Tingen City's Western District, Narcissus Street.
Klein pulled open the curtains and gazed at the sunlight streaming in from outside, lost in thought.
His feelings were rather complicated.
The exposure of the "Blessed One" had put him in a passive position, but since the identity of the "Fool" had not been revealed, it wasn't entirely a disadvantage.
Although the exposure of the "Blessed One" allowed him to use this identity to justifiably seek a trade with Ashes, there were still two main difficulties.
Firstly, he had considered creating a small persona above the gray fog, but every attempt had ended in failure.
Secondly, he couldn't pay a sufficient price.
Ashes' target was very clear: the Black Emperor.
However, his understanding of the Black Emperor was limited to what was recorded in books.
Perhaps Emperor Roselle's diary had more detailed information, but he could only rely on Justice and the Hanged Man to collect it.
Whether they could actually gather the page with information on the Black Emperor was not something he could decide.
More importantly, Ashes and Justice had clearly already met in reality.
He wasn't sure if the little trick he played at the last gathering had worked.
If Justice handed over the diary to Ashes in reality first, not only would he be unable to use this information for a trade, but it might also further expose his identity.
"Why do I feel increasingly passive?"
Klein smiled bitterly. The current situation was completely unexpected.
If his identity were completely exposed, he would either have to kick Ashes and Justice out of the Tarot Club or directly confront Ashes.
Neither of these options was something Klein wanted.
Turning his back to the sunlight, with a worried expression, Klein walked to the bedside and flopped down motionlessly.
No matter what, he didn't want to put in any effort today. He just wanted to rest well.
He's laying it out! ...
Outside Tingen City.
A house with a green lawn.
It had a verdant, fragrant garden and a dark red chimney.
Behind the bedroom window of this house was a desk with an ordinary notebook spread open.
A slightly pale hand flipped the notebook to the first page and then quickly continued flipping.
Amid the rustling of the pages, lines of text faintly appeared:
"NightHawks, Mandated Punishers, and Machinery Hivemind joint operation, pursuing instigator Tris on Iron Cross Street. Unfortunately, they didn't know Tris had already advanced to become a witch. He is now 'Triss.'"
"Female Triss successfully escaped the encirclement of the NightHawks, without arousing any suspicion."
"This is reasonable. Who would suspect a frail woman?"
"..."
"NightHawk Klein Moretti returned to Narcissus Street by public carriage. The now witch Triss coincidentally boarded the carriage at this time, and they saw each other."
"Triss recognized Klein Moretti as a NightHawk, she felt guilty, and her body began to tremble abnormally."
"Klein Moretti noticed Triss' abnormality and wanted to use his spiritual vision to check her state."
"Through spiritual vision, he could easily see the abnormalities of 'Miss Triss'!"
The writing in the notebook suddenly changed.
If it was initially as precise as computer print, the following became very sloppy.
"Klein Moretti got off, Triss boarded, and the public carriage quickly drove away."
"Klein Moretti, who had just activated his spiritual vision, didn't see the gentle and sweet young lady as he wished, only the slowly departing carriage."
"Klein noticed the abnormality, but the aura of over twenty passengers in the carriage intertwined and covered each other. For a novice like Klein, it was hard to distinguish, making him fail to notice Triss' abnormality."
"Klein shook his head and didn't dwell on it."
"After all, she was just a stranger, not worth too much attention."
"This is reasonable."
"..."
"Sealed Artifact 2049 arrived in Tingen. With the help of the Antigonus family's puppet, Dunn Smith led the NightHawks to find Ray Bieber, interrupting his digestion process."
"An enraged Ray Bieber transformed into a monster after his digestion was interrupted. The scene became chaotic."
"The NightHawks did not expect Ray Bieber's transformation. His roar caused their spirituality to lose control, plunging them into a coma!"
"Oh my! Everyone lost their ability to resist. Tingen's NightHawks were about to be completely wiped out. The Holy See would send stronger NightHawks to Tingen, and Ince Zangwill would have nowhere to hide!" (crossed out)
The above line was quickly scribbled out to the point where it was hard to discern the original content.
Below, a new story quickly followed.
However, the two sections of the story were clearly written by different people.
The previous story was written in neat handwriting like a computer printout, while the writing below suddenly became sloppy.
