Mystery: Lucky One

cough!cough!cough!
Anderson reached out to grab his throat while coughing violently, seeming to be unable to breathe.

With a snap, the glass fell from his hand, hit the floor and broke into pieces.

Cough, cough, cough... Anderson's coughing became weaker and weaker, and his face was already swollen and purple.

At this moment, a faint glow of fire appeared in his eyes, and the blue veins on the back of his hands began to wriggle as if they had a life of their own.

boom!
Anderson fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and then became motionless, and even his breathing seemed to have stopped.

The most famous "strongest hunter" on the sea, a Sequence 5 Beyonder, seemed to have choked to death.

This horrifying scene made the guests at the surrounding tables dumbfounded. Even Klein, who didn't like Anderson very much, felt a chill down his spine.

There is no doubt that Alice definitely brought back the bad luck.

Klein slowly realized what had happened, and Anderson, who was lying dead on the ground, turned over and sat up in silence, performing a revelation.

He touched his face in fear and muttered under the gaze of the people around him:

“Asshole, I almost choked to death on a mouthful of wine just now.

“If that’s the case, I could probably become the hunter with the funniest cause of death!
"Fortunately, fortunately, before entering that sea area, I spent a lot of money to buy this thing, and it finally came in handy today..."

As he spoke, Anderson pulled out a straw-like doll from the secret pocket on the lining of his vest. There were two eyes, a nose and a mouth crudely drawn on it with ink.

The surface of the doll has been corroded, and black liquid is dripping down drop by drop.

In just seven or eight seconds, it completely melted into liquid and became a stain on the floor.

It should be a stand-in prop or something like that. It seems that Alice must have seen that he had this... She should have seen it, right?
Klein tried to excuse Alice in his heart, but he soon realized sadly that even if Alice didn't see it, she would probably do the same thing - in her opinion, the consequences of returning bad luck should be attributed to the person who originally brought the bad luck, and it had nothing to do with her anyway.

This idea is not actually a problem, but she did it even though she knew it would kill the other person, and she didn't even bother to warn him - she even made people think that she didn't do anything and stuffed seven doom spells...

This is a blatant contempt for life.

…Or I should just continue to advance.

The laziness that had just arisen in him was quickly dispelled because of this incident. Besides, Alice had reminded him many times before that perhaps it was not up to him to decide whether to be promoted or not.

And the secrets about him... those are secrets that only angels can know. Without an angel, you don't even have the qualifications to hear them.

While he was thinking, a man dressed as an adventurer next to him called out to Anderson in a familiar voice:
"Hey, Anderson, it seems that God has finally opened his eyes and is ready to teach you a lesson?
"Hahaha, this is the first time I've seen someone so unlucky. He can choke to death just by drinking. Did you offend anyone, Anderson?

"Huh? Hahahaha!"

His tone was full of gloating. Klein judged that this adventurer had probably seen Anderson's provocative skills.

"Dylan!" Anderson called out, which should be the adventurer's name, but he did not continue chatting with him. Instead, he looked at German Sparrow as if he had been reminded.

“You…” Anderson began to speak carefully. Just as he uttered a syllable, Klein showed the seven doom spells to prove his innocence.

Taking back the talisman, Klein said to Anderson, "She should have returned the bad luck to you."

Anderson smiled bitterly and replied:

"I got it.

"I didn't expect... I didn't expect bad luck to be such a terrible thing. I thought it would just be encountering monsters or something, but choking to death...

"Tell me, is it too late for me to apologize to Him now?"

"Him?" Dylan joined the conversation unwillingly. His eyes fell on Klein and he asked tentatively, "Are you Gehrman Sparrow?"

Klein nodded.

“Hiss,” Dylan took a breath. Klein saw that his face had turned pale. “He… the demigod girl who is rumored to be supporting you, could she be an angel on earth?”

Angels on earth... Silence spread along with this word, inch by inch in the tavern. Even the bartender looked at them, waiting for German Sparrow's answer.

Keep me as a sponsor... Damn it, who on earth spread this rumor? As for the angel on earth... Well, it wouldn't have any impact on Alice if this matter got out. She was actually spreading this matter. What we have to consider is the impact on Gehrman's personality...

Will anyone think that Hermann's strength is all due to his background? However, this should not have much impact. As long as I have a few impressive achievements, this influence will soon disappear. Besides, I have already completed the role of "Faceless Man". This identity will probably disappear soon. The next step is to find the formula of Sequence 4 potion...

"We are not in that kind of relationship," Klein denied.

He said they were not in that kind of relationship, but he did not deny the existence of angels on earth... The guests looked at each other, and with Anderson's personal performance just now, everyone present took this as a tacit agreement.

Dylan wanted to ask more questions, but Anderson interrupted them:
"Hey, do you have a way to contact Him? His honorific name or something else..."

Klein glanced at Anderson and said jokingly:

"She should be in a place where she cannot receive prayers. You can pray to the Lord if you wish."

Anderson was silent for a moment and then asked, "Do you have any solution to this problem?"

"Yes," Klein replied, "If you apologize to her and ask for her forgiveness, I can tell you what kind of gift she likes, which will be counted as the 7000 pounds gift."

Anderson opened his mouth and closed it several times before asking, "So, how do I contact Him?"

“You can pray to the Lord,” Klein replied.

...?
Anderson looked at Klein in surprise, and after a while he asked:

"Can you do this for me?"

After a pause, he added:
"I can pay the price!"

Klein looked at him with pity and shook his head.
“I can ask for you and give you an answer tomorrow morning.

"You better live till then."

"...Is this a curse or a blessing?" Anderson asked dryly.

"Of course it's a blessing," Klein answered without hesitation, "You still owe me 7000 pounds."

