A few minutes later, Klein, clutching the spot on his waist where he'd been pinched, and using the back of his other hand to cool his face where the fever wouldn't subside, obediently stayed in his room, facing the wall in repentance.
...More than half of the current situation was his own doing.
After realizing what had happened, Alice immediately performed her remedy—a two-syllable chant combined with a spellcasting motion with her left hand, and in the blink of an eye, the thin blanket draped over her shoulders transformed into a loose robe.
While it still looked somewhat ambiguous, it was far better than the previous mess.
Klein lowered his guard at that moment.
Soon after, he was punched by Alice, who had stood up...
but that wasn't the point.
The point was that after being punched, he found her attacks completely painless, and even found the girl's rare blushing expression quite cute... Then, seemingly unintentionally, he twitched his facial muscles.
In other words, he smiled slightly.
And then, well, he was grabbed by the soft flesh of his waist, nearly dying on the spot.
This is a perfect example of "too much joy leads to sorrow"—wait, I used the wrong idiom! He wasn't secretly happy at all! If we had to find an idiom to describe it, it would be "an undeserved disaster"!
...Okay, rationally speaking, it was indeed his fault. He shouldn't have barged into a girl's room so rashly. Even if there were some secrets between them that they needed to keep from others, he wasn't calm enough at the time...
But who could have imagined that she would be so... unrestrained today, and even... even opening the door for someone while still dazed and wrapped in a blanket...
What if someone saw her like this?
And why does it feel like this wicked witch, who usually acts more like a witch than the real one, is so different in the mornings when she's not fully awake, so adorably silly, making you want to tease her...
Oh no, this thought is really wrong! Isn't this the same excuse she used to tease me back then?! "Because her reaction was so cute, I couldn't help but want to do something?"
I think I understand that mentality a little... No, I'm not like her, enjoying teasing others. How could I have such a misconception?
Stop, stop, I can't think about it anymore...
Gradually
banishing these unnecessary thoughts, Klein heard a soft knock at the door. He instinctively tensed his back, turned around, and quickly opened it.
"Alright, let's get straight to the point, so as not to delay your work," Alice entered his bedroom, holding the very letter that had caused this morning's accident. Her expression was normal as she said, "This letter was mailed to my door again this morning?"
She had changed out of the thin blanket that had become a robe and was now wearing a sand-colored long dress in a Rune style, looking casual and youthful.
But for some reason, Klein could sense a different atmosphere around her than usual.
If he had to find a matching description, he thought it would be something like the surface of a calm sea with undercurrents.
So, after a slight pause, Klein obediently lowered his head.
"Before we talk about the letter, I want to apologize. I was wrong just now; I acted too rashly and shouldn't have barged into your roomlike that…"
"…It's not entirely your fault. I also made mistakes. Alright, let's not dwell on it anymore. Let's talk about the letter." Alice turned her head away, seemingly unwilling to dwell on the topic, but the vague sense of unease had subsided considerably.
Klein breathed a sigh of relief and briefly recounted how he discovered the letter earlier that day, adjusting his mindset and embracing the seriousness of the situation.
"—That's roughly what happened. Unfortunately, all we can confirm at this time
is that the letter was delivered sometime between 9:30 PM last night and 6:15 AM this morning. A regular postman obviously wouldn't deliver mail at that time..." Alice looked thoughtful, pondered for a few seconds, and then said,
"Last time you did a divination on the letter, and the result was that the contents contained something harmful... Did you try the same process this time?"
Klein shook his head to indicate no, but then saw her take the letter to her desk, put it down, and point to the table.
"Would you mind a divination?"
Klein naturally wouldn't refuse a simple divination, and without a word, he released his pendulum and began the divination.
Soon, he received the same result as before.
After hearing the answer, Alice nodded gently.
"The divination result suggests it might have a negative impact on you. Could you use divination again to confirm whether this letter will also have a negative effect on me?"
"You have anti-divination spells on you, right? I can only say I'll try my best..."
If we were in that palace in the gray fog, it should be fine, but I can't possibly go up there to divine for you... Klein silently finished the words he hadn't dared to say aloud, then calmed himself and began the second divination.
After a while, he looked up at the girl waiting quietly beside him, shook his head and sighed softly, casually putting away the motionless yellow crystal pendant.
"As you can see, some force interfered with my divination, so unfortunately, I can't confirm whether this letter will also be harmful to you..."
Although if she were to remove the anti-divination effect, the result would likely be clear, but doing so might lead to even more troublesome situations, and Klein didn't want any unnecessary complications.
"Hmm, I understand…" Alice nodded, picking up the black letter from the desk again. "Then I'll keep this letter for now. There's something else I want to ask you—do you know anything about the ancient languages used in rituals or ceremonies?"
Language?
Klein cautiously replied,
"I know a little, mainly Hermes and Ancient Fursak. I'm still learning other languages like Ancient Hermes and Giants…"
Besides, don't you know the cheat spell of language proficiency? Why do you specifically ask a hardworking worker like me who can only learn languages through diligent study?
As if guessing his inner thoughts, Alice simply explained,
"I received some information yesterday, but I couldn't understand its meaning using language proficiency, so I could only memorize the entire pronunciation… Could you listen to it for me? Just be able to determine which language it belongs to."
Ah, this, forcibly memorizing the pronunciation of an unfamiliar language… Klein was speechless for a moment and could only nod in agreement.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Alice began to read in a slow, clear voice the Hermes language he was familiar with:
"The ruler of the end and nothingness..."
?!
"Stop!" Before she even finished the first word, Klein couldn't help but interrupt her in shock, "This is the intelligence you were talking about?!"
This is clearly the first rank of a certain being!
And, it's obviously not one of the names of the righteous gods he knows!