I go back in such a state and return to my senior year, I can definitely become a top student, and if I have a more standardized and in-depth professional study, a scientist isn’t too difficult a goal.”
”May twenty-six, I am enjoying being a ‘generalist.’ A curious thing, when I presented myself as a ‘generalist’ and did things to fit its niche, the whispers that drove me almost mad quieted down quite a bit, and my temper, which flared up from time to time, got under control, and the matter of the diary came to mind.”
”Is this the ‘play’ that the mysterious Mr. Charatu mentioned to me? This might be the key to solving the hidden danger of the magic potion.”
Klein looked at the page of the diary and was deeply impressed that there was a clear difference between himself and Rossel the Great in terms of personality and style.
For example, in the matter of going home, he was thinking more about avoiding dangers and accomplishing his goal with an in-depth mastery of occult knowledge, whereas Archon Rosel’s idea was to rely on himself and take the dangers into his hands.
”I have to say, there are times when I kinda envy this kind of people, perhaps, everyone thirsts for what they don’t have …… Of course, I also have to consider the matter of strengthening myself, grasping both hands both hands …… “One thought came to Klein’s mind, making him sigh for a moment.
The description of the hidden dangers of magic potions by Emperor Rosier has given him a lot of confidence in last night’s summary, and a clearer grasp of the essence of the “play”.
Putting down the three pages of the diary, Klein looked up at “Justice” and “The Inverted Hanged Man” and smiled slightly:
”Sorry, got caught up in the reading.”
Audrey smoothed out her inner envy and smiled bashfully:
”I can understand that, and I look forward to the day when I can exchange the contents of Roselle the Great’s diary from you.”
”That comes at a price.” Klein smiled and glanced at Justice, sweeping over the silent Hanged Man.
Audrey clasped her hands in front of her and said:
”Mr. Fool, Mr. Inverted Man, I have three questions I would like to ask, if you think the answers are of high value, tell me what you want and I’ll try to find out later.”
”No questions.” Alger replied simply and stoically.
Klein nodded softly and leaned back more comfortably.
Audrey thought for a few seconds and said:
”First question, what exactly does ‘play’ mean? I’ve noticed that the residual spirit within the magic potion affects me very slightly, is that because I’ve been playing the audience all this time?”
Without speaking, Alger turned his gaze to the Fool, seemingly waiting for an answer as well.
Klein tapped his fingers on the edge of the long table and spoke in a relaxed tone:
”Let me use a more graphic example to illustrate, the core power of Sequence Magic Potion is a well-guarded castle, and those remnants of the spirit that cause backlash reside within the castle, our goal is to resolve it and truly become the master of the castle.”
”We now have two methods, one is to force our way in, which may not be successful but will certainly hurt ourselves unless we crush it with absolute superiority, which we obviously don’t have.”
”The second method, we have an invitation given by the owner of the castle, this invitation will allow us to pass through the guards’ inventory and sneak inside the castle without any problems, easily taking care of the enemies, but the problem is that this invitation has the guests’ external features and corresponding temperament descriptions on it, so we have to make a disguise and ‘play the part of ‘ into the invited guests, got it?”
As if he had already guessed, Alger immediately asked back:
”That invitation is the name of the Sequence Magic Pill?”
”Yes.” Klein gave an affirmative reply.
Audrey listened in a daze, feeling that she completely understood the meaning of “play”.
The slightly agitated woman immediately broke away from the “audience” state and praised joyfully:
”What an outstanding method, I think, I think, it is very suitable for your title, its style and ‘fool’ very chiseled and …… I completely did not expect ‘playing ‘ was functioning in this way, and let’s be thankful that I’ve been instinctively playing the ‘audience’ all this time.”
She added after a pause:
”I think that’s a very valuable answer, and there’s no way I can just take it in peace; what kind of exchange do you require, Mr. Fool? Of course, I remember I owe you a page of Rossel the Great’s diary.”
”More of Roselle’s diary, or ……,” Klein paused.
He had originally intended to say anything about the Diviner sequence, but felt that such a low-level request would ruin the image of the Fool, so he gave it up temporarily, planning to ask without a trace later when he found an opportunity.
Anyway, I have just been promoted for a short time, and I have not yet completely digested the “Diviner” magic potion …… He so relieved himself, and added without moving:
”Or anything about the Antigonus family, even the parts I knew before.”
Alger was silent for a few seconds, glanced critically at the head of the long bronze table, and spoke slowly and soberly:
”Mr. Fool …… Then I can now pay you for the answers you just gave.”