LOTM: Paradox Pathway

The atmosphere in Tingen City was becoming increasingly tense. Even ordinary civilians who knew nothing were beginning to gradually realize that something seemed amiss with the situation.

The police detectives patrolling the streets seemed to be increasing in number every day, and the nobles also began to reduce their most beloved balls and gatherings.

The gang thugs in the city's underground began to restrain their subordinates, and even the lackeys responsible for "taking out the trash" became increasingly diligent.

In such a tense atmosphere, Snow was living quite leisurely, without any difference from the previous half month.

Mr. A was now busy searching for traces of the divine child and had no intention of contacting him at all. Klein also showed no signs of coming to collect his Clown potion formula.

This made him somewhat anxious.

Although there was still a full month before Klein's advancement in the original story, compared to obtaining a potion formula from an enemy's corpse, if Klein were to get the potion from Snow, he would probably find it difficult to obtain materials through official channels, as he couldn't explain the source of his formula.

"If my interference actually slowed down The Fool's advancement speed, that would truly be a sin." Snow muttered to himself, reviewed the script he had prepared twice more, and then quietly waited for the time to come.

...

The deep crimson light surged like a tide. Snow felt his vision brighten, and the next moment, he appeared once again before the ancient and mottled bronze long table. Sitting across from him was Miss Justice, who seemed to maintain an optimistic and cheerful demeanor at all times, while to his right sat Mr. Hanged Man with his blue seaweed-like hair.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool. Good afternoon, Mr. Hanged Man. Good afternoon, Mr. Devil."

Miss Justice's sweet and light voice seemed to dispel all gloom. Infected by her smile, both Snow and Mr. Hanged Man also performed their greetings.

After the routine greetings, Miss Justice suddenly turned her head and said to Mr. Fool:

"Honorable Mr. Fool, I haven't collected any Roselle diary entries this week. I had originally contacted two Beyonders and planned to collect them through their circles, but for some reason, that Beyonder gathering was suddenly suspended..."

'Of course, it's because Mr. A came to Tingen,' Snow thought to himself, then equally respectfully said:

"Mr. Fool, my current situation is rather sensitive, so I temporarily cannot retrieve any Roselle diary entries."

"I'm still at sea and temporarily cannot obtain any diary entries either."

Seeing that the other two members had not obtained any diary entries, Alger immediately felt relieved, and even his excuse sounded somewhat righteous. However, he also noticed that when Mr. Devil mentioned diary entries, he said "retrieve" rather than "obtain," which very likely meant that he probably possessed a considerable number of Roselle diary entries.

...

Regarding the three people's situation, Mr. Fool couldn't say anything either. He could only inwardly lament about his recent streak of bad luck, then spoke in his Fool's tone:

"You may communicate with each other."

Hearing that Mr. Fool showed no emotional changes because of this, Audrey immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She actively entered the Spectator state, then smiled lightly and said:

"The situation in Backlund has been rather strange lately. Originally scheduled Beyonder gatherings have been suspended, and many planned literary salons and receptions have all been canceled. Except for a few balls involving the 'dignity' of great nobles that are still being held, the entire Backlund seems to have entered a social off-season."

'This didn't happen in the original story! If it were merely Mr. A leaving Backlund, it shouldn't be enough to affect the nobles' lives, much less cause even literary salons to be canceled. Is this due to the influence of Ince Zangwill's new script? But the influence range of 0-08 should only be one city! There's no way it could have cross-regional influence on Backlund...'

Hearing Miss Justice's words, Snow immediately fell into thought. Miss Justice, in her Spectator state, keenly captured Mr. Devil's emotional changes and immediately asked:

"Mr. Devil, have you thought of something?"

"Hmm, although I don't know if it's related to what you mentioned, something has indeed happened on my end." Snow nodded slightly, organized his words a bit, then said:

"Last week, traces of suspected conception by the True Creator's spawn were discovered in Tingen City. The Aurora Order's divine emissary, who was originally stationed in Backlund, subsequently came to Tingen and clashed with the official Beyonders of the three major churches. This directly resulted in Tingen City entering a state of martial law. However, it's been a week since the incident, and the elite Beyonder squads that were scheduled to arrive in Tingen City have still not appeared."

"Aurora Order's divine emissary? What is that? And that True Creator's spawn—is it very dangerous?" Audrey had heard about the "Aurora Order" organization more than once from both Hanged Man and Devil. They seemed to be a cult organization that worshipped the "True Creator," but her understanding of it was limited to just that. Now hearing information about this organization again, her curiosity began to stir uncontrollably.

But she discovered that after she asked this question, Mr. Hanged Man and Mr. Devil suddenly exchanged glances, and then both remained silent, as if waiting for the other to speak first.

"Could it be that this question might expose their identities?" Audrey realized she might have asked the wrong question. But after a brief silence, Mr. Hanged Man, who had given Mr. Fool a meaningful look, finally spoke first:

"Because the Aurora Order has been targeting the Church of the Lord of Storms, the Eternal Blazing Sun Church, and the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, compared to other organizations, these three major churches understand the Aurora Order better. And I learned some information from them."

'Here it comes, the classic 'I have a friend!'' Mr. Fool thought sarcastically, then thought about Mr. Devil from the Aurora Order and Miss Justice who was about to join the Psychology Alchemists, and suddenly felt that his Tarot Club was truly a gathering of double agents.

However...

Why were the Aurora Order's hatred targets precisely the three most ancient churches?

Although he had no particular reason, Mr. Fool instinctively felt that Mr. Devil might know something, but it wasn't convenient to inquire given his position as The Fool, so he could only calmly wait for Mr. Hanged Man to continue.

Alger knew he definitely couldn't hide anything from The Fool. What he truly cared about was this "Devil" sitting beside him. Although he had only joined the Tarot Club last time, from his statements, it could be seen that this person probably belonged to some ancient Beyonder family and possessed considerable resources.

It was just that the other party was extremely cautious, giving him no opportunity to glimpse his identity. Thinking that his own identity might have been exposed due to his blue hair, he felt somewhat helpless as he began to introduce the Aurora Order's divine emissary and the Saints system...

(End of Chapter)

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Author's Note: Regarding Ince having the Aurora Order cause trouble to tie up official Beyonders, I think this is still feasible.

First, those great nobles wouldn't care how many people died in Tingen, or even how many died in Backlund—they only care about their own safety. This should be quite obvious from the original story. So when the Aurora Order's actions threaten noble safety, Backlund's nobles would inevitably pressure the churches to protect themselves.

Second, as I mentioned before, the evil god's spawn is a big threat in Tingen, but it's nothing in Backlund. As long as it's not Sequence 1 or King of Angels, even angels wouldn't fare well in Backlund, let alone a divine child that might just be Sequence 5 or an incomplete Sequence 4. Therefore, for the royal family and officials, the greatest disaster the evil god's spawn could cause would be creating a disaster equivalent to a common plague in a third-tier city like Tingen, then adding another Saint to the Aurora Order. That's all.

Finally, everyone might have forgotten that this evil god's spawn was theoretically also created by the Aurora Order. In other words, when the Aurora Order causes trouble in Backlund, the officials would also suspect they're planning to create more evil god spawns, or simply bring down the evil god.

So I believe using Backlund's troubles to tie up official Beyonders is reasonable.

As for whether it would directly attract angels, it probably wouldn't, because the evil god's spawn hasn't been discovered yet—only confirmed to exist but location unknown. And angels can't be permanently stationed in Tingen, so they can only find the divine child first, then angels might possibly go to Tingen for elimination.