After taking a look at the "Judgment" card in his hand, Xio was stunned and said:

“This is exactly what I expected.”

Shrouded in gray fog, The Fool nodded slightly and said calmly:

"Backlund time, every Monday, at 3pm, gather here and prepare in advance.

"At the gathering, you can exchange intelligence, materials, recipes, and knowledge. You can also entrust tasks to other members for a certain price."

Xiu thought about it for a moment, and then said as if something had dawned on him:

"Yes, Mr. Fool."

She thought that this was the end of the day, but she heard a voice coming from the top of the bronze table again:

"What did you do before you were corrupted by that power?"

It was indeed corroded...Xiu calmed himself and described in full the process of exploring the castle with Fors, focusing on the bronze door called the "Dark Door" and the castle guards who had been corroded and turned into vengeful spirits.

Then, she noticed that Mr. Fool nodded slightly and spoke in a calm voice:

“Don’t enter that castle again before Sequence 4.

"Go back."

Xio immediately stood up and bowed respectfully as described in various religious ceremonies:

"Your will is my will."

As soon as she finished speaking, a deep red color rose before her eyes. When everything disappeared, she had returned to the real world and was holding onto a thick tree.

Subconsciously looking at the back of his hand and finding that the black spots on it were fading rapidly, Xio raised his head and looked at Fors who was staring at him worriedly.

When their eyes met, Fors was delighted at first, then she smiled awkwardly and opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.

Xio exhaled slowly, pointed ahead and said:

"Return to town first."

"Okay!" Fors answered without hesitation.

At this time, above the gray fog, Klein the Fool was tapping the edge of the mottled long table, thinking about what happened to the two ladies, Magician and Judgement, today.

The things or powers sealed by the "Dark Gate" can corrode the guards and explorers outside even if they do not escape. The horror of it is enough to make people afraid just by thinking about it!

Moreover, this pollution was rooted in the spirit. To solve it, Klein had only two ways. One was to let the eroded person hold a complete secret ceremony, mobilize the power of the mysterious space above the gray fog, and use the "Sun Brooch" to complete the purification. The other was to directly pull the spirit here and use the gray fog to "kill the virus." Given that there was no time left under the circumstances, he chose the latter.

“What could it be?

"The most corrosive force belongs to the 'demon' path... Is it connected to the abyss? This is not impossible. According to the description of the little 'sun', in the early and middle stages of the Second Epoch, demons often left the abyss and were active on the earth. It was not until the ancient sun god appeared and caused the ancient gods to fall one after another that they retreated to the abyss and closed it. According to this statement, it is quite normal for the northern continent to have an ancient underground road entrance leading to the abyss... It is also conceivable that a castle needs to be built and people need to be sent to guard it...

"But the problem is, thousands of years have passed, why is there still a slapping sound there? Do the demons want to return to the earth?" Klein made a preliminary guess.

He had no plans to explore the abandoned castle to verify his idea for the time being, because it looked like there would not be any major changes there in the short term. In his mind, since the information about the castle came from the vampires, he could let Emlyn the Moon collect further information and find out the history of the castle.

Gathering his thoughts, Klein took off the topaz pendant and divined whether the matter of abandoning the castle was urgent, and received a negative answer.

He immediately returned to the real world and waited for the local ruler, General Mesanyes, to come with the deposit.

…………

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Fenetport time, Haggis, with his hair combed back like a gentleman from the Northern Continent, knocked on Dwayne Dantès' door, carrying a black suitcase and protected by a team of guards.

"Come in, come in." A gentle and elegant voice came out, first speaking Loenese with a Backlund accent, and then changing to the local Dutan language.

Haggis turned the handle and pushed the door open. He saw Dwayne Dantès, with graying temples and deep blue eyes, standing up from the armchair while pressing the bottom of his black vest.

"Good afternoon, my friend." The Loen gentleman, who had a very good appearance and temperament, took two steps forward and stretched out his right palm.

This time, he switched back to Loen.

Haggis responded in the aristocratic Loenese:

"It's my honor to be your friend."

After shaking hands with Dwayne Dantès, he looked around and laughed:

"Is this your servant?"

He was referring to the mixed-race young man standing behind the arms dealer opposite him, and the implication was "Is he trustworthy?" After all, when Dwayne Dantès visited the general's mansion yesterday, he did not bring any servants.

"Yes, his greatest strength is that he is good at keeping secrets." Dwayne Dantès responded with a smile and pointed to the leather sofa opposite the armchair.

Surrounded by two guards, Haggis closed the door, sat down, and said with a smile:

"I have heard of an Intis proverb, which is said to have been said by Emperor Roselle.

"He said only the dead could keep secrets."

Dwayne Dantès laughed and said:

“Emperor Roselle also said another sentence:

"Dead bodies can speak."

"Really? This is the first time I've heard of it." Haggis really enjoyed the process of communicating with the gentleman from the Northern Continent. After chatting for a while, he picked up the suitcase next to him and opened it.

At this moment, golden light seemed to overflow from the suitcase, and under the sunlight shining through the window, the whole room seemed to be a little brighter.

Haggis then looked at Dwayne Dantes and said:

“5,000 Rune gold pounds, and gold coins and gold bars worth 5,000 pounds.

“This is a deposit.

"I will keep the remaining 30,000 pounds of banknotes and gold with me and give them to you after the arms delivery is completed."

