Yes, Lady Funina!

After leaving the house, Lynette didn't feel frustrated or neglected. Her eyes sparkled as she recalled Richard's behavior in front of Alice. She seemed to understand the direction of her future strategy.

Make sure you get along well with Ms. Alice!

P.S.: Building up a backlog of chapters in case mycoplasma outbreak disrupts my attendance record. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be able to update a lot at the end of the month. That's all!

Volume 1: Chapter 76 First, subdue the fox, then marry Narukami!

"The primordial seawater, is that why Nico guided me to Fontaine?" Richard asked.

"Yes, but not entirely. The original placental water does help you, but its effect on you isn't actually as significant as you might imagine." Alice's voice became unusually serious.

"You need to go to that alien dimension on this planet where the primordial womb water was created. Only the womb water at the very core can make you perfect."

"I think you should have some idea of ​​your origins by now, right? Of course, no matter what, you'll always be my good nephew, and that will never change."

Richard was silent for a moment, then finally managed to say, "Then tell me how to get there!"

"Haha... I don't know." Alice's composure crumbled in an instant.

The office fell into a deathly silence.

"Say something! Your silence is making the atmosphere really awkward!" Alice complained.

“I understand. So, Ms. Alice, you don’t actually know anything about primordial fetal water, do you?” Richard said helplessly.

"They don't even call me 'Auntie' anymore? How realistic!" Alice complained again, then added another comment.

"Sometimes knowing too much isn't necessarily a good thing. When the time comes, you'll naturally understand how to get to that alien space that nurtures the seawater of womb. Until then, just enjoy the journey."

"I'm working……"

“Going to work…going to work can certainly be considered a kind of travel. You see, travel can broaden one’s horizons and abilities, so going to work…going to work should be okay too, right?” Alice paused, realizing that this was a bit far-fetched, and awkwardly changed the subject.

"When are you planning to go see the Divine Child? You flirted with her and then ran away, and haven't returned to Inazuma for over a hundred years. This time, she took the initiative to come to you, so it's no wonder she was so angry."

"You should know my situation back then."

"Indeed, back then you wouldn't even see me, you just disappeared somewhere."

"Feel sorry."

"No need to apologize. After all, I can understand your choice under those circumstances."

Alice knew that Richard had discovered some truths about the world in Inazuma, and also learned some things about her own background. It was normal for her to not be able to accept it and want to be alone.

When Alice brought him back as a child, she knew this day would come.

Fortunately, Richard found himself and was not affected by his past life, which made Alice feel relieved and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, she raised this child all by herself from a young age, so Richard was no different from her own son.

"So when do you plan to go to Inazuma?"

Why are you so concerned about this?

"Well... you see, Yae no Miko and I have been old friends for many years, so isn't it normal for me to ask on her behalf?"

"Does she have something on you?"

"How could this be! I...I..."

"They capsized in the gutter?"

“No way! I was just letting her have her way, and... and who knew that after all these years, her alcohol tolerance would have gotten so good…” Alice muttered something like, ‘This is an intelligence error, not a fault of the battle.’ ‘Next time, next time I’ll definitely teach that fox a lesson!’ and other incomprehensible things.

"He was drugged, made a fool of himself, and then his image was captured on camera," Richard guessed.

"How...how did you know?! She told you? No, could it be that you two conspired to scheme against me?!" Alice exclaimed in shock.

Although we couldn't see her in person, Alice must be drenched in sweat by now.

"You guessed, so you, who had something on you, became Inazuma's advocate?"

"Using the word 'lobbyist' is too offensive. This is an elder showing concern for a younger generation. Don't you understand what concern means?"

“No elder would force a junior to drink alcohol. Aunt, do you remember how you treated Yae no Miko back then?” Richard felt a little uncomfortable thinking about this.

When Richard first arrived in Inazuma, he was unaware of his unreliable aunt's connection to Yae no Miko. Alice told him to just mention her name when he went to Inazuma, as she had connections there and her name was very useful.

