This Tarot gathering concluded with "The World" left utterly speechless.
Alice, however, wasn't surprised at all that she had been asked to stay behind. As the atmosphere settled into silence, she turned to Klein, who had yet to speak, and suddenly remembered something important.
She hesitated for a moment, then looked at him with an almost pleading expression, dragging out his name:
"Klein~~"
"...Don't talk like that," Klein immediately got chills, his body visibly tensing.
Alice immediately shut her mouth but switched to an innocent, pitiful gaze instead.
"...And don't look at me like that either." Klein averted his eyes. "Just explain yourself properly. Stop acting like this—you're making me nervous."
Alice hung her head, looking utterly defeated.
Seeing her go silent, Klein sighed and reluctantly turned his attention back to her. Even though he knew she was putting on an act, he still couldn't help but soften his tone.
"Some jokes just aren't appropriate. If, back in Tingen, you had thought I was dead, and then one day you found out I had lied to you about it—how would you feel?"
Alice froze.
Her mind immediately flashed back to the conversation she had with the Goddess. She bit her lip, lifted her gaze, and stared at Klein with stubborn determination.
"You won't die! I won't let you die!"
Her sudden outburst caught Klein off guard. He hadn't expected such a strong reaction. He instinctively softened his voice further.
"It's just a hypothetical scenario. I wasn't saying I would die."
Alice clenched her fists, still glaring at him. Then, out of nowhere, she muttered a name:
"Leonard."
Klein's expression darkened.
Right. If Leonard ever found out Klein was alive, it would be the exact situation he had just described.
After a moment of silence, Klein looked at Alice and asked, "Does Leonard have a 'Thief' pathway angel following him?"
Alice's expression turned odd as she nodded. "Yeah… I know. Leonard knows. The Goddess knows. And apparently, He's still being hunted by Amon. But Amon doesn't seem to have figured it out yet."
…Well, damn.
Alice blinked and grinned. **"If you're really curious, I could go tell him right now that you're alive, that you're running around as the adventurer Gehrman Sparrow, and that you're a Tarot Club member.
"If I hurry, maybe by the next gathering, we'll have a new member!"**
Klein was speechless. He cleared his throat and said, "You'd need at least a week to get back to Backlund."
Alice smugly lifted her chin. "Nope! I can teleport! Oh wait, no—that's short-range. 'Magician' talents are called teleportation. Mine should be called transmission."
Klein stared at her for a few seconds before asking a question that had been bothering him for a while:
"…Did you spend all your time playing video games in your past life?"
"No! Absolutely not!" Alice responded instantly, full of conviction.
Klein didn't believe her for a second. But since she was sticking to her denial, he decided to move on.
"What exactly is going on with you?"
Alice had acted relatively normal today, but after her previous joke, Klein couldn't shake his unease.
If he forgave her too easily, she might actually pull something like this in the future. But since she had never done it before, maybe this was an isolated incident…
Alice was silent for a long moment before speaking quietly:
"I don't know... I thought I was getting closer to the truth, but now it feels even more unclear."
She looked up at Klein as if she wanted to say something more but then smiled instead.
**"Anyway, the 'Fate' pathway isn't a combat-oriented path, but I should be able to grant angel-level responses in rituals, right?
"So, you don't have to worry about finding the main ingredient for your Sequence 5 potion!"**
She deliberately tried to sound cheerful, and Klein noticed immediately. He played along and chuckled.
"So this is my reward for helping you figure out your ritual process, huh, Great Miss Fate?"
Alice winced as if physically pained and replied hesitantly:
**"Do you have any idea how it feels when someone suddenly calls you by your old, embarrassing internet username?
"And not just any username—one of those usernames…."**
She took a deep breath, put on a solemn expression, and then dramatically announced in Chinese:
"Liying Shang · Angelina · Sakura Yuhuan Ling · Xueli Chi · Mei · J · Q · Antalia · Shangmeng Xunmei · Heatherway · Rose of Tears · Phantom Haven · Ruri Dance · Ya · Lei Yue Ai Ya · Xi Meng Yue · Yue Lan · Lan Ying · Zi Die · Lixin · Lei Qi Luo · Feng · Yan Yuan · Xi Luo · Jiu Xi · Yu Yan · Ye Luoli Lan Princess Dianxia!"
Klein covered his face with his hands. It took him several minutes to regain his composure. When he finally removed his hands, he sighed deeply and said, **"I really admire you sometimes.
"How do you manage to say things like that with such a serious, straight face?"**
Alice pondered for a moment and replied, "You know, I'm actually not the best at this. That would be Xiaosong."
Klein had heard her mention Xiaosong before—real name Song Shu, one of Shen Yinghuan's closest friends.
So… birds of a feather flock together, huh?
Alice continued her explanation:
"Remember those books you saw? I never actually read them. Xiaosong would just tell me about them in bits and pieces. And sometimes… she'd recite them out loud—dramatically."
Klein stared at her for a few seconds before seriously suggesting, "Since you're already in Bayam, why don't you consider visiting your old teacher?"
Alice gave him a long, silent, accusatory look.
"In the past, you—no, forget it. You literally once stole a donation box from the Church of the Lord of Storms," Klein muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "At this point, I don't even want to imagine what you'll do next…"
Alice thought for a moment before cheerfully proposing: "Maybe… destroy the world?"
"???" Klein glared at her.
Alice blinked. "You asked me what I might do next! I'm just saying it's possible! I probably wouldn't actually go through with it!"
Klein's expression was unreadable. "That's… certainly a choice of words."
Alice pouted. **"Fine, fine, I'll go visit him…
"But, speaking of which—about the whole 'holy book and doctrine' thing that Miss Hermit mentioned… Could you—"**
"No." Klein immediately shut her down.