Klein picked up the porcelain cup and took a sip of coffee. He swallowed the sweet aroma of the three sugar cubes in his mouth and pointed to a passage he had excerpted from his notebook.
"Look here. This is a report I found in a newspaper called Conant Wisdom Observer, which records detailed information about some of the missing persons. It is said that the newspaper's reporters went to the families of the missing persons to ask for permission to publish, aiming to find the connection points between the missing persons through the joint efforts of the general public..."
In fact, the effect of doing so was not very good, and many families of the missing persons did not cooperate, resulting in this series of reports being cut short after only two issues.
Klein had reason to suspect that this was a team of Beyonders under a certain official authority in Conant City, and they wanted to save themselves the trouble of using their brains by doing this outrageous operation...
Well, it definitely couldn't be the Nighthawks' idea, so it must have been the Punisher or the Mechanical Heart.
However, although he was speculating, Klein was still very grateful for these two reports as he actually discovered the problem.
"Hmm, I don't seem to see any commonality."
Alice glanced at the missing persons information he had extracted, biting a piece of tender pink pancake and shook her head.
"If you look directly at them, of course you won't find any commonalities between these people, because no matter their gender, age, background, or occupation, there is almost no pattern at all, and their social circles don't even overlap. But if—"
As he spoke, Klein took out a pen from the inside pocket of his suit and wrote down the birthday number of the first missing person next to the information he had extracted from his notes.
"This missing person is not yet 27 years old this year. The soul number that affects him can be directly calculated by adding up his birthday dates... On the 24th, the soul number obtained by adding up is '6'."
Then, he showed her and calculated the soul numbers of the other four missing persons one by one. Except for a middle-aged coachman whose birth number did not match, the current soul numbers that affected the others were exactly 6.
"Four out of five people have the same pattern... it shouldn't be considered a coincidence." Alice nodded, and suddenly asked, "But why do you think these disappearances are related to the person who sent me the letter?"
As if he had expected her to ask him such a question, Klein drank his coffee leisurely and answered frankly:
"I have investigated the timing of your appearance in Tingen, as well as the major and minor current events that occurred before and after that, and found that only the serial disappearances in Disi County were suddenly resolved after your appearance. Therefore, it is a reasonable speculation to link the people behind the disappearances with the people who called you." "
I see... Well, those people behind the scenes? Do you think they are a force?"
"Yes, and you said that when you came here just now, you met an extraordinary person who called you 'witch'... I think they may have mistaken you for the mastermind behind the disappearances."
Klein adhered to the principle of saying more and making more mistakes, and tried to guide her to think along his designed lines without leaving any trace.
"…The one who called me was the 'witch' of this world?"
Alice came to this conclusion very naturally.
"I can't guarantee that. I only know that there is only one secret force related to witches... the 'Witch Cult' that has been passed down since the Fourth Epoch. Their members are all women, and their purpose of action is to spread disasters and calamities. It is a well-known extremist organization. As for why they kidnap people with the birth number '6', I haven't figured it out yet."
Klein said truthfully.
In the mystical sense, 6 represents balance and harmony in life, but it is not certain whether the witch sect will adopt this meaning.
In the teachings of the Goddess of Night, 7 is the spiritual number corresponding to the Goddess. If 6 is understood in this way, then this number becomes a number with a flaw of "1".
"Witch sect..." Alice repeated the phrase and
nodded slightly. She then picked up another pancake and asked, "How many victims are there in the serial disappearances? If it is really a particularly major incident, the official supernatural organization will definitely pay attention to it. Maybe they have discovered the reason why the witches kidnapped people with the birth number '6'." "About a dozen people? The newspaper didn't say the exact number, and do you think I look like someone who would know such important information?"
Klein spread his hands, appearing unusually calm.
He wasn't lying. With his level of authority, he really didn't know the details of Disi's disappearance.
But he could probably guess that perhaps someone had discovered the mystery of the missing persons' birth numbers, or perhaps there were a large number of erroneous data on the missing persons with numbers other than '6', which made the extraordinary people rule out this judgment.
