Lord of the Mysteries

Cherwood Borough, in the house Xio and Fors rented.

Fors was just finishing the beginning of her new book and, in her good mood, prepared to reward herself with a cigarette, when Xio pushed open the door and entered the study.

“Smoking is harmful to your health.” Xio sniffed.

Fors didn’t argue with her when she saw her puzzled look. Instead, she asked, “Looks like something happened to you?”

Xio scratched her rough blonde hair and sat down on a nearby chair.

“That person from before contacted me—the person who sold the Sheriff formula to me through another person at Mr. A’s gathering.

“He gave me a relatively simple mission. The initial reward is thirty pounds. I don’t even know if there are any hidden dangers…”

Fors thought for a moment and then said, “That person… There should be an organization behind him, but why would they want to rope you in? Aren’t they afraid of being implicated by your intelligence; thus, causing the entire organization to be completely destroyed? There’s nothing they really need from you either. Your looks are barely passable, but you’re too short, so perhaps your life is relatively more valuable… Eh, what mission is it?”

Xio was used to her good friend’s snide remarks as she ignored what she said in the beginning. She directly answered the second question, “Investigate if there has been anyone keeping tabs on Capim recently.”

“Capim? The human trafficker who deserves to be hanged—no, burned to death?” Although Fors wasn’t a bounty hunter, it was her writer’s instinct to gather material, so she often asked Xio to tell her stories and news she had learned.

Xio nodded. “It’s him, but he’s already dead. He seems to have died rather miserably.”

“How did he die? Was he sliced to death by a knife, bit by bit?” Fors asked, pleased and curious.

“That person didn’t go into a detailed description. Perhaps it’ll be mentioned in the papers tomorrow.” Xio thought for two seconds before continuing, “He only mentioned a rather special situation at the scene of the death. He said that Capim’s corpse was covered in tarot cards. His face was covered with the ‘Judgment’ and ‘The Emperor’ cards.

“The ‘Judgment’ card probably meant that it was a judgment on Capim, and the verdict was death. But what does ‘The Emperor card’ represent? That murderer, no—that hero’s identity?” As a best-selling author, Fors instinctively began interpreting the unique layout of the scene of the crime.

Suddenly, she froze.

Tarot cards? The corpse was strewn with tarot cards? Fors suddenly thought of the secret organization she had just joined—Tarot Club!

It couldn’t be one of us, could it? However, none of the members has the code name of The Emperor… If it’s really the case, then this is the first time I’ve found traces of the Tarot Club in the real world… We’re not just a secret organization that only exists above the gray fog. As Fors’s emotions churned, she felt pleasantly surprised and also worried.

…

attendant’s lead, Klein entered the familiar

a scene from a ghost story. Coupled with the black robes and the iron masks worn by the mysterious people, the atmosphere turned

in, Klein suddenly had

candle

would burst and

flare up, enveloping his

stunned as

but a feeling that was hard to

carefully found a seat

he felt as if the chair would

swivel chair, the steel pole, and the debris had stabbed into the seated owner’s buttocks, drilling into his abdomen. The whole scene was filled with badly mutilated

Spirit Body from the battle

has he already left Backlund? Klein murmured something to himself and heard Eye of

of the next few hours, Klein felt as if the chandelier on the ceiling was going to fall sideways and smash into his head. He thought that the coffee table in front of Eye of Wisdom would suddenly move sideways and stumble him

puzzled, and he was too distracted to pay attention to deals that either ended in success

danger is like an occasional vibration, reminding one that there’s news entering the room or an incoming phone call, then the feeling I have at this moment is

iron mask would suddenly cave

was

the Thousand-faced Hunter’s blood and mutated pituitary gland at this meeting, but in such a situation, he could only give up out

high-level monster like the Thousand-faced Hunter, Klein believed that a lot of the members here also attended other gatherings and might be able to come into contact with

anxiety, Klein attended the gathering as

his robe, removing his mask, and leaving the room, the feeling that everything in the room was going to harm him

pupils shrank, confirming that his previous experiences didn’t originate from the damage to his Spirit Body; otherwise,

there was a person or creature in the activity room of the gathering, one that was invisible, imperceptible, and extremely terrifying. That entity had stimulated his spiritual perception as a Seer and his sense of danger as a Clown, but because of the entity’s suppression or some other special reason, this stimulus appeared in the form of a rich association that failed to make him

too scary. Just the existence itself made me have a reaction similar to the symptoms of losing control…

of a sudden,

the monitoring area of Wraith Steve, who was killed by Miss Sharron,

Rose School of Thought’s High-Sequence Beyonder angry, and he would cast his sights over here, towards the Beyonders living near

Was that him?

the Sun Brooch tonight, and to prevent myself from being divined, I left them above

world is truly

…

captain of the Mandated Punisher team and asked emotionlessly, “Who