The "Mysterious Queen" Bernadette seemed to have some foreknowledge of Gehrman Sparrow's arrival, calmly setting down the ancient scroll in her hands without a trace of surprise and directing her gaze toward the visitor at the doorway.
Klein didn't stand on ceremony either, getting straight to the point:
"I'd like to borrow the 'Wish-granting Lamp' for one day."
Bernadette gave a slight nod and raised her hand to pick up the "Wish-granting Lamp" beside her.
Her invisible servant immediately carried the uniquely shaped lamp over and presented it to Klein.
Klein reached out and took it, speaking in a low voice:
"Thank you."
Bernadette didn't make any demands, seemingly not the least bit worried that she might accumulate wishes and suffer a bizarre, sudden death because of this.
She trusted that Mr. Fool could resolve this problem, since this existence had already demonstrated that kind of ability the last time.
The next second, Klein — in his disguise as Gehrman Sparrow — vanished from the Dawn and returned to the interior of the Sefirah Castle.
After placing the "Wish-granting Lamp" on the table before him, he immediately saw the wick ignite, giving off a viscous glow that coalesced into a twisted and blurry golden figure.
"You haven't fulfilled your promise yet. I will not grant your wishes according to your intentions," the "Lamp Spirit" spoke in a grand and authoritative voice. "You should know that the current holder of this lamp is Roselle's daughter. Your first wish will accumulate on her behalf, bringing her to three wishes and triggering a backlash that transcends Sequence. And this time, I will not allow you to transfer the number of wishes she bears onto yourself."
The last time Klein had used the "Wish-granting Lamp" to escape his predicament, he hadn't changed the ownership of this Grade "0" sealed artefact. It still belonged to Bernadette, and its holder was still the "Mysterious Queen."
As a result, the wishes he made would accumulate on both himself and Bernadette simultaneously:
His first wish back then had been to transfer the two wishes Bernadette had previously made under his name, which cleared Bernadette's wish count to zero while placing two wishes on his own shoulders.
However, this first wish itself would also accumulate, so after its fulfillment, the true wish count on Bernadette was 1, and Klein's was 3.
After that, Klein made a second wish, which would unquestionably be recorded on both Bernadette and himself as well.
In the end, Bernadette bore a wish count of 2, below the critical threshold, while Klein's reached 4, and without any surprise he suffered a rules-based backlash at the level of Outer Deities, dying on the spot within
Under these circumstances, any further wish Klein made would push Bernadette's wish count to 3, inevitably subjecting her to a terrifying fate.
Of course, he could imitate the first wish from last time and transfer Bernadette's accumulated wishes onto himself, burning one "resurrection" opportunity. But the "Lamp Spirit" had already made it clear that it would distort any similar wish, ensuring it was fulfilled in a way Klein would not want to see.
Sigh, it really was too rushed last time, and Roselle had been influenced by the "Original Moon." The wishes they had discussed still had certain loopholes... He should have added a clause back then, limiting the first wish to accumulate only under his own name. Or, inserted an additional wish between the first and second, transferring ownership of the "Wish-granting Lamp" to himself — after all, once he died, the ownership would certainly be cleared, and the "Wish-granting Lamp" would return to its actual owner... As Klein silently sighed to himself, he smiled at the "Lamp Spirit" and said:
"You shouldn't be unfamiliar with 'tampering' or 'reassembly.'
"Given this lamp's own level and your current state, I can absolutely rely on the Sefirah Castle to 'graft' its ownership away from Bernadette and onto myself. Or, we could try a different approach — how about directly using 'steal'?"
The "Lamp Spirit"'s blurry, twisted golden figure fell silent, only speaking after a few seconds:
"You may not be as cunning as Him, but you're just as shameless."
"However, this won't work. If you accumulate wishes and then die a violent death, ownership of this lamp will still revert to Roselle's daughter. And I will twist the rules so that the wishes you fulfill are also counted against Her."
"Besides, as I just said — until you've honored your bargain, I won't be granting your wishes normally either."
Klein maintained his smile:
"I once heard a story — a story about investors:
"When a company falls into trouble, the ones most willing to provide assistance are invariably its original investors. They've already sunk a great deal into it, but if they don't keep paying, they'll likely never recover their investment and lose everything."
"Of course, if they can recoup what's rightfully theirs through some other means or channel — or if they can trade their principal for an even greater return — then that's an entirely different story."
"Which type do you think you are?"
The "Lamp Spirit" stared at Klein sitting in The Fool's seat, then let out a laugh: