Strange Drawings

This news was like a bombshell, waking the sea known as the "Tarot Club," which had only just begun to calm.

Setting aside Little Sun's discomfort at secretly adding "Fallen" before the Creator's name, the mere fact that an Evil God's Offspring might arrive in Backlund at any moment was enough to alarm anyone.

Alice's words were not baseless—she had learned from Dunn that Backlund had tacitly approved of Megose being brought there.

After all, an Evil God's Offspring was a world-shaking matter in Tingen City. While it could not exactly be called a trivial matter in Backlund, it truly would not cause much of a stir.

Audrey was the first of the three to turn pale. She immediately dropped out of her Spectator state and anxiously asked Alice, "The Fallen Creator's offspring? Backlund?"

Audrey was somewhat incoherent. For a moment, she did not know what she should ask first. The level? Or the timing? And then what? What was she supposed to do after learning those things?

Alger was somewhat calmer. He quickly grasped the key point. "An ordinary human woman simply cannot bear the burden of carrying a divine child. The actual level of this 'Fallen Creator's offspring' is probably not too high. It does not count as a major Supernatural Event in Backlund, but the problem is that, as the Fallen Creator's offspring, the Fallen Creator can descend through it."

"You're right." Alice nodded and explained, "The Three Churches intend to let Mr. A bring the Fallen Creator's offspring to Backlund and resolve this incident there. The only problem is that the Fallen Creator may use this opportunity to descend."

Alice's words had practically revealed that she had close ties with the Three Churches and was highly likely to be an official Beyonder. Coupled with her unusual Sequence and such a major matter as the Fallen Creator's offspring, a little investigation would be enough to identify her.

—but even Alger's mind was not on that at this moment.

Amid Alger and Audrey's worries, and Little Sun's bafflement, this Tarot Club gathering came to an end.

—And the official Beyonders' swift decision to handle Megose in Backlund was all thanks to 0-08.

"Oh, poor Ince Zangwill. His attempt to use Mr. A to stop the official Beyonders from dealing with Megose has failed. The official Beyonders have secretly reached a consensus: to prevent Mr. A from launching a terrorist attack in Tingen City after being provoked, they have decided to let Mr. A take Megose to Backlund, where they will set a trap to welcome Mr. A and Megose. His plan can no longer succeed. What a pitiful fellow..."

In the room beneath the Red Chimney, a Quill Pen bounced as it wrote those words, as though celebrating Ince Zangwill's dreadful screenwriting skills.

Ince Zangwill snatched up the bouncing Quill Pen. His scalp tingled with rage as he paced back and forth through the room in frustration, thinking of how to salvage everything.

Just as the official Beyonders of Tingen City had mentally prepared themselves to let Mr. A leave with Megose, matters suddenly changed.

Perhaps their obstruction had been too perfunctory, allowing Mr. A to sense that something was wrong. Perhaps Mr. A believed that letting the Lord descend in Backlund was too dangerous. In short, just as everyone had prepared themselves, Mr. A suddenly decided to remain in Tingen City and protect Megose while she safely gave birth to the divine child.

Alice, whose vacation had been canceled because Mr. A remained in Tingen City, was deeply miserable over this—she had even lost the right to sneak out for a stroll when she had nothing to do, and could only play the poker cards "invented" by Emperor Roselle at Blackthorn Security Company.

While Alice was bored out of her mind, Rosanne discovered a set of works from her that she adored—a collection of Q-version Figure drawings. They had the classic Three-Headed Body proportions, with expressions and clothing rendered vividly enough that one could easily recognize them as Q-version figures of the Nighthawks team members.

That was not quite accurate, because Alice had not left out the Clerical Staff. Judging from several pictures of people Rosanne could not identify, if this continued, Alice might draw everyone she knew.

Rosanne showed intense affection for them. "They're so cute! Oh my God, Alice, did you study drawing professionally before? They're just too adorable!"

Those words made Alice freeze.

As a Wandering Girl who might not even have had enough to eat, the original Alice could never have learned how to draw—setting aside the possibility of her family falling into ruin.

But what about Shen Yinghuan?

When holding a paintbrush, Alice had never seriously considered this question. She had merely treated it as a pastime for when she was bored. But could Shen Yinghuan really have studied art professionally?

An image briefly flashed before Alice's eyes. She saw herself handing a drawing to the girl who always appeared by her side.

That drawing... what did that drawing look like?

Alice tried her hardest to see its contents clearly. The image flickered several times as though the signal were poor, became clear for a brief instant, then shattered before her eyes.

But Alice was so frightened that she nearly jumped on the spot.

It was something that looked like a comic book or an illustration. There were two men in it. One was of average height, with black hair and brown eyes, wearing formal attire and a top hat, with an obvious scholarly air about him. The other wore a black trench coat like a long robe, paired with black trousers and black leather shoes. His face was thin, his forehead broad, and he wore a tall top hat and a distinctive monocle over his right eye.

The two men in the picture were posed intimately. Anyone who saw them would think their relationship was unusual. If they had not still been clothed, it would probably have been an indescribable image.

But... why did that scholarly-looking man resemble Klein so much?!

Meeting Rosanne's puzzled gaze, Alice gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I think I remembered something from my past just now, so I got distracted."

Knowing that Alice had amnesia, Rosanne immediately understood her lapse. She asked with concern, "I see! Are you all right? Do you need to rest for a while?"

"Mm." Alice smiled in response, then cut out Rosanne's Q-version Figure and handed it to her. "If you like this, you can have it."

Rosanne happily accepted the gift, then tactfully watched Alice leave.

Only after confirming that nobody else was nearby did Alice try to use Dream Divination to follow the clue she had just found and search for her memories.

Thus, she saw scene after similar scene.

The drawings likewise showed Klein and that unknown monocled man. In different settings and different clothes, the two struck different but equally indescribably intimate poses. Occasionally, several rather explicit images flashed by, where neither of them wore any clothes at all...

It sounded a little absurd, but Alice's friend was actually a Cthulhu Fanfiction girl. (solemn)

Come to think of it, I've unknowingly written up to the contract stage. You can start voting with Monthly Tickets now. (hint)