Above the gray fog, inside the palace that looked like a giantâs residence.
The Moon Emlyn thought hard about what part of the Sanguineâs history that he should tell The Fool.
He and the Ancestor are old friends, so âHeâ must know what happened before the Cataclysm, so I donât need to repeat it⌠In the Fourth and Fifth Epoch, the glory of the Sanguine wasnât rare, and there was a lot of history to talk about, but there was only one most important point⌠Emlyn quickly came up with an idea.
From what he knew, The Fool was likely an ancient god before the Cataclysm. Due to certain reasons, he didnât perish and had slept till today, gradually in the process of recovering.
This explained why no such secret existence had appeared in the Sanguine records, that had a history spanning millennia, until âHisâ honorific name suddenly spread.
After some deliberation, Emlyn straightened his back and said, âAfter the Cataclysm, the Sanguine left the center of the historical stage of the Northern and Southern Continents and became nobles of different empires and dynasties as individuals instead of as a race. They either governed a territory or guarded a castle in a key area.
âThis continued until our queen, Blood Moon Queen, Auernia, who led us out of the era of darkness, became the wife of the Trunsoest Dynastyâs Night Emperor. She gathered all of the Sanguine together and the Sanguine became important supporters of the dynasty. At that time, Loenâs Augustus and Feysacâs Einhorn had to politely address our queen as âHer Majesty.â
âIn that era, Queen Auernia was the symbol of beauty. If there was a magic mirror that could answer questions, then the answer to âwho is the most beautiful of them allâ would be herâŚâ
The more Emlyn spoke, the prouder he became. He went from being reserved and serious to becoming extremely talkative.
A magic mirror that can answer questions; isnât that Arrodes? I wonder if there are any members of the Machinery Hivemind who were so bored out of their minds to ask the question, âMirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them allâ⌠I wonder how Arrodes will answer. Klein sat in the same posture, smiling as his thoughts wandered.
After droning on and on, Emlynâs expression turned serious.
âAll of this shattered in the War of the Four Emperors. The Night Emperor perished, along with the queen. The Sanguine suffered a terrible blow, and while trying to reap the final fruits of victory, the four noble familiesâAugustus, Einhorn, Sauron, and Castiyaâsplit the empire, destroying the royal family which was lacking in high-level beings. The Sanguine had no choice but to retreat to an uninhabited mountain to hide in the shadows so as to maintain the continuation of our race.â
Just as I expected⌠The seven gods were already the seven gods during the War of the Four Emperors⌠Klein thought of the statue of the six gods in the Tudor ruins.
âFortunately, the seven gods were fractured back then and the four countries attacked each other. After paying a certain price, we finally escaped the disaster.â At this moment, Emlyn was in a rare state of being roused.
He looked at Klein and said, âHonorable Mr. Fool, do you have the time to listen to my description of Blood Moon Queenâs deeds and the glory the Sanguine used to have? That will be a heavy tome formed by pages of glorious expositions. I can repeat everything in them.â
It looks like you can continue on indefinitely⌠I used to think that you were a vampire who liked puppets and didnât know much history. I didnât expect you to be so professional and academic⌠No wonder you always believed the Sanguine to be noble and are proud of it⌠This kind of guy who doesnât like going out really will delve into deep research into a topic heâs interested in. Furthermore, vampires have a sufficiently long lifespan⌠Klein hesitated, prepared to decline Emlynâs offer in a euphemistic manner.
Although he had no lack of interest in the history, time didnât allow him to listen to them all.
âItâs enough.â Klein smiled and said, âI like a fair and equal exchange, so I wonât let you say anything without reaping rewards. In the future, when you have the chance, you can use your relevant history to trade for what you want from me.â
â⌠Alright.â Emlyn felt lost for a moment.
This was the first time he had the opportunity to tell someone else about the glory of the Sanguine.
Normally, in order to hide his identity, he wouldnât be able to show off to the humans. As for the members of the Sanguine, all of them knew what needed to be known, and he wasnât in charge of educating the newborns.
Klein didnât say anything else and resumed his supercilious attitude.
âAlright, you can go back now.â
A dark red light immediately lit up in front of Emlyn Whiteâs eyes, quickly devouring him.
After a short period of dizziness, he found that he was still sitting in the rental carriage.
Soon after, he saw an illusory goatskin parchment and gained the knowledge of how to request help from The Fool via a secret deed ritual.
When Iâm free in the afternoon, Iâll immediately hold the ritual at home and ask Mr. Fool to dispel my psychological cue⌠Emlyn was suddenly excited.
He waited until the carriage arrived at the Harvest Church before calming down and paying for the ride.
After entering the cathedral, he was relieved to see that Bishop Utravsky was there preaching to the few believers of the Church. He no longer felt as vexed as he usually felt and felt rather relaxed.
In this state, he suddenly thought of something.
