Mystery: Lucky One

"Old man..." Leonard swallowed hard and uttered one word, but there was no follow-up.

He really wasn't sure what to say. It wasn't hard to figure out that the child in Pales' words was Alice, but not everyone had the courage to gossip about the True God, not even talking behind his back.

——Maybe the goddess was watching them just now?
Leonard was still frightened at the thought of such a possibility, even though he knew the probability was so small that it was almost non-existent.

Perhaps the first time you do something like blasphemy is the most shocking. Pales, who seemed to have gotten used to it, laughed:
"Look at your worthless look!"

Leonard didn't dare to speak.

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet. Leonard sat quietly on the bed. After a long time, his breathing calmed down a little. He asked Pales:

"Do I pray to the Fool now?"

After a pause, he whispered again, "No, that's not right. Shouldn't I ask about the ritual of praying to the Fool first?"

Pales asked in a strange tone: "Who do you ask?"

Leonard was silent after hearing this. He knew of only three people who might know about the ceremony. Two of them had no contact information, and the remaining one was suspected to be inconvenient to contact. Leonard opened his mouth and closed it again. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said as if he had made up his mind:

"In that case, I will just pray to the Fool..."

……

When he heard the prayer, Klein was lying on the luxurious bed in the first-class cabin, feeling the spacious and clean room that was bought with money.

Men…who would pray at this time?

Klein thought about it but didn't come to a conclusion. He stood up and walked four steps backwards until he reached the top of the gray fog.

The crimson star that made the prayer sound was swelling up, but Klein frowned. He realized that the star was not one of the stars he was familiar with. It was a completely new star.

He had encountered this situation once before, when Emlyn the Moon tested the Fool at the behest of the Blood Clan elders. But now...

Klein spread his spirituality and was surprised to find Leonard.

Leonard... ?
Klein was stunned for a moment. Even though Leonard had long known the Fool's real name, and Alice had also told him that Leonard might pray to him, but...

Why today? Why now?

Klein frowned and couldn't help but doubt Alice, who was responsible for delivering the message. He thought for a moment, called Alice up, and asked her as she walked down the stairs:

"What did you tell Leonard?"

Alice didn't understand the origin of this unexpected disaster. She looked at Klein in confusion and said naturally:

"That's what you asked me to say..."

Klein didn't believe her. She had a history of translating too many Chinese characters into Chinese characters, so Klein said directly:

"Repeat that."

Alice frowned and walked to the long bronze table. After thinking for two seconds, she grabbed the back of a chair and started dragging it.

Klein hurriedly stopped her and asked, "What are you doing?"

Alice then put down her hand and turned her head to explain why she did this: "The seat is too far away... Why did you call me and still use this table?"

Klein held his forehead and said to her:
"Next time you can stand or sit on the table... Now, repeat what you said."

Alice looked at him in confusion, but accepted the suggestion. She withdrew her hand, walked to the front of the long table, stood up straight, and repeated her original words to Klein:
"Klein asked me to tell you that Dwayne Dantes discovered Ince Zangwill's trace on the Mid-Range Island in the Raging Sea while on his way to the Southern Continent."

When reciting this sentence, Alice even put her hands behind her back, raised her head, and spoke in a serious tone.

This was a flawless retelling. Klein frowned and explained to Alice why he did this:

"Leonard just suddenly prayed to me."

"Huh?" Alice looked at him with a confused look.

Klein pinched his brows and continued:

"Look, you don't understand it either, right? I don't understand it either. I thought there was something wrong with your retelling..."

Alice blinked and asked Klein sincerely:
"Why don't you ask him to come up and ask?"

After a pause, Alice's eyes suddenly lit up, and she sat up straight and said:
"I'm already up here, why don't you let me try to pull him up?"

Klein was stunned for a moment, but this was not a difficult request. He frowned and agreed to Alice's words:
"it is good."

Alice excitedly spread her spirituality to envelope the crimson star. She was no stranger to such actions. As an angel, she soon discovered that such behavior was very similar to her behavior when receiving prayers.

——In her spiritual perception, the praying believers are nothing but bulging “stars”.

However, I felt more... I could vaguely sense the presence of other Beyonders of the same path, especially high-sequence ones...

Is it because of uniqueness?

Alice blinked thoughtfully and tried to spy on Leonard's spirit.

This was the first time she observed Leonard with such a special perspective. She immediately noticed that there was a ball of light hidden in Leonard's body. The ball of light seemed to be composed of countless time worms, hidden deep in his spiritual body.

...Pallez?

Alice was a little curious. She tried to extend her spiritual power over and gently pushed the ball of light.

……

After instructing Leonard to pray, Pales stayed quietly in Leonard's spiritual body, while concentrating on observing the changes in Leonard's spiritual body.

A force recklessly and violently broke into Leonard's spiritual body. Pales felt that it was like a small hand, touching here and there, and finally...

Pushed Him.

...Is this the character of a fool?
Pales was stunned for a moment. He always felt that this was not like the character of the Fool. Instead, it reminded him of another person who was closely related to the Fool. He struggled to crawl back to his original position, but his hand shrank back suddenly as if it had seen a ghost.

...?
Pales was stunned for a moment. When he was frowning in thought, Leonard had already opened his eyes and asked him:
"Old man, did you notice anything?"

Pales wanted to say yes, but he felt that this matter was a bit strange. In order not to embarrass himself in front of the Fool's younger generation, Pales calmly replied:
"Wait a little longer." So Leonard continued to wait patiently, and Pales also waited as He said. Not long after, He noticed something unusual and shouted:

"Boy, are you still there?"

No one responded to Him.

