Potion Ingredients

Backlund, Cherwood District, 15 Minsk Street.

In the early hours of the morning, Klein, having packed up and about to leave, suddenly heard layered prayers echoing by his ear.

"At this hour... who could it be?" The female voice made Klein guess it was Audrey or Alice, but he truly could not figure out which of them would pray to him in the middle of the night.

He took four steps counterclockwise and arrived Above the Gray Fog. Through Alice's Crimson Star, he heard her plea: "Klein... I can't sleep... Are you asleep...?"

Thus, Alice, at 36 Welsh Street in Backlund's North District, received Mr. Fool's reply: "No—are you sick or something?!"

Having received a response, Alice stopped praying in satisfaction. Then she began doing what every charlatan ought to do after having a nightmare—interpreting it.

"The process was Full Of variables, but the ending had long been decided... But what exactly did that tower and that snake refer to? And what did they have to do with that little boy?"

Alice was certain that the dream was inseparable from that little boy. Judging from the fear she had felt when facing him, she suspected that the snake symbolized the boy himself.

This suspicion was not baseless. Until Now, she could not forget the fear and sense of danger she had felt before that little boy. It had been far more severe than when she faced Ince Zangwill.

Without a doubt, that child wanted to kill her, and his strength was absolutely greater than Ince Zangwill's.

What Alice cared about and could not understand was something else: Why wait until she climbed to the Top of the Tower to do it? Why had the revelation been to swallow her rather than strangle her or something similar? And why had it been that particular snake?

After organizing her Train of Thought and writing down her questions and confusion, Alice struck a match and burned the paper she had used for notes, then lay back down on the bed.

The next morning, Alice stepped into St. Samuel Church once again—of course, she was not there to seek help. This was merely her normal Daily Life prayer.

Alice hoped that the Goddess, seeing how devoutly she prayed, would refrain from being as Full Of malice as the snake in her dream, even if She did not bear much goodwill toward her.

Affected by the nightmare, Alice felt a slightly stronger Sense of Urgency about advancing. Since someone had already given her a Potion Formula, she could now begin To Consider gathering Potion Ingredients.

As for where to gather Potion Ingredients, Alice did have a few ideas—Backlund was such a vast place; it Cannot Possibly lack even a black market, right?

However, what should truly give Alice a headache was where she ought to find such a Beyonder gathering.

In literary works, this kind of Underground Market usually required an acquaintance's guarantee, as well as strict Secret Codes. Alice, who had only Entered Backlund two days ago, clearly did not meet any of those conditions.

"Perhaps places that illegally sell firearms might have clues like that?" Alice talked to herself, but that did not seem particularly useful either, because she also did not know where to look for guns.

That was not to say Alice had no leads at all—this was easy enough to guess. Bars with all sorts of people coming and going were the places most likely to host every kind of illegal business.

But The Problem Is, she Cannot Possibly try every bar one by one, could she?

Well, not necessarily. She might be able to gamble on her luck and see whether she could pick up a beggar on the street who happened to know the situation...

A few months ago, Alice might have adopted such an unreliable plan. Back then, she had accepted "gambling on luck" with complete peace of mind. Whenever she made plans, she was used to factoring luck in and never considered what to do if her luck ran out and she failed.

But now, the good fortune Alice had once trusted so deeply had become a Sword of Damocles hanging over her head, one that could fall at any moment.

At that moment, Alice suddenly came to a realization: Perhaps that spire symbolized the Monster Pathway? She was destined to walk this Pathway, all the way to its end...

But who was that boy? He... no, perhaps He...

Alice suddenly Remembered the Angel of Fate Suspected To Be in Backlund. Perhaps that boy was precisely that Angel whose intentions, good or evil, were unknown.

She did not consider how an Angel could be a ten-year-old boy. That was truly unimportant—after all, she had already resurrected at least twice, and the first time, she had even Woke Up directly in another world. What was so strange about an Angel becoming a little boy?

If that was the case, then everything was easy to explain... An Angel of the same Pathway was waiting for her to grow up, and then...

Wait, why swallow her?

Alice's Train of Thought abruptly froze. The snake was easy to explain; it was either a Mythical Creature form or a symbol of Sequence 2 or Sequence 1. But what could swallowing her bring that Angel?

No, swallowing might only be a symbol... Absorbing, accommodating? Or perhaps...

Alice suddenly had a chilling thought: Perhaps, In That One's eyes, she was Potion Ingredient that had not yet fully matured?

But—why her?

The question drifted through Alice's mind, and the answer naturally surfaced—too obvious. The source of her strange luck was precisely why she had become Potion Ingredient in the other party's eyes!

And the source of that strange luck was not entirely without clues at the moment—even if that transaction had merely been a smokescreen, Alice was certain that the Sealed Artifact with a special connection to her definitely existed.

"The good news is that, at least judging from the revelation, He still needs to wait for me to grow up. My safety is still temporarily guaranteed, and He might even help me advance... Ha."

Alice laughed at herself. After all, this was not something that could put anyone in a pleasant mood.

But that future, or the past for which she could find no answer, was far too distant from Alice. For her, the most important thing right now was still to find clues about Potion Ingredients.

Pulling her thoughts back to the unfinished matter at hand, Alice considered for a moment before deciding to pray to Klein—in matters of illegally carrying firearms, a Private Investigator undoubtedly had more experience.

And Klein truly did not disappoint Alice.

"Backlund Bridge Area, Bravehearts Bar. Find Caspars Canning, and say the Old Man sent you."

After obtaining news from Ian Wright through Klein, Alice... Alice had no choice but to continue drawing her Comic Book.

After all, setting aside whether she had enough money to buy Potion Ingredients, she still needed a job to maintain her Daily Life. She Cannot Possibly just sit around and spend everything she had...

For the first time, Alice missed the leisurely life she had enjoyed as a Nighthawk.

It's going to be recommended tomorrow, you know. (Hint, hint.)

Why did Will look as though he was Full Of malice...? Because at this point, Alice was not even qualified to be invested in. If she were merely an ordinary underage little girl, That Would Be Fine, but as a Beyonder, she was seriously unqualified.