What's more, he and others received a notice from the captain yesterday, saying that there were some adjustments to the wanted strategy for the "Mirror Witch", so they didn't have to pay special attention to the wanted "Witch of Joy".
...If the church leaders hadn't discovered something, Klein believed that there wouldn't be such a change.
Otherwise, take a look at the wanted poster of the renegade archbishop next door. The captain never said that there was no need to report this person's whereabouts.
Even though no one has ever seen him.
But in any case, the real point to be conveyed to Alice is already made.
Sure enough, Alice did not continue to dwell on the issue of her birth number, but instead started to talk about the name of the witch sect.
He didn't know what she was thinking about. When her eyes focused on Klein again, he heard her smile and praise: "You
are quite capable. You can find out so much in just two days. It's really surprising."
"You get what you pay for. I will definitely take it seriously if you pay me. If there is any new progress in the follow-up investigation, I will tell you."
Klein did not accept her compliment verbally without being humble, but thought to himself that it was entirely because he had read the internal files of the Night Watchers and was sure that there was a connection between her and the Witch Cult...
But there was no need to say such words out loud.
Klein happily accepted the brand new 10-pound note, while Alice rested her chin on her hand with a thoughtful look on her face. The two were speechless for a while.
The private room with a small heart-shaped lamp on fell into silence, but the atmosphere was not frozen. Instead, it was filled with the fragrance of flower tea, exuding a kind of lazy and tranquil feeling unique to the afternoon.
He kind of hoped that time would just stop passing...
There would be no bizarre supernatural events, no need to face the murderer who caused the bloodbath, no need to worry about daily necessities and wages, and the desire to go home hidden in his heart...
Klein felt that he was not qualified to escape these problems, but since he traveled through time, he had been on edge and rushing to every day's itinerary. Even on his days off, he had to focus on the mysterious luck-changing ritual and pretend to be an unfathomable strong man at the Tarot Club...
At this moment, even one more second would be enough for him to escape from the complicated mundane affairs and willfully and greedily enjoy this rare and luxurious lazy time.
——And macarons! Oh, here we should call it "Intis-style colorful round cake"...
After refilling himself with a cup of scented tea—he had already finished his coffee when he was calculating Alice's spiritual numbers—Klein let his mind go and sank into the soft chair, almost paralyzed and unwilling to move.
Only when he occasionally wanted to put those soft and delicious cookies into his mouth would he be willing to spend a little effort to reach out for those colorful little desserts on the dessert plate, and then let the satisfaction brought by the sweetness fill his senses.
Until the last plate became emptier and emptier, with only one blackcurrant-colored round cake left, Klein raised his hand to take it, but before he touched its fragile surface, he felt another person's hand.
Warm, soft and elastic feel.
He was suddenly awakened as if he had been electrocuted, withdrew his hand, and smiled awkwardly, indicating that he was willing to give the last macaron to the girl.
As soon as he finished speaking, Klein's heart skipped a beat. He thought to himself that his immature reaction was in vain. Alice would probably seize the opportunity to tease him until he blushed and his heart beat fast, providing material for her evil "pleasure".
But to his surprise, Alice was just stunned for a moment, and didn't say much or make any special expression. She just accepted his concession and ate the cake in small bites.
…
After that, nothing unexpected happened until Klein washed off his tiredness and lay down on the bed in his room to sleep.
With enough funds to buy enough spiritual materials and prepare semi-finished amulets for Benson and Melissa... He can try carving when he has nothing to do tomorrow...
He was vaguely planning what he would do tomorrow and gradually fell asleep.
——Yeah, dreamland. He had a dream.
It was not a spiritual reminder, nor was it a valuable omen or revelation. It was just a simple, meaningless dream.
At the beginning of the dream, it seemed to be a replica of the scene in which he used a pen to calculate numerology in the afternoon.
But when he saw clearly the person sitting next to him, he suddenly felt as if he had returned to his student days before the time travel. He was sitting in a noisy study room with a math test paper on the table in front of him.
