Chapter 163: Sacrifice, Pope, Emperor

Miss Kelaien took out a set of tarot cards from history and drew ten cards: The Fool, Justice, The Hanged Man, Judgement, The Sun, The Moon, The Star, The Hermit, The Magician, and The World. Afterwards, he shuffled the remaining twelve cards and, using the physical control afforded by the Seer pathway, performed fancy card-shuffling tricks in front of the three of them.

"By the way, Su Lin, there shouldn't be any CP pairings you want to ship in my story, right?" Miss Kelaien mimicked a scene from the movie God of Gamblers, rapidly fanning the tarot cards in his hand and snapping them shut, his movements resembling someone playing an accordion.

"Uh—" Su Lin pulled a small cloth bag of dried beef from the drawer of the desk beside Miss Kelaien's bed, turned her head, and asked in confusion:

"Why are you asking that?"

Lu Mingfei stared unblinkingly at the movements of Miss Kelaien's hands. Seeing Miss Kelaien use his technique to make the tarot cards form a circle in midair, his eyes widened as he said, "He's afraid you'll stir up trouble. Stop shipping, and hurry up and find yourself a girlfriend."

Miss Kelaien divided the twelve tarot cards into four rows of three, arranging them neatly on a dark brown nanmu wood table.

"Generally speaking, I'm the type of protagonist without a female lead. In my story, I don't have any female friends whose relationship with me goes beyond friendship, so it shouldn't catch your attention." Miss Kelaien extended his right hand in a "please" gesture.

"But just in case, as someone who's been single since birth, I'd better ask in advance."

Su Lin chewed twice on the rock-hard beef jerky. The meat, cured with coarse salt and spices, released a savory aroma in her mouth—different from modern jerky, as some of the spices came from plants unique to this era.

"Crunch. Seems like there isn't one." Su Lin walked up to the dark brown nanmu wood table, thought for a moment, then said, "Wait, that's not right either. Your CPs seem pretty popular online. Hmm, I actually think they're all pretty good."

Miss Kelaien was taken aback by this. He placed his right hand on his top hat and pressed it down to block his view ahead, asking, "For example?"

"Let me think—" Su Lin pointed at the twelve cards above with her finger, playing eeny-meeny-miney-moe, ready to pick whichever card she landed on. "Sharron and Miss Kelaien—hmm, a puppet and her marionette, together forever."

"Miss Sharron is indeed quite pretty, but she's only a friend and collaborator to me. Her teacher is my messenger."

"When readers read, they like to project themselves into the protagonist. They yearn for a beautiful, cold, expressionless girl and hope the protagonist ends up with such a girl—that's perfectly normal." Miss Kelaien analyzed in his mind.

"What else?" Miss Kelaien asked. "Let me guess—Miss Audrey?"

"Mm, yes. Money is justice." Su Lin replied.

Miss Kelaien nodded. Miss Audrey was indeed very rich. Wait—shouldn't it be because she's both beautiful and kind?

"Gehrman and Fors."

Why would I be shipped with a salted fish? Miss Kelaien nearly couldn't hold back from asking. Fine, just based on appearance, Fors does look decent, but in front of her I'm basically the image of a frenzied adventurer.

Thinking about how broad the internet audience is, Miss Kelaien figured it was fairly normal—netizens have a lot of free time. If he were the reader, he might do the same.

"Nothing unusual, nothing worth making a fuss over."

"There's also Keln, Kemeng—" Su Lin pointed at the second card in the third row.

"Hold on a minute!" Miss Kelaien couldn't help but shout to stop her. "What Keln, Kemeng?!"

"Miss Kelaien and Leonard, Miss Kelaien and Amon." Su Lin reached out and flipped over a tarot card. Before the veil sat a woman in a white inner robe symbolizing purity and a blue outer robe like the Virgin Mary's, silently seated between one black and one white pillar—The High Priestess.

"Enough! Don't say any more!" Miss Kelaien took the tarot card from Su Lin's hand. He felt his Spirit Body worms trembling and churning—how is this something to ship?!

He had almost forgotten that there were also fujoshi on the internet. Well, Miss Kelaien finally understood that the book he starred in was indeed very popular.

Leonard was at least fairly handsome and normal—just as some men like to watch yuri, it's normal for women to enjoy shipping men together. But why Amon?! I'm practically developing Amon PTSD—this is just... too absurd.

Miss Kelaien stopped overthinking it; if he kept going, he probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. He focused his attention and began interpreting the tarot card.

