Chapter 152: Amon and the Cockroach
"Which things should not be seen or heard?" Derrick asked in confusion.
Alger lowered his voice and said, "Once we enter the temple, everything falls into that category."
"Does he mean we should explore with our eyes closed?" Alice asked curiously, raising her hand.
Derrick was equally puzzled and asked, "Then how should I explore?"
This was Alger's area of expertise. He chuckled and said, "Aren't there others? Isn't there the 'Chief'?"
Alice suddenly understood.
Derrick frowned, showing his reluctance to accept this method.
This is indeed Mr. Hanged Man's style... Audrey looked at the studious Alice and the unwilling Derrick, thinking that the Tarot Club would be very helpful in improving her ability to manage her expressions.
Noticing Derrick's unwilling reaction, Alger cursed inwardly and wanted to continue persuading him, but his peripheral vision caught Alice listening attentively.
Alger paused suspiciously, then turned to confirm the expression of Mr. Fool, who showed no emotion, before continuing:
"What I mean is, listen to the 'Chief's' instructions and only do what he tells you to do. At other times, absolutely do not make decisions on your own."
"I understand, thank you, Mr. Hanged Man!" Derrick instantly felt relieved.
Alger subconsciously glanced at Alice, who seemed to have realized something, and then changed the topic:
"Miss Destiny, you just mentioned that you suspect the organization's goal is to start a world war?"
Alice nodded.
Alger exhaled and turned to Audrey to confirm: "Miss Justice, I want to know the political changes in Backlund after Duke Negan's death."
Audrey recalled the recent news she had heard directly or indirectly:
"Duke Negan's death has caused a split in the House of Lords. Although his eldest son is about to inherit the title and become a member of the upper house, his prestige is not enough to quell the disputes.
"Nearly ten members of the upper house jointly proposed that newly ennobled nobles should also have the opportunity to obtain fixed seats.
"In simple terms, this means that those who have been ennobled through political donations, charitable contributions, and the purchase of corresponding lands can become members of the upper house."
Alger looked at Alice without hiding it, and Alice frowned as expected.
When she tried to find traces of Ruen's history during the Earth civilization period, she found that Ruen was getting closer and closer to war.
But Alice ultimately said nothing. She had little motivation to stop the war and could not understand what war truly represented.
Audrey continued:
"Such disputes have caused many bills to be shelved, including but not limited to raising workers' wages, improving working hours, and revising the Poor Law.
"The comforting thing is that the unified examination for government employees is still progressing steadily and has not stopped. The investigation into the air pollution situation in Backlund is also deepening."
It seems that war is very close... Alice pursed her lips and said nothing.
"In the short term, there will be no war..." Alger muttered, exchanging other information with the others.
After a while, Klein, worried that staying in the washroom for too long would arouse suspicion, ended the meeting.
...
Alice opened Roselle's diary from Audrey.
Compared to Roselle finally contacting Mr. Door again, the news about the Goddess was more likely to attract Alice's attention.
"If a Tarot card were to represent the Goddess, it should be the 'Star' card rather than the 'Moon' card?"
Alice was slightly stunned. She thought of the "Life School" that worshipped the Moon but not the Goddess and nodded thoughtfully.
But... does the 'Moon' card currently have no owner?
Does this mean that the top of the 'Moon' pathway is still vacant?
Then where did the 'Original Moon' come from?
I wonder which pathway the 'Moon' belongs to...
Alice naturally thought of the "Life School" pharmacists who worshipped the "Original Moon."
Habitually putting aside questions that were temporarily difficult to answer, Alice continued reading.
"I hid my curiosity and instead teased Mr. Door for not respecting the true gods. He leisurely, yes, leisurely replied that this was the attitude of the great nobles towards the gods in the Fourth Epoch.
"This guy is so good at pretending! However, I am indeed very interested in the great nobles of the Fourth Epoch, so I followed up with more questions."
... Emperor, I believe Mr. Door cannot pretend as well as you.
Alice shook her head and continued reading with a sense of helplessness.
"Mr. Door told me that in the Tudor Dynasty, there were five great noble families: Abraham, Antigonus, Amon, Tamara, and Jacob. Each of these families could be called 'angel families,' possessing extremely terrifying power."
The familiar surnames in this passage made Alice fall into deep thought.
... Amon is really bored enough to create a whole family by himself!
However, this also indirectly shows that he has enough avatars...
Speaking of which, this behavior of having one obvious avatar surrounded by many inconspicuous ones seems familiar, like...
Cockroaches.
Alice shook her head, trying to shake off this absurd idea, but a widely circulated saying still popped into her mind:
"When you see one cockroach, there are already cockroaches all around you."
... Replacing "cockroach" with "Amon" in this sentence doesn't seem out of place at all?
However, cockroaches are actually better than Amon in some ways; at least you don't have to worry about your neighbors suddenly turning into cockroaches...
So, why not give cockroaches the "Thief" potion?
In that case, feeding... uh, which sequence has the possession ability? I'll ask Amon next time...
With the analogy of cockroaches and Amon, this page of the diary seemed rather ordinary. Alice flipped to the end and only expressed disdain for Emperor Roselle's plagiarism of online novels.
Alice turned to the third page of the diary.
"Do what you will, but harm none" ... This is the motto of the "Seer," right? Bernadette is on the "Seer" pathway... oh right, the "Hermit Sage"!
The next passage in the diary made Alice pause for a moment.
"June 3rd, I saw Floren again. He was very different from before, as if he had changed into a different person. No, he still had his original memories and some distinctive personality traits, which was enough to prove it was him.
"What had he experienced to cause such a big change?
"Maybe it can be described more accurately with an analogy: some monsters are physically stitched together, while he is mentally stitched together."