Volume 7: The Hanged Man Chapter 6: Choices

　　After writing some more impressions of Tingen, Klein briefly mentions that he has completed the ritual to become a Sequence 1 “Mystic Servant” and resolved one of the shadows that had long clouded his mind – the head of the Order of the Secret Doctors, Chalatu.

　　He did not describe his predicament in detail, but only seriously explored the spirituality of angels.

　　Putting his pen away and folding the paper, Klein probed inside the Source Castle and took out his Aztec brass whistle, brought it to his lips and blew.

　　Inside the cheap café, a fountain of white bones came out and formed a huge messenger.

　　This messenger then shrunk its body, becoming only as tall as a normal person.

　　At the same time, it knelt down on one knee and extended its palm.

　　”There’s no need to fear me so much.” Seeing this, Klein let out a laugh and said, “It’s not like I’m going to do anything to you?”

　　As he spoke, he picked up the epistle and placed it in the white bone messenger’s palm.

　　The messenger nodded heavily a few times, not knowing what it was agreeing with.

　　Then, its body disintegrated and turned into a white bone, drilling into the ground.

　　At this time, the owner brought coffee, oatmeal bread and lamb stew with tender peas.

　　While enjoying up the breakfast that was not too delicious but had a strong civilian style, Klein looked out the window, admiring the early morning street scene without any purpose, appreciating the pedestrians, carriages, trees, fog, food and machinery that made up the scene.

　　”If there is no doomsday, to maintain life as it was at Tingen, and to live it relatively comfortably, and to be able to handle the vast majority of cases, it would be best to have a Sequence 7. ‘Magicians’ are versatile in their methods, and with preparation, they would not look too weak against Sequence 6 or Sequence 5, and the ‘Faceless Man’ and ‘Secret Puppet Master’, one is easy to get lost when playing, one is easy to lose control when promoted, both are relatively dangerous, of course, if there is also a sealed ‘Creeping Hunger’, it would be perfect! …… “Klein randomly scattered thoughts, associated with the “writhing hunger” fell into the hands of Amon.

　　He didn’t know what Amon would do with this seal, but he thought that to the “Angel of Time”, this kind of item wouldn’t have much value, and after playing with it for a while, it would be thrown away to a dark and secretive “warehouse”.

　　”I wonder if there is a chance to get it back.” Klein had just flashed such a thought, but suddenly felt a bit weak.

　　Because even if he could retrieve the “Creeping Hunger” from Amon’s hands, it would still be thrown into the pile of junk, waiting to be given to the needy familiars or believers.

　　It was no different than if it was in Amon’s hands.

　　Klein quickly shifted his attention:

　　”Lost the ‘Magic Mirror’ again this time.”

　　”Adam shouldn’t be able to look at such a saint level mirror either, maybe he can roll over and get it back ……”

　　”No, Arodes seems to be spewed out from the ‘Chaos Sea’, it may not be impossible to be a medium in certain things …… Alas, I just hope that Adam won’t damage it, when I think of a way to get it back ……”

　　After becoming the “Secret Servant” and further mastering the “Source Castle”, Klein already possessed a certain amount of “secret” authority.

　　Whenever he was thinking about important things, there would always be an additional layer of thin shadow around him that no one else could see.

　　This is equivalent to the “secret realm” of the prototype of the divine kingdom.

　　Therefore, he dared to think about Adam’s name directly.

　　After sighing, Klein suddenly remembered something and asked the “Spirit Worms” guarding the “Source Castle” to “graft” a certain area of the spiritual realm that he had located when he was promoted.

　　Immediately afterward, he ate the rest of the lamb stew with tender peas and the last of the oatmeal bread stained with soup, and finished the coffee in his hand.

　　Putting on his bowler hat and rising to his feet, Klein took a step forward, directly into the spiritual realm corresponding to Utopia.

　　Then, he undid the “grafting” and returned to the ruined Utopia through this spiritual area.

　　–This was an indirect “teleportation” effect using “grafting” and his own ability to enter and exit the spirit world freely, but of course, the prerequisite was that he was able to locate the corresponding region of the spirit world, and at this point, he was able to do so. At this point, Klein, as the owner of the “Source Castle”, has a unique advantage, while Charatou and other “secret servants” can only rely on preparation.

　　Kraven, who stepped into the ruins of Utopia, looked around and saw different colors of light flickering among the collapsed houses and charred corpses.

　　They were the extraordinary properties of the monster’s secret puppets, the wealth Klein had accumulated in the godforsaken land.

　　It might not be useful to him anymore, but he still had many followers, and the number of dependents would gradually increase, as a “god”, he had to reserve some extraordinary characteristics to give.

　　”Luckily, the ‘Lord of Storms’ didn’t roll them all away in the process ……,” Klein murmured to himself, unable to help but appreciate Leodro’s words.

　　……

　　East Chester County, inside the Hall family’s manor.

　　After the sun finally rose, all the people who had suffered a lot returned to their rooms one after another to get some sleep, leaving only Alfred, the Earl of Hall’s personal bodyguard, the deacons sent by the Church of the Night and the “night watchmen” to investigate the cause of last night’s incident.

　　Audrey, while monitoring the development of the matter with the help of Susie, a big blonde dog, unscrewed the door of the bedroom and went in.

