The fire crackled in the hearth, casting flickering shadows across the faces of the assembled group. Leo, his usually stoic expression etched with a hint of weariness, leaned forward, his gaze sweeping over Sharone, Kojo, and the others.
"Lady Yuki and I returned to Ezkanur," he began, his voice low and serious, "only to find that Mistress Cassandra was gone. She left a note, a cryptic message: 'Going to Archadia, to get to him before the darkness begins.'"
Sharone's brow furrowed. "What's that supposed to even mean? 'Get to him'?"
Leo shook his head.
"We don't know. Even those in Ezkanur were perplexed."
"It's known that Cassandra, though young, has a strong affinity for prophecy. It's suspected she saw something, a vision perhaps, and acted on it immediately," Yuki added.
Kojo exchanged a glance with his companions. The air in the room grew heavy with unspoken questions.
"We returned to the Capital, tasked with finding her whereabouts and bringing her back safely," Yuki continued.
"We split up. I searched the south and west, while Leo took the north and east. After a while, I lost contact with him. I assumed he'd simply entered an area with high arcana density."
Kojo raised an eyebrow.
"(The Mystium-rich land of Archadia can cause disruptions in telepathic and other communication links. Areas with very concentrated quantities can completely cut off such connections.)"
"I see," Kojo nodded.
Leo took over.
"I finished searching the province of Chalcedon and was entering the province of Ameth when I encountered a strange man. He claimed he could tell my fortune."
Yuki's eyes narrowed. "You put aside the mission to listen to a fortune teller?"
"At first, I disregarded him," Leo admitted. "But he seemed to possess sensitive information concerning..." He glanced at Kojo and the others, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes.
"Spit it out, Leo," Yuki said, her voice firm. "It's not as if it's a grand secret. And I trust Kojo and his group to keep what they hear confidential."
Leo paused for a bit, still hesitant, but he sighed and spoke.
"Very well. He seemed to have information on The Gates of Sephirot. I couldn't ignore that. He wore a strange attire and had a mild aura, and I didn't sense any ill intent, so I followed, cautiously. I questioned him, but he insisted on performing a divination first. I saw it as a waste of time. As I rose to leave, he said something else, something I couldn't ignore."
"And what was that?" Yuki pressed.
Leo hesitated again.
"Forgive me, but it's... a personal matter."
Kojo blinked. He thought he saw a faint blush tinge Leo's cheeks, but the knight quickly regained his composure.
"He performed his reading using cards with images on them."
"Tarot cards," Yuki and Kojo said in unison.
Leo frowned slightly. "Yes, tarot cards. The card he drew was... The Hanged Man."
"And what did he say?" Sharone asked, her voice hushed.
"He said I would be a vital instrument in the future, a cog in the machine of change." Leo paused, his gaze distant.
"Immediately after he said that, I began to feel drowsy. The world went black. Before I lost consciousness, I heard a voice telling me to go to Ekron, where I would find the ones who took her. The next thing I knew, I woke up on the floor of Kojo's house."
"Ekron?" Kojo repeated.
"He was the one who told you to come here?"
"I don't know how I was able to be kept under such a spell; my armor protects me from any mental attack, so how was I taken so easily?" Leo said, clenching his jaw.
"(Seems like he feels victim to hypnotic suggestion.)"
"Hypnotic suggestion?" Yuki repeated.
"(Yes. When Leo fought Mekna and Keo, he had slow breathing, relaxed blinking, slightly bloodshot eyes with dilated pupils, and wasn't as responsive to outside stimuli, only acting as part of his combat style and not actually feeling.)"
"I see," Yukio said, leaning back.
"Milady?" Leo said, not hearing Sysia's voice.
"You weren't under any spell but under a form of hypnotic suggestion. Which can only happen if your mind has been made vulnerable. I'm guessing whatever he told you or the way in which he told you was a bit unnerving."
"Yes, Lady Yukio," Leo responded.
Yuki sighed.
"Do you know this man's name?" Sasha asked.
"He called himself 'a mad clown wandering the circus of life,'" Leo answered.
