Evil Gods Don’t Save People

It all began with one question.

"Mr. Fool, what do you usually do in your free time? It must be boring here."

The Fool pondered for a moment before gesturing towards the crimson stars.

"I observe the real world."

He expanded Miss Magician's crimson star, giving her a demonstration.

Fors pushed aside the possible invasion of privacy that flashed through her mind and continued, "Mr. Fool, can't you leave this space?"

The Fool recalled all the various arrangements he had set up to trap himself inside of Sefirah Castle and responded, "I can't."

At least, not by using conventional means. Though it's not like it was completely impossible either…

"Is there any way I can help?"

The Fool looked at Miss Magician.

A way… There was indeed a simple way.

"If you make a sacrificial ritual for receiving gifts, I can descend through the summoning door and graft the corresponding spirituality consumption onto myself."

That, or turning someone into a marionnette.

Miss Magician nodded, finding it far easier than she had expected.

"Why don't I guide you around Backlund after the Full Moon is over? Wouldn't it be better to see the world in person than watching it from afar?"

The god paused.

Finding the silence intimidating, Fors wondered if she had been too rude.

The Fool stayed silent for a while longer, seemingly considering something, before finally giving an answer.

"…Okay."

Then, he cut off the connection with the crimson star.

Surprised, Fors noticed that the Full Moon was already over. It had ended while they were talking.

Not forgetting their conversation, Fors checked her surroundings. Thankfully, Xio was busy working that night so she was away. Then, she set up a sacrificial ritual.

As she recited the Fool's honorific name and watched the summoning gate appear, her thoughts wandered. She was currently letting an evil god descend onto Backlund. It didn't really seem like a good decision.

She shook her head and saw the 'evil god' in question come through the gate, His spirit materializing into a physical form.

Fors held her breath, just in case something really went wrong and the evil god had hidden motives all along and decided to kill her now that His purpose was achieved. However, without Him, she would have died since long ago, so maybe it didn't matter that much.

Thankfully, the evil god only looked around, his attitude as awkward as ever, before turning toward Fors.

"Um… Should we visit Backlund?"

Fors snapped back to her senses, her worries instantly disappearing. Facing the god like this felt so novel.

She pinched herself, checking that all of this wasn't a dream before feeling the pain.

"Mr. Fool, why don't we visit food stalls first?"

The Fool nodded, then realized something, "Calling me 'Mr. Fool' is too conspicuous. You can call me 'Zhou Mingrui' instead."

"Zhou-ming-rui?"

As she tried to pronounce the complicated words, Fors couldn't help but wonder if it was the god's name.

She nodded.

"My name is Fors."

Even if she gave a pseudonym, the god would see through it—and he most likely already knew her real name through that crimson star anyway, so why bother hiding it?

The salted fish was too lazy to lie and be careful in front of a god much stronger than her.

Fors guided Zhou Mingrui around Backlund, trying some food that the god insisted to use His own money to pay along the way. What use would asking for money be if He never had the opportunity to use it? And His believer was poor.

Although the salted fish usually did not leave her house, she sometimes walked around the streets of Backlund to observe people, seeking inspiration for her novels. Well, more like she was forced by Xio to take walks outside, but the reason why she was familiar with the city's geography did not matter.

Finally, the Fool followed His spiritual intuition and pointed at a bar.

"Why don't we go there?"

Fors nodded her head, following Mr. Fool's wishes.

That's how the two—a salted fish wondering how she ended up touring Backlund with the god she believed in and the evil god in question who didn't particularly like alcohol but was questioning why His spiritual intuition wanted Him to go to a bar—entered the Bravehearts bar, both pretending to be normal people on a normal evening and in a normal situation.

'If He gets drunk, will Backlund get destroyed? Can gods get drunk?'

…And with a future disaster looming over the world in case alcohol indeed worked on gods.

***

While a salted fish and an evil god acclimatizing to modern society were seated at the bar, conversing while drinking glasses of alcohol, a huge noise resounded throughout the building.

The totally not-suspicious evil god pretending to be a weak and helpless ordinary person calmly turned His head toward the ruckus and saw two Beyonders of the Chained Pathway barging in through the back door.

