59 Roselles Origins (1/2)
Upon hearing The Fool's question, Audrey did not immediately answer like in the past. Instead, she widened her crystalline eyes and glanced at The Hanged Man with a scrutinous attitude.
Alger subconsciously subdued his body motions. After a few seconds of silence, he said, ”I found two pages of the Emperor Roselle's diary and have memorized their contents.”
”I have one page,” Audrey, whose vision was obscured by the fog, said as though she was removed from the conversation.
”Pretty good.” Klein did not allow his joy or his disappointment be noticed from his voice.
He felt joy as there were three full pages, but disappointment also because there were only three pages. Their initial search for the diary was definitely easier, for all they had to do was ask through their connections and channels they were already familiar with. Collecting the pages would become more and more difficult as time went on as it would involve more and more elements.
”Should we 'express' them now?” Audrey inquired with a calm tone.
”Yes.” Klein simply nodded.
He maintained his posture without any change. He had to be cautious in front of a Spectator.
As he finished his sentence, pieces of yellowish-brown goatskin parchment and dark red fountain pens appeared in front of Audrey and Alger.
The two of them picked up their pens and started to recall the symbols they had seen. They also infused the emotions of expressing them out.
Silently, lines of text appeared on the goatskin. Some of them appeared proper, some delicate, others slanted.
In a mere minute, the contents that Alger and Audrey had forcibly memorized were all written.
Klein willed the three pieces of parchment into his hands.
He gave the pages a cursory glance and realized that some of the grammar was wrong. There were also missing and wrong words in the content.
But experimentation had proved that incorrect sequencing of words to some extent did not affect the overall comprehension of Chinese. Klein was also not afraid of missing words since he often read web novels filled with censored asterisks.
”8th April. I stood at the bow of Black King and stretched my arms, saying to Grimm and Edwards, 'My fortune is yours for the taking, but you'll have to find it first. I left everything I own at the ends of the Fog Sea!' They did not understand my humor at all and even asked if I really had other treasures. How boring. You can't be my Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse if you keep at that!”
”April 11th. I discovered a nameless island that was not on a safe sea route. There are a good number of extraordinary animals there, no—I prefer calling them extraordinary beings; it feels more impressive that way. Other than that, there are several weird creatures on the island. I believe that if Darwin had been transmigrated there, there is no way he could have written his Theory of Evolution.”
”April 15th. Grimm has suddenly become a little odd. Has he been infected by something?”
When did the Emperor Roselle, who was born in the Intis Kingdom, set off on a voyage? The Fog Sea should be the sea west of the Intis Republic... Yea, I need to use historical information from the library to cross reference this... Klein quickly finished reading a page, casting his gaze to the back of the piece of paper.
At this point, he no longer hid the fact that he could decipher Emperor Roselle's secret symbols since this ability fitted the persona and status of The Fool. Audrey and Alger did not speak. They waited silently, as if unsurprised by such a revelation. In fact, they even believed that it was only right.
”October 2nd. They actually wanted me to marry Matilda from the Abel family without even consulting me first! Heavens, I have not even met her! No, I must decline! Even if I were to run away from home and survive on my own and suffer the vicissitudes of life, I must fight against this marriage!”
”October 5th. Miss Matilda is really pretty.”
”October 6th. Her personality and her demeanor is just my type. I am starting to look forward to the marriage.”
Hey, Emperor, where is your integrity? Klein leaned back into his seat, not allowing his emotions to pass through the fog.
He realized that Gustav did not write in his diary every day early on. Most of the time, he would only write in the diary when there were certain events that he needed to lampoon, record, or to vent his emotions.
He shifted his gaze downward. Klein looked at the last sentence of this page.
”October 9th. They actually called me the Son of the Steam. I like that very much.”
Klein was a little disappointed that the information in the first two pages was of little value.
But he did not turn sullen. He moved the third page to the top. This page had content written on both sides of the paper.
”May 21st. The Church of the God of Craftsmanship gave me two choices, two beginning Sequence pathways. One of them is the Savant. It is a complete Sequence pathway they possess. The other is Mystery Pryer, which they obtained from the Moses Ascetic Order, but it lacks the higher Sequences.”
”May 22nd. My choice was easy: Savant! The Savant has a complete Sequence pathway! Although wielding more information on mysticism can aid my return home, the problem is that if I am not strong enough, there is a need to acquire external help for transmigration. And I do not know if this external entity would be good or bad, benevolent or malicious. I cannot control it, and thus it could be very dangerous. In that case, why not strengthen myself and return by relying on my own powers? Thus, the complete Sequence was the most important factor in my considerations!”