The Book of Hibernation

Winter thistles are born on the border of the Sea of ​​Trees.

The Sea of ​​Silent Trees is a vast elf kingdom with an area equivalent to four Shandonias.Although it is called the Sea of ​​Trees, there are not only forests in this land. Under the blessing of the God of Plenty, the elves have also built a prosperous city here.

Even though the sea of ​​trees is so vast, the mother and son of Jinye and Dongji can never return to their hometown.

Jin Ye was born in a noble family and was the eldest daughter.According to the ancient system, the eldest daughter or eldest son of an aristocratic family should enter the temple of the god of fertility and serve the god for life.

Elven priests are different from human priests.Most of the human priests have never been in touch with the lineage of divine arts in their entire lives, and they cannot see the miracles left by the gods in the world. What they are engaged in is just a profession, but this profession is only about faith.The elf priests are different, they really have access to the veins of divine arts, and listen to various prophecies and miracles.

In the depths of the sea of ​​trees, the ancient temple was built around the vein of divine art, which is the connection between the secular world and the divine domain.After a young priest enters the temple, he has to serve there for a full 100 years. After 100 years, they fully bathed in the miracles, and then left the ancient temple and went to branch temples all over the sea of ​​trees.

Jin Ye left his hometown in his 40s. Elf, in her 40s, is still a child. Others think she is capricious for a while, and she comes back after playing wildly outside for a while.Who knows, another 40 years have passed, and she still refuses to come back.

Her family began to worry.The time has come to send her to the temple, and Jin Ye sent a letter, expressing her ambition to study in arcana and never going back to be a priest.

There are too many things to learn and too many things to experience in 100 years, and she is absolutely unwilling to waste 100 years in vain.

The eldest daughter is reluctant to enter the temple, and the family cannot send other children there.This is not a secular matter, and it cannot be perfunctory to the gods. If the first one runs away, the next one cannot be used to replace it. We can only leave this generation vacant and count on the grandchildren in the future.

The family sent people to look for her, and she dealt with them in various ways, all of which are not listed for the time being. In short, her family finally gave up.

Her behavior brought disgrace to the family.Therefore, the family removed her name and signed a punishment order, forbidding her to enter the sea of ​​trees again.

Many years later, Jin Ye returned to the border of the sea of ​​trees, pregnant and with all her belongings as a refiner.

The hut she lives in belongs to human territory. She bought it from humans when she was in her 50s. There is a small stream outside the window on the west side of the house. territory.

Jin Ye is pregnant with a human child.The elves complained about this, but after the nearby human village heard about it, some women were willing to help her.

Jin Ye has a withdrawn personality and does not want to get involved in interpersonal relationships. After giving birth to Dongji, she did her best to repay the villagers who helped her.

After a long time, the nearby humans gradually found her difficult to approach, so they stopped walking around.

Jin Ye never personally told Dong Ji about these things.

After Winter Thistle became sensible, he was no longer just his mother's son, but also the spellcaster's apprentice.In order to assist his mother's research, he regularly went to human villages and markets, and occasionally encountered elves passing by.

In communicating with these people, he learned little by little about his mother's past.

Many years later, Winter Thistle has grown up, and Gold Leaf takes in a pregnant human woman—Ryan's mother.

As little Ryan was born and grew up day by day, Dong Ji watched the mother and son, and realized how different her mother was from ordinary people, and thus learned more about her father.

In Jin Ye's eyes, these past events are not worth mentioning.It's not that I don't want to mention it, but I really don't think it's important.She had told Winter Thistle who his father was, as if she were telling someone else's story, a child has a right to know, should know, so she told it, that's all.

Jin Ye is a pure researcher.Besides, teaching assistant, lover, mother... are not roles she can play well.

The gold leaf is like this, and the winter thistle is not much better.After his mother died, he was at a loss for a while: there was a weak human woman relying on him, and an even more fragile baby depended on him to protect, and he didn't know what to do.

His mother never taught him how to deal with this.Fortunately, there is another mother who can teach him.

Ryan's mother is very young, she was born in a merchant family, she has seen the wider world outside, and she is gentle and friendly, no wonder Master Harman likes her.

She misses her dead husband, loves the baby in her arms deeply, is sincerely grateful to the Jinye mother and son who are willing to take her in, and hates the unknown murderer who killed her husband.

Winter Thistle learns from her, how to accept the dependence of others, and turns this into a motivation to live better in this lonely border of the sea of ​​trees.

Much later, the grown-up Ryan offered to investigate his father's death.Hearing that this matter might be related to the Shifan Street Chamber of Commerce, the two brothers began to learn about the Chamber of Commerce as much as possible.

Dongji had already noticed that he didn't have any hatred for this huge and unfamiliar organization, and he didn't have too many doubts.The more he inquired about things related to it, the more curious he became about it, and even yearned for it.

If he could have such a strong backing, he could feel at ease and live only as a refiner, without worrying about his livelihood, making enemies, worrying about the cost of Ryan's tuition, and worrying about being punished for purchasing embargoed materials...

Dong Ji thought more than once that in the depths of his soul, he really resembled Jin Ye.Only care about those lab things like her.

But he also knew that he was far inferior to Jin Ye.Not as determined as she is, not as brave as she is, and not as courageous as she is to fully accept herself.

Winter thistles often blame themselves.Faced with something, he wasn't sure he really cared about it.He just needs to grasp it, needs to pay attention to it intentionally, so as to maintain peace of mind...

There are many such "things", such as neighbors, friends, partners, such as interpersonal relationships other than brother Ryan...

But now...he suddenly discovered that maybe the so-called brotherhood was not as stable as he thought.

Winter Thistle was standing in Lion's room when she realized this.

Ryan didn't come back for another few days.Winter Thistle saw a glass bowl on his table, and there were still a lot of small pastries in the bowl, the kind of small round cakes with black sugar fillings, which Aldine sent not long ago.

Aldin put a bowl full of pastries in Winter Thistle's room.Winter Thistle went to bring it to Ryan, but Ryan hurriedly pulled Winter Thistle out the door.

Before leaving, Winter Thistle let Ryan eat one, but Ryan didn't say whether it was good or not, and didn't even make any comments.

Ryan was only thinking about helping the elves save the slaves, so how could he care about a little sweetness in his mouth.

Today, Winter Thistle lightly pinches a round cake.

Due to being placed for too long, the pancakes are no longer crispy and feel a little wet, and the fruit embedded in them has also changed color.

The winter thistle put it in the mouth and it still feels sweet and savory and tastes better than a lot of things...  

He was a little dazed.

Because, when he ate this damp pastry, a trace of disappointment with Ryan rose in his heart.

He snuffed out the thought at once, and was shocked that such a thought should come to him.

Obviously, that's normal for Ryan.

In the face of life and death, who can calm down and evaluate the quality of a piece of dim sum?

Winter Thistle took the glass bowl and went back to her room, poured the leftover cakes into the tea tray, and returned the glass bowl to the servants of the mansion.

Now the servants basically know him, and they serve him as their master, and treat him with kindness and enthusiasm.Winter Thistle was not used to it, and always bowed to the servants.

This time too.He said "Excuse me...", the passing maid froze for a moment, then laughed.

Seeing the bowl in Dongji's hand, the maid told him to put it on the tray, but Dongji was worried that she had taken too much.

There was a large pile of things on the tray carried by the maids, and they came and went in a hurry, as if they were making important arrangements.

The maid told him that there would be guests visiting tonight to have dinner with Lord Aldin.They didn't know the identity of the guests, only that they were from other places.

The last time Aldin took Winter Thistle to a banquet elsewhere, he said that Winter Thistle was too reserved, like a servant.This time, Aldin wanted to entertain guests at home, so Winter Thistle secretly decided to behave more naturally, like a spellcaster serving the chamber of commerce, and could not stand aside and look indifferent.

But he changed his mind, would Aldin ask me to appear?If the guests were so important, maybe Aldin wouldn't let me go to the banquet hall at all...

Winter Thistle decided to temporarily put aside these thoughts and go to the laboratory to do serious business.

In the afternoon, Aldin really appeared in the laboratory.Instead of teasing Winter Thistle with treats this time, he brought a new spellcaster outfit.

Clothing consisted of ankle-length gowns, trousers, decorative belts, moccasins, and light indoor cloaks with protective runes.The clean silhouette and refined tailoring of this suit is ideal for ambling gracefully indoors rather than adventuring out.Those high tower scholars and college instructors are all dressed like this.

Aldin told him that there were guests coming tonight, and that Winter Thistle should wear these clothes and meet the guests with him and Kanai.

Winter Ji took the clothes and asked hesitantly, "Is this a very formal dinner?"

"No," Aldin said, "it's just old friends from other places. They go to Harbor City to do some business, and we have to welcome them. They know you, and they really want to see you."

"They know me?" Dongji was taken aback.

"The guest is the speaker of the Carlos family. Do you remember who the Carlos family is?"

Winter Ji recalled for a moment: "It's about the dock warehouse... the owner of the caravan?"

Aldin said: "Yes. They wanted to discuss some details of the aftermath with the people of the Harbor City Town Hall, so they sent someone here. Thanks to you who discovered the danger in time, I can arrange the next thing, so the Carlos family wants to personally Thank u."

Winter Thistle's first reaction was: But I don't deserve thanks...he didn't say it.

For the owner of the caravan, Winter Thistle did something beneficial to them.

But Dong Ji knew in his heart that this was not a good deed at all, it was just him judging the situation and ensuring his own interests.

He didn't want to see a conflict break out at the pier, for fear that Ryan would be implicated.As for the gray mountain spirit, the elf prisoner, etc... He didn't want to think about it, and even refused to think about it.

It's not noble at all.Winter Thistle knows it all.

Winter Thistle lowered his head, and Aldin suddenly raised his chin with his hand, forcing him to draw his attention back.

Aldin smiled and looked at him: "You look too weak, so I asked you to change your clothes. You are a spellcaster who is directly in charge of the chamber of commerce, so don't look timid in front of outsiders."

Winter Thistle said, "I'll do my best..."

Aldin smiled and patted him on the shoulder, saying that he still had something to deal with, so he went to work first, and would send a servant to call Winter Thistle in the evening.

Winter Thistle hugged the suit and nodded slightly to Aldin's back.

After Aldin left, Winter Thistle looked at the robe in her hand, and then at her surroundings.

The test bench in front of him was miscellaneous and not chaotic. Various materials were sealed in vials of different sizes, medicines boiled for a long time rolled in the crucible, samples of magic storage stones sent by the workshop were piled up in the corner, materials in the experimental stage Being tested in the analysis circle...

Here, while completing the necessary work, he will try various experiments, practice his own ideas, and complete his mother's unfinished ideas...

He has always hoped to be the kind of spellcaster who is protected and cared for, and doesn't need to worry about making a living, just concentrate on research.Now, this goal seems to have been initially achieved.

How did it come true...

In the past, Winter Ji felt that this was a very distant goal, and she didn't know if she could achieve it.

But in this way, he couldn't continue to accompany Ryan through the tour period.

The tour period should have been completed by the apprentice knight alone, but the temple did not prohibit the apprentice knight from making traveling companions.The Templar Knights do not fight alone, and cooperation and friendship are very important qualities.As long as the traveling companion is not another knight, nor a member of the nobles and the kingdom's army, it is not a violation of the tour rule.

Ryan is a very good and strong kid. At the beginning, he opposed his brother to accompany him on the road, saying that he would look weak and like a child who didn't grow up.

Dongji persuaded him, it's not because I want to take care of you, but because I have to go out and do various things, I'm not good at fighting, I need someone to protect me.When he explained this, Ryan figured it out and agreed to travel together.

Winter Thistle thinks, if I can't continue to accompany Ryan, Ryan should also understand.The remaining time of the tour period is not long. If Ryan slows down the schedule, it won't be long before he can report directly to the temple where he swore.

After becoming an official day knight, maybe Ryan can apply to be transferred to the temple in Harbor City.It is said that when the temple arranges new knights, it will indeed fully consider their relatives, and try to keep them from being too far away from their families.

The only problem is that Ryan doesn't have a good impression of the Chamber of Commerce and Aldin... but fortunately, there is no excessive hostility.Ryan seemed to dislike Aldin a little, but not enough to hate him; Kanai was better, when he praised Ryan, Ryan seemed quite happy.

Dong Ji breathed a sigh of relief, feeling much relieved.These problems can be solved slowly, and slowly discuss with Ryan.

Many of Ryan's personal belongings are still in the room, and his salary as a warehouse guard has not been taken away.Winter Thistle thought, this means that he will definitely come back.