Circle of Inevitability

In the rental apartment.

Jenna cleaned up the table, picked up the soy milk and meat buns she had specially left for Franca, and said to Ludwig beside her, "You can start studying now."

Ludwig's expression changed a few times before he argued, "What's the point of me studying?

"If you want to gain knowledge, eat scientists. If you want to gain abilities, eat Beyonders!"

Jenna smiled faintly and said, "Studying may not be important for you, but it's very important for us that you study."

"…" Ludwig, already inarticulate, was left completely speechless by Jenna's frankness.

After some consideration, Jenna added, "Although we don't know the exact process, and you've probably forgotten too, the fact that you were sealed by the Church of Knowledge is as solid as steel. And what's the biggest difference between you and the clergy of the Church of Knowledge? It's the attitude towards learning!"

Ludwig was left feeling a bit confused. Reluctantly but resignedly, he sat down at the table and opened his textbook.

Jenna returned to the master bedroom, casually closing the door behind her.

Franca struggled to sit up halfway, stuffing a pillow behind her back, and said in a low voice, "You're deceiving Ludwig again. Trying to defeat the Church of Knowledge through studying is like competing against them on their home turf, under their favorite rules. How can we win that way? The best approach is to play to our own strengths.

"Hehe, Demonesses are indeed supposed to be good at deceiving people."

Many Demonesses had experience deceiving others' feelings to digest the Witch potion, and some of them even became emotionally invested themselves, ultimately having to force themselves to separate. So they also had their share of pain.

Jenna laughed. "We have to give him some reason, and he's just looking for a reason too."

Jenna paused, then said thoughtfully, "Besides, I think studying does have an effect on Ludwig. You saw him during last night's battle—he was completely monstrous. But in our daily interactions, I feel that apart from his ability to eat, love of eating, and need to eat, he's just like a normal little boy in every other way.

"This is partly due to the Church of Knowledge's seal, but it's also likely because he's learned rules, morals, and common sense about human society through studying."

As she spoke, Jenna brought the plastic cup of soy milk to Franca's lips, letting her take a sip, then handed her the meat bun, watching as she bit into it until she reached the filling.

Franca had never enjoyed such treatment before, and her heart was instantly filled with warmth.

She nodded thoughtfully. "You mean studying is one of the ways for Ludwig to integrate into human society? That studying has given him some humanity?"

"Yup." Jenna continued to feed Franca her breakfast while casually chatting with her. At the end, she even used a wet wipe to clean Franca's mouth and washed her face.

After finishing these tasks, Jenna took the trash and left the master bedroom.

After bustling about for several dozen seconds, she sat down next to Ludwig, as if supervising a child's study.

After watching for a while, she took out two packages from the Traveler's Bag and placed them on the table.

They were two bags of simply packaged rice crisps.

As Ludwig looked over in surprise, Jenna said with a smile, "If you can pass my test later, these will be yours.

"Do you prefer spicy or original flavor?"

"I like both!" Ludwig lowered his head again, his gaze unusually focused.

"I prefer the original flavor." Jenna tore open the packaging and popped two pieces into her mouth, chewing.

Ludwig's head snapped up to look at her, his mouth half-open, expression bewildered.

Isn't this my reward?

"I'll eat a bit while you're studying. Don't worry, I'll save some for you," Jenna said with a smile.

Franca, lying on the bed in the master bedroom, couldn't help but laugh when she heard this conversation.

She suddenly realized that although Jenna usually seemed very mature, she was actually just a girl fresh out of college by her real age. It was perfectly normal for such a girl to enjoy snacks, and now she finally had the opportunity.

The smile on Franca's face gradually softened as new dialogue drifted in from the living room outside.

"This is a corn soup flavored puffed snack."

"These are cucumber flavored potato chips."

"These are chocolate wafer cookies."

"…"

"These snacks aren't plentiful because they're not as cheap as staple foods, but they're all prepared for you, as rewards for studying hard and doing well on tests."

"You… you eat less! I'll work hard!"

Leaning against the pillow, Franca slowly developed a strange feeling: She was the sick father, and outside were the gluttonous, study-averse child and the mother supervising the child's homework.

If one ignored phrases like "the corpse's finger is also your reward for today," it was really such a warm and beautiful day-to-day life for a family of three.

…

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The sound of horns blared constantly behind and beside the gray sedan, urging Lumian to drive faster, but Lumian remained calm and completely ignored the noise around him, keeping the vehicle moving steadily at the lowest speed allowed on the current road section.

As a new driver—safety first!

Anthony sat in the passenger seat, constantly scrolling through his phone, looking at local news.

"What are you looking for?" Lumian glanced at his companion out of the corner of his eye.

Anthony shouldn't have reached the stage of being addicted to the Internet yet; after all, he had only just learned how to use it.

