Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 919 Is This a Gamble?

I punched the united cults, kicked the witch society, and was invincible in the East and West continents. Now I have Shino, which is like adding wings to a tiger!
Thinking of this, Alice almost couldn't help laughing out loud.

However, the idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. Lingge poured cold water on Alice with just one sentence: "The price is too high."

The price of victory is sacrifice, and according to Xino, the range of victims is likely to be centered on her social circle, randomly selected by unpredictable fate. Otherwise, the girl would not have to leave Sumiya University, downplay her interactions with classmates, and even dismiss all the family knights and servants in the Xiaduoli Manor. All these things she did were to narrow her social circle.

Until the end, the only people who stayed with the girl were her grandfather and Weber, the old butler who had watched her grow up. Both of them were loyal to the mission of the Gustaf family and had high hopes for Shino. Even if they sacrificed themselves for this, they would not have any complaints. Between the master and servant, fate finally chose the elderly Vandru Jean Gustaf.

There is a certain destiny somewhere.

"If we want to accept Xino, we must be prepared to sacrifice at the same time." The young man glanced at the golden-haired maid and said in a tone that was neither light nor heavy, as if just reminding her: "This is real death, which is different from the games you usually play. In the game, you can treat death as commonplace, but this is reality. I hope you can think carefully before speaking, Alice."

“Hmm.” As expected, Alice frowned deeply, feeling a little awkward: “I don’t treat it as a daily routine… My skills are still pretty good, and I rarely game over recently.”

Is this what we should be concerned about?
Lingge didn't want to pay attention to her anymore.

However, the young man's words did touch the golden maid. She looked up and looked around. The figures of her companions came into her sight, along with their voices and breath. They were all close at hand, as if they were within reach. This was different from the character portraits or pixel models in the virtual world, and also different from those passers-by who were just background boards. They had experienced wonderful adventures together, faced powerful enemies together, and played and fought together on the Cloud Whale Sky Island, leaving countless beautiful memories.

Unlike when she first crossed over, Alice could no longer regard them as mere game characters. Even if they were game characters, they would develop feelings for each other after spending some time together. Moreover, they were standing in front of her alive. If she were to tell Alice now that they would soon die in front of her and disappear completely, she would definitely feel very uncomfortable, just like, just like... just like how Ringer felt when he died at the hands of the vampire Fialli in the first game.

Alice doesn't like tragedy, she would rather everyone welcome the happy ending in a neat and tidy manner, and then freeze everyone's smiles with the sentimental background music as a commemoration of completing the game. In other words, a royal adventure must end with a complete family photo, so that it can be considered perfect.

However, Xino's kingship and curse clearly contradict this path.

Do you have to sacrifice in order to win? The setting of GI is really full of malice, and it seems that Tiantis has also said something similar, and even tried to make us accept this truth more than once. Did she foresee the current predicament at that time, so she reminded us in advance?
No, if I accept this setting, wouldn't it be no different from the Witch Society? The witches say that they can sacrifice everything for the greater cause, so do I have to say that I can sacrifice my companions for victory?

So, should we refuse Xino from joining the team?

It seems that this is not possible. Not to mention that Alice cannot refuse such a powerful official plug-in, Xino has also made her attitude clear. If she cannot join the Cloud Whale Sky Island, she will embark on the road of fighting against the Witch Society alone. However, the Creation Goddess Church, which had seven saints in the past, was defeated by the Witch Society. What can she do alone?
Most importantly, if Xino doesn't join the team, what should we do with the main quest?
The door to the Holy Temple of Heaven requires seven female royal powers to open. If they can't enter the Holy Temple of Heaven, they can't see the goddess. If they can't see the goddess, they can't ask Her to come forward to clean up the mess. From this point of view, even if she is just a "key", the female knight is an indispensable existence in the team... Huh, wait?
Alice suddenly discovered the blind spot, and her eyes lit up: "I understand!"

Everyone's eyes fell on her at the same time, with an expression of "what did you understand again?" But Alice was not bluffing, she came prepared this time: "I found that we all made a misunderstanding: that is, we overvalued Xino's combat power, but ignored her truly important role!"

When she got excited, the golden-haired maid simply stood up from her chair, crossed her arms, and looked at the whole audience. She was as passionate as the orators in the ancient Metosh Empire who preached their great ambitions to the citizens: "First of all, we must be clear about our goal. What is the goal of our hard work to gather the seven royal powers of the girls? That is to open the door of the Holy Temple of Heaven and awaken the sleeping goddess! Only by gathering the seven royal powers of the girls can this goal be achieved. From this point of view, the little sun can be replaced, but Xino is indispensable!"

Little Sun, who was innocently caught in the crossfire while holding the flower pot, flew into a rage upon hearing this, but he was only angry for a moment and failed to interrupt Alice's endless chatter: "So what is our goal in awakening the goddess? Of course, it is to use the power of the goddess to directly solve the threat of the Witch Society from the root! And we are not far from this goal. As long as Xino joins, the only step left is to open the door. So, since the Witch Society is like a grasshopper after autumn and will not be able to jump for long, what reason does Xino have to fight? Since she has no reason to fight, the so-called curse can be completely regarded as non-existent. Wouldn't that be a happy ending without anyone sacrificing!"

She spoke passionately, and after finishing this long speech, she clenched her fists and showed an expression that said "I am such a genius": "I am such a genius!"

It's already been said.

"Miss Alice, what you mean," Sister Livia asked hesitantly, "is to let Miss Xinuo join us, but not let her participate in the battle, just as a key to open the door?"

"Yes, that's it!"

