Great Serpent

After resolving the crucial matter of renting a place, Alice was finally about to start working.

Just like she had told Klein, she really could draw comic books... and not just strange things!

Moreover, Emperor Roselle, who bore a long list of titles such as famous novelist, inventor, poet, composer, and so on, had not actually cut off the transmigrators' sources entirely.

Emperor Roselle had still left behind plenty of things that could be copied—for example, comic books, games, movies...

Even if many things could not truly be replicated one-to-one due to limitations in subject matter, making money was nothing to be ashamed of.

Thus, over the following days, Alice resumed a regular life: after breakfast, she went to church to pray, then came back to copy... came back to draw comic books, ate, continued drawing comic books, ate, continued drawing...

I can't draw anymore!

On the first day of this bored daily life, Alice was successfully defeated by her own patience—she decided to take a walk after dinner and worry about the rest later.

Backlund was a far larger city than Tingen. As she strolled along the streets, mingling among pedestrians who were either hurried or leisurely, Alice's mood gradually calmed down.

To Alice, the essence of a walk had never been the scenery—of course, beautiful scenery and excellent weather would definitely make people happier, but unfortunately, the city offered none of the natural sights Alice longed for, and Backlund's weather was truly hard to describe.

"A food desert and a city of fog... that really makes for some strange associations." An impression of a certain country flashed through her mind, but it did not prompt any deep thought from Alice.

To Alice, the true essence of walking was wandering among people. She enjoyed the feeling of being within the crowd, of becoming one part of it. It gave her a strange sense of security.

Alice's peace did not last long. As she accepted a Dixie Pie and Sweet Iced Tea from a roadside vendor, a scream made her instinctively turn her head.

—A carriage was speeding toward a boy about ten years old. The boy had fallen to the ground and did not look like he would be able to get up anytime soon.

Alice almost instinctively put down the Dixie Pie and Sweet Iced Tea in her hands, then turned and lunged toward the child.

Shielding the child, she rolled out of the carriage's path. The carriage came to a difficult stop, and amid the crowd's clamor, the coachman and a couple suspected to be the boy's parents stepped forward.

"Thank you, thank you..." The couple came forward emotionally to thank Alice, still visibly shaken by what had just happened.

"Very Sorry, Miss, and sir and madam," the coachman said after speaking with his master for a few moments. He stepped forward as well and apologized sincerely. "My master is willing to compensate everyone for their losses."

As the primary victims of the incident, the couple ultimately chose to let the matter rest and accepted the compensation.

And as a bystander who had been unexpectedly dragged into it, Alice also received a huge compensation of fifty pounds—meant for buying new clothes and getting examined, despite Alice repeatedly stating that she had not been injured.

Alice realized that this was probably a wealthy person who feared trouble.

This Matter had been utterly ordinary from beginning to end. If it had ended there, Alice should not have remembered much about it.

But when the couple pulled the boy over to thank Alice, causing her to look at him again, Alice felt a bone-chilling terror.

"Thank you, big sister∽"

The little boy's voice was cheerful, but it did nothing to soothe the cold sweat seeping down Alice's back or the body hair standing on end. She almost rigidly fixed her gaze on the boy and Replied, "It's nothing."

Yet the little boy in front of her seemed to have no intention of letting Alice go. "Big sister, you Looks like you're very scared?"

Alice smiled stiffly and brushed him off. "I was just frightened by what happened... It's good that you're all right."

Then, without waiting for a response from the boy or the couple, she picked up the pie and Sweet Iced Tea she had just put down, turned around, and quickly left.

After turning at the end of the street, Alice even clutched her things to her chest and broke into a run, not stopping until she got home.

Only after she closed the door and locked it did she sit on the sofa in the living room and recall the details of what had just happened.

—Everything had clearly been so normal. Where had that hair-raising feeling come from?

Alice naturally knew that the source had to be that boy, or at least had something to do with him. But what exactly was special about him?

Obviously, Alice could not think of an answer. She could only fall asleep amid her thoughts, carrying that uneasy feeling with her.

This was a pitch-black, towering spire. Alice Raised Her Head and held up her hands to measure it, but regrettably, Even If she did so, Alice still could not see the top of the tower.

Alice curiously stepped into the spire. Its interior was just as black and gloomy as its exterior, and Alice frowned the instant she entered.

Alice followed the stairs upward, downward, left, and right. The stairs within this tower were utterly irregular and extremely strange—if she had to describe them, every step would take her in one of six random directions: up, down, left, right, forward, or backward. The probabilities of all six directions were exactly equal, yet for some reason, she just happened to step onto the top of the tower. Note 1

—Yes, the top of the tower.

After passing through one locked door after another, crossing one wall after another, and watching the rooms grow narrower and narrower until the last one could only hold her alone, Alice was certain that she had Came To the top of the tower.

Alice Raised Her Head. She finally saw what was at the top of the tower—a white Great Serpent was coiled above her head!

The serpent's head and tail connected as it slowly wriggled. Its body seemed not to be covered in scales, but in symbols that made Alice dizzy whenever she Take a Look At them.

"Hiss, hiss." The serpent lowered its head. Alice saw a pair of blood-red eyes. The owner of those eyes watched her coldly and without emotion, then flicked its tongue at her twice.

Alice watched as the serpent's head drew closer and closer, only then realizing—the snake was truly enormous, so enormous that she did not think she was even as tall as its fully Opened His Mouth.

...Fully Opened His Mouth?

The Great Serpent Opened His Mouth wide, completely enclosing Alice within it before closing it—and then Alice suddenly Woke Up from her dream.

After pressing a hand to her chest and calming her heartbeat a little, Alice opened her Pocket Watch and Take a Look At the time—it had only just passed midnight.

Unable to sleep for the moment, Alice fell silent. She decided to do something she had planned for a long time—she was going to wake Klein up...

Note 1: This was actually a mathematical model. You may have heard the saying, "A drunkard can always find his way home, but a drunk bird may never be able to return home." Of course, I Don't Know how to calculate the exact probability. (Looks away)