Young Richard foolishly believed Alice's lies and gave her name when he went to the island to complete the boarding procedures after disembarking.

Within fifteen minutes, he was taken to Narukami Shrine, where he met Yae no Miko for the first time.

The first meeting did not go well, and Richard admitted that the pink fox's electricity was indeed more powerful than his own.

Thanks to Alice, Richard got a new hairstyle as soon as he arrived in Inazuma: a perm, which was very trendy.

It wasn't until he became acquainted with Yae no Miko that he gradually learned from her why she had treated him that way when they first met.

Upon hearing Richard's words, Alice gave a nonchalant snort: "Do you even remember how much bread you've ever eaten?"

"Okay, then all you need to know is that the Goddess who has something on you will treat you the same way she treated her back then."

—A fox's revenge is never too late.

"Impossible, we've already reached an agreement."

“Agreement?” Richard noticed the key word.

“What I mean is that we’ve made up,” Alice changed her mind.

"Reconcile? Do you think she'll let you off so easily?" Richard didn't believe it; no one knew better than him how difficult the Divine Child was to deal with.

"Of course, given her feelings for you, she's quite easy to please if she just shares a little bit of information about you."

“My intelligence, wait, you wouldn’t…” Richard suddenly sensed something was wrong.

"I showed it to her, a picture of you when you were little."

"How do you still have photos of me when I was a child? Didn't I take them all away?"

"You silly child, don't you know that I always keep backups of precious photos? A cunning rabbit has three burrows, didn't I teach you that before?" Alice's voice suddenly became loud and proud, as if she had won some victory.

Richard, on the other hand, had a blank expression. Of course he knew this principle, but he didn't expect that even after searching everywhere he could and finding three hidden backups, Alice still had a backup.

"Old ginger is spicier, young kid. You still have a lot to learn," Alice said with a smile.

Richard immediately retorted: "You've been tricked by the fox."

Yae no Miko is no old fox; she's the same age as Richard.

"That was an accident! If it happened again..."

"You've been tricked by the fox."

"I'll get my revenge!"

"You've been tricked by the fox!"

"Beep beep..." The carrier bird sent a busy signal, as if the call had been disconnected by some exasperated person.

Richard let out a long sigh of relief upon seeing this. He was utterly exhausted. The thought of the child seeing his foolishness when he was young sent chills down his spine.

I'd better not go to Inazuma or anything like that.

"Remember to go to Inazuma. I don't recall raising you into a scumbag who deceives girls' feelings." The messenger bird came back to life, and Alice's voice suddenly came through.

"You didn't hang up!"

"..."

There was no reply, so it seems the communication has been completely disconnected.

Richard shook his head and opened the envelope that lay quietly on his desk, now devoid of magic and just an ordinary letter.

He retrieved the letter Alice had actually sent him. The letter mentioned Klee and the Primal Fetal Water, which was almost identical to what had been discussed during their earlier conversation, except that it was more detailed and provided Richard with more clues about the Primal Fetal Water.

If he is interested, he can search for it himself based on the clues Alice gave him.

Besides that, it was mostly about everyday family matters and sharing some interesting things she had recently encountered. It felt like a letter from a parent who works away from home to their child left behind. Richard wondered if she was also writing a letter to Claire when she wrote this letter.

Skipping over those words, Richard saw a photograph tucked inside the letter at the end.

The photo shows a charming woman dressed in a white kimono with exquisite makeup. The allure she exudes in the photo is enough to take your breath away and make it hard to look away.

Even Richard stared at the photo for a long time before he came to his senses and carefully put it away.

"Are you tempted? Don't just think about it, take action! My lovely nephew, let's first capture the little fox, then join forces to seize Narukami's position, and bring Narukami and her retinue under our wing, making them my nephew's wives!"

Richard: ...

Did you hang up or not?

Richard didn't care whether Alice was listening on the other end of the line or not; he simply picked up the letter, stuffed it into the drawer, and physically cut off the call.