……

After curiously pushing the ball of light, Alice was horrified to find that the bugs inside the ball of light were crawling around, in and out, moving with the ball of light.

This reminded Alice of some bad dreams. She withdrew her spirituality and told Klein under his puzzled gaze:
"Okay, you come later."

Klein looked at him in confusion. Alice replied calmly:
"I just wanted to see if I could pull the person up, and I've just confirmed that I can, so I won't continue.

"After all, it's better to let Mr. Fool personally handle the first appearance of a new member."

Although he felt something was wrong, after thinking for a while and failing to figure it out, Klein decided not to embarrass himself. He decided to pull Leonard up and ask him about it.

……

Leonard sat on the bed and waited patiently. Soon, a deep red light emerged from his chest and submerged him completely.

By the time Leonard reacted, towering stone pillars had appeared before his eyes. They stood above the endless gray-white mist, supporting a magnificent palace that looked like a giant's residence.

His green eyes were blank. After a second of silence, Leonard realized that he had sat down beside an ancient, mottled bronze table. Beside and opposite him were high-backed chairs that gave off a sense of majesty and solemnity.

At the top of the mottled long table, a figure was shrouded in thick gray fog, leaning back in a chair leisurely, as if looking down at everything in the world.

A blonde, blue-eyed girl slid down from the long table skillfully, turned around, tilted her head, and then ran to a chair opposite and sat down.

Leonard's eyes subconsciously followed the figure. He was already vaguely aware of the girl's identity. It was not until she sat down that he suddenly realized that there was another person in this palace.

Is that... a fool?
Leonard turned his head subconsciously, and felt that the aura emanating from that figure was broad and majestic, like an unfathomable deep sea or a peak that could not be seen to the top.

In an instant, thoughts flashed through Leonard's mind, and he had a rough guess about his own situation. As an extraordinary person in the church and a believer who firmly believed in the real existence of gods, he could not resist the feelings in his heart, and subconsciously left his seat to worship the existence in front of him.

"puff."

The girl's laughter was particularly conspicuous at this time. This voice did not seem to be disguised like during the Tarot Club. Leonard easily recognized that this voice belonged to Alice. Halfway through his standing, he suppressed his various thoughts and was about to stand up again, but was pressed back by a force.

At the head of the bronze table, the figure spoke with a warning voice:
"destiny."

The content was short, only one word. Leonard could just see it from his seat. Alice bit her lip during that word and covered her mouth with her hands.

Then she turned her head and looked at the head of the long bronze table with a pitiful look.

It was difficult for Leonard to describe his feelings at this moment. The first reaction that popped into his mind was what Pales said.

...Could it be that the Goddess and the Fool really have a child?

This was extremely disrespectful, especially since he was in front of the throne of the gods. Leonard was not sure if the Fool had the hobby of mind reading. He quickly gathered his thoughts and looked up at the Fool.

The figure in the gray fog did not seem angry. He shifted his gaze from Alice to Leonard and said in a low and calm voice:
"No need to bother.

“You can call me Mr. Fool.

"As for fate...you should know each other?"

The Fool... As expected... Leonard exhaled. Although Alice had changed a lot since she was in Tingen, Leonard couldn't help but subconsciously treat her as an old friend and trusted her, so he also had basic trust in the Fool.

He relaxed a little, half stood up, put his hand on his chest and saluted:
"Yes, dear Mr. Fool, I have indeed met Miss Destiny."

Alice couldn't help laughing.

She leaned back in her chair, one hand on the table, the other hand covering her stomach, laughing without restraint. Leonard stood there at a loss. He didn't dare to look up, turn his head, or sit down. Fortunately, Mr. Fool seemed to have long been accustomed to this scene. He spoke in a good-tempered manner:

"You sit down first."

Leonard sat down nervously.

As if to make sure that he was sitting firmly, Mr. Fool looked at Alice who was smiling happily, and said to her coldly and without emotion:
"Shut up."

Alice bit her lower lip with her upper teeth, but she couldn't stop laughing. She explained as if she was arguing:

"You know this is funny!"

Klein looked at her expressionlessly. Alice saw this scene through the gray fog, and she had to suppress her smile. This was actually not that difficult for the "machine", but in most cases, no one was worth Alice's tolerance for them.

Klein was one of the few who were like this. Alice took the smile off her face, clearly showing her unhappiness, and her whole body collapsed.

Seeing that she had finally quieted down, Klein didn't continue talking to her. He took the opportunity to turn to Leonard:

"Why do you only pray to me without telling me what you are praying for?"

Leonard paused.

He wanted to ask the Fool for Alice’s name, or ask the Fool to pass on a message, but such things sounded too rude, as if he was treating the Fool as a messenger.

So after several revisions and hesitations, Leonard finally decided on an answer that was to just recite the honorific name and say nothing else.

He looked around, carefully considered his words and said:

“I…I wanted to ask you.

"I have a friend named Klein Moretti, maybe you know..."

Alice’s laughter interrupted his subsequent words. Leonard looked at Alice hesitantly, and couldn’t help but want to ask the Fool if she was always like this, but considering his identity, he stopped quietly.

Klein knew why Alice was laughing. To be honest, this was not an excessive behavior. After all, this matter was really funny - watching two people he knew, one pretending to be a god, and the other thinking that the other was really a god. This kind of thing would be funny to anyone.

But he was a fool now, and he couldn't just watch Alice laugh lawlessly. He looked at Alice again and said to her:
"If you can't keep quiet, get out of here."

The deterrent power of this sentence is greater than that of any of the previous sentences. Alice instantly became quiet. She bit her lip and began to look at the Fool with a wronged look. (End of this chapter)