Dragon and knight Ji gl

In the depths of the prison of the villain King's Capital, outside the prison where the foreign criminals were held, facing the thick black curtain that was suddenly pulled up, Prince Ryan was stunned for a moment, and called out angrily. Said: "The warden! Where is the warden!"

"Prince? Your Highness..." The obese man in the middle? Small steps came from? Not? Far away? The heavy? "It's the subordinate!"

Ever since the king and Prince Ryan came in together, the warden has been staying nearby and waiting for orders. Unexpectedly, he went out to untie his hand, and when he came back, Prince Ryan's temper changed completely. , I had no choice but to speed up my pace and arrived in front of Ryan.

They didn't know how they offended Ryan, so they got kicked inexplicably.

The king looked at the drawn thick black curtain, with a gap between his brows, with a thoughtful look on his face.A heavy object fell to the ground behind him, and there was a muffled hum.Looking back, Ryan kicked the warden to the ground.

The warden fell to the ground with a loud "ouch", and rolled out like a ball for a long distance, then crawled up to Prince Ryan on all hands and feet, and said in a mournful voice, "Your Highness...Your Highness, don't you know? , What did the officer do wrong?"

"Is this how the prison treats heavy prisoners? I thought that going to prison was a punishment, but now it seems like a game. If the prisoners don't have to suffer, how can they do something wrong to themselves? Reflect..." Prince Ryan obviously didn't say it to the warden, but to Leif and Natia Vida who were in the prison.

But only separated by a layer of black curtain, the two people in the prison didn't give the reaction they wanted.

Prince Ryan put his hand into the prison's metal fence angrily, trying to push back the black curtain, but he didn't expect to tear one layer and another layer, and another layer after another...

—

In the prison, the only source of light is a small oil lamp.

The brown-haired knight with a bulging face was pressed against his chest by Natia Vida, making a muffled sound.

"Let go of me, Natia Vida...isn't it now? Is...no? Is this a joke? When..."

There was no communication between the small prison and the outside of the prison, and the two were isolated here for 20 days. During this time, Leif didn't know what happened outside.

Under Natia Vida's instigation, this period of time has become the most carefree?days since Leif received the mission: the life of a prisoner is generally very peaceful and leisurely.

The jailers did their best to meet any of their absurd conditions rather strangely, and they tried many of the unique "toys" of the "little humans" and even learned some "folk games" in their leisure time.

Natia Vida has always used words such as "I will make a lot of money in the future" to convince them, which filled the villain knight's mind with a bright "future" vision all the time.

In this short period of more than 20 days, she didn't need to maintain her decency and respect in front of the noble quest master, nor did she need to tense her nerves and be ready to fight monsters all the time.

This is a rare experience for Leif after leaving Ed Village.

Just now, the villain king finally came to make a request to them.

It was only at this time that Leff realized that during her peaceful time, riots had occurred.

As long as she thought about the bloody accident happening outside, Natia Vida's behavior of trying to tease her now seemed indifferent and childish.

"If? I let go? What do you want to do?" Natia Vida smiled softly, hooking the small cone hat on Leif's head with her fingers happily The strands of hair protruding from the top seem to have been waiting for this moment.

Leif blurted out: "Of course it is to stop all this as soon as possible!"

"But, how are you going to stop all of this?" Natia Vida asked calmly.

"I..." The brown-haired knight with a bulging face suddenly lost his voice, and at the same time stopped struggling with his hands.

Natia Vida took Lev to the edge of the bed and sat down with a light dance-like pace, the smile on his face became more and more meaningful: "You must have thought of something, but you don't ?Would you like to speak out? In this case, I will help you.

"The root cause of the riots lies in the abnormally appearing blue light, which the Lilliputians regard as an early warning of the Holy Heap's anger. But now we don't know the reason for the wrath of God in the Lilliputian belief. , If you don't know the reason, you can't find a solution.

