Lord of Mysteries (诡秘之主)

Fifth Epoch, the Iron Age September 9th, 1349

TINGEN CITY DOOMSDAY

Two Months Prior

Fifth Epoch, the Iron Age June 28th, 1349

Melissa Moretti, Younger Sister of Klein Tingen Technical School Student

Iron Cross Street Tingen City, Loen Kingdom

Roselle Poetry Collection

Regence

The Seven Orthodox Gods of the North Continent The Eternal Blazing Sun, the Lord of Storms, the God of Wisdom and Knowledge, the Evernight Goddess, the Earth Mother, the God of Combat, and the God of Steam and Machinery are the seven orthodox gods recognized by the various countries across the North Continent during the Fifth Epoch. Their forms are not known, and they are represented only by symbols.

The Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth

Awwa County Police

The Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth

Audrey Hall Justice, Tarot Club

Alger Wilson The Hanged Man, Tarot Club

Leonard Mitchell Loen Kingdom, Awwa County Police

Dunn Smith Loen Kingdom, Awwa County Police

Dunn Smith Evernight Goddess, Nighthawk

Daly Simone Evernight Goddess, Nighthawk

In the hidden world of Beyonders,

humans must depend upon a variety of potions

to travel the path of supreme ascension

and attain the occult powers of a Beyonder.

There are 22 pathways.

Each beginning with Sequence 9.

The lower one descends in the sequence,

the greater their Beyonder powers become.

Once Sequence 0 is reached,

the Beyonder gains powers strong enough to rival Gods.

Completing this evolution is an exceptional feat.

It is the path of the divine.

The world is an illusion.

Chaos is fixed and systematic.

The Creator bestows blessings

hallowed with depravity,

consecrated with filth,

and baptized in darkness.

Feeble defiance writhes and ends in futility,

never to awaken.

Burdened with the weight of blasphemy,

the shepherd crawls forward with pious devotion.

I shall make an offering of the sacrificial lambs.

And with this ultimate oblation,

we may welcome... divinity.

My head.

It hurts so much.

Where am I? Am I dreaming?

A gun!

It hurts!

Am I already dead?

Klein.

Who's there?!

Who is Klein?

This isn't my body.

Am I Klein?

Have I...

Did I transmigrate?

What do we know?

Well, Captain, two decedents.

There's Welch and Naya,

history grads from Khoy.

Inferring from the scene, it's suicide.

But...

there are signs of black divination

or the sacrifice of a Beyonder.

As a consequence,

an evil force was roused.

This man here...

Klein Moretti, a classmate of theirs,

both parents dead.

He lives with his two siblings.

You're now Klein Moretti,

a resident of Tingen City,

located in the Loen Kingdom.

Recent history grad,

fluent in ancient Feysac as well as Hermes.

Hmm.

"May 29th. Welch dropped by.

He claimed to have acquired an ancient notebook.

June 20th. We managed to translate the first page."

Oh, my goddess.

It dates back to the Fourth Epoch,

and the lineage of the author is...

A relic of the Antigonus family.

June 21st, 22nd, 25th.

Antigonus.

The Black Emperor.

The Tudor Empire.

The Hornacis Mountain Range.

" June 26th.

Can all of these strange things be real?"

Today's the 28th.

But the 27th is blank.

Huh.

That's written in Hermes.

"Everybody will die,

including me."

What would cause Klein to write that?

That memory is missing.

Klein?

Stay up all night reading again?

Hmm, what's wrong?

I'm just groggy.

Hmm.

You're acting shifty.

Hmm? What was that?

Uh...

Um... This, uh...

Well, it's... it broke again.

Hmm.

Equal parts irritation and resignation.

Huh.

She pulled it up. Doesn't that adjust the time?

And fixed.

Well, that was nice.

She cares for her stupid brother.

The wound is mostly healed.

Is that thanks to the transmigration?

Shot point-blank through the temple.

Suicide? Or made to look like it.

Klein's memories are a scattered mess.

A lot of... blank spots.

But I'm still certain

his death has to do with that ancient notebook.

So what caused me to transmigrate?

Everything's been normal lately.

I mean, I've had some bad luck.

Oh, right.

I did the luck enhancement ritual.

Klein.

Maybe you should get a little more sleep.

No. I'm fine.

All right, then. I'm off to school.

Pick up some fresh bread, would you?

Just eight pounds.

It stales too quickly in this heat.

Oh, buy some lamb and peas while you're at it.

Right. You must be stressed from the job hunt.

So I'll cook some mutton stew for dinner.

I'll be home a bit late, so wait up.

Sorry, Melissa,

but I might be gone by then.

Revolvers aren't exactly quiet.

How did Melissa not hear it in the next room?

The longer I'm here, the greater the danger.

I should try the luck ritual again.

Better pick up the supplies for it.

Right. I'd rather eat dinner back on Earth.

Eight pounds of rye bread, please, Mrs. Smyrin.

Mm. How've you been, Klein? Didn't you graduate?

Yes, ma'am. Thank you for asking.

You're a right impressive young man, you.

Won't be long before you're earn enough money

to move somewhere nice.

You and your siblings deserve better

than that shabby apartment.

Hmm. You should at least have a bathroom

to call your own, don't you think?

You're lively today.

I do appreciate your confidence in me.

Well...

Thanks. See ya. Take care.

Thank you, Klein. You do the same.

At least the sun looks the same,

unlike the weird crimson moon.

Still feels like a parallel universe.

- Threes. - Huh?

And ten!

Jacks.

Pass.

They're playing Landlord.

Wait. That's right.

It's a common game here, too.

Now that I think about it,

it was invented 100 years ago by the Emperor of Intis...

...Roselle Gustav.

He also invented the steamship, improved the sailboat,

founded the Spring Festival,

and he created tarot divination.

If this was a novel,

Emperor Roselle,

could be a transmigrator.

Could he have been a fellow countryman?

A circus, huh?

Hello. Care to join us?

The show begins at 7:00.

Praise the Lady. Thanks.

Ah,

enter, little lost lamb.

Sit before me.

I'll shepherd you onto the path of your future.

Did I lose them?

The winds of destiny are arcane

and mercurial to most,

but the tarot is a mystic lens.

Gaze into the mysteries.

Wait, those tarot cards...

They look similar to the cards from Earth.

Maybe I'm right about Roselle.

You're my first customer, and I'm feeling generous.

It's on the house.