Chapter 48: Giant Serpent
After resolving the crucial issue of renting a house, Alice finally began her work.
As she had told Klein, she indeed could draw comics... and not just strange things!
Moreover, the famous novelist, inventor, poet, composer, and many other titles held by Emperor Roselle did not completely sever the path for travelers from other worlds.
Emperor Roselle left behind many things that could be copied, such as comics, games, and movies...
Even though the themes were limited and many things couldn't be replicated exactly, making money was nothing to be ashamed of.
So, in the following days, Alice returned to a regular routine: praying at the church after breakfast, then coming back to copy... to draw comics, eating, continuing to draw comics, eating, and drawing again...
She couldn't keep drawing!
On the first day of this monotonous routine, Alice's patience was quickly defeated. She decided to go for a walk after dinner and deal with the rest later.
Backlund was a much larger city than Tingen. As she strolled along the streets, blending in with the hurried or leisurely pedestrians, Alice's mood gradually calmed down.
For Alice, the essence of walking was never about the scenery—although beautiful landscapes and excellent weather conditions certainly made people happier. Unfortunately, the city lacked the natural scenery Alice yearned for, and Backlund's weather was quite dismal.
"A culinary desert combined with a foggy city... it's easy to make strange associations." A certain country's impression flashed through her mind but did not provoke deeper thoughts.
For Alice, the true essence of walking was mingling with the crowd. She enjoyed the feeling of being part of the crowd, which gave her a strange sense of security.
Alice's tranquility didn't last long. As she received a Dixie pie and sweet iced tea from a street vendor, a scream instinctively made her turn her head.
A carriage was speeding towards a boy of about ten years old, who had fallen and seemed unable to get up.
Almost instinctively, Alice put down the Dixie pie and sweet iced tea and rushed towards the child.
She shielded the child and rolled out of the carriage's path. The carriage came to a difficult stop, and amidst the crowd's commotion, the coachman and a couple, presumably the boy's parents, approached.
"Thank you, thank you..." The couple, still shaken by the incident, emotionally thanked Alice.
"I'm terribly sorry, miss, and to you, sir and madam," the coachman apologized sincerely after speaking with his master. "My master is willing to compensate for your losses."
As the primary victims, the couple eventually chose to settle the matter and accepted the compensation.
As an unintended bystander, Alice also received a hefty compensation of 50 pounds for new clothes and a check-up, despite her repeated assurances that she was uninjured.
Alice realized that the master was probably a wealthy person who disliked trouble.
The incident was unremarkable from start to finish. If it had ended there, Alice wouldn't have remembered it much.
But when the couple thanked Alice again, pulling the boy along, Alice felt a chilling terror as she looked at the boy.
"Thank you, sister~" The boy's cheerful voice did nothing to calm Alice's cold sweat and goosebumps. She stiffly responded, "It's nothing."
However, the boy didn't seem to want to let Alice go. "Sister, you look very scared?"
Alice forced a smile and said, "I was just frightened by what happened... I'm glad you're okay."
Without waiting for a response, she picked up her pie and iced tea and quickly walked away.
After turning the corner at the end of the street, Alice even ran back home, clutching her items.
She locked the door and sat on the living room sofa, recalling the details.
Everything seemed so normal. Where did that creepy feeling come from?
Alice knew the source must be the boy or something related to him. But what was so special about him?
Clearly, Alice couldn't figure it out. She could only fall asleep with this uneasy feeling.
...
In a dark, towering spire, Alice looked up and raised her hand to gauge its height. Unfortunately, she couldn't see the top.
Curiously, Alice stepped inside. The interior was as dark and eerie as its exterior, making her frown the moment she entered.
Alice climbed the stairs up, down, left, and right. The stairs inside the tower were irregular and quite strange—each step could lead to any of six random directions: up, down, left, right, forward, or backward. The probabilities were equal, but somehow, she coincidentally reached the top.
Yes, the top.
After passing through numerous locked doors and walls, and seeing rooms that grew narrower until only she could fit, Alice was sure she had reached the top.
Looking up, she finally saw what was at the top—a giant white serpent coiled above her!
The serpent's head and tail were connected, and it moved slowly. Its body seemed covered not in scales but in symbols that made Alice dizzy if she looked too long.
"Hiss, hiss." The serpent lowered its head, revealing a pair of blood-red eyes that coldly and mercilessly stared at her, flicking its tongue twice.
As the serpent's head drew closer, Alice realized just how enormous it was. She felt she wasn't even as tall as its fully open mouth.
... Fully open mouth?
The giant serpent's mouth opened wide, engulfing Alice completely, then closed—causing Alice to wake up from her dream.
Clutching her chest to calm her heartbeat, Alice checked her pocket watch—it was just past midnight.
Unable to sleep, Alice decided to do something she had planned for a long time—wake up Klein...
*Note: This is actually a mathematical model. You might have heard the saying, "A drunken man can always find his way home, but a drunken bird might never make it back." As for the exact probabilities, I can't calculate those (looks away).*