Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

Chapter 266: Playing cards is a beautiful thing

549
The dice rolled.

The smooth stone table reflected the newcomer's dull and speechless eyes, as if he had seen through the flashy nature of this world, and once again seen through the unreasonableness and madness hidden in the 22 paths of God, overlooking everything he had experienced from a detached perspective.

Surrounded by "Steal a Sheep While Passing By", "Flash", "The Deed to Trier Sold for 2000 Yuan with a Toll of 500 Yuan", "Fighting Evil", "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and Flying Chess, Klein gave up thinking and gradually understood everything except advanced mathematics.

When people are pushed into a corner, they can do anything, except math.

So, when Zaratul asked, "Pick one?", Klein immediately pointed to the one that looked the easiest.

The dice stopped at 5. Klein looked at the hand-drawn chessboard in silence for a few seconds, then let a plane in his hand take off.

Then, he thought hard: "...Please forgive my impoliteness just now. How should I address you?"

The old man opposite him sorted out his equally outrageous cards. He seemed to be shocked by Klein's silence and was excitedly showing off his "Emperor Roselle Deck".

Klein felt as if the phantom of his childhood friend squatting on the ground and taking pictures with him appeared before him.

The old man stopped displaying his cards upon hearing this and said with an ambiguous smile:
"You can call me, um..."

"Zarath."

Zarathu?
Hey!
After hearing this answer, all the complaints in Klein's mind disappeared completely, leaving only a curse word in bold and black.

Zaratul, the leader of the Secret Order, a descendant of the great nobles of the Solomon Empire in the Fourth Epoch, the previous owner of the Antigonus family notebook, the extraordinary navigator of Emperor Roselle, a true high-sequence of the "Fortune Teller" path, a secret existence of a "Miracle Master" one or two hundred years ago, and an angel who was considered by "Magic Mirror" Arrodes to have lost control and turned into a monster during the process of being promoted to Sequence 1 "Mysterious Servant"!
No matter which description it was, it was an unbearable burden for Klein at the moment.

"Judging from your reaction, do you know me?" Zaratul smiled.

Klein thought for a moment and said tentatively:

"I've heard of that name."

This gave him a shocking feeling as if a character in the history textbook had jumped out of the textbook and walked right in front of him. He also felt as if the air around him had become substantial and was piling up on him layer by layer, squeezing his body and blocking his breathing.

Klein once imagined that perhaps everything he encountered because of Antigonus's notes was due to Zaratul's plan. He suspected that He was the boss he would eventually face. Now, he met Him, and met Him in advance.

Although the Zaratul in front of him may not be the legendary Zaratul himself, after all, this is his surname, and he might be the other party's heir, descendant, brother, or clan member... But in any case, it's too early!

I'm just a Sequence 5! Klein couldn't help but shout in his heart, and at the same time he doubted whether the other party was really Zaratul.

The old man who called himself Zaratul didn't give him much time to think, and started talking to himself:
"See that dent in the wall over there?"

Zaratul nodded to the side. Klein didn't want to be misled by this person who was suspected to be a secret existence, but since coming here, he has been constantly looking for a way to get out.

So after waiting for a few seconds, he still looked in the direction indicated by Zaratul.

He looked at the stone statue beside him. It had a gentle and beautiful face. It was the angel with a dull expression that he had last seen in the basement of the church. However, the angel's body was similar to that of a human, without four extra arms like an animal.

The stone wall behind the statue, that is, behind the other side of himself, did have a hollow that had been dug out.

There were short and crude symbols carved there one after another, but there was a blank space in the middle, and they could not be connected to form a shape.

"The obsidian is in my hand. When you need to leave, I will give it to you, and then I will tell you a symbol to open the door. It is the key to open the real escape door on the wall." Zaratul said in detail.

A complex and special symbol... the key to open the door... Klein listened to the mumbling of "Honakis...Fregela..." echoing in the wind behind him, and a symbol suddenly popped up in his mind:
That is a vertical eye composed of many hidden symbols!

That was the message that the Antigonus Family Notes conveyed to him through the infection of the "Doom Puppet"!