One of them appeared to be around twenty-eight years old, wearing a white shirt and a black vest. He had a pale face and eyes filled with a feeling of depression, yet there seemed to be a strong malice hidden in the eyes, and his overall appearance was slightly crazy. The person in question suited more the Rose School of Thought's Temperance faction in general and was chased by another Beyonder who, contrary to him, displayed characteristics of the Indulgence faction.

Was this a fight between the two factions?

In a low voice, Zhou Mingrui pointed to them and imparted mysticism knowledge to His believer, "These two are Sequence 6 Zombies from the Chained- Prisoner Pathway. A zombie has high physical strength, strong regeneration abilities-"

Fors listened intently to the explanation, absorbing the new information and learning about the Chained Pathway and the Rose School of Thought in case she ever had to fight them.

"…But, is it really okay if we don't stop them?"

The Indulgence Zombie chasing after the Temperance Zombie had now turned his attention to the other people inside the bar and was about to indiscriminately attack everyone to reach the other Zombie—not caring about the casualties in the process—before the Temperance Zombie even had a chance to leave through the front door to not implicate the innocent bystanders.

Having no choice but to be implicated, Zhou Mingrui took action before the Indulgence Zombie had a chance to attack the other people inside the bar—especially since Him and Fors would be among the first people to receive that attack from where they sat—and immediately turned the Indulgence Zombie into a marionette.

The enemy's movements suddenly slowed down, his body stopping before collapsing like a puppet losing its strings. He was dead.

The bar fell into silence as everyone witnessed this sight.

Zhou Mingrui then turned to the one being chased and inquired, "Can you explain the situation?"

Having a feeling that Zhou Mingrui was the one who saved him by killing his opponent just now, Maric obliged and told him what happened.

Maybe that mysterious strong Beyonder could help them.

"Me and my companion are from the Temperance faction of the Rose School of Thought. A while ago, we planned to face and definitely deal with our attackers."

Maric recalled their fight against Steve, Jason and Tyre.

"However, it didn't go well and my companion was gravely injured. Since then, we went back into hiding, following guidance from the spirit world to avoid the Indulgence faction's chase, until they found us today."

Then, Maric begged them.

"Please help us. My companion is in danger. We'll do our best to reward you."

Fors thought that it would be a good story for her next novel until she saw the Fool walk away, snapping her out of her thoughts. She glanced at Maric before hurriedly following after Him.

Following His spiritual intuition, the Fool easily found Maric's 'companion'.

He instantly dealt with her attackers and faced the wraith. However, He was still a little too late as the wraith had been corrupted before they arrived.

Zhou Mingrui regarded the wraith, Fors peeping at her from behind Him, and considered His next move for a moment.

Finally, He opened His mouth.

"…Recite this honorific name."

Sharron saw the mysterious Beyonder easily deal with a demigod and knew that she couldn't escape from such a powerful person. More important than that, she had to get rid of the corruption within her quickly before it was too late.

As she heard him recite an unknown honorific name through her blurry thoughts, she knew that he could easily kill her if he wanted to.

However, she had also learnt that reciting an unknown existence's honorific name was extremely dangerous.

Yet, her spiritual intuition and guidance from the spirit world continuously told her that the other person had no bad intentions and that she should listen to him.

Maybe it was to meet this person that her intuition guided her back to this bar that day.

As her judgement became increasingly blurred and her corruption nearly approached an irreversible state, Sharron instinctively repeated the honorific name, unable to resist.

Then, she was pulled above Sefirah Castle, all the corruption leaving her, saw a figure shrouded in gray fog—an illusion materialized by Mr. Fool who was currently still in the real world—and heard Him say, "There is a gathering every Monday at 3 p.m., Backlund time. Pick your codename."

After picking a card, she opened her eyes in the real world again.

Temperance.

In front of Fors's eyes, that's how another member joined the Tarot Club.

Zhou Mingrui then awkwardly looked at the wraith and introduced himself.

"…Uh, nice to meet you. My name is Zhou Mingrui."

Sharron blankly stared at him.

Fors shook her head.