In his dream, he was holding a black pen and writing and drawing on the corrected test paper, but he had to turn his head from time to time to look at the blonde girl sitting at the same table to make sure she did not fall asleep while he was explaining.
After he finished explaining the math problems, the scene suddenly changed. He seemed to have gone to college, and as soon as the summer vacation started, he was asked to go shopping by his pretty girlfriend, with whom he had already established a romantic relationship.
She was dressed beautifully in a T-shirt and denim hot pants, with a curvy figure and a pair of slender legs that looked like white lotus roots painted on it.
She held his hand and walked past the delicate and bright glass windows, occasionally stopping to look at the merchandise on display, her green eyes sparkling.
Tired of shopping, they took the elevator to the couple's restaurant on the top floor of the building, ordered a large table of colorful ice cream and various desserts, and joked to each other that they would gain ten pounds after eating.
She was always so quirky and would not miss any opportunity to make him blush.
So in the restaurant where classical piano music was playing slowly, she picked out the long and thin chocolate bar on the parfait plate, put one end in her mouth, and then motioned him with a wicked smile to come over and eat the chocolate covered with ice cream.
...Of course, he in the dream was not so sincere and would not follow her ideas.
He moved closer, lowered his head and bit those two soft and tender lips.
The chocolate bar dipped in ice cream quickly melted completely under their mixed body temperatures, spreading a sweet and slightly bitter taste in their mouths.
It was the all-too-familiar smell of chocolate.
Mm, very sweet.
With a heart full of sweet joy, Klein woke up with a silly smile.
After waking up, he was just stupid and not happy.
How could I have such an outrageous dream?! Could it be that he was more deeply affected by Alice's charm?
Klein got up from bed with a heavy heart and paced back and forth in the room with a frown on his face. He felt that he had encountered a century-level problem.
But he didn't hesitate for long before he made a decision in the dark hours of the early morning.
He gently turned on the gas light, went to the bathroom to wash his face, set up a sealed spiritual wall in the room, then returned to the table to take out the materials and carving knives he had purchased last night, and concentrated on practicing making the amulet.
As the terrifying power surged in the room, his spirituality was connected together by the guidance of the carving knife, and Klein was pleasantly surprised to complete the creation of the first amulet in his life - although it was a little difficult to say, its function was to resist the "charm" influence from others...
Although this amulet had limited effect on someone like him who was already a Beyonder, it was better to have it than not.
Moreover, this also helped him accumulate some experience in making amulets. Next time when he made amulets for Benson and Melissa, he would be able to carve them more beautifully.
Klein shook the crude amulet in his hand and used divination to confirm its success and effectiveness, then he began to think about it in his mind.
But now, he needed to clean the desk...
Looking at the mess on the desk, Klein couldn't help but want to sigh out loud.
After he had packed up, the time shown on his pocket watch was almost the time he usually got up, so he didn't delay any longer and changed into his going-out clothes. Then he put the amulet and a gold coin, which had completely become a divination tool, into two different pockets.
I have to take some time to catch up on some sleep this morning...
Klein couldn't help but yawn as soon as he opened the door. But when he opened his eyes, which were blurred by physiological tears, he happened to run into Alice who had also opened the door and walked into the corridor.
She seemed to be in low spirits today. She yawned slightly with her hands covering her mouth. Her soft light golden hair was a little messy, with a few long tufts of hair slightly curled outwards. She looked... a little dull.
"Good morning, Klein."
Her voice seemed to be a little sleepy, which made him dazed for a few seconds before he thought of responding.
"…Good morning."
Although Klein hoped that it was an illusion, he felt an unignorable heat coming from the pocket where the anti-charm amulet was placed.
The spiritual power inside the amulet is being consumed rapidly... If it continues at this rate, this amulet that he had just carved not long ago will soon reach its limit of use!
Klein's smile gradually froze: He had never expected that the "charm" influence that Alice had casually mentioned to him before would actually have such a strong effect!
The amulet couldn't last even five minutes with her!
...He himself seemed to be unable to bear it any longer.
With a desperate sigh in his heart, Klein decided to do something before the amulet expired.
