Mystery: Lucky One

"Church?" Anderson suddenly realized something and turned to look at Alice curiously. "Are you an angel from the Church of Night?"

Cattleya was not too surprised by this. Alice had declared at the Tarot Club that the Goddess of Night was her favored one. According to her, she had even asked the Goddess of Night to transform back into a mythical creature... In any case, it was probably true that she had a close relationship with the Goddess of Night.

In fact, Cattleya had wondered about this question when she learned that German came to the Sea of ​​Ruins in search of mermaids.

She knew that the Church of Evernight kept mermaids in captivity, but considering the outrageous request Alice had made the last time she met the Goddess of Evernight, Cattleya did not ask about her doubts.

Maybe Miss Fate is feeling guilty?

When this person turned out to be Alice, this extremely far-fetched reason instantly became reasonable. Cattleya kept this guess until just now, when Gehrman Sparrow's words before leaving revealed the truth.

Alice didn't know that the Church of Evernight kept mermaids in captivity, so it wasn't that strange to Cattleya.

If it were someone else, Cattleya might have guessed that the Goddess of Night was hiding something, but facing Alice, Cattleya would only feel that Alice didn't care about these things.

So, since Gehrman Sparrow didn't mention it, she probably didn't ask...

So why didn't German Sparrow mention it?
Such doubts arose in Cattleya's mind, but she did not ask out loud. She just looked at Alice, waiting for her to answer Anderson's question.

"It doesn't really count..." Alice thought for a moment and replied, "The church doesn't pay me? That doesn't seem right. The church hasn't paid me the pension before, and now they don't pay me... Is the salary arrears more or the pension more?"

Alice blinked and turned her gaze away from Klein, who was gradually moving away. She looked at Anderson, whose eyes were becoming increasingly terrified, and asked in confusion:

"what happened to you?"

Although this passage was bizarre, it revealed a lot of information. Cattleya, who was already accustomed to it, calmly analyzed that Alice might have been a night watchman in the past.

Anderson didn't answer Alice's question. He looked Alice up and down and asked doubtfully:

“Why do you look so short of money?
"However, the church's pension should be linked to the level of the Beyonder. You... uh, why do you think you can receive a pension? Aren't you still alive..."

"..." Cattleya was mentally prepared for Alice to give a shocking answer.

Alice's answer was surprisingly normal, mainly because she didn't explain why she thought she could get a pension:

"Sequence 7. I was Sequence 7 at the time."

"Ah?" Anderson was stunned for a moment. "How long ago was that?"

“Not long ago,” Alice thought for a moment, “it was only a few months ago…”

...?
Anderson stopped where he was, maintaining a shocked expression for a few seconds, and his memories slowly revived in his brain.

Oh, she said that she became an angel because she swallowed a "0" level seal by mistake...

Anderson looked at Alice in a trance and asked tentatively:

"When you accidentally swallowed that '0' level sealed object, what was your sequence number?"

“Sequence 5.” Alice answered without hesitation.

It took several months to go from Sequence 7 to Sequence 5... It was very fast, very fast, but Sequence 5 accidentally swallowed the "0" level seal...?
Anderson, who originally thought that Alice was mentally ill, began to look at Alice with pity.

Receiving Anderson's gaze, Alice suddenly jumped up from where she was in anger, stared at him and asked:
"What's that expression on your face!"

"No, nothing." Anderson looked away.

Alice stared at him and gritted her teeth, then said to him through gritted teeth:

"Now that's quadruple bad luck!"

Faced with Alice's threat, Anderson obviously did not realize the seriousness of the matter. His only rationality was that he did not say words full of concern such as "Have you eaten?", but just gave Alice a smile that he thought was handsome.

Alice sneered in response to the smile, then turned her attention to Klein.

Klein took the potion while listening to the mermaid's singing and returned to the Future on a small boat. Alice watched in surprise as he stepped steadily on a rope as thick as a thumb and stepped onto the deck of the Future.

...?
"Have you ever thought about not being an adventurer and working in a circus?" Alice asked sincerely, "Or setting up your own circus..."

Klein looked at Alice expressionlessly. Under his gaze, Alice closed her mouth, covered her mouth, and stepped aside.

Anderson was the next to appear. He looked at Alice with an amazed look, and then began his performance:
"So you were looking for mermaids because you needed them for the ritual, not to get the corresponding materials."

“That’s clear,” Klein responded briefly.

Anderson shrugged and said:
“No, not really.

"A normal person would guess that the mermaid is the material you need, because it is not worthy of a Sequence 4 ritual. But who would have known that the pirate general-level adventurer Gehrman Sparrow is only Sequence 6."

Only... Alice glanced at Anderson, who was also only Sequence 5, and encouraged Klein:

"Quick, beat him!"

Klein, who originally had the urge to control Anderson's spirit thread, immediately suppressed the urge, turned around and walked towards the cabin without paying any attention to the two of them.

After achieving its original purpose, the "Future" began its return journey.

Although Alice told Klein that she could isolate herself from Bernadette's surveillance, Klein still refused to discuss things with her on the "Future", which made Alice idle again.

After walking around the deck, Alice suddenly had a good idea - she could go fishing.

Fishing rods and fishing nets were not difficult to find on a pirate ship. Alice hesitated for a moment and chose Frank Lee from several acquaintances.

"Do you know where I can find a fishing-rod?" Alice asked him. "I-I want to go fishing..."

"Fishing?" Frank Lee was stunned for a moment, then he kindly led Alice to find a fishing rod, "I have one here! I was just thinking about studying the fish here..."

Under Frank's guidance, Alice found the fishing rod and fishing net. As soon as she stepped onto the deck with the fishing rod, darkness swept across the entire "Future".

Alice retreated silently to the cabin and went back to sleep.

