Blooming Tower of the West Wind

"Yeah, it's been open for more than 20 years! I was only in my 20s when I took over this store from my uncle, and half my life has passed in a flash, oops... oops..."

"Did you see a female mage ten years ago, maybe my age, with black hair, green eyes, and a four or five-year-old child. It was about before the Kettler elemental riot?"

The aunt was stunned suddenly, she didn't expect that she would suddenly ask about Kettler's Elemental Disturbance.

"Do you have an impression?" Hipper hooked Theron's shoulders and pulled her to his side. Theron looked astonished, but the purpose of her squeezing in was to separate Virgil and make Hipper closer to herself a little.

The aunt looked at her with a thoughtful expression, "I... I'm not sure, but at that time, someone did come to my store to inquire about such a person, and inquired about... er..." Black hair and green eyes The female mage with a four or five-year-old girl'."

"Who is asking? Do you still have an impression?"

"Adventurers, but..." the aunt nuzzled, "They all look similar, they are fierce, wearing black or gray cloaks, and carrying strange weapons."

"What kind of weapon does he carry, do you still have an impression?"

"Weapon? It may be a dagger. There is a black lantern on the waist. I haven't seen any conspicuous weapons. It's not easy to recognize like this gentleman's weapons."

Hipper and Virgil looked at each other in unison and exchanged a glance.

"Do you have any other noteworthy news? For example, what happened to the mother and daughter? Are there any rumors?"

The aunt shook her head.

"Then... did any major events happen before and after that?" This is what Virgil asked.

"I don't know if this counts? There was a strange fire in a village near Duolu Town, and everyone spread it exaggeratedly."

"Wow, how exaggerated?"

"Some say the fire is purple and black, some say that there are vampire bats appearing in the fire, some say that there are skeletons that walk in the middle of the night, and some say that there are ghosts crying at night."

"Did no one come out to put out the fire?"

"I remember very clearly that night. There was a thunderstorm, and there should be no one in the middle of the night. Oh, you know, things that no one saw are easy to spread and outrageous."

"You're right, which village is it under Duolu Town?"

"Cornflower Village, it should be. It's not far from Duolu Town, three to five miles away, is your next stop going to Duolu Town?"

Virgil smiled and said, "Your vision is amazing! I'm going to Duolu Town, thank you so much! Goodbye!"

The three left the hotel, and Virgil said, "You should say hello to me."

"Improvisation."

Theron suspected that Hipper didn't do it temporarily. Her words before going to bed last night implied that she wanted to inquire about the events of the year since last night.

"Why don't you give me a chance to show..." Virgil was very resentful.

"Why should I give you a chance to express yourself?" Hipper sat directly on the Son of Earth summoned by Theron, and pulled Theron together, "Have you ever had an affair with the one inside? I thought you were a very People who care about the other person's appearance, am I misunderstanding you?"

"What! What are you talking about! What are you implying! I just want to behave in front of young ladies!" He pointed to Theron as a matter of course.

"No need." Hipper passed Theron and directly ordered the son of the soil to move forward, and she pulled the conversation to Theron, "Theron, do you have any impression of the purple flames, bats, and walking skeletons she just mentioned? "

"No." Theron shook his head in confusion.

"Then maybe it's two unrelated things."

"I don't believe it," Virgil interrupted suddenly, "but Your Excellency the Archmage, what kind of weapon is the 'lantern'?"

Hipper pondered for a while, "I dare not say whether the lantern is a weapon, at least not a conventional weapon, maybe it's not a weapon, it's just a tool."

"You didn't finish your sentence."

"If it's a weapon, I'm afraid it's a dangerous person."

"Old man, old friend, don't talk like that halfway."

Theron was also looking at her, with an expression of wanting to hear the story, the archmage sighed, and said, "There is a legend that has something to do with the lantern. It was popular to be a pirate in the ancient Mandessa area, but there was a pirate who never went to sea again." He didn’t come back. Legend has it that his ship was lost in the mist. The captain who was afraid of death prayed to the god of death to take only his body and not his soul before dying. The god of death agreed to him and left him a lamp. A dark lantern that can shine through the mist."

"One world, one dream, huh?"

Hipper smiled and said, "Yes, a shortcut to immortality. But only the dead can see the light of the dark lantern. What the living see is the purple-black light in the mist that wraps the old galley."

"Is it the same as the flame just now?"

"In terms of color, it is exactly the same as in the legend. Theron?"

"Ok?"

"It's nothing, let's go, and the control will be returned to you."