So he walked up to Alice, straightened the tufts of hair that were sticking up, and smoothed out the messy spots. Then he turned around and went downstairs refreshed.
Alice opened her eyes wide and touched her hair in disbelief. After a while, she slowly turned her head and looked at the girl who pretended to have just come out of the bathroom.
"Melissa, good morning... Well, your brother seems to be a little bit abnormal today."
Melissa looked at her deeply, and suddenly turned her head and laughed:
"Good morning, Miss Alice, Klein... Well, it's nothing, you should be overthinking it."
Her silly brother was probably just a little enlightened.Bang, bang.
Two gunshots, separated by a short interval, pierced the air of the dockside streets, breaking the peaceful tranquility of the sunny afternoon.
Eric and Steve from the Punisher team looked at each other and confirmed that the two gunshots were not illusions. They came from somewhere in the neighborhood and couldn't be too far away.
Two sailors, one old and one young, started running.
"This way!"
Not long after being transferred back to the dock area from the East District, he encountered something unusual during the afternoon patrol. Eric felt a little anxious and uneasy about this.
What subconsciously appeared in his mind was not Tris, the "instigator" whom the Punisher team had been searching for for two days in vain, but the "dockside monster" for which specific eyewitness intelligence was obtained two days ago.
"That's... the Tyrell Warehouse in front."
Steve recognized the surrounding buildings and spoke to him in a low voice.
"Boy, be careful."
In fact, there was no need for the old sailor to remind Eric. He had already pulled out his gun, adjusted the firing position and safety catch, and slowed down his pace with Steve.
But the young Punisher still said nothing. He remained alert in silence and moved forward with the old sailor in the direction where the gunshots were heard.
Taking advantage of the natural shelter of the piles of debris and cargo boxes in the alley, the two approached the open space in front of the entrance to the Tyrell warehouse.
At the old sailor's signal, Eric leaned forward and took a few careful observations, and suddenly exclaimed softly:
"The person lying on the ground over there... seems to be a member of the Night Watch? I seem to have seen their forgetful captain."
"Are you talking about Dunn Smith?"
Upon hearing this, Steve also cautiously crawled out from behind the cargo box, squinted his eyes and looked at him for a while, then turned back to signal Eric to stay alert.
Then, the old sailor, dressed in an old shirt and trousers, took out a badge engraved with the holy symbol of the Lord of Storms from his pocket, pinned it in a conspicuous place on his clothes, then raised his revolver and walked step by step towards the scene of the conflict that seemed to have been settled.
"Stop, old man, a conflict has just broken out here... You'd better stay where you are and keep a safe distance from us."
A young Night Watchman whom Steve had never seen before stood up. His black hair was a little messy, and his tuxedo was scratched in several places and covered with dust. He looked like he had rolled on the ground and looked a little embarrassed.
...Perhaps he is the new recruit recently recruited by the Nighthawks. Steve guessed with narrowed eyes, turning the gun around to indicate that he had no hostility.
"Wait, Klein, this is a member of the Mandated Punisher team. He might have heard the noise and came over to check out the situation."
Steve had an impression of the person who spoke this time.
A handsome guy who looks like he was in his youth, Leonard, the midnight poet of Sequence 8. However, Steve always thought that he was thin and not strong enough, like the kind of pretty boy that upper-class ladies would like.
"You have just solved an extraordinary incident? Is there anything I can help you with?"
The experienced old sailor quickly concluded from the traces left at the scene that an incident that could have caused serious harm to ordinary citizens had been solved by the Night Watchmen, and there seemed to be no other hidden dangers around, so he took the initiative to ask.
At this time, Dunn Smith barely recovered under the effect of the potion, and regained his spirit to face the elderly Punisher.
"Ahem... the battle should be over, Mr. Steve, you're here just in time. Please notify the Mandated Punishers and the police. We need to deal with the traces at the scene."
Steve noticed that the captain of the Nighthawks seemed to be holding something in his hand. It had a black cover and looked like a notebook.
