Mystery: Lucky One

The gravekeeper swallowed hard twice, recalling his conversation with Alice.

——"Isn't it daytime now? Why are you holding a lantern?"

——"After working in a cemetery for a long time, you will always encounter some strange things... Are you here to sweep the graves?"

——"Look at the flowers you prepared... Is the person in the tomb important to you?"

——"Yes, it's very important... One is my former colleague and now a very good friend, and the other is myself."

The two conversations kept replaying in the gravekeeper's mind. Being a well-informed man, he suppressed his fear and looked at Alice.

Her facial features were almost identical to the black-and-white photo on the tombstone, with not much change, except for her blonde hair and blue eyes, which were different from the black and white, adding vitality to her.

She held a bouquet of flowers in each hand. The two bouquets looked similar and must have been custom-made together.

She was wearing a silver-gray robe. The gravekeeper didn't pay much attention to it when he first saw it, but now after looking at it carefully, he found that the robe seemed to be glowing slightly.

While the gravekeeper was looking at her, Alice tilted her head, her eyes moving between the photo on the tombstone and the gravekeeper's expression, and she understood the current situation without any obstacles.

He looked as if he were terribly frightened... Alice blinked twice and called out tentatively:

"Old sir?"

The gravekeeper, who had been forcing himself to remain calm, mustered up his last bit of courage at the sound of this genuine and brisk voice. He swallowed and confirmed with Alice:
"Miss, are you and this one...sisters?"

If they are sisters, it's normal for them to look a bit alike... The gravekeeper tried to comfort himself.

Alice tilted her head, looked at the gravekeeper who was still trying to find an excuse with a sympathetic look, and said with a smile:

“No.

“I’ve already said that I’m here to sweep my own grave.

"You told me not to joke in such a harsh tone...but I wasn't joking, this was serious, right?"

Her attitude was not like a joke at all, and her words were even mixed with some complaints about the gravekeeper's attitude just now. The gravekeeper could no longer bear it, and with a little calmness in fear, he threw the useless lantern in his hand at Alice.

The gravekeeper's original plan was to throw the lantern and then turn around and run, but when he had turned halfway and hadn't taken a step, he watched himself turn back and the lantern returned to his hand.

Alice continued to stand there, holding two bouquets of flowers and looking at him.

So the old gravekeeper gritted his teeth and did something Alice didn’t expect—he knelt down and kowtowed to Alice while shouting:

"Sir, this is unfair!
"It wasn't me who killed you!"

Alice opened her mouth in shock. She looked at the gravekeeper who was kowtowed to her and yelled that he was innocent. She swallowed hard and interrupted him in the calmest tone possible:

"I know.

"You go."

Under Alice's surprised gaze, the gravekeeper who heard this did not hesitate at all. He immediately got up from the ground, grabbed the route map that he had not put down, turned around and ran, leaving only a useless lantern on the ground.

"Your lantern--" Alice subconsciously wanted to stop him, but as soon as she spoke, the gravekeeper ran faster and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Alice stood there blankly, looking in the direction where the gravekeeper's back disappeared. After two seconds of silence, she kicked the lantern on the ground away and placed the two bouquets of flowers in front of the tombstone.

There were no tributes or flowers in front of the two tombstones, but the grass on the graves was not three feet tall either - there must be people who come here often, but today is not one of the suitable times for tomb sweeping, so no one came.

This didn't surprise Alice too much. After all, most people wouldn't visit the tomb every day, but only on a few specific days. And if they ran into an acquaintance from their "previous life" while visiting the tomb, that would be a huge joke.

Alice shook her head and left the cemetery.

……

After Alice left the flower shop, the owner did not take a carriage, but trotted quickly through the streets without caring much about his image.

She still kept telling herself that it was just a joke, but after that, the wind seemed colder than usual, the dark clouds in the sky pressed lower, the sun disappeared, and the whole world seemed to be shrouded in a haze.

