This Is Bad, I Can't Keep It Hidden Anymore

The chuunibyou-ridden words made the corner of Alice's mouth twitch uncontrollably. Considering that Old Neil was still watching her, Alice quickly skipped over Emperor Roselle's chuunibyou remarks, romantic exploits, and assorted musings, searching for anything useful.

"January 3rd. My original choice was still too rash. Looking at it now, whether it was 'Apprentice,' 'Diviner,' or 'Marauder,' any of them would have been better. Unfortunately, there's no way to turn back now."

Alice silently noted down these three pathways, temporarily suppressing her desire to figure out why they were better.

"January 4th. Why are my children so stupid? I've told them ten thousand times not to be fooled by those charlatans. No, perhaps those charlatans have been fooled themselves. The key to potions isn't mastery, but digestion! Not excavation, but acting! And a potion's name isn't merely its core symbol—it is also a concrete image, and even more so, the 'key' to digestion!"

Digestion and acting. A potion's name was the key... Alice briefly considered the name of her own Sequence, but with Old Neil still present, she immediately reined in her train of thought and returned the diary to him.

"Is this all we have?"

"There simply aren't that many events involving mysticism," Old Neil said, shaking his head. "What happened to you was already the biggest Supernatural Event in Tingen City in recent years."

Alice chose to keep quiet.

"Where were we? Oh right, I remember you should have already learned meditation and Spirit Vision?" Old Neil asked.

Alice nodded, then shook her head. "A Monster's eyes can often see far more than Spirit Vision."

Old Neil nodded in understanding, then said to her, "I think that, as a Monster, you should fully understand the importance of restraining your curiosity."

Alice nodded. Even though she did not take it seriously—after all, without experiencing it firsthand, no amount of warning from others could make someone understand the terror involved. In fact, hearing it so often had stirred up a faint, subtle rebelliousness in Alice, who was not very old to begin with.

Of course, it was not as though Alice did not know how to restrain herself. Her principle was that as long as her spirituality gave no warning, she could mess around however she liked...

"I'll first teach you how to perform divination..." At this point, Old Neil sighed deeply. "Originally, you should have been learning together with Klein. Why Exactly did Dunn separate the two of you?"

"Probably because the captain thought learning with your eyes closed wasn't a Good Idea." Alice put on an act and sighed as well.

"What do you mean?" Confusion appeared in Old Neil's eyes.

"When Klein gets close to me, my spirituality frantically warns me not to look at him..." Recalling the spirituality that had screamed madly that morning, Alice could not help but Rubbed Her Temples.

This had clearly exceeded Old Neil's expectations as well. After all, his Mystic Seer eyes had not seen anything unusual. But considering that Mystic Seers peeped at knowledge, while a Monster's eyes, influenced by spirituality, mostly saw things related to fate, he found it understandable again.

After all, Klein was also a Lucky One who had survived an incident in which no one should have survived. It was impossible to say whether he had truly escaped that incident—from Alice's reaction, there was a High Probability that he had not.

After leaving the Nighthawks Headquarters, Alice returned to her bedroom. Following the posture of the girl from her memories, she arranged herself into a praying position and recited in Ancient Hermes Language, "The Fool who does not belong to this era, the Mysterious Ruler Above the Gray Fog, the Yellow-Black King Who Holds Good Luck..."

Mr. Fool was startled.

Following the Crimson Star from which the voice came, he looked over and saw Miss Alice praying beneath the holy emblem of the Goddess of the Night.

Of course—Mr. Fool had not Realized there was anything wrong with this behavior. The reason he had been startled was that Miss Alice, who had asked him who The Fool was over lunch, had recited a prayer that even he himself Didn't Even Know could point to him!

"Could there be another Fool?" As Mr. Fool pondered this, he pulled Alice, who had casually prayed to a Great Being she had never even heard of, up above the Gray Fog.

Deep Red light surged forth like a tide. Alice calmly allowed it to engulf her, and when she Opened Her Eyes again, she had Appeared Before a grand Divine Palace Above the Gray Fog.

Alice was about to Looked Towards the seat of honor when the shrieks of her spirituality made her stop. She hesitantly Closed Her Eyes, Turned Her Head in that direction, and said, "...Klein?"

"?"

Mr. Fool was terrified right now. He had no idea how this Miss Lucky One knew the prayer or how she had connected him with The Fool. But he likely Never Expected that his helpless silence was precisely what made Alice certain of her guess.

"So, you are Zhou Mingrui, and you are also The Fool."

Those soft words, almost like a declaration of judgment, instead calmed Klein down—so be it if his identity was exposed. At least Alice was his fellow countryman and colleague. Maybe she could even help him keep it hidden for a while. That was better than being discovered by a stranger...

After temporarily fobbing Alice off with "I'll explain in person later," and having her draw a Wheel of Fortune card from the Tarot Card deck, Mr. Fool pulled The Hanged Man and Justice up.

"Good Afternoon, Mr. Fool~ Oh? This is..."

Miss Justice, Or Rather Audrey, had been about to greet Mr. Fool and Mr. Hanged Man when she suddenly noticed a girl seated beside her. The girl was leaning against the back of her chair, her eyes tightly shut.

"This is Miss Fortune," Klein introduced Alice to Justice and The Hanged Man. Then, looking at Alice with her eyes closed, he suddenly Realized something. "Miss Fortune... um, you can Tried To materialize a pair of glasses in front of your eyes."

So Alice Tried To materialize a pair of glasses as Klein instructed. Her frantically screaming spirituality stopped screaming. She Opened Her Eyes and looked at Klein for the first time—only to find that she could not see his face clearly.

"..." Alice fell silent for a moment. Then she looked at Justice and The Hanged Man, who had risen to their feet, and decided to stay in formation with them, standing up as well.

"These two are Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man."

After Klein finished the introductions, Miss Justice happily began greeting her. "Good Afternoon, Miss Fortune~"

Alice Blinked Her Eyes and Replied in much the same tone, "Good Afternoon, Miss Justice~"

After briefly looking at each other, they turned toward The Hanged Man with remarkable mutual understanding and spoke in unison, "Good Afternoon, Mr. Hanged Man~"

Young, Female, and Looks like she lived in a family that Didn't Need to worry about making a living, though she was probably not a noble...

Alger, who had been observing Alice, was startled by the two Young Girls' "Good Afternoon" duet. He withdrew his gaze and returned the greeting.

Klein: How did you trick me.jpg