"So he's on the insane side, huh?" Lin said.
"Still, being able to control a Saint without the use of magic is unsettling," Koniko said.
"Do you know what he looked like?" Adriana asked.
Leo's eyes narrowed as he concentrated on recalling the details of the mysterious man. "He was a very peculiar fellow... unlike anyone I've ever met," he began.
"Oh?" Yukio said with curiosity.
Leo's expression turned thoughtful.
"He wore a suit with two different colors. Half was black, and half was white. All his clothes had the opposite arrangements of these two colors. His jacket was long and was black and white, while the coat he wore under it was white and black. He also wore a white cravat with a ruby in it, and his fingernails were painted black, white, and red, and knee-high boots. But what really caught my attention was his eyes."
Kojo's eyebrows rose.
"What was unusual about his eyes?"
"One eye was yellow, the other purple, and seemed to change hues and shades when he moved. They seemed to draw you in as if slowly but gently sucking your soul. I've never seen anything like it."
Sharone's eyes widened. "That's... quite unusual."
Yuki's gaze was intense. "What else did you notice about him?"
Leo's eyes seemed to glaze over as he recalled the details. "The way he spoke. He spoke with a carefree, sing-song voice as if he was unbound by anything."
"Anything else?" Kojo asked.
"He wore a clockwork top hat with gears and cogs visible on the outside. And he had a short cape draped over his shoulder, with a silver clasp in the shape of a... a diamond, I think."
Kojo's eyes narrowed. "A spade?"
Leo nodded.
"Yes, a spade. And on his face... he had white makeup on his already pale skin. But what really stood out was the design on his cheeks. A black spade under one eye and a red heart under the other."
The group fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts as they tried to piece together the puzzle of the mysterious man.
"(He sounds like a character from a fantasy novel.)" Sysia whispered in Kojo's mind.
"Gran Pierrot," a voice said. They turned to see Finn standing at the entrance to the hall. Her sister Fiona quickly covered her mouth.
"Be quiet. Don't interfere in their conversation," Fiona scolded her sister, then turned to Kojo and the others and bowed. "I'm very sorry for my sister's behavior. We came to deliver the records of our sales to Master Kojo, but it seems we came at a bad time," she said.
"Come on, let's go," Fiona said, holding her sister's hand.
"But they were talking about Gran; I want to know where he is so we can thank him," Finn protested as Fiona dragged her along.
"Wait," Yuki stopped them.
"You know the man?" she asked.
"Yes, he's the one who saved us when we were still in those cages," Finn spoke before her sister could say anything.
"It's alright," Kojo added with a smile, gesturing for them to come back.
"Tell us more," he said.
Fiona shifted uncomfortably while her sister told of how a man matching the description Leo gave came in and saved them, then asked them to play a game where they would pick a card out of the deck he had in hand. Finn described how his face changed when he looked at the card she had picked and left without a word.
"And you're sure that he's the one?" Koniko asked.
Finn nodded and looked around the room.
"If only I had a pen and a paper," she said.
Kojo then stretched out one of his wings and pulled out a feather. Fiona looked at him in surprise. He used his Arcane Threads to weave a piece of parchment. He pulled an empty bowl closer to him and dropped some black, non-harmful poison into it as ink for her to use, then pushed the items towards her.
Finn took them and started to draw. The ink changed color anytime she drew a different portion, and after a few moments, she produced a detailed 3D image of the mad clown, complete with a side elevation and sketches of the cards he brought at the side.
"This is the best I can do. Sorry it's not as detailed; I don't remember all," Finn said. Everyone leaned forward to take a look, and their eyes widened in surprise at the detailing of the image.
"Are you kidding? This is like a printed image. I never knew you were so talented in drawing," Kojo said, looking at the image in astonishment.
"Oh, it's nothing," Finn blushed and swayed from side to side with her hands behind her.
"So, is that him?" Kojo asked, showing him the image. Leo leaned forward and looked at the images, his eyes showing a hint of recognition.
"Yes, that's the one," he confirmed. Kojo then turned the sheet back to himself and looked at the man.
"Gran Pierrot, huh?"