Academic Gathering with Lich Colleagues

Chapter 253 The Mouse King (5000 words)
I don't like Locarrot even though it's my hometown.

I live in a noble family in Locarrot.Parents and an elder sister, because I am the only boy in the family, I have already started to learn how to be a nobleman when I was very young.I did well in etiquette courses, but not in physical training such as equestrianism.I like art, I like the chirping of birds resting on the eaves, and the sound of the breeze blowing the threshold.

But Locarrot has no music, it is like a stuffy old man, serious and stubborn.The same is true for the people here, they care more about the interests at hand and the taste of the tip of the tongue than the touch that goes deep into the soul.There are no artists in Locarrot.

But I was born different.I know everything about art from books at home and from traveling merchants, and I am attracted to music just by hearing their simple descriptions.I feel like I was born to be an artist.

I started running away from my tutor's lessons, drawing on paper the music I imagined. I didn't even know how many notes there were, and what I created in my hands were only some ridiculous fantasies.

Locarrot is like a desert of the soul to me, and I suffer from thirst and growing hunger.

One day, the status quo changed.

That day, as usual, I stood on the haystack outside Locarrot, looking at the carriage slowly approaching in the distance.What kind of travelers will come out from behind the curtain, and what stories will they bring?Thinking of this, my interest has increased a bit.I danced a few times on the haystack with the dance steps I made up, because my center of gravity was unstable and I fell down.With the straw on my body, my eyes left the distance dotted with greenery and looked at the front.

A stranger appeared in my sight.He was wearing a shabby and faded floral dress, and he looked even thinner from the torn fabric.His hair and beard were disheveled, and he looked like some kind of sprite in a farmland that grazes potatoes.Those bright eyes were embedded in the messy face, just like me, he was also startled by my sudden appearance.

Although his appearance is weird, one cannot just look at the appearance.He took off the funny flower-like hat on his head, and saluted me with a gentlemanly demeanor beyond his image.He is a man with a story. When I returned the gift, I had such an idea in my heart.

Mr. Inlet is a piper.In the small talk afterwards, I learned about his profession, a person who travels with music.I was almost dizzy with joy when he took out the beautiful flute from his battered pocket.I used to want a musical instrument like crazy, but when I tried to make it myself, because I didn't understand how it works, some sticks came out.I beg Mr. Inlet to be my teacher in how to play and the true art.He didn't reply right away, but put the flute to his mouth in front of me and played a simple tune.

That was the only real music I heard, and I was intoxicated by the melody, like a nourished baby.Inlet became my teacher, just as he said, a child who loves music so much, the glory of Apollo will also favor him.

Inlet rejected my invitation, he chose a hotel in Locarrot as his place of residence, he wanted to blow away his flute, saw more people's expression of loving music, wanted more praise.

Compliments to the music, obviously not at Locarrot.This is also the reason why I will visit him in the hotel stables soon, but the setbacks in reality are not due to Leite's obsession with dreams.He didn't accept my invitation, but continued to stubbornly show music to the Locarrots, even if he needed to live in a stinking stable.

He is an artist and a good teacher.The same pursuit of art made us close friends. Under his teaching, I became the first Piper born in Locarrot.

Inlet and I had a great time exploring music.For two years, Inlet stubbornly stayed in the darkest corner of the city, playing his music with the instrument in his hand.The indifference of the human heart will destroy all attachments, and our petty pursuit of the cruel reality is like gravel in the desert.

Inlet gave up, and in two years he found no admirer in Locarrot besides me.After two years of poverty, he was able to survive with my help.

"I failed, but this is by no means a flaw in art, it's my flaw. My skills alone can't impress them." Inlet's voice was filled with indescribable depression, and then he looked at me, and the eyes flashed again light spot. "My friend, I have something for you."

Standing on the haystack where we met for the first time, Inlet played another piece of music, a special piece of music, towards Locarrot in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Obviously, the familiar melody rang in my ears, but the same instrument and the same person showed different voices.

It was an indescribable feeling. I felt the trembling from the bottom of my heart. The melody carried an incredible magic power.That night, the residents of Locarrot danced unknown dances and came to the haystack in groups. They opened their hands and laughed and praised Inlet.Show humility to the "horse dung people" they once joked about.

That performance was like a dream. Inlet gave me a secret book, like a book of music scores, the title of "Magic Flute" had been rubbed white.

Inlet is not only a piper, he is also a mystic, a magic piper.The music he plays can manipulate people's minds.

"Why? Inlet, you obviously have this kind of power, but you still endure their ridicule?"

