Mystery: Lucky One

In the long-lost peace, Admisol's scattered thoughts gradually returned to his mind and he gradually regained consciousness.

Alice's clear and soft words came into his ears with the wind. He listened to the whole passage in a trance. Although he could not understand the meaning, he understood at least one thing.

——This is an opportunity.

As for the possible negative consequences of this opportunity, and Alice's long string of words - Admitsol didn't understand a word.

He only realized that this was an opportunity to escape from his current situation and escape from his current pain.

What could end his suffering?
Admithal knew the answer, and everyone here knew the answer - a "monster" potion.

"I accept." He responded without thinking.

Decisive and straightforward, everything went more smoothly than Alice had imagined. She stood there staring at Admisol for two seconds, then suddenly remembered that she had no paper or pen.

"Do you have a pen and paper?" she asked calmly.

Ademisol looked at her blankly.

It seems that there is no... Alice looked away, glanced at the crowd, and asked calmly:
"Do you have paper and pen?"

The crowd looked at each other, seemingly unable to understand her behavior. Ten seconds later, a young girl stood up from the most common amulet stall here, raised her hand and said:
"I have."

As she said this, she walked over quickly, took out a palm-sized pocket notebook and a pen from her body and handed them to Alice.

"Thank you," Alice smiled at her, "Are you buying an amulet? I can help you pick one out later if you need it."

As she said this, she looked down at the notebook in her hand and asked hesitantly, "Can I tear off a page?"

"Of course." The girl smiled.

So Alice opened her notebook, wrote down the recipe for the "Monster" potion on a blank page, tore off the page, and handed it to Admithal.

Then she smiled and said to Ademisol:

“Congratulations, then.

"The misfortune of the past ends here, and what awaits you next is...

"It will be a new doom."

As she said this, Alice suddenly felt as if some barrier had loosened, and she realized that this was the feedback from the digestion of the potion.

...?
Alice frowned and looked at Ademisol.

Admisol became nervous because of her gaze. He subconsciously clenched the fragile piece of paper in his hand, the paper that represented the "turnaround", as if he was afraid that Alice would suddenly regret it. He said decisively:

"I don't think it can get any worse than it is now."

Alice paused for a moment, realizing that now was not the time to dwell on this. She retracted her gaze and smiled softly at Admisol:
"Well, good luck to you—if that can be called good luck."

Then, she shrugged, returned the paper and pen to the girl standing blankly beside her, lowered her eyes and smiled at the girl who was half a head shorter than her:
"Would you like me to help you pick out an amulet?"

The girl was stunned for a moment before she came to her senses. She looked at Alice, and suddenly said in a surprised and slightly excited tone:
"need!"

So Alice followed the girl and walked towards the crowd that had gathered at some point in time. When they reached the edge of the encirclement, she glanced lightly, and a hint of her aura successfully made people make way for her.

The girl took Alice forward, but did not stop at the stall at the beginning. Instead, they kept walking. The stalls and people around them became fewer and fewer, and their location became more and more remote.

Alice became more and more confused as she walked, not quite understanding what the girl was trying to do, but she followed her anyway.

After all, this girl can't do anything to her.

As Alice indulged herself, the strange girl took her to a corner of the underground market and asked happily:
"Can you please say a blessing to me? Just like you did just now..."

Alice understood what was said and labeled the girl a "mysticism enthusiast" in her mind.

She glanced at the girl with a half-smile. The girl couldn't help but get nervous under the inexplicable pressure. Seeing this, Alice smiled brightly and shook her head at the girl.
"What a shame, you could have had a chance to get a really useful amulet.

"Now, all you have to take away is a warning - stay away from people like me.

"That's not a good thing."

She shook her head, looked at the girl with pity, and turned away.

No one noticed them, so after Alice took two steps, her figure disappeared from where she was, leaving only the girl with a look of astonishment on her face.

After confirming that there was nothing unusual on the captain's side - mainly meaning that she had not received a reply from Ms. Daly, Alice found a restaurant and ate while thinking about her feelings just now.

She was all too familiar with that feeling, it was clearly a sign of the potion digesting, but the question was - what had she done?
Was it because of that statement or because of her behavior?
...I think they should all be there, right?

Alice took a bite of the steak in her mouth and cut another piece thoughtfully.

She had known for a long time that bringing bad luck to others would help digest the "Misfortune Wizard" potion. This was obvious, and Anderson Hood had made an outstanding contribution to proving this fact.

But what she had just done to Admisol obviously had nothing to do with bringing bad luck - just as she said, she actually ended Admisol's past bad luck.

As for the newborns... who knows whether it is bad luck or fortune?

...Why does this thing look so much like my promotion ceremony?
Alice blinked blankly. The thought flashed through her mind, and she frowned and murmured:

“To bring a turning point to other people’s fate?
"No, that's not right. This has nothing to do with the 'Mage of Doom'. It should be about bringing a turning point to people in doom. To go a step further, maybe it can eliminate the doom directly?
"Oh right, 'Mage'... Since we used a word that clearly carries the connotation of control, 'Doom Mage' should be in control of bad luck... so it definitely can't just bring bad luck!"

Alice exhaled and stuffed another piece of steak into her mouth.

Although the results of reasoning alone were not enough for the potion to give feedback, Alice's spirituality would never let her down at such times.

She naturally realized that this conclusion should be correct. It might not be complete or clear enough, but it was correct after all.

This made Alice feel strangely relieved.

