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"The Forsaken Land of the Gods." Hanged Man Alger's response was tinged with both longing and surprise at Mr. Fool's ability to reach the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
Magician Fors pursed her lips, her voice filled with unconcealed shock as she said, "The Forsaken Land of the Gods? Is that the Forsaken Land of the Gods I understand?"
At this moment, Mr. Fool tapped the table twice, signaling that Justice Audrey's private communication request had ended, and the others should cease their discussions. The atmosphere instantly fell silent.
Audrey looked around and saw that everyone's faces held expressions of either contemplation or surprise. Evidently, during the time she had requested private communication, the other members of the Tarot Club had already completed a discussion.
Seriously, they didn't even wait for me! I'm also very curious about the content of their discussion!
Klein, controlling his alternate account, World, slightly raised his hand and said, "I'm looking for some Mystical Items from the Sun Pathway. Does anyone have any information?"
The others exchanged glances, then shook their heads in unison.
Audrey looked at Mr. World, who was seated on the lower left, and after a moment of thought, said, "Sorry, Mr. World, if you're not in a hurry, I can keep an eye out for you."
"No problem!"
Mr. World, under Klein's control, gave a stiff nod in response, without any extra expressions or movements.
Magician Fors, remembering the Beyonder from the Sun Pathway who had helped Susie with the exorcism, slightly raised her hand and also offered a promise: "I will also help you look out for Mystical Items in that area, Mr. World."
Klein, controlling his alternate account, World, glanced at Leyton, then withdrew his gaze.
Leyton waved his hand and said, "I have some, but you can't use them."
Among the Mystical Items related to the Sun Pathway, Leyton only had the Unicorn Figurine and the divine blood of the Eternal Blazing Sun, but Klein couldn't use either of them.
The Sun Pathway talismans made from the Eternal Blazing Sun's divine blood had all been given to Klein before they went to Verdi Street last time.
Mr. World, under Klein's control, nodded slightly and then fell silent.
Seeing that everyone had finished their conversation, Hanged Man Alger looked around, then, as if he had already prepared his thoughts, spoke: "I recently took on an investigation mission. In the last two or three years, many indigenous tribes in the Southern Continent have been plundered, and in various plantations and island groups, some slaves have strangely escaped."
"This hasn't happened for a long time since the Northern Continent nations abolished the slave trade. Have any of you heard anything about this?"
Alger's gaze swept over everyone except Little Sun.
Justice Audrey recalled the topics discussed among the nobles and, after a while, shook her head: "No, I haven't even heard of anything similar."
Hanged Man Alger then turned his gaze to the remaining people, and all of them, except for Little Sun, also shook their heads, indicating they knew nothing.
Leyton maintained his posture, leaning back in the high-backed chair, and before Alger could move on to the next topic, he said, "Such large-scale population migration would definitely require the support of a maritime force; otherwise, this level of population transfer couldn't be accomplished."
The Hanged Man looked at the casually posed Leyton and said with a hint of surprise in his tone, "Are you saying a Pirate Admiral?"
"But any Pirate Admiral is being watched by too many people. If they transport slaves for a long time, they will definitely be discovered."
Leyton turned his head to look at Hanged Man Alger and said, "A Pirate Admiral doesn't necessarily need to rely entirely on themselves, do they? With their appeal, controlling some scattered pirate groups would be very simple."
Hanged Man Alger frowned in thought; the more he considered it, the more he agreed with this view.
Seeing this, Klein also controlled the dummy, World, and chuckled lightly: "Heh, you can also start your investigation by figuring out where so many slaves are needed."
"Where are so many slaves needed?"
Mr. World's words made Audrey and Fors, as listeners, also fall into contemplation.
Leyton spoke up to answer: "The major kingdoms."
Everyone once again fell into bewildered contemplation.
Little Sun Derrick looked around several times, waited for a while, and seeing that no one was speaking, he finally raised his hand and spoke with some apprehension: "I've been assigned a mission to explore the half-destroyed temple I mentioned before, in the short term. Uh, that's the True Creator's temple."
"The leader of this operation is Shepherd Elder Lovia. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Suggestions? My suggestion is not to go."
Amidst Little Sun's questioning gaze, Leyton continued, "You are too close to the True Creator. He is already insane. If you don't provoke Him, it's fine, but actively exploring His temple could easily attract His attention or even malice."
Hanged Man Alger had originally intended to seize the opportunity to extract more information about the Forsaken Land of the Gods from Little Sun, but now that Leyton had taken over the topic, it was no longer appropriate for him to use his original excuse to extract information.
