Old Neil

Klein... Klein broke out in a cold sweat all over.

He had neither the mental fortitude tempered through later experience nor the facial control granted by the Clown Potion. Anyone could tell just how terrified Klein was right now.

Unfortunately, Alice, with her eyes covered, could not personally feel that terror. She asked in confusion, "Why aren't you answering me?"

...What was I supposed to answer?

Compared to considering whether he should tell Alice that he was The Fool, Klein decided to try steering the conversation in a safer direction.

"Isn't The Fool one of the Tarot Cards? Why did you suddenly ask about that?"

"..." Alice said nothing.

The obvious strain of forced calm in Klein's voice, coupled with his earlier silence, confirmed for Alice that he definitely knew something beyond the Tarot Cards.

Alice was not a particularly considerate girl. If pressing on could achieve her goal, she did not mind continuing, but she knew that, with no understanding of the situation, her earlier question had already been an extremely dangerous probe—she absolutely could not go any further.

Of course, the main reason was that this did not look like an idea endorsed by her spirituality.

In addition, after confirming that the place in her memories truly existed, and that there were even others in this world besides herself who came from that place, Alice had no more questions.

The lunch ended in an eerie atmosphere. Alice had no intention of breaking the silence, while Klein still had not fully recovered from the earlier emotional shock and had no interest in finding a topic to discuss.

That afternoon, Alice stepped into Nighthawks Headquarters once again and met Old Neil under Dunn's lead.

"So you're that Lucky One?" The Old Gentleman, his hair mottled white and dressed in a Classical Black Robe, sat at a desk. He raised his gaze from the book illuminated by the gas lamp and looked at Alice with amazement.

Alice was no stranger to that look. In fact, everyone who had Heard Of her story examined her that way—whether it was a Sequence 7 Lucky One accidentally falling to his death, or an Ordinary Person swallowing a Sequence 7 Beyonder Characteristic and becoming a Beyonder, both were Full Of Fate's distinctive black humor.

"Good Afternoon, Mr. Neil." Alice politely greeted the Mystic Seer who was said to possess abundant Mysticism Knowledge and considerable seniority.

—Then, she saw a pair of eyes.

Those eyes were Hidden In the dense darkness Behind Him, quietly watching Old Neil. Darkness spread from those eyes, bit by bit swallowing Old Neil.

If this continued, he would be surrounded by darkness like the captain... No, it would be worse than that! The captain had merely been surrounded; he would be devoured outright!

Alice restrained the urge to flee through the door. She tried hard to move her facial muscles, restoring flexibility to what had been stiff muscles, and revealed a bright smile without the slightest shadow.

...I can't provoke him.

"Sit," Alice heard Old Neil say. "Would you like a cup of hand-ground coffee?"

"Thank you..." Alice walked over and sat on a stool. "It seems you aren't drinking any?"

Alice noticed the Clear Water in the cup.

"Haha, it's a habit of mine. I don't drink coffee after three in the afternoon," Old Neil explained with a smile.

"Why... Hmm, because you won't be able to sleep?" Alice Guessed.

"That's right. Otherwise, you'll hear the whispers of inexplicable existences," Old Neil replied with a smile.

"..." Alice nearly failed to stop herself from glancing at those eyes again. She forcibly held back and changed the subject. "The captain said I can begin studying Mysticism Knowledge. What should we start with?"

As she spoke, Alice displayed the curiosity she ought to have had—she craned her neck toward the things on Old Neil's desk, trying to see what was there.

"I Heard Of you already... What are you looking at?"

"What is that?"

Alice's gaze had fallen on the yellowed page, and the reason it lingered there was quite simple—she recognized this writing! These square characters, completely different from Loen Characters—Simplified Chinese.

"This? It's Emperor Roselle's diary." Old Neil's tone sounded as though he were waiting for Alice to ask how he knew it was a diary.

"Emperor Roselle?" Alice recalled the information she knew about him. "The Emperor Roselle who invented many things and cop... wrote many books?"

The word "copied" that had slipped out plainly revealed Alice's true thoughts—after learning about Emperor Roselle's life, she had become certain that he, too, came from that mysterious place and had chosen to plagiarize... uh, carry forward the wisdom of his predecessors.

"That's right." Old Neil, despite not being asked, did not lose heart. "These are the lost diaries from before Roselle Gustav's death. To keep them secret, he recorded everything using strange symbols he invented himself."

Alice adopted the posture of a quiet listener.

"Because many people believe he did not truly die, but instead became a hidden god, cultists who worship him have continued to perform various rituals in an attempt to gain power. We occasionally encounter such cases and obtain several original pages or copied notebooks.

"Since, even today, no one has been able to decipher the true meaning of those special symbols, the Church allows us to keep copies for research, hoping for some unexpected surprise.

"I've already deciphered several of the symbols, confirmed that they represent numbers, and discovered that this is actually a diary! Well, I'm comparing historical events from the different dates, especially events around the emperor, against the diary entries from those corresponding dates to decipher more symbols."

The Old Gentleman's sparkling eyes seemed to be written with the words, "Praise me already," so Alice generously offered her praise. "What a genius approach!"

Old Neil smiled reservedly and pushed the yellowed pages toward her. "You look Very Curious about them. Would you like to have a look?"

With her wish fulfilled, Alice picked up the diary Without Hesitation and exclaimed in admiration, "Really? I can read it? Mr. Neil, you're such a good person!"

Alice noticed Old Neil's pleasure with satisfaction from the corner of her eye, then began to read the diary attentively.

"November 18th. What a marvelous thing. A whimsical experiment and an accidental mistake allowed me to discover a poor fellow trapped within a Storm, lost in the Depths of Darkness. He could only slightly approach the Real World during each full moon, yet he was still unable to send his cries inside. He was fortunate—he met me, the Protagonist of the Era."