Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 855: Have you already lost your determination?

"Since its beginnings, this city has been given many nicknames: In the Middle Ages, people who followed the banner of the white thorn flower and came here to open up new land called it Ophelia, which means the City of Hope; after the Middle Ages, the statue of the White Knight standing on the town square and the enduring poems sung in the taverns made the residents of this city proud of the reputation of the City of White Knights; during the Steam Holy War, a new religion built its first church here. At that time, people did not know that it would have an extremely far-reaching impact on the future structure of the continent. Perhaps it would take one or two hundred years before they would willingly recognize the name of the United Holy City; and in the end, the impression it left in the minds of modern people is neither the distant City of Hope, nor the honorable City of the White Knight, nor the United Holy City full of religious meanings - but the City of Wind Flowers, Sumiya."

After the guests left, the rabbits jumped and put the cutlery on the table, while the proprietress lightly brought tender lamb stewed with peas, cheese baked ham, roasted chicken breast, salt-roasted trout and other foods, gradually filling up the spacious table. A fragrance of salty sea salt, sour lemon and sweet fruit spread quietly. The atmosphere of lunch was proceeding in an orderly manner, which made Alice's nose move. She secretly glanced at the sumptuous dishes with the corner of her eye, wondering which dish she should start tasting later?
It was this guy who asked the question, but he was distracted when I was explaining. If it was someone else, he would have been pissed off. But Linger had a blank expression on his face, and continued to talk on his own. He didn't take the golden-haired maid's behavior to heart, and just treated it as an explanation for others: "This name comes from a ball game called wind flower ball. The origin of this sport is now unknown. We only know that it probably appeared in the 15th century. It was originally an entertainment activity for farmers and workers in the countryside of Grindelwald Fields to use grape trellises and trellises after the autumn harvest."

"In the middle of the 16th century, the first recorded volleyball club was established in the city of Sumiyya. However, it was still amateur at that time. The original intention of its establishment was to gather people who loved this sport. There were no special competition rules, events, and personnel requirements. It was not until the 16th century that with the development of related industries, more and more people participated in it, and it even spread from the White City Republic to other countries. It gradually evolved into a professional competitive sport. After watching a volleyball game, the poet Riley described it as 'like a flower blooming back and forth in the wind, light and moving', so people later used volleyball as the professional name of this sport."

"Today, volleyball has become a very mature sport, and is known as one of the three major sports in the world, along with cricket and football. Especially in its place of origin, Saint-Denis, it is a sport that all people can participate in. The Yamit Cup volleyball tournament held every four years in the city of Sumia attracts professional players from all over the world. Every time it is held, thousands of spectators flock to the city, waiting to enjoy the highest level of competition, and also bringing this city that has gradually fallen silent after the steam age back into the international vision. Therefore, in modern times, when people mention the city of Sumia again, the first thing they think of is not the White Knight City famous for heroes, nor the United Holy City famous for religion, but the City of Windflowers, which is famous as the origin of volleyball and the venue for the largest competition."

"Come to think of it," Ling Ge said, and suddenly remembered something: "This year's Wind Flower Competition Tournament seems to be held in September, and it is currently in the open selection stage. If Miss Xinuo hadn't mentioned it, I really wouldn't have remembered it."

"Isn't it said that everyone knows it? How come you forgot it?" Alice looked down on him for a moment, then asked with great interest, "What does the public selection stage mean?"

Linger glanced at her, not wanting to explain, because he always felt that this guy would make trouble after hearing it. However, it was not only Alice who wanted to know the answer. Other girls, including Saint Shalia, all stared at the young man curiously. This was the voice of the masses, and even he could not ignore it, so he could only explain briefly: "General sports events are divided into league systems and point systems. There is no league in the Wind Flower Ball event, so the players can only accumulate points by participating in various cup competitions and invitational competitions and obtaining corresponding rankings. Those who rank in the top 60 in points throughout the year can directly enter the main competition of the Yamit Cup Wind Flower Competition Championship. Those who do not have enough points can participate in the open selection stage of the championship. As long as they can get the top four results in the selection, they can also participate in the main competition."

