Mystery: Lucky One

Alice left the police station with mixed feelings and walked towards St. Samuel's Church.

She had stuffed "Matilda" back into her pocket. After all, the relationship between Alice and Briar didn't seem to be a complete secret. Oh, and there was also Miss Fate who had kept Gehrman Sparrow on the Five Seas...

Alice covered her face with her hands.

A few seconds later, she figured everything out and put her hand down - in this kind of situation, the one being kept should be the one who suffers more socially.

...No, wait, they are obviously not in that kind of relationship!
Alice closed her eyes and continued walking towards the church.

She did not call a cab, chiefly because she had no money—perhaps she could have chosen to pay on delivery, if she had not felt sufficiently ashamed of herself.

Oh, actually, she has another option which is to go to the Storm Church and rob money again. Just use "Matilda" to change her face and remember to wear the monocle before leaving...

After all, it would take time to report to the “Lord of Storms”. As long as she ran fast enough, she wouldn’t have to worry about being…wait, in that case, why didn’t she just go to the church?

Alice stood there in silence for two seconds, then her figure flashed and disappeared from where she was, appearing outside St. Samuel's Church.

……

After contacting Alice, Klein felt more relieved. He breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the suitcase and cash above the gray fog with satisfaction, and returned to the real world.

After returning the potion ingredients and "Matilda" to Alice as she had instructed, Klein suddenly discovered that the telegraph had picked up another signal.

He hurried over, recorded it quickly, and then used the code book to translate it into corresponding letters to form words.

Not long after, the contents of the telegram signal appeared on the paper, in dark black ink:
"I see you."

This startled Klein. He had been planning to leave, so he immediately packed up his things, placed his suitcase and most of the cash on the gray fog, and prepared to flee.

But this was not enough, he also needed a bodyguard who could guarantee his own safety, the stronger the better. After much thought, he thought that only Alice and Renette Tinicole could be available at any time.

——Although Alice did many things that challenged his "clown" control, whether it was the time when she pretended to be Admiral Amyrius or the time when she set out for the ruins, everything did end "smoothly" in the end...

Klein chose to believe Alice.

But Alice was about to take the potion materials, and it was obvious what she was doing. Klein first contacted Renette Tinicole. After agreeing to the asking price of 10,000 gold coins, he had his first bodyguard on call and was determined to go find Alice.

——Alice would never ask him for money.

It’s just that she would make some requests that are particularly difficult… By the way, didn’t she also say that she wanted to touch my mythical creature form?
Klein lowered his head and thought seriously.

He quickly gave up thinking about it, because he realized that it didn't matter at all, because even if he didn't agree, Alice would probably try her best to make him come out to see it, and then touch it...

He closed his eyes, went above the gray fog, found Alice, and explained what had just happened.

After receiving Alice's affirmative answer, Klein checked the seven "Good Luck" charms on his body. Suddenly, he couldn't help laughing and muttered:
"Now it seems like 'good luck has really come'... Come to think of it, is this considered a disposable Poké Ball?"

He shook his head, dealt with the traces, went to the hotel front desk to pay the bill, and took a carriage directly to the edge of Bayam, out of the city and up the mountain, apparently going to the cemetery prepared for the local natives.

Halfway through his journey, he suddenly turned into the woods and walked straight to the edge of the cliff, where a huge underwater creature was already waiting below!
Insects were crawling in the woods, and small wild animals occasionally ran by. Klein walked very quickly on the humus ground.

Along the way, he could see mushrooms growing after the rain, and rags and other garbage left behind by some Bayam citizens during their picnics. Everything was so peaceful, and accompanied by the fresh morning air.

A leaf fell down, and Klein did not stop and easily dodged it.

At this moment, the leaf suddenly accelerated, and even turned strangely, sticking to his mouth and nose.

It was like an adult's palm, tightly covering Klein's nose and mouth, making it impossible for him to breathe.

Whoosh whoosh!
Branches from trees all around fell off and shot toward Klein like sharp arrows.

And the fragments, papers and other things left over from the picnic also had their own vitality. They connected together to form an impenetrable strange net, and "pounced" over!

Suddenly, Klein had a feeling that every tree, every leaf, every stone, and every blade of grass around him wanted to kill him.

Seeing that the strange net made of debris, paper and other garbage was about to pounce on him, his body suddenly collapsed and became thinner, turning into a paper man.

Whoosh whoosh!
The paper strips, like sharp arrows, pierced through the paper man and fell far away, and the strange net immediately completely wrapped up everything there, twisting it into a ball and wriggling gently.

Klein's body appeared seven or eight meters to the side, knowing that the attack he had worried about had finally come.

Without any observation or hesitation, he raised his right palm and reached into his pocket to touch the "Good Luck" talisman.

The situation he had just encountered made him realize that the attacker was most likely a demigod from the "Rose School", an enemy he was currently unable to defeat!

At this moment, the paper figures in his pocket suddenly flew out and stuck to his face, one after another, layer upon layer!
At the same time, Klein's sleeves automatically tightened, restraining his arms and forearms, preventing his palm from reaching down.

His shirt and jacket were pulled inward, as if a giant python had identified them as food and was currently entangled with him, hunting him.

In just a second or two, he was bound in place by his own clothes, pants, and shoes, his face was covered with paper figures, his ribs were about to break, and breathing became extremely difficult.

Klein was mentally prepared and had extensive combat experience, so he did not panic at this moment. He pressed the thumb and middle finger of his unaffected right hand together, making a snapping sound.

Red flames suddenly rose up from the bend of his legs, burning the trouser legs that were tightly wrapped around his knees clean, and then spread upwards and downwards.

Seizing this opportunity, Klein raised his knees and bounced up with difficulty, then lunged to the right like a cannonball that had just been fired and had no power to fall to the ground.

