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

Chapter 402 Late Autumn
722
Looking at the "Fool" card that slipped out from his sleeve, Zaratul couldn't calm down for a long time.

A cold late autumn breeze blew in at the right time, adding an even more terrifying atmosphere to the scene.

Although he was Sequence One, Zaratul did not think that he could use his weak divination to find out the location of the owner of Sefirah Fort and the people around him who were protected by him. Because Sefirah Fort was too high in status, it was impossible for anything to divine it. Even if Amon came, he would have to check through mystical connections and abnormal deaths of his clones.

In other words, the appearance of this card is not the result of one’s own divination, but the product of mystical connection!

...There are two ways to interpret it. One is that I just had a close contact with Sefirah Castle and was contaminated by its aura and connection, so the "Fool" card naturally appeared... The other is that this girl is related to the owner of Sefirah Castle... The most important thing is that the "Fool" card appeared when I was fortune-telling about this girl. Even if both reasons are true, the latter is definitely more likely!

Melissa looked at Zaratul, who had suddenly fallen silent, curiously, and saw the "Fool" card that had slipped from his sleeve to the ground. She bent down and helped the disabled old fortune teller pick up the card:

"Give."

"Thank you." Zaratul took it and thanked him in a dry voice, "Let me do a simple divination for you. You can choose to divine the progress of your recent troubles, your fortune in the future, or your family's health, and future relationships..."

He stepped back, mumbling something, and shuffling the cards in his hands.

Melissa was fascinated by the way “He” shuffled the cards. It was hard for her to imagine that such an old pair of hands could possess such incredible dexterity. After several seconds, Melissa finally woke up from her dream and said while thinking:
"I did encounter a small problem at school... I was originally studying with a professor who believed in the God of Steam and Machinery, but he returned to Intis two months ago for religious reasons. Our project was forced to be shelved, and a professor who believed in the Goddess took over. However, this professor did not understand our project. After trying to advance it for a while, he decided to change direction or reorganize..."

Zaratul understood: "This means that your efforts over the past few months will all be in vain."

"……Yes."

Melissa thought about this proverb twice in her mind, and felt that it had an indescribable philosophical meaning. It was probably what Emperor Roselle said:
"I only worked hard for two months, which is not a big loss... The professor also promised to assign us to a more suitable project team... Fortunately, I did not convert to the God of Steam and Machinery because of the favor of the first professor, nor did I apply for the opportunity to study abroad in Intis, otherwise the situation might be worse than it is now."

"So you plan to study divination?" Zaratul shuffled the cards and prepared to draw one.

"If I only have one fortune telling... I want to tell about my brother's career fortune." Melissa shook her head without hesitation. "He seems to have hit a bottleneck in his work recently. He is always absent-minded, frowning, and avoids answering questions about work. And I just became a college student this year, and my project is not going well. I can't earn money to support my family. Compared with me, my brother's fortune is more important."

Although she did not believe in divination and thought it was just a comforting thing like psychotherapy, and like many steam believers, she believed that all the unknown and supernatural things were just things that science could not explain, but she also learned about the existence of "real supernatural power" through the professor who believed in the god of steam, and became more curious and awed about things she did not understand.

Zaratu thought to himself, I am telling fortunes for free, so I will tell fortunes for you once. He restrained the idea of ​​asking Melissa "Which brother?" in a malicious way. After all, this little girl believed that one of her brothers was "dead", and the object of divination must be the one she believed was still alive.

He drew a card and showed it to Melissa:
"It's the upright position of the High Priestess. Please see. This card symbolizes knowledge, calmness, and self-change. It implies a kind of learning and change that settles down. It not only refers to the knowledge, but also the mind. Miss Melissa, your brother may have a long period of time at work, which requires a period of accumulation. After this period of time, it will bring a good result and gain considerable gains."

Everyone likes to hear nice words, and Melissa is no exception.

She breathed a sigh of relief at these words, thinking that whether they were true or comforting, they made her feel happy.

"Miss, do you want to know why your brother is so absent-minded?"

Zaratul easily gained some of Melissa's trust and favor. Having learned a lot of negotiation skills from the devil, he was quite confident in his mysteriousness, so he took the initiative to take a step forward and asked with a smile.

Melissa didn't have time to speak, and her eyes were once again attracted by Zaratul's shuffling skills. Zaratul quickly finished shuffling the cards, took out a card, turned it with his fingers, and showed it to Melissa:

"It's actually the lover's right position, young lady!"

