Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 301 How dare you come here alone?
"You may come out now, Mr. David."

The young man's calm voice echoed in the smoke and dust. Upon hearing this, except for Saint Shalia, the other companions opened their eyes wide and showed an expression of disbelief. The deep forest was silent for a while, and finally a thoughtful sigh was heard: "Oh?"

Professor David, dressed in a black suit, a bowler hat, white gloves, and leaning on a walnut cane, slowly walked out from the cover of the trees. He looked up and down at the calm-looking young man with interest. There was no trace of panic or confusion on his face after being attacked. He smiled and said, "I thought I was hiding well. How did you find me?"

"I didn't notice you, I just guessed you would follow us."

Linger replied: "Do you know old Mr. Milev Novich?"

"Milev Novich?" Professor David thought about it carefully and found that he really had no impression of him, so he shook his head and said, "I don't know this person, but the surname Novich sounds quite familiar to me?"

"Of course you will find it familiar, because Norwich is not a surname. It was originally a given name. It only became a surname after the establishment of Avignon, just like your surname, Professor David." Linger said, "When the village of Avignon still existed, the Norwich family served as the village chief for at least three hundred years. The local power is deeply rooted, and they know more about the past history of this land than your history tutor at Nimsher University. This morning, when I visited this old gentleman, I confirmed some things with him, including the fate of the sinner David."

He paused for a moment, in fact, to give his companions time to digest the information, and to let them know that he did not disappear for no reason in the morning, but had something important to do, and then he continued: "The legend only mentions that the sinner David betrayed the village and caused Avignon to lose the favor of the Great Wind, but did not mention his final fate. I guess it is because the Kreisov Dynasty and the Blue Sky Cult both had traces of intervention in this matter, and later generations avoided it. However, history books and legends can be modified, but oral memories cannot. Therefore, Mr. Norwich told me clearly that after the sinner David left the village of Avignon, he took refuge with the Kreisov royal family, and also believed in the God of the Holy Sky Mountain and became a believer of the Blue Sky Cult. Later he disappeared, and no one knows the reason, but I guess, maybe he did not disappear, but just changed his surname and appeared in the eyes of the world in another identity. What do you think, Professor Hansen David - or so."

"Professor Hansen David?"

As soon as the words fell, the atmosphere fell into an eerie silence. The frozen ice was enough to suffocate the 10,000 sardines floating in it, like a deadly funeral under the sea.

His forced smile and cold, gloomy eyes made people feel pressured and creepy.

Linger nodded calmly.

As for why he didn't tell his companions, it was because he felt that they were not able to maintain a normal mentality when they knew that they were being followed by the enemy, and it was inevitable that they would reveal their flaws. If Professor David became alert and was unwilling to act rashly, it would be much more difficult to deal with a hidden enemy than an open enemy.

The professor slowly stroked the heavy and round top of the walnut cane with his precious and elegant white gloves, feeling the smooth surface rubbing against his palm without any stagnation, and suddenly chuckled: "Betraying the covenant of the brass book and trying to seize the power of the angels, the serious consequences of failure are unimaginable. The anger and dissatisfaction of the people of Avignon are secondary. The domestic opposition forces used this as a reason to question the orthodoxy of the Kreisov dynasty and the significance of the existence of the Heavenly Order, and even tried to overthrow the existing regime and establish a new rule, which triggered the chaotic era known to later generations, and the land of Leisenburg was in endless strife. Under such circumstances, still using the original name will inevitably put oneself in danger, so the ancestor just made a more wise decision."

“Wait, wait!?” Alice finally reacted. Not only her, but her companions also reacted and understood something shocking: “In other words, the sinner David who colluded with the Kreisov royal family and the Heavenly Order, betrayed the angels, betrayed the village of Avignon, and finally left a secret passage and wrote “A Study of Avignon’s Antiquity” is actually Professor David’s ancestor!?”

It was precisely because of the information obtained from Mr. Norwich and the conclusion drawn from the clues he had already grasped that Linger had raised his vigilance before setting out. Not only did he tell Saint Shalia about this, but he also used the grace magic "premonition" before entering the secret passage, so that he could react when David launched an attack, remind him in time and successfully avoid his sneak attack.

Olvera quietly shrank back a little, trying to reduce her presence, but Alice was not afraid of this threat. She snorted coldly: "None of your business. If I tell you that I bought this for five pennies at a second-hand bookstore on the roadside, would you believe it? Of course you won't believe it, but there's nothing I can do about it. It's true. Alas, maybe this is luck?"

He indirectly acknowledged Ling's guess.

"Avignon Antiquity? You really did learn the exact location of the secret passage from this book." Even though the conspiracy was exposed, Professor David still had a gentle smile on his face, but his eyes under the silver-rimmed glasses looked a little sinister, and his hand on the walnut cane subconsciously increased the force: "Our ancestor David left behind records about angels, covenants, and secret passages, but they were accidentally destroyed by the unworthy descendants of the clan, leaving only a broken copy. Grandfather, father, and I, three generations of people, studied for many years before we finally found the brass scroll buried by the Kreisov royal family from those few words, but we still couldn't find the location of the secret passage. And you, you found the real windmill village ruins so easily, found the secret passage so easily, and realized our long-cherished wish so easily... Tell me, where did you get it from?"

