The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Chapter 242: Dirty Transaction

"Is that so?"

Alice chuckled when she read Blonde Twintails' response. Then, she made Andusia make eighteen other poses, took pictures of every one of them, and sent the pictures to Blonde Twintails. Sure enough, the other party was promptly shocked when she saw the pictures.

"Why are there so many different poses? This isn't right. I don't recall AC Company making so many different poses. They'd be called out for attempting a cash grab if they made so many variations."

The shock in Blonde Twintails' reply was conveyed very clearly, and Alice couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction from seeing this.

"Wait, don't tell me it'smovable?"

However, it would seem that Blonde Twintails was very intelligent as she quickly guessed the answer. Meanwhile, after receiving a reply of affirmation from Alice, Blonde Twintails promptly sent a message full of envy to Alice:

"I knew it But AC Company has never announced the sale of a movable Hikari figurine before! Could it be an internal collector's edition? And it's so finely made, too! Even the fingers are movable! This is the first time I've seen a figurine with such flexible fingers! That's not a replacement hand, right?"

Of course it wasn't. Andusia's body was made out of a block of Living Wood that housed a soul. Its flexibility was no different from a real body. It was naturally superior to the stiff figurines that were available on the market.

"No. 2! Can you sell this figurine to me?!"

Blonde Twintails evidently had her interests piqued as after staying silent for a moment, she had promptly requested to purchase Andusia.

"Any price is fine! I can afford it! Please sell this figurine to me!"

Alice couldn't help but laugh when she saw the other party's reply. Alice also couldn't help but wonder how Andusia would react when she learned that someone was asking to buy her.

However, Andusia had thoroughly refused to look at the computer ever since Alice had shown her the Magical Girl Hikari poster. So, she failed to realize that a transaction involving her body was taking place on the computer right now.

"That's not happening. This isn't something I can sell. It's incredibly valuable," Alice replied earnestly.

Alice naturally couldn't agree to Blonde Twintails' request. After all, this was a Demon King they were talking about. Though, the other party might be even more interested in buying Andusia if she learned about Andusia's true identity.

After all, the minds of anime otakus usually worked in strange ways. Demon Kings might sound like scary existences to the average person, but an otaku might find Demon Kings to be very cool instead. Not to mention, if given a chance to buy a small and cute Demon King, who wouldn't want to buy one?

Regardless, Alice definitely wouldn't sell Andusia since she still had many uses for the Demon King. Whether it was the information or combat assistance Andusia could offer, both were not things one could buy with money.

"Can't you consider it? I will do anything!"

However, Blonde Twintails refused to give up and continued begging Alice. It could be seen that this veteran otaku truly desired a perfect figurine like Andusia.

Wait. A monetary transaction might not be worthwhile, but what if I ask for something else?

Alice originally planned to continue refusing Blonde Twintails' request. However, when her fingers touched the keyboard, a sudden thought came to her mind.

Hadn't she been trying to think of a reason to convince Blonde Twintails to take her into the Rhine Kingdom's Royal Magic Tower? Wasn't this a good opportunity to do so?

It was obvious that Blonde Twintails was already hooked by Andusia. If Alice were to tell the other party about her desire to enter the Royal Magic Tower, the other party might just agree to her request.

Upon thinking of this point, Alice promptly decided to act on her thoughts:

"If I give you this figurine, can you take me to visit the Royal Magic Tower during the comic convention?"

"Huh? The Royal Magic Tower? Are you interested in the Royal Magic Tower?" Blonde Twintails seemingly possessed no resistance toward Andusia as she replied almost instantly to Alice's question. "But entry into the Royal Magic Tower has always been restricted. Outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering the tower. Last time, a food delivery man tried to force his way into the tower, and he nearly got himself thrown into prison for it."

Security is much tighter than I thought, Alice thought to herself.

Alice had known that the Rhine Kingdom's Royal Magic Tower wasn't as accessible as the other kingdom's top magic academies. Even so, she still couldn't help but be surprised to learn that entry into the Royal Magic Tower was so strict.

"But if you really want to sneak in and look around, it's not exactly impossible.

Just when Alice thought that she might need to change her plan, Blonde Twintails suddenly sent such a message to her.

"Don't leave me hanging. Do you have a way to get me in?"

Alice replied helplessly. By the looks of things, she could only rely on Blonde Twintails if she wanted to get into the Royal Magic Tower without attracting the Rhine Kingdom's attention.

"I have some connections with the Rhine Kingdom's thieves. I can get them to forge a student ID for you that can trick the Royal Magic Tower's security barrier for some time," Blonde Twintails replied. "You'll be able to freely enter and leave the Royal Magic Tower during the fake ID's effective period. However, you must remember to leave the tower before the fake ID loses effect. Otherwise, you'll get caught by the security barrier immediately. The Royal Magic Tower's importance is similar to a restricted military area, so you'll be sent to prison if you get caught trespassing."

"But doesn't the tower allow its students and faculty to enter and leave freely? There's no way the tower can keep any secrets with such an arrangement."

Alice was a little confused by the Rhine Kingdom's behavior. If the Royal Magic Tower held secrets so important that it was being treated like a restricted military area, why would the Rhine Kingdom allow the tower's students and faculty to enter and leave the tower so freely? With such an arrangement in place, any secrets the tower held would be leaked sooner or later.

"No idea. That's how it is written in the Rhine Kingdom's law," Blonde Twintails said. She, too, found the Rhine Kingdom's treatment of the Royal Magic Tower very strange. Unfortunately, this wasn't something she was privy to. "Anyway, that's the best I can do for you. What do you think?"

"What's the price?"

Alice felt that Blonde Twintails' suggestion was workable so long as the fake ID's lifespan wasn't only a few hours but a few days instead. If she had a few days, she should be able to find out the culprit impersonating Prince Etoria. If she couldn't find the culprit, it meant that the other party had hidden quite well. In that case, she'd have no choice but to think of another way to find the culprit.

"The price is to sell that rare Hikari figure to me!" Blonde Twintails said, not giving up on her desire toward Andusia. "Forging an ID and trespassing in a restricted military area is a grave crime. I am taking a huge risk by helping you, so asking for a figurine isn't too much, right?"

"But my figurine wouldn't want to leave with you."

Alice chuckled when she sent this message.

"If your figurine has a will of her own, she will definitely be willing to follow me! I cherish all of my figurines dearly!" Blonde Twintails proclaimed confidently, not realizing that Alice was digging a hole for her. "If your figurine is dissatisfied and leaves on her own, I absolutely will not complain about it!"

Of course, there was no way a figurine could have a will of its own. There might be magic that made use of puppets in this world, but such magic wasn't so advanced that it could grant an inanimate object self-awareness. Hence, Blonde Twintails never thought of the possibility that Alice's "figurine" was, in reality, a block of Living Wood that had a Demon King's soul stuffed in it.

"If you put it like that, I have no choice but to agree."

Search Hosted Novel for the original.

Alice looked at Blonde Twintails' innocent message on the screen with pity while patting the clueless Andusia on the head.

Maybe I should tell Andusia how to get back to the Gryffin Kingdom once we are in the Rhine Kingdom? Alice thought to herself. That way, Andusia could return to her side quickly after getting sold. After all, Andusia was doing her a huge favor, in a certain sense. It'd be cruel to let her find her own way back on top of selling her to an anime otaku.