The shop owner became more and more terrified. She walked all the way towards the location of the Church of Night in her memory. When she reached her destination, she almost jogged through the door.

The warmth and tranquility of the church calmed her down a little, and as she looked around, the light from the stained glass windows formed colorful patterns on the ground, giving her a sense of otherworldly tranquility.

The owner exhaled, walked straight to the bench in front of the church, sat on the bench, tapped his chest four times, drew a crimson moon symbol, closed his eyes and prayed silently.

After she finished praying, the fear in her heart subsided a lot, so she raised her eyes to look at the bishop in front of her.

This is the new bishop of the Church of Darkness in Tingen City who has been appointed in recent months. His name is Dunn. This bishop has a pair of calm and deep grey eyes. He is gentle and patient. Everyone who comes to him for help can get help, even in the middle of the night - some people suspect that this bishop does not sleep at all.

Seeing that Bishop Dunn did not seem to need to receive other people for the time being, the owner hurried forward and whispered about his experience:

"Bishop Dunne, I have come across a strange thing..."

Dunn listened to her story patiently, and finally said softly, "Don't worry, it should just be a joke."

This sentence was extremely persuasive, and the shop owner was relieved at once. She even showed a faint smile on her face. Just as she was about to express her gratitude, an old man in a black robe stumbled into the church and shouted in a terrified voice:
“Bishop Dunn, something happened!
"I met someone sweeping his own grave!"

This is the gravekeeper who escaped from Raphael's cemetery.

This time, even Dunn lost his composure. His eyes darkened slightly and he looked around.

This was probably a coincidence. There were only these two guys who had encountered ghosts in the church at this moment. So Dunn looked at the gravekeeper and said in a low voice:

"Tell me about the situation at that time."

The tranquil atmosphere also calmed the gravekeeper. He looked at Dunn, whose face was solemn, took a deep breath, and recounted his own experience:

"I am the gravekeeper of Raphael Cemetery. I have worked there for many years and have seen many strange things...

"Just today, just now, a girl knocked on the door and asked me to show her the way. She said she was going to visit the graves of one of them, her own, and her former colleague's. Their names were Alice Kingsley and Klein Moretti..." "...Who?" The familiar names touched Dunn's nerves. His attitude suddenly became no longer calm, and it fluctuated slightly, but only slightly.

He stared at the gravekeeper, waiting for his answer.

"Alice Kingsley and Klein Moretti." The sudden change in attitude made the gravekeeper smell something unusual. He repeated the two names he had just mentioned with a little uneasiness.

"Please come with me." Dunn looked at the two of them and finally said this.

……

After leaving Raphael Cemetery, Alice wandered around the street for a few laps and began to think about what she should do next.

Of course, she returned to Tingen City not just to visit the graves, she had not forgotten her original purpose - she wanted to come back to see the night watchmen in Tingen City, mainly to see the captain.

I remember Archbishop Anthony said that the captain was promoted to bishop... Hmm, he should be in the church now?
There was no way to come to any conclusion by just thinking about it, so Alice waved to stop a carriage and headed towards the Church of Night.

The Church of the Night in Tingen City was not big, and everything was still as familiar to Alice. She jumped off the carriage in front of the church door, paid the change and was about to go in, but she felt something was wrong and hid her body.

——Otherwise she would have to meet her boss before she died.

After doing all this, Alice stood at the door of the church, took a deep breath, and adjusted her mood.

She knew that the captain was most likely inside, and Alice certainly didn't plan to take a quick look and leave during her trip to Tingen City - she was going to meet the captain.

Strictly speaking, this should be the first time she met the captain after her death. Alice felt a little homesick, especially since she was not sure about the captain's attitude.

This is also the reason why she wants to meet the captain before becoming a saint or angel of the Church of Evernight - at least this way the sense of distance will not be so strong.

She struggled with mixed feelings for a long time at the church door, and just as she was about to go in, the people inside came out.

