Klein swept his gaze over the other three people present. Today, because of Miss Justice's adventure the previous day, there were no Roselle Diaries to read, and with this being the first time someone was absent from a Tarot Gathering, the emotions of the other three didn't seem very high.
Miss Justice, who was always enthusiastic and confident, now seemed to have something on her mind. Miss Magician was taciturn, and Little Sun appeared somewhat nervous.
This kind of atmosphere was not good.
After thinking for a moment, Klein lightly tapped his fingers on the tabletop. Once he had drawn the attention of the three, he slowly spoke, "In the future, if you encounter matters that are difficult to deal with in time, you may inform us in advance. I allow your absence."
"Thank you, Mr. Fool, for your reminder and generosity." Audrey was the first to recover from that uneasy atmosphere.
Since Mr. Hanged Man hadn't been able to attend this week's Tarot Gathering, she would assist Mr. Fool in completing this gathering herself.
Audrey regained her drive, a smile on her face, and began sharing her recent experiences, especially the incident of her accidentally entering the dream.
Of course, she omitted quite a bit of information, particularly anything involving Susie and Mr. Hastur.
Yet even a fragmented version of the adventure story managed to captivate everyone present.
Especially the interweaving of dreams and reality, and the diversity and complexity of it.
"A very wondrous experience, but also very dangerous." Klein gave Miss Justice's adventure a not-so-positive evaluation in his heart.
The unknown. Pursuing the unknown was often the easiest way to lose oneself. Most so-called fortuitous encounters in this world were, more often than not, traps.
If it were him, he would never act as rashly as Miss Justice.
"How terrifying." Fors felt a chill in her heart. She really didn't want to encounter something like that.
What fortuitous encounter? She didn't need one. Safely getting through each day was the best.
Wasn't the original intention of pursuing Beyonder power simply to live a better life? If one got the priorities wrong, that would truly be a loss outweighing the gain.
"That should be power left behind by a Mind Dragon." Only Derrick, who lived in the City of Silver, gave Miss Justice's adventure a fairly positive response.
"You mean I encountered a Mind Dragon?" Audrey felt somewhat excited. That was a Mind Dragon, after all, a mythical creature that had basically vanished.
Moreover, she and the Mind Dragon happened to be in the same Spectator pathway. If she could understand the Mind Dragon, that would be equivalent to understanding the direction of her future advancement.
"That should only be a portion of the power it left behind. You were influenced by that power, which is why you fell asleep and went on a dream journey."
"Then does that mean I have no way of seeing that Mind Dragon?"
"Mm. It should have long since departed, or fallen over the long years. That tower may once have been its nesting ground."
"Since it was a nest, then would there be some kind of magical treasure?" Audrey thought of the poems written by bards, where dragons always liked to collect glittering treasures. A Mind Dragon should be the same, right?
"If it shed its scales, horns, blood, and so on, those should all count as some kind of treasure." Derrick wasn't very familiar with this area. He immediately said that he would go back and properly study relevant knowledge.
With the casual chatting between Miss Justice and Little Sun, the atmosphere became lively once more, completely different from the uneasy and gloomy mood earlier.
Fors, who rarely spoke, also shared some everyday anecdotes about her good friend Xio.
There was no helping it. Recently, in order to avoid the turmoil caused by the Follower of the Stars in Backlund, she had been staying at home the entire time, rarely going out. Naturally, she hadn't encountered anything new.
Only when Xio returned would she tell Fors about the latest developments in Backlund.
Derrick also shared some of his recent experiences in the City of Silver.
After the three of them finished sharing their experiences, the atmosphere seemed to cool down again all at once.
Audrey wanted to change the situation, but didn't know what to say.
Fors didn't really care about this atmosphere. Right now, she was just wondering whether that Mr. Hanged Man, who was suspected of being a pirate, might have been arrested because he had done too many bad things.
Derrick glanced at Mr. Fool, then at Miss Justice.
Without the familiar and warm-hearted Mr. Hanged Man present, he also felt very uncomfortable.
"This gathering will end here," Klein said.
He had no intention of actively throwing out topics either. He was the mysterious and great Mr. Fool. Even though he was very interested in many of the things happening in Backlund, his status constrained him, preventing him from bringing up such trivial matters on his own.
If only he had a small alternate account of his own in the Tarot Gathering.
