Chapter 111: Amon
Monday afternoon, 3 PM, above the grey fog.
Audrey was the first to smile, standing up and greeting the head of the table, "Good afternoon, Mr. Fool∽."
After receiving a slight nod in response, Audrey proceeded to greet "The Hanged Man," "The Magician," and others.
This had become a routine task for the Tarot Club. Alice, hearing Audrey's cheerful "Good afternoon, Miss Destiny∽," nodded happily and watched as Audrey continued greeting the others.
Even the usually gloomy "The World," under Klein's control, nodded in response to Audrey's greeting.
In this atmosphere, Derrick's absent-mindedness became particularly noticeable.
"What are you worried about?" Audrey asked Derrick after finishing her greetings, saving others who were curious about his situation from having to ask.
"The Sun" Derrick did not hide anything and immediately recounted his successful "feigned illness" and subsequent isolation at the base of the round tower. He then asked:
"Respected Mr. Fool, will that magical item discover that I am attending the Tarot Club?"
Unable to observe Mr. Fool's expression through the grey fog, Audrey turned her gaze to Alice, who was suppressing a laugh.
... Did she find this worry amusing and unnecessary?
Audrey tried to guess Alice's thoughts, but she did not know that Alice was laughing simply because she thought Mr. Fool probably did not know the answer either...
Klein, hidden in the grey fog, secretly mocked the situation in his heart, then lightly tapped the edge of the bronze long table with his fingers, smiling leisurely, "Normally, it shouldn't be able to detect it, but some magical items have peculiar effects."
Mr. Fool's affirmative answer successfully put Derrick at ease. He nodded and said, "I don't know what peculiar effects it has; this is one of Silver City's highest secrets."
Suddenly, as if remembering something, he blurted out, "Have you heard of someone named Amon?"
Amon?
This name seemed to open a floodgate, and as Derrick pulled it open, a torrent of memories poured out. Alice held her head, gasping.
This drew the attention of both the bewildered Audrey and Fors, as well as Klein and Alger, who had some knowledge of the name, towards Alice.
But Alice was too preoccupied with the flood of memories to notice. She endured the swelling pain, waiting for the torrent to subside, then began to sort through the memories.
The first image she recalled was a painting—a man in a long, black robe-like coat, black shoes, black pants, with a wide forehead and a high top hat. He had a thin face and wore a distinctive monocle on his right eye, standing intimately close to Klein.
Skipping over countless images of clothed and unclothed pairs, Alice reached the earliest memory.
A familiar schoolgirl in a uniform pulled her into a room mysteriously. She heard her own puzzled voice, "Xiao Song? What is it you want to show me?"
As she spoke, she glanced around, noticing an open notebook on the desk—Class 1 (7), Song Shu.
Song Shu... Xiao Song...
Alice's thoughts didn't last long before she saw Song Shu making a "shh" gesture with her finger on her lips, then locking the door mysteriously. She walked to the desk, pulling out a rolled-up poster from a drawer.
Alice watched her perspective move closer and stop beside Song Shu. She heard herself ask, "What is this?"
Song Shu pulled her to sit down and spread the poster on the desk. Alice... saw a giant clock.
The clock was divided into twelve sections with Roman numerals, and a... crow, or rather a man with black wings, sat on the clock's hands. An unknown light fell on the clock, casting the man's shadow on the clock face.
Alice focused on the man's appearance. He wore a long, black robe-like coat, black pants, and black shoes, with a monocle on his right eye...
A monocle!
Before Alice could delve into her associations, her gaze followed Song Shu's finger to a notebook with three lines of text:
"Manipulating the hands of time,
"Roaming the shadows of fate,
"Embodiment of deception and mischief."
... Amon.
The memory shattered, but Alice had already recalled the identity of the man in the image. She opened her eyes, looked at Little Sun, and softly said:
"Son of the Creator, Blasphemer, Angel of Time, God of Deception and Mischief..."
With each word she uttered, the others' faces grew more shocked and fearful. When she finished speaking, the Tarot Club fell into silence, only broken by Little Sun's anxious question:
"Miss Destiny, are you talking about Amon?"
Alice rubbed her temples, then looked at Derrick and replied, "If the Amon you mentioned likes to wear a monocle on his right eye."
As she said this, Song Shu's voice seemed to echo in Alice's ears: "If you find someone suddenly wearing a monocle on their right eye, you should be careful—just like this."
She remembered that in the final image, Song Shu had pulled out a monocle from somewhere and placed it on her right eye.
—Of course, we all know that Song Shu couldn't possibly have any real connection to Amon.
In the unchanged silence, only Derrick's voice continued:
"I don't know... Forty-two years ago, an exploration team encountered someone claiming to be Amon in the depths of darkness. After returning to Silver City, they all went mad and lost control, except for one, who was confined at the base of the round tower, right next to me."
Alice suddenly fell silent, Song Shu's image reappearing before her eyes.
She heard her own curious voice asking, "If he's so powerful, then hypothetically, if someone unfortunately encounters him, how can they survive?"
Alice saw Song Shu ponder for a moment before replying:
"That would depend on the situation.
"If Amon doesn't have a reason to kill you, you could try to pique his interest; that might save you."
She heard herself asking, "What if he does?"
She saw Song Shu smile mysteriously and say, "Then you can only pray that the Angel of Time chooses a death method you happen to like."
Let's congratulate Song Shu for finally having a name.