Chapter 59

[AI ERROR / SAFETY BLOCK - RAW ENGLISH RETAINED]

Upon hearing The Fool’s question, Audrey did not answer immediately as she had in the past. Instead, she widened her bright eyes and glanced at The Hanged Man as if scrutinizing him.

Alger subconsciously minimized his movements. After a few seconds of silence, he said, “I found two pages of Emperor Roselle’s diary and have memorized their contents.”

“I have one page,” Audrey replied in a detached tone, her vision partially obscured by the fog.

“Not bad.” Klein’s voice was even, betraying neither joy nor disappointment. He felt a spark of elation at the prospect of three whole pages, yet also disappointment that there were only three. Collecting diary pages would undoubtedly be easiest at the start—when they could rely on existing connections and channels—but as time went on, gathering them would become increasingly difficult, requiring additional resources.

“Should we ‘project’ them now?” Audrey inquired calmly.

“Yes,” Klein replied with a simple nod. He maintained his composed posture, careful not to reveal too much in front of a Spectator.

As he finished speaking, pieces of yellowish-brown goatskin parchment and dark red fountain pens materialized before Audrey and Alger. They each picked up a pen and began to recall the symbols they had memorized, channeling their desire for expression. Silently, lines of text appeared on the parchment—some bold and proper, some delicate and elegant, and others slanted and hurried. In less than a minute, the contents that Audrey and Alger had forcibly memorized were “printed” out before them.

Klein willed the three pieces of parchment into his hands and gave them a cursory glance. He noted that some syntax was off, with missing or miswritten characters.

However, this experimentation proved that minor errors in character sequencing did not significantly hinder the overall comprehension of Chinese. Klein was also untroubled by missing words—he had long been accustomed to encountering censored asterisks in his online reading materials.

The text read:

Klein mused silently to himself,When did Emperor Roselle, who was born in Intis, set off on his voyaged The Fog Sea should be the sea west of the Intis Republic... Hmm, I need to cross-reference this with historical records from the library...

He quickly finished reading one page and then cast his gaze to the back of the paper.

At this point, he no longer concealed his ability to decipher Emperor Roselle’s secret symbols—a talent befitting his persona as The Fool. Audrey and Alger said nothing; they waited silently, as if unsurprised by this revelation. In fact, they silently agreed that it was only natural.

Hey, Your Majesty? Where is your integrity?

That thought flitted through Klein’s mind as he leaned back in his seat, striving to keep his emotions in check amid the swirling fog.

He realized that in the early years, Roselle did not write in his diary every day. Most entries were made only when significant events occurred—moments he needed to record, complain about, or simply vent his emotions over.

Klein shifted his gaze downward to the final sentence on this page:

A twinge of disappointment passed over him at the scant value of the first two pages, but he did not sulk. Instead, he moved the third page to the top of the stack and continued reading. This page contained content written on both sides of the paper, promising further insights into Emperor Roselle’s origins.

As Klein kept reading, he came to a profound realization of the clear differences between Emperor Roselle and himself, both in personality and in action. For example, on the matter of returning home, Klein focused more on mastering in-depth knowledge of mysticism to avoid risks and thereby accomplish his goal, while Emperor Roselle preferred to rely on empowering himself so he could overpower any danger.

I have to say, I envy people like that sometimes. Perhaps everyone yearns for something they do not possess... Of course, I also must consider strengthening myself—both of these are important.

As these thoughts emerged in his mind, Klein sighed in quiet reflection.

Meanwhile, Emperor Roselle’s comment about the diminishing side effects of the potion bolstered Klein’s confidence that his conclusion about “acting the part” was more or less correct. He set the three diary pages aside, looked up at Justice and The Hanged Man, and smiled. “My apologies. I was too absorbed in reading.”

Audrey suppressed a hint of envy and smiled faintly. “I can understand. I hope to one day be able to exchange for information contained in the diary.”

“That will come at a price,” Klein replied, glancing briefly at Justice before sweeping his gaze toward the silent Hanged Man.

Audrey pressed her palms together in front of her. “Mr. Fool, Mr. Hanged Man, I have three questions to ask. If you deem the answers highly valuable, you can tell me what you want, and I will do my best to obtain it.”

“No problem,” Alger answered succinctly.

Klein nodded and leaned back, making himself comfortable. After a few seconds of thought, Audrey began, “The first question is, what exactly does ‘acting’ mean? I realize that the lingering spirit of the potion exerts minute effects on me, so is that because I’ve been acting as a Spectator all along?”

Alger said nothing, instead looking toward The Fool as if waiting for an explanation.

Klein rubbed his finger on the edge of the table and replied in a relaxed tone, “Let me explain this with an analogy. Imagine the core powers of your potion as a heavily guarded castle. The remnants of the potion’s spirit—the potential for backfire—reside within that castle. Our goal is to eliminate that remnant and become the true master of the castle.

“There are two ways to achieve this. The first is to storm the castle

by force. There is no guarantee of success, and you will most likely injure yourself in the process unless you can suppress the force with absolute power. Clearly, we are not equipped for that.

“The second way is to receive an invitation from the master of the castle. Such an invitation allows you to bypass the guards and infiltrate the castle successfully, letting you finish off your opponent with ease. The catch is that the invitation contains a description of the guest’s facial features and corresponding characteristics. In other words, we must disguise ourselves andactas the invited guest. Do you understand?”

Alger immediately asked, as though he had anticipated this explanation, “So the aforementioned invitation is the name of the Sequence potion?”

“That’s correct,” Klein confirmed.

For a moment, Audrey froze, suddenly enlightened. She now fully understood the meaning of “acting.” Thrilled, she promptly exited her Spectator state and exclaimed in joy, “What an ingenious method. I think it perfectly fits your title. Its style is very compatible with The Fool... I never would have believed that acting could have such an effect. Luckily, I have been instinctively acting as a Spectator these past few days.”

She paused before continuing, “I consider this answer extremely valuable. I am not comfortable accepting it without giving anything in return. Mr. Fool, what will you have me do in exchange? Of course, I still remember that I owe you a page from Emperor Roselle’s diary.”

“More pages of Roselle’s diary, or...” Klein paused briefly. He had desired any information he could obtain about the rest of the Seer’s Sequence but felt that such a low-level request might tarnish the mysterious image of The Fool. Thus, he chose to postpone that request and instead ask discreetly on another day.I've only advanced recently, and I have yet to completely digest the Seer potion...

He thus consoled himself before speaking again in an even tone, “Anything regarding the Antigonus family—even if I am already aware of some of it.”

Alger remained silent for a few seconds before cautiously glancing toward the head of the table. After a moment of deliberation, he said, “Mr. Fool... I believe I can pay you back immediately with the information you’ve just requested.”