Reorganizing his words, Hanged Man Alger also offered a suggestion: "I agree with Mr. Tower. Absolutely do not go!"
"The True Creator is a true evil god. Even if the temple you are exploring has been destroyed, there could still be dangers lurking that are difficult to detect."
"Especially since the Elder leading your team this time is Shepherd Lovia. The True Creator is the deity at the pinnacle of this Beyonder Pathway. Even if the temple itself is fine, problems could arise if she goes."
Little Sun Derrick fell silent, his expression very conflicted. After a long while, he said with difficulty, "But, the mission must be accepted."
The Hanged Man chuckled softly and offered a suggestion: "Nothing is mandatory. You can find an opportunity before that to intentionally get yourself injured by a Monster. For the specific extent, you can refer to past cases in the City of Silver."
Leyton raised an eyebrow and looked at Mr. Hanged Man, then his gaze swept over Justice Audrey and Magician Fors, who were sitting across the bronze long table, noticing their somewhat astonished expressions and movements.
He thought to himself, "It seems everyone has successfully reached a consensus on Mr. Hanged Man's image as a cunning old hand who slacks off."
Little Sun Derrick, having received the Hanged Man's suggestion, frowned slightly and said with some hesitation, "But, I don't have any patrol missions recently, so it's hard to get a chance to encounter a Monster…"
Hanged Man Alger, with his rich experience, guided the good boy, Little Sun, saying, "You can pretend that you are close to losing control. In that situation, I think your exploration mission will be canceled."
"There's a trick to it: if you keep your spirituality in a relatively dry state for two consecutive days, you'll start to hallucinate and show signs of losing control. If you don't continue to push yourself after that, the situation will improve within a week."
"Of course, your City of Silver definitely has ways to treat those with early signs of losing control, so the recovery time will be faster. You need to estimate the time well."
Justice Audrey and Magician Fors, who were still relatively new to the mysterious world, were both dumbfounded, just like Little Sun.
"But…" The honest boy, Little Sun, still hesitated.
Hanged Man Alger changed his sitting posture, leaning back, and said, "...You are not pretending to lose control and deceiving others out of selfishness; you are doing it to save the City of Silver!"
"You must understand, the risk of this mission is extremely high. The danger you face comes from the True Creator; He is a true evil god! If you unfortunately die in that half-destroyed temple, who else will be able to expose Shepherd Lovia's strangeness?"
Under Hanged Man Alger's half-coaxing, half-sincere words, Little Sun finally agreed to his suggestion.
"What an easy child to trick," Audrey sighed silently in her heart, but she herself also didn't want any members of the Tarot Club to be lost, so she didn't interject in the conversation between Mr. Hanged Man and Little Sun.
After Little Sun Derrick accepted Hanged Man Alger's suggestion, he turned his gaze to Magician Fors and said, "Miss Magician, I might need some time to get you the spirit eater's stomach you need."
"No problem, I'm not in a hurry."
Magician Fors gently nodded in response.
"That's not true, I'm actually quite anxious, sigh." Fors sighed inwardly about how difficult it was to find her potion ingredients. However, thankfully, the serial murder case in Backlund had been solved, and Beyonder gatherings of all sizes had become active again.
This Tarot Club meeting quickly entered the free chat segment. Justice Audrey, with great interest, asked Hanged Man Alger about his experiences at sea.
Little Sun Derrick, based on some paintings and written records collected in the City of Silver, as well as Hanged Man Alger's explanations, imagined what the sea looked like in his mind.
It wasn't until Klein, shrouded in the Gray Fog, announced the end of the Tarot Club meeting that everyone's figures swiftly disappeared from above the Gray Fog with the crimson light.
With the end of today's Tarot Club meeting, Leyton sat up from his reclining chair, looked at the darkening sky outside the window, and then at the wall clock.
He confirmed that it wasn't that he had stayed on the Gray Fog for too long, but rather that Backlund's weather had turned gloomy too quickly.
Leyton prepared to get up and find the materials to set up a ritual in his room to communicate with Red Light Aiur Moria, one of the Seven Lights of the Spirit World.
He intended to ask him for some information on the mind domain, to research secret arts related to emotions and desires.
He quickly set up the ritual, lit the candle, and dripped a drop of essential oil into the flame.
Leyton quickly stood up, took a step back, and began to chant: "The Inextinguishable Light of the Spirit World, The Embodiment of infinite knowledge, The Red who wields authority and will..."
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