Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 436 It's Snowing

The towering body dissipated in the clouds.

The wind is returning to calm, and the gunpowder smoke will take time to fade away. After the shadow fades, a scarred city-state is left behind.

"There are survivors here too! It's a little girl!"

Slightly excited shouts broke the calm in the cemetery. A guard warrior opened the gate of the guard hut and found the girl curled up in the hut.

The cold wind blows into the room from outside the door, mixed with the smell of gunpowder smoke. Annie raised her head in a daze, and looked at the black-clothed guard who appeared at the door. In a daze, she seemed to see another person appearing behind the young soldier. , a stooped figure with always gloomy eyes.

She got up in a daze, stepped forward subconsciously, and ran towards the door in a stumbling manner, trying to catch the hunched figure.

She jumped into the air, her feet swayed, and then she felt someone grab her collar from behind——the guardian soldier grabbed the girl who wanted to run past her but almost fell, and bent down to her again: "Are you all right, girl—what's your name? Why in the cemetery?"

Annie didn't seem to hear the voice coming from her ear, she just raised her head and looked around slowly, looking for the old man she had just seen.

The hunched old man was not far away. He had already turned around, waved his hands with his back to this side, and then slowly walked towards the path deep in the cemetery. At the end of the path, an unusually tall man stood quietly figure.

That figure was wearing a dark robe reminiscent of the night, and the body under the robe was covered with bandages, holding a long staff that seemed to be carved from dead wood. It looked... as described in church books, The guard at Bartok's gate.

Before the old man came to the guard, the two seemed to have a short conversation, and then they disappeared at the end of the path together like phantoms.

Annie stared blankly in that direction, standing quietly in the cold wind, neither crying nor moving.

The guard in black on the side was a little worried: "What's wrong with you? Little girl? What are you looking for?"

"She might be looking for this." Another voice came suddenly from a nearby path, accompanied by the sound of boots on the snow.

Annie turned her head subconsciously.

A nun was walking towards this side, holding two things in her hand - a cane that looked bruised, and a shotgun that looked familiar.

"Your protector is gone," the nun stopped in front of Annie, slowly squatted down, and put the two things on the ground, "Unfortunately, we can't let you meet him again—there are only ashes at the scene. "

Anne stared fixedly at the cane and shotgun on the ground. After a few seconds, she bent down, took them in her hands, and hugged them carefully in her arms.

"I know," she muttered in a low voice, "the grandpa watchman left with the doorman..."

"Don't touch the gun," the guard in black next to him subconsciously reached out to stop him, "It's dangerous..."

"There's no more bullets," the nun shook her head and said in a low voice, "Let her hug her for a while, they might be someone they know."

The guardian warrior hesitated for a moment, then withdrew his hand, then turned his head again, looking at the situation in the cemetery.

Dirty and dry black mud covered the path and surrounded the caretaker's cottage, and dirty snow mixed with that mud covered the entire cemetery.

How many monsters have tried to attack this place, and how much filth has been dumped in the snow here?Now that the shadows have receded, all... seems unknowable.

A slight cool touch came suddenly, and the guard raised his head and saw that the snowflakes were slowly falling from the sky—not ashes, but real snowfall.

Accompanying the flurry of snowflakes came a gleam of light in the sky, the sun's rays—blocked by cloudy clouds, but still visible in that hazy light.

The sun is back.

The mechanical roar of the steam engine running gradually approached from outside the cemetery. A steam car stopped outside the gate. A guard team operating near the cemetery noticed the movement, approached the car, and then moved towards the car in astonishment. Those who got off the car saluted.

The sound of footsteps approaching the guard's hut, the young guard in black saw the person coming, immediately turned around and saluted, and then said with some doubts: "Gatekeeper, you are..."

"I'm here to confirm the situation in various cemeteries."

Annie, who was holding her cane and shotgun in a daze, heard the voice beside her, and finally woke up from her stupor. She subconsciously raised her head and looked in the direction of the sound.

A woman in a black priestly robe stands on the path.

Her skin was pale, and there was a calm and cold breath around her--Anne could not yet understand what this breath was, but she thought of the cold fog on the sea, and at the same time, she noticed that the lady was exposed. Large and small wounds can be seen almost everywhere on his skin, but there is no blood in the wounds, like... a cracked doll.