Alice gave her an approving look, feeling relieved that someone could understand her profound thoughts. Although it seemed that Shino was a tool, it was better than dead teammates, right? Besides, Shino was so gentle and kind, he certainly didn't want his friends to die because of his curse, so this was the best of both worlds!
"That seems to be the case." Olvera said thoughtfully, "It's amazing that you could think of this, Alice."

Although her tone was a bit sarcastic, she was praising herself after all, so the genius player didn't care and raised her chin with a smug look - who dares to say that Alice's IQ is not enough, please stand up and see my amazing wisdom! Everyone thought that Alice's suggestion was feasible and a good method. Only Ling Ge and Saint Xia Liya looked at each other and saw a trace of worry in each other's eyes.

Alice's idea was good, but there were two problems. First, she did not consider the opinions of the parties involved. Could a proud girl like Shino accept that she was just a mascot in the team? The girl had a true chivalry, fearless courage and firm belief in her bones. If she really encountered a critical situation, could she sit back and watch her companions fight in the front while she stayed in a safe place and acted as a powerless bystander?

Second, she imagined the result too beautifully, as if all the problems could be solved as long as the goddess took action; but the question is, will the goddess really take action? Perhaps the actions of the witch society and the Eden plan to exterminate magic were actually secretly instructed by Him? If not, where did the fifteenth girl kingship, the real witch Tiantis, come from? Mortals do not have the power to create the girl kingship. The only one in the universe who possesses such great power is the sleeping goddess.

Even Lingge felt that this possibility was very high, because Alice and the others seemed to have always overlooked one thing: as long as seven girl royal powers were gathered, the door to the Holy Temple of Heaven could be opened, and the Witch Society had eight members, which was enough.

Therefore, the witches may have opened the door of the Temple of Heaven before Saint Shallia and the others woke up, and informed their mother of the various events that happened after the goddess fell asleep and the chaotic situation on earth. This made the great goddess of creation disappointed with the life she created, so she created the fifteenth girl, Queen Tentis, to eliminate corruption for the world and return it to innocence.

However, this contradicts Fei'er's own statement. She claimed that she was reincarnated as a mortal after the disaster of the heavens, lost her past memories and powers, and lived in a daze until Tiantisi awakened her. This means that Tiantisi's birth was actually far earlier than the awakening of the young girls' royal powers. So another possibility is that the witches did not open the door, but the goddess woke up spontaneously after a long sleep, and was also disappointed with this chaotic world, so she created the fifteenth young girl's royal power Tiantisi to awaken the lost young girls' royal powers and purify this corrupt world.

However, after Tiantis awakened the young royal powers, a split occurred within the Order Royal Power. The Order Royal Power did not approve of such a crazy plan and was still willing to trust mortals, while the Chaos Royal Power completely lost trust in mortals due to Saint Tomi's betrayal and was more willing to trust Tiantis, who was also a sister. So the two sides stood on opposite sides and confronted each other until the Battle of the Sosen Mountains, when the Goddess of Creation was completely destroyed and failed.

But no matter which possibility it is, there is the shadow of the Goddess of Creation behind it, this is certain, and Her attitude towards the Witch Society and the Eden Project will determine the outcome of this journey. Judging from the current known situation, it seems that it will not be as beautiful as Alice imagined.

If that's the case, why didn't Lingge tell everyone about his guess, but instead insisted on his original plan and still wanted to go to the Temple of Heaven to meet the goddess?
Because he was gambling.

The attitude of the gambling goddess is not as firm as that of the witches. She is very likely hesitant. Otherwise, there is no need to entrust the task of exterminating magic power and purifying the world to the young queens. With her great power, she can do it herself. The earthly civilization is already stretched to its limits and retreating step by step in the face of the power of the witches. In front of the great goddess of creation, it naturally has no power to resist.

If he wins the bet, he can persuade the goddess to change her mind and give up the Eden Project, and everyone will be happy; what if he loses the bet? There is no such option, because this is not a multiple-choice question from the beginning, but a judgment question - do you think Lingge has other choices? When he left the Sosen Mountains and saw the Arbitrator of the Balance of Order chasing Rochelle, the Fertile Earth Walker, he had no choice.

Everyone on Yunjingkong Island thought he was very naive and actually thought he could return to his previous peaceful life. In fact, Ling Ge never thought so. This rational young man just understood his situation earlier than others.

He was not a gambler, but sometimes fate forced him to take a gamble. But what was the confidence of the young man to participate in this gamble? It was not the seven royal powers of the girls that had been collected, nor was it the legend of the "King of the Elves" of the Moryas, but -

He raised his head, his eyes passed over the long table and fell on Metien who was sitting opposite him. At this moment, the pink-haired little girl was discussing something with her friends in a low voice, and occasionally turned back to ask Miss Livia's opinion. Whenever the nun nodded gently to show her approval, she would smile happily, looking like an innocent and carefree little girl.

But how could an ordinary little girl be followed by the previous generation of saints of the True Spirit Sect? Although this sect is now in name only, it is undeniable that they still inherited the most core part of animism. It can even be said that it is the sect whose doctrine is closest to the Goddess's doctrine in the entire animism system.

But does Metien know it himself?

She was a sensible girl. No matter what happened, she would bear it alone, unless the matter was very important to her, even more important than her own feelings, such as the matter about Mr. Yang Ke and Tianxin Church. It was this stubbornness that made it difficult for Ling Ge to let go.

If possible, Lingge hopes that she will never know, but how can things in the world always go as one wishes?

Maybe in the near future, she will...

The young man didn't want to think about it any further. He withdrew his thoughts and found that everyone's eyes were focused on him, waiting for his answer. He pursed his lips and said, "I will tell Xinuo about this matter."

"but."

"I can't guarantee that she will agree."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)