Anthony turned his head and said solemnly, "I still feel that several details from last night's battle seem increasingly odd the more I think about them."

"Such as?" Lumian focused on driving.

Anthony said carefully, "The second security guard who self-destructed, his state before the explosion was very similar to that of a Marionettist himself, but he just exploded like that."

"The ability to swap positions between a marionette and its master? You suspect that there was indeed a demigod-level Marionettist assisting the Celestial Worthy's marionette at the scene?" Lumian understood what Anthony was trying to express. "But we were aware of the situation within a range of several dozen meters and found no traces. Could it be that this demigod-level Marionettist was in a state where we couldn't see, hear, or touch them?"

"That's the most terrifying part. And if there really was such a Marionettist present, why didn't he save the reanimated female corpse afterward, and why hasn't he spread information about our appearances and characteristics since then?" Anthony returned his gaze to his phone.

Lumian nodded slowly and replied, "You're scrolling through reports and private rumors related to last night's incident, checking if any of our information has leaked?"

"Yes," Anthony said, his finger constantly sliding across the screen. "The current circulating story is that workplace conflicts led one of the security guards to bring in detonators, killing his colleague and himself in the explosion…"

Anthony stopped mid-sentence.

He frowned slightly.

"I've come across a strange local news item. This morning, a madman was found near the garbage collection point close to Moon Plaza, a completely irrational madman unable to communicate. Then, he was sent to the hospital for treatment."

"Near the mall? A madman?" Lumian also noticed the oddity of this news and keenly asked, "Which hospital was he sent to?"

Could this madman be the Marionettist who was hidden last night?

Did he not intervene in the later battle because something happened to him?

What happened? Why did something happen?

"The news doesn't say," Anthony continued scrolling through reports on this matter.

Lumian maintained his speed and took another ten minutes or so to reach their destination.

After finding a parking spot and struggling to park the car, he and Anthony walked towards Star Dream Provisions Store located at the corner of the street.

The shop had no lights on, and it was narrow and dim inside. The moment Lumian entered, it felt like he had gone from morning to night.

He glanced at the tall, long shelves on both sides filled with peculiar goods, and walked to the cashier counter at the very back.

Behind the counter sat a woman wearing a black dress. She leaned against the wooden cabinet behind her, head lowered as she played with her phone. In front of her was a tablet playing a TV series.

Lumian politely said, "Hello, I'd like to send a letter."

He was actually saying he wanted to send a letter in a provisions store.

The woman in the black dress playing with her phone didn't find it strange. Without raising her head, she asked, "Where to, and to whom?"

"To the Cathedral of Serenity, to High-ranking Deacon Leonard Mitchell," Lumian took out the letter for the Major Arcana card holders.

The woman in the black dress still looked at her phone, her voice gentle and calming as she said, "There's a silver-rimmed black mailbox on the third shelf to the right. You can put your letter in there.

"Come back tomorrow to collect the reply."

"Thank you," Lumian quietly sighed in relief and turned towards the shelf.

What caught his eye wasn't a toy mailbox, but a brass-like book and a silver mirror with black pupil-like orbs on both sides.

Lumian quickly scanned the shelves and also found classic quill pens, various strange dice, and other items. If it weren't for the shop owner being on her phone and watching a tablet, he would have thought he had returned to the real world, back to Trier.

The style of these items was quite different from the dream city, more like things from the Northern Continent!

After placing the letter in the silver-rimmed toy mailbox, Lumian turned to the side and asked the shop owner, "May I look at the goods here?"

The shop owner's voice carried a hint of amusement. "These are all for sale."

For sale? As a Demoness, Lumian first picked up the silver mirror with ancient patterns and a black gem on each side.

In the mirror, Lumian's face quickly appeared.

Light blue eyes, clear and deep, a slightly thin face, almost perfect, lips neither thick nor thin, pale in color yet moist, with a hint of radiance…

This was his female form.

It directly shows my Demoness state… This mirror indeed has magical properties… Just as Lumian had this thought, he saw the surface of the mirror ripple like water, outlining rows of blood-colored words in ancient Feysac: "I am the great Arrodes. I can answer any question you ask, but you must also answer an equal number of questions from me, in the presence of at least one witness.

"If you refuse to answer, or if you lie, you will face punishment."

Arrodes, the great Arrodes? Lumian knew this name.

Franca had mentioned it before. This was Mr. Fool's magic mirror, most accurate in answering questions, but each of its questions would cause the diviner to suffer social death.

Mr. Fool's magic mirror is actually in this provisions store in the dream? What does this represent, what does it symbolize? Lumian couldn't help but glance again at the shop owner, the woman in the black dress playing with her phone.

After brief consideration, Lumian calmly said, "My question is, regarding the matter of awakening Mr. Fool, what do you want to warn us about?"