Chapter 208: The Headache of Returning Gifts
Alice entered the church, doing her best to avoid looking around, and sat down to pray quietly. After a while, she couldn't stand it anymore and opened her eyes, turning to the person next to her. "If you keep staring at me like that, I'll think you like my dress."
After all, you seemed to have shown an interest in wearing women's clothing before... Alice held back her teasing comment.
Leonard remained silent for a moment, then looked at Alice and stated, "I don't have such thoughts."
"Then is it your friend who does?" Alice asked, puzzled.
This familiar question made Leonard's expression shift slightly, his gaze becoming heavier. Alice suddenly realized she might have inadvertently recreated a scene from the past.
To prevent the situation from escalating and revealing her identity, Alice changed the topic. "What exactly do you want to ask?"
Leonard frowned at her monocle pinned to her clothes and uttered a name, "Amon."
Alice stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly laughed. She put the monocle on her right eye and mimicked Amon's mocking tone, "Is it you asking, or your friend?"
Leonard was silent for a while before he spoke, "He said your acting is not convincing at all."
Alice's eyes widened, and she almost instinctively wanted to question him. Then she remembered she was in a church and lowered her voice, "What part is not convincing?"
After another moment of silence, Alice heard an answer that made her even more agitated, "He said Amon is neither that weak nor that stupid."
Alice's smile disappeared. She stared at Leonard for a while, then her smile suddenly brightened again. "What do you think about giving the guy attached to you as a gift to Amon? If I'm not mistaken, he should be an angel on the 'Thief' pathway, right?"
The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Leonard and his unnamed friend both fell silent. Alice took off the monocle, stood up, and left the church.
As she walked out of the church, Alice muttered to herself, "Oh dear, I left too quickly. I should have asked what kind of gift Amon might like..."
After all, I can't really give Leonard away, can I?
Alice sighed and walked home, pondering this troubling question.
Amon... Thief... Mistake... Mistake! Alice slapped her forehead, remembering something. "I recall 'mistake' comes from the English word 'bug'... How about I give Amon a list of 3,500 words..."
Talking to herself, Alice rummaged through her memory for words she remembered, surprised to find she only recalled the first one—*abandon*.
Alice sighed and dismissed this option. "Of course, it starts with 'abandon'... This won't do. Let's think of something else..."
"Maybe consider his father... uh... Amon's father... uh... didn't Song Shu mention that Amon has nine fathers?"
Alice briefly regretted not asking which nine fathers, but quickly dismissed this dangerous thought—she was sure doing so would truly anger Amon.
...So what should I give?
Alice returned home, still troubled by what to give Amon as a return gift.
This time, it wasn't about being impolite by not giving a return gift, but... Amon had specifically told her she could use a sacrificial ritual to send things. Not sending anything might invite trouble!
After staring at the ceiling for half an hour, Alice suddenly sat up, deciding to do something to change her mood.
Alice went into her study, pulled out her untouched copy of *The Taste of a Witch is Quite Good*, and copied it five times, keeping the original as a draft and taking the five copies with her.
Entering the Brave Bar, Alice saw the familiar bartender, who was wiping glasses. After Alice knocked on the bar twice, he looked up, showing a somewhat surprised expression.
"I'm looking for Caspers," Alice said.
The bartender's eyes widened in surprise. "Caspers is dead."
Alice's eyes widened in shock.
The bartender glanced at Alice's expression and added, "They say he suffocated himself by wrapping up too tightly while sleeping... I don't really believe such a thing could happen. I've only heard of similar cases in ghost stories, but that's what the black-and-white dogs said.
"This happened a long time ago."
Alice took a deep breath, immediately realizing that Caspers was likely an ordinary person caught in the extraordinary's crossfire.
No, it could also be out of spite... Alice's eyes darkened, thinking of the coachman and ice cream vendor who were accidentally injured when she first met Verma, who was possessed by Will Auxtin, the gambler in the casino, and the happy Warren, as well as the unlucky passerby from yesterday.
Actually, there was also... the ice cream vendor possessed by Amon... In front of the extraordinary, the lives of ordinary people were as fragile as paper.
A strange emotion struggled in Alice's heart but sank back before she could identify it. Alice blinked blankly, feeling a bit empty inside.
She shook her head, ignoring the discomfort, and asked with pursed lips, "So, is there a new merchant?"
"The 'Old Man,'" the bartender, who didn't get a response, lowered his head and continued wiping the glass. "He's in the third billiard room."
Alice walked to the third billiard room and knocked on the slightly ajar door.
"Come in," a deliberately lowered voice sounded.
This voice didn't sound like an "Old Man" at all... Alice muttered to herself as she pushed the door open.
Standing by the pool table was a young boy, who Alice doubted was older than herself. To appear mature, the boy had glued two mustaches to his face, but his youthful skin betrayed him.
The boy wore an old coat and a brown bowler hat, with bright red eyes that reminded Alice of Mr. "Moon" from the Tarot Club, the somewhat silly-looking vampire.
"Old Man?" Alice closed the door behind her and asked skeptically.
The boy pretended to be calm and said, "What do you want to buy? Weapons or information?"
Frankly, his acting was more mature than Alice's, given his years on the streets, but Alice was always sensitive to others' emotions, and her words had successfully made the boy nervous.
Alice stared at the boy for a moment before asking, "Information. I want to know if you are older than me?"