Hurry up in the morning and eat some dry food at noon.When passing through some villages along the way in the afternoon, Virgil went out and singled out three 40-year-old women. After a while, he asked the address of the "fire" that year.

Virgil was very proud, and said to Theron: "Look, this is Uncle Virgil's strength. Inquiring about news is the most important thing when you go out. News comes from everyone, from neighbors in the neighborhood, from neighbors. From the bragging men in the tavern, from the bartenders and waiters, from the bard's harp."

Hipper sneered, "The most important thing is to distinguish the truth from the news. Rumors always get more and more outrageous, and soon lose their true colors. Not to mention that the person who spread the news may not want to tell the truth."

"Can you, let me, smoothly, express myself? You are a well-deserved king in your tower, and you have absolute authority in front of Theron. But the outside world is my stage, how can you just Destroy my desk like this?"

Hipper remained indifferent and justly contemptuous, and said: "You are wrong, I am not an authority, Theron has the right to question me anytime and anywhere because of any unreasonable things, as long as what she says makes sense, so when she faces When there is a dazzling world outside and a strange uncle who is boasting too much."

She suddenly smiled at Theron, "I also have an obligation to remind her to maintain a critical and questioning spirit, and not to be blinded by the grotesque appearance."

Virgil glared at the archmage, acting annoyed.

Theron said with a smile: "Teacher, I am not blinded by appearances. I am observing and distinguishing carefully, but the analysis will be relatively accurate only if there are more samples, isn't it? If Uncle Virgil doesn't say more, I will There is no comparison."

"Ha!" Virgil was full of air, raising his eyebrows and showing off to the archmage.

Hipper pursed her lips tightly, pretending not to see it, but just looked ahead indifferently and seriously, if it wasn't for the sun hanging above her head and baking people, it would definitely make people feel winter.

Hektra thoughtfully created a dark cloud over Hipper's head.

This grassy mountain top must be a place of legend. It is ruined and no one has ever thought of cleaning it up. According to everyone, because of the haunting, only children will come here if they practice their courage. It is midsummer now, and the sun goes down. Very late, and it was still daylight at this time, Hipper got off the Son of Earth, turned around and took Theron's hand.

Theron also jumped down. Facing the ruins, a feeling of familiarity and strangeness surged in her heart. She looked at the path down the mountain on the left, and at the open lowland behind the house.Hipper walked behind her, pressed her shoulder, and asked in his ear, "I didn't ask for your permission formally, so you can refuse my unfeeling request."

"how is it like?"

"I want you to recall how your mother was killed. If you don't want to, we'll get out of here."

"I've never felt any... sad feeling, she..." Theron walked into the house with the collapsed roof, stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I...she is standing here, maybe looking at me, Then she turned around suddenly, two black thorns suddenly appeared out of thin air, I suddenly flew out of the room, those two black thorns pierced her from behind, blood spurted out, I... I don't remember, I Maybe I was thrown down the mountain, I will go wherever the 'wind' says, and 'they' will help me and give me food."

"'They,'" Hipper repeated the word, which was Theron's favorite word to repeat in the tower when she first came to the tower. She remembered asking Theron what "they" were, and Theron said it was "wind", "Water", "Fire", "Earth".

Hipper nodded, "The lantern may be related to the undead spell. If there is a connection, it must be such a connection."

"It doesn't look like it has been damaged much, and it probably still maintains the original state after the accident that year. Can't you see some traces from it?"

"What traces do you see?"

"Undead spell, didn't it mean that this place was burned by purple-black flames?"

The archmage shrugged, "I'm not a necromancer, I'm not sensitive to holy light and shadows, even lower than ordinary people."

That might be a little price to pay for being king of the elements.

"But..." the archmage stood at the door, "From Theron's description, her mother may have discovered traces of the shadow spell, so she was sent out with a certain spell, which may be a wind elemental spell, A breezy variant."

A little golden light burst out from Hipper's fingertips, "Don't resist."

Theron's body lightened suddenly, "'Breeze blowing'!"

The wind supported her lightened body, rolled her and disappeared down the mountain, and Theron's exclamation came from below.The archmage followed, and Theron was firmly placed on the ground by the wind under the mountain bag.

"Probably so. I can't see any more. I'm not a detective after all."

Virgil went on to say: "Suddenly she caused an elemental riot, and for some reason it was passed down as a new precious monster, which attracted many demon hunters. These shadow mages—more likely liches, they couldn't Shadow magic is used openly where the wise gather, so...their efforts to capture Theron have been greatly hindered."