If this were Alice's first time opening the envelope and seeing the contents of the card, she might have shown some surprise, a touch of novelty.
However, after seeing the same image a dozen or twenty times, the starlight-like text that appeared when she touched it no longer held any awe.
Sequence 0, Primordial Witch.
This was the same title she knew about the witch cult, the hidden being they worshipped…
no, perhaps it wasn't just a similar title; the Primordial Witch was probably the being they worshipped.
Clearly, Sequence 0 must be the end of the "Path of God," the conclusion of reaching godhood in a mortal body.
Unfortunately, besides this, Alice couldn't find any more useful information from this "witch" card.
Her intuition told her that the "witch" card hadn't yet revealed its true form.
Yet, she had studied the card repeatedly for days, but still couldn't uncover the secrets hidden within.
Based on her past experience, Alice concluded that it belonged to the category of special items with puzzle-solving elements, whose contents would only be fully released under certain conditions.
It might be a reward from the riddle-setter, a piece of crucial, hidden knowledge, or a map indicating buried treasure; however, the possibility of it being a trap couldn't be completely ruled out…
After all, there are always malicious beings who spread seemingly valuable mysteries and treasures into the world, then wait for the puzzle-solver to finish before telling them: "Congratulations, you've passed my test with your wisdom and good fortune, so from now on, your wisdom and good fortune belong to me…"
Well, while such situations are rare, they can't be considered entirely impossible, can they?
Unfortunately, Alice wasn't good at solving puzzles without any clues or hints.
And rather than slowly trying to solve it, she'd rather just use a disintegration spell to break it down into basic particles, and then… and then… nothing more.
Hmm, forget it, that would be too brutal and wasteful.
Having abandoned the idea of forcibly breaking through, she occasionally pondered the questions surrounding the playing card, and incidentally searched for information about the other person on the card—the man in court attire, Rosell Gustav.
Before reading about Emperor Rosell, Alice already knew he was a rather flamboyant and dashing fellow; and sure enough, the historical materials only reinforced that impression.
In her eyes, Rosell… well, his life was full of legends, a typical, controversial historical figure.
Alice knew that if she wanted to delve deeper into the secrets behind this "witch" playing card, she had two options.
One was to start with the other person on the card, Emperor Rosell, finding clues, even subtle hints, in his writings or documents.
The other was to find the witch who gave out the card, the Mourning Lady Angela.
The first point is easy to understand, but the second method might be more direct: since the mourning lady described this "witch" card as "the first gift of the end," she must have some understanding of it, and might even possess the key to solving the puzzle...
However, this is also where the problem lies.
If this card is truly a gift for the great "Dominator," then why didn't the mourning lady tell the "Dominator" how to open the gift, instead leaving it to the other party to guess?
Or perhaps, the mourning lady Angela felt it unnecessary to tell the "Dominator" how to open the card, because the "Dominator" himself knew perfectly well how to solve the puzzle on the "witch" card...
Well, Alice knew these were ultimately just her speculations.
The actual situation would only be revealed when she found the mourning lady and pried the answer out of her. And although she had declared to Klein with great confidence that all life that observes things with eyes were her eyes, all she could capture were images.
Of course, if she concentrated and carefully examined the mouth shapes of the people in the picture, she could roughly reconstruct the content of their conversation.
Searching within a small town was manageable, but what if the search area were expanded to a country, a continent, or even the whole world?
Before finding the mysterious witch whose face had never been revealed, Alice would be completely overwhelmed by a deluge of information.
...Well, being overwhelmed by information wasn't so bad; she could probably recover after a few hours of spacing out.
The problem was that in that state, she wouldn't have the energy to maintain her permanent spells; many effects, including anti-divination and anti-prophecy, would disappear, easily putting her in a precarious situation.
In short, the secret behind this "witch" card might have to be explored later...
Alice carefully put away the inexplicably given gift, and seeing that it wasn't too late, she got up from her desk, opened the window, and slipped out of the room with practiced ease.
She wanted to prepare for her trip to Backlund tomorrow.
Just then, Saturday of the new week was approaching, and Klein had to go to the church's underground to "work overtime," so the drug trial had to be suspended for one night. But this meant Saturday would be Alice's day off, and she could spend the whole day in that city known as the City of Hope without worry before returning to Tingen.
As for the excuse she would give Benson and Melissa, Alice had already thought it through: she needed to go to Backlund to deal with renting a place, so she wanted to take advantage of the weekend to check out the location and environment of the house!
But before that, she had to call back her familiar Eve, who was being fostered by Danitalia, since the real purpose of her trip to Backlund was...
"The Gathering of Extraordinary Beings? You did mention earlier that you wanted to attend the Gathering of Extraordinary Beings in Backlund, right?" As if she had heard something that surprised her, Danitalia, who was eavesdropping on the conversation between the witch Alice and Eve, suddenly stood up, quickly approached them, and joined the conversation with a slightly raised tone.
Unlike the robin chirping mockingly at Danitalia's hearing loss, Alice instantly understood the meaning behind her question:
"Do you have any connections to introduce new members?"
Extraordinary individuals like them, not belonging to official organizations, would naturally only attend privately organized, highly confidential gatherings. Even Tingen City has similar underground trading events, so in Backlund, the capital of the Kingdom of Rune, known as the City of Hope, the number of wild Extraordinary individuals must be even greater, and the demand for buying and selling would be even higher, making the trading venues even more hidden and difficult to find.
...Although finding such gathering places wouldn't be too difficult for Alice, she hadn't forgotten that she was now a "witch" from a southern city-state. Upon hearing the news of a way to quickly enter the local Extraordinary circle, she appropriately displayed her delight.