I won’t tell you that it’s the power of the girl’s kingdom!
"Lucky?"

This joking reply obviously did not satisfy Professor David. He slowly clenched his cane. If it were not for the gloves, one could definitely see that the joints on his palms had turned white from squeezing too hard. "How ridiculous and stupid - can the word 'luck' be enough to surpass the efforts of three generations of us!?"

This frivolous and ignorant blonde maid had no idea how long the "Davids" had waited for this day, and how hard they had worked. Betrayal, conspiracy, killing, lies, deception... are only part of it, and only the most common part. Grandfather worked hard to finally find the tomb of the last emperor of the Kresov royal family, and excavated the most important Kresov brass scroll from it. This alone exhausted him and he died early at the age of fifty. My father relied on his own ability to join the top of the Holy Spring Monastery. He was a powerful and noble magician, but he was forced to voluntarily withdraw from the evacuation plan and stayed in Nimscher. He pretended to join the Order Union and was deprived of the qualification to use magic, just to keep a hope. He tried to decipher the brass scroll and studied at Nimscher University for ten years, but gained nothing. When he became the director of the Lubeon Museum, he was frightened every day, worried about the Order Union. Worried that the ruins of the original windmill village might contain important clues, he spent a huge amount of money to get in touch with the Avion City Government and deliberately restricted the area to tourists. He even carefully selected the best and calmest young member of the David family to be responsible for guarding and maintaining the area. The manpower, financial resources and material resources invested in this are incalculable. Even when Rochelle came to Nimsher with a letter from His Majesty Keliul, asking him to assist in the plan of the summoning ceremony, he was able to endure such a harsh request without making a sound... And all these efforts are not as good as Alice's light "lucky"?
That being the case.

"Let me see if your 'luck' can protect you to the end." Professor David sneered.

"Oh? Are you so confident that you can beat us?" Alice quietly took her equipment off her belt, holding the game console in one hand and the cartridge of "Initial Fantasy: Four Warriors" in the other. The familiar metal texture made her regain her confidence, and her eyes flashed with eagerness. After being beaten up in the controller mode for several days, she couldn't wait to show her true skills as a talented player in the real game: "If I'm not mistaken, you came here alone, right?"

"so what."

Professor David continued to sneer. He thought Alice's idea was ridiculous. The battle between magicians was not determined by the number of people. "Although you seem to have used some special method to conceal your aura, it is essentially just a group of little girls playing around. You lack vigilance. I secretly followed your movements when you were deciphering the brass book, and later sent people to track you to the hotel you were staying in, but you didn't notice anything. You are so careless. Even if you have some magic power, you are just a clumsy beginner, as shallow and ignorant as a child."

After mocking the girls including Alice, he turned his gaze to Ling Ge and Saint Shallia: "You did surprise me. If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Ling Ge, you were able to detect my attack in advance, which should be the effect of the Shepherd's Path's grace magic [Premonition]. As for this lady, she is even more interesting. She deflected my magic without any magic fluctuations. I have never seen such a special way of using magic."

He did not think that Saint Shallia's thread of destiny was a higher level of power than magic, but that she had somehow concealed her aura when she manipulated magic. This technique was very useful because it could be used to confuse the sensitive and suspicious but rigid magic detection instruments of the cult.

Saint Xia Liya shook her head slightly, meaning that your guess was wrong. As for why she didn't say it out loud, it might be because she didn't want to communicate with such a person; and Linger frowned because he found something wrong: How did Professor David know his name?

“So it was that time!”

Alice recalled that when she left the Lubeon Museum, she had a premonition that was not true, but she thought it was an illusion caused by too many people at the time and did not pay attention to it. Was it actually the secret attention from Professor David?
Now that she thought about it, when she and Olvera were discussing the matter of the Kreisov brass scroll, Professor David had already seen through the thread of fate and noticed Olvera's existence, right? But she pretended to know nothing and saw nothing, and she still thought she had concealed it well.

This is too treacherous!

No, I can't just blame this guy. Although he is indeed treacherous, am I not careless? Xiao Xia had said long ago that the effect of the thread of fate is short-lived and limited, but I and others did not listen to her words and over-trusted in the protection of this phantom, which led to the current situation.

Alice gradually calmed down and realized that now was not the time to be angry. She could leave the blame for later. After all, Lingge would definitely scold them all. Before that, she had to kill this annoying old man first!

"The era of using magic and sorcery to distinguish between the strong and the weak is over. At least in front of me, Alice, it's over, you dark-minded, outdated, and paranoid uncle!"

With calm anger, she tightly grasped her game console and held the cartridge in her other hand. Under Professor David's gaze, as if she was looking at a lunatic, she suddenly inserted the cartridge into the game console. The crisp and loud click made by the interface being inserted into the slot sounded like the bite of metal gears, full of a certain mysterious feeling of steel: "Now--"

"See the latest and most powerful gaming magic!"

"Hen, sin (transformation)!!!"

As soon as she finished speaking, strings of 0s and 1s, like faint blue phantoms, instantly flowed out from between her fingers, spreading across the entire valley at a speed that was difficult to capture with the naked eye. Those flashing arcs of lightning were like the call of gods from an unknown realm, transforming the essential appearance of the world every moment, every minute and every second.

Game field, expand.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)