Mystery: Lucky One

"Yes," Alice nodded, "It's equivalent to the second stage of the boss..."

“…I understand.” Klein interrupted her metaphor.

His expression was not very good, and he seemed to be worried about how to solve this problem, so Alice comforted him:

"You could have dealt with George III before he tried to advance! That way there wouldn't have been a second phase!"

It is indeed a solution, but Klein asked politely:
"I don't understand. Why must the real George III die with a high probability before the fake one dies? Can't you change it to assassinating the fake one, and the real one will die too?"

"I guess this requires Amon's help," Alice smiled, "or maybe the real Fool? Maybe he will have similar abilities..."

After hearing this, Klein knew that this path would not work. He shook his head and asked:

"Can I convey to the Church the dangers of George III's attempts at advancement?"

"Then I suggest you tell the goddess," Alice stood up, "and you can tell me later. I'm going to hide in the 'Forsaken Land of the Gods' now."

In other words, this is feasible, but it's not very good for her... Klein glanced at Alice and felt relieved.

No matter how Alice objected, Klein reported her good deeds to the Goddess of Night that day. In the face of war, churches far away in other countries could not send angels to Loen because the three major churches in Loen could not trust them. However, the three major churches in Loen responded one after another.

Alice once again stepped into the basement of St. Samuel's Church. This time when she entered, she found that there was more than one angel, Ms. Arianna, inside. There was an angel each from the Storm Church and the Steam Church. In a sense, the person from the Steam Church was even her acquaintance.

——Bonois Gustave.

Even if Alice had a hundred guts, she would not dare to ask Bonois to call her aunt at this moment. She just recounted the possible events and consequences at Arianna's request. She did not dare to disobey because the one who called her here was not someone else but the goddess of night herself.

On the night that Klein reported this incident, the Goddess of Night visited Alice’s dream after a long absence and asked her in the deep sleeping flowers:

"You don't want George III to become a god?"

Alice smiled flatteringly and explained, "Klein doesn't want to, and I have a grudge against George III..."

"Then you shouldn't use this method," the Goddess of Night looked at her disapprovingly, "If something unexpected happens and "He" really takes the potion, then Backlund will have an out-of-control monster at the level of a True God."

After a pause, He reminded him, "...by then, even if you are the incarnation of destiny, I will not be able to protect you."

Alice lowered her head sincerely and obediently. She explained, "I really didn't think that much at the time... Besides, Adam also has a share of responsibility for this matter. He didn't even try to stop me!"

"He probably thinks you want to force us to express our stance." The projection of the Goddess of Night shook her head slightly.

Alice paused for a moment, then looked at the goddess hesitantly and asked tentatively:

"Perhaps the Beyonders of your church have already reported the relevant matters to you, but I still want to ask you in person...

"Why did you allow George III to become the 'Black Emperor'?"

"It does me no good, but it does me no harm either." He looked at her and spoke calmly.

Alice pursed her lips, lowered her head, and asked softly, "Is there really no benefit?"

No one spoke again, and the dream came to an end in silence. Alice only had time to hear the voice's calm command before the dream was shattered:
"Arianna will contact you in two days."

So, Alice is standing here now.

There was no great ripple in Bonova's azure eyes, but the angel of the Church of the Storm perfectly reflected the characteristics of this path—He looked extremely angry.

Alice could feel the wind around her like a sharp blade scraping across her cheeks and skin. She thought to herself that if Klein had this trick, she wouldn't have to worry so much about taking the blood of mythical creatures. If she couldn't make herself "bleed," the only way to take the blood of mythical creatures through the "Destiny" path was to restart.

Alice was in the wrong in this matter. Besides, the other party was also an angel, so Alice had more patience with him. She did not raise any opinions, but just repeated:

"I really didn't mean it. When I did it, I didn't think there would be such serious consequences!"

"Fortunately you didn't mean it." The man sneered.

Alice clenched her fists and looked up at people. Arianna looked at her with a soothing look and told her in a soft voice:

"You go back first. I'll call you if there's anything else."

Alice also became polite after hearing this: "Then I'll go first... Well, if you have anything, just come to me directly, no need to look for the goddess!"

She waved her hand and disappeared without hesitation.

Arianna looked at the other two again. Klein also handed over the method to enter the secret mausoleum, but he did not hand over the blood of the 22 Paths Beyonders. However, Arianna did not ask - for the church, this was not that difficult.

They discussed their respective information and detailed plans in the church, and Alice, who had already gotten angry with Klein once for this, approached Klein again.

"I think you can come with me to the speech," she told Crane. "It seems that at least the three people who have churches in Loon don't want an out-of-control 'Black Emperor'."

On Saturday morning, Klein was awakened by the prayers at five in the morning as usual. Then, based on the principle of sharing the same suffering, he also woke up Alice. He ignored her cursing in his ear and changed his clothes as if nothing had happened.

When they arrived, there was no one in the center of the square or its surroundings except the soldiers. This was normal. Even if they had eaten breakfast on purpose, no one would come at six o'clock to wait for the speech at nine o'clock.

After occupying a good position, Klein felt that his decision to only bring two secret dolls with him was absolutely correct, otherwise he would definitely be scolded by the servants behind his back.

He talked about this with Alice, and Alice suddenly smiled and said to Klein:
"Who says there won't be someone waiting at six o'clock?"

