Volume 7: The Hanged Man Chapter 34: The Fourth Man

　　Bernadette gazed long and hard at the outlines until, as the Dawn drew nearer, they became clearer and clearer, outlining an island of considerable size.

　　On the island, one giant tree after another, dark green and almost black, towered over the ground and obscured the peaks of the mountains.

　　Although Bernadette wasn’t sure that this was the same primitive island her father had once visited, the intuition of a “master seer” told her that this was probably the place she was looking for.

　　As the coastline came into view, she pursed her lips, buried her head, and chanted an honorific name:

　　”The Fool who does not belong to this age, the Mysterious Lord above the gray mist, the Yellow and Black King who reigns over good fortune ……”

　　Immediately afterward, the “Queen of Mystery” Bernadette raised her hand, so that the “Dawn” without a crew stopped offshore, not close to the shore.

　　At the same time, the sound of piano, violin, cello, flute and other instruments resounded in the unoccupied cabin, interweaving a warm and joyful tune.

　　As the music echoed, the toast, steaks, mashed potatoes, and sautéed mushrooms that had been placed on the dinner plates leapt up one after the other, and dance-like, returned to the oven or were thrown into the garbage can.

　　Wine bottles, white cloths and other things also returned to their original positions, or filled themselves with corks, or kept folding themselves to become neat.

　　Then, with a flick of her right hand, Bernadette threw out a brightly colored, not real enough, ball of wool.

　　The ball of thread rolled into the void, leaving behind a single strand of wool, along which Bernadette strolled through the spirit world to the edge of the nameless island.

　　The “Queen of Mysteries” did not hurry to go deeper, to look for the possible tomb of the “Black Emperor”, but discreetly let her eyes, blue as the sea, become deep, briefly out of focus, as if she were peering into the river of destiny.

　　After a few seconds, Bernadette’s eyes returned to normal, and she subconsciously glanced up at the sky.

　　She felt herself being watched by a certain being.

　　Of course, this was something she had expected, as she had taken the initiative to chant the name of Mr. Fool.

　　Above the gray mist, in the old palace, Klein, who had the “Fool” card, draped in the “curtain” and holding the “Staff of the Star”, was praying through the “Mystic Queen” through the light of the “Mystic”. Queen’s prayers, and was examining the island through the “Mystic Queen’s” prayer points.

　　In his true vision, the island was shrouded in a faint, distorted blackness, making it impossible for him to see directly into it, and he could only gain Bernadette’s perspective.

　　Even if it’s not the original island that Roselle the Great found, it’s still not simple …… Klein nodded his head imperceptibly and waited for the Mystery Queen to do more exploring.

　　Bernadette didn’t use the thread again, as she had a feeling that it would lead her into a dangerous abyss that she couldn’t fight.

　　She took out an imaginary hat and put it on her head.

　　Her figure as a ship’s captain disappeared and she was hidden from view.

　　This is also one of the fairy tale spells from “Mystic Reappearance”, which centers on a “hat” that makes people invisible.

　　Then, Bernadette followed a path made by human beings and entered a forest of huge trees.

　　There was no birdsong, no hissing of beasts, no crawling of insects, and it was as peaceful as if time had frozen, and as dead as if there were no living beings here.

　　According to Bernadette’s understanding, there should be quite a few extinct transcendental creatures here, and it would normally be quite lively, but now, she felt that she was walking through an uninhabited graveyard, and every giant tree was a tombstone.

　　If she were one of those extraordinary beings with a weak mind, at this moment, she would have already tensed up her spirit, carrying a heavy pressure on her back, a little bit closer to the edge of losing control, but Bernadette’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, as if she had already gotten used to moving forward in danger and weirdness.

　　After walking for nearly two quarters of an hour, she still didn’t see any living being, or even feel the presence of the wind.

　　Suddenly, her eyes opened up, for the huge trees thinned out in front of her.

　　Instead of feeling a little joy, Bernadette slowed her pace and raised her hand against her brow.

　　In front of her, a pair of eyes without eyelashes appeared, unusually cold and transparent.

　　Then, this pair of “peeping eyes” was held by unseen hands and placed on the face of a transparent person.

　　This was the “invisible servant” of Bernadette.

　　With the “invisible servant”, the “peeping eye” quickly passed through the remaining road to the open forest floor.

　　During this process, its vision gradually became clearer, and it seemed to no longer be affected by the faint black color permeating the air.

　　Finally, this “invisible servant” reached the edge of the open area, and passed the situation there back to Bernadette’s vision through the “Eye of Secrets”:

　　Beyond the sparse trees was a large clearing where uncountable creatures lay prostrate.

