Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 860: Can’t we go back to our youth?
Holding a can of Northenweg Crown Honey, Shino walked on the stone road in the forest, preparing to find those travelers from other places to ask them about the follow-up of the last story. Although even the most daring novelists would not dare to use such a bizarre setting, his grandfather's words also proved that all the rumors in the world are not groundless, such as the secret society that manipulates history behind the scenes. Not to mention the White City Republic - or, before the Republican era, the United Kingdom of White Cities, didn't it have one?

In ancient times, the Wolumf Dynasty was famous for its cruel and bloody human sacrifices. Influenced by this, the land of White City has always been shrouded in a fanatical and mysterious atmosphere since its birth. Not only are there endless folk legends and pagan scriptures, but also false gods and evil gods dining together in a feast of faith. Even various extraordinary organizations and secret societies are attracted by some magical power and gather here like rivers flowing into the ocean.

This is even the birthplace of the first secret society in the history of mystery, and that secret society is still stirring in the shadows of the ordinary and has not completely disappeared. It has influenced the history of the White City for nearly twelve centuries, until the outbreak of the Republican War. The White Knight Hibden of Grangenia stepped forward and chose to join the coalition of Joan of Arc to fight against it, and then there was the legend that everyone is familiar with.

It was precisely because he knew how difficult the former enemies of the Gustaf family were that Xino was skeptical about the stories told by Lingge.

The gap between interfering in the history of a country and interfering in the history of human civilization as a whole is more than just the difference between heaven and earth.
They have such powerful power, but their purpose is to eliminate the magic in the world and create an Eden where everyone is equal. This reminds Xino of the slogan declared by the Saint Lady in the Republican War to call on the people to participate in the uprising: "All men are born equal." In the past, she thought that this equality refers to the equality of people in moral and political terms, but now it seems that this is not the case.

History is always confusing, and no one can see the truth unless they go back to the past.

Xinuo still remembers this sentence. When she was in college, her history teacher often mentioned it. However, the girl was not very interested in history courses at that time, so she did not have such a deep understanding of this sentence.

Speaking of which, it seems like I haven't been back to school for a long time. I wonder how my classmates are doing now. The Yamit Cup is about to start. They should be very excited, right? In the annual open trials, the number of college students who sign up is always the largest, because they are in the best stage of their lives. They are neither as naive as children nor as troubled as adults. The energy, longing and expectations accumulated in their bodies cannot be suppressed, and they must be vented in some way.

Cricket, football, running, rowing, debating... and the most popular sport on Grindelwald's plains: volleyball.

Once he recalled the time he spent in college, the corners of Xinuo's mouth could not help but draw a slight arc, and he seemed to hear the voices of his classmates gathered around the court, cheering for the winners or encouraging the losers.

……

"The last ball will decide the outcome!!!"

"Can you do it? If not, let me do it instead!"

And from her posture when swinging the racket, her pace when moving, and the slight swing of her wrist when catching the ball, she seemed to be familiar with this sport. Even if some of her movements were a little awkward, they were definitely not at the level of a beginner. Xinuo had a good eye and she could tell that this awkwardness was not due to unfamiliarity, but to the lack of coordination of her limbs. In short, she had a lot of experience, but she probably hadn't touched a racket for a long time, so she needed to adapt again.

It can’t be…

"nice shot!"

"Hey, focus on it, don't just stare at the schoolgirls outside the court!"

There were two familiar figures swinging rackets on the grass, hitting the white wind flower ball back and forth, making it move in a beautiful arc left and right like a white flower blooming in the wind. Xinuo's eyes stayed on the wind flower ball for a moment, and then moved down to the two players. She saw that the person who was closer was Alice, and the other person playing against her was Miss Gloria, which surprised the girl a little.

"There's a flaw on the left, on the left!"

But who would go to such a deep forest to play ball?

If she still has a future on this path.

The noise and bustle were mixed with the sound of rackets swinging and the wind and flower balls drawing beautiful arcs in the sky. It was so realistic that Xino couldn't tell the difference between reality and fantasy for a while. The girl suddenly stopped and blinked her eyes. When the memories in her mind gradually faded, she found that the sound was still there, and it seemed to come from not far ahead. Then she woke up: this was not an auditory hallucination, there were really people playing in the woods.

While she was giving her evaluation in her heart, the situation on the court changed again. Gloria made a mistake and gave her opponent a high ball which was not very fast and did not have a very tricky angle. This made Alice, who was at a small disadvantage of 0-16, see the light: as long as she seized this opportunity and smashed Gloria directly, wouldn't she be able to turn defeat into victory?

What? You ask why a successful smash can turn defeat into victory? Isn't the answer obvious? Of course, it's because a smash is equivalent to 16 balls!

Although she had not been in contact with them for a long time, she had already roughly understood the personalities of these outsiders. It was not uncommon for someone as lively and active as Miss Alice to want to experience the most classic sports in Grindelwald when she was in the mood. However, it was indeed a bit unexpected that Miss Gloria, who looked elegant and quiet, also came to join in the fun.

With such doubts, she deviated from the original path and walked in the direction of the sound. After bypassing several thick oak trees and parting a clump of bushes that blocked her view, the girl came to an open lakeside meadow. Next to the meadow was the Emerald Lake. The sunlight sprinkled through the clouds, covering the lake and the surrounding vegetation in a layer of golden light. Even the Cloud Whale Sky Island quietly anchored on the lake looked particularly dazzling.

"Smash! Beautiful!"

As for Miss Alice's level...well, Xino can only describe it in four words: a promising future.