Dreams were an equally boring place, and Alice quickly remembered the last time she fell asleep in a dream and seriously considered whether or not to sleep again.

Before Alice made a decision, she felt a force pulling her, as if asking her if she wanted to go somewhere.

Alice, with nothing to do, decided to go over and take a look.

When she opened her eyes again, Alice found herself at the top of a spiral staircase, with Bernadette and Klein standing below. This was a bit too high, and the condescending attitude made Alice feel that this was a huge challenge to her cervical spine. She thought about it, walked down, and stopped when she was a few steps away from Bernadette. She sat on the steps and asked Bernadette below:
"You have something to ask me?"

After a pause, Alice suddenly remembered Bernadette's question at the end of the previous dream, and asked with a slap on her head:
"You want my sacrificial ritual?"

"Yes." Bernadette admitted it.

Alice looked at Klein and noticed this. Bernadette explained:
"He suggested that I ask you directly."

Alice looked at Klein expressionlessly. After a few seconds, Klein turned to Bernadette and said:

"Ma'am, I will relay the complete ritual process to you later."

The matter should end here. Alice glanced at Klein and asked Bernadette curiously:

"So...what did the Fool say? Did He agree to trade with you?"

“…I haven’t asked yet.” Bernadette paused and replied.

She hasn't given up on trying to get a roundabout way out of me? Well, that seems normal. After all, in the minds of normal people, it is much more difficult to impress a true god than an angel. No one would have thought that the Fool is only Sequence 6... No, he is now Sequence 5.

Alice glanced at Sequence 5 Mr. Fool, and fell silent along with the others.

This was a rather embarrassing scene. After a moment, Bernadette was the first to lose control:

"Is there anything else you want to know about this dream or this sea?"

This is a free opportunity, don’t miss it… Alice rolled her eyes and asked the first question:
"Are you protecting Heath Doyle?"

Bernadette nodded and explained:

“Cattleya once gave Heath Doyle a seal that allowed him to only hear sounds at a very close distance.

"Under normal circumstances, it is enough to help Heath Doyle avoid some dangerous sounds, but the whispers in this sea area come from the 'True Creator'..."

Alice understood everything easily without Bernadette having to continue.

In addition to this and the question that Bernadette couldn't answer before, Alice realized that she didn't have a clear idea of ​​what she wanted to know. She tilted her head and asked a question that she thought no one could possibly know the answer to:

"Do you know how to get to the 'Forsaken Land'?"

Bernadette paused and said to Alice:

"It is rumored that the road leading to the 'Forsaken Land of the Gods' is hidden on the opposite mountain, in the projection of the 'Giant King's Court'."

"You really know!" Alice looked at Bernadette in shock, "What should I do if I want to go in?"

Bernadette glanced at Alice and answered her question directly without asking her why she wanted to enter the 'Forsaken Land of the Gods':

“I don’t know the answer.

"The Seven Gods may know the answer. Besides... here is the dream of a saint from the Aurora Society."

Alice was stunned for a moment, and soon remembered the 2.5-meter-tall "Black Saint" Leo Master. She asked tentatively:

"…'Black Saint' Leo Master?"

"Yes." Bernadette nodded, but Alice couldn't tell her emotion.

Alice swallowed and suddenly remembered the glowing robe, the one she named "Apollo".

...No way?

——As we all know, in the "God-forsaken Land", there are huge dangers hidden in the lightless darkness.

Of course, Alice thought that most of those dangers were nothing to her. There were probably only two existences in the "God-Forsaken Land" that could pose a real threat to her. One was Amon, and the other was... the power that was summoning her.

Just like now, Alice suddenly had a premonition. She stood up, walked down the stairs slowly, looked out the window and murmured:
"I suddenly felt that I might not be able to go back."

There seemed to be some bad implications hidden in these words. Bernadette and Klein looked at Alice in surprise.

Facing the worry that was hard to conceal in Klein's eyes, Alice was silent for a moment before speaking in a shocked voice:

“I don’t mean to say I’m dying!

"I mean, I think there's a good chance I'll have to go to the 'God-Forsaken Land'!"

Klein withdrew his gaze.

The scene fell silent again. Bernadette thought for a moment and began to act as a tour guide:

“This dream world is not very vast. It only has two parts. One is the projection of the Giant King’s Court on the opposite mountain, and the other is the black monastery here.

“The black monastery here doesn’t look big, but every building and every floor of the house represents a different place in this sea area, and behind every door there may be a dream of a living being.

I see... Alice began to look at this dream of someone unknown.

I see... Klein glanced at the stair railing and found that the sculptures on it were mostly human heads. They looked gorgeous at first glance, but creepy at a closer look. So he asked casually:
"Whose dream does this staircase belong to?"

As a qualified tour guide, Bernadette answered the tourists' questions without hesitation:

"An undead from the Spirit Cult came here to look for traces of the past Grim Reaper, which is one of the necessary elements for creating an artificial Grim Reaper. However, he lost control of himself in his mumblings and forever wandered in an underwater ruin, transforming every adventurer who dared to enter into his zombie form."

Like this… Alice nodded thoughtfully, and suddenly realized something.

The goddess, the mother goddess of the earth, the true creator... No, this should be the ancient sun god of the past, the creator that Silver City believes in, and then there is the storm, and maybe me, and now there is also the god of death...

More and more gods are joining the war... and so far, it seems that among these gods, only the goddess has not died or has died... Well, if Storm is the Lord of Storms, He has never died either.

In fact, the death of the Earth Mother is just a rumor, there is no evidence... Phew, this doesn't sound like a flag, fortunately...

Alice breathed a sigh of relief.

The tour guide Bernadette glanced at the two of them and walked towards the corridor. Alice hesitated for a moment and followed. (End of this chapter)