Zaratul laughed. It had been a long time since He had divined so many trivial matters in the human world, so He laughed sincerely. Although He had already gotten the answer during the first divination, He still patiently performed a divination show for Melissa:
"Your brother may have some significant emotional changes, and this may be a good thing, don't you think?"

"What, you mean, Benson—"

Melissa's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hands in disbelief. Then a smile appeared in the corners of her eyes and eyebrows. Her brown-black eyes flashed with a smart light, making her look more lively and cute, more like the reaction of a girl of her age.

Benson... Zaratul certainly would not let this name go. He immediately used his spiritual perception to perform divination and obtained a lot of information about the person with this name: Benson Moretti currently lives in Backlund, does not have any extraordinary abilities, and his family is a believer of the Goddess of Night. He originally lived with his younger brother and sister in a city called Tingen... He was a government employee who had just started working this year, and moved here with his sister at the end of last year... His age did not match, and his appearance did not match that of the heir of Sefirah Castle... This is the eldest son, so he must be the second son... His family conditions leapt from an ordinary clerk who barely made ends meet to a government employee with a weekly salary of more than 3 pounds within a year. He was unexpectedly lucky...

Zaratul raised his eyebrows slightly.

He divined that the Moretti family had an abnormal income, the source of which was the Church of Night.

This should be what she meant by "died in the line of duty"? I didn't expect that the owner of Sefirah Castle was once a believer of the Goddess of Night, but why did he die, and why did he become the Creator's favorite... Was it a pseudo-believer's escape technique, or was he converted after being resurrected by the Creator?
He still knew too little about the owner of the Source Castle. Even after being given so much information, he could only rely on guesswork.

The old fortune teller pursed his lips, and his breath blew his messy white beard slightly.

"Oh my god, he, he didn't tell me at all."

Melissa's eyes sparkled, with 50% surprise and 50% complaints because Benson hesitated to speak. The old man was able to tell her the simple situation of his family as soon as they met, and Melissa was already 60% sure of this result. She was about to thank him and leave, but she saw the old man handed the stack of tarot cards to her flatly, smiled kindly and said:
"Little girl, do you want to do a divination?"

"?I……"

"Well, the simplest one." Zaratul noticed Melissa's hesitation and added, "Coincidentally, I also have something troubling me. Just when I was thinking about how to deal with it, you appeared in front of me. No skills are required, just draw a card at random."

Hearing this, Melissa was eager to try:

"Is it okay to just draw one?"

Zaratul smiled and nodded.

This was the first time Melissa had such an opportunity. When she encountered such an incredible thing, she was a little curious and reserved. After thinking for a while, she took the top card and slowly turned it over:

"This is... a hermit?"

Zaratul raised his eyebrows and looked over, only to see that the card in the girl's hand was the upright "Hermit"!
After looking at the reversed card for so long, he finally saw an upright card that belonged to him, and it was not the Tower. Zaratul felt like crying for joy.

"Unsociable, noble, cautious, solitary, elder, wise..."

This card from Melissa's hand expresses Melissa's view and attitude towards herself. If the other party is really the turning point in her fate that she is looking for, then the metaphor of this card is particularly important. Zaratul did not get carried away because this is the upright position. He silently recalled the meaning and symbol of "Hermit" in his heart, and was not sure whether this was a warning to his own choice and his future:
"Think before you act, ask for advice, look within, guide, introspect, avoid being blind and isolated..."

Zaratul remained silent, tapping his thigh slowly with one finger, feeling as if he had grasped something, yet as if he had not understood anything at all. There was nothing he could do, divination and fate were like this.

Roselle had once muttered, wondering if there was a rule among fortune tellers that "you can't reveal the secrets of heaven or you'll shorten your life." Zaratul had never heard of this rule. But it was undeniable that Roselle sometimes overestimated him in the early days. Zaratul knew that he was not omniscient or omnipotent, and was far from the pinnacle of divination.

Sometimes He does not speak, not only because it cannot be spoken, but also because He Himself does not know what will happen.

Melissa saw that He had no reaction and thought that the omen of this card was not good. Just as she was holding the cards nervously, Zaratul suddenly smiled as if he had understood something. While smiling, He thanked Melissa:

"Thank you, Miss Melissa. Your divination has given me some ideas about the future. I am no longer so confused."

Melissa thought she had just picked up a card at random. She looked at the "Hermit" card in her hand and couldn't help but ask curiously:
"Is divination really so magical? Can you see your future destiny through a card?"