Of course, there are no such outrageous rules in the real Kazehana ball game, but from now on, the game will be changed to Alice's special rules - Alice☆Special☆Rule!

"If I hit this ball, I win!!!"

Alice hurriedly said, turning this newly established special rule into an established fact, and then without giving Gloria a chance to refute, she raised her head and began to retreat, small steps, big steps... retreat, retreat, retreat. She wanted to find a suitable angle and height, and use a powerful smash to put an end to this game, and by the way, let Gloria taste the taste of defeat. Hehehe, you dare to underestimate my tennis... Oh no, the strength of the little prince of wind and flower balls, Alice, this is why you lost!
Alice had already thought of a cool victory declaration, but because she kept her head tilted up, her eyes were only on the slowly falling wind flower ball, so she didn't notice that on the grass behind her, there was a plain little stone lying there quietly, as if silently reminding the spectators watching the game: I am an important prop, please don't ignore me.

"Uh..." Xino, who was standing at the edge of the venue, naturally saw the stone. She spoke up to remind Alice, but it seemed too late.

"It's now!"

The little prince of the Wind Flower Ball had a gleam in her eyes. In this fleeting time of less than half a second, she had already completed the perfect calculation of the wind speed, wind direction, ball speed and angle. Next, she only needed to jump, swing the racket, and smash the ball vigorously to win the game. Let's witness the strength of our data flow Wind Flower Ball...

"oops?"

It seemed like I had stepped on something.

His body subconsciously tilted and his line of sight began to shift. The falling wind flower ball disappeared, and in its place was a deep blue sky. A few clouds slowly drifted by, and warm sunlight leaked through the clouds. The scene looked very peaceful and harmonious.

But why do I have a feeling of loss?

It's like losing something very important.

At the last moment of the game, scenes flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern. When all the strength was drained from her limbs and the racket fell helplessly downward, Alice finally remembered: Ah, it turned out that it was my long-gone youth...

Then, her butt had an intimate contact with the grass.

it hurts!

Alice almost screamed, but she held it back. She widened her eyes and tried not to make any sound, although her grinning face was still a little funny. The wind flower ball that no one caught flew over her head, drew a graceful arc in the air, and landed on the lush grass. It rolled forward for more than ten meters with the remaining force, and finally stopped in front of a pair of gray-white long boots.

Xino leaned over and picked up the wind flower ball. It was white with a distinct velvet texture. Six half-moon-shaped stitching arcs were outlined on the surface. Twelve long white tail feathers were sewn into the joints of these arcs. The average length was fifteen centimeters, and they were taken from the twelve most common bird species in the Grindelwald area. When the ball was hit into the sky, these feathers would flutter in the wind, making this solid wind flower ball look extremely light, as if it had the ability to fly. This is why the poet praised it as "a flower blooming in the wind."

Although Alice shouted "Isn't this just a tennis ball with feathers on it?", "Just call it badminton", "So this is the set of Prince of Tennis" and so on when she first saw the Wind Flower Ball, Xino was naturally unaware of this. She just looked at the Wind Flower Ball in her hand and suddenly felt a sense of nostalgia.

When she was in college, she was also a big shot on the court, and she once aspired to be like her mother...

However, it is all in the past. Thinking back on it now only adds to the sadness.

The girl sighed silently, forcing herself to break free from the nostalgic thoughts. She looked up at Alice, wanting to return the ball to her, but was startled to find that the golden-haired maid was half-kneeling on the grass for some reason, holding the racket tightly in one hand and holding the other hand in a fist in front of her chest, staring at her with a mixed look of pain, unwillingness, recollection, remembrance, sadness, helplessness, relief... In short, it was a very complicated look.

"Uh..." Even Xinuo was a little scared by her gaze. He couldn't help but take a step back and asked cautiously, "Miss Alice, what's wrong?"

"Ah, can't you see?"

Alice instantly broke away from her role and looked at Xino with surprise: "This is the most classic scene in sports and competitive literary works: people who are willing to fight for victory at all costs, carrying the expectations of friends and partners, sweating hard on the field, but in the end they are still defeated and can only stare at their opponents holding up the trophy silently, swallowing the pain and unwillingness in their hearts. Is she just staring at the trophy? Of course not, that is her lost youth and the passionate years that can never come back!"

"So, that's how it is." Shino smiled awkwardly: "Although I don't understand it, it seems very impressive."

"Right, right? I've been thinking about it for a long time. I think the plot of turning defeat into victory in a big disadvantage is indeed very exciting, but tragedy is more touching. Only an imperfect youth is called youth!" Alice shared her creative experience with great interest, and then pulled down her left eyelid to show her red eyes to Xino: "In addition, acting skills are also very important. You can see that my acting skills just now were just right. I looked like I was going to cry, and everyone thought you would cry, but in fact I didn't. Only this kind of performance of wanting to cry but not wanting to and not being able to cry can move the audience, and only this kind of hard-core strength can best contrast the protagonist's inner loss and unwillingness."

That was because you were holding back the pain when you fell, right? And you didn't think too much about it, you just stepped on a rock and didn't catch the ball well, right? Aren't the so-called regrets caused by your own mistakes? How thick-skinned do you have to be to say that youth should be full of regrets?
Xinuo complained madly in his heart, but on the surface he had to cooperate with Alice and agreed against his will: "It's very interesting. I didn't expect Miss Alice to know so much about tragedy creation. It really opened my eyes."

It was indeed an eye-opener. After all, I had never met such a person before and it is rare to meet such a person.

"Hehe, is there any need to explain that?" Alice raised her chin proudly, her nose almost reaching the sky.

anyway.

How long does this guy plan to kneel on the ground?
　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)