Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

"The beginning of everything..." Lumian softly repeated Franca's interpretation.

Jenna listened with inexplicable terror.

"Did the Cordu Village disaster actually start when Aurore summoned White Paper, rather than when April Fool's set their sights on her?

Lumian stared at White Paper for a while, then dismissed the summoning.

Then, he muttered to himself, "From Aurore's memory fragments and grimoires, she was first infused with knowledge about White Paper, and it was only several months later that Madame Pualis followed her husband to Cordu.

"I originally thought Madame Pualis was simply looking for a rural village with weak church and government influence to develop her own 'territory' and prepare for the formation of Paramita and obtain higher boons, which is why she targeted Béost who was about to become the administrative officer and territorial judge of Cordu. Now it seems this may not have been a coincidence.

"She came specifically for Cordu Village, though she may not have known why she needed to do this-she likely just received divine revelation from the Great Mother.

"Yes, that's right!"

At this point, Lumian's lips curled into a slightly grotesque smile.

A flash of insight struck both Jenna and Franca.

The former blurted out.

"Madame Pualis's affair with the padre and her pregnancy happened before Aurore used Soul Summoning, or before her condition worsened due to the treatment from I Know Someone, which led to the spread of the Inevitability faith."

"Unless someone had prophesied the development and outcome of the entire Incident, Madame Pualis probably hadn't thought about using the Inevitability believers' ritual sacrifices at that time-Cordu didn't even have any Inevitability believers then!" Franca followed up, "And the Cordu incident involves very high levels, so even the Great Mother probably couldn't see the specific shape of the results in the initial stages."

Lumian nodded.

"Simply seducing the padre of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun, having an affair near the cathedral altar, becoming pregnant, and obtaining the corresponding symbolism-couldn't this have been accomplished in any remote village? Why did only Madame Pualis in Cordu succeed? When she successfully became pregnant with Omebella, there wasn't even any power of Inevitability to utilize!

"Thinking about it in reverse, we can reach a conclusion: when Aurore summoned White Paper certain things related to Omebella secretly arrived in Cordu, nurturing power invisibly, and then Madame Pualis received divine revelation to come to Cordu."

Reflecting on the changes in White Paper's state before and after, Lumian thoughtfully said, "Amniotic fluid?

"Did White Paper once carry the amniotic fluid that nurtured Omebella?

"After the amniotic fluid came into reality, did it quickly merge into Cordu's overall environment?"

"Amniotic fluid..." Franca and Jenna were momentarily bewildered.

Lumian briefly described White Paper's appearance when first summoned and its subsequent changes, then gave a cold laugh.

"If this is true, that infusion from the Hidden Sage was definitely not random, but intentional."

Jenna quickly nodded.

That's what she had said earlier.

Franca spoke with confusion, "But the Hidden Sage didn't gain any benefits from this whole incident. So far, we haven't seen how He benefited from it…

"Pure harm without self-benefit?

"Also, wasn't April Fool's targeting of Aurore also a coincidence? They weren't aiming for Omebella's incarnation..."

"We need to reassess what we know about April Fool's now; we can't fully trust it." Lumian scoffed, "After experiencing the dream city, don't you have a deeper understanding of 'foolery'? What April Fool's believes may not be the truth, just like in the sea prayer ritual. they overlooked some key issues, being presumptuous and ultimately becoming the jester."

"Is the Celestial Worthy secretly helping the Great Mother?" Franca suddenly realized, Lumian gave a sound of agreement.

"As for why Hidden Sage deliberately infused that knowledge, I can't think of a reason right now, but I'll ask Him eventually."

As he spoke, Lumian paused.

"I remember Ma'am Hermit's main task was to investigate Hidden Sage's condition and the reason His mutation back then caused the one from the Church of Steam to leave the Moss Ascetic Order…

"Did His coming to life, His abnormality, come from the Great Mother's influence?

"How was it accomplished? The barrier was still quite solid at that time..."

Franca, Jenna, and Anthony exchanged glances, with the former reminding.

"Should we report this to Mr. Fool?"

"I'll pray now." Lumian nodded slightly.

After Mr. Fool had initially awakened through the image of Gehrman Sparrow, praying to him wasn't as troublesome as before when they needed to leave long intervals between two prayers.

Soon, Lumian completed his prayer, reporting everything about the changes brought by Aurore's soul fragments further awakening after he became a Demoness of Unaging, White Paper's symbolism, the new interpretation of the Cordu Village incident, and his speculations about Hidden Sage.

"Mr. Fool only said he knows." Lumian told Franca and the others, "It seems we'll have to wait until I bring the Gift of the Land to the City of Exiles and meet with Hand Bro before getting new revelations."

