"It's not necessarily so," Klein said. "We could temporarily leave Tingen City, avoid the officials' attention while looking for a way to change our faces... Hmm, we should still prepare identification documents."
Looking at Klein, who still could not hide his confusion, Alice pressed her lips together and spoke up. "Klein, Mr. Azik... Be careful of 0-08. Be careful of Ince Zangwill."
The name from the wanted poster immediately awakened Klein's memories. He and Azik looked towards Alice together.
"...0-08 can make the stories it writes come true," Alice explained softly. "Ince Zangwill used 0-08 to create coincidences. His target should be the Nighthawks Headquarters in Tingen City... perhaps something inside the headquarters?"
"...Saint Selina's Ashes!" With the information complete, Klein immediately thought of the answer.
Alice looked at Klein in confusion. Meeting her gaze, Klein explained, "Ince Zangwill is a Gatekeeper who failed his advancement, and behind Tingen City's Chanis Gate are Saint Selena's Ashes. Before her death, she was a Sequence 4 Saint of the Sleepless pathway..."
"So, Gatekeeper is Sequence 5 of the Sleepless pathway?" Alice guessed.
"No," Klein continued explaining. "Gatekeeper is Sequence 5 of the Corpse Collector pathway. Adjacent Sequences can be exchanged at high Sequences..."
Alice came to a realization. She finally understood Ince Zangwill's goal—he needed Saint Selena's Ashes to advance to Demigod!
After confirming that Klein was not as naive and sweet as Alice in this regard—at the very least, he would not brazenly run up to the Nighthawks, terrified that they might fail to notice he had come back from the dead—Azik left with the warning to be careful of 0-08 and Ince Zangwill.
Alice and Klein, who had been left behind, looked at each other again and fell silent.
The earlier emergency had diluted the emotions in their hearts. They had not even had time to sort out each other's circumstances. Only after Mr. Azik left did Alice remember the Goddess's warning and recall that Klein's situation upon awakening differed from hers.
"Have you seen the Goddess?" Alice asked softly.
"No. Why are you suddenly asking that?" Klein looked at Alice in confusion.
"Hmm... because I suddenly remembered that the reasons we came back from the dead should be different." Resting her chin on her hand as she watched Klein, Alice revealed what she had not told Azik. "Someone... no, some unknown existence erased the part of Fate concerning my death."
Klein froze slightly. He had guessed that his resurrection after death was because of that mysterious palace, and before this, he should have already come back from the dead once. But how did Alice know such detailed things?
"The Goddess told me that, before I awakened in this body, an unknown existence had erased the traces of this body's original owner from Fate." Alice explained as she looked at Klein's puzzled expression.
The description "this body" made Klein frown. He felt a subtle discomfort, but his attention was focused more on something else. "The Goddess?"
"Yes, the Goddess." Alice looked at Klein, tapped four points over her chest, and drew a Crimson Moon symbol—this was the most sincere prayer she had offered since awakening.
Klein's pupils contracted slightly. They both understood what this meant—Alice had already been a blessed of Evernight from the moment she woke up. But he had another question. "Woke up?"
"..." Looking at Klein, Alice recalled that sealed space tightly wrapping around her, recalled Megose's absurdly laughable death, recalled the original Lucky One, recalled the unknown voice by Megose's ear before her death. She heard herself answer in a hazy, lost voice, "I suspect that before this, I had awakened in Other Places."
Without waiting for Klein's response, Alice continued, "You aren't a Nighthawk now, so I can tell you the answer to that earlier question."
Klein was stunned for a moment before realizing which question Alice meant. A trace of sorrow rose in his heart, but before it could deepen, Alice's voice scattered it. "Have you heard of the Law of Conservation of Extraordinary Traits?"
"What is that?" Klein asked cooperatively.
"Beyonder Characteristics cannot be destroyed or reduced. They can only be transferred from one vessel to another... Honestly, This Thing sounds a lot like the Mass-Energy Equivalence Law." Alice voiced the complaint she had wanted to make ever since she first heard this law.
Klein ignored Alice's complaint. He softly pondered those words, a bad premonition forming within him. "Could the substitute materials be..."
"The remains left behind after Beyonders die can serve as the Main Ingredient for potions... just like Ince Zangwill needs Saint Selena's Ashes." Alice calmly placed the final piece of the puzzle.
"So, how did you find this out?" Klein had an even worse premonition.
The familiar smile that appeared on Alice's face seemed to confirm his guess. He heard her say, "...When I had just awakened, a Sequence 7 Lucky One fell to his death right in front of me."
"A Lucky One, fell to his death?" Klein repeated. He could completely imagine what happened next: Alice swallowed that Beyonder Characteristic and accidentally became a Beyonder—that was all he knew. But he could not understand why a Lucky One would fall to his death.
"Do you know how Megose died?" Alice asked, looking at his incredulous expression.
Upon hearing the question, Klein suddenly remembered that the fellow townsman and former colleague before him had seen Ince Zangwill—this meant Megose was dead. Yet Alice clearly did not possess the ability to kill the child in Megose's womb, so he had no choice but to ask, "...How did she die?"
"After Megose killed you, she lunged at me..." Alice recounted the bizarre scene. "Then, she tripped. As she fell, that bone blade happened to be lying across her stomach, cutting her in half at the waist..."
"..." This unbelievable answer plunged the atmosphere into silence once more. They looked at each other and read the gravity in each other's eyes.
After a long while, Alice finally forced out a smile and said in a self-mocking tone, "On the bright side, at least I can go to Pritz Harbor to find that Beyonder of the Monster pathway, isn't that right?"
"I think I suddenly understand what a Clown is." Looking at Alice's smile, Klein suddenly said.
Before you continue