Danitalia smiled broadly upon hearing this:
"I know a few friends who live in Backlund, you know, they're mostly Sequence 8 or 9 Beyonders, and they must be involved in local trade fairs quite often. If you need, I can contact them for you and ask about the gatherings that are coming up soon."
Alice smoothed Eve's white downy feathers, calming her restless urge to interrupt, and then uttered a short phrase:
"Tomorrow."
Daenerys, who had a vague understanding of this witch's personality, quickly reacted:
"Going to Backlund tomorrow? Have you already booked your steam train tickets? The earliest one tomorrow?"
…Buying tickets? What's that?
Before Alice could even speak, her familiar couldn't resist boasting:Hmph, Alice doesn't need that kind of thing! Alice is amazing, she can fly to that place called Shellland in a flash!"
"...Eve." After giving the little robin a gentle and friendly look, Alice calmly corrected her, "You should practice your Rune language—it's Backlund, not Shellland... Come on, repeat after me, Backlund."
Only after Eve shrank her little head and tremblingly repeated the correct pronunciation several times did Danitalia turn her gaze away from the witch, smiling meaningfully:
"Fly? It seems you have quite a few good things hidden on you... Never mind that, I'll have someone book two first-class tickets for the steam train at seven o'clock tomorrow morning, do you think that's okay?"
"...It should arrive before noon." Alice made a rough estimate, feeling a little sorry for the time wasted on the journey.
"The journey takes about four hours, and we should arrive in Backlund around eleven o'clock. After getting off, we can browse the department store for a while, then find a restaurant for lunch. After lunch, I'll visit my friend... If you don't have any plans, would you like to come with me?" Seeing the witch slightly furrow her beautifully shaped brows, Danitalia added with a smile, "Don't worry, Backlund's Extraordinary Gatherings are usually held in the evening. If we're lucky, we might catch one tomorrow night. Overall, we have plenty of time."
The implication was that if there weren't any Extraordinary Gatherings tomorrow night, they might be able to spend the night in Backlund.
"That's fine too." Alice gave up arguing and nodded slightly, acknowledging the arrangements.
—Leaving aside emotional matters, Danitalia was indeed a very capable person. She had a wide social circle, came from a wealthy family, and knew how to please girls; she even did a very good job guiding novice "thieves."
Eve had secretly told her master that she sensed clear signs of the potion being digested, and if she continued her efforts, she might be able to completely digest the "Thief" potion in another month.
Therefore, at least in Alice's view, as long as Danitalia didn't bring up anything related to sleep again, she would still be a competent and useful tool.
Such a simple and obvious truth, she was sure the other party understood perfectly.
The beautiful woman dressed as a man simply smiled again and said nothing more, her tone light and cheerful as she expressed her anticipation for tomorrow.
...
The next day at noon, in the southern district of Backlund, in front of a house with a small garden on Tutwa Street.
This secluded house, rarely visited due to its remote location, received two visitors on a rare quiet afternoon.
The taller one, dressed in a men's suit, reached out and pulled the doorbell, making it ring out crisply.
About ten seconds later, a young man in a white shirt and black vest pushed open the door and walked out. Slightly confused, he asked,
"Good afternoon? Looking for...?"
"Anri Fanidiel! Long time no see! Don't tell me you've forgotten my name!"
Danitalie gave her friend a hearty hug, then, as the other man gradually realized what was happening, smiled and released him, taking a small step back.
"Devel... Danitalie! What brings you to Backlund all of a sudden? Didn't you say the air here was making you feel stuffy?... Me? I'm still the same as always..."
The two clearly had a good relationship. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the young man called Anri invited the two outside into the house. At the same time, while another guest in a classic-style long dress was closing the door, he quietly tugged at Danitalie, winking and hinting,
"How many new girlfriends is this?"
Danitalie didn't reply, only shaking her head with a helpless tug at her temples.
"Don't talk nonsense. We're just friends, we've only known each other for a short time."
"Oh, friends we just met." The man understood: it would take some time before the relationship he was thinking of developed.
"Won't you invite us in to sit and talk?" Seeing Alice approach, Danitalie naturally changed the subject, while subtly glancing from the entryway towards the living room.
The young man seemed a little embarrassed, making a rather ungentlemanly hand-rubbing gesture.
"Ahem… let's go to the study. The living room… I haven't cleaned the living room in ages."
Not wanting the two ladies to see the appalling state of his living room, a typical scene of a young man living alone, the man, as the homeowner, led his guests upstairs, his leather shoes making a slight creaking sound on the stairs.
"I'm telling you, you're not short of money, you can just hire a maid to clean regularly, there's no need to waste your time cleaning the house." Danitalie knew this would be the case, after all, she had experienced the same process several times she had visited this friend's house before.
"That won't do! Those stupid country bumpkins can't understand my great research at all. They often treat my painstakingly compiled notes and manuscripts as scrap paper and throw them away carelessly!" Anri shook her head, her attitude resolute.
Danitaly's response seemed to be a few beats slower:
"You're still doing that research… Well, I must say, your persistence and perseverance are admirable."
Alice, who had been quietly listening to the two's conversation after entering the study, glanced at the surrounding walls, her gaze lingering on the papers filled with twisted characters.
What the homeowner was referring to as research became clear as she gradually recognized these familiar yet unfamiliar characters, and after she quietly cast a spell on herself to grant her the ability to read.
"Of course! The manuscripts left by Emperor Rosell are so mysterious. I believe that these special symbols, or rather, the writing, must be hiding some secrets! Or even some kind of wonderful power that we have not yet been able to discover!"
Anri Fanidil, a staunch admirer of Emperor Rosell and an expert in the Rosellian cryptanalysis (as he called himself), said excitedly amidst a room full of mysterious symbols.