If she really needs to bring bad luck to others, she doesn't actually have too much psychological burden - although it might be a bit uncomfortable if she sees it, isn't it okay if she doesn't see it?

She is very good at playing blind.

The most that can be done is to make up for it afterwards and comfort oneself.

She was mainly worried that Klein would have an opinion.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief and murmured:
"If I really have to digest the potion by bringing bad luck, Klein will have objections no matter how you think about it... unless I go out and play a pirate."

...Wait, this actually seems quite interesting, huh?
And if you accidentally die, you can get a bonus...

Alice began to seriously consider whether she could rob a ship.

What interrupted her thoughts was the sudden appearance of gray mist. She heard Klein's cautious voice: "Alice? What's wrong with you?"

She suddenly remembered that she seemed to have asked Klein to call a psychiatrist for her.

After what happened in the underground market, she couldn't say that she had almost forgotten what happened just now, but Alice did find that she had at least almost forgotten the sad feeling just now - all she could think about now was how delicious the food was.

Alice put a hand over her face.

Come to think of it, it seems that Klein and I are not that distant from each other... We are even closer.

Is it because there is no such reunion scene after a long separation?
Well, to round it off, I can be considered that he grew up with me... uh, wait.

Alice blinked twice, and suddenly a magical sentence popped up in her mind: "I held you in my arms when you were a child."

Although it's a bit strange, the scene represented by this sentence seems to be similar to the Captain's scene and Evelyn's scene in some sense...

Alice lowered her head and fell into deep thought.

Now, the sad atmosphere was completely gone. Alice put down her hand silently, quickly finished her lunch, found an empty alley, whispered Klein's name in ancient Hermetic, and then said in a deep and heavy tone at the end:

"Mr. Fool, I held you in my arms when you were a child."

Above the gray fog, after hearing these words, Klein chose to return to the real world without hesitation.

...I don't need to bother with her!
He kicked the floor indignantly, and soon began to feel a headache as he pinched his brows.

If she really has to grow up again from scratch, should I go to Miss Justice for some advice on child psychology...?
Klein fell into deep thought with a blank look in his eyes.

Alice didn't know that Mr. Fool was already worrying about her education. She glanced at the captain who hadn't received a reply yet, and after thinking carefully for a moment, she remembered something she had forgotten to do.

——She was going to ask the goddess if she was willing to be her "mother".

Find a place, um... Alice thought and looked in the direction of the church.

...There probably isn't a more suitable place than a church!
But, but... am I just going to just go like this?

Alice shook her head and firmly rejected the plan.

While the church was certainly the appropriate place, this was a relatively formal issue and Alice felt that it deserved at least a prayer ceremony.

Of course, ceremonies could be held in the basement of the church, but she always felt that her presence there was strange.

With this mentality, Alice gave up the option of going to the church. After a little thought, she chose to return to Backlund - she planned to arrange the ceremony in the study.

While preparing the herbs related to the Night Realm and setting up the altar, a strange idea suddenly popped into Alice's mind.

If I restart the altar after I pray, will I get unused herbs and oils?

If so, can I pray again...

Faced with this tempting tip for saving money, Alice swallowed and then forcibly interrupted this train of thought.

——This is so disrespectful to people... so disrespectful to God.

You know, she had a serious purpose in planning the prayer ceremony, but she was so perfunctory with the materials...

Alice shook her head, set up the altar, and said a prayer:
"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,

“I pray for your help, for your answer.

“I glimpsed a destined death at the other end of the long river of fate. Perhaps it was a destined ending. In order to avoid this ending, I need a new life.

"I need a 'mother'.

"Would you like to..."

Before she finished her words, the invisible wind had already swept up the remaining embers of the herbs, leaving a line of words in her sight:
"Don't you have any other choice?"

——This is an impatient rejection.

Alice stopped praying and swallowed as she looked at the words.

She realized that not only did the goddess reject her request without mercy, but Alice even felt that the goddess might not be so calm about the matter - She didn't even listen to her finish her words.

It is obvious that the goddess does not want to receive this "honor" at all.

Alice understood that this did not mean a refusal to help her, otherwise the goddess would not be willing to write her into the holy book - this was equivalent to publicly acknowledging that she was being protected.

This kind of rejection was probably similar to the goddess's refusal to talk to her at the beginning, and the reason why the goddess didn't talk at the beginning...

Alice has not forgotten what nonsense she said to the goddess.

Even without mentioning the wolf's fur that she had been obsessed with in the past, just talking about the present, she had asked the goddess similar questions in person.

What's more, she still claims outside that the night is her favorite...

Although she said this, Alice had never told the Goddess of Night about this matter face to face - the previous one was a special case, and she just spoke too quickly at the time.

After all, she never asked again, at least not in person...

“But, is it really because of this that the goddess doesn’t want to talk to me… or does she not want to get too close to me?” Alice thought of Klein as she packed her things.

If we really talk about the absurd things she has said, she actually said quite a few to Klein, and Klein's response was even more outrageous than the goddess's - he wanted to fall in love with Amon and have children.

But the last incident made Alice realize that Klein had an almost weird trust in her.

When there was no danger, Klein couldn't say he didn't believe what she said, but he was wary of every word and was determined not to believe her lies.

And the moment when the danger is real...

Judging from the last time Klein asked for help, his first reaction to that kind of life-and-death crisis seemed to be to ask her for help.

——He seemed to be convinced that he would not let anything happen to him.

So, what about the goddess?

Alice looked at the words formed by the ashes on the table and pursed her lips. (End of this chapter)