Face Sculpting and Renting a House

After obtaining the necklace, Alice began her great face-sculpting endeavor.

Alice was not worried about sculpting herself into a strange-looking person. Having systematically studied painting, she had a fairly precise grasp of the details of appearance.

Alice first ruled out altering her body shape—doing so would inevitably affect her movements, and she could not wear the necklace all the time.

Alice first decided to change her hair from its dazzling, radiant gold to dark brown. Then, considering that Briel Rose's identification listed her age as nineteen, Alice decided to make her face look more mature.

"But this body should still grow taller, right..." Alice lowered her head hesitantly and looked at her body.

The exact age of this body could not be determined. It was suspected to be around fifteen or sixteen. If that guess was correct, this body should still have some room to grow.

Alice silently remembered this matter. She planned to wear height-increasing shoes whenever she went out in daily life, mark her height barefoot after finding a place to live, and compare it each time she returned. If she showed obvious signs of growing taller, she would lower the soles a little.

"The heels don't need to be too high. They're just to keep changes in my height from being too abrupt... Hmm, what else?"

Unable to think of any more considerations in a short time, Alice held her pen and began designing the many details of her facial features and face shape.

She sharpened her chin and reduced some of the flesh on her cheeks, greatly diminishing her original childishness.

Next came her facial features. Designing an entire set of features from nothing was still somewhat difficult, so Alice decided to accept Charlie King's suggestion and modify an existing template.

But whose face to use as a reference was a huge problem for Alice.

After thinking briefly, Alice pulled a face from her memories—one she knew incomparably well, yet one that could not possibly have a counterpart in this world. It belonged to the friend who had declared that she would be a naturally born "Monster."

Of course, this face was still quite different from Loën's style of appearance. The version of the features Alice ultimately adopted was a heavily modified Loën version based on that face.

After carefully recording the appearance she had designed, Alice first checked out of her room, then changed into a new face in an empty alley.

Next came renting a house.

Although the Goddess's attitude had not been clear, Ince Zangwill had been able to beat her until she could not fight back at merely Sequence 5. Alice still had considerable trust in the Goddess, who had allowed her to remain among the Nighthawks to familiarize herself with the situation before letting her leave, and had even kindly warned her.

She decided to become Briel Rose, a devout believer of the Goddess. I mean, she decided to live in the North District.

"After all, if I become a Calamity Priest, this uncontrollable bad-luck constitution might harm civilians..."

Alice instinctively ignored the fact that even if the Nighthawks could no longer recognize her after she changed faces, she was now a genuine Wild Beyonder.

Benefiting from her identification papers, Alice openly entered the "Metropolitan Housing Improvement Association"—Klein had warned her that the so-called "Working-Class Housing Improvement Association" provided housing without even separate washrooms.

When Alice entered the Metropolitan Housing Improvement Association, a kindly smiling middle-aged woman came forward to receive her. "Hello, Miss. You may call me Madam Maggie. What sort of house do you need?"

Alice did not avoid Madam Maggie's appraising gaze. Recalling the information on her identity papers, she said with a hint of arrogance, "I don't know."

Alice's answer, delivered with such unearned confidence, made Madam Maggie's smile pause for a moment. Then she expertly opened a document and pushed it in front of Alice. "You can take a look first... Hmm, will you be living alone?"

"Yes, I'll be living alone." Alice answered dryly as she flipped through the bewildering document without any goal. She found that she had absolutely no ability to judge rental listings.

"Do you have any requirements regarding the location of the house?" Madam Maggie asked thoughtfully.

"I'm a believer of the Goddess—I mean, I'd like to be closer to a church. Uh, it doesn't need to be too close." Alice replied as though she had found a savior.

"You can look at the houses in this area." Though she did not understand why Alice had emphasized that it did not need to be too close, Madam Maggie still introduced them. "These houses are relatively close to the church, making it convenient for you to go pray in daily life. Hmm, there are also some that are especially close..."

After the range of choices had been narrowed, Alice looked through the document again, but... it was still of no use.

"...Do you have any requirements regarding the environment of the house or the rent?" Madam Maggie had no choice but to ask again.

"I... uh..." Alice looked at Madam Maggie with a lost expression. "I'm not very sure..."

Under Madam Maggie's patient, kindly smile, Alice's voice grew quieter and quieter. She realized that a customer like herself was truly making things difficult for the lady before her.

But it had to be said that the identity Charlie King had selected suited Alice far too well. She did not need to pretend at all to match the information of that identity.

The only thing Alice should be grateful for was that she had not yet drunk the Calamity Priest potion. At this moment, she was still a "Lucky One"—Madam Maggie before her possessed patience befitting her appearance.

"How about this?" After pondering for a moment, Madam Maggie smiled at Alice, who was suspected to be going out alone for the first time—though she actually was. "We can first rule out these three-bedroom and four-bedroom houses. Is that all right?"

"No." Alice gave Madam Maggie a grateful look. "I think I need a study, or something like a workshop... Uh, it would be best if it had heating."

Madam Maggie nodded and removed some more rooms from the document before continuing, "Then there are very few options remaining. Let me introduce the remaining rooms to you in detail..."

Under Madam Maggie's introduction, Alice ultimately decided to first look at a terraced house on Welsh Street.

It would take about half an hour to walk from there to St. Samuel Church, and less time by carriage.

The house had a living room, though it was not large. But Alice did not think she had much need to entertain friends—she believed Klein would not care about such formalities.

In addition, it had every room it should have—a dining room, kitchen, sitting room, balcony, study, washroom, basement...

"The furniture here is a little old, and also, uh..." Alice's first attempt at bargaining ended in failure beneath Madam Maggie's gentle smile.

In the end, she muddleheadedly paid a deposit and six months' rent, totaling thirty pounds, at the price of one pound per week.

Why was this so late? Because I went out to watch a movie. (looks away)