Recalling the news that the Church of Evernight seemed to be searching for a certain sealed object recently, he did not ask any more questions. Instead, he took another look at the battlefield that had obviously not been cleaned, and
nodded in agreement. But then Steve asked Eric who was hiding behind the cargo box to come out again, pointed at the young sailor and said:
"I'm going to report the situation here. This is Eric, a good and steady guy. If you don't mind asking him to help look after the scene, I'll let him stay." "
No problem, thank you for your cooperation."
Dunn knew that most of the extraordinary events in the dock area were the responsibility of the Punishers. If they were on the scene, a lot of necessary procedures for exchanges between churches could be saved, so he readily agreed to the old sailor's proposal.
After the fifty-year-old Punisher left, several Night Watchmen quietly began their search, trying to find something useful among the corpses and debris on the ground.
Eric, who was wearing a worker's overalls, folded his arms in silence, leaned against the outer wall of the warehouse to keep watch, and his eyes occasionally swept across a disgusting pool of rotten flesh and blood on the ground.
...
Are these two the Made Punishers? This is the first time I've seen official Beyonders other than the Nighthawks... But why did they come just after we finished fighting? It seems like they have learned a lot from the police in various TV dramas. Whenever an incident is over or the criminals run away, they arrive belatedly...
Klein complained in his heart and tried to divert his attention. He suppressed his emotions and searched for the body of the Tuxedo Clown with Dunn and Leonard.
Unfortunately, there was nothing on the body that could prove his identity.
After exhaling and standing up again, Klein shook his hands first, and then seemed to remember something. He pulled out a clean white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the place where he had touched the corpse.
As a result, this action was seen by Leonard, and the poet-like night watchman smiled deeply with his green eyes.
"Klein, I didn't expect you to carry a handkerchief with you, like an old-fashioned gentleman."
...Not only do I carry a handkerchief, I also got it from the "witch" you've been thinking about day and night.
Klein almost couldn't hold back the smile on his face just thinking about it.
He then quickly used meditation techniques to control his emotions and expressions, put on a serious look, did not respond, and shook his head silently.
He had not forgotten that Leonard had just said in an unfathomable manner that they both had secrets. Of course, the other party's narcissistic way of expressing himself really deserved a beating...
In short, no matter how much Leonard saw, he did not seem to intend to tell anyone, so Klein temporarily put his mind at ease and no longer considered the risk of exposing his own secrets.
After that, he followed Captain Dunn to collect the remains left after the death of the monster Rell Bibb. The dangerous sealed object "2-049" in the distance had also been re-contained and controlled by several Night Watchmen from Backlund. Then he heard Dunn instructing the others to return to Zouteland Street together, leaving only Leonard, who was less seriously injured, to guard here in case of any accidents.
Only when Dunn called Leonard's name several times did the poet-like Nighthawk slowly walk in from outside the warehouse, followed by the Beyonder from the Mandated Punisher team.
"Everyone, I just talked with Mr. Eric and found out something worth noting... Mr. Eric, could you please repeat it to my teammates again? About the rumor about the 'Dockside Monster' you just mentioned?"
Leonard said, and snapped his fingers ostentatiously.
The black-haired, blue-eyed Punisher seemed not to be able to deal with this type of person. He stood a few steps away from Leonard with a stiff expression, then looked around at the night watchmen around him, thought for a few seconds, and then began to narrate a number of cases involving incidents that had occurred in the dock area in recent days:
a worker who got up early in the morning witnessed a strange shadow in the Tussock River eating fish and shrimp alive, so he was frightened and broke his leg;
residents of several dock area households had unexplained rot and abscesses on their bodies, and it was reported that they had all washed clothes and sheets in a section of the Tussock River;
a female worker who tried to commit suicide by jumping into the river but failed claimed that she was saved by a monster...
After briefly listing a few incidents, Eric said:
"We have preliminarily determined that there is a Beyonder who is close to losing control hiding in the dock area, but because our personnel have been assigned to search for a wanted criminal in the past two days, we have no time to conduct further investigation... I want to confirm once again whether the thing you are dealing with is originally a huge deformed monster with a grayish-white appearance..."
