"I Forgot"

Alice made it to the Underground Market after all.

Holding her nose, she followed Leonard through the Dragon Bar and a hidden door. They passed through several more rooms before finally reaching the legendary Underground Market.

Some people had set up stalls, others asked about prices, and still others wandered among them in search of things that caught their interest.

Alice followed behind Leonard with keen interest as he explained the rules.

"Swain gets one-twentieth of every sale. He owns the Dragon Bar and used to captain a Mandated Punishers team. Also, if you don't have enough money, you can borrow from him, but..."

He paused, and Alice naturally filled in the rest. "He charges exorbitant interest?"

"Obviously," Leonard agreed.

"The people running these stalls..." Alice began, then abruptly stopped. She heard a faint, indistinct whisper. Turning instinctively, she saw a young man in shabby clothes standing in a corner. His face was pale, and he stared at her blankly. There was still wet blood in his eyes.

A thought struck Alice. Perhaps this was the unfortunate Monster. She stopped and walked toward him.

The man's gaze was unfocused, yet his eyes followed Alice until she stood right in front of him.

Alice studied him. Something seemed to have captured all his attention. He gazed at her—or perhaps through her, at something else. She had no doubt that, unless someone snapped him out of it, he could stand there until he turned into a statue.

"What did you see?" Alice asked softly, looking into eyes that seemed both fixed on her and not.

"...I forgot." The man's voice was slow and gentle, as though he feared disturbing something. His gaze remained fixed on Alice, but she had an inexplicable feeling: he was absolutely not looking at her.

"Why did you forget?" Alice asked patiently. Her instincts told her he had seen something crucial about her, but she couldn't turn her gaze on herself. Looking in a mirror didn't count.

"..." He remained silent for so long that Alice began to lose patience and considered going elsewhere. Only then did she hear him say, "Because of the chaos."

Because of the chaos? What does that mean? Alice wanted to ask, but he had already looked away. His gaze still unfocused, he walked off with firm steps. Alice watched him until he disappeared from sight. He never looked back.

Monster. For the first time, Alice took that word seriously—or rather, that Pathway and that Sequence. She wondered whether she should find another Beyonder of the same Pathway to take a look at her.

"If I wanted to find a Beyonder of the Monster Pathway, where should I go?" Alice asked Leonard, who might know.

"The School of Life. They're the only ones with the starting Sequence of that Pathway." Leonard frowned. "Are you thinking of...?"

"I want to know what they can see in me," Alice said, her tone unreadable. Then she casually began browsing the stalls.

The School of Life... Alice slowly recalled what she knew of the organization.

This secret organization had appeared early in This Epoch. Its exact origins were unknown, and its teachings were passed mainly from master to apprentice.

Its theories and beliefs were rarely shared with outsiders, either. Alice only knew that it divided the world into three layers: the Absolute Rational World, also called the World of Absolute Truth; the spirit world; and the Material World.

Alice remembered that the organization had once produced a Soothsayer. The title reminded her of the Monster's abilities. Then, thinking of the three Sequences that appeared to have nothing in common, she suddenly realized something. "Is it normal for the abilities of different Sequences in a Pathway to seem completely unrelated?"

"Generally, the abilities of Sequences within the same Pathway build on each other," Leonard answered. "But according to the captain, Madam Daly once suggested another possibility. Instead of progressing in the usual way, each Sequence might have its own ability, and those abilities might come together at a certain Sequence."

"...Sequence Four?" Alice immediately thought of Sequence Four, the beginning of the High Sequences and the point where one's fundamental nature began to change.

Leonard nodded.

Alice made a mental note of it, then asked him, "Don't you have anything else to do?"

"...I was only here yesterday." In other words, he didn't.

Alice said nothing. She just stood there staring at Leonard, as though challenging him to a contest of who could open their eyes wider. Leonard was the first to lose patience. "...Go look around on your own for a while."

After watching Leonard leave the area, Alice began wandering the Underground Market alone.

She stopped at a stall selling amulets. In a market full of counterfeits, even an amulet with the faintest real effect stood out clearly to her Spirituality.

Alice crouched and picked out two amulets that gave off a faint glow—the only two whose inscriptions happened to be correct.

"Interested, Miss?" The Boss perked up at the prospect of a sale. "If you buy both, I can give you a discount. Only..."

"No," Alice interrupted. While he stared at her in confusion, she picked up another amulet, an exquisite silver one. "I want this."

The Boss put his cheerful salesman's smile back on. "Ah, that one... I made it with great care. It..."

"It doesn't work at all," Alice said calmly, cutting him off.

"Then why buy it?" His eyes plainly asked whether she had come to ruin his business.

"Hmm... because it's pretty." Alice answered without hesitation. "Name your price, but don't price it as an amulet."

The Boss studied Alice for a moment. She might be more than a Mysticism Enthusiast. She knew something about mysticism—perhaps she was even a Beyonder.

"Three soli." The thought calmed him considerably. He priced it as silver jewelry rather than an amulet, though out of habit he left room for haggling. But...

Alice didn't haggle at all. She simply took out the money and left the stall.