Father Utravsky has never seemed to stop me from finding a way to dispel the psychological cues⌠What exactly is on his mindâŚ
âŚ
East Borough, in a greasy coffee shop.
Klein, who arrived at the scheduled time, was enjoying wheat bread with fresh pea lamb stew while he listened to Old Kohlerâs report of the information he had gathered over the past week.
It was a pity that there was no valuable information inside.
When Old Kohler was done, Klein thought for a moment, then he pulled out two pounds worth of bills and pushed them over.
âYou already paid me just now!â Old Kohler jumped in shock and waved his hands in front of him.
Klein chuckled and said, âWithin this week, Iâll be heading south for a holiday. After a year of hard work, itâs time to rest for a while.
âI might take two to three weeks before I return, so Iâll pay you in advance. Heh heh, donât forget to help me gather information.â
âOkay, okay!â Old Kohler accepted the notes with a mixture of joy and gratitude.
At this moment, he had already thought of how to spend the New Year.
He planned to buy the cured ham he had been reluctant to buy and match it with his bread.
I really canât stand the wait⌠Thank you, Detective Moriarty! He swallowed his saliva without realizing it.
Klein picked up his hat, hesitated for a moment, and said, âYou shouldâve noticed that East Borough has been a bit chaotic recently.
âDonât take risks just to find out more information. If you notice anything wrong, immediately hide and avoid getting yourself involved.â
He was rather worried about the matter surrounding Prince Edessak, so he wanted to give Old Kohler a reminder.
âI understand.â Old Kohler patted his chest and said, âIâm very timid. I wonât take the risk.â
âVery good,â Klein praised.
Then he remembered the laundry maid, Liv, and her two daughters, Freja and Daisy, who loved to read, and wanted to change their fates before he said whilst in thought, âWatch out for Livâs family. Donât let them be bullied. If there are any outbreaks in East Borough, take them to a safe place.â
âOutbreaks⌠You mean the workersâ resistance?â Old Kohler asked, puzzled.
âMore or less,â Klein answered vaguely.
This was the limit of what he could reveal; otherwise, it would be very easy for him to be suspected by others or the Sealed Artifact itself.
âŚ
In a room with large and small dolls, Emlyn White came home at noon and sat in his chair, enjoying the gloom created by the curtains.
He looked around and clenched his fists.
âIâll cheer for myself!â
With that, he rummaged for materials with spirituality and began to write the honorific name of The Fool, as well as the corresponding symbols and magic labels.
After some hustling and bustling, he tried the secret deed ritual. His spirituality gradually dissipated, as if he had arrived at an immeasurably high place.
Vaguely, he saw countless shadows of ineffable shapes, seven colors of light that seemed to contain immense knowledge, and the grayish-white fog that stood above everything.
Above the boundless gray fog, there was an ancient palace that was impossible to see clearly. Seated inside the palace was a person shrouded in gray fog.
Then, Emlyn saw a figure of golden majesty and holiness, as well as black wings that blotted out the sky behind it.
He didnât even have time to count the number of pairs of mysterious wings before he felt himself quickly floating upwards, making contact with that golden figure.
âAh!â
He screamed miserably as he held his head and rolled on the ground, emitting green smoke from his body.
It took a while for Emlyn to calm down, and then he heard the deep voice of The Fool echo in his ears.
âYour psychological cue has been lifted.â
Is this what it feels like to dispel a psychological cue? Itâs really painful⌠Emlyn sat on the floor, panting, his neatly combed hair falling in disarray.
Atop the gray fog, Klein thoughtfully nodded and said to himself, âIndeed, the Sun Broochâs purifying and dispelling effects can also harm vampires.â
He had calculated in advance that the 'sunlightâ needed to remove the weakened psychological cue wouldnât severely damage Emlyn, so he couldnât be bothered switching to a more complicated approach. And now, the result was indeed consistent with his expectations.
After taking care of this matter, Klein took off the topaz pendant on his left wrist and planned to perform a divination.
âIt is suitable to head to the Red Rose Manor this afternoon.â
After chanting seven times in his mind, he opened his eyes and saw the spirit pendulum standing still and not spinning.
The difficulty of divining something that involves a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact or a corresponding powerhouse is too high. Iâm unable to obtain any effective revelations⌠Klein sighed, knowing the gist of the matter.
Then, he started to divine if it would be suitable to head to Red Rose Manor tomorrow afternoon, but he received the same signs of failure as an outcome.
Itâs always said that divination isnât omnipotent, and it has now been proven⌠I have to decide on my own⌠I have to take this step; otherwise, thereâs no way for me to leave the stage unnoticed so as to go behind the scenes⌠The earlier the better, I canât delay it; otherwise, this matter might become completely impossible to recover from⌠As his thoughts churned, Klein came to a decision.
He immediately returned to the real world, put on his double-breasted frock coat and half top hat, and he walked out of 15 Minsk Street, heading for Prince Edessakâs Red Rose Manor.