"He'd be thrilled, even if the food's not great. A good dad like Sasrir would appreciate the effort." Alaric said, his tone dripping with encouragement. "So, learn to cook with me, Medici!"
Medici paused for half a second, then smirked. "Fine. Let's see what kind of dishes a guy who never steps foot in the kitchen can whip up!"
"Wait, what's this about cuisine?" Klein interjected with a soul-searching question. After enduring a barrage of explosive gossip lately, he was no longer fazed by surprises. Now, Klein felt invincible, unshaken by any rumor.
"You didn't know? The ancient Sun God, the Creator of City of Silver, was one of us... a transmigrator!" Alaric said, glancing at Klein with surprise. "I thought you'd figured it out."
"I had some guesses, but I didn't know for sure." Klein admitted, not particularly shocked.
He hadn't known the City of Silver Creator was a transmigrator, but he'd suspected as much. The name "Adam" was too telling, and with "Lucifer" As a precedent, it wasn't hard to connect the dots. Plus, the reforms and the hints Medici dropped while discussing the speech yesterday had fueled Klein's suspicions about the Creator's origins.
This just confirmed it.
"Us transmigrators are a talented bunch…" Klein mused, reflecting on the transmigrators he knew of. Besides himself and Jack, the others had all reached at least angel-level status, making him marvel at their collective prowess.
"Could just be survivor bias. The weak ones don't leave their mark on history." Alaric said with a chuckle.
Klein blinked, nodding in agreement. That made sense.
Alaric, finishing his porridge, suddenly remembered something. "By the way, why were you staring at me earlier?"
Medici's interruption had almost made him forget Klein's earlier gaze.
Even Klein had nearly forgotten. Reminded, he quickly said, "It's nothing."
His glance at Alaric was just an instinctive reaction to their talk about a new Tarot Club member yesterday. Since he wasn't sure who the prayer came from, Klein wasn't ready to say more.
Finishing breakfast quickly, Klein returned to his room and ascended to the gray fog.
The palace above the gray fog was as mysterious as ever. Klein's gaze swept the area, locking onto the source of the prayer... a woman.
She hadn't recited the Fool's honorific name, but her crystal ball resembled the one Sun once had... not in appearance, but in its essence.
That wasn't the key point, though. Klein recognized her. When Justice Audrey recommended new members, she'd privately described Xio and Fors to the Fool. This woman, holding the crystal ball, matched Audrey's description of Fors perfectly.
Klein's thoughts immediately jumped to his conversation with Alaric last night. Instead of addressing the prayer right away, he descended the gray fog and found Alaric and Medici, who were preparing to head out.
"Sherlock, I'm off to buy ingredients. Need anything?" Alaric asked cheerfully, clearly excited at the prospect of turning Medici into a versatile chef.
"Grab me a sweet iced tea?" Klein replied instinctively.
"Got it. Sweet iced tea and a meat pie, right?" Alaric flashed an OK gesture, then asked, "So, what's up?"
"Just need to talk privately." Klein said with a nod.
Alaric raised an eyebrow, noting Klein's subtle expression, and guessed what was up.
He signaled Medici to wait, then pulled Klein into the study.
"Did Fors pray to you?" Alaric asked bluntly the moment the door closed.
"So, you did do something?" Klein's planned words died in his throat as he countered instinctively.
"What? I didn't do anything. You were just too obvious, so I guessed." Alaric said, waving it off. Then, with keen interest, he asked, "What did she pray for?"
Klein briefly described Fors' situation.
"A crystal ball…" Alaric raised an eyebrow, feeling both unsurprised and surprised. He'd expected Fors to join but hadn't anticipated a crystal ball as the trigger.
"What a heavy-handed plot device. This world's fate must be run by a bot…" Alaric grumbled internally, resolving to dig into how this happened. He looked at Klein. "So, you planning to answer her prayer?"
"I'm considering it, but it depends on Miss Fors' own wishes." Klein said with a nod.
Thanks to Justice's recommendation, Fors was already on his radar as a potential Tarot Club member. Now, with near confirmation of her fated connection, bringing her in seemed reasonable. Of course, Klein respected her choice... if she wasn't willing, he wouldn't push.
"Then what are you waiting for? Go for it!" Alaric waved him on, barely hiding his excitement.
"What are you really up to?" Klein asked, posing another soul-searching question.
"Nothing much. Just planning to nudge her writing along. I'm a huge fan of Fors' books." Alaric said, blinking innocently, wielding the art of words. "You get how mad a fan gets when their favorite author slacks off, right?"
Klein paused, caught off guard. It sounded like Alaric was serious.
He recalled the rabid readers from his pre-transmigration days... sending blades, ambushing authors over bad endings, even ganging up on them in the streets.
Thinking of Alaric's usual antics, Klein suddenly felt a pang of worry for Fors. Hesitating, he said tactfully, "Urging her to write is fine, but she's a lady…"
"Relax, I'm not going to track her down and duel her. If I wanted to, I'd have done it already." Alaric said, waving it off. "I just want to commission some stories, but I can't exactly show my face."
Klein let out a relieved breath, asking no more.
So, Alaric went off to buy ingredients, while the Fool ascended the gray fog to respond to Fors' prayer.
Crack...
Fors, lounging on the sofa with her crystal ball, saw it split with a sharp sound. Her vision blurred, and the next moment, she beheld an endless gray fog and a grand, mysterious palace.
"???"
"!!!"
"Where am I?"
***
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