Chapter 40: A Fateful Encounter
After accompanying Klein to meet Benson and Melissa, they bid farewell. Klein, somewhat worried, reminded Alice, "Contact me if anything comes up."
Alice went to the bank to withdraw the remaining £200 from her account.
As for where this money came from... shamefully, Alice was actually drawing a salary from the Night Watchers...
Arriving at Enmat Port in Tingen City, Alice spent a hefty 10 soli to buy a ticket to Pritz Harbor.
As a bustling dock, Pritz Harbor was not only filled with tourists but also numerous dockworkers.
Lost in the crowd at Pritz Harbor, Alice suddenly felt a bit puzzled: How did that "monster" pathway Beyonder ensure they could encounter their target and recognize them in such a situation?
After leaving the busiest area of the dock, Alice frowned and began to think about what to do next.
"Hi, miss, is this your first time in Backlund? Do you need a guide?" A short boy noticed the confused Alice and skillfully weaved through the crowd to approach her.
Alice was slightly taken aback. She looked up and saw several children of similar age nearby doing the same thing. She suddenly understood the group this boy belonged to.
"I'm here to find someone," Alice said, looking at the boy and stating her request, "I'm looking for a... uh, a mysterious person waiting for someone here."
This vague description did not deter the boy, who was eager to earn some money: "I just remembered! There's been a strange person wandering around Pritz Harbor these past few days, muttering about waiting for a 'fateful encounter'..."
The boy's description made Alice pause. She began to consider the possibility of being mistaken for a lunatic if she went to find this person.
"Are you here to find him?" the boy asked after explaining the situation.
Alice had to respond, "Maybe? Anyway, take me to see him first."
Alice quickly met the Beyonder of the "monster" pathway under the boy's guidance—not that she was so certain, but because the person smiled inexplicably upon seeing her and said, "It seems you are the one I've been waiting for."
Alice felt she should give the boy some money to send him away. She found a penny on herself—thankfully, no one searched her body when she was buried.
In any case, Alice dismissed the boy, who was more of a beggar than a guide, with a penny, and then looked at the mysterious person, "So, why are you sure the person you're waiting for is me?"
The mysterious person did not speak. His gaze swept over the surrounding crowd, and Alice's eyes followed his movement, understanding his meaning: they couldn't talk in such a crowded place.
Alice, with a big heart, followed the stranger into an enclosed room, allowing him to set up a spiritual barrier, putting her in a situation where no one would come to her rescue even if she screamed—oh, perhaps Mr. Fool could still hear her prayers.
Fortunately, this mysterious person was not a bad guy. He looked at Alice and said, "Where should I start? Let's start with an introduction. I am Charlie King, from the School of Life."
The term "School of Life" made Alice pause slightly, but out of politeness, she also introduced herself, "I am..."
She suddenly stopped, not intentionally, but because she saw a scene: a girl pricked by a spindle, falling asleep in a castle.
"Sleeping Beauty"... Compared to the initial ignorance, this time Alice remembered the name of the story, and she certainly understood what it represented—initially, she got her name this way.
However, Charlie King's puzzled look made Alice realize she didn't have much time to think of a new alias. Using her original name seemed inappropriate, so she obediently said, "Briar Rose."
"Hello, Miss Rose," Charlie King looked at Alice, who had stopped talking, and asked, "Who told you I was here?"
"That's my question too," Alice responded, pursing her lips, "Why are you waiting for me here? How did you know the person you were waiting for was me? You..."
Charlie King raised his hand to signal Alice to stop asking questions, "I don't know you. I haven't seen your portrait beforehand. In fact, fate didn't tell me to wait for you here—it told me to let the previous Storm Bishop know my location."
Storm Bishop? Does he mean The Hanged Man? Alice was stunned for a moment, combining the information given by Charlie King with the intelligence from the Tarot Club, but she still had a question, "If that's the case, how did you recognize me?"
"Someone commissioned me to make a deal with you," Charlie King's expression suddenly became serious, "He said I would understand I found the right person when I saw you."
"He?" Alice frowned deeply, repeating the pronoun unique to gods and angels.
Charlie King did not answer this question. Alice realized she couldn't get an answer, so she changed the question, "Then what did you understand when you saw me?"
"That's the strangest part," Charlie King looked at Alice with great interest, "Very strange... I clearly felt I should have seen your fate, I should have seen many things from it, but I remembered nothing."
Alice looked at him in confusion. Charlie King returned her gaze, and finally, Alice was the first to give up and looked away, "What kind of deal?"
Charlie King was silent for a moment, frowning, "He asked me to give you the formula for the Sequence 6 'Calamity Priest' potion of the 'monster' pathway..."
"?" Alice looked at him in shock. Although her next plan included finding the potion formula, someone bringing the formula for the next sequence to her right after she digested the potion seemed a bit...
For a moment, Alice thought of 0-08, but this felt distinctly different from 0-08—0-08 cared about rationality, while most of what she had experienced since waking up was far from rational.
"What does he need me to do?" Despite her deep confusion, Alice decided to listen to the terms of the deal first.
"He hopes you will help seal an artifact one day in the future," Charlie King answered, clearly prepared.
Perhaps mentioning Sleeping Beauty makes people more familiar with Princess Aurora... Ah, but Aurora doesn't have a surname, while Briar Rose does in this version (you).
(End of Chapter)