Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

The lady believed to hold the Justice card fell silent, and it was Susie who spoke up.

“Your mental state has improved significantly. If you’d like, I can guide you back into the dream to awaken those forgotten memories.”

“No problem.” Lumian leaned against the sofa and closed his eyes.

Unbeknownst to him, he dozed off. He found himself in Cordu, bathed in sunlight amidst the mountains, surrounded by turquoise alpine pastures. White-gray sheep roamed like clouds, creating a painting-like scene.

The events unfolded like an art exhibition. Lumian alternated between experiencing them firsthand and observing as a bystander, his thoughts deeply immersed in the unfolding drama.

As the events progressed, the weather mirrored Lumian’s mood, turning increasingly gray and devoid of sunlight. Occasionally, the fog lifted, revealing an azure sky.

These memories confirmed Lumian’s suspicions. An anomaly had been brewing in the village from May to June of last year.

Initially, he didn’t pay much attention, but by the end of the year, he realized the seriousness of the issue. Aurore didn’t take his concerns seriously, dismissing them without investigation.

He later discovered skeletons in Louis Lund’s closet and extracted information from him. In the new year, more villagers began revealing certain problems, leading some unaffected ones to sense that something was wrong. As a result, Ava, Reimund, Naroka, and others were silenced.

During this process, Lumian stumbled upon Pons Bénet and his crew burying a corpse and sought revenge, gravely injuring the villain’s lower body. However, he couldn’t take on the thugs alone and ultimately failed.

Pons Bénet almost crippled him, but Aurore arrived just in time to rescue him.

Only then did Lumian realize that something was amiss with his sister. She was suspected to be part of the padre’s group and held a high status.

Most of the time, she appeared cold and indifferent, which was completely different from the sister Lumian knew. Only rarely did she show her true self. Worried for both her and her brother’s future, she sought help.

However, she never mentioned summoning the messenger of the Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society’s vice president, Hela. The information in Lumian’s dream likely came from her soul fragment.

What followed matched Madame Pualis’s account. Aurore stopped her, and Guillaume Bénet, the padre, led a large group of bestowers to attack the administrator’s castle, dismantling her setup. She had no choice but to abandon the “territory” she had built up for a long time and leave Cordu with her remaining subordinates.

The only difference was Madame Pualis’s claim that she had only given birth to one child whose father was the padre—he eventually perished in the attack. However, Aurore, a Blessed of Inevitability, stated that Madame Pualis had personally given birth to two children. One of them vanished after the administrator’s castle was destroyed.

In the end, it wasn’t Aurore who knocked Lumian out and brought him to the altar. It was the deputy padre, Michel Garrigue, who also had a lizard-like elf crawl out of him in his dream.

Lumian blinked open his eyes, taking deep breaths to steady himself.

He had anticipated this moment, but the emotional upheaval still left him reeling.

Emerging from the nightmarish life of a street urchin, he had finally found a true, warm home with new friends and boundless joy. Even the villagers’ chase and occasional beatings for his pranks couldn’t dampen his spirits during those moments of triumph.

However, his idyllic life began to unravel as the people around him changed. The constant anomalies he noticed clouded his heart with growing unease and uncertainty. He tried to persuade his friends, Aurore, Reimund, Ava, and others, to leave Cordu and move to Dariège, but Aurore always delayed, thwarting his plans.

Amidst his fear and disappointment, tragedy struck his friends. To his dismay, he even noticed disturbing signs in his own beloved sister.

In that moment, his mind plummeted into a dark abyss, much like when his grandfather had died. He felt terrified, helpless, sorrowful, and in pain.

But this time, he also felt a profound sense of despair.

Had it not been for the occasional glimmer of hope when Aurore briefly regained her true self, Lumian might not have held on till the end.

Even now, recollecting the past few months felt unbearable. It was as if he was trapped in a suffocating cage, surrounded by darkness and misery, unable to escape. It was suffocating, painful, and full of despair.

Phew, phew… Taking deep breaths, Lumian gradually regained his composure and offered a bitter smile.

“Just as I suspected.”

He hadn’t personally experienced the remaining pieces of the puzzle concerning the catastrophe. He needed to decipher the dream’s symbols or find the padre Guillaume Bénet to obtain the missing information.