Klein secretly recalled the symbol and acted surprised and incredulous. "If the way to leave is so simple, why did the previous 'Fortune Tellers' fail?"

Zaratul began to laugh again, a laugh that made people feel very cunning and annoying if heard too often:

"My abilities are limited, and I cannot move around in the church. It was the last person who left who brought the obsidian to me."

"Before you, some of them were as talkative as you. They didn't have time to leave this church before the red moon became clear, and were hung up there. The guy who gave himself a handsome face was one of them, and so was the girl with flawless features."

Klein suddenly felt speechless. He glanced upwards. On the tall, dark ceiling of the church, countless puppets with white eyes were facing them, shaking quietly.

Taking a closer look, Klein unexpectedly discovered that some of the puppets were damaged. This did not mean that the clothes were torn or the puppets themselves were disabled, but some seemed to have their arms torn off by brute force. Because they were puppets, their arms were not rotten but dried blood and bones were dangling on the broken ends. Some had half of their heads missing, some had blood on their bodies, and some, like Senior, had mutated to become more "demon-like" - combined with the bloodstains outside, it seemed that some battles had taken place here.

Also, leave immediately when the red moon is clear... and pay close attention to the situation outside...

Klein frowned and asked calmly:

"The last person to leave?"

Zaratul smiled and deliberately did not answer, but rolled the dice.

The dice rolled and stopped at 3, and the chess piece in Zaratul's hand still did not take off this time.

"it's your turn."

He said with a hint of knowledgeable pride: "These chess pieces are called 'aircraft', flying machines. They are obviously not as bulky as airships and hot air balloons, but they can fly higher and faster. Haha, I really want to know what it looks like when it flies."

Emperor Roselle... plagiarized the manuscript... Emperor Roselle... plagiarized the manuscript... Emperor Roselle...

Klein took the dice and rolled them. "Perhaps it's steam power. Is this Emperor Roselle's idea?"

"Haha, maybe so."

Zaratul seemed to have a deeper meaning, but spoke as if he was not hinting at anything.

Klein rolled a 5 again—he frowned and chose to take off another plane.

Zaratul rolled again, 4, still 0 progress.

"Young man, you seem to have played this game before?"

After a few rounds, Zaratul's plane finally took off. He suddenly asked, "Is this game very popular in the outside world now?"

Klein responded with a prepared answer: "You just explained the rules."

"Yeah, sorry, I forgot." Chalatu laughed and teased his memory like an old man, and suddenly spoke again, "You don't seem to be surprised by the 'plane', and your movements are very skillful. Young people are really quick to accept new things."

Klein frowned again: "It's just a chess piece. It doesn't matter to me what it is."

Just as Klein began to think about how to respond next, Zaratul nodded and said with a subtle smile:
"That's it."

"..."

...What exactly is he trying to imply? This tone of voice seemed to accept my answer, but also seemed to be just mocking my concealment, hesitating and not making my words clear...Why would a high-sequence fortuneteller be like this! Klein felt his fist harden.

Klein suppressed his anger and rolled the dice, which was exactly a 3, hitting the plane that Zaratul had just taken out of the house.

Zaratul raised his eyebrows and smiled nonchalantly:
"After you open the door, the history and fate of this place will change, and the image I cut out will disappear. At that time, you will see a jar of ashes."

"I just hope they get spilled into the Serenzo River near Trier, the capital of Intis, my hometown, where I was born."

Is this an active answer to the question "Why do you want to help me?" I haven't found a chance to ask it yet... Klein felt a little less angry, but then he found a loophole:
"Why are you still here if someone left before?"

Zaratul shook his head: "I don't trust Him."

He, it was indeed him, Edward Vaughn... Klein showed a look of shock, pretending to be shocked by this information. He didn't believe in the devil, but chose to believe in me? Because you can see that I need your help?
As thoughts raced through his mind, Klein decided to show some greed so that Zaratul would lower his opinion of him and make the other party think that he needed something from him, so he could be easily induced.