On the other end of the line, Alice seemed to know that Richard had put the letter in the drawer before she finally hung up the phone.

The ageless witch leaned back, stretched comfortably, and muttered to herself, "Little Richard, what are you going to do in the end if you keep flirting with everyone like this? Choose one? Take them all? Well, it doesn't matter. Anyway, for me, the more nephews-in-law the better."

At least we don't have to worry about Richard getting married in the future.

Meanwhile, after Richard put the letter in his drawer, he called Lynette over and asked her to arrange for several secretaries to go to the Fontaine Library to borrow the books about the primordial womb water that Alice had mentioned.

Just as Lynette was about to distribute the tasks, Richard suddenly called her back.

"Oh, and while you're at it, bring back the borrowing records for these books as well, and see if there are any suspicious people listed on them."

After all, the group that could make 'Loss' from virgin fetal seawater might have also learned about virgin fetal seawater in this way.

"I see."

Lynette agreed, and soon several secretaries brought back the books.

These books all looked quite old, and apart from historians, almost no one would think of borrowing them, so there were no instances of them being borrowed by others first.

At the same time, the borrowing records of these books were also placed on Richard's desk.

Because these are not popular books, very few people borrow them; the total borrowing records over the past ten years or so amount to only a few pages.

By cross-referencing the names of the borrowers of these books, Richard eventually discovered that all of them had been borrowed by an adventurer named 'Vasha'.

Richard's intuition told him that there was definitely something wrong with this adventurer named 'Vashe,' so he sent someone to the Adventurers' Guild to ask the members for details about this person.

"He disappeared more than ten years ago..." Richard learned that this adventurer named 'Vasher' had been reported missing by the Adventurers' Guild more than ten years ago and had not been heard from since.

The association had initially issued a request to send people to conduct search and rescue operations, but the effort was unsuccessful and was eventually abandoned.

After all, disappearances are quite common in the adventurer profession.

“More than ten years ago, if I remember correctly, that should have been around the time the girl abduction cases started,” Lynette said to Richard after thinking for a moment.

"Could this be a coincidence?" Richard didn't believe it; there was no such thing as a coincidence in the world.

"Should I go ask the Fools?"

“Okay, thank you.” Richard nodded, then asked, “Also, please ask Fimini if ​​she’s free.”

“Fimini? He should be preparing for a performance with his brother recently. The Grand Bode Hotel invited them to perform for the diners there. It’s a routine performance, and they do it several times a month.”

"You have something to do with him?"

"Well, some questions about diving. Alice told me about a few places where pristine seawater might exist, some of which are underwater, but the exact locations are not yet clear. I need a professional to provide me with a deep-sea map of the waters near Fontainebleau."

As a senior diver in Fontainebleau, and given that we were already acquainted, it was obviously the most appropriate thing to ask him for advice on related issues.

"I understand. I'll head back to Hearth House tonight." Seeing that the original fetal water seemed very important to Richard, Lynette immediately switched to sports mode, becoming decisive and efficient.

"Of course, if Fimini is busy, you can ask him to help you mark out a few areas, and then I can go find them by myself."

"Are you going alone?"

"You can come along if you want, but it's not an easy job; you'll have to go to sea."

"I'll go ask Fimini if ​​she's available."

Lynette's beautiful eyes flickered, but she didn't agree immediately.

——————

“Is marking a few areas on the map enough? The underwater environment is very complex. Why don’t I go with them?” Fimini said.

He wondered if he could use this as an excuse to skip his performance at the Grand Bodleian Hotel a few days later. To be honest, he was really bad at facing the stares of strangers.

If possible, he would prefer to go underwater, so that he could help Mr. Richard without having to face the audience. That would be the best option.

"What about your brother? You've been rehearsing for a long time, haven't you? A duo magic trick can't work without either of you, right?" Lynette's three urgent questions immediately dissuaded Fimini from the idea.

“Okay, alright, then be careful,” Fimi said hesitantly.