Lord of Mysteries: Starting As A Reader

Seeing Xio looking over, Ebner pondered for a moment and hesitantly asked:

"Miss Temperance, do you mean that the complete 'Daniel's Labyrinth' is actually a projection of the geography of Daniel Valley, just segmented into small mirror worlds... perhaps with the arrangement of these segments shuffled?"

"Yes," Miss Sharon nodded lightly, simply adding, "The 'doors' connect non-adjacent mirror worlds."

Connecting non-adjacent mirror worlds through doors essentially shuffles their order, doesn't it? Or perhaps she means that the mirror worlds inherently rely on doors for connection, making the concept of sequence irrelevant?

Talking with Miss Sharon is really challenging—Klein must have quite the talent for always understanding her correctly.

Ebner silently complained, then relayed his judgment and knowledge of mirror worlds to Xio. Only then did she grasp Sharon's meaning but remained puzzled.

"How does this help us?" she asked.

"We were drawn into the labyrinth at dawn," Sharon reminded her.

"Dawn?" Xio frowned, turning back to Ebner.

After a moment of contemplation, Ebner's eyes lit up. "The position of the rising sun and the setting crimson moon? Or perhaps their reflection on the lake surface?"

As he spoke, he recalled the dominant colors of the grand hall deep within the labyrinth—gold and red.

They likely symbolized the sun and the crimson moon.

Sharon said nothing, merely nodding silently to affirm his deduction. As for why she was sure the treasure was at the sun or crimson moon's reflected position, she did not elaborate.

However, from the information he'd read earlier, Ebner had a guess—Dannet was born at sunrise and died on a crimson night.

"Considering the season is November and the latitude of Daniel Valley... it should be near the direct solar point at dawn.

"The sun's reflection should be positioned slightly eastward...

"So, the hint is actually the direction and angle of the light?

"Just keep choosing the doors in the direction of the light source?"

Hearing Ebner's analysis, Xio's eyes brightened with realization, though she still asked, "What if the light comes from the intersection of multiple angles? What if there are three possibilities?"

Each segmented mirror world was a hexagonal cube, so light entering from the intersection of three walls was plausible.

In fact, in the initial space where Xio found herself, light came from the shared edge between the floor and the front wall.

"Luck," Sharon answered concisely.

Xio looked troubled at that. Her luck was sometimes good but often terrible. This wasn't Backlund, and she couldn't use the Solomon Gold Coin here either.

Ebner chuckled, "If you're unsure, use that magical item your superior lent you for 'astrology.' I suspect that's why your superior entrusted it to you. Just make sure you reach the deepest part of the labyrinth within two hours."

With both the 'Blasphemy Card' and the Ghost Empire's ticket—two top-tier treasures of the Justiciar pathway present, a magical item imbued with the traits of an Imperative Mage would naturally exhibit a convergence effect. Even without using 'astrology,' it had a high chance of guiding her to the labyrinth's deepest part.

Of course, after two hours, when the dagger's negative effects kicked in, who knew where she'd end up 'wandering'?

Xio's eyes sparkled as she finally understood why Princess Vera had handed her the dagger. She promptly thanked the Fool, Miss Temperance, and the Tower while inquiring about Sharon's preferred form of compensation.

As for how she'd repay the Fool and Tower, she planned to submit additional pages of Roselle's diary for the former, while the latter could be discussed privately—no need to bring it up in the fog.

"One page of Roselle's diary," Sharon requested without hesitation.

Xio pressed her lips together, feeling a bit troubled. Due to the Capim case, she still owed the Fool diary pages and had none to spare for Sharon.

But how did Miss Sharon know that the Fool needed Roselle's diaries? Could she have also been brought in by Ebner? Did he, like when I was about to join the club, tell her all about the Tarot Club?

No, probably not... Ebner has been away from Backlund lately, theoretically not having time to meet Miss Sharon.

But then again, he can use teleportation, so who knows…

As Xio's thoughts drifted far off course, Ebner called her back to the present. Seeing her snap out of it, he nodded toward her meaningfully.

Xio quickly understood what Ebner was signaling. Turning her head toward Sharon, she said, "I'll get you a diary page as soon as possible."

Since Xio hadn't disguised herself, her distinctive features would surely be recognized by Miss Sharon. Given that Sharon would easily deduce her identity after attending a few Tarot gatherings, Ebner saw no point in hiding their friendship.

As for the diary... that lion had spilled so much dirt on Roselle, including some highly useful "insider facts." With that as a basis, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to "compose" a few diary entries.

Besides, the lion might actually possess genuine Roselle diaries. It wouldn't hurt to ask when they returned.

Sharon looked at the two silently for a few moments, then unexpectedly found herself feeling less intimidated by this meeting organized by the Fool. After all, aside from Sherlock, running into two familiar faces in succession made things feel less mysterious and daunting.

"Alright," Sharon eventually agreed calmly.

Ebner then reminded Xio to be cautious of other labyrinth participants before requesting the Fool to end the gathering.

Xio, however, was brimming with confidence. With a mystical item bearing the power of a Level 1 Sealed Artifact in hand, it was the others who should be careful, not her.

After the three members rose and saluted, the Fool raised his hand slightly, making them vanish from the ancient palace.

Following that, the Fool tossed the transparent dagger linked by radiant stars through the Door of Summoning, "bestowing" it to Miss Judgment. He then manifested pen and paper, summarizing the Roselle "ramblings" heard in the Dream Labyrinth Tower and quickly arrived at some plausible "conclusions."

"Roselle, as someone from over a hundred years ago, definitely wouldn't have seen my 'Master Key.' After all, it only recently came into existence.

"Given that Roselle wouldn't have mentioned it without reason, I can boldly speculate:

"The reason Linster, as a Tower Climber, was able to connect with the sealed Roselle at the base of the Dream Labyrinth Tower... was likely due to the 'Master Key' itself!

"Come to think of it, I deliberately linked the Master Key to Azik's Copper Whistle on a keychain to draw Linster's attention before launching a sneak attack using Full Moon Murmurs, which clinched my victory.

"And Full Moon Murmurs was the second phrase Roselle mentioned.

"From Roselle's diaries, what I learned from Tower, and Magician's experiences, it's evident that Full Moon Murmurs originated from Mr. Door, the ancestor of the Abraham family.

"As the King of Angels, he was exiled by the combined forces of the Evernight Goddess and Lord of Storms, which must have been for a reason... Given Roselle's corrupted state, perhaps Mr. Door is the incarnation of the evil god 'Primordial Moon'? Or was he corrupted by the Primordial Moon and, after exile, tried to save himself by contaminating Roselle through their full-moon conversations?

"In any case, when Linster heard the Full Moon Murmurs, he unintentionally established contact with the sealed Roselle—or the corrupted part of him. Desperate, Linster followed Roselle's instructions, sacrificing his own soul and granting partial authority to Sharon and me in hopes of revenge.

"In the end, he was just a pawn manipulated by that corrupted Roselle all along."

(End of Chapter)