"Then maybe we can refer to a similar situation in the history of the temple. In the third year of the temple calendar in 650, there were successive floods. The priest at that time declared that this was a manifestation of the wrath of the gods. Knights Miss, do you remember what happened at that time?"

Natia Vida's tone was very calm, but the hinted information was quite dangerous.

Lev lowered her head, she clearly knew that, in fact, what she thought at that moment just now was not the only point, but Natia Vida's mention of this point was enough to make her feel frightened ?

"At that time, people began to speculate about the reason for the wrath of the gods. Until the flood receded, countless small villages accused of blasphemy were slaughtered, and several big countries were involved in wars and turmoil... until a brave? The knights appeared, at the cost of their lives, calmed down the wrath of the gods, and people stopped killing each other."

She looked at the thick curtain that separated the prison from the inside, and it seemed to briefly break her from the intractable, haunting feeling that had haunted her since she received the assignment. The? Anxiety kept her on the outside, making her? mistakenly think that it was really? so easy to survive this mission.

Leif's tone was reverent and heavy, "That's the knight known as the Wolf of Cressin, the son of the lord Augustus, who left behind his wife and three daughters after his death, and was later Posthumously named the No.12 Radiant Templar. It is recorded in Volume No.12 of "The Strange Records of the Twelve Radiant Templars."

"So, under the current situation, the little humans will naturally check out all the creatures that may cause God's anger. We outsiders will bear the brunt, but the people in Clover Forest The range of ordinary villains being affected must not be too small, not to mention that the level of security outside is not as high as that of the capital's prison."

Natia Vida said, "But Miss Knight? Will you just stand by like this? If you want to solve this problem, there is only one way left, which is to go to the Holy Pile and ask the people in the Holy Pile Why on earth is that 'god' who protects the little people so angry - just like that knight you?worship? "Didn't I ever have? Luck."

Going to the Holy Pile would mean an unprepared battle, something both would more or less want to avoid, though for different reasons.

"Miss Knight, you said before that you don't want to take risks in this mission. This is a paradox, and you are looking for an impossible solution."

Natia Vida said, "You want to solve the riot, but don't want to go to the holy pile, there is no way. We can only hope that the king may know something. What, he? The solution I'm looking for may make the riots last longer than ideal, and may result in more?innocent?sacrifices, but at least it will get us out safely.As long as we get the job done After successfully leaving this country, you can simply treat this riot as if it never happened—after all, no one will know about it except me, so it won't damage your reputation. "

"...I know what you are hesitating." Seeing the villain knight's expression of hesitating to speak but not wanting to refute, Natia Vida said, "Oh, but you really shouldn't? These? The villain has also become our kind..."

From Natia Vida's point of view, the knight girl in front of her is a human being with a special talent. This is what Lev passed from the hands of the (later? scorched by her) male human. When she was "rescued" down, she was aware of it.

In order to save a stranger with a suspicious identity, she can bet her life without hesitation—or if she?Woke up in time?, I'm afraid that male human would have killed Leif long ago—— This kind of weird? Behavior is quite incomprehensible based on Natia Vida's racial nature, and even feels quite ridiculous.

——As for the possibility that she would be killed by that human male without Leif, Natia Vida has never considered it.

Long-term observation found that those things called the knight's creed—like the traditional knight costumes that have become dresses and are rarely used as combat uniforms—are smarter than those they have encountered before. As far as the real knight is concerned, these precepts and rules are just some beautiful empty words-this eccentric lady knight seems to really believe in it and practice it personally.

"...But don't? Forget it, they're just aliens. They're no different from the horses, cows, and sheep on the pasture. They even come from another continent, believe in An evil god, then there is no salvation? It is necessary..."

Miss Knight's talent is that she can often put herself in dangerous situations for the sake of others.

She was quite curious at one time. When, when, and in what way would this little human being, who was only a teenager, behave rather rigidly in words and deeds, use this talent to kill himself?

At the beginning, Leif tried to protect her with an impenetrable human body in front of her. It can be regarded as stupid and cute; Saving some "insignificant" creatures and dying - now it seems that such a possibility is quite high - Natia Vida felt quite displeased.

