"The Fool who does not belong to this era… the mysterious lord above the Gray Fog… the Yellow and Black King who wields good luck…" Audrey Hall silently recited these three descriptions, and a violent storm suddenly churned within her heart, making it impossible for her to maintain her "Spectator" state.
As an enthusiast of the occult, before being pulled into this expanse of Gray Fog, she had never formally encountered extraordinary powers. But when gathering privately with noble fellow enthusiasts, they would exchange information they had collected—truth or fiction alike—learn the Hermes language used in rituals, and attempt certain ceremonies they had heard about from others.
Not a single one of those rituals had produced any effect, but they had given Audrey a certain understanding of standardized incantations.
So she understood very clearly what a three-part description meant when used in other rituals:
It represented, it pointed toward, the seven gods who looked down upon the entire world!
It was nearly equivalent to "the Lord of Crimson, the Secret Mother, the Empress of Calamity and Fear"!
Mr. Fool was an unknown, hidden, powerful existence comparable to a god—like the ones Greylat and the others had mentioned? A dangerous source that one had to be careful to avoid in rituals? Audrey quickly recalled her friends' laments when they wanted to try certain bizarre rituals but didn't dare, and for a moment she was struck speechless.
Alger Wilson, who knew and understood even more than she did, felt a genuine tremor run through him:
"If the ritual magic designed by Mr. Fool can truly reach him and allow him to receive our requests, then… then we must use 'Him' to address him—this third-person honorific used for gods and similar existences…"
"How fortunate, how wise—I've always been cooperative, never doing anything foolish. Even my probing stayed within acceptable bounds…"
"He might be some ancient, hidden, terrifying existence, simply not appearing before us in his true form and real name… The Primordial Sorceress, the Hidden Sage, or perhaps the true Creator worshipped by several mysterious cults simultaneously…"
Alger understood that the Fool he saw now was not necessarily his true appearance, and that the other party might not even have a gender or be humanoid at all.
Klein rested one hand on his forehead and lightly tapped the edge of the bronze long table with the other, keenly sensing the changes in "The Hanged Man" and "Justice."
But he pretended nothing had happened, projecting an air that everything was as expected, and continued speaking at his own pace:
"I beseech your aid."
"I beseech your favor."
"I beseech you to grant me a pleasant dream."
"Deep slumber, herb of the crimson moon, please transmit the power to my incantation."
"Gold quince, herb of the sun, please transmit the power to my incantation."
…
He described the incantation of a different format, line by line, and at the end he smiled:
"Ladies and gentlemen, have you memorized it?"
"Oh…" Audrey let out a soft cry, hastily covering her mouth, and began to recall it carefully.
Relying on the powerful memory of a "Spectator," she soon committed it to memory and then spoke it aloud for confirmation.
Alger, by contrast, appeared far more composed. Regardless of what he was thinking, the steel pen in his hand never once paused.
After confirming Audrey's notes, Klein offered a slight smile and said:
"If this attempt succeeds, next time we can slightly modify the incantation to achieve the result we want."
"By Wednesday at the latest, I'd like you two to find time to complete this ritual."
He planned to re-enter this place on Thursday evening to confirm whether the ritual magic was effective.
—The reason he didn't let "The Hanged Man" and "Justice" directly pray for "absence" was that Klein worried it would be impossible to distinguish whether they genuinely wanted to "take leave" or were testing the ritual magic. And then, would he pull them in or not?
"As you command." Audrey and Alger composed themselves and answered respectfully.
"Following The Hanged Man's earlier suggestion, after the serious business comes the casual chat phase. Who'd like to start?" Klein made a gesture of invitation.
Audrey pondered for a moment and said:
"Mr. Fool, your earlier suggestions regarding examination-based selection and the separation of political and administrative duties have gained the agreement of quite a few members of parliament. Perhaps it could truly become reality. Of course, given the efficiency of the Kingdom's government, such a proposal would take at least half a year before it could possibly appear."
She wasn't worried that "The Hanged Man" might use this matter to trace her identity, because she had only casually dropped a couple of offhand remarks here and there, and let those proud ladies believe it was their own brilliant minds at work — making them eager to go boast about it to their husbands, their fathers, their brothers.
In that moment, Audrey felt as though she were watching a row of golden peacocks spreading their tails.
She believed those ladies would continuously self-suggest, attributing the credit for this matter entirely to themselves, completely forgetting her role, and even arguing amongst themselves over who had come up with the idea first.
And the ability to shift the Kingdom's situation in such a clever way gave Audrey a curious sense of accomplishment — as if she had found a way for a "Spectator" to influence the plot of the play as well.
"Let's hope so," "The Hanged Man" Alger replied with a mocking tone.
He paused for a few seconds, glanced at The Fool seated at the head of the bronze table, and chose his words carefully:
"In recent decades, the frequency of activity among various secret organizations has been on an upward trend. Several new, sizable organizations with a certain degree of extraordinary power have even emerged."