"Eh?" Alice raised her eyebrows. "Haven't I been good enough to you, Mr. Fool? I thought you'd agreed to become my 'mother' a long time ago..."
"What do you mean..." Klein frowned. "The help you gave me before was actually just payment?"
"No." Alice blinked. "That was, of course, help between friends, but..."
She paused, her smile fading from her face. Her tone took on a serious yet sorrowful note as she said softly:
"Mr. Fool... gods and mortals cannot be friends. Haven't you realized that yet?
"That wouldn't be a good thing for anyone."
Klein became silent. He knew why Alice said that, which only made him less certain what to say. Instead, Alice took the chance to break the awkward silence:
"Oh, right, I almost forgot... I'm still waiting for you to transform into your true Mythical Creature Form and give me two Worms of Spirit to play with."
Klein's face darkened as he glared at her irritably. "You're still thinking about that?"
Alice looked at him again with innocent eyes. Klein choked, then asked instead:
"So...
"Back then, did you also pay the Goddess this way?"
"Hm?" Alice turned back in confusion, seemingly not understanding why he was asking.
"I'm very curious." Klein's lips twitched. "You said that you were the one investing, and the Goddess was actually 'repaying a debt'... So, does the Goddess even know how much 'debt' she owes?"
Alice gave him a brilliant smile without saying a word, but Klein already knew the answer. After a slight hesitation, he asked:
"...Alice, don't tell me you don't even know what counts as payment?"
"How to put it..." Alice tilted her head. "Whenever I have a need, everything I give out counts as payment..."
Klein was silent for a long while before finally saying solemnly: