So it finally made its appearance. The legendary Diary of Roselle.
"Diary? That's a diary?" Alger frowned slightly as he keenly noticed this tidbit.
Mr Fool replied to The Hanged Man's question in a relaxed manner "Let us first view it as a diary for now" neither denying nor confirming his answer.
"It's said that Emperor Roselle's, well, diary was written in a cryptic language or symbols he invented" Audrey also joined in, her curiosity piqued.
"Yes" answered Alger simply. "Some people believe that it is a unique set of symbols from mysticism. Others believe that it is a hieroglyph. But up to today, no one has found the correct way of deciphering it. At the very least, that's all I know"
Arthus realising he hadn't contributed much to the conversation, decided to chime in "Mr Fool… I can complete this task in the next few days. I know of many enthusiasts of Emperor Rosell's legendary scriptures— I mean diary" Arthus said, correcting his statement and continued after hesitating "However… How would I share them with you?"
Arthus didn't really care about the diary, not because he hated Roselle. No, he actually loved him and remembers his famous quote "The taste of a Demoness ain't bad" fondly. Perhaps he will follow in his footsteps since he also aims to be a beyonder from the Savant pathway just like Emperor Roselle, well he later did switch to the Hermit pathway and then again with the Black Emperor pathway but that is besides the point.
The reason he didn't care was simply because he didn't know Mandarin so he couldn't read it anyway. In his last life, he was born in Spain but his family moved to the United Kingdom via the EU settlement scheme when he was five years old. He didn't even know how to speak in Spanish despite being a Spanish national. Shocking.
In fact, he didn't start speaking until he was around roughly six years old and started going to school, being forced to speak to other children. Hence his only fluent language was English. While Arthus was lampooning in his mind Miss Justice suddenly spoke.
"Yes Mr. Fool, this… We can't understand the symbols or the words... Then, how are we to pass the information to you, Mr. Fool? Or are we to mail it somewhere?" inquired Audrey respectfully, agreeing with Mr. Priestess.
Mr Fool seemed to take his time seemingly not in a hurry. Then he suddenly spoke while looking towards Mr Priestess.
"Mr Priestess, let us give it a try. Imagine a paragraph of text and give it the emotions of writing it with urgency. Yes, pick up the fountain pen beside you and write on the piece of paper"
A piece of yellowish-brown goatskin parchment and a dark red fountain pen appeared in front of Arthus.
Arthus, being called out by Mr Fool stood upright with a startle and "Uh— Yes Mr Fool!"
He reached towards the pen with his hand reluctantly, as if he expected it to suddenly fly and stab him in his eyes. In accordance with the instructions provided kindly by the gentle Mr Fool, he imagined a proverb:
"Ignorance is Bliss"
After imagining the text, he picked up the fountain pen and imbued it with the desire of projecting the words out.
Mr Fool sensing his emotions and using the fountain pen as a medium, guided him.
The moment Arthus landed the fountain pen, he saw a line appear on the goatskin parchment.
"Ignorance is Bliss" said Mr Priestess out loud, seating himself back in his chair.
"Goddess, how fascinating and profound!" Audrey exclaimed in astonishment while feeling rueful.
"Is this proverb a work of Emperor Roselle?" asked Audrey curiously.
"I don't remember where I read it but it most likely was said by Emperor Roselle at one point" replied Arthus while remembering Emperor Roselle's habit of claiming everything as his own idea, disregarding the laws regarding copyright concerns. He couldn't help but smile as he thought of it.
Following that, she seemed to realise something and looked at Mr Fool with some fear.
"Mr. Fool, can you read our minds?"
"No, I was only guiding Mr Priestess. I simplified the process of writing for him and made it become an imprint. If he did not wish to express it, nothing would appear" Mr Fool placated her with a low tone.
"Is that so... Then perhaps we can memorize the symbols or the way the cryptic text looks and present it directly as we wish?" Audrey heaved a sigh of relief as she asked in enlightenment.
"Yes," Mr Fool answered.
"That's not a bad method. Miss Justice, do not doubt your memory. After becoming a Spectator, you will receive immense improvement in this aspect" Mr Hanged Man said while praising and encouraging her.
Audrey happily accepted the praise and nodded in delight.
"You have delighted me with this reminder. Mr. Hanged Man, do you have any other guidance on Spectators?"
