Above the Gray Fog, Klein had barely recovered his spirituality when he pulled Alice up and impatiently asked, "What exactly happened?"
"What do you mean, what happened?" Alice, who had just settled into her seat, was a little confused. "Oh, you mean that Mercury Serpent?"
"'Mercury Serpent'? A Mercury Serpent had its eyes on you?" Klein repeated Alice's words.
"One." Alice seriously corrected Klein's classifier.
"..." Klein's carefully prepared words caught in his throat. It took him some effort to remember what he had wanted to say. "How exactly did It set Its sights on you?"
Alice leaned against the back of her chair and looked at Klein resentfully. "If I knew, I wouldn't be here..."
"Then, then what did you mean when you spoke to The Hanged Man?" Klein pressed on.
"...It was a revelation," Alice replied softly. "It needs me to stand high enough. That way, my death will have meaning."
Klein was slightly taken aback.
"I feel like I'm an incompletely matured Potion Ingredient..." Alice pinched the bridge of her nose and complained. "As for why It can't tamper with my fate, I think the answer is very obvious, isn't it?"
Klein froze for a moment, then quickly remembered what Alice meant.
Whether it was the Lucky One who had died at the beginning, Megose's later death, Alice's resurrection, or even how Alice had first woken up in this body, all of it proved that Alice's fate had once been influenced by an unknown force.
And the Goddess had directly told Alice as much.
"You think that force has a higher status than an Angel?" Klein asked in confusion. "But how can you be sure?"
"Otherwise, after I trusted Charlie King and accepted the deposit he paid in advance, I wouldn't have encountered that Mercury Serpent again