He said, "I need the formula for Sequence 4 of the Trickster."

Klein had learned from Will Auceptin that the Sequence 4 potion of the "Fortune Teller" was called "The Trickster", and the focus might be on weirdness, cunningness, mischief, etc., which was consistent with the way he had been acting. Therefore, he directly said this name in front of Zaratul, hinting that he knew part of the formula, which might be incomplete, and he should not lie.

Zaratul's posture remained unchanged, and he said as expected:
"The Sequence 4 potion is indeed called 'Trickster'."

"I can give you the formula, as long as you are willing to believe that what I give you is the real formula. After this game is over, I will give you the obsidian, the door-opening symbol, and the formula of the 'Trickster'."

"Well, it's nothing to me, as long as you can scatter my ashes back into the river of my hometown."

Why are you so obsessed with playing one?
Klein listened quietly and couldn't help but say:

"You must be of a very high status. If you scatter your ashes like this, it will pollute the entire river and leave countless monsters behind."

"Very carefully."

Upon hearing this, Zaratul laughed and said, "However, my ashes no longer have any special properties. I lost them a long time ago." Klein guessed what the other party meant and asked again about his own extraordinary path:
"What is the name of the sequence 3 potion after 'Trickster'?"

The beard on Zaratul's face twitched slightly:

"Ancient scholars."

"What about the corresponding sequence 0?"

Zaratul glanced at him again and chuckled, “You should be able to find out when you open the door and escape.”

You didn't finish what you were saying, did you? You didn't finish what you were saying, did you? I hate people like you the most. You always smile without saying anything... Klein suddenly felt the same as Roselle. He was just about to continue to fleece the knowledgeable Zaratul when he suddenly noticed that the world outside was gradually getting brighter. Under the red moonlight, the puppets hanging from the ceiling began to sway more and more, making walking movements in the air, as if they were about to come alive!

Klein immediately became transparent, passed through the wall, and hid in the nearest house.

About twenty minutes later, the red moon was blocked by dark clouds again. Klein returned to the church and was surprised to find that Zaratul had already launched two planes and crashed one of his planes back.

"I just rolled two sixes and a four."

The old man's unclear voice showed his innocence, and he lacked two clear and bright big eyes. It was obvious that he was a top-level faceless man when he was alive.

"It's your turn."

…Klein’s fists hardened.

Zaratul said cunningly:

"Now you should answer a question for me."

"Do you know what 'Source Castle' is?"

Suddenly, it was as if a basin of ice water was poured over me from head to toe.

Klein frowned slightly and pressed down the tiny goose bumps on his neck to stop the cold sweat that was soaking through his shirt from seeping out from his back. He was like an ignorant person who heard a new term, and with a mixture of doubt and a desire to take advantage of someone, he calmly asked back:
"what is this?"

"I've never heard of it."

"Hehehehe..."

Zaratul laughed that annoying laugh again, and Klein's scalp went numb and his fists clenched. This scheming old man seemed to have other intentions, and seemed to believe Klein's words, so he ignored the question.

He pushed the wooden dice over: "It's your turn."

550
"Circle, rose circle!"

In a small town in East Balam, on an open space on the street, children wearing shirts or no shirts, barefoot, danced in circles around a girl with a light yellow headband, laughing happily and childishly.

In the distance, the adults looked at them blankly.

The girl with the light yellow headband looked crazy, but she had a pair of charming brown eyes, which were slightly lighter than her hair.

She was also barefoot, with her face painted, and wearing a cloth skirt decorated with rainbow-like textile patterns. She clapped her hands and laughed with the children:
"Pockets full of flowers!"

Snapped!Snapped!
After a few soft sounds, gorgeous red roses suddenly appeared in the children's hands.

The roses grew out of the children's palms, as if they were using the blood as nutrients. The blue veins in the palms protruded like roots and grew into bright red flowers.

The children were still giggling, their every move seemed to be slightly stuck. The girl with the light yellow headband clapped her hands as if she didn't notice anything, crushing the roses in her palms, and the bright red petals fell from their hands like rain and blood.

