Mystery: Lucky

#627 - Chapter 5 Mushrooms

With anger towards the "Key of Light", Alice scooped up a handful of water from the long river of fate.

Klein was very curious about what he saw. It was a handful of silver, shimmering liquid that was not transparent. When he got close, he could see several scenes of the future.

“It seems the same as the blood before…” Klein sighed.

Alice did not respond. She separated the river water drop by drop and told Klein in front of his expectant eyes:

“Even if you look at me like this, I won’t let you make the difference.

"I want to see your messenger."

Klein had to give up this expectation. After making the spell, he blew the silent harmonica. Renette Tinicole appeared as summoned. When she saw Alice, she stopped where she was and did not speak.

Alice asked:

"Is this talisman that can help you regain your former strength what you wanted from me in the first place?"

She pulled out a talisman, which was silver-white and felt cold, like snake scales.

The messenger replied slowly:

“Yes…” “This…” “That’s…” “What I…” “want.”

After all, he was an adult who would consider the consequences. Although he wanted to, Klein did not do so. He just listened to Alice's further question:

"You are an angel. An angel should not be nameless... Who were you before you became what you are today?"

I know this. He used to be the leader of the temperance faction of the "Rose School" and Miss Sharon's teacher!

Klein answered in his mind but did not speak. Instead, it was Reinette who took the initiative to speak:

“Your…” “father…” “should…” “know…” “the answer.”

Me, my father?

Alice was stunned for a moment. She turned her head to look at Klein. Seeing Klein's expression of trying not to laugh, she was silent for two seconds before turning her head to correct Reinette:

“No, you are wrong.

"She's actually my mother."

Klein's smile disappeared, and after a brief silence, Reinette said:

“Your…” “mother…” “knows…” “the answer.”

Then Alice became the one who laughed. She turned to Klein, raised her eyebrows and asked:

"Really, Mother?"

“…Where did you learn that name?” Klein’s eyelids twitched.

"I forgot," Alice shrugged. "No, I can't say I forgot, because I just suddenly remembered my brother or something..."

Klein gave up the topic and spoke as if he hadn’t heard it:

“At the beginning of the Fifth Epoch, the God of Death fell, and a wave of resistance against the rule of the Balam Empire emerged in places such as the Star Plateau and the Paz River Valley in the southern continent.

"During this process, the 'Bound God' appeared and the 'Rose School' was born. She was originally the daughter of the ruler of the Highlands at the time, and later became the Bound God's favored one, assisting her father in establishing the Highland Kingdom.

"After that, he became a Sequence 2 angel, one of the leaders of the Rose School, advocating moderation and fighting madness with a simple and low-desire life.

"Nine hundred and twenty-two years ago, the 'Son of God' Sua was born, and everything began to change. Indulgence in desires and bloody sacrifices gradually became the mainstream.

"Originally, He was able to maintain it and keep the Moderation Faction from being affected. However, as time went on, the influence of the 'Mother Tree of Desire' became greater and greater. Sua also successfully upgraded in the past few years and became a true 'divine evil'.

“An internal war broke out. He protected Miss Sharon and other members of the Temperance Faction and helped them escape from the plateau, river valley, and grassland, while He himself fell under the siege of Sua and other high-ranking officials.

“However, He did not die completely. He had made certain preparations beforehand and was resurrected in a special state in the spiritual world, longing for the completeness of his body.

"These are what Miss Sharon told me. He is Miss Sharon's teacher."

"Oh~" Alice stretched out her voice, "The princess of the Highland Kingdom, the leader of the temperance faction of the Rose School, and..."

After a brief pause, Alice looked at Klein and said in an ambiguous tone:

"Your Miss Sharon's teacher?"

"?" Klein questioned, "What do you mean by my Miss Sharon? We have no relationship at all!"

"But don't you think calling her Miss Sharon is ambiguous?" Alice asked as a matter of course.

“…I don’t think so.” Klein decided that he would never call Sharon that again. “Also, can we talk business?”

Alice realized from Klein's tone and demeanor that his patience was running out, so she quickly brought the topic back on track:

"I would like to ask you, or your students, and the temperance members of the Rose School to help me keep an eye on something.

"Hmm... help me keep an eye out for the people who collected the following materials..."

She sent the commission from the Tarot Club to Renette again. This was a sudden idea after hearing Klein's request. After all, as Alice said, angels cannot be nameless. What if the messenger lady can still contact her former forces?

After listening to this, Renette Tinicole replied:

“Can…” “The reward…” “Yes…” “What?”

Alice extended a hand towards Reinette and said in a bewitching tone:

"On behalf of Mr. Fool, I will formally invite you to become an angel under His seat."

"?" Klein resisted the urge to turn his head and look at Alice—Aren't you just trying to get something for nothing? !

No, not only that, if He agrees, I won’t have to pay Him for my help in the future. I can just ask Him as a fool…

"Okay." All four heads of Renette remained in agreement.

……What?

Klein was startled. Behind him, a transparent worm squirmed, and a hand-shaped shape grew out from his waist, then pinched his waist hard.

Hiss, it hurts, I'm not dreaming...

Klein looked at Alice in a trance and murmured, "This is not what I thought..."

"What's the difference?" Alice turned her head and asked, "Are you not satisfied with this result?"

Klein opened and closed his mouth several times before speaking in a daze:

"No... I'm quite satisfied, but... never mind, it's nothing."