"...You are a knight of the temple, and your duty is to guard this continent. If the ones in danger are human beings, you can risk your life, and that's all. For these? Ant-like? Foreign races, it's really not worth it ..."

Natia Vida ignored it for the time being, and she? herself was included in the "foreign race" that she kept saying she wanted Leif to abandon.

Lev frowned and thought for a long time, then looked up at Natia Vida, and retorted: "No? That's how it is?"

In a certain moment, Natia Vida's behavior of trying to persuade her reminded her of Grandma Samantha—the old man who took care of her for 16 years after Lev came into this world— To be precise, it reminds me of a certain scene when I was seven years old.

At that time, they and Grandma Samantha were living in poverty, and they had to rely on the help of the villagers for food and clothing to maintain themselves, so in return, Leif started to take care of others from a very young age. shepherd.

Among them is an old ewe. She often hides under her soft belly fur in hot summer afternoons to enjoy the cool. She always loves to rub her affectionately.

Leif also heard from people in the village that when she was just picked up and was still a baby, during the time when Grandma Samantha hadn't borrowed her breastmilk, she... She once drank the milk of this goat, so she treated this goat differently, and usually used her privilege to let it monopolize the most fertile grass area.

On that day, Grandma Samantha went to a certain family in the village to bring lamb into the water, cooked it, watched her take a bite, and then suddenly began to explain to her the pot of fragrant meat in front of her. It's the big snow-white? Furry guy turned into?.

Grandma Samantha spoke in a strong local dialect and said, "... Sheep are food, Leif, can you? Treat them as friends."

The tone was very blunt, and the sound from the hoarse voice seemed to be as prickly as the "thick calluses" in the old man's palm.

But Grandma Samantha's expression was obviously afraid of her? She was going to cry sadly at the dinner table?.

This is an expression that adults always love to show when they reveal a bit of cruel truth in front of ignorant? juvenile individuals in order to force the latter to grow up——this is the expression that appears on Natia Vida's face now. .

Natia Vida is trying to tell them: The so-called life is actually divided into high and low.Some things may be worth it for humans, but not for aliens.

Is the little human worth it? Worth letting her? Take the risk?

In fact, she? Did think about it.

After all, in the eyes of most of the rest of the continent, these thoughtful, human-like, but slightly smaller creatures cannot be regarded as human beings, and even their value Can't compare to one-twentieth of a human being.If she took risks for these villains, this kind of behavior would be as childish as she was when she was seven years old, under the premise of being short of food and clothing, just because it was difficult to accept emotionally, she refused to eat at the dinner table The pot of meat - she? Of course she didn't do it.

But these villains also cry and laugh, are grateful when they are helped, and get angry when they are humiliated. The emotions of villains are no different from those of human beings.

They - Lev can no longer use the pronoun "it" when referring to the villain - they share food with her, communicate in the same language, even if she? continues to be here If you stay for a while to talk, you will definitely make friends with some of these villains.

Natia Vida said: "Those? The villains are not worthy of your rescue."

Leif shook her head and repeated, "No? That's it?"

Natia Vida's facial expression seemed to say, "Sure enough, as expected".

"I have never had the idea of ​​being desperate towards alien races, and I have never had such a thought even towards human beings. It's not that if anyone is in danger, I will risk my life Help me, I've never been this kind of person." Leif looked at the wooden knife leaning against the wall, "Unless it's a duty in rare cases."

"Oh, I thought..." Natia Vida looked at Leif in surprise, obviously not believing it, "Is this really? Like what I remembered? You."

--

Prison door.

"I got the order a few days ago, try my best to meet their requirements..." The warden raised his head and glanced at the king again, but the king didn't respond, "The subordinates also followed the orders..."

"Damn it, aren't you willing to show up?" Ryan was still tugging at the black cloth curtain that seemed to never be pulled off, but even at the limit of his arm length, he couldn't pull the cloth curtain Let's face it, this is not something that conforms to the common sense of the little people.

The black cloth curtain seemed more and more like a pool of black water hanging vertically.

Pulling and pulling, Prince Ryan suddenly felt an indescribable itching on his? Mixed with dense pain, like countless thin needles pricked up, it expresses the displeasure of the people in the prison to be disturbed.

The king and the warden on the side didn't notice Ryan's abnormal encounter. The latter felt cold sweat from the touch of his hand at this time, and quickly retracted his hand.

After listening to the warden's explanation, Prince Ryan burst into a strong anger. The "strange" feeling on his hand just now made him "fearful", and their "fear" strengthened it layers of anger.Without the slightest hesitation, he turned around and pulled a large bunch of keys from the warden's waist, and asked sharply, "Which one is it?"

The old king tried to stop him?, saying: "Ryan, come back tomorrow..."

The warden looked at the prince? Then he looked at the king and shut up.

Prince Ryan? snapped, "Which one? Which one?"

The warden had no choice but to point to one of the keys.

Prince Ryan stepped forward without saying a word, and inserted the key into the lock, only to find that the lock cylinder could not be turned no matter what.

The warden looked at the key again, and said he was sure he didn't point to the wrong key.

Ryan nearly broke the key, but the cylinder still wouldn't budge.

Cursing under his breath, Ryan turned the key vigorously until they heard a strange exclamation from the warden.

"Your Highness...your?hand...your?hand..."

Ryan looked down and saw a lot of blood dripping from his hand. He screamed and fell to the ground: "Evil... sorcerer... these two humans are too..."

Before he could finish speaking, he fainted on the ground.

--

Knowing nothing about what happened outside the prison, Leif faced the wall, not falling asleep, and still kept her eyes open.

When Grandma Samantha said "Lai Fu, you must continue to eat" in a rare stern tone, Le Fu said "No"; just now Natia Vida seemed to feel that she also accepted Not knowing that there was something cruel behind the act of self-preservation, she said, "Isn't that so?"

In fact, what they want to deny is just their idea that they think they can't accept it, because they are far more cruel than what they think they can't accept. many?.

I'm afraid they can't understand that they don't regard the creatures in this world as creatures in many cases—even in many cases, they don't regard the human beings in this world as human beings .

There isn't any contradiction between "deep down in her heart she doesn't take these creatures seriously" and "at the same time she's desperate for them".

In "she? is generally clear that knighthood is just a play" and "she? is trying quite hard to be a knight, thinking in what she? There is no contradiction between encouraging herself, and possibly saying that she will live forever as a knight.

There is no contradiction between "She? Knows that she is a character like a marionette" and "She? Likes the current? Me".

If you go deeper, you will inevitably touch the topic that has always appeared in her? mind, but she? has been avoiding it.

--who is she?

——What does this world mean to her?

——What do other people in this world mean to her?

She can only think about these questions by herself, although no one asks her to give a definite answer, even if she can never find the answer, she can still live as usual... just , if she can't find the answer, she will lack something called "inner sense of order" for the rest of her life.

After all, only she knows that the existence of this world was once just a game for her, and the rest of the characters in the game are called "non-player characters".

——What does the life and death of non-player characters have to do with players?

The answer is that it doesn't matter, the existence of non-player characters is only to serve the game mission.

In the past, Leif, as a game player, believed in the worldview of this game from the beginning to the end of the game, just to better devote himself to it.

She? Can uphold justice, protect the weak, and fight against evil forces, without? Needing to question whether she has the ability to do it? What kind of price will she pay if she does it? Will die - this is because she? Knows that her? Character can be resurrected countless times during the game session, each resurrection will not bring any wounds, and will eventually pass the level.

In the beginning, she took the life of the rude and arrogant player to replace him as the main character of the game.It is precisely because of the "confidence" in the stability of the trajectory of the game world, and at the same time, the "consequences" of his actions - especially the release of such a large and unknown dangerous dragon , she? After all, she?has so much?concern about the survival of the world she?has lived in for more than ten years—and her pride as a former (nearly?) passer, which makes her?have no choice but to simultaneously ? He also embarked on the road of knights with satisfaction.

In fact, this game has changed since she appeared—more specifically, after she rescued the injured dragon.

These changes were only made in a very small place at the beginning: it was only a pile of grass that would recover soon after being eaten on the hillside near the village of Ed, which was destroyed by the dragon. After the fire burns, it becomes a charcoal that can never be recovered.

She? Thought the change would stop there.

Therefore, before receiving this task, Leif generally maintained a player's mentality - as long as it is a game task, there will always be an end? That day? And she? Will always win Well, she just needs to act like a brave knight.

But the mission to Lilliputian this time wasn't in the main story line of the game, and she didn't even have the slightest impression.In other words, she may not be able to have the expected ending when facing this task with the attitude of a game player.

This shows that these changes caused by them have been strong enough to affect the trajectory of the world.

A world whose trajectory can be changed, a world with an undetermined ending, it's hard for her to regard it as a virtual world—like that pile of burnt grass, just because it can be The burnt point itself gave a little more "alive" feeling than the original state where she couldn't eat enough. When facing such a world, she found herself It's hard to maintain her? As a player? Conceit.

That is to say, her "existence" may not be "just" a "step-by-step" game character who makes some "procedural" actions according to the plot instructions, thus triggering the "prescribed" ending; but a real ?……people.

She generally doesn't like how she looks as a real human being, and she's far more successful as a character than as a person.

As a gamer?she?, strong and fit, is the?protective umbrella for the weak, and she is not timid in the face of any strong person; but there is another she?, that is a thin and pale? Little girl, when she sees herself in the mirror, she screams, and when she goes out to face other people's gaze, she can't stand it anymore.

The former, indifferent yet powerful, the lives and deaths of countless people depend on her? actions, but she? doesn?t? care, because she? knows that these? Neither can be changed.The life of the villain in the riots is not even comparable to the little supplies in her backpack.

And the latter is so weak that even she herself can't bear it, even if for a long time, the scope of her influence is only one family, her every move bears the expectations of her sister— —Maybe there is only this one person in the whole world? Looking forward to——but this little bit of looking forward to her? Still can't afford it.She couldn't bear the fate of so many villains.

She? looks like that brave? fearless? game character, but I'm afraid that wayward, selfish and weak? little girl is still hiding in a corner—even though she? Seventeen years.

She? Have to choose, who is she?

Of course she will always choose the former, if she can choose.

—

On the second day, the villain king came to see them again. This experience lasted for a whole night. I don't know what happened. The king's complexion looked haggard.He?was so worried at the moment, so he didn't notice the subtle?atmosphere between the two?foreign race guests in the prison.

Leif stood five or six steps away from Natia Vida.

On the side of the prison facing the aisle, it was only five or six steps away, which meant that they and Natia Vida each occupied two corners.

Leif looked behind the king and found that Prince Ryan did not follow.

"I can agree to all your requests, provided that you can obtain all the treasures in the Holy Pile by yourself." The king rubbed his palms anxiously, "My request is that you can Give me a sum of gold? . . . ”

Leif was relieved to hear that the request was just gold?

Looking into the sky, a blue light curtain that only she can see appeared in front of her. The light curtain showed the amount of currency she owned - a series of shining numbers 9.In fact, she didn't have much idea about this amount of money. In the first 16 years of this world, she was just a poor girl from a peasant family, living a subsistence life, and her biggest property was nothing more than It is a lamb, even dreaming of picking up money can only dream of picking up a silver gesha coin.

Her imagination about money was limited by her past life. After snatching (?) such a huge amount of wealth from the magic dragon, she was a little indifferent. After all, for her, 100 Money worth more than one gingosas is likewise "a lot of money".

Perhaps the money requested by the villain king should be within her tolerance.What she is struggling with now is how to get all the gold out in a way that surprises no one present.

Seeing that Leif was not talking, the king looked at Natia Vida expectantly. In their opinion, the latter seemed to be more cooperative.

"A sum of gold?" Natia Vida's pupils shrank slightly, and then did she know what expression she showed, and the king took a step back in fright.

Lev noticed the ups and downs in Natia Vida's flat tone. The latter seemed to be quite puzzled by the fact that someone actually asked to take away the gold in front of her, as if the request itself was A huge? Offensive in general.

She originally wanted to wait for the king to propose a specific amount and agree to it, but she couldn't help but shut up after hearing Natia Vida's tone.

"Please say it again." Natia Vida chuckled lightly, suppressing her anger and said, "Maybe I got it wrong."

"I need a sum of gold." The villain king repeated again. He was sure that the one who could make the decision between the two was Natia Vida, but just now he realized that Leif seems to be It was easier to persuade, so he looked at Leif with very pitiful eyes.He stepped back a few steps and stretched out his hands, gesticulating, "Although this is quite a large amount for a villain, it is not much for a human being. It is only about this Some? Gold? . . . need pure gold?  …”

The king took a few steps while gesticulating. He needs about as much gold as several warehouses—the kind of warehouses used by the palace to store precious bugs. If it is pulled, it may take dozens of vehicles to transport this amount of "gold" - this amount of "gold" is beyond Leif's "psychological expectations", and then she "reverts to the human" perspective , Realized that these "gold" can be contained in an ordinary-sized "bag" for grain in the market.

But gold is quite precious after all, for human beings, these "golds" are not a small amount.It's hard for ordinary people to imagine, but a middle-level "lord" may not necessarily have so much tax revenue in one year in his territory.

"But, why do you need gold?" Seeing that Natia Vida's anger seemed to grow stronger, Lev asked first, "As far as I know, Lilliputian is not? using gold? as currency."

Gold is a precious metal that causes extreme excitement in humans on the ground, but it is not common in Lilliputians.In fact, Lilliputian does not use metal currency, but still maintains the ancient tradition of barter exchange.

There is a wild hunt every ten days. Almost all the villains have enough food and other supplies to maintain their lives. After each wild hunt, a certain proportion of the supplies are transported to the national treasury or the local warehouse. among.At the end of the new year, warehouses in various places within the territory of the Lilliputian Kingdom will pay tribute to the warehouses at the next higher level.These "collected" materials similar to human taxes were dedicated to members of the royal family and some "officials".

Even some merchants hawking along the street can directly exchange some nuts, dried meat and insects for their goods.In short, there is no need to use metal money at all.

The only place where gold can be seen may be some golden decorations in the palace, but these golden decorations are worth almost the same as the surrounding red, green and stones.

"Well, you don't have to worry about it so much." The villain king was stopped by the question, and he didn't know what happened for a while, and his face turned red, "This is a deal, just It's as fair as exchanging worm stems for feathers. As long as you take out what we want?, I will give you what you want. We don't need to care about why the other party needs what he?needs?."

"But how do you know that we will have so much gold?" Leif thought to himself, the villain king's answer revealed a strangeness everywhere, "To tell the truth, what Your Majesty said The? amount, even for a human being, is quite a large? a huge sum of money."

"This is... this is... what the prophecy said, those who can enter here must have so much gold." The villain king said firmly, two pieces of pleated meat Looking at them with the small eyes in the pocket, "Still in your opinion? Isn't a princess enough to exchange for so much? Gold?"

"If that's the case..." Leif's original intention was to play around, in order to prevent the villain king lion from opening his mouth, so he pretended to be skeptical, and the tone of the villain king was indeed somewhat ?suspicious.

However, since in this task, her main requirement is to save her life first, so she chose to give up her curiosity about some small details that do not affect the overall situation.This money is within her ability, except that the procedures for taking it out may need to be covered up a little more inscrutable, and the things that can be solved with money are not right for her at present. It's not that big of a problem.

she?