Susie spoke in a gentle tone, “You’ve shown tremendous resilience and faced your past head-on. It’s a sign that your psychological struggles have improved significantly. Now, the rest of the healing process lies in your own hands.”

“If everything goes as planned, we should only have one more psychiatric session. After you find padre Guillaume Bénet and communicate with him, I’ll need to evaluate your psychological state once again and conclude the treatment.”

“Thank you, Madam Susie. Thank you…” Lumian hesitated before adding, “Madam Justice.”

The woman in Psychological Invisibility didn’t deny it and smiled, saying, “Just because we have only one session left doesn’t mean we won’t be in touch again. I might need your assistance with certain matters in the future.”

Lumian smiled back, saying, “I’m only a Sequence 7. I doubt I’ll be of much help.”

“We should never underestimate anyone,” the lady replied with a knowing smile. “Besides, different people can have unique impacts on different matters.”

Lumian nodded and said, “No problem.”

He pondered for a moment before changing the subject.

“Ladies, after the Cordu disaster, my sister pushed me away and instructed me to take note of her grimoires. Given your understanding of human nature, what might be hidden in her notebook, and where could it be?”

Though Lumian had studied Aurore’s entire grimoire multiple times, he still couldn’t grasp many aspects or find anything suspicious.

Susie responded promptly, “Aurore wouldn’t have intentionally left any messages or clues in her grimoires. If there were, she would have told you directly or hinted at it once she regained consciousness.”

Lumian nodded slowly, accepting her explanation. Aurore could have sought help from Hela’s messenger, but she chose not to.

Susie continued, “I believe there might be something in the notebook that Aurore once considered normal, but later suspected was amiss. So, identifying any abnormalities through superficial observation alone would be challenging.”

No wonder I’ve been stumped for so long… Lumian asked anxiously, “Then how can I figure out if there’s a problem?”

The holder of the Justice card seemed lost in thought as she spoke, “Since you’ve deduced that the anomaly began in May or June of last year, focus on that particular time frame to find the root of the problem.

“If the source truly lies with Aurore, she must have encountered something before that period that caused her transformation. So, pay special attention to the grimoires six months prior. It’s likely to contain something significant that triggered her change.

“Additionally, the grimoires from the last three months might reveal Aurore’s true intentions. They are an essential part of the castle in her heart.

“If you analyze these two time periods, you’re most likely to find something relevant.”

January to June last year, and January to March this year… Lumian mentally noted Madam Justice’s advice.

As Aurore’s grimoire spanned over five years, narrowing down the suspected content would save Lumian a considerable amount of time and effort.

If he focused solely on the notebooks from those two periods, his workload would decrease by 90%, enabling him to analyze and consider them more effectively.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Lumian expressed his gratitude once again.

“Thank you, Madam Susie. Thank you, Madam Justice.”

After their discussion, the psychiatric treatment came to an official close. Lumian finished the remaining espresso and left Mason café, waiting for the public carriage by the roadside.

In Trier, dark clouds gathered to the northwest in the distance, while raindrops cascaded down like threads. To the southeast, the sky remained azure, and pure white clouds were tinged with golden light.

…

Apartment 601, 3 Rue des Blouses Blanches.

“Let’s attend a gathering,” Franca said to Jenna.

“What gathering?” Jenna, who hadn’t yet put on her smoky makeup, asked with confusion.

Franca rarely invited her to such events.

Franca chuckled.

“A mysticism gathering. Now that you’ve digested the Assassin potion, you should consider advancing to Instigator. Attending mysticism gatherings, gathering materials and information, and earning money and supplies are compulsory tasks for every wild Beyonder.”

“Advancing?” Jenna was bewildered, as the term was unfamiliar to her.

Franca clicked her tongue and explained, “An important figure told me that the number of evil god believers will increase in the foreseeable future. The same goes for various mysticism-related disasters.

“If you wish to protect yourself, your brother, and the people you care about, you must progress step by step on the divine paths and grow stronger.”

Jenna fell silent for a few seconds before finally nodding and saying, “Okay.”

“Then let’s go.” Franca smiled again.

However, Jenna hesitated for a moment before adding, “Should we invite Ciel? It seems like he also needs to attend mysticism gatherings.”

“…” Franca’s expression froze.