He stopped talking, and Alice smiled at Renette and said:

“Mr. Fool’s honorable name has spread all over the streets, so I won’t tell you again. You can pray to Mr. Fool, and when the time is right, He may summon you.”

After Renette Tinicole responded, Alice slapped Klein again and asked, "What about your previous visit to Him?"

“Oh, yes.” Klein looked as if he had just realized something. “The matter of George III…”

They discussed the details for a while before Renette Tinicole left the scene. When the messenger was confirmed to be gone, Klein suddenly became excited and asked Alice:

"I want to know if there is a sequence called 'Profligate Merchant' in this path? I think that, at least in terms of trading, your black heart has surpassed Mr. 'Hanged Man'..."

"How could I have that?" Alice was unconvinced. "Isn't this normal?"

"How is this normal?" Klein also didn't understand. "With what you said, as long as He prays to me, I can give Him an oracle as a fool and let Him help me... He didn't get anything at all, he just got himself a job for nothing!"

"No," Alice smiled, "At least He got work experience."

Klein was stunned for a moment, and responded subconsciously: "You don't even have an internship certificate...?"

"...I seem to have seen a similar joke online," Alice said with a strange expression, "I saw someone post a job posting on QQ before, pointing out two key points: one is that there is no salary and you have to work 10+ hours a day, and the other is that you need to provide an internship certificate. Then, many people asked about the internship certificate..."

“…The dream that the Key of Light created for you is quite realistic,” Klein praised. “It seems that He has indeed carefully studied human culture.”

Alice gave him a false smile and told him:

"You can go talk to Amon. He also knows a lot about humans."

Klein gave up discussing this topic with Alice.

…

Fortunately, the "magician" Fors followed the tradition of the era and did not cremate her teacher. Klein successfully obtained Lawrence's remains and hair.

A day later, when Alice was eating at Klein's house, the messenger lady appeared again. One of her heads was biting a linen bundle. Alice looked at the bundle and instinctively leaned back.

Klein had a similar reaction. He didn't lean back, but he didn't take the package either. Instead, he followed his hunch and asked:

"Who sent it?"

The three idle heads of Renette Tinicole spoke one after another:

"Mutation..." "Of..." "Real..." "Of..." "Mushroom..." "King..."

Alice immediately realized why she wanted to stay away from the package.

She turned to look at Klein. Klein had a stiff expression and slowly reached out for the package. At the same time, he looked at Alice with a rather tragic look. When Alice felt her scales were about to stand up, he took the package.

He opened the package as Alice swallowed her saliva, and inside, as expected, were large quantities of various devils... no, mushrooms.

Some of them are pure white and full, as if they would spray out milk if poked; some are black with blood-colored filaments and fat patterns; some are covered with golden stars, and the caps are as big as the palm of your hand...

At this time, these mushrooms were still wriggling slightly, as if trying to spread their mycelium, spores, etc.

Klein swallowed his saliva, and Alice asked him, "Are you hungry?"

The half-swallowed saliva got stuck in his throat, and Klein coughed violently. Just as Alice was about to go over and pat him on the back, she found that Klein had stopped coughing. Meeting Alice's slightly puzzled look, he replied:

"I can squeeze out the choked liquid by changing my body structure."

"...Then why don't you just change this terrible design?" Alice sat back down. "After all, I really can't understand why putting the trachea and esophagus together would only make it easier for people to choke."

“Maybe you should ask Frank.” Klein said as he reached his hand through the mushrooms with a distorted expression and took out a letter.

Alice refused: "Forget it... What did the letter say?"

Klein unfolded the letter in the middle, and Alice leaned forward to read the contents of the letter:

“My dear friends,

"Please forgive me for only writing one letter. I really can't wait to show you this achievement - I finally invented mushrooms that can be grown in dark and harsh environments. They grow and reproduce by devouring the flesh and blood of monsters, and do not require any other conditions...

"Their offspring are divided into two categories. One category will accumulate various toxins and cannot be eaten, but can be used as a source of toxins. The other category can be used as food as long as it is steamed, boiled, fried, or deep-fried at high temperatures. You must remember that you cannot eat it raw or when it is not cooked, otherwise it will reproduce in your body and use your flesh and blood as a bed...

"Taking into account the taste, I invented eleven kinds of mushrooms - some are rich in milk, which can be drunk directly, some are like beef, haha, no extra oil is needed when frying them, some are delicate like fish, but without thorns, my suggestion is to roast or boil them...

"All of these achievements are inseparable from your help. If I had not been promoted to 'Druid', it might have taken several years, or even more than ten years, to solve the various problems encountered in the experiment...

"If you have any other ideas that would be a good fit for me, please do share them with me..."

They both fell silent as they looked at the letter. Ten seconds later, Alice reached out to the dark mushroom. It exuded an ominous aura, and Alice could tell at a glance that it was the poisonous one. She picked it up, and Klein screamed:

"You are not allowed to eat!"

Alice hesitated for a moment, but finally stopped and asked sincerely:

"They look delicious...why don't you ask someone to cook them and try? Well, forget about the poisonous ones, although I'm a little curious..."

“…I’ll write a reply first.” Klein looked away in embarrassment.

After a moment, Klein folded the letter and asked Renette Tinicole, who had never left:

"How is Frank doing now?"

The head that hadn't spoken before Reinette spoke first:

"Excited..."

The other three added in turn:

"Active..." "Happy..." "Satisfied..."

Then the four heads said:

“No longer…” “Afraid…” “Buried…” “In the dirt.”