[Lord of the Mysteries] Three of Swords

[From the start in the year 1355, two years after Klein fell asleep]

Claude transmigrated into a world overrun by the mysterious, aboard a ship hijacked by an evil organization.

Unfortunately, he had amnesia and hadn't inherited the original owner's memories.

Even worse, the original owner had just died when he arrived.

And the killer was right in front of him, bending down to examine the body.

*

Years later, whenever Claude faced Adam and Amon, he would always remember those few days at the start of his transmigration, when he and two followers of the Fool were just trying to stay alive.

- Mr. Claude Orlando, what was the turning point that led you to form close ties with the Tarot Club and become a celebrated angel in the new edition of the Fool's Bible? Was it because you once served as a subordinate to Leonard, the Star of the Red Gloves squad, or because you were once saved by the divine envoy Danitz? Was it because you raced boats at sea with Alger, the Hanged Man, or because your close friend joined the Tarot Club?

Claude: No. None of those.

It all began with the kind-faced, black-hearted Marionettist he met after arriving in this world...

*Given this writer's style, spoiling the story would make it 80% less fun to read, so here's a mysterious blurb for now.

*Content warnings and notes for prospective readers:

1. Original male protagonist, no romance, long-form story. (By long-form, I don't mean the 500,000-plus words classified as long by the site's rules. Strictly speaking, the minimum may be one million words, with no upper limit.) The setup in the early stages is very slow. The writing style may differ somewhat from the site's mainstream derivative fiction, so please take note.

2. Original characters will follow their original characterization, but everyone interprets characters in derivative works differently. I can't guarantee that my version of any character will match your idea of them, so don't force yourself to read if this isn't your thing.

3. I can't guarantee the protagonist will always be on the mysterious faction's side, only that he'll be on Earth's side. The protagonist will ultimately convert to Klein's side, as the blurb probably makes clear, but the process involves an extremely long period of trial and error, and the story spans a huge stretch of time. In the middle, he'll side with other factions, including God's, but he'll eventually leave them over differences in their beliefs and return to Klein's embrace (?). Please decide for yourself whether this is a dealbreaker.

4. The timeline is after the ending of the original Mysterious World story. It won't follow the Sleep Cycle plot, which I haven't read. I'll use some secondhand information about Sleep Cycle, but I can't guarantee every detail will match it, and I take no responsibility for specific events on its timeline.

5. The protagonist follows the Monster Pathway, with a few of my own additions. The two snakes won't be killed. Starting in Volume Two, The Holy Grail, there will be some detailed acting scenes.

6. The prologue volume mainly sets up the main story and doesn't feature many original characters. If you only want to read scenes with original characters, there's a little Leonard from Chapters 31 to 45, or you can start with Volume Two, The Holy Grail, for the protagonist's adventures with the Golden Dream. (Though I don't really recommend skipping the beginning... Some information mentioned early on becomes very important later.)

7. No writing advice, please, and no personal attacks. The original characters are their own individuals, and so is my protagonist. The original author created the world and original characters; I created this protagonist.

8. The author's notes contain lots of rambling that may or may not be relevant to the plot. Readers concerned about it interfering with immersion can hide them.

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