Haha, as long as the ritual magic is used correctly, it is not difficult to borrow power from the great existence. Divination and mysticism have never gone away, they are just hidden... Zaratul nodded slightly: "Yes, Miss Melissa, maybe you don't think there is any meaning in it. No matter what you draw, it is a coincidence. But in the eyes of people like us, whether it is a coincidence or a random number, it is one of the foreshadowings of fate."

He took all the cards from Melissa, put the pendulum back into his arms, picked up his cane, and slowly stood up. Melissa reached out to help him, but found that the old man's movements were not slow, and it seemed that he was not injured in the fall just now:

"You have just given me this prophecy. It is destined that you are the one who will give me this prophecy."

Melissa also stood up. After hearing this, she was stunned for a few seconds and slightly widened her eyes:

"You mean, my appearance here, my bumping into you, my fortune telling for you, all of this is actually destined?"

She suddenly found that she couldn't understand the old man's thoughts, but as an educated and polite woman, she didn't express a clear denial of this view. She knew that the thinking of elderly people must be very stubborn and old-fashioned, not to mention this kind of old man who still needed to do divination in a mysterious way.

Melissa didn't say anything. She opened her mouth to say goodbye, but Zaratul spoke first:
"It's a pleasure to communicate with you, Miss Melissa. I hope we can both get answers that satisfy us."

"Me too." Melissa bowed simply, holding the documents in one hand and lifting her skirt with the other.

“Go back quickly, young lady. If you go home along Third Street now, you may see some interesting things…” Zaratul gave a mysterious smile, then bowed slightly and turned away.

"Interesting things? What interesting things..."

Melissa said goodbye to the strange old man. She took her things and walked alone on the road for a while. She wanted to walk back, but Zaratul’s last words kept lingering in her ears. Those meaningful words seemed to have a hook, making it difficult for her to forget.

"Third Street is only a few minutes away from here. It's a bit of a detour to go home, but it's safer..."

Melissa turned a corner naturally and quickly crossed a small block, avoiding the slowly approaching public carriage and walking into Third Street, which had a significantly heavier flow of people.

It was the peak time for people to get off work and school in the evening. Young people walking together and gentlemen and ladies in formal suits carrying briefcases could be seen everywhere in the Hillston area. The shops on the street were working hard to do business during the peak period, and there were many customers sitting in the restaurants and dessert shops. As Melissa walked, she looked around in confusion, looking for the "interesting thing" that Zaratul mentioned.

Suddenly, Melissa saw a familiar figure in the crowd.

"Ah, Ben—"

She quickly shut up and hid aside, watching her brother Benson walking with a strange lady, the two chatting and laughing. Benson was more active and eloquent than usual, constantly throwing out interesting topics one after another, making the young lady laugh. The atmosphere between the two was subtle and harmonious, and there were some hidden unspeakable emotions.

Benson escorted the lady to a townhouse, and smugly adjusted his collar. Then he suddenly found a pair of sparkling eyes not far in front of him staring at him. After a closer look, Benson was startled and suddenly felt guilty:

"Mei, Melissa, why are you here?"

The elder brother who was eloquent just now suddenly became tongue-tied, like a student who was caught skipping class, and his cheeks even turned slightly red. Facing his sister's meaningful and smiling gaze, Benson coughed uncomfortably and turned his face away:

"Don't you usually take the shortcut? Why did you suddenly come here today?"

Melissa looked at the townhouse where the strange lady disappeared, and then looked at Benson, her smile full of accomplishment and curiosity:

"You have been absent-minded all this time, taking a detour and coming back late, just to send this lady home?"

Benson coughed again, hummed twice, reached out to pull his sister's arm, and ran away with his sister towards home: "What about you? Melissa, how did you suddenly appear here? Did you follow me from Queens?"

"I'll tell you when I get back." Melissa said excitedly, "Benson, how long have you been together? When are you going to propose?"

"It's still early! Ruth and I, no, Ms. Brooke, are new employees in our cooperative department. She's very good, and I just happened to be on the same road as her." Benson looked at the roadside uncomfortably and saw a crow foraging for food. "We just met not long ago. We are just familiar colleagues. Melissa, don't let your imagination run wild."

Melissa recalled the divination and the Lovers card and smiled without saying anything.

Amid the crowd, the brother and sister held each other's arms and trotted towards home in the afterglow of the evening. …

"At the time, my father and mother were just walking like this, and suddenly, they fell to the ground and died."

In a barren field, orange-haired Letty Orr sat against a rock. A ragged little boy, whose feet were covered with mud and blood scabs from walking for a long time, sat beside her.

