Silas recalled the attack on the ship that day.
"Thinking back on it now, the Naturism Sect very likely received a divine revelation from the Mother Tree, and that's why they lured away my crewman and left a hidden corruption inside him, intending to slowly contaminate me over the course of the voyage."
This kind of gradual, imperceptible contamination was terrifying precisely because it was so slight that it might not trigger the Sea Tide's automatic resistance, and by the time one noticed something was wrong, it would already be too late.
And yet who could have predicted that the "Dice of Probability" would awaken unexpectedly at just that moment, roll a one, bring misfortune down on him, and set off this hidden bomb ahead of schedule.
Silas couldn't help but feel a certain absurd irony: from this angle, hadn't the dice's bad luck actually turned out to be a stroke of good fortune?
Fate really was impossible to make sense of.
"Is there anything else worth mentioning about the Mother Tree of Desire?" He gathered his thoughts and continued questioning [The Hermit].
"There is."
Cattelya furrowed her brow, thinking it over, then said slowly, "The organizations that worship the Mother Tree are the least welcome of all, not just among the Church of the Evernight Goddess, but the Aurora Order, the Spirit Sect, and other evil god cults are also working against them.
I've even heard that a saint of the Spirit Sect once personally destroyed a Rose School of Thought stronghold on the Southern Continent."
In other words, though the true gods and evil gods fought amongst themselves, none of them cared much for the deity known as the "Mother Tree of Desire."
Everyone at the Tarot Club digested this piece of knowledge, each drawing their own insights and speculations.
A moment later, [The Sun] Derrick, who had been quiet all this time, finally spoke up. "Recently, we in the Silver City dispatched a small team to explore the region around the Giant King's Court."
His brief opening immediately drew everyone's attention.
Matters concerning the sea of Sonia, the Lunatic Sect, and the evil gods weren't topics that [The Sun], trapped in the "Forsaken Land of the Gods," could really weigh in on, so he'd kept quiet up until now.
"I followed the exploration team led by the 'Chief' to Afternoon Town. It's the only route to the 'Giant King's Court,' and also the gate that separates myth from reality."
He skipped over unnecessary details and focused on sharing what he'd seen and experienced in Afternoon Town, including the town's gloomy, deathly silent atmosphere and how he'd discovered an underground altar there.
"On that altar I made out three names, each with a corresponding title: 'Angel of Fate' Ouroboros, 'Red Angel' Medici, and 'Dark Angel' Sasrir."
[The Sun] Derrick said.
"Dark Angel" Sasrir?!
Hearing that final name and title, Silas's body gave a slight jolt.
This was already the third time he'd heard this name, the first two times from the Red Angel's tripartite malicious spirit.
It had told Silas that this King of Angels was deeply connected to the illusory Sea Tide within him.
Did Mr. [Temperance] just react a little too strongly? Has he heard the name "Sasrir" somewhere before?
[Justice] Audrey noticed the subtle change in Silas and quietly speculated to herself.
Derrick hadn't noticed anything odd about Silas and simply continued his account. Their team had entered the temple and encountered a praying figure.
That figure kept repenting over and over, saying he had witnessed the betrayal of the Kings of Angels, saying that was why calamity had descended upon the land and swallowed everything...
A chill ran down everyone's spine as they listened, as though through Derrick's account they were catching a hazy glimpse of some apocalyptic scene from the ancient era.
"I have to say, all of you seem to already know these three names."
[Moon] Emlyn couldn't help but ask. "Would someone explain it to me?"
He had only joined the Tarot Club after New Year's, and hadn't been present for the relevant knowledge shared earlier.
[The Hermit] Cattelya, though she'd joined even later than him, had a vague guess thanks to her own store of occult knowledge.
"That's a legend from the Silver City..."
[Justice] Audrey eagerly shared terms like "Rose Redemption" and "Silver City's Creator" with the two of them, leaving them both stunned and thoroughly shaken.
"...Though, while we already knew about Ouroboros and Medici, this is the first time we're hearing of this Sasrir."
She added, as if in passing, sneaking a glance at [Temperance] out of the corner of her eye.
However, [Justice]'s prompting didn't get the reaction she wanted.
Silas had no intention of sharing anything related to the secret behind his own golden finger, and simply pressed [The Sun] to continue. "Any other information?"
"The Chief asked the man who the Kings of Angels were. Just as he was about to say the name of the fourth King of Angels, he was suddenly consumed by a strange flame."
[The Sun] Derrick said regretfully.
Silenced to keep a secret?
Silas frowned, thinking it over.
"Are you all still in Afternoon Town?" he asked [The Sun].
"Still there. Right now we've only just gained a foothold, we haven't fully explored it yet.
The Chief's plan is to clear the place out completely and turn it into a forward camp." [The Sun] Derrick answered.
This was preliminary preparation for exploring the Giant King's Court.
"Let me know right away if you find anything," Silas said.
"Understood... Oh, right, Mr. [Temperance], there's one more thing." Derrick was about to agree when he suddenly remembered something Silas had asked of him before.
"You asked me to keep an eye on Elder Lovia and let you know right away if I noticed anything. These past couple of days she's actually been acting a bit strange, she came looking for me to chat on her own initiative..."
What he was referring to was, of course, Elder Lovia asking him whether he'd "successfully advanced."
Silas thought it over.
That "Shepherd" guessed I'm advancing to Sequence 4... well, that's only natural. But as a devotee of the True Creator, what she's shown toward me is less hostility and more... attention.
Something's off about her!
Silas looked at [The Sun].
"I recall you mentioned that Lovia used to be quite unstable in her state?"
"Yes. Elder Lovia used to be very erratic, either crying or laughing, or muttering to herself. But ever since she visited the temple of the 'Fallen Creator,' she's returned to normal."
Silas narrowed his eyes slightly.
An unstable mental state, crying one moment and laughing the next... it sounded like the sheep she was tending inside herself had been out of control, disturbing her spirit. And after devoting herself to the True Creator, her spirituality had stabilized, allowing her to suppress those sheep souls. That would seem to explain it.
Having once been a "Shepherd" himself, Silas quietly reasoned it through.
In other words, before she explored the temple, she might not have been a devotee of the True Creator at all? During her "Listener" stage, had she not yet been contaminated by the True Creator's whispered ramblings?
The "Forsaken Land of the Gods" where the Silver City sat was a special case; it wasn't impossible that something like that could really happen.
Silas was somewhat startled by his own bold speculation.
Just then, [The Hanged Man] Alger, who had been listening in silence all along, suddenly spoke up.
"Wait. Are you saying Lovia has been traveling with you?"
"Uh, yes."
"And even while sharing a camp with her, you still came here, to attend the Tarot Club?"
Alger's gaze grew increasingly deep, and his questioning left [The Sun] stunned.
────
The Forsaken Land of the Gods, a makeshift camp outside Afternoon Town.
Derrick lay in the tent assigned to him, eyes closed, seemingly asleep. The tent's interior glowed faintly, a safeguard specially arranged to ensure there was always light, so as not to give rise to any monsters lurking in the dark.
And within the shadow that Derrick's own light cast, stretched long across the tent, Lovia's head slowly began to surface.
She quietly gazed down at the utterly unguarded Derrick.