The High Priestess wore a cross on her chest, symbolizing the balance of yin and yang and unity with the divine. The black and white pillars on either side existed in the Temple built by King Solomon in Jerusalem as described in the Bible—the black pillar representing yin and the white pillar representing yang. The two pillars symbolize duality, and the priestess seated between them remains impartial, unifying the power of both.

The horn-shaped ornament atop the pillars represents the priestess's keen sensitivity, while the lily pattern above symbolizes purity and peace.

The veil concealed the scenery behind it. Looking closely, one could faintly make out a background composed of water, hills, and blue sky. Water symbolizes emotion and the subconscious; this stretch of water was calm and waveless, but beneath its still surface lay deep secrets.

"Logically speaking, the God of Light should be pure yang."

But recalling the half-darkness, half-pure-white six-winged image Su Lin had displayed on TV earlier, Miss Kelaien thought it suited Su Lin quite well.

"Purity and peace? This one can't be delved into."

"Deep secrets—must be some kind of cheat Su Lin has?"

Miss Kelaien gathered up the tarot card and said to Lu Mingfei and Zhongli, "It's your turn now."

"You first." Lu Mingfei said to Zhongli.

Zhongli nodded. Unlike Su Lin, he didn't spend time choosing—relying on intuition, he casually flipped over the third card in the fourth row.

It was a Pope, wearing a red robe symbolizing nobility, seated on an ornate chair. His right hand was raised toward the sky, and he wore a triple tiara.

His left hand gripped a scepter with a triple cross, representing the unity of body, mind, and spirit. His right hand made a gesture with the index and middle fingers pressed together pointing upward, the thumb clasping the ring and little fingers—representing the conveyance of divine will. Before his seat lay two golden keys with cross patterns, and two believers receiving the Pope's sermon and listening to his teachings—The Hierophant card.

In an instant, related descriptions appeared in Miss Kelaien's mind.

【Traditional concepts】 【Religious faith】 【Moral norms】 【Imparting knowledge】 【Spiritual authority and guidance】 【Elders, benefactors, teachers】

The believers represent that the Pope is needed; the scepter is the authority of God, symbolizing the authority of religion or faith, serving as spiritual guidance.

This card also corresponds to the Greek goddess of harvest, Demeter, possessing the attribute of the earth element. In tarot, the earth element represents responsibility and duty, adherence to traditional norms, emphasis on rules, and valuing organization, discipline, and principles.

"Mm, that fits quite well too."

"The god of earth and contracts."

Miss Kelaien then looked toward Lu Mingfei, only to see Lu Mingfei with a strip of jerky pulled from Su Lin's cloth bag hanging from his mouth, rubbing his palms together and mumbling:

"Give me something domineering!"

He flipped over the first card in the first row.

On the card was an Emperor wearing the supreme crown, dressed in a red robe, his feet clad in boots symbolizing strict discipline, sitting confidently on his throne. His left hand held a crystal ball, symbolizing orderly rigor; his right hand gripped a scepter, symbolizing life and power—The Emperor card.

In its upright position, it carries attributes such as 【Perseverance】, 【Spotlight】, 【Trustworthy Friend】.

In its reversed position: 【Domineering and Overbearing】, 【Showy but Shallow Romance】, 【Bitter Ending】.

"The cubic seat the Emperor sits on is not a throne but an occult symbol, representing the world and tarot itself—the paths of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life and the Hebrew letters, symbolizing the universe."

"Mm, the Emperor corresponds to the number 4. Four can also mean the four directions, four seasons, four elements, corresponding to the four worlds of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life: Atziluth, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Assiah."

Miss Kelaien glanced at Lu Mingfei, then at Su Lin and Zhongli, and thought carefully—perhaps in the future he could further his studies in divination.

"Alright, from now on, the three of you are the High Priestess, the Hierophant, and the Empress of the Tarot Club." Miss Kelaien waved his hand to dismiss the tarot cards' historical projection, sending them back into history. "I need to go up to the gray fog first to grant you all permissions."

After Miss Kelaien finished speaking, he instinctively pulled open the wooden door to the washroom. But the moment he stepped inside, he suddenly thought of something and turned his head back somewhat stiffly, only to see the others looking at him with an expression that said "just as expected."

Su Lin slightly lowered her head, squinted her eyes, slightly furrowed her brows, six illusory light wings appearing behind her back. She placed her right hand over her left chest and piously said, "Great Lord of the Washroom, please return to your divine kingdom and send forth your guidance. May we walk in the washroom as we walk in your kingdom."

