Chapter 209;Russell's Proudest Achievement
Chapter 209: Russell's Proudest Achievement
The two minors stared at each other, lost in thought. After a while, the boy spoke first, "This is not for sale."
Alice looked at the boy's calm expression and realized she had much to learn in this area. She nodded seriously and then asked, "Can you help me sell something?"
The boy frowned immediately and asked, "Contraband?"
"No," Alice pulled out the five pages of the diary she had copied, "It's Russell's notes."
The boy did not relax at this; instead, his frown deepened, and he firmly refused, "No."
Alice stared at him, thoughtfully asking, "Are you scared by Caspar's death?"
The boy stared back at Alice without speaking.
"Have you ever thought," Alice flicked the five pages of the diary in her hand, making them rustle, "Maybe if you agree, someone might smother you in your sleep, but if you don't agree, you might fall on a cue stick and get impaled?"
The boy glanced at the cue stick, shivered, and said through gritted teeth, "At least I should know what kind of risk I'm taking."
"Generally speaking, there's no risk, unless you're unlucky enough to meet a lunatic." Alice shrugged.
"?" The boy looked at Alice in disbelief.
Alice glanced at him and asked in surprise, "You didn't take my threats seriously, did you?"
The boy's eyes widened, and his gaze involuntarily drifted to the cue stick standing by the table.
Alice followed his gaze and murmured, "But, speaking of which... falling on a cue stick and getting impaled does seem like an interesting way to die...
"But, it would be more fun if it were a lot of people impaled together, like a skewer..."
The boy, who called himself "Old Man," looked at the girl in front of him, who wasn't much older than him, and suddenly felt a genuine fear.
This was far more terrifying than when Alice threatened him. For the first time, "Old Man" realized that the scariest thing wasn't being threatened but having someone calmly discuss with you the most interesting ways to die.
He had no doubt that if they were in a different setting, there might even be a tea set in front of them, and the girl could say these words while eating snacks.
She really seemed to think it was an interesting topic.
Realizing this, "Old Man" dared not think further. He interrupted Alice's words with a trembling voice, "I agree!"
Alice looked at him in confusion, wondering what had scared him.
She couldn't figure it out... Forget it, no need to think about it.
Alice seriously reflected but didn't realize anything wrong with her behavior, so she nodded happily and said, "Don't worry, nothing will happen.
"If you look closely, you'll see these are all the same page. I just want to spread this page around."
Alice handed the diary pages to him. "Old Man" hesitated for a few seconds before taking them to examine.
"Why do you want to spread this page?" he asked in confusion.
"Because this page records the proudest achievement of Emperor Russell's life," Alice said solemnly.
"Ah?" "Old Man" looked appropriately puzzled.
"You don't need to worry about that," Alice shrugged, "Don't sell it too expensively, but don't make it too cheap either, so people don't think it's worthless... Uh, just set the price as you see fit."
"Old Man" was silent for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Is 10 pounds per page okay?"
"I don't know," Alice shrugged, "I've never bought it."
"Old Man" fell into deep thought.
"You... uh, what should I call you?" Alice wanted to call the boy but swallowed the word "Old Man" after looking at his face and asked instead, "Calling you 'Old Man' with that face is too weird..."
"... Ian," the boy said, "You can call me Ian."
After a pause, Ian asked, "How should I contact you? I mean, how do I give you the money?"
Alice showed a sudden realization, as if she had just thought of this, and said, "That's indeed a problem, uh, you... send it to my home?"
Ian glanced at Alice, wanting to say something but ultimately swallowed his words and asked instead, "So, what's your address?"
After Alice left her address, Ian breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could feel happy, Alice approached him and asked, "Do you dislike cue sticks?"
Recalling Alice's earlier words, Ian shivered and instinctively moved away from the pool table—he felt he wouldn't want to play pool for a while.
"So it's because you don't like cue sticks..." Alice nodded thoughtfully at his reaction, "Then what do you like?"
Ian's body suddenly stiffened. After a long silence, he cautiously replied, "I like living well."
Alice looked at his expression and suddenly leaned on the pool table, laughing out loud.
Ian waited silently for her to finish laughing, then heard a sentence that made him slightly relieved, "I like that answer."
For Ian, this thrilling experience seemed to be temporarily over. Alice got up and left the pool room, leaving the Brave Bar.
Halfway down the road, Alice began to think seriously about the serious question again, "So... what should I give Amon?"
Alice painfully covered her face with her hands at the entrance of the Brave Bar. After a few seconds, she sensed something was wrong, put down her hands, looked around, and fell into thought.
... It seemed she was being treated as a lunatic.
To prevent things from getting worse, Alice pretended she hadn't noticed anything, left the place expressionlessly, and without looking around.
After arriving at her doorstep, Alice jumped off the carriage, hopping towards home. Suddenly, she stopped, hesitating as she looked towards the mailbox.
... What had triggered her intuition?
Alice blinked in confusion, walked to the mailbox, and reached inside. There was an unsigned letter.
She opened the envelope, finding only a note inside with a line written in Ruen language:
"Where's my return gift?"
Return gift...?
Alice's body stiffened slightly, her fingers loosened, and the envelope and note slipped from her hand, drifting to the ground. Before it touched the dusty ground, Alice almost fearfully caught the envelope and note.
—The sender of the letter was already obvious. (End of the chapter)