"Top four? That doesn't sound difficult." Alice raised her eyebrows. She originally thought that only the champion could directly participate in the main competition, just like the so-called loser group.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew the number of participants in the trials." Linger glanced at her and said, "According to statistics from the White City Wind Flower Ball General Affairs Association, the number of participants in the trials of the last championship was as high as 25,312. It took a full month and a half to complete all the games, and the time of the main competition was postponed for this. I think the number of participants this time will only be more, not less."

Linger glanced at her and said calmly, "It's five hundred thousand pounds."

This is not a team sport like cricket or football, where there are more than a dozen people on a team.

At this point, Lingge remembered something and told everyone an interesting story: "According to common sense, due to problems such as training methods, time and equipment, the strength of amateur players is often not as good as those of professional players. It is already difficult to get out of the qualifying round, let alone participate in the main competition. However, 20 years ago, a legendary female player appeared in the 26th championship. After she signed up for the qualifying competition as an amateur, she overwhelmed countless professional players with her superb skills and indomitable spirit. She participated in the main competition as the winner of the qualifying competition, and unfortunately met the seeded player at the time, the most anticipated championship candidate, in the first round."

"Because there is no hard requirement that those who participate in the selection stage must be professional players." Ling Ge said: "In order to make the competition atmosphere more lively, before the start of the 11th championship, the organizing committee at that time modified the rules and decided to open the selection stage to the public. Anyone with an amateur certificate can sign up to participate. Therefore, not only those players who did not meet the points requirements for the main competition wanted to save their defeat through the selection, but also ordinary wind flower ball enthusiasts wanted to experience the atmosphere of a professional competition. The enthusiasm of the people exceeded the imagination of the organizing committee. The registration point was once fully loaded and overwhelmed by the crowds of people who came to register. The final result was that the championship that year was a great success, the number of registrations broke a new record, and even the city's economy was driven up by the people from all over the country who heard the news. So this rule has been passed down until today."

Half a million gold pounds, championship prize money, fame, interviews, notoriety, big house, private villa, pool party, extravagant life... In an instant, many words flashed through the mind of the golden-haired maid. At the richest time since she traveled through time, her personal property did not exceed one shilling. Suddenly, she slammed the table and made a bold decision: "I want to participate!!!"

This is indeed a legendary story, full of dramatic meaning, which made everyone feel satisfied and said that they had learned a lot. As a newly-debuted writer, Ovella wanted to ask for more details to provide inspiration for her novel, but before she could open her mouth, a stuttering voice suddenly sounded beside her due to excessive excitement: "How much prize money!? Lingge, how much was the prize money for that tournament you just mentioned!? Fifty thousand pounds?"

"More than 25,000 people!?" Alice was shocked and blurted out, "Why? Are there so many players in this sport?"

Everyone looked at her with their mouths wide open, as if they were looking at a monster, a monster they were all familiar with.

Although this decision sounds outrageous, it is indeed what Alice would do.

Ah this.

Metien was the first to react and asked cautiously, "But Sister Alice, can you play the wind flower ball?"

"When everyone thought her journey was over, the female player completed an amazing comeback despite being at a huge disadvantage, defeated her opponent, and advanced all the way to the final amid the increasingly enthusiastic cheers of the people, completing the miracle of winning the championship as an amateur and taking home the 500,000-pound championship prize. It is said that on the night of her victory, the cheers and fireworks in the city of Sumia continued until dawn, and that championship became a legend. No one has been able to replicate it since then, and even the female player herself disappeared and never appeared on the field again."

"No." Alice said confidently, "But with my talent for the game of Wind Flower Ball, I can easily win the championship with just a little practice. I have a great talent for sports. I am very good at both football and basketball. I often stay up late to practice. Have you ever seen Linville City at four o'clock in the morning?"

"I have." Metien answered immediately. Isn't that the time she gets up every weekend to prepare for the seven-day ceremony? There's nothing strange about it.

Alice groaned, "Uh." Then she decided to ignore the topic and waved her hand casually, "That's not important. What's important is that the first prize is 500,000 gold pounds! Do you know what 500,000 gold pounds means? As long as I get this 500,000 gold pounds, I will be a millionaire from now on. I can live in a big mansion, drive a luxury car, live a life of luxury, and do whatever I want-"

Thinking of this, the genius player couldn't help but lick his lips, feeling restless inside.

"Five hundred thousand pounds?" Leticia said expressionlessly, "Is it a lot?"

"Five hundred thousand gold pounds?" Olvera tilted her head: "I have no idea about human currency."

"Five hundred thousand gold pounds?" Rorona thought for a moment and said, "I remember that a relatively good quality blue crystal coral costs about the same in the human world. I have two pots of it in my room."

"Five hundred thousand gold pounds?" Gloria gently stroked Xiao Bai in her arms and blinked her gray eyes: "Mother - oh, I mean my mother in my current status, she seems to have spent tens of thousands of gold pounds to build that private carriage."

Five hundred thousand pounds was only enough to buy ten carriages.

Alice, who was excited, suddenly became depressed.

"Damn rich people."

She muttered something, then raised her head unwillingly, poking Linger with her eyes, looking as if she was trying to win his support, but her eyes were inexplicably fierce: "They are rich and don't care, but I don't have money, and you don't have money either, right, Linger, so let me participate in the competition! After we get the 500,000, we will split it equally, and we will never have to worry about food and drink from now on! What do you think? Promise me now! Otherwise, I will run to your room every night to play games!"

This threat sounded quite scary. Linger looked at her silently, then silently withdrew his gaze and spoke under Alice's expectant and nervous gaze:
"Let's eat first."

……

At the same time, a wealthy man whom Alice was concerned about just walked down from Yunjingkong Island and stood on the shore of Emerald Lake. He said to the lush forest: "Okay, everyone go back. I'm fine. These guests are quite friendly. They may stay here for a while. Everyone should get along well with them, okay?"

There were low roars and hisses coming from the forest, as if responding to the girl's words, and then, one by one, shadows, some big, some small, some beastly, some human, turned and left. The ground trembled slightly under their footsteps, and it was not until a few minutes later that it was completely quiet. Xino smiled and looked up at the sun in the sky. The midday sunlight was so bright that it was a little dazzling, casting a golden shadow into the depths of her wine-red eyes.

A group of strange travelers, some shocking inside stories, a journey with encounters and dangers, and a secret society that decided to eliminate all aliens in order to create an ideal world. Only by gathering the seven lost girls can they fight against it. At the end of the story, will the so-called goddess of creation really come to the world, put an end to all hatred and killing, and usher in a beautiful and peaceful new era?

They said that the Saint was also a member of the Witch Society, and the uprising war launched in the White City Republic was only to promote the implementation of the Eden Project; they said that you were also a member of the Girl Kingship, and an indispensable person in order to fight against the Witch Society; they also said that if you choose to stay here, you can only protect the aliens in the Forest of Loser, and only by leaving can you protect more aliens who need protection...

In other words, will you play an important role in the story, just like the ancestor of Hibernton, following someone worth following, meeting a group of companions with different personalities, trusting each other, entrusting life and death to each other, turning your back to each other on the battlefield, and fighting side by side until the day of victory.

But reality is not the poem sung by bards after all. The legend of the White Knight seems too old-fashioned in this era and is no longer popular among young people.

My father once said that fighting requires determination; my mother also said that only those who devote all their determination are qualified to stand on the glorious arena.

But the girl named Shino has long lost that kind of determination.

The wind blew gently, and the snow-white ponytail fluttered, calling back the girl's thoughts. She slowly retracted her gaze, picked up the broom, and set foot on the road home without looking back. Her figure gradually disappeared in the forest covered with branches and leaves. From beginning to end, she never looked back at the Yunjingkong Island behind her.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)