Mystery: Lucky One

The blond and blue-eyed young man was raising his right hand with a smile when he heard a girl's scream.

He stopped and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a young man in a tuxedo and a top hat patting the girl beside him and whispering:

"Alice?"

Oh, it's fake...

Alice, who screamed out of habit, reacted. She blinked and hid behind Klein.

Alice's abnormal reaction successfully made Cattleya and Klein, two people who knew her background, look at the young man with vigilance.

"Do I look scary?" The young man had to raise his hands to show that he was harmless, and at the same time asked Alice helplessly with a brainless look.

“It’s not that you look scary…” Alice poked half of her head out from behind Klein, “It’s you… You look like you were bitten by a snake.”

After a pause, she stood up completely, nodded and said:
"Yes, the snake that bit you is more scary."

Snake? What snake... Was she talking about the "Mercury Snake"? Klein was stunned for a moment and looked at Alice.

"Snake?" Cattleya looked at Alice suspiciously.

“Snake? I wasn’t bitten by a snake…” The young man seemed to not understand a word he said.

Alice did not answer their doubts, but asked Cattleya: "Do you know him?"

Despite her doubts, Cattleya still answered Alice's question:
"His name is Anderson Hood. He is very famous in the Misty Sea and has the title of 'The Strongest Hunter'."

The strongest hunter... Alice blinked, not remembering the name, so she turned around and asked Klein, who was more proficient in memorizing the wanted poster:

"How much is his reward?"

"No, not the strongest... huh?" Anderson's words got stuck in his throat.

"There is no wanted warrant for him." Klein replied calmly, "He should just be a treasure hunter."

“I see…” Alice blinked, then reached out and patted Klein on the shoulder. “Looks like you still have a lot more work to do! Kill a few more pirate generals, and then you’ll be the ‘strongest hunter’!”

Cattleya looked at Alice hesitantly.

Anderson looked at her in surprise.

Alice turned her head to look at Anderson, and suddenly thought of a way to quickly achieve the goal. She asked Klein:

"If you kill the 'Strongest Hunter', will you be the new 'Strongest Hunter'?"

Anderson, the "strongest hunter", thought he finally understood Alice's thinking. He whistled and asked Alice:

"Are you a 'provocateur'? You are quite talented~"

"...No, I'm not." Alice denied this and closed her mouth.

Cattleya looked at Gehrman Sparrow and found that he had no intention of speaking, so she asked Alice:

"What does it mean to be bitten by a snake?"

"Ah," Alice blinked, "it's just...it's just that I'm going to be really unlucky."

After being stunned for a moment, Anderson immediately reacted and asked Alice excitedly: "Do you know what happened?"

"So you know why you were bitten by the snake?" Alice asked back.

Anderson automatically established the equation of being bitten by a snake = being unlucky, and recounted the whole incident:
“This sea area is very dangerous, but it also hides many treasures. I believe you are all aware of this.

“There have been many adventurers, or more accurately, treasure hunters, who entered here in search of adventure, but most of them failed to make it out alive. Haha, I said most of them. There must be some lucky ones who were able to obtain items and materials and leave smoothly.

“This treasure hunting group was assembled by two treasure hunters with experience in this area. They claimed that they had figured out which ruins in the first half of the safe route could not be explored, which relics could be explored, which monsters should be hunted in what ways, and which out-of-control evil creatures must be avoided in what ways.

"I have always been curious about this place, and I was successfully persuaded by them to join their treasure hunt."

“It sounds like this treasure hunt is going to cause big problems…” Alice muttered to Klein.

"And then?" Cattleya looked at Anderson and asked. Alice noticed that there was a circle of rich purple in her eyes.

Could it be that the purple eyes are a sign of strengthening the "Eye of Prying Secrets"? Alice rolled her eyes, tugged at Cattleya and asked:
"Captain~'Admiral of the Stars'~Can you look at me like this and tell me what you see?"

Cattleya closed her eyes.

The corner of Klein's mouth twitched. He reached out and pulled Alice back. He nodded to Anderson and said,

"continue."

Anderson glanced at Alice thoughtfully.

An experienced hunter would not look down upon any prey - of course, Alice was not a prey yet, but Anderson would not look down upon her just because she looked like a minor. After all, the attitude of "Admiral of the Stars" Cattleya towards Alice was enough to explain everything.

She has a secret, and it’s not just an ordinary secret… Anderson turned his eyes away from Alice without leaving a trace and said something nasty to German Sparrow:
"As expected of an adventurer who is going to become the 'strongest hunter', just these words alone are very touching. Come on, I'm waiting for the day when you defeat me!"

"Can I beat him up?" Alice turned around and asked, "I think he deserves a beating as badly as I do."

Miss Fate... Cattleya looked at Alice hesitantly.

"Shut up." Klein responded briefly.

"Okay." Alice covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Klein with resentful eyes.

Klein chose to ignore this. He glanced at Anderson and said coldly:

"Didn't I tell you to continue?"

Anderson looked at Alice, then at German Sparrow, and finally said obediently:
“It started off smoothly, really smoothly. We avoided danger, got a lot of relics from previous explorers, killed some monsters, and harvested several materials.

“Everything started when we discovered a strange temple on a flooded island with well-preserved murals.

"One of the murals is very bizarre, depicting a pilgrim group walking through parted waters.

“The leader of this group is depicted as an angel, with long silver hair down to his waist and soft features.

"I was the first to arrive in front of the mural. I stretched out my right hand and habitually drew some lines in the air. Really, I didn't touch it. There was at least 5 centimeters between me and the angel in the painting. Unexpectedly, it seemed that he opened his eyes at that moment."

“You can’t do that,” Alice put down her hand that was covering her mouth. “You should touch it and then criticize its composition, color, light and shadow…” (End of this chapter)