Bab 5: Chapter 5: Old Neil
Chapter 5: Old Neil.
Klein... Klein was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat all over his body.
Lacking the psychological fortitude honed by experience and the facial control afforded by the clown's potion, anyone could see how terrified Klein was at that moment.
Unfortunately, Alice, whose eyes were covered, could not personally perceive this terror. She asked with some confusion, "Why won't you answer me?"
...What should he respond?
Rather than considering whether to tell Alice that he was the Fool, Klein decided to steer the conversation towards a safer topic.
"The Fool is a card in the tarot, isn't it? Why do you suddenly ask about this?"
Alice remained silent.
Klein's voice carried a clearly forced calm, and coupled with the prior silence, it confirmed to Alice that he must know something beyond the tarot cards.
Alice was not particularly empathetic. If persisting in her inquiry could achieve her goal, she wouldn't mind continuing, but she knew that her previous probing had already been dangerously risky—she must not go any further.
Of course, the main reason was that it seemed not a spiritually endorsed idea.
Moreover, after confirming that the place in her memory truly existed and that there were others from that place in this world besides herself, Alice had no more questions.
The lunch ended in an eerie silence, with Alice showing no intention of breaking it, and Klein, still unable to fully gather his composure from the earlier emotional shock, had no desire to initiate further conversation.
...
In the afternoon, Alice stepped into the headquarters of the Night Watchers and, led by Dunn, met Old Neil.
"Are you the fortunate one?" The elderly gentleman, with his white hair and dressed in a classic black robe, looked up from the books illuminated by the gas lamp and regarded Alice with a look of astonishment.
Alice was familiar with such looks; indeed, everyone who heard her story regarded her with the same expression—whether it was the Sequence 7 fortunate one who died accidentally or the ordinary person who accidentally ingested a Sequence 7 characteristic and became extraordinary, it was all filled with a dark humor typical of fate.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Neil." Alice greeted the gentleman, reputed to possess extensive knowledge in mysticism and a deep background.
—Then, she saw a pair of eyes.
Those eyes, hidden in the dense darkness behind Old Neil, quietly watched him, with darkness spreading from the eyes, slowly engulfing Neil.
If this continued, he would be surrounded by darkness like the captain... no, worse! The captain was only surrounded, but he would be directly devoured!
Alice suppressed her urge to flee, strained her facial muscles to regain their flexibility, and displayed a bright, unclouded smile.
...She must not provoke him.
"Have a seat," Old Neil said, "Would you like a cup of hand-ground coffee?"
"Thank you..." Alice approached and sat down, "You don't seem to be drinking?"
Alice noticed the clear water in his cup.
"Ha, it's my habit not to drink coffee after 3 PM," Old Neil explained with a laugh.
"Why... um, because it keeps you awake?" Alice guessed.
"Right, it makes me hear some inexplicable whispers," Neil responded with a smile.
Alice almost couldn't help but glance again at those eyes; she forcibly restrained herself and changed the subject, "The captain said I could start learning about mysticism, where should we begin?"
As Alice spoke, she displayed her natural curiosity—peering at the contents on Old Neil's desk, trying to see what was there.
"I heard you've already learned about... what are you looking at?"
"What is that?"
Alice's gaze fell on the yellowed pages, and her reason for lingering was simple—she recognized the script! This block script, simplified Chinese, was starkly different from the runic script.
"This? This is Emperor Roselle's diary," Neil's tone sounded as if he was expecting Alice to ask him how he knew it was a diary.
"Emperor Roselle?" Alice recalled information about this figure in her mind, "The one who invented many things, copied... wrote many books, that Emperor Roselle?"
Her slip of the word 'copied' clearly revealed her true thoughts—after learning about Emperor Roselle's life, she was convinced that this emperor also came from that mysterious place and chose to plagiarize... uh, transport the wisdom of predecessors.
"Exactly," Neil, undeterred by the lack of inquiry, continued, "This is the diary lost before Roselle Gustav's death, he used strange symbols he invented for secrecy."
Alice adopted a posture of attentive listening.
"Because many believe he didn't truly die but became a hidden deity, there have always been cultists who worship him and conduct various rituals to gain power; we occasionally encounter such cases, obtaining a few originals or copied notes.
"Until today, no one has been able to decipher the true meaning of those special symbols, so 'the Sanctuary' allows us to keep copies for study, hoping for unexpected surprises.
"I've deciphered a few symbols, confirmed they represent numbers, and discovered it's actually a diary! Well, I'm using historical events from different dates, especially those around the emperor, to compare with the diary entries from those days to decode more symbols."
The old gentleman's eyes sparkled as if they were saying "please praise me," so Alice generously offered her admiration: "That's a brilliant approach!"
Neil modestly smiled and pushed the yellowed pages towards her, asking, "It seems you're curious about them, would you like to take a look?"
Thus, with her wish fulfilled, Alice eagerly picked up the diary, exclaiming in admiration, "Really? May I look? Mr. Neil, you are so kind!"
Alice's peripheral vision satisfyingly noted Neil's pleasure, and she began to focus on browsing the diary.
"November 18th, what a miraculous event, a whimsical experiment and a coincidental mistake led me to discover a poor soul trapped in a storm, lost in the depths of darkness, who can only approach the real world during the full moon each month, yet still unable to convey his cries. He is fortunate, for he has met me, the protagonist of this era."
(End of Chapter)
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone