"Mr. A?"
At 117 Birmingham Road in the Hillsdon district, Fors and Xio exchanged a glance, both seeing the surprise and suspicion in each other's eyes.
"Yes," Ashes nodded slightly. "How much do you know about him?"
"We don't know much," Xio explained without hiding anything. "We have no idea about Mr. A's true identity. We only know that he is a powerful Beyonder, possibly of Sequence 6 or even Sequence 5, and that he organizes a Beyonder gatherings in the middle of every month."
"Once a month?" Ashes frowned slightly. "So, the next gathering won't be for at least another two weeks?"
"That's right," Xio nodded lightly but quickly added, "However, if any Beyonders can't wait for the monthly gathering, they can contact him through specific channels."
"But I can't guarantee that the person they meet will be Mr. A himself."
"I want to meet this Mr. A as soon as possible," Ashes said after a moment of contemplation.
"Sure," Xio agreed without hesitation. "I can make the contact right now, and we should get a reply by tomorrow."
"No rush," Ashes shook his head lightly. "I have something to attend to in the morning tomorrow. You can contact him then."
"Ashes," Fors, who was sitting on the sofa holding Clara, hesitated for a moment before asking, "I need to confirm something. You're not planning to do anything to Mr. A, are you?"
"Is there a problem with that?" Ashes turned to look at her, questioning back.
"There's a big problem!" Fors whispered. "This is the only Beyonder gathering we know of. Xio still needs Mr. A's gatherings to gather the main ingredients for the Sheriff potion."
After a week of "special training" and performing surgeries to the point of nausea, Fors had successfully digested the "Apprentice" potion and advanced to Sequence 8, becoming a "Trickmaster." However, Xio, who had received the Sheriff formula earlier and had already fully digested her potion, was still stuck at Sequence 9 as a "arbiter" due to the scarcity of the main ingredients needed for the Sheriff potion.
"No, I'm fine with it," Xio quickly waved her hand and said hastily, "There are other Beyonder gatherings in Backlund. If this one is gone, I can always find another."
Ashes thought for a moment, then nodded slightly. "Fors has a point. If I destroy Mr. A's gathering, I'll owe you one."
After considering for a moment, Ashes looked at the pen and paper on the table—preparations Fors had made for her writing. The only problem was that she hadn't written a single word.
Ashes picked up the pen and quickly wrote three lines on the paper:
"The Fool who does not belong to this era;" "The Mysterious Ruler above the gray fog;" "The King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck."
Fors, out of her trust in Ashes, read the lines softly but immediately widened her eyes in shock. A wave of fear surged within her.
Though she wasn't a devout follower of any of the Seven Gods, she knew well enough that three-line honorifics were used only in rituals related to the Seven Great Deities, implying a being of the same stature.
But there was a problem—everyone knew that any existence outside the Seven Great Deities was considered an evil god!
All her knowledge of mysticism and the rumors she'd heard told her that reciting the full honorific name of such a hidden being would likely draw their attention.
"Ashes, what is this...?" Fors couldn't help but shiver, with beads of sweat forming on her fair forehead.
"A god's honorific name," Ashes thought for a moment before succinctly explaining, "Not one of the Seven Great Deities, but also not an evil god. Reciting His honorific name is completely safe. By doing so, you can join a secret Beyonder gathering, and at the same time..."
Ashes paused before continuing, "Fors, you can also try reciting His honorific name to seek protection from your curse."
"Huh?" Fors blinked, then immediately straightened up. "Really?"
...
"So, what's going on with these two?"
Above the gray fog, Klein's expression was somewhat odd. Just a moment ago, his ears were filled with layered, ethereal prayers. Expecting it to be from Miss Justice or The Hanged Man along with The Sun, he hurried to the gray fog to respond to their requests.
But to his surprise, it turned out to be The Lovers, or more accurately, two unfamiliar women near him. Judging by the situation, The Lovers seemed to be spreading his faith.
Klein could almost imagine the dialogue:
"Excuse me, miss, may I take a few minutes of your time to talk about our Father and Savior—The Fool?"
Klein nodded slightly, feeling a sudden surge of happiness.
Judging by the two ladies' expressions of terror, they were probably scared by the honorific name, mistakenly thinking they were being targeted by an evil god.
Ashes' evangelism, however, had no impact on The Fool. As a newly promoted Clown, he could easily bring one or two more people into the gray fog.
The only question was: "Lovers, why are you spending the night with two ladies? Aren't you and Miss Justice close? What's going on here?"
"Juggling three relationships?" Klein's expression grew more peculiar.
Though the "Souls" series was jokingly referred to as a dating simulator, this seemed a bit over the top.
What? You say this is pure friendship? Yeah, right, even a dog wouldn't believe that!
If this was pure friendship, Klein would eat this bronze table right now!
(End of Chapter)