"Is it because of hunger?" Audrey asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm very hungry, and my stomach is always burning, but I'll feel it after a few days."

The black-haired little boy had no sad expression on his face, only childlike innocence and calmness. He sat on the ground playing with a few stones, telling Audrey that the two larger stones were "Dad and Mom", and the two smaller stones were him and his brother.

"Mom and Dad died and fell to the ground. Birds and dogs came to eat them."

"I'm hungry and I want to eat, but I can't because they are my mom and dad."

The little boy muttered that he couldn't eat it, but he grabbed the two stones and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing them hard as if they were bread. The chewing made a crunching sound, and Audrey's fingers clenched a little, but she didn't say anything.

With blood dripping from his mouth, he continued incoherently:

"We walked for a long time and we were very hungry. My brother told me that he could endure for a long time and could go without food for a month. I believed him."

As he spoke, he picked up the small stone, put it in his mouth and began to chew:

"But that night, my brother died of starvation."

"Birds and dogs didn't want to eat my brother because they could eat too much, and my brother was so thin that there was only skin and bones, so I burned him." The little boy smiled proudly and raised his head proudly, as if waiting for praise.

Seeing his mouth full of blood and broken teeth stained red, Audrey couldn't help but use a soothing move on herself. She endured and endured, and mustered up the courage to take a deep breath as calmly as possible, and said with a gentle smile:

"Pura did a great job, you are so strong and brave."

The little boy raised his head higher after receiving the praise, and said with full energy: "That's right! When I was burning my brother, there were people who wanted to take him away, but I didn't let them succeed! I protected my brother!"

When my brother was being burned, someone came to snatch him? Why would they snatch a dead child? Could it be that... Audrey felt dizzy. She was glad that she was possessed by a rag doll. If she had a body, even if she had gone through a lot of mental training, she would probably have started to retch or vomit by now - then this psychological treatment would have been a complete failure, and it would also be a major failure for her as a psychologist.

She nodded vigorously, reaching out to stroke the boy's dirty, clumped hair, letting her smile become full of energy and encouragement:

"You did a great job! From now on, you should protect others just like you protect your brother, okay?"

"Yeah!" The little boy nodded vigorously after getting the affirmation, and suddenly asked, "Big sister, have you ever seen gems?"

Audrey thought about Letty's personality, and remembered that she was in psychotherapy, so she shook her head and showed a curious look: "No, Pura has seen it? What does the gem look like?"

The little boy stretched out his hand and gestured with a sphere the size of a child's fist:

"It's this big, red, and sparkly!"

"When I was very hungry, I saw a gem next to a dead person. I was very happy and wanted to take the gem away to exchange for food, but I was too hungry to bear it, so I ate the gem..."

The little boy hammered the ground angrily. "It must be the gem's fault. I've been hungry ever since. No matter how much I eat, I can't feel full. It's useless even if I eat stones, meat, people, and souls... I've always been hungry... I'm still hungry now..."

As he spoke, the little boy began to rub his hands on the ground randomly, grabbing sand, stones, withered plants and everything he could find and stuffing them into his mouth. Audrey wanted to use her extraordinary ability to stop him, but she gritted her teeth and endured it.

She is a dream walker, not a dream shaper or changer.

No matter how much death, pain, and sorrow she saw in her dreams, she could not change the dream, even if it was easy for her.

"You won't be hungry anymore..." Audrey reached out and stroked the head of the little boy who was eating the food, and said softly, "Next time we meet, I'll bring you something delicious, okay? Delicious bread, sausages, and barbecue, you'll definitely like it..."

After hearing this, the little boy raised his head hastily and asked in a naive and expectant manner:

"really?"

"Well, really."

Audrey's voice became gentler and more hypnotic: "I will bring a lot, and I will make sure you can eat enough..."

With her comfort, the spirit of the owner of the dream gradually calmed down, and the little boy gradually stopped chewing frantically and closed his eyes slightly.

"Go to sleep, go to sleep..." Audrey hummed the ballad softly.

As the little boy fell asleep against the wall with his eyes closed, a shadow appeared in the air. Tawfik, wearing a black mask with red patterns, gestured to Audrey, who nodded, grabbed his arm, and the two of them left the little boy's dream together.

Soon, the two came out of the dream and their consciousness returned to the real world.

Audrey stood up from her chair and took a few steps lightly. She looked at the old middle-aged man sleeping on the bed with a ferocious expression, who was locked in chains and restraints with extraordinary abilities, and sighed softly.

"I didn't expect that hunger in Pula has reached such an irreversible point. I feel sorry for it."