A black cloth was wrapped around the lady's eyes.

The lady seemed to be blind, but Anne felt that the other party's "sight" was falling on her. It was a calm and gentle gaze, which passed through the thick black cloth and was staring at her.

It took Annie a long time to recognize the lady.

The lady, however, had clearly recognized her from the start.

"I know your name is Annie," Agatha bent down, gently rubbed Annie's hair, and then her eyes fell on the shotgun and cane in the girl's hand. She was silent for two seconds, then got up and said to the accompanying priest , "The area around the mine was the first place to be invaded. These cemeteries surrounding the mining area of ​​the upper city blocked a large number of monsters from flocking to the surrounding blocks."

"Almost all the tomb guards and guards stationed around the cemetery were killed," the nun on the side said slowly, "The city-state guards in this area also suffered heavy losses."

Agatha listened in silence, then prayed silently.

"Gatekeeper," the black-clothed guard next to him couldn't help but say, "Now that there are many dead and injured in the city-state, we need to be alert to secondary disasters in the fields of death, fear, obsession, etc. We may need several large-scale requiem ceremonies, There is no..."

"I am acting as the archbishop temporarily. Don't worry about the requiem ceremony," Agatha said calmly. "Bishop Ivan has left, and he has a new journey."

The black-clothed guard froze for a moment, a shocked and unacceptable expression briefly appeared in his eyes, and it seemed that he hadn't noticed the change in Agatha's attire until this moment——

The gatekeeper took off the black coat that represented force, and replaced it with a robe that was more likely to symbolize the clergy.

This symbolizes the change of her status and responsibilities at this moment.

"Don't worry, I still shoulder the duties of the gatekeeper, and the guard troops will still be under my command until a new archbishop is selected at the church headquarters, or a new gatekeeper replaces me. The official bishop of the city-state," Agatha seemed to have sharp eyesight even though she lost her eyes. She noticed the reactions of the subordinates around her and explained patiently, "At this stage, maintaining the order of the city-state is above all else."

"It's... the gatekeeper."

The young guard in black lowered his head, and after a short hesitation, he still chose to call his superior by the familiar name "Gatekeeper".

Agatha didn't pay attention to these trifles. She turned her gaze, and her "eyes" fell on Anne again.

"Go home," she said gently. "Your mother is safe. She is waiting for you."

Annie hesitated for a moment at first, but she nodded immediately after Agatha mentioned her mother.

But just as she was about to leave with the guards, she stopped suddenly.

"Grandpa Watchman... just followed the gatekeeper." She raised her head and looked at Agatha. "Ah, I mean the gatekeeper on the 'side' mentioned in the book."

Agatha frowned slightly.

Annie thought the other party didn't believe it, so she quickly raised her hand and pointed to the path deep in the cemetery: "That's where I left..."

Agatha raised her head and looked in the direction of Annie's finger thoughtfully.

At the position of her eyes covered by black cloth, there seemed to be a faint green firelight flashing.

After a moment, she lowered her head and looked into Annie's eyes.

"Do you... want to be a guardian?"

Annie was a little dazed, as if she didn't quite understand what this meant.

But after a few seconds, she seemed to have a vague reaction: "Is it like you or the caretaker grandpa?"

"It may take many years." Agatha seemed to have a smile on her face, then shook her head lightly, "Don't think about it so much, it seems a little early for me to tell you this now—go home first, if If you really want to become a guardian, you must at least be able to enter the most elementary church school."

Annie half-understood, then reluctantly handed over the shotgun and cane to the black-clothed guard next to her.

"...If you become a guardian, can you give me the shotgun and cane of the guardian grandpa?"

She turned her head suddenly and looked at Agatha seriously.

After a while, Agatha nodded lightly: "... If you still think so after three years, I agree."

Annie leaves.

Calm was restored in the cemetery again.

"...Are you serious? That child is too young to see any potential, and to inherit the cane of a veteran requires more than just graduating from regular training as a Guardian..."

"She can see the guide in the world of the dead," Agatha calmly watched the path at the end of the cemetery, and said slowly, "just like me back then."

The young guard in black didn't speak anymore.

The nun on the other side hesitated again and again, but couldn't help but look at Agatha with some worry: "Your body, after all..."

"It's okay," Agatha shook her head and said softly, "something happened and the body was damaged."

(End of this chapter)