With that said, she looked toward the Seat of Honor.
"Mr. Fool, I will work hard to complete your mission. I will do my best to gather more of Emperor Roselle's secret diary"
"I mentioned before that l'm a person who likes a fair and equal exchange. The advanced payment I gave is only equivalent to two pages of the diary for each person. If there are more, I will give additional in return" said Mr Fool calmly.
"You are truly a generous gentleman." Alger fell silent for a few seconds before bowing slightly with his hand by his chest.
Mr Priestess nodded as if he agreed with Mr Hanged Man's statement.
After the bow, he turned to Audrey and said, "Let me emphasize once more. A Spectator will forever be a spectator.
"I know that many Spectators enjoy imagining themselves to be the protagonist or some other character. As a result, they invest a lot of feelings into it, to the point of crying, laughing, raging, and turning sorrowful because of the drama. However, that is not what a Spectator should do.
While faced with the various dramas of society and figures who knowingly or unknowingly act the role of particular characters, you have to maintain the attitude of being an absolute bystander. Only then can you calmly and objectively observe them. You will discover their habits, their tics from lying, or their scent of nervousness. From those minute clues, you can grasp their true thoughts.
Believe me, everyone is different because of their emotions. They will secrete different 'things' and different smells. However, only a real Spectator can sniff it out.
Once you invest too many of your emotions, your observation will be influenced. Your sensitivity towards the emotions of others will deviate"
Audrey listened attentively as her eyes brightened gradually.
"It sounds really, really interesting!"
Silence soon settled as soon as Audrey said that sentence. There was nothing else to talk about. Finally finding an opportunity Arthus turned towards Alger and asked what had been plaguing his mind this whole time.
"Mr Hanged Man, did you perhaps find something regarding my request last meeting?" asked Arthus inquiring in an hopeful tone.
Alger squinted his eyes. He did find someone from the Savant pathway while visiting Pritz harbour to collect his Ghost shark blood. However he didn't mention this to the High Priestess earlier because the price that the man had demanded was simply too outrageous! The man was named Harland Greaves, whether that was his real name or not was none of his concern.
He was a sequence 7 'Appraiser' and made his living by appraising beyonder items. Alger wasn't worried much about his safety despite being a sequence lower than him since he knew that the beyonders of the Savant pathway didn't have any remarkable fighting abilities and beyonders from this pathway usually made living by crafting beyonder weapons but even that ability was granted to them after advancing to sequence 6!
He didn't know why 'The High Priestess' made a request for such a difficult pathway to advance in. At the very most he would be able to reach sequence 7 provided that Harland actually agreed to sell the recipe for all the sequences he had advanced to, there was no possibility for 'The High Priestess' advance further than that. The higher sequences were strictly controlled by the Church of Steam and Machinery. It was none of his concern. He just wanted to be able to profit from this encounter if possible.
He told Harland that he was looking for the formula of sequence 9 Savant pathway. He remembered what he replied with "Of all the pathways, why choose Savant? Who is stupid enough to want the Savant potion when they have so many other better options? They must know about this since they asked specifically for Savant. Now there's a word you don't hear tossed around by amateurs"
"I'm not asking as a buyer. I need it for someone else" Alger had replied.
"It will be expensive. Are you sure your buyer can afford it?" asked Harland, licking his lips.
"Name your price. I'll pass it on to my buyer. That's for them to decide afterwards" said Alger.
"800! No 1000! Gold pounds. No negotiating the price, after all I'm risking my life here so it's only reasonable for it to be that much!" declared Harland.
Alger frowned and replied "I'll pass this information to my buyer"
"Sure, I'm staying here for a while but if I do decide to change locations look for the symbol outside" said Harland clearly in a good mood.
Alger remembered the rusted symbol, an eye engraved into a gear he saw before entering the warehouse and had made a mental note of it before nodding and leaving.
Normally he wouldn't have cared and would have exploited 'The High Priestess' profiting as much as he could. But this wasn't the usual setting, he didn't want his image tainted in front of the great existence that is The Fool!
Not only that but this would also ruin his reputation amongst not only the current members but also any other future members as 'The Tarot Club' was bound to have new members sometime in the future.
Alger was conflicted on whether he should reveal that he has found a seller for the formula or refuse by saying he couldn't find a seller.
After some deliberate consideration, Alger made a decision and finally spoke.