Part 2 The Faceless Man Chapter 247 – A Circular Quest
Above the gray mist, the ancient temple-like building stood quietly.
Klein, who had noticed something unusual due to consecutive coincidences, entered this mysterious space after lunch in an attempt to confirm a certain suspicion in his heart.
He picked up the manifested round-bellied fountain pen and after a two-second pause wrote:
”I am again involved in a series of coincidences created by the sealing object ‘0-08’.”
Putting down the dark red pen, Klein held the silver chain in his left hand and unfolded the divination step by step.
When he reached the end, he opened his eyes and looked to the spiritual pendulum near him.
The citrine pendant was still, not spinning.
This indicated that the divination had failed!
It may be that the conditions are not sufficient for divination, or it may be that the “0-08” has made a confrontation …… Both cases will have similar results …… Klein changed the statement again, pointing to a different target, which can be divined. Pointing to different targets, but the divination ultimately failed.
He tapped his fingers on the edge of the mottled table, debating whether to go to the Red Rose Manor tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
If there is really no “0-08” or similar forces to arrange these things, then I suddenly absconded, will certainly arouse the suspicion of Prince Edzak, no, absconding may not be successful, Prince Edzak’s people live next door to the …… of course, is already a “faceless man”. Of course, I am already a “faceless man”, it is still very simple to find an opportunity to escape when I go out, but is it necessary to go to such an extent?
Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll pay a visit to Prince Edzak, turn in my quest, and then I’ll be able to “leave” Berkland without attracting attention, and his highness won’t force me to accomplish anything too difficult for a wild Extraordinary Person. ……
If there really is a seal like “0-08” or a demigod influencing the recent events, then judging from what happened to me, I should just be a supporting actor who entered the stage by mistake and has not yet gained enough attention, in which case, absconding is tantamount to telling the other party that I’ve detected “you! In this case, absconding would be like telling the other side that I’m aware of “your” existence! I have a big problem!
In this case, the ability to rely on the “faceless man” may not be able to get rid of the “watchful eyes” locked on me ……
The best way is to go to the Red Rose Manor frankly, using the most normal process to exit the stage, a dignified curtain call, and fade away from the “line of sight” from who knows where… ……
Combining the two elements, Klein finally decided to pretend not to find out anything, according to the predetermined plan to hand over the task, “leave” Birkeland.
……
Inside the flaming, always manned, open-air camp.
Derek Burger rested his back against a stone pillar and slept to regain his strength.
It was then that he dreamed of an endless gray mist, of an ancient chair in the very center of the highest place, and of an indifferent figure sitting in it, looking down on everything.
”Mr. ‘Fool’ ……,” Derek cried out the name in his mind by way of chanting.
Immediately afterward, he heard a voice from the ‘Fool’:
”Prepare for the party.”
Yes, Mr. Fool.” Derek answered silently, counting his heartbeats.
His eyes never opened, as if everything that had just happened was just an interlude in a dream.
There’s still a long time before we have to leave, long enough to get to the Tarot party,…… he thought, rather thankfully.
He had thought that he would be absent from the gathering when he entered the Quest Squad.
1000 heartbeats later, Derek waited a little longer before he felt himself enter the silent and peaceful temple.
He had just opened his eyes when scene after scene suddenly flashed back within his mind, as if an external force had instantly refilled his head with all the memories he had lost.
Those scenes included: the collapsed city walls; the white and blue buildings; the temple of the “Fallen Creator”, which was similar to the style of Silver City; the murals detailing the scene of the approaching doomsday and the “Fallen Creator’s” resistance to the Six Evil Gods, which had protected the remaining human beings; the beautiful yet dangerous “Mushroom”; and the “Mushroom”, which was the most beautiful and most dangerous of all. “Mushroom”; the strange yellow-haired boy, Jack, who comes from nowhere.
This scene is repeated over and over again, five times, but each time there are some differences in the details:
The first time, outside the temple of the fallen Creator, all the animal skin lanterns were extinguished, almost causing a tragedy; the second time, someone could not control himself and almost swallowed the “mushroom”, but fortunately, Chief Colin stopped it in time; the third time, the little boy Jack told an additional part of the story, that is, he and his father were in the ocean without seeing the edge of the pursuit of the Creator’s sanctuary, and the result was that he and his father were in search of the Creator’s sanctuary, and he had no idea where to come from. The third time, the little boy Jack tells an extra story about how he and his father were searching for the Creator’s Sanctuary in the boundless ocean, and were caught in a huge storm; the fourth time, Joshua was seriously injured by the little boy Jack, who had changed without warning; and the fifth time, the temple collapsed completely, blocking the exit from the underground area.
Each of these times ends with Colin the Demon Hunter killing Jack the boy, and begins with a break at the campground to prepare to enter the ruined city, and so on and so forth.
We have explored the temple five times …… we have been living this experience with no real way to end it! The more Derek made sense of his sudden extra memories, the more horrified and creeped out he felt.
