The Book of Hibernation

Aldin left Harbor City for a few days.There was a problem with the head of the chamber of commerce before, which caused all kinds of chaos, and the remaining four in charge were naturally very busy.

When he came back, it was noon one day. He hurriedly finished his lunch and walked towards Kanai's study.Kanai didn't like to stay in the room during the day, but now he has bad legs and it's inconvenient to go out, so he must be in the study.

Aldin does not intend to go to the laboratory to find winter thistle for the time being.He guessed that Dongji didn't really want to see him, and he would look aggrieved again, why bother.Anyway, Winter Thistle can't go anywhere, and will meet in this mansion sooner or later.

The door of the study was open.Arriving at the door, Aldin was stunned for a moment. He heard two people talking inside, and it was Kanai and Winter Thistle talking.

They were talking about the workshop in the western suburbs. They were not talking about work, but some trivial things. For example, an enchanter secretly used spell-casting materials to make hand cream, which had a particularly strong smell; People often bring a priest with them. The priest is responsible for supervising the progress of the enchanting transformation of the equipment of the escort team in the temple. Urging them to leave with a straight face...

Listening to them talking about this, Aldin could not help but smile.He pushed the door open and walked in as usual, and saw Kanai sitting on a soft bench against the wall with her legs flat on it, and a winter thistle sitting next to a square stool, both of them had plates on their knees, and the short one next to him There was still water on the table, and the two were having lunch while chatting.

Seeing Aldin, Kanai greeted him as usual.Winter Ji nodded his head, but didn't speak.He was chewing a piece of jam bread, as if he couldn't move his mouth, but his expression was normal.

"How do you eat in the study?" Aldin sat down beside Kanai, and there was enough space on the soft bench.

Sitting here, he was face to face with Winter Thistle.Winter Thistle swallowed the food: "Because the laboratory can't eat."

Aldin smiled and said, "I mean, why don't you go to the chamber?"

"The study is very close to the laboratory. It's too far to go there. It's unnecessary to trouble the servants to arrange it." Dong Ji said.

"It seems that these days are very busy."

Winter Thistle said: "It's okay. Things are going well with the escort team, and there are no major problems. Isn't the city hall and the temple also doing two-way defense of divine and arcane spells? I'm mainly busy with this recently, and I have to test a bunch of arcane spells. The magic circle nesting effect of text and magic characters..."

Kanai interrupted him: "Why are you talking so thinly? Aldin can't understand."

Dong Ji was taken aback for a moment, then lowered her head and smiled.Aldin was familiar with this expression, he often saw this kind of embarrassing smile on Winter Thistle's face.

Aldin originally thought that Winter Thistle would still be in a low mood, and might deliberately avoid him, but now it seems that he didn't.

Winter Ji's complexion is not very good, he looks a little tired, but his mood is quite normal, even more normal than the previous few days.Aldin was deeply surprised by this.

Aldin looked at Kanai: "What about that Simon, how did you deal with it later?"

Kanai pouted at Winter Thistle: "Ask him. I didn't feel well a few days ago, so I didn't bother to care about Simon."

Even the topic of Simon didn't bring Winter Thistle back to the awkward state it had been a few days ago.Winter Thistle said: "Simon should be at the almshouse market, because the group of elemental mages is there. They are casting spells on the completed magic storage utensils, and they need a place. There are few people in the market recently, and there is just an area for them They use it. Simon is still considered an assistant to the Elemental Mage Corps, and since they didn't fire him, he has to continue working."

Aldin nodded and kept looking at Winter Thistle.Winter Thistle seemed to have forgotten the previous unhappiness, but this did not make Aldin happy, but made him doubtful.

He thought that perhaps because Kanai was here, Winter Thistle didn't want to show her personal emotions, so she took a business-like attitude.

After lunch, Dong Ji was going back to the laboratory to get busy, and when he left the study, he took the tableware with him.

Aldin asked him to wait a while, and told him that the dinner could not be done like this, and that they were going to eat together in the small meeting hall. Winter Thistle nodded and readily agreed.

After Winter Thistle left, Aldin followed to the door, looked outside, closed the door tightly, and came back.

This time he was sitting opposite Kanai, looking at his brother suspiciously: "Is there something you are hiding from me?"

"Why do you ask that?" Kanai said.

"I noticed just now that when Winter Thistle was talking to me, you kept staring at him with a smile on your face, but your expression was stiff, as if you were afraid he would tell me something. I know you well, don't think I can't see it .”

Kanai smiled: "You are the one who has been staring at Winter Thistle all the time, and you can still observe me from the corner of your eye? You are amazing."

"Don't think that you can not answer the question just by teasing me," Aldin said.

"Okay, okay, I answer," Kanai said, "I have nothing to hide from you, but Winter Thistle, he has been worried for the past few days, but then suddenly he is okay again, and he looks happy every day... I also I don’t understand. I didn’t talk to him about anything important, but Simon often hangs out with him, but his mood changes should have nothing to do with Simon. Simon is not that attractive. The more this is the case, the more weird I feel. Thistle feels different than it used to.”

Arden felt the same way."What do you think is different?" he asked.

Kanai thought for a while: "It's just...becoming less deliberate."

"How to say?"

"Maybe you haven't noticed it yet? His address to me has changed," Kanai said with a smile. "He used to call me honorifics before, but now he just calls me Kanai instead of 'you'." gone."

"Why, do you prefer to let him continue to use the honorific title?"

"That's not true. He's fine now. In the past, he was always... How should I put it, and his words were very thoughtful, as if he was afraid that I would get angry if I didn't agree with him. In fact, the more he was like that, the more impatient I became. In the past few days, I have become more energetic, and I will also go to the laboratory to do some things, I often chat with him about magic, and gradually find that he has changed, and his speaking attitude is much more natural."

Kanai was right.On the surface, Winter Thistle's attitude is normal, but the more it is like this, the more abnormal it seems.

Aldin intends to find an opportunity to chat with Winter Thistle alone, and judge for himself what happened to Winter Thistle.

He asked Kanai again: "What about you?"

"What's wrong with me?"

"What's wrong with you?"

Just as Kanai was about to deny it, Aldin said directly: "Don't think I can't see it. From childhood to adulthood, you have never successfully deceived me once."

Kanai lowered her head sullenly.

"Are you still standing?" Aldin asked.

Kanai didn't answer right away.Seeing him like this, Aldin knew it in his heart.

He asked Kanai again why it was so serious, wasn't he almost healed before... Kanai didn't answer every question until Aldin reached out and lifted the blanket on his lap.

Kanai is wearing a long robe without shoes and socks. Judging from the feet and calves exposed under the robe, his left leg is obviously abnormal. The foot is turned in an unnatural direction, and the thickness of the leg is obviously different from that of the right.

Kanai's leg was re-immobilized by the doctor with wooden planks and bandages before, but as Winter Thistle speculated, Kanai immediately removed the immobilization after the fever subsided and woke up, insisting that his condition was not serious.

Dong Ji couldn't persuade her, so she sent someone to ask the doctor, and the doctor replied with a letter, roughly saying: let him go, no matter how fixed it is now, it's better than nothing.His knee was already misaligned, and the bones and fragments of the misalignment even oppressed the blood flow and muscles. Now as long as the inflammation can be controlled, everything will be fine, and it is impossible to restore it to the original state.

So Dongji didn't try to persuade him much, the only request was to let him minimize his activities and rest his body, otherwise he would have a fever and faint next time, who knows what other diseases might be caused.Kanai only listened to this persuasion, and finally walked around without pretending to be cured.

Kanai was silent for a while, and said: "I can't get up now, and I will get better slowly. It's just... maybe I will be a little lame in the future."

Aldin shook his head: "I'll send someone to contact Dr. Pate in a while and ask her to get ready and send you to her clinic tomorrow. Let her take care of you for a while, and the situation should be better."

"No, I'm much better already," Kanai said.

"Kanai, what's wrong with you?" Aldin couldn't help raising his voice, "Why do you always do things that are not necessary at all? Who is good for this?"

Kanai slowly pulled the blanket back on her lap, lowered her head and said, "I can take care of myself and won't be a burden to you."

"The way you are now is already a burden on me," Aldin said. "The chamber of commerce has such a big problem, and now there is a mess waiting for me to deal with it. A bunch of raw material supplies and financial problems have emerged in the cooperative workshops." Question, the departure date of the temple escort team is not far away, and I will also dispatch the merchant escort team to assist the temple on the road in Sandonia. Soon, the four of us in charge will go to the king's capital to meet, The chamber of commerce needs an acting chief, and also needs to elect a new director, someone needs to take over Gorman's duties... Under such circumstances, Dongji had a conflict with me a while ago, and I was out of my mind all day long. To appease him, so as not to affect his work progress, and you are like this now..."

Kanai's hand holding the blanket gradually tightened: "Don't worry about me, I know it myself."

"No, you didn't. You wanted to do something for me, and I appreciate it; but you just thought you were doing something that was good for me, but you were actually giving me trouble. It's been like this since I was a kid... I never took the initiative I have never disliked you, but you have tormented yourself and me for illusory thoughts time and time again."

Kanai sighed weakly: "According to this...At the beginning when the teacher said he wanted to take me away, I was afraid that you would not agree, but you happily agreed...Actually, it was because you thought I was troublesome?"

"Of course not. It's very complicated..." Aldin realized something, and his voice softened a little, "At that time, you wanted to stay in the mercenary group because you wanted to assist me very much, of course I understand. But In fact, if you just stay by my side, then you won't be able to really help me. Instead, I won't be able to formulate combat strategies as I like because of you, and I won't be able to negotiate those entrusted tasks that are not suitable for bringing mages to participate in. It is precisely because I respect your ideas and need your help that I tried my best to push you to go to the academy for further study. In this way, when you come back, you can really help me, and your wish can truly come true .So, do you understand?"

Kanai finally nodded: "Okay, I understand. But I can't go to the clinic."

"Kanai, you..."

Kanai raised his hand and asked him to allow himself to finish: "Recently, I am studying the newly acquired spell book. The content is in a field that I am not very good at. I need to communicate with Winter Thistle frequently, so I don't want to go to the clinic. It must be uncomfortable to live in. Dr. Pate offered that she could send someone to look after me, do you think that would work?"

"Of course. I'll ask someone to clean up the guest room." Aldin patted his younger brother on the shoulder with satisfaction, "You have to know how to weigh the pros and cons instead of trying to be aggressive. You don't have to listen to me, but you must listen to Dr. Pate. "

Aldin stood up to leave.Walking to the door, he suddenly remembered something.

He turned around and asked, "Did Winter Thistle give you back the defense authority of the courtyard?"

"We share it. In fact, he didn't take the initiative to use it at all."

"Which of you is the manager of the underground market now?"

"No one. In name, the manager is the city hall. Winter Thistle wants me to overwrite the permission rune, anyway, he doesn't want it anymore."

Aldin stood at the door and didn't speak for a while.Kanai asked: "He wants to leave Harbor City, doesn't he?"

"He told you too?"

"No. I guessed. Would you agree?"

"I'm still thinking about it. What do you think? Should I let him go?"

Kanai asked: "What if I want to leave? For example, I want to live in Hilda Academy and continue to work as an assistant to the teacher instead of staying in Harbor City. Will you agree?"

Aldin looked at his brother and replied truthfully: "I don't really want to. But if you really want to, I will agree."

Kanai smiled: "No, I don't want to. It's just an analogy."

===================================

In the evening, Winter Thistle came to the small meeting room as scheduled, and Kanai was also seated with the help of a servant.As agreed before, the three had a decent dinner.

They chatted a lot during the dinner, from the current situation of the chamber of commerce to the improvement progress of the equipment of the temple escort team.Aldin watched Winter Thistle's expression.When he talked about the stupid words and deeds of some people in the city hall, Winter Thistle would be amused, and the smile was not deliberately, it was very natural, and occasionally he deliberately restrained himself, and pursed his lips in embarrassment.

When talking about spells, it was when Winter Thistle talked the most.He has been unable to go out, and is immersed in various consumables, magic circles, and runes every day. He has handled a lot of various spell-casting tools and spell notes.

Recently, he has been busier than before. Considering that Necromancer Sanyue has the Enemy around him, he wants to design some chain spells that can defend against the attack of the Enemy.For this reason, he borrowed a batch of documents about witchcraft from the Hilda Academy. The academy knew that the matter was important, and Kanai's teacher provided a guarantee, so they sent the books he wanted.

Aldin secretly guessed that Winter Thistle's mood became fuller, and perhaps these books were one of the reasons.

Aldin also knows a lot of mages, including Kanai, and these people have a characteristic: no matter how sluggish their previous state is, as long as they can study precious books and focus on magic experiments, they will be better than before. Get a little brighter.This is especially true for mages like Winter Thistle. As long as they can face the bottles and cans in the laboratory every day, they can maintain a comfortable mood.

After dinner, Kanai and Winter Thistle had to go back to the laboratory, saying that they had a lot of work to do.

The day passed smoothly, and Aldin returned to his room early, looking through the documents that needed to be reviewed, while thinking about Winter Thistle's attitude.

Maybe it's because she's used to seeing Winter Thistle's aggrieved expression, but now that Winter Thistle has become a little more cheerful, Aldin feels that something is wrong.It seemed that Winter Thistle didn't want to mention the past, but Aldin could feel that it wasn't because he had figured it out.

The next morning, Aldin was strolling slowly in the courtyard, and when he passed by Winter Thistle's residence, Winter Thistle just opened the door and came out.

The weather has been getting colder and colder recently.Although there will be no snowfall in autumn and winter in Harbor City, and there will be no north wind howling from San Dilian, but the hands and ears are starting to feel a little cold in the morning.Winter Thistle was wearing a thick suede cloak, and was holding two thick books in his hands. His sleeves were too long, and only a little bit of fingertips could be exposed from the cuffs, which acted as gloves.

Today Aldin got up earlier than usual, but Winter Thistle got up later than usual. If it was the past, Winter Thistle should have been in the laboratory by this time.

Aldin walked to Dong Ji naturally, Dong Ji didn't refuse, and even took the initiative to sigh: "It's so early, it's not even noon, and you're already up?"

Aldin said: "You have gotten so close to Kanai recently that you have started to mock him like him?"

Dong Ji lowered her head and smiled: "What I said is the truth, how can it be considered sarcasm."

"Well, actually, I didn't think about it at first. But I haven't seen you for several days, and my heart is not at ease, so I can't sleep again."

Winter Thistle said, "Didn't we have dinner together yesterday?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Aldin gently lifted his chin with his fingertips, bowed his head and kissed him.Very light, just a slight touch of the lips.

In fact, for them, kissing is not the most intimate behavior.Winter Thistle didn't dodge, but still turned her face slightly to the side as before, her cheeks and ear tips began to turn red.

"Winter Thistle, I have to say sorry to you," Aldine said. "We had some complicated conversations before. It wasn't exactly a quarrel, but it didn't end well. I said something that was unkind and might hurt it's your turn."

Winter Ji said softly: "Fortunately, there is no question of whether it hurts or not. We just have different opinions and choices."

Aldin said: "Okay. That being the case, just say what you think. The relationship between us is not just the relationship between the head of the chamber of commerce and his subordinates, right?"

Winter Ji's eyes were fixed, and she slowly raised her eyes, just as she met Aldin's eyes, she quickly looked away again.

Although now he looks a lot more frank than before, but after all, he is still embarrassed to meet people's eyes like this.

Aldin took the winter thistle all the way to the lab.Winter Thistle walked in and put down those thick documents on the table near the door. As soon as he turned around, Aldin grabbed his wrist and dragged him back into his arms.

This time it was a real kiss, quiet and long.Afterwards, Aldin gently hugged the somewhat absent-minded half-elf, and lovingly kissed the top of his hair and the tips of his ears.

Aldin slowly combed Winter Thistle's hair with one hand, and said softly, "In short, I want to tell you that you are very important to me."

Winter Thistle asked, "What if I'm not a refiner?" He leaned against Aldin's arms, his voice muffled, "Or...if I'm not even a spellcaster, just an ordinary half-elf..."

Aldin said: "Of course you don't have to be a refiner. If one day you are tired and bored, you can pick a few apprentices from workshops around the world and hand over the work to the apprentices in the workshop. However, you can never become a refiner. 'Ordinary half-elf', after all, in my eyes, you are too special to be ordinary anyway."

Winter Thistle sighed softly.In his view, Aldin did not answer the question.

Perhaps Aldin did not understand what he wanted to ask, or perhaps, in fact Aldin understood, but deliberately gave a deviating answer.

Dong Ji didn't want to get entangled in this, so she didn't continue to ask.