　　Among them, there were red dragons with flames flowing from their skin, tree men with wood tumors as eyes and split mouths, eight-legged magic wolves, giants with long limbs, feathered serpents with greenish scales and oily feathers, which looked like small mounds when they were coiled there, and all kinds of creatures that were a mix of humans and beasts.

　　At this moment, they were all facing one place, prostrating their upper bodies or heads, seemingly worshipping some unknown existence, and none of them made a sound.

　　There were even a few humans in here.

　　One, two, three, four, five …… When Bernadette silently counted the total number of humanoid creatures, her azure pupils suddenly dilated a little.

　　She knew from “Star General” Gadelia that the primitive island discovered by her father had some kind of strange contamination, which could make the creatures that died because of it return to this place, no matter where their corpses were, and return to the source.

　　Of the “knights” who had followed Rossel the Great, first Grimm had died, then William and Perry, but other than those three, no one else had been killed in the incident, and at this point, there were five of those transcendent or mutated creatures.

　　Also, Bernadette knew that her father had finally solved the contamination problem by making the pristine island his secret base.

　　Wasn’t it the island? The “Queen of Mystery” examined the five humans one by one through her “Eye of Secrets”.

　　They were all dressed in lavishly styled Rosselian clothing, with greenish-white faces and shriveled skin, more like zombies than human beings.

　　Because all five were prostrate on the ground, Bernadette could not see their faces for the moment, and could only wait patiently for the “prayer” to end.

　　After a few minutes, the creatures simultaneously straightened their bodies, and the entire virgin forest came to life.

　　Seizing this opportunity, Bernadette saw the appearance of the five people, and compared it with her own memories and the portraits she had:

　　”Grimm, he really is Grimm, and here is that primitive island ……

　　”This is Uncle William, I remember what he looks like, he used to teach me swordplay ……

　　”Uncle Perry ……”

　　Recognizing the fourth person, Bernadette’s face, which rarely fluctuated in emotion, showed a shock that was hard to hide.

　　That person was:

　　Edwards!

　　In Bernadette’s memories, this knight had lived until his father’s fall, and then moved his family to Lemberg, not dying on this pristine island at all.

　　According to the information she received from “Iceberg Lieutenant General” Edwina, Edwards lived to be nearly 100 years old, died peacefully, and was buried in a cemetery on the outskirts of Lemberg.

　　Uncle Edwards has also returned to the island …… Didn’t he suffer from pollution and didn’t die because of it …… Thought after thought flashed through Bernadette’s mind, so much so that the pair of “invisible servants” resting on the face of the “invisible servants” had a “good look” on their faces. The “peeping eyes” on the face of the “invisible servant” kept watching the human who was suspected to be Edwards.

　　The “gentleman” had an old appearance, his hair was completely gray, and it was the same as the portrait Edwina Edwards had shown of her ancestor in his later years, and from his features and profile, Bernadette could also tell what the other person looked like when he was in the prime of his life.

　　At that time, Edwards served as her equestrian teacher.

　　Suddenly, the human suspected to be Edwards turned his head and looked at the place where the “invisible servant” was with cold and blank eyes.

　　Although Bernadette had inherited a lot of inheritance from Rossel the Great, but to be able to step by step in the mysterious world to get to this point, by no means just by items, in this instant, she made an instant decision, directly let the “peeping eye” dissipate, so that the “invisible servant” returned to the spirit world.

　　Immediately after that, she quietly changed her position in a stealthy state.

　　At the same time, above the gray fog, Klein tapped the edge of the mottled table, magnifying the probability that Bernadette would not be discovered.

　　Only when the suspected Edwards human withdrew his dull gaze and walked with the surrounding creatures to a different part of the pristine forest did Klein frown slightly and whisper to himself:

　　”What kind of mutation is this?”

　　He remembered that the Great Emperor had resolved the star pollution on this primitive island during his lifetime, but now, these creatures were still worshipping some unknown existence and performing mysterious rituals, close to the earliest descriptions in the diary.

　　Did someone from the stars encroach on this place again after the fall of the Great Emperor, or is it actually some symbol left behind by the Great Emperor that they are worshipping? Who are the two extra men that look like Edwards and Benjamin Abraham within the historical fragments? Distracted by the faint blackness of the island Klein couldn’t see what was being worshipped for the moment and could only follow Bernadette’s eyes around.

　　After a while, Bernadette, who is proficient in prophecy, finally determined that there was no living creature in that open space, so she once again summoned the “invisible servant” and gave it the “eye of mystery”.

　　The invisible servant traveled through the sparse parts of the forest and the completely empty area, and carefully arrived at the place where the creatures were worshipping.

　　There was a boulder with a simple shrine made of dark red wood.

　　”The Invisible Servant circled around halfway to the front of the shrine, and found it empty, with no idol, no emblem of symbols, and no other objects.

　　It seemed that the creatures of this island were worshipping something that did not exist.