Tawfik walked up and whispered, "Entering a Sequence 6 dream is still dangerous. Thank you for your hard work this time."

"That's what I should do, and it helps with my performance."

Audrey retracted her gaze and asked softly, "Did he really... do something unforgivable like that?"

Tawfik nodded. "Well, he couldn't control his desires, and he ate so many people during the ban, openly challenging the leader's authority. What awaits him is that he will be deprived of his power and all personal rights, and sent to the fields to do hard labor until he dies."

"This...sigh."

Audrey wanted to say something, but in the end, she just sighed softly.

It was difficult for her to connect this middle-aged man with gentle and sad features with the child in her dream. She could not imagine that such a taciturn man was so notorious among the rebels. He finally won the victory and restored his country, but suddenly went mad one day and killed and devoured dozens of lives.

"Pura should be happy, at least he can still work until death for others."

Taufik's voice was also a little dull:
"In our school, everyone has mental illnesses of varying degrees. Normal people in the universal sense of the word do not exist. Even leaders and gods are crazy and sick, and so am I... I have a sick hatred for the Northern Continent and its people. When I see people from the Northern Continent, I will subconsciously attack them. Even though I know that not all people from the Northern Continent are bad, I still cannot control myself."

"You never know when you will come to heal me, and then watch me being stripped of my divinity and extraordinary abilities and sent to work in the fields."

“I’m trying my best to avoid this from happening.”

Audrey deliberately made Letty look serious and said, "Please make sure you monitor your mental health. By the way, I may need to take a leave tomorrow and will not be able to help you in the afternoon. Please ask for leave from His Royal Highness Richard on my behalf."

Without even thinking, Tawfik nodded: "Okay."

723
Saturday morning was surprisingly a rare sunny day in Backlund.

Such weather can cheer people up, and it is obviously to build momentum for the king's speech. But yesterday it was still as gloomy as usual, and even the position of the sun could not be seen. It was simply impossible to explain it except for extraordinary abilities.

Klein opened his eyes early. In the middle of the night, he received the prayer of Leonard Mitchell, who was far away in Tingen. Although he had thousands of reasons not to open his eyes, he had no choice but to get up and respond to the prayer while summoning the messenger to send away the prepared "Yesterday Reappearance" spell.

Or, at most, you can curse the sleepless person's routine in your mind.

"October 10th...it's here so soon."

It was not yet seven o'clock when Mr. Dawn Dantes, who had not slept for almost half the night, got up. Number 160 Böklund Street also came alive and quickly began to prepare for the employer, who was going to listen to a speech. Several of the servants were also preparing to go to the speech.

Originally, Klein planned to go there by car as usual. But when he looked out the window, he realized how outrageous his idea was.

Böklund Street is close to the city center and is less than twenty minutes' walk from the square in the Hillston area.

The speech was to be given at nine o'clock, and it was only eight o'clock now, but people in dark clothes had already begun to walk along the street in groups of three or five towards Hillston Square.

Compared with the warm atmosphere of the previous few days, the atmosphere today was so depressing that it made people a little frightened. Perhaps it was because George III titled his speech "Mourning the Victims of this Year". Although people gathered in groups, there was little communication between them.

They walked forward silently again, as if relying on inertia.

"Let's go over there."

Klein turned to the butler and said, "Let everyone take half a day off this morning. Enuni can just follow me."

Butler Walter hesitated to speak, but obeyed his employer's request.

Klein dressed neatly, picked up his cane, and walked towards the city square of Hillston District with his secret doll Enuni and the hidden secret doll Chonas Kilger. In front of them, more and more people appeared. Some of them were dressed in formal suits, holding canes, and dressed like gentlemen. Some wore skirts with blue, green, yellow, and red as the main colors. Some wore sweaters, jackets and trousers. Some wore dark black dresses with somber tones.

They came out of their houses and came from their streets, like splashing water, merging together at the intersection to form a stream.

The creek rushes forward, and multiple streams converge and interweave into a majestic torrent at the entrance of the square.

The torrent rushed slowly and flooded the square.

Surrounded by the crowd, Klein felt for the first time in a long time that he was as small as a drop of water.

TBC
------

While repairing the computer, I thought about the fact that I hadn't made any donations in the past two months, so I opened a charity donation and the 1-to-1 poverty-stricken student aid fund.

Now the author has no money.

Become Richard! Put on a mask! Rob people on the road! Hand over your money! Turn into bread! Destroy the bodies! Take the money back and donate it!
(End of this chapter)