She simulated the sound of a gunshot with her mouth, then fell backwards to the ground as if she had really been shot, and did not move.

"Bang! Bang! We fell down in a mass!"

"Bang! Bang! We fell down in a mass!"

"Hahahahaha!"

As the children sang the creepy ballad in unison, their bodies gradually became stiff and their movements were no longer smooth and coordinated.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

There were two straight lines at the corners of their lips, and when they laughed, their lower lips opened together with their chins, revealing their teeth and gums. Their mouths opened and closed, emitting cold and creepy laughter, intermittently.

Their madness spread, and the adults outside the circle suddenly began to laugh crazily, running, biting each other, or telling their heart's content to anything around them. They laughed until tears came out, their throats bled, and finally they vomited out their internal organs.

boom!boom!
People fell down one after another.

The wind carried rose petals to every corner of the town, and the rich floral fragrance covered up the smell of blood.

After a long time, there was no other noise in the town. The girl with the light yellow hairband seemed to have just woken up from a sleep. She stretched out comfortably on the ground, enjoying the scent of roses intoxicatedly, then stood up and tiptoed around the blood and dirt on the ground.

Her movements were somewhat strange, like a puppet being pulled by invisible strings, and she walked briskly towards an ox cart.

The cow was eating grass leisurely, and an old man with a serious face and a slightly painful expression sat on the cart behind it.

"Grandpa Jax!"

The girl's eyes lit up, and she jumped over in two or three steps, leaving a little red mark on her heels: "How did you find time to come and see me?"

Jacks, who looked as sad as if he had been stabbed several times on the road, nodded, and raised the corners of his mouth, revealing a very uncomfortable smile:

"Little Hilda, how is the potion digesting?"

The girl with the light yellow hairband, the demigod of the "indulgent school", Hilda Gonzalez, lifted her skirt with both hands, kicked a stone on the ground with her foot, and said with a smile:
"Two years, another two years - I will be able to digest the puppet completely!"

"Okay." Jax nodded with satisfaction. "Ahmad will definitely be proud of you."

After that, he cleared his throat and said tentatively:

"Little Hilda, there are still many poor people and half-bloods from the southern continent living a hard life in the northern continent. Now that the war has begun, their lives are becoming increasingly difficult. This is a good opportunity for us to develop our faith and expand our organization."

"A Southern Continent person from the Northern Continent?"

Hilda curled her lips. "But they themselves are willing to be slaves for those bandits. The really poor people can't even save up enough money for the boat tickets! People without food will starve to death on the way across the river! Why should I help them? Is this what Lord Suea wants?"

"A discussion took place within the school, and a compromise was reached."

Seeing that she seemed to be going crazy, Jax immediately tried to comfort her: "Go help those helpless half-bloods and children from the southern continent."

"Help the children?" Hilda thought for a moment and calmed down. "Okay, I'm willing to help."

"But if they do not believe in Lord Siea and the Mother Tree, and are unwilling to convert, I will sacrifice them on the altar."

"This operation is quite special."

Jax gathered his emotions and spoke seriously, "Do you still remember... His Highness the 'Angel of Temperance'? This is His request."

Jax saw the girl in front of him stop kicking the pebbles and she raised her head suddenly, as if a little girl suddenly woke up under the thick and strange oil paint and weird dress.

"Angel of Temperance?"

Hilda read the title again and became angry: "That liar - He left us! He doesn't want me anymore! Obviously none of us hates Him, but He ran away on his own! And he delivered himself into the hands of the people of the Northern Continent!"

"I don't want to see Him! I don't want to see Him!"

She cursed hysterically for more than ten minutes, pulling her hair frantically, and leaving messy marks in the sand on the ground with her bare feet.

Suddenly, she paused and looked at Jax again with those youthful eyes:

“I am willing to help Him…”

“…as long as He never leaves us again.”

TBC
------

The news that Zaratul received was that a person who was suspected to be favored by the night owned the Sefirah Castle.

But the Klein in front of him was blessed by the True Creation, so Zaratul removed him from the list of suspects.

(End of this chapter)