He was in mid-air and snapped his fingers again, this time setting the sleeve of his right arm on fire!
Where he had originally stood, the green grass suddenly withered, and the black ground instantly turned white, as if it had been weathered for a long time.

The attack came without warning, but Klein's rich combat experience allowed him to first untie the restraints on his legs and quickly move away from his original position, avoiding the fatal blow. With a snapping sound, two places on Klein's sleeves caught fire, and his right palm finally had room to move. He reached into his pocket and grabbed the "Good Luck" charm.

thump!
He fell to the ground, rolled over, and immediately pushed his body up with his right hand, then snapped his fingers with his left palm wearing a human leather glove.

This time, his target was the paper people that were stuck to his face, making it impossible for him to breathe or make a sound.

The paper man burst into flames, and the red flames almost burned Klein's hair.

At this moment, a scene suddenly flashed through his mind: a thin arrow made of ice crystals and dyed dark green was running towards his head at an extremely fast speed!
Unable to dodge... The clothes that still bound his movements made Klein realize this. At the critical moment, without any thought, he touched the talisman with his spiritual power and read the spell loudly in ancient Hermetic language:
"Good luck!"

……

As soon as she landed, Alice felt the spell being triggered.

Without hesitation, she extended her spiritual power over. With her special perspective, nothing on the scene could be hidden from her "eyes". She easily caught a glimpse of the thin arrow that was about to arrive in an instant.

This is trust - trust in putting your life in her hands.

Alice couldn't describe her mood at the moment, and she didn't have time to think about it. Time was too urgent. She let her thinking be completely rational, and then she quickly came up with the best solution.

——After releasing the "Good Luck" spell, Klein staggered and fell diagonally to the right. The cold, tiny ice arrow hit his right chest in the process. His clothes shattered and flew around, revealing a dark brown-covered book underneath.

It was Alice... This strange coincidence made Klein realize this. He relaxed a lot, but still maintained his image and used the extraordinary ability of the "Joker" to avoid falling.

Alice paid no attention to the book; after all, they could talk about it later, so she just scanned the area, searching for any source of danger.

It is not difficult to find the "Blood Admiral" Senior, who is hiding in the form of a vengeful spirit, but he is not a demigod and is not enough to make Klein panic and ask for help in a life-and-death crisis. Alice spreads her spirituality and continues to search for the real target.

When she was several hundred meters away from Klein, she finally saw a figure from behind a green tree.

He was an old man with gray hair and deep wrinkles. Alice briefly judged his sequence and chose the most brutal solution in calm anger.

"Close your eyes." For safety reasons, she reminded Klein.

Klein closed his eyes obediently without any hesitation, and Alice turned her attention back to the demigod of the Rose School hiding in the tree.

A giant white, scaleless snake appeared next to the tree. It held its tail in its toothless, bloody mouth. It half turned its head and stared at the person hiding in the tree with its cold, blood-red pupils.

Waves of light were drawn from the spirit world and crashed into the spirit of this demigod of the "Rose School". The old man forgot to close his eyes in a trance and stared blankly at the scene in front of him.

Ten seconds later, a dry, brown-black puppet broke away from the tree and fell to the ground.

The white, scaleless giant snake transformed into a girl. She picked up the dried puppet from the ground and tossed it around while slowly walking back to Klein. She patted him and said,
"You can open your eyes."

Klein opened his eyes and looked at Alice.

Alice blinked, but did not choose to speak at the first opportunity. Instead, she looked into the air and blinked at the vengeful spirit on a certain bounty order and asked:

"Aren't you coming out yet?"

Admiral of Blood, Senior, appeared in the air. After a few seconds of silence, he faced Alice's slightly curious eyes and spoke his opening remarks:

“I can serve you, too, Your Highness.

"I can do better than Gehrman Sparrow."

"......?" Alice was shocked. She looked at the rumored "Blood Admiral" in surprise, then turned to look at Hermann. "What do you think?"

Klein was also greatly shocked. He glanced at the Blood Admiral Senior, who was worth 42000 pounds, and made a reliable suggestion:

"Your Highness, I am still short of a servant."

...Who taught him to call me His Highness!
Alice had an indescribable feeling of collapse. She made the decision without hesitation. A silver-white river surrounded the area where the three of them were. The already pale face of "Blood Admiral" Senior became even worse.

"You had a chance to escape," Alice said, looking for trouble. "I didn't intend to chase you... um, wait."

Alice seemed to have suddenly realized something, paused, turned her head and looked at Klein and asked:
"Who shot that icy arrow at you? Was it him?"

“I don’t know,” Klein answered honestly, “but he should have the ability to shoot ice arrows.”

So what happened next happened naturally. The "Blood Admiral" Senior, who was worth 42000 pounds, became the secret puppet of the new strongest hunter German Sparrow without any resistance.

“Then…bye?” Alice looked at Klein tentatively. “Or should we deal with the scene?”

"...Do you have any solution?" Klein asked tentatively.

Alice looked at Klein with a half-smile, and declared in a solemn tone:
"One minute after I leave here, a huge meteorite will fall here and destroy all traces of the scene."

As Klein looked at her in shock, Alice's figure disappeared from the spot. Klein was stunned for two seconds, then he ran away, hoping to get away from the area where the meteorite was about to fall as quickly as possible.

——He believed Alice's words without hesitation.

After dealing with Klein's affairs, Alice did not immediately ask about the things she was curious about, such as admiring Klein's new doll, asking for compensation from Klein, or asking about the origin of the book... because she still had something crucial to do.

——She still has to go to church.

Alice, who was called home by her parents, shook her head and sighed, playing with the little doll in her hand, stepped into St. Samuel's Church and walked underground. (End of this chapter)