……

Almost as soon as she stepped out of the sanctuary, Alice received a call from Klein. After thinking for two seconds, she did not respond, but flew straight down the mountain and flew towards Afternoon Town.

When she landed at the previous location, Alice was surprised to find that there was already a rudiment of a camp there and it was no longer empty.

Leo Master was sitting on a rock, and several members of the Silver City Exploration Team who were on duty were sitting around him, and even the chief was not far away.

They lit lanterns and bonfires, and in their hands they seemed to have food, probably meat - Alice was not sure, because the thing gave her a bad feeling, and her intuition told her that it was definitely not something suitable to be used as food, regardless of the taste.

Her arrival caused a small commotion, and Leo Master immediately shut up, and everyone else looked at her.

Alice blinked twice, walked over as if no one was around, and found a suitable seat in the circle to sit down. The burgundy-haired girl next to her immediately moved aside in surprise to make room for him.

Alice sat up with her legs crossed, and asked Leo Master:

“Are you telling a story?

"I want to listen too!"

Leo Master paused, and continued as if nothing had happened:
"Then, we encountered a terrible storm..."

Alice took the opportunity to close her eyes and knocked on the door of Kaiyuan Castle according to Klein's message. When she opened her eyes, she saw Klein, who seemed to be in a bad mood.

Alice instinctively began to recall what trouble she had gotten herself into.

Klein knew what she was thinking from the way she was thinking. He knocked on the table twice to attract Alice's attention. He didn't reason with Alice or scold her. Instead, he asked directly:
"How to solve the bad luck that befell Anderson?"

Alice paused for a moment and asked in confusion, "What happened?"

Her expression didn't seem like she was playing dumb. Klein glanced at her, thought for a moment, and told her what had happened:
"Anderson almost died..."

He started from the moment they got off the boat, and talked about how they entered the bar, ordered their food and drinks, and how Anderson almost choked to death because of a mouthful of wine.

In other words, Anderson actually choked to death, but he survived because of a substitute doll.

Alice paused, shook her head and said:
“…I didn’t intend to kill him.

"I just returned the bad luck to him. I didn't mean to kill him. I know you wouldn't use those spells. You're not that kind of person."

Alice hesitated, but didn't say the "he deserves to die" remark, even though that was what she was thinking in her heart.

Well, she knew... Fortunately, it's not that she saw that this would cause Anderson's death and didn't warn him, she just didn't pay attention to it... Fortunately, she hasn't paid attention to it yet.

Klein breathed a sigh of relief. At least Alice was just indifferent, not cruel. Her indifference... Anyway, this kind of thing has been going on for a long time. Forget it. It's good enough that he cares.

So Klein just glanced at her and didn't comment on her words. He just continued to ask:

"So, have you thought about how to solve this problem?"

He didn’t seem angry with me about it… Alice blinked and answered without hesitation: “Let him go to the goddess’ church to pray.”

The answer was unexpected but reasonable. Klein was stunned for a moment, accepted it, and then confirmed:
"You're sure he'll make it to church alive, aren't you?"

"...I can't guarantee that," Alice shook her head. "The so-called bad luck only increases the probability of bad things happening. There is no difference between being a little unlucky and being extremely unlucky at certain times, because in terms of probability, as long as it happens, it is 100% certain."

After a pause, she glanced at Klein, who hadn't said anything to her about this matter, and thought for a moment before saying:
"Although I think that the incident of him almost choking to death on alcohol should have taught him a profound enough lesson, but the 'Forsaken Land of Gods' cannot respond to prayers, and the fact is, I don't know how to leave here..."

“Ah?” The last sentence made Klein look at her in surprise. “Can’t you… go back the same way?”

“It’s hard to say,” Alice shook her head. “Maybe I can ask the True Creator. After all, I just came out of His sanctuary.”

Mr. Fool, who was being hunted by the "True Creator", fell into deep thought.

"What exactly did you do in the 'God-Forsaken Land'?" Klein tried to understand Alice's life.

"I..." Alice recalled her behavior since she entered the "God-Forsaken Land" and lowered her head.

Klein knew something was wrong when he saw her expression, so he changed the question:
"…What were you planning to do?"

"To the Western Continent." Alice answered without hesitation.

"And then?" Klein asked.

"I think I might be gone a year," Alice answered, "and then I'll start to think of ways to speed it up."

This was true; she was indeed thinking about it.

Klein, who was well versed in Alice's language skills, did not let down his guard and continued to ask:

"And then? What did you do? What solutions did you come up with?"

Alice stroked her chin and replied:
“Actually, I’ve thought of several solutions.

"First, I will go back to the sanctuary and find Ouroboros or the True Creator. I will convert on the spot and see if there is any other solution...

“Secondly, Silver City or other local residents living here may have a solution. I can ask them.

"The third one... well, I can go find Amon."

Klein listened carefully to her three methods and found that the only safe method was most likely useless.

He did not comment on this, but asked again the question that Alice had not answered:
"So...what did you do?"

Alice was silent for a few seconds, then tried to change the subject:

“Um… do you remember Will Auceptin?
“Are you interested in, uh…building a relationship with Him?

“I have a question for Him, but I don’t think He can answer it…”

"What's the problem?" Klein asked doubtfully.

"Hmm..." Alice chose her words carefully and told about the dream she had after meeting Will Auceptin, and then told about the dream she saw from Ouroboros.

After saying all this, she pinched her brows and said:
“If we follow this line of guessing, what He saw should be me climbing to the top of the tower… which means that I reached the top of the sequence and was swallowed up by Him in one gulp.

"So, He was so anxious to get me promoted at that time?" (End of this chapter)