"Praise the Fool." Lu Mingfei said, imitating Su Lin's manner.

————————————

In the ancient palace above the gray mist, within the Spirit Realm overlapping with reality.

At the head of the scarred table, the seat of the Fool, a deep red figure twisted into form, shrouded in gray-white mist.

Immediately after, streaks of deep red light rose along both sides of the bronze table, coalescing into distinct figures upon the high-backed chairs.

Without a pause, every member of the Tarot Club turned their gaze squarely toward the figure seated at the very top, veiled in gray-white mist.

"Justice" Audrey rose without hesitation, bowing toward the head of the scarred table: "Good afternoon, Mr. Fool."

Audrey Hall surveyed the bronze table and suddenly froze—this meeting had three additional figures.

Had these been mere new members, Audrey would have felt only joy; but astonishingly, two of these three figures were not concealed by gray-white mist! They wore their true faces!

The two sat on either side of Mr. Fool, upon ancient stone seats.

One was strikingly handsome, with sharply defined facial features, a sculpted, three-dimensional visage; his expression was gentle yet faintly detached, his frame tall, black hair combed back to his shoulders, a few strands falling across his forehead. He sat with closed eyes to Mr. Fool's left, clad in a simple, plain classical white robe.

This robe was unmistakably not of the style of the Kingdom of Rune, nor of the Fasck Empire, the Fennport Kingdom, nor the Intis Republic.

The other had gilded pupils—a tall, handsome man with black hair fading to brown, falling over his shoulders. He wore a black evening suit, gold thread tracing a few simple lines along the fitted garment; a black tie adorned with a strange serpent-like creature embroidered in gold thread.

He wore a black cloak with a hood, his expression calm, gazing faintly at the man with closed eyes. Sensing Audrey and the others' stares, he turned his head slightly, scanning the room, then smiled faintly and nodded in greeting.

To his left sat another figure entirely veiled in gray mist, faintly discernible as a man, who was curiously observing his surroundings.

'A more active personality,' Audrey mentally tagged this man.

The Tarot Club members turned their eyes toward the seat of the Fool, and then heard the Fool's voice, always steady:

"These three are new members."

"The one on the left is Mr. Priest; the two on the right are Mr. Pope and Mr. Emperor."

"Welcome, Mr. Priest, Mr. Pope, and Mr. Emperor," Audrey greeted them with a cheerful tone; as one of the Tarot Club's earliest members, she always maintained a sense of ownership and was delighted to see the Club grow.

After she finished speaking, the handsome man on the left, who had been sitting with closed eyes, opened them—his eyes were white-gold. He swept his gaze across the group, then paused on her, giving a slight nod: "Hello."

For some reason, every other member of the Tarot Club felt at that moment a sense of sacred inviolability—they sensed in this man an immaculate holiness.

'This must be a high-level Exalted One.'

'The other unveiled man, too.'

"Mr. Fool has introduced us to you," Priest. Su Lin smiled, revealing a gentle expression: "Miss Justice."

The Hanged Man trembled violently, a flash of lightning splitting his mind like a thunderclap.

'Mr. Fool has introduced us to them?!'

'What does that mean?!'

His thoughts churned, ideas surging forth.

'That means Mr. Fool specifically told them about us—including the traits of everyone here!'

'What kind of Exalted One would warrant Mr. Fool doing this?!'

'And judging by their appearance, they were already in this palace before we arrived! If they came early and knew the details, did they deliberately reveal their faces?!'

'They aren't afraid of exposing their identities! They have enough confidence to ignore the risks of exposure!'

'And what about the man veiled in mist? Did he arrive with these two, or is he a separate new member?'

At that moment, the Hanged Man. Alje clearly recognized the uniqueness of these two—or three—new members. Not just him: the perceptive Hermit. Gardelia and Justice. Audrey also noticed it; the Judge. Hugh and the Magician. Forsyth faintly sensed the difference in these two men.

Boom—

A long sound echoed as the Fool lightly tapped the stone table.

At that moment, regardless of what anyone was thinking or wished to ask, all sat upright, solemnly on their stone chairs, fixing their gazes on the Fool, awaiting his words.

"Then, let me speak to you all now."

"About the future of this world."

I'll update first, then revise—I'll try to post more over the weekend and stockpile some drafts.

End of chapter.