"Alright." Franca sighed.

Lumian thought for a moment and said,

"I'll also synchronize my speculations about Hidden Sage with Ma'am Hermit later, hoping it might give her some inspiration."

After Anthony took Ludwig downstairs to prepare dinner, Lumian looked at Franca and thoughtfully asked,

"Do you plan to tell all members of the Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society the truth about the transmigration?"

Franca appeared troubled.

"I'm afraid the shock would be too great, some people might not be able to accept it and lose control on the spot."

As she spoke, she mocked herself.

"If I still hadn't digested half of the Despair potion, saying this much is about all that's needed."

She made a sound of agreement and continued,

"I plan to meet with Madame Hele first, give her a hint of it. She's emotionally stable and should be able to accept it, then we can discuss how to proceed."

After pondering for a moment, Lumian said.

"By the way, help me ask when the next gathering will be."

"Do you have something in mind?" Franca asked curiously.

Smiling, Lumian replied.

"I want to clarify one question:

"Why Aurore?"

"Why Aurore..." Jenna pondered, "Why did Hidden Sage specifically choose Aurore as the target for infusing that knowledge?"

Lumian clicked his tongue and continued,

"The conditions of being a transmigrator, having the gray fog's aura, being female, and being a Warlock- almost no one in the outside world could satisfy all of these simultaneously, but within the Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society, there are several who do.

"Why did the Hidden Sage pick Aurore?

"Was there something else about Aurore herself, was Cordu already harboring abnormalities, or was she simply unlucky and randomly chosen by Hidden Sage?"

"Indeed." Franca nodded in agreement. "We should investigate this."

After discussing these matters, Jenna intentionally changed the topic to keep the atmosphere from becoming too heavy.

She said to Franca and Lumian,

"You need to design your honorific names now."

Lumian and Franca, both with relevant mystical knowledge, looked at each other, feeling inexplicably awkward.

Of course, besides feeling awkward, Franca was also a bit excited.

I'm going to have an honorific name, this is unprecedented!

"I'll go first," she volunteered.

Seeing both Lumian and Jenna looking at her, she took paper and pen from the table, saying with a smile,

"The phrase 'the Great Franca Roland' needs to be there, but how embarrassing as an ending."

As she spoke, she wrote down this phrase.

"The other descriptions should reflect your abilities and characteristics." Lumian reminded her.

Franca thought for a moment and spoke,

"Should the first line be Demoness of Unaging? No. wouldn't that affect Mr. Fool's reputation? As his saint, I should lean towards the positive side. Hmm, 'One Who Never Ages.'

"Should the second line be 'Spreader of Diseases and Plagues'? That sounds like a villain; need to rephrase it, 'Keeper of Diseases and Plagues,' what do you think? This implies both the containment of plagues and the authority to bestow illness as punishment."

"I think that works," Jenna expressed agreement, and Lumian had no objections.

Franca pondered for another while.

"I think the description of Demoness should be m included, as that's my current essence, but it needs to sound better.

"The Demoness Accompanied by Strife and Catastrophe? Hehe, I'm not the one creating the strife and catastrophe, they just follow me around, Good, that's the third line.

"For the fourth line, should we showcase a Demoness's charm or my personal characteristics? But if we add 'pleasure' to the description, what if people start praying to me for pleasure?"

"As a saint of the Church of The Fool, we should indicate your relationship with the Church." Lumian helped think. "Also, don't use pleasure, that's too suggestive. Use joy, it encompasses more meanings, and you do bring joy-it's your characteristic."

Lumian paused and said,

"Fourth line: 'The Cup Bearing Joy and Pain.'

"The Cup refers to the Cup card, Indicating I'm Mr. Fool's Minor Arcana card, using his status? Mm, the Cup card also symbolizes emotions and feelings, which perfectly matches the joy and pain brought by a Demoness. Perfect, let's use that!" Franca clapped her hands and smiled brightly.

She quickly wrote down the complete honorific name:

"The One Who Never Ages, Keeper of Diseases and Plagues, the Demoness Accompanied by Strife and Catastrophe, the Cup Bearing Joy and Pain, the Great Franca Roland."

After reading it several times, Franca said with lingering interest,

"I see many Sequence 3 Saints have 'protector of something' in their honorific names, should I add that too?

"But I don't have anything to protect right now, I still lack accumulation and have been a saint for too short a time. I can't be the protector of Lumian and Jenna. can I?"

"Protector of Human Trials and Spirit of Adventure?" Lumian joked.

Franca rolled her eyes at him.

"Your turn!"