That way, if something happened in the future, like today's not-so-successful gathering, he could step in to liven up the atmosphere.
....
After ending this not-so-successful Tarot Gathering, Audrey lay on her bed, feeling somewhat depressed.
She seemed to still lack many abilities. For example, today, with Mr. Hanged Man absent, she had originally wanted to assist Mr. Fool in running this week's gathering well.
Unfortunately, her knowledge of mysticism was limited, and she didn't have many stories or intelligence to share, making it easy for the atmosphere to become awkward.
This was not good. She had to learn to stand on her own. That way, even if Mr. Hanged Man wasn't around, she could become someone everyone was willing to trust.
After resting for a while, Audrey got up and opened the door. Susie, who had been waiting outside, eagerly ran in.
After Audrey closed the door again, Susie lowered her voice and said, "Audrey, Mr. Hastur came by just now."
"Mr. Hastur? Why would he come?" Audrey felt a bit nervous.
"Don't worry. I stopped him at the door just now and didn't let him come in to disturb you." Susie was clearly asking for credit.
"Susie, you're amazing!"
Seeing Audrey so happy, Susie seized the opportunity to make her own request.
"What, you want The Complete Quotations of Emperor Roselle?"
"Yes. I think you should reward me with something."
"...." Audrey silently rubbed Susie's head and said, "Susie, you've changed. You're really different now."
"Audrey, is that a good thing?" Audrey didn't answer the question. For Susie, it should be a good thing, but for her, it didn't seem all that wonderful.
Especially now, when Susie had even learned to ask for credit first and then make her request.
It was really becoming too smart!
As dinner approached, Hastur finally came out of the guest room. He had slept for about three hours and felt fully refreshed.
When he came to the first-floor dining room and saw Susie lying on the ground resting, he warmly greeted her.
Susie's tail shot straight up as she hurriedly left, quickly running to Audrey's side.
"So afraid of me? Did I do anything to Susie?" Hastur asked.
After thinking about it briefly, Hastur more or less guessed Susie's thoughts.
It was probably afraid that if it was alone with him, he would notice that it wasn't an ordinary golden retriever, but an Beyonder dog, a Sequence 8 Mind Reader.
After finishing dinner, Hastur finally waited for an opportunity to be alone with Audrey.
He hadn't yet heard Audrey give a detailed account of her adventure, and he was very interested in it.
At the stone table in the garden, Hastur sat opposite Audrey. Susie lay on her side near Audrey's feet. A short distance behind them, two personal maids stood guard over Audrey.
After the previous accident, Earl Hall had been especially concerned about Audrey's safety. If not for Audrey's constant refusals, she would now have had eight personal maids.
She really didn't want to go anywhere with a large group of people following behind her. That would make her feel awkward and constrained.
"Mr. Hastur, don't you already know what I went through?" Audrey asked, responding to his inquiry with a question of her own.
"I only have some conjectures. It should be related to your mind world."
"And?"
"That white tower should be connected to the Mind Dragon."
"The Mind Dragon?" Audrey pretended not to understand, blinking eyes filled with confusion and a thirst for new knowledge.
Hastur only gave a brief introduction before moving past the topic.
If he simply wanted to gain Audrey's trust, it would be far too easy. He would only need to mention the matter of her dancing alone at the top of the tower.
"Alright." Seeing that Hastur kept avoiding the topic of how he had helped her, Audrey could only pick up the thread herself and begin recounting her adventure.
When he heard Audrey mention seeing himself and Susie, Hastur understood the key point.
The fog in the forest contained a trace of the Mind Dragon's power. Using Susie as an anchor, it allowed Audrey, who was in the mind world, to see the actions of himself and Susie.
That was why Audrey was able to follow them to find the white tower, then climb to the top and leave the mind world.
Then the question arose, why was Audrey unable to find that white tower when she was alone?
Such a conspicuous building, in the foggy forest Audrey described, should have been even more eye-catching.
There seemed to be only one answer. Audrey had gotten lost.
She was like a headless fly, stumbling around aimlessly, until the appearance of himself and Susie finally pointed her in the right direction.
'Eh? Why do I suddenly feel a hint of pity in Mr. Hastur's gaze?'
Audrey looked at Hastur in confusion. Before she could ask, his next sentence caught her attention.
"Have you ever seen islands rising above the surface of the sea?"