Alice was very familiar with the leader, or rather, the entire team was her acquaintance, including the two frightened guys following the team - the florist and the gravekeeper.

It's bad... Alice swallowed her saliva, revealed her body on the spot, and shouted hesitantly to the gray-eyed man in the lead:

"team leader……"

The entire team fell silent. Not mentioning the other two Nighthawks whom she knew but was not familiar with, nor her former captain Dunn, the two ordinary people at the end of the team were obviously impressed by her.

The one who reacted most violently was the gravekeeper. When he heard Alice's voice, he turned his head sharply and screamed:
"It's her, it's her!"

The flower shop owner also recognized Alice's identity from this exclamation, and she stepped back in fear.

This reaction confirmed what the gravekeeper said. Alice thought to herself that something was wrong and looked at Dunn nervously.

Faced with such a scene, Dunn was obviously the calmest among all the people, but he also adopted a fighting and defensive posture like everyone else - after all, in this world, a companion who came back from the dead is not necessarily a companion.

Alice knew this very well. Although she had never actually carried out any missions, she was familiar with the process, so she was not too surprised. She just asked carefully:

"Captain, how can I prove myself?"

In the silence, Dunn raised his hand to signal, and the others stopped attacking, but remained alert.

Dunn looked at Alice with a solemn expression and vigilant eyes, and asked in a cold voice:

"who are you?"

——He didn’t believe that the person in front of him was his former teammate.

This was bad news. After realizing this, Alice gritted her teeth and cast an angry look at the screaming gravekeeper.

She knew that it was not the gravekeeper's fault. It was just Alice's anger being vented on him. She would not really do anything. She just glared at him.

But the people present were obviously not aware of this, and they misunderstood her behavior. The gravekeeper shrank back, the florist with him, and Dunn stepped forward and stood in front.

He was protecting them, and he thought I would hurt them... This fact penetrated Alice's heart, and extinguished her anger like a basin of cold water, leaving only sadness and grievance.

Alice withdrew her gaze from the gravekeeper, gritted her teeth to hold back the tears, pursed her lips, and tried to make her tone sound normal as she explained:

"I, I just wanted to come back and see..."

She paused, realizing that this explanation was not credible. What she needed was to prove her identity, so Alice pondered for a moment and came up with the most theoretically appropriate and most convincing identity:
"I am the goddess's favored one."

This identity does have a certain degree of credibility. Under normal circumstances, no one who knows the existence of gods would pretend to be a follower of a god in front of a god's church.

At least that’s how it seems in the eyes of others who haven’t seen Alice impersonating the “Angel of Destiny” Ouroboros in front of the “real Creator” and dared to question the “real Creator”.

Therefore, her self-introduction made everyone feel much more relaxed. Alice met Dunn's eyes and knew that she was only one step away from proving herself.

She closed her eyes, tapped her chest four times, and skillfully drew a crimson moon symbol. She then recited the honorific name that she was so familiar with in the ancient Hermetic language:
"Higher than the stars, more eternal than eternity, the goddess of night,

"You are the Crimson Lord, the Mother of Secrets,

"Queen of trouble and terror, lord of sleep and silence,

"..."

The honorific name and prayer explained her identity, and Dunn and the other night watchmen completely let down their guard, but his attitude was not as good as Alice expected - or rather, his attitude was too good.

"I'm sorry, sir," Dunn said respectfully, "Are you here in Tingen City on a mission?"

Alice choked.

She obviously didn't reveal her identity just to watch this kind of drama where things change over time, so she wasn't very happy. She was even very sad - very sad.

This unhappiness had always been there. She recalled how others avoided her in Silver City and Moon City, how everyone in Backlund treated her when they knew her identity, and how Evelyn suddenly addressed her as "you". Suddenly, her mouth drooped and tears fell.

"I'm just here to join the team," she said to Dunn through tears, "Captain." (End of this chapter)