"Ash Black wasn't a Beyonder. His spirituality was not affected. By coincidence, he woke Dunn up, giving the NightHawks a chance to drink the potion to recover from their injuries, ultimately killing Ray Bieber successfully. This makes sense..." (crossed out)
"Ash Black killed Ray Bieber in an inexplicable way. Does this make sense? In this Ganges River."
"No matter what, Ray Bieber was killed. This did not affect the development of the story."
"..."
"It's unbelievable! Klein Moretti sensed Ince Zangwill's secret influence. He suddenly realized that Triss was Tris and informed Dunn Smith of this."
"Incredible! Klein sensed Ince Zangwill's secret influence once again and saw that dark red chimney! This meant he would soon be able to pinpoint Ince Zangwill's whereabouts!"
The neat handwriting once again became sloppy.
"This was due to a reminder from the University's history professor Azik, who harbored many secrets."
"But even so, Klein being able to find specific clues was enough to be surprising, inexplicable. This wasn't the first time."
"Klein could locate Ince Zangwill based on the dark red chimney, but Tingen was too vast for him to pinpoint a specific house in a short time. This makes sense."
"No matter what secrets Klein was hiding, Ince Zangwill had not stopped his actions. The story continued."
"..."
"It's such a coincidence! Klein Moretti suddenly thought of buying some materials for a ritual at the underground market, and Triss also happened to be there. They met by chance!"
"Triss suddenly felt something was wrong. She turned around early to avoid Klein's sight."
"They met, but didn't completely meet."
"When Klein Moretti walked to the exit, he failed to notice Triss..." (crossed out)
"Triss wasn't fast enough to leave before Klein Moretti noticed."
"But Klein only saw Triss' back. Although he felt it was familiar, it didn't arouse his suspicion."
"Not seeing Triss' face, he didn't recognize her true identity. This makes sense!"
"Klein encountered Sirris in the library and killed him, inadvertently severing half of the clues to the Lanlous incident. The discovery of the problem was delayed."
"Klein overlooked some details to obtain the Clown potion he wanted, making him forget to use spirit communication to inquire more information from Sirris. This also makes sense."
"..."
"Klein prepared to go to the divination club, coincidentally meeting Grace and Christina, who had suffered losses due to Lanlous. They sought Klein's divination on whether they could recover their stolen money. Christina also brought Megos to the divination club. Klein subconsciously planned to use spiritual vision to observe Megos."
The handwriting once again became sloppy.
"The events of the past week had left Klein feeling exhausted and powerless. Instead of going directly to the divination club, he chose to stay at home and rest, sleeping until the evening."
"Unable to wait for Klein, Grace and Christina stayed until dusk. Megos left early due to physical discomfort, and Klein didn't meet Megos..." (crossed out)
"Unable to wait for Klein, Grace and Christina stayed until dusk, and Megos also stayed until the evening. Klein went to the divination club before dusk and met the three, including Megus."
"Klein met Megos, but his spirituality prevented him from checking, and he didn't notice the subtle anomaly afterward. This makes sense; our story isn't made up."
"This is reasonable."
"Pa!"
A pale hand put down the feather pen, and Ince Zangwill's face turned gloomy.
Klein Moretti.
In the story he was writing, everything followed his script.
But Klein Moretti almost always disrupted his plans.
Although he knew this was due to the influence of "0-08," Klein himself must have some secrets.
Otherwise, "0-08" wouldn't try to use him to ruin his plans.
This wasn't the first time.
If this continued, perhaps "0-08" would succeed next time.
He had to do something.
Thinking of this, Ince Zangwill picked up the feather pen and began writing in the notebook again.
PS1: The author's note is limited to 500 words, so it can only be written at the end.
PS2: The contents written by "0-08" cannot be erased or rewritten by smearing.
And the "plot" written on the book but smeared can't be realized at all.
For example, writing "Ince Zangwill becomes a god immediately."
This is obviously impossible, so the unachievable sentence will be directly smeared.
For example, most of the smearing in the original work was due to Klein, as a variable, repeatedly providing crucial clues, causing huge loopholes in the subsequent plot that couldn't be realized, thus being smeared. This continually interrupted Ince Zangwill's plans and allowed Klein to live to the end.
(End of the Chapter)