Mystery: The Ultimate Tarot

Chapter 3: An impromptu gathering of Tarot Club members

What Raphael just said sounded crazy, but he knew very well that the official extraordinary beings had a whole set of procedures when they encountered a case. By the time they dispatched demigods, Raphael and his carriage had already hidden in the East District.

Raphael discovered that the "prisoner" and "criminal" pathways were actually quite complementary.

When he was first promoted to "madman", Raphael felt that he had some crazy ideas that were hard to control, and he often acted without thinking.

But ever since he drank the "criminal's" magic potion, his back no longer aches, his legs no longer hurt, and he can climb to the fifth floor in one go, then throw a brick from the fifth floor to attack other gang members.

Most importantly, Raphael possesses the composure expected of a criminal, though his emotions and speech occasionally reveal moments of madness.

Inside the carriage, the kidnapper Raphael looked relaxed, as if he had the victory firmly in his grasp.

Audrey, who was tied up, was quite relaxed and had no awareness of being kidnapped.

In a relaxed yet strange atmosphere, the carriage traveled two blocks. At this moment, Raphael pulled off the mustache that was stuck to his upper lip, took out a handkerchief to wipe the freckles on his cheeks, revealing his shiny wheat-colored skin.

When he took off his hat, Audrey saw a young and handsome face, especially his beautiful eyes, and a habitually upturned mouth that revealed a mischievous smile.

Having grown accustomed to the stiff, gentlemanly faces of others, Audrey found this expression quite peculiar, yet she couldn't find a suitable adjective to describe it.

If Raphael, who was sitting opposite her, were to describe him, he would have a very precise word: roguishly handsome.

Raphael took off his coat and took out a trench coat from under the carriage seat to put it on.

At this moment, the carriage stopped, and Raphael tossed Audrey a cloth bag: "Change into the clothes inside. Hmm... you only have two minutes. If you're not done changing, I'll come up and help you."

Raphael stood up and said, "Don't try to play tricks. Since you know a lot about mysticism, you should know the concept of spirit beings."

"There's a 'Miss Susie' keeping an eye on you for me."

After he finished speaking, he opened the car door and waited for the other person to change clothes.

Audrey smiled to herself, thinking: You probably don't know, but Susie was sent by me.

Susie, the golden retriever who had been in a psychological retreat, was taken aback: When did I become a spirit? It's as if you invited me here!

This was a quiet alleyway. Carter, one of his subordinates, was changing clothes, tearing off his hood and glued-on beard. Then, with a wicked grin, he said, "Boss, aren't you going to keep an eye on that beautiful noble lady while she changes?"

Raphael lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said, "It's too time-consuming to 'change' it all in a short time."

Carter gave him a knowing look: "That's true."

After changing their clothes, they immediately left the street and, after walking for a while, boarded a real horse-drawn carriage.

Just then, Audrey suddenly felt her spirit being elevated, a sensation she only experienced when entering the Tarot Club venue, in that "above the gray fog" space.

With Susie by her side, Audrey wasn't worried about her safety, so she pretended to close her eyes and rest, but her spirit had already entered the Tarot Club's venue.

……

"Source Castle," inside the magnificent giant's hall.

"The World" Gehrman Sparrow convened a makeshift meeting. He had only brought "Justice" here after confirming that she wouldn't be discovered, to hear about her entire encounter with Raphael.

Other members of the Tarot Club also attended this impromptu gathering.

"The World" first explains the purpose of this impromptu gathering, and then has "Justice" describe her "observations" of Raphael.

After hearing "The World" and "Justice" describe the task assigned by "The Fool," everyone felt how much importance "The Fool" attached to this matter.

The reason why "Fool" Klein attaches such importance to this is because three months ago, this "above the gray fog" was suddenly awakened by a force outside of him and projected its power into the real world.

For Klein, "Above the Gray Fog" is his greatest asset in this extraordinary world, so he naturally needs to find out what's going on.

Klein was even more worried because he couldn't quickly locate the power projected from "Above the Gray Mist".

Through his relentless investigation and divination, he finally discovered that the power he had previously projected onto the real world had "fallen" on this person named Raphael.

This young man's fate and memories seem to have been "fooled"... Klein thought for a long time before coming up with such a word to describe it.

Just as Klein was figuring out how to contact Raphael, he learned that Raphael was planning to kidnap Audrey.

After confirming that Raphael was indeed not in any danger, Klein decided to play it safe and let Audrey observe him first.

At this point, he convened this impromptu gathering under the guise of "the world," wanting to hear everyone's opinions on Raphael.

Recently, members of the Tarot Club joined forces to punish a vampire who provided false information. They have already carried out a joint operation in the real world, and have held more than one impromptu meeting to discuss the specific plan.

The "world's" approach clearly continues that pattern.

After hearing Miss Justice's account, Hugh Deercha, the "Judgment," remarked, "What a madman! Kidnapping the daughter of a powerful nobleman just to digest a magic potion!"

Alger Wilson, the actor who played the Hanged Man, remarked, "I'm more curious how he knew about 'role-playing'?"

He paused for a moment and then said, "Neither churches nor secret organizations will popularize the 'role model' among their peripheral members."

"And this Raphael doesn't seem like a core member of any organization."

If some clandestine organization were to kidnap Earl Hall's daughter in Backlund, they would at least need to deploy one or two Sequence 6s to be safe; it's impossible for them to let a Sequence 8 do such a thing.

At this point, Alger suddenly seemed to have a daze. When he first attended a Tarot meeting, he learned about the "role-playing method" from Mr. "The Fool".

His life changed dramatically after that.

At this moment, "The Hermit" Cattleya said, "This may be what makes him special, otherwise why would Mr. Fool notice him?"

Then she turned to "Justice" and asked, "Could you describe in more detail the task given by Mr. 'The Fool'?"

"Justice," Audrey nodded. "Okay."

The "world," who just received a similar mission, has already given a general description, and Mr. "Fool" agreed to this impromptu gathering, which means that this is not information that needs to be kept secret.

She paused slightly and said, "'The Fool' said that He foresaw a special 'madman' who would have some contact with me, and asked me to observe the other person's actions and try to make contact with him."

"Mr. Fool also said that He had fooled Raphael, so Raphael was missing many important memories and information, but it is still important to observe whether there is anything strange about the other party's words and actions."

At the lower end of the bronze table, "The World" seemed to be listening quietly to "Justice's" description, but in his heart he was thinking: In fact, it was "Above the Gray Fog" that "fooled" the other party, not "The Fool".

After hearing "Justice's" description of the mission, Alger and Cattleya both looked at "The World," hoping that this "favored one of Mr. Fool" could provide some other clues.

"The World" said in a hoarse, low voice, "I did two 'divinations' on Raphael's background, but got two completely different results."

"In my first 'divination,' I saw the 'Devil' card. In my second 'divination,' I saw the 'Temperance' card."

As the Sequence 4 "Mystic," Cattleya interprets it as: "'Divination' sometimes only reveals the symbolic meaning of a thing."

She tried to interpret it as follows: "These two symbolic meanings combined might mean that although some of the things Raphael did seemed evil, he had a bottom line and knew how to exercise restraint."