He pointed to the rotten pieces of meat on the ground and described the testimonies collected from the witnesses in as much detail as possible.
Several night watchmen looked at each other, and finally Dunn nodded with deep grey eyes.
"What a coincidence... We may have just dealt with the out-of-control person you are looking for."
Klein's heart moved slightly, and the strange feeling that had been entangled in his spiritual perception emerged again:
Riel Bibb was lured by the power of the notebook, lost his reason and thinking ability, failed to escape Tingen, and did not carefully choose a safe hiding place. He hurriedly wanted to absorb the power in the notebook - this was the explanation given by Captain Dunn and another night watcher.
However, the incident report received by the Punisher clearly proves that Monster Bieber has a certain thinking ability! At least he knew how to go to the river to catch fish and shrimp to fill his stomach, and he even "kindly" saved a female worker who jumped into the river...
Driven by inspiration, Klein couldn't help but speak out about the inconsistency he had discovered.
"Haha, you think too much. Those who are driven crazy by extraordinary power have no normal rationality in their heads. Don't use ordinary people's thinking to guess their thoughts."
Al Hassen from Backlund smiled and patted the young man who seemed too nervous, signaling him to relax.
Well, that seems to be the case.
Klein stopped worrying after hearing this. After Captain Dunn arranged the follow-up matters, he followed the main force onto the carriage.
Of course, since they had entered the range of influence of the Sealed Object "2-049", everyone on the carriage had to start the "awkward dance" again, performing the non-stop arm flexion and extension exercises.
Before leaving, he glanced through the window of the carriage at the gray-white warehouse outside and found that the Punisher had resumed his standby position with his arms folded against the wall, but his eyes never left the disgusting pool of rotten flesh and blood. There was a hint of confusion on his face, and it was unknown what he was thinking about.
But Klein soon stopped caring about other people's affairs.
He got exciting news from Captain Dunn!
He can become a formal member of the Nighthawks team! As long as he gets the approval from the church, his weekly salary will reach 6 pounds!
Although everything has a price...it's really joyful to get a promotion and a pay raise!
And in this way, he will have the opportunity to access more secret knowledge!
Well, maybe it's time to think about making up a suitable and reasonable excuse to ask Alice to help find the Earth... ...
Fatigue
and tension, the discomfort of killing for the first time, and the panic of facing the strange corpse intertwined together. Klein lay down at home with a confused mind, and it was not until a long time later that he fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up and had dinner with his family... well, Alice too - Klein felt like he was finally alive again.
Well, let's not tell Benson and Melissa about the promotion for now.
He just received 5 pounds of "welfare income" last week, and this week his weekly salary doubled. Benson and the others probably couldn't accept this obviously abnormal situation. They would probably think that he had joined some dangerous organization that lived on the edge of death...
Although this was not much different from the facts, Klein still felt that it was better to have less trouble than more, and to save his family from worrying about him.
And there was also -
just as he was stretching and thinking about his future arrangements, he suddenly heard his sister Melissa say: "
By the way, Klein, you have another letter in the mail."
He paused in his stretching action until the second half of Melissa's sentence came slowly:
"It seems to be signed by your mentor."
... I was scared to death! I almost thought it was another strange letter!
Klein patted his chest silently, recalling the letter he had written to his mentor to ask about the history of the "Honachis Main Peak", and calmed his heart that was about to stop beating.
He took the normal letter from his sister, cut the envelope with a knife, and began to read.
The answers mentioned in the mentor's letter were also very detailed and thorough. After reading it, Klein took out the letter paper and pen, carefully considered the words and wrote a thank you letter.
After he wrote his name on the signature page, put away his pen, and packed the letter, Alice, who usually went to bed early, had already returned to her room on the second floor. Klein felt even more relaxed, and smiled as he gave Melissa a lot of pocket money in the name of postage.
—To be honest, after having that strange dream, he had no idea how to face Alice... Fortunately, a lot of things happened today, so this little worry didn't seem to be a big deal. What's more, he didn't have much chance to be alone with her today...
Klein's thoughts wandered for a while, and he thought of a lot of random things.