Audrey “Justice”, sitting on the other side of the bronze table, originally wanted to greet Mr. “Fool” and the crowd with pleasure and lightness as usual, but she immediately noticed that the little “Sun” was not in the right mood when she swept her eyes. But with a sweep of her eyes, she immediately noticed that little “Sun” was not in the right mood, and immediately opened her mouth to ask:
”Mr. ‘Sun’, what happened? The operation to explore the Real, er, Fallen Creator’s Temple didn’t go well?”
”Sun” Derek was like grasping hope, hurriedly describing what happened in a general way, and at the end said:
”After that little boy was cleared by His Excellency the ‘Chief’, we all closed our eyes and then awakened in the camp outside the city, ready to begin a new quest, with no further memories of what had gone before.
”This process was repeated five times, differing only slightly in detail.
”If Mr. ‘Fool’ hadn’t reminded me, I wouldn’t have even known I’d been living a repetitive life all this time.”
Taking it for granted that the extra memories he had gained since coming to the Gray Mist were due to Mr. Fool’s reminder, he stood up and bowed solemnly to the blurry figure sitting at the top of the long bronze table.
I still listen to your description, only to understand what happened …… “Fool” Klein from just now until now are a bit confused.
He maintained his original posture and nodded gently in response.
In the case of not understanding the cause of the problem, the superior can not easily state, can not rashly open …… Klein secretly review the previous life as a keyboard strong man exposure to knowledge.
Seeing Mr. “Fool” as if there were no waves in the deep well, “Sun” Derek immediately felt much more at ease, and felt that the matter could be resolved after all.
He turned to the Hanged Man, the World, Justice and the Magician, and asked sincerely:
”Do you know the source of the problem? What can be done about it?”
The enthusiastic Audrey “Justice” instinctively wants to answer, but realizes that she has no clue and cannot even guess.
”Forsyth, the magician, was in a similar state.
Klein, who had a wealth of insights from Earth and had read many novels of the same genre, wanted to manipulate the “world” to give ideas and inspire us all to think, but after careful consideration, he chose to keep a low profile and was prepared to make observations first.
”Inverted Hanging Man” Alger listened to the description of the “sun”, silent for a while, and at this time said with deliberation:
”I can only think of two possibilities, one is that you have encountered a nightmare or hallucination-type ability that exceeds the level of demigods and demi-humans, and as soon as you return to the real world after retrieving your memories with the help of Mr. ‘Fool’, you should be able to immediately notice that something is wrong, and in that case, the problem would be easily solved.
”The second is that you were forced or initiated at a certain node into some peculiar space or state where time maintains a certain degree of flow but is fixed within a certain range, cycling back and forth in a balanced continuation, that is to say, relative stasis.
”There are not many ways to end the cycle in this case; either there is an external force to forcibly break that equilibrium, or find the key point that connects the time distortions.”
An outside force forcibly breaking that balance? Hearing this, Audrey “Justice”, Forsyth “Magician” and Derek “Sun” all subconsciously looked at the calm and relaxed man at the top of the bronze table. Mr. “Fool” at the top of the bronze table.
No, we can’t always turn to Mr. “Fool” for help…….k didn’t speak directly, it should be to test my ability to deal with this kind of thing……. Derek had an understanding, and thought for a moment:
”Mr. ‘Inverted Hanging Man’, let’s assume it’s the latter case, what do you think is the key point to connect the time distortion before and after?”
Without waiting for the ‘Inverted Man’ to answer, ‘Justice’ Audrey guessed with interest:
”That little boy Jack?
”The one who can’t be killed when he’s confronted?”
”Inverted Hangman” Alger nodded:
”That’s a possibility.”
He deliberated, hesitantly:
”‘The Sun’s’ description of Jack and his father reminds me of something.”
He turned to Ms. ‘Justice’:
”Did I mention that I once chased an Aurora Council ‘listener’ out to sea with the goal of finding the sanctuary of the ‘True Creator’?”
Audrey recalled carefully, unsure:
”It seems like there is such a thing.”
”The Inverted Man,” Alger said instantly, in a deep voice:
”That ‘Listener’ likewise had his child with him, and was close in age to the Jack described by the ‘Sun’.”
”Are you saying that the Jack came from your world to the area around Silver City?” “The Sun,” Derek asked rhetorically, stunned.
After a brief moment of settling, his heart was inexplicably glad.
Because it meant that the area where Silver City was located had not been completely sealed off, and there was still a chance to connect with the normal world where the Hanged Man and Justice were located!
”I can only say that it’s possible.” “Inverted Man” was unable to give a definite answer.
He thought for a moment and suggested:
”You could find a chance to mention the Sunia Sea, the Kingdom of Ruin and the port city in front of the little boy Jack, and there might be a different reaction, of course, try to avoid your Silver City chief.
”Also, the key point is not necessarily on Little Boy Jack, there are other possibilities to consider, you recount the specifics, such as the details of the mural, maybe we can find something useful.”
Speaking of this, Alger began to look forward to the information that could be obtained.