　　In the weak sunlight that shone through the curtains into the room, a figure sat quietly on a high stool, as if it were a large doll.

　　It was a giant rabbit with snowy white fur.

　　Audrey’s eyebrows moved slightly as she spoke in a low voice:

　　”Mr. ‘Fury’.”

　　This was Mr. ‘Fury’ of the Psycho Alchemy Society who had previously chased after the Mind Dragon Erihog, and was suspected to be the existence of Hermes in some capacity.

　　As she spoke, Audrey reached her hand back and closed the door of the room on her own accord.

　　With the cover of this action, the back of her hand flashed a star-like crimson “tattoo”.

　　”I’m sorry for using you.” When the door closed, the giant white rabbit took the initiative to speak, “But I could have been used by anyone.”

　　Audrey associated the door and window opening in the middle of the night and took two steps forward, responding thoughtfully:

　　”No need to apologize, just don’t bother again.”

　　This was her way of politely signaling that she wanted to get out of the Psycho-Alchemy Society, and that she hoped no one would follow up with her.

　　The giant white rabbit looked at her with bright red eyes for a few seconds and said:

　　”Your heart’s desire at one time was to protect your parents, to protect your loved ones, but don’t you think you’ve gotten involved in too much trouble, and the danger you’ve brought to them outweighs the help you can provide?”

　　Audrey fell silent for a long time.

　　”Normally, a Saint can indeed provide more safety for the family and loved ones, but only if he is not involved in a fight between angels or even deities, or, if there is a strong enough organization to rely on, in the true sense of the word.” Seeing this situation, the giant white rabbit slowly said, “There are two gifts for me to express my apologies, you are free to choose one.”

　　”Two?” Audrey asked rhetorically in a lower voice.

　　The giant white rabbit nodded, driving its ears to flutter incessantly:

　　”One is to actually become Miss ‘Pride’ of the Psycho-Alchemy Society, we can overlook the rest of your secrets and acquiesce to your other actions, as long as you don’t reveal our business to the danger of the Psycho-Alchemy Society, but of course, there is a certain downside to that, you’ll be taking on some things and perhaps will get involved in no small amount of trouble, the only difference is that you’ll have access to a lot of help and get rescued in time.”

　　”And the second?” Audrey had no idea of getting compensation from the Psycho-Alchemy Society. The fact that the secretive organization was no longer bothering her was the best apology of all.

　　Besides, she was very skeptical of Mr. Fury’s true intentions when he said he was sorry, thinking it might be another exploit.

　　The giant white rabbit replied very calmly:

　　”I can help you split an identity out so that ‘she’ stays next to her loved ones, providing some protection and emotional comfort, while you stay away from them and live in the world as a different identity.”

　　”That way, the trouble you get involved in doesn’t spill over to the people you’re trying to protect.”

　　”In the transcendent world, in certain times and circumstances, staying away is the best way to love and protect.”

　　Audrey was silent once again, her turquoise eyes seeming to still the surface of a lake.

　　”You don’t have to answer me right away, or you can combine the two approaches.” The giant white rabbit left the high stool and stood, “You know how to get into the ‘Garden of Eden’.”

　　As it spoke, its figure faded away into the sea of collective subconsciousness.

　　……

　　Byam, inside a certain room of the Church of the Sea God.

　　The God Envoy Danez, who was wearing a gorgeous robe, sat on a chair and looked at Alger Wilson across from him in silence.

　　The sleepiness he had accumulated from waking up in the middle of the night had been scared to death.

　　The Cardinal of the Storm Church was actually trying to defect to the Church of Neptune!

　　This was a big deal in the field of religion, in the world of occultism, and in international politics!

　　Even if he only had a cursory understanding of the Storm Church, Daniz believed that with the other party’s style, they would definitely not let this matter go, and perhaps a natural disaster that could destroy the entire Rothschild Archipelago was already on its way over.

　　Moreover, a cardinal is bound to be highly valued by the “Storm Lord”, Alger’s betrayal may lead to divine punishment at any time……. Danez thought more and more a little shivering, afraid of being affected by his own.

　　This reminds him of a proverb from his hometown:

　　”Don’t go near those who are loathed by the gods.”

　　Because those guys were likely to involve the people next to them when they suffered lightning punishment.

　　If Gelman Sparrow hadn’t sent me a message as Mr. Fool’s attendant to place Alger Wilson, I would have tied up this runaway bomb and sent it back to the Church of the Storm……. The more frightened Danez became, the more he couldn’t help but mumble inside. .

　　Of course, he was just casually thinking about it, and didn t even bother to consider the strength comparison between the two sides.

　　After a while, there was a knock on his room door.

　　Daniz jumped up and walked quickly to the door, pulling open a crack.

　　”What’s the catch?” He asked in a suppressed voice.

　　The head of intelligence of the Church of Neptune outside the door said succinctly:

　　”Lord God-Emperor, the Storm Church has changed its cardinal.”

　　”Where is the original one?” Daniz pursued with slight consternation.

　　”It is rumored to have been transferred back to the headquarters.” The intelligence chief spoke of the news he had inquired about from certain servants of the Church of the Waves.

　　Transferred back to the headquarters …… As Daniz was confused, a gray mist suddenly appeared before his eyes.

　　Then the words of Mr. Fool rang in his ears:

　　”From today, Alger wears the mask and becomes the Pope of the Church of Neptune.”