"What I want is heartfelt praise, not puppet mechanical applause. My friend, you are special. From the sincerity of your playing music, I can feel that you will change your Lokarot, You're going to change a place that's barren of inspiration."

"This is my gift, please take your warm pillow and perfect your music."

That night, when all the inhabitants of Locarrot were discussing the same grotesque dreams, I saw my teacher farewell.

I have no superfluous feelings for Locarrot.In this city, it's like a pair of invisible hands turning us into what we don't want to be.

Our family is gone.The sudden turn of events caused some physical problems for my parents.They were bedridden all year round, and I, who was supposed to be the mainstay, was still immersed in the fantasy left by Inlet.Like him, I run around in the crowd all day, hoping that my music can change my compatriots.My older sister had to take on the responsibilities of the family, she took care of her parents, she did some maid work to support the family expenses, and tried to persuade me to face reality.However, the reality is that I can't make ends meet, my sister sold the family wealth, but in the end, my parents didn't make it through.

In Locarrot, there is a special deal.The surnames and status of nobles can be traded here, and some declining nobles will survive by trading their surnames with wealthy businessmen.For the funeral expenses of our parents, my sister sold our surnames, and we became the ghosts of Lokarot.On that night, we stood in front of our parents for a long time, and my sister was crying in my arms. She never blamed me, and she cried to her parents over and over again that she had not kept the honor of the family.

I realized that it was time to wake up from the dream.

I found a job and lived with my sister. The flute I made myself was placed in the corner of the cabinet, and I never took it out again.I also thought about playing a song when I was tired, but I was afraid that my repressed soul would make me play as selflessly as before.

After five rough years, things seem to be heading in the right direction.My sister was proposed and was a businessman. When he came to visit, I saw some bad feelings in his eyes.After I became a piper, my eyes got some weird abilities.

I told my sister what I had found, hoping she would refuse.

My sister looked at me, her once beautiful blond hair had withered and yellowed, tears seemed to have left two marks on her cheeks, her skin was no longer fair, and her palms had calluses like those of a peasant woman.

"No, I can't turn him down. Brother, this is our only chance, let's live better."

"Why are you doing this? It will never get better! For yourself, my sister, please reject him!"

My sister gave me a smile that tore my heart apart as she stroked my face with her rough palm. "You want to start a family, brother."

My sister did not pursue a girl's dream, because her dream was torn to pieces by me and reality a long time ago.

I walked numbly on the street, on the rat-infested street.

A notice attracted me.

The lord of Locarrot offered a reward of [-] gold coins to those who clean up the rat infestation.

One hundred thousand gold coins, a gift to redeem our past.My body was ignited by the hot blood rolling again, and I ran home scrambling and took my flute from the cabinet.

All of this is God's arrangement, and all of this is my salvation.This kind of thought made me hold the flute tightly in my hand, and I found what I really wanted to do and what I needed to do.

I hate Locarrot and all the misery he has inflicted on my sister.Even if the sharp blade is pulled out, the scars will still remain.

I put on a floral dress that I stitched with needles like Inlet, and I wore a ridiculous hat.Like a proud artist, he embarked on his own path of redemption. I firmly believed in the words of Mr. Inlet that I would change Lokarot. This idea supported me and came to the center of Lokarot.

In the empty square, I blew an original Locarrot song.The magical singing entered every crevice of Lokarot.The inhabitants of the city looked at me in amazement, at the swarms of rats that swarmed behind me.I am their king and they are soldiers.

The show was flawless, and I danced happily, leading the rats through every corner of Lokarot.I brought a mighty army to the outside of the city. They followed my magical music and jumped into the river one by one without struggling or resisting.There are black fur floating on the river, and all the knots in my heart are swept away.

I passed a field of wild flowers, and with the joy of my heart, I saw a rose in full bloom, unpicked in the very center of a thornbush.

"Sister's gift." The tingling pain on the surface of my body did not change my smile, I successfully took it off, and it bloomed in the palm of my hand, as bright as blood.

In my sister's panicked reprimand, I hugged her in tattered clothes, and I inserted the beautiful rose into her hair.

"I love you, sister."

"I love you too, brother. But, how did you make yourself like this? You're still laughing!"

I let out the best laugh I've had in years and hugged my loved one tightly in my arms.

The next day, I came to the lord's mansion.With my flute, and my endless reverie about the future.

"My lord, I have come to claim my bounty."

The lord's complexion was not good, and what he said also brought me uneasiness.

"Bounty? I don't have any bounty for a demon!"