Just then, Melissa stood up, walked to the sofa where he and Benson were sitting, cleared her throat, and asked her two brothers if they were going to attend the birthday dinner hosted by her classmate Selina on Sunday.
Klein and Benson both nodded happily, but the former noticed that Melissa showed a subtle look of disapproval, which was pointed directly at him.
Well, I just wanted to get to know more of my sister's friends so that I could ask around in case something happens... Why did she react like this?
Seeing that Klein didn't seem to be aware of the problem at all, Melissa sighed helplessly:
"Klein, Selina's family... Well, I remember what I told you before, the conditions are pretty good, and the nature of the dinner party is also an exchange meeting between middle-class families... Of course, I'm not saying that our family is not qualified, but you have to know that the nature of single men going to the dinner party is close to finding a suitable marriage partner. So, you don't have to force yourself..."
Klein finally reacted halfway through: Melissa was worried that if he went to that birthday dinner, Alice would misunderstand!
But he wanted to go...
and if he thought about it carefully, he would find that although his sister and Alice had a good relationship, they were not close enough to invite her to a dinner party at a friend's house. Besides, it sounds weird to invite your brother's girlfriend to a classmate's birthday party...
Wait, why did he also put Alice in his girlfriend's shoes?
Klein shook his head to get rid of this strange habitual thinking, trying to put on a serious expression and insisted:
"No, I think we should follow the etiquette of the Moretti family. Melissa, think about it, if only you and Benson go to the party, but I am absent, will your friends misunderstand that your other brother is an arrogant person? In short, I think our family should go out together on Sunday. As for Alice... Well, I will talk to her, she will definitely understand my choice."
After he finished speaking, even Benson showed a look as if he saw a scumbag.
"Klein, this is the first time I've discovered that you seem to have the talent to be a politician. This reason is impeccable, but I always feel like something is not right…"
…
After finally dealing with Benson and Melissa's prejudices against him, Klein returned to his room, took a shower, changed into his old shirt and loose trousers, and prepared to sit down at his desk to sort out what happened today.
Just then, there was a knock on his door.
He went over and opened the door, and found Alice standing in the corridor.
"Klein, I forgot to ask you when I came back just now. Are you free this weekend?"
She asked directly, and Klein was startled. He almost thought that she had heard the topic of the birthday party that the three siblings were discussing just now.
"Well, I have something to do on Sunday night, so it's not very convenient..."
He hesitated and expressed his arrangements tactfully.
Alice was not affected by his tone, she smiled slightly:
"That's just right, I have an invitation to a dinner party on Saturday night, would you like to attend as my male companion?"
... Why is it another dinner party? He has attended dinner parties for two consecutive days, he almost feels like he is an upper-class person!
Out of some youthful ignorance, and with the anti-charm amulet that had been replenished with spiritual power starting to heat up in his pocket, Klein subconsciously wanted to refuse: "
Dinner... I have never been to any formal dinners. What if I don't know the etiquette and make a fool of myself..."
Before he could say the words of refusal, Alice seemed to remember something and raised her hand to touch her lips:
"It's okay, you don't need to think about these issues, including clothes and etiquette. These are not the point. Because... well, it was a dinner hosted by a 'witch', and I always felt that it was not appropriate to ask others to accompany me. After all--"
...wait, did he hear it wrong? A dinner hosted by a witch?!
Klein was slightly stunned, and even held his breath at her drawn-out tone.
"It's like this. I plan to sneak in disguised as a witch. If someone else comes as my male companion, I'm worried that my acting skills will be too good and people will really believe in my identity as a 'witch'. So, can you..."
Alice didn't say the rest of the request, but the meaning revealed in her eyes was very clear and straightforward: Please do me a favor!
After two seconds of silence as if he was thinking, Klein kept his mind blank and said woodenly, "Please allow me to think about it."
After that, he immediately closed the door and took out a gold coin with a dragon and lion pattern from his pocket. He then entered a semi-meditative state, throwing the gold coin high into the air and catching it again.
After a while, Klein finally made a decision, opened the door again, and gave Alice his answer.