In the captain's room of the "Blue Avenger", after finishing the ceremony of accepting the "gift", Alger, the "hanging man", looked at the extra brass charm on the altar, sat down with a complicated expression, and said to himself silently:

"At first, it could only pull people into the world above the gray fog...... After a while, you can listen to the supplication and respond to it...... Now that he can accept the sacrifice for the gift...... Mr. 'Fool' is getting out of the predicament step by step and going deeper into the real world little by little? ”

This guess made Alger scared, worried, and a little fortunate in anticipation.

At least I'm a member of the Tarot Society, the earliest member...... He sighed.

Maybe...... Should I learn the attitude of the "tower" towards the "fool"?

……

In the grand palace on the gray mist, Crane sat at the top of the old long table, following the method taught by Mr. Azik, driving the gray mist to gather around the "clown" mask, and then spreading the spirit to try to communicate with it.

After a long while, Klein withdrew his spirit with a strange expression, and thought:

"It's going better than I thought...... Not only did it promise not to interfere with the user's mind, but it also shortened the interval between setting and changing the face to 20 days...... And the condition is just to be able to come to the gray fog for a while a week? Perhaps the Tower was right, and this space was really the culmination of the path where the Clown's mask was located. ”

Thinking of this, Klein suddenly became quite interested in this face, and had the idea of divining its origin and source. So he figured out a yellow-brown parchment and a black round-bellied fountain pen in front of him.

After thinking for a moment, he wrote down the divination sentence

"The source of the 'clown mask' in my hand."

After reciting it seven times in silence, he took the parchment and clown mask, leaned back, and entered the dream.

In the gray fantasy world, Crane saw a black dragon surrounded by a dozen strong men dressed like savages, and was soon beheaded by a red-haired man led by him, digging out the yellow-brown tissue in his head.

The yellow-brown tissue in the red-haired man's hand was constantly changing, sometimes grayish, wrinkled, sometimes dark brown, extremely smooth, sometimes mixed with two colors, outlining a "face" without facial features.

At this moment, an old man dressed as a wizard with a face painted with colorful oil paint on his face put together the excavated tissue and a mask painted with strange patterns that had been prepared long ago, and merged them into one in a simple but effective way.

When Klein saw this, the dream quickly faded away, and he woke up.

"It looks like a creation of mankind in the age of ignorance...... How long can this mask last? Hehe, but not necessarily, it seems that the indigenous tribes of the southern continent and some islands still maintain this kind of life. ”

"What's that dragon? It seems to be much weaker than the legendary dragon...... The tissue in its head is an extraordinary material? The main ingredient of potions? I don't know how many sequences are ......"

……

Hilston's detective agency, Abner took back the more honest "clown mask" after another ceremony to receive the "gift", and knew from Mr. "Fool's" description that it needed to climb the gray fog once a week before it could continue to be "honest".

The combined cost of the materials for the "sacrifice" and the receipt of the "giving" ritual exceeds £30 once a week...... It's at least £120 a month, which is a bit expensive...... Fortunately, Crane will be able to become a "Joker" in another month, and when he can push open the "Summoning Gate" with his own strength, there will be no need to waste so much.

While thinking about it, Abner packed up all the other materials for the ceremony, and then lifted the spiritual wall and walked out of the room.

As soon as I went out, I saw the teacher's manservant, Kenny, walking over.

Seeing him, Abner suddenly said helplessly: "Is there another reporter coming?" Ever since he was branded a hero by the "desolates", he has lived a life of harassment by various tabloid reporters. As for the reporters of the big newspapers? He was certainly happy to be interviewed.

"Mr. Blaine, this is an invitation from your friend journalist Mike, who invited you to a dance party at the Daily Observer's headquarters building on Friday night." The manservant, Kenny, respectfully handed over the invitation in his hand.

He originally respected Abner only because he was a student of Detective Isinger, but because of Abner's fame, this respect has become tangible.

"Reporter Mike? He still has to give face...... Well, the Daily Observer, as the leader of Beckland's second-grade newspapers, has a high standard for the ball, and there should be many high-quality customers among the participants. Abner took the invitation and muttered to himself, taking the matter to heart.

After the valet Kenny left, Abner went to his office, and while reviewing the various materials that the teacher had collected before, he thought to himself:

"How can you tell Hugh the name of a fool without revealing himself?"

……

During the night, Hugh had just finished adjudicating a robbery. Because the suspect was not desperate, but wanted more money to buy tobacco and alcohol before he would rob the house, Hugh convicted him of disturbing the order of his "jurisdiction". The robber was ordered to repay the victim's family for the damage within seven days, failing which he would be sent to MI9's black cell.