"Demon? I don't understand what you're talking about?"

"What am I talking about? You flute-playing devil, you stole my townspeople's children with your dreadful flute while I was raising a bounty! Get out of my mansion!"

I was kicked out by the guards with fists and kicks, as well as angry citizens standing outside the mansion.

I dodged the crowd in a panic, like a mouse that everyone yelled at.I don't know what mistake I've made, but if I stop I'll be beaten to death.

I fled outside the city in embarrassment, and once heard my sister's voice stopping them.Finally, I fled to the river, the once clear place filled with rats.

My cheeks were bloodstained and bruised, and my nails burned like fire.

What the hell is going on here?
A strange voice appeared, and a voice was speaking on the floating rat corpses.I can't hear if that's real because the blood loss is blurring my vision.

"Aren't you the piper? What's the matter now? I quite like your music."

There was cold malice in his voice, like the scythe of death clinging to the skin of his neck.

"who are you?"

What responded to me was a smirk, and the floating corpse of the mouse in front of me was peeled off, revealing the ink-like black water below, and the wriggling shadow.

A monster never seen before.

"You are, evil." His magical eyes quickly helped me discern his inner being, a creature full of hatred and insidiousness.

He was underwater, making an eerie laugh. "What beautiful eyes, just as beautiful as your flute. Look, these lovely children have fallen asleep when they heard your flute."

The shadow moved the mouse's corpse, presenting a terrible death in front of me.

"What do you want to do?" I originally planned to escape, but my weak body had lost its power. I knelt down by the water and watched the shadow gradually wrap around my body.

"What am I going to do? Hehe, what are you going to do?" In the rising shadow, a huge black mouse stood up, looking at me with small red eyes.

"You are very strange, right? Why are you not paid, why are children lost? I know it all. Greed and deceit are the most primitive skills of human beings. The lord has repented. In fact, he was secretly doing child trafficking before. He either delayed or threatened the business, so that the anger of those parents continued to this day, and finally burned on the scapegoat. Mouse, knows all the dirty things. He didn't have to pay a high bounty, and he got rid of The crime of abducting children kills two birds with one stone. When your body becomes a tool for citizens to vent their anger, he can start over. Hehe, even if you don’t die, these hatreds will be transferred to a fictional devil. Yes, your surname is gone Yes, right."

I do not belong to Locarrot, even though it is my hometown.

Everything I encountered today completely overwhelmed me. I held my head and didn't know how to deal with it.

What about my sister?How should I face her?
The voice of that demon sounded again, as if it could see through my heart.

"You don't have to think about how to face your sister anymore, because..."

The black-filled water flowed slowly, and the pitch-black liquid gradually turned reddish brown.

I turned my head stiffly, like moving a rusted bolt, and up the river, I saw my sister.

"She was killed by raging and frantic citizens, and her body was thrown in the river... just like you did with these rats."

I screamed and swam towards the white shadow in the water. The black turbid current wrapped around my body and made me sink a little bit.

I hugged her already frozen body, and the rose, stained with blood, bloomed on top of her head.

A black shadow climbed up my back, and a strange voice stood on my shoulder.

"Look down, what do you see?"

In my sister's blood flow, I saw my own reflection.

"evil."

"Yes, we are all. We are friends, we share the same interests, Avenrette will help his friends, help him with everything he wants to do..."

I returned to the shore, the original floral dress turned into a gray dress, and I buried my sister.That rose has withered under our mutated power, and I put it on my chest.

For the last time, just like Inlet, towards Locarrot, I blew my flute.

The demonic note raised my soldiers, and at my command they rushed to Lokarot with my malice and the plague of death.

Inlet, I have indeed changed Locarrot, and the city will no longer be indifferent to the sound of the flute.

Locarrot, let me give you back what I have struggled and what I have sacrificed.

I know I'm doing something wrong, so when the Light destroys me, I face it.

"But I didn't expect that death is not liberation."

Looking at himself who had become skinny, Avenrette's voice disappeared.Standing in front of him was this guy who claimed to be the receptionist of the academy.

"How are you thinking, my companion. All liches are welcome to join Andry College, where you can fulfill your regrets in life and show off what you have learned. Have you thought about what to do?"

I nodded.

"I have done too many wrong things. Now, I want to be a good person."

The receptionist looked at the Lich trying to be a good person like a psychopath.

"You mean, a well-behaved, generous and considerate gentleman?"

"...Yes, I want to be a gentleman."

　The editor in charge said that it is recommended to explode more, so, 0/6.

　　


(End of this chapter)