Dwayne Dantès glanced at the stacks of banknotes, gold coins, and gold bars in the suitcase, then looked away and said with a smile:

"When do we leave?"

Haggis closed the suitcase and handed it to Dwayne Dantes's servant, saying simply:

"Tomorrow morning."

He paused for two seconds, then spoke:

"Mr. Dantes, the general has a distinguished guest who wishes to visit you."

Dwayne Dantès' expression remained unchanged. He was silent for a few seconds and then said:

"when?"

"Now," Haggis said in a perfunctory manner, "he is downstairs."

Dwayne Dantès nodded slightly:

"Please ask him to come up."

Hagis heaved a sigh of relief, left the room with the guards, and walked down the stairs.

Not long after, Luca came up in a plain white robe inlaid with brass threads, his silver hair combed very neatly.

Arriving at Dwayne Dantès's door, he was about to raise his hand when he heard a voice from inside:

"Come in."

This time, the language used was ancient Feysac.

Luca opened the door naturally without any change in expression.

He then saw the middle-aged gentleman who had a good appearance and temperament from yesterday standing next to the armchair, facing sideways towards him.

And sitting on the reclining chair was a young man with black hair, brown eyes, a thin face, sharp features, and a cold temperament.

Luca was stunned for a moment, then stepped forward, entered the room and closed the wooden door.

He calmly found a sofa and sat down, his gray-green eyes clearly reflecting the figure of the young man opposite him.

“German Sparrow?” Luca asked, perhaps asking and addressing him.

Gehrman Sparrow raised his lips and said:

"It's not polite to call someone by their full name."

Luca nodded and said:

"Sorry, I was rude. I remember that you were promoted to Sequence 5 less than half a year ago, maybe only three months ago. Well, you should have completed it in the God War Ruins. I didn't expect... that you have already become a demigod. This made me lose my composure."

Gehrman Sparrow smiled slightly without giving any explanation.

After a brief silence, he asked at a moderate pace:

"Why did you visit me?"

Luca responded calmly:

"have no idea."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became a little strange. Gehrman Sparrow seemed to have forgotten that there was an old man sitting opposite him and he needed to speak again.

Luca moved his chin slightly and said to himself:

"Well, I accidentally made a prediction a while ago, and in that prediction, I will be in a very troublesome situation in the future, and someone I met here these few days can help me deal with it.

“I’m not sure if it’s you, but I’d rather admit my mistake than miss the point, so I finally decided to come meet you and get to know each other.

"My name is Luca Brewster. I am a clergyman serving the 'God of Knowledge and Wisdom'. I am currently in charge of the church's affairs in West Balam."

Gehrman Sparrow nodded and said:

"Yes, I already know you. I guess I don't need to introduce myself again?"

"Of course." Luca thought for a moment and said, "You should be a 'weird magician'. I recently received intelligence that the secret society in Intis has made unusual moves."

He did not see Gehrman Sparrow's surprised expression. This powerful adventurer, who was famous throughout the five seas, was silent for a moment and said:

"Zaratul has returned."

Luca's pupils changed for a moment, then returned to normal.

Then he stood up, nodded and said:

"Now that we've met, I should say goodbye."

Having said this, he walked to the door, turned the handle, and left the room.

Sitting in the armchair, Gehrman Sparrow watched his back being covered by the wooden door bit by bit until it completely disappeared. He suddenly chuckled:

"What a charlatan."

"Yes." Dwayne Dantès, who was standing next to the armchair, found a seat and sat down. He picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.

He, with gray hair and deep blue eyes, looked at Gehrman Sparrow, who had a thin, angular face, and smiled at the same time.

…………

On Monday afternoon, Dwayne Dantès took out his gold-cased pocket watch, opened it and took a look, then said to Haggis who was sitting opposite him:

"We are almost at our destination. I think you need to take a break in advance."

"Excellent advice," Haggis agreed.

Dwayne Dantès pointed to the street ahead:

"There is a hotel there. We can rest for half a day and set off again tomorrow morning."

Haggis did not object, turned forward and gave the driver some instructions.

After checking in, Dwayne Dantes declined Haggis' invitation for afternoon tea on the pretext of taking a nap.

After more than half an hour, Klein sat in the seat of The Fool above the endless gray fog.

PS1: Actually, I am very satisfied with the writing of the first chapter. I basically abandoned psychological descriptions and relied on the early foreshadowing, the character's behavior, and the choices made to give personality and style, avoiding routine situations and leaving an aftertaste. People can ponder over it carefully and thus understand what kind of person Hugh is. But it seems that many friends don't like it very much. They think it is too sudden and too fast. Well, I'll explain it in more detail later. I won't analyze Hugh's mental activities at the time here. Anyway, every action, every choice, and every word has its expression.

Why does it feel so sudden? I think the problem is not the plot, but the structure. As a long novel, a lot of the foreshadowing and descriptions are too far apart. When it is finally brought together, psychological description may be more appropriate than plain description, so that the beginning will not be heavy and the end will be light, and the ending can be laid thicker.

Also, I plan to use some new narrative techniques in the fifth volume, and adapt some POV elements. Starting from the first chapter, the camera is fixed on one character, describing the story from his perspective, and then when there are intersections and connections, I will make transitions, so many of Xiao Ke’s psychology and behaviors are downplayed. Afterwards, this writing style will alternate with the normal writing style.

PS2: Ask for recommendation votes and monthly votes on Monday~