Of course, the last sentence is just a threat, and MI9 doesn't have time to care about these little things. If the other party really refuses to carry it out, he should be persuaded "physically" when the time comes.

Seeing off the grateful victim's family, Hugh walks to a nearby bar, where one of her informants leaves her a message saying that she has made an interesting discovery to tell her.

"Hey, Hugh...... You've just arrived, let's have a few drinks together. Jean, who was drunk, grinned when he saw the girl coming towards him.

"It's not good to drink." Hugh shook his head at first, then looked at the drunkard in front of him, and asked, "What are you looking for me for?" ”

Intimidated by the majesty, Jean's smile froze, and suddenly all that was left was the idea of nodding, and he thought carefully with his brain paralyzed by alcohol, and then organized his words and said:

"Old Thor seems to have had a stroke yesterday, and he was found drowned in the Tasok River this morning!"

"Sanchi, a thief who was active on Dise Street, seemed to have become an idiot the day before yesterday, only giggling, and finally fell off the bridge and died."

"Aunt Tasso's eight-year-old granddaughter also had a sudden hysteria the morning before yesterday, and she kept talking nonsense in her mouth, and she was not cured by many doctors. As a result, this afternoon, her granddaughter suddenly went crazy and stabbed herself to death with scissors while she was not at home when she went to work. ”

……

Jean said seven or eight cases in one go, all of which were tragedies or accidents that had been staged in the East End in the last two or three days.

Hugh didn't pay much attention to it at first, because there were too many similar things in the Eastern District to be managed, but when she heard about the fourth similar case, she was sure that it was not an accident, so her expression became serious.

"These dead people...... It seems that there are ...... of all ages and genders," Hugh thought for a moment before asking Jean, "Do they have anything in common?" What do the police say about the results of the investigation? ”

Even in the Eastern District, where so many people have died for similar reasons, it is impossible for the police not to investigate.

"Police? The police only said that it was an accident caused by a sudden illness. Jean sneered, then looked left and right, and saw that no one was paying attention to him, and then whispered to Hugh, "If you want to talk about common ground, there are indeed ...... That is, they are all followers of the Lord of the Storm! So there are already rumors that this is because the cultists have cursed the believers in order to take revenge on the Lord of the Storm. ”

With such a clear indication of the Storm Lord's followers, the "Substitute Punisher" should have intervened in the investigation...... It is likely that the police's rhetoric is just perfunctory to the public and cover up the truth. Hugh thought thoughtfully.

After giving Jean 5 Souler the intelligence fee, it was already late, Hugh did not delay any longer, and went all the way back to the apartment shared with Forth in the North End. After picking up today's letter from the mailbox at the door, I opened the door with a key.

As soon as she entered, she saw her friend in a dressing gown sitting on the couch with a snack in her mouth and reading a magazine.

"Why do you look like this every time I walk through the door?" Hugh put his hand on his forehead, looking helpless.

Speaking of which, I learned this action with Abner during my travels.

"Then it must be the wrong way you opened the door! At this point, the apprentice has more say than the arbiter. Furth wiped the food scraps from the corners of his mouth and forced a sophistry.

"I can't tell you...... Forget it, it's not a healthy habit either, but it's better than smoking and drinking. Hugh shook his head, then handed a large stack of mail to Forth, and added, "It must have been sent by your readers, I just checked it with my abilities, and found no dangerous items." ”

"Why would you think my readers would send me dangerous goods?" After taking the letter, Forth complained a little speechlessly.

Hugh didn't speak, just looked at her quietly.

Furth looked away a little weakly, and then casually said as he flipped through the email: "By the way, I received an invitation at the literary salon today inviting me to a dance party on Friday night. I can bring a companion with me, are you going? ”

"Friday night...... Is it a dance party hosted by the Daily Observer? Hugh asked after a pause.

"Right...... How do you know? Firth was surprised to hear this, Hugh had not been very enthusiastic about such activities.

"Because there would be a big man at that ball and a speech, I was assigned security for the ball by that 'Golden Mask'."

……

West End, inside a garden villa on Williams Street.

Rey sat on the bed in the bedroom with only his pajamas in his pajamas, holding a pot of flowers that had not yet bloomed, and his white and slender thighs were exposed, so that Lieutenant Bernard, who was clearly determined to never touch the witch again, could not take his eyes off it.

"That is, His Royal Highness Prince Edsak will be speaking at the Friday night ball? Hehe, why would a big man like him participate in a ball of this specification? ”

However, Lina seems to have been sheltered by Prince Edsak, and I wonder if she will follow this ball...... Well, in that case, I should go check it out. ”

"Bernard, can you get an invitation?"