"...I am?" Klein asked subconsciously. "You are no longer a complete person," Alice glanced at him, "What I mean is... Well, let me give you an example. For example, if the principal notifies everyone to gather at the playground at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, when the vice principal notifies the grade director, it may become 8 o'clock, and when the grade director notifies the class teacher, it will be 7 o'clock, and then the class teacher notifies the students, it will become 6 o'clock..."

Klein's face turned grim, as if he recalled some bad memories.

Alice thought for a moment and added, "And if you go home and tell your mother that you have a meeting at nine o'clock tomorrow, your mother might also..."

"...It will be earlier, but not that early." Klein shook his head. "At six o'clock, she might wake me up...if she gets up on her own."

"Anyway," Alice shrugged, "at least there are still people... Come to think of it, has the church told us about their progress? Why can George III still hold the sacrificial ceremony intact?"

“I don’t know,” Klein said frankly, “but since the Goddess, the Lord of Storms, and the God of Steam and Machinery have all chosen to express their opinions, then this matter is not something I should interfere with. What I should do now is to protect the people in case of an accident.”

Alice shrugged and stopped talking to Klein. Instead, she looked around. She soon noticed that there was a strange object on the gray-white stone pillar in the center of the square. It was large at one end and small at the other. It was painted dark blue and connected to some kind of cable.

Below this thing, there was a team of soldiers wearing red shirts and white trousers. They were carrying gray metal backpacks and holding rifles of complex structure and large caliber. They were looking around very vigilantly.

These were the only people around the square. Obviously, their attention was currently focused on Alice and Klein.

"Tell me," Alice turned her head and looked at Klein, "Can I actually blend in with them? My Matilda has never been sold..."

"...Why are you doing this?" Klein asked in confusion.

"I want to scare them when they let their guard down," Alice blinked. "Have you never seen that story where a teammate suddenly has an extra person after coming out of a haunted house?"

"I've seen it, but I don't recommend you try it," Klein said coldly, "If you get bored of waiting, go out and play. I can help you save a seat."

"Okay... Oh, I know what I can do." Alice suddenly smiled. "I remember you didn't give the blood to the church, right?"

“…Yes,” Klein nodded, “What are you going to do?”

"I'll go see what's going on inside the mausoleum." Alice blinked.

Klein frowned instinctively and subconsciously stopped him:

"If the church already has an action plan, you..."

"I'll go ask Ms. Arianna," Alice replied. "Besides, it's been more than a day since I came back from church. Maybe... the church has already started to take action? If we wait here for three hours and end up not having a speech, wouldn't it be embarrassing..."

“…I will hand over that bottle of blood to the church right now.” Klein said without a second thought.

He knew better than anyone that if he let Alice go at this time, she might not be a help - he could only let her help in the preparation stage, but when it came to actually dealing with the problem, it would be better not to call her unless necessary.

Alice choked. She realized that Klein really would not agree this time. She had to give up her previous idea and waited for the time to reach nine o'clock in the morning.

As more and more citizens came in, the square became increasingly noisy, and the team of soldiers finally stopped staring at them because they could no longer see them.

At exactly nine o'clock, the strange thing on the stone pillar suddenly made a rustling sound, which eventually turned into a deep voice:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am your emperor, ruler of Loen, East Balam, and the Rorsted Archipelago, George Augustus III.

"...I am very happy and heavy-hearted to tell you that we have finally stopped the first phase of the attack by the Feysac people and thwarted their plan to destroy Loen within three months...

"...But too many outstanding young people have died on the front lines, in this war. They should have had a better future, should have grown old with their parents, matured with their spouses, and let their children grow up in a loving environment and have a wonderful childhood...

"...The Feysac people destroyed everything..."

The heavy speech made people's emotions gradually become sad. The air around them became oppressive and sticky. Alice gradually felt a sense of oppression that made her breathless. She looked around unbearably. Everyone was bowing their heads in sadness, and few people noticed her.

Klein looked at Alice with a puzzled look. Alice pursed her lips and looked up at the sky. A thick cloud had gathered there at some point, covering the sky above the square tightly, and not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate.

Alice looked at the dark cloud and frowned little by little.

Due to the abnormal weather in Loen, no one paid attention to the unusual astronomical phenomenon, but Alice felt the power of some kind of explosion from the dark cloud. She remembered the wind that cut her face in St. Samuel's Church that day, and she had a bad premonition in her heart.

Alice jumped hard and looked over the crowd to see George III who was still giving a speech. He was in the center of the square, the center of the crowd. Alice knew that Miss Justice, who came from a noble family, was also nearby.

"...keep your family away from George III." She sent this message to Miss Justice.

This was a little confusing. "Justice" Audrey didn't understand the source of this information, and it was difficult for her to do this. She looked at her parents, frowned and thought about it.

It's too late... Seeing that she didn't leave immediately, Alice's eyebrows jumped and she looked at the dark clouds above her head again.

Klein also realized at this moment that something seemed to have happened that he didn't know about. He looked at Alice with a puzzled look. Just as he was about to speak, a loud noise pierced his voice.

"Boom——"

The ground shook violently with a loud noise that could not be determined whether it came from the sky or the ground. Klein staggered and tried to adjust his balance while closing his eyes. He had no choice because the view ahead was too dazzling.

The blinding lightning seemed to tear the space apart. For a moment, everything around was silent except for that sound. The broad lightning struck from the sky and hit the center of the square.

This is just the first one.

Amid the successive lightning strikes, the crowd was in chaos, bumping into or stepping on the people around them from time to time. Audrey finally realized why Alice asked her to stay away, but it was too late.

Alice exhaled, closed her eyes, and flew up into the sky, touching the silver river. (End of this chapter)