Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 869: Does ancient history hide clues?
Lingge's untimely appearance interrupted their conversation, but he himself did not realize it. When he saw Xinuo again, he couldn't help but look at her one more time. What he was thinking about was the last words the old man said to him before he left the study: "She is a stubborn child, but also very fragile. Many people have done things that are sorry to her, and have lost the opportunity to make up for it... If possible, please treat the child gently, Mr. Lingge."

In the end, his tone was no longer like an elder's admonition to the young, but like an ordinary old man who was worried about how his only relative would survive after his death. At that time, Ling Ge saw his eyes gradually showing a look of disappointment and regret in the flickering firelight, and couldn't help wondering, among those who were sorry to Xinuo, were her grandfather and her father? But he didn't ask this question out loud, but just bowed silently, and then left the study quietly.

Family and honor, blood and kinship, there are too many mysteries hidden in each word. Ling suddenly wanted to find a copy of "Family and Heritage" by Benin Figueire to read, and experience again the "family shrouded by secrets, suspicion, doubt, tears and dependence, and an emotion that can never be severed" described by this great writer from the Sri Lanka Peninsula.

Unfortunately, this book does not exist on Yunjingkong Island, and Ovira, who is busy with her own creation, rarely copies books for others; fortunately, there is a copy preserved in the library of Xiaduoli Manor, and the author even wrote on the title page, specifically giving it to Miss Oviria of the Gustaf family, who is probably an ancestor of Whitethorn Flower. Lingge couldn't help but sigh at the extensive connections and deep resources of these ancient families.

As for why he was looking for this book to read... of course it was to kill time. After all, Alice took Metien and Gloria to explore somewhere and never came back. Saint Charity and Xino started talking about some topics between women and seemed to be deliberately avoiding him. With nothing to do, Lingge could only ask the old butler Weber to borrow the books from the Gustaf family's collection.

Immersing in the ocean of reading is not a boring thing. In addition to the works of Bening Fegele, Linger also found many precious ancient books in the library, the earliest of which can be traced back to the handwritten notes of the pioneer Baron Vince. Although these things are of no help to the current situation, Linger still took a look at them to understand the ancient history of Grindelwald.

As a result, he actually found some interesting things.

"The Windmill Cross..."

The candlelight flickered, and the young man used the light of the fire to memorize this name, which he had heard for the first time but was inexplicably familiar with. He recalled it carefully, and finally remembered that when Leticia sneaked into the Forloze Castle at the end of the Shiqilia Peninsula and escaped through the secret passage, the guardian golem guarding the passage seemed to be the product of this association? However, it was finally smashed by the Countess with a punch. The small steam engine similar to the heart was also evaluated as "outdated stuff."

According to the notes of the pioneer Baron Vince, the Windmill Cross was the earliest secret society in the White City, and perhaps even in the entire mysterious world. Of course, the Baron did not know the existence of the Witch Society, so this exception can be ruled out. At that time, the catastrophe of the change of heaven and earth had just ended, and the ancient empire fell apart. Affected by some unknown factors (in fact, it was the follow-up effect of the change of gods, disasters and heaven), the mysterious world at that time was extremely chaotic. In order to protect themselves, some weak extraordinary people united together and formed an alliance to advance and retreat together. Later, they went further to share experiences, trade potion materials, or team up to explore ruins, etc. This was the prototype of the "association".

The young man felt that he seemed to have vaguely figured out the thread of the mystery before him: the conflict between the Gustave family and the Windmill Cross was the key.

The first people to do so were a group of extraordinary people on the "Creator" path. They were craftsmen in the mysterious world, good at making various extraordinary props or exploring the power of holy relics, but their own strength was very weak, so they united and formed an association, the Windmill Cross. By the time of Baron Vince, this organization was already very old and powerful. They either went in and out of the court to become guests of the royal nobles, or made various extraordinary items for customers that ordinary people could not imagine - such as the guardian golem that the Neoersu family ordered from them.

Perhaps in order to expand their sphere of influence, at a certain time, when the land of Grangenia was just beginning to prosper, the Windmill Cross set their sights on this land that they had never paid attention to before - it was rich in resources such as magic potions, minerals, and even monsters. In their eyes, even aliens were considered a kind of resource. So they tried to contact Baron Vince and try to reach an agreement to jointly develop these resources. However, the baron did not like the style of the Windmill Cross and was unwilling to violate his oath with the aliens, so he decisively rejected their proposal.

After that, Ling Ge planned to say goodbye to Xinuo and return to Yunjingkong Island to avoid worrying the boss lady and the others, but the knight girl spoke before him: "Are you going back now? The mountain road is difficult to walk at night. If you encounter wild beasts such as bears and wolves, it will inevitably be troublesome. So why not rest in the manor for a night and go back tomorrow?"

The young man was stunned by the proposal, but Alice's eyes lit up. She agreed without asking other people's opinions and said, "Okay, okay! Where do we live?"

He put the information back in place, rubbed his sleepy brows, and walked outside to find that it was already late, and Alice and the others had not returned yet. In the territory of the Gustaf family, Ling Ge was not worried that they would encounter any danger. The only explanation was that the golden-haired maid had been having so much fun that she had completely forgotten about going home.

The information after that is missing, so there is no way to know what happened afterwards. However, after comparing the location of the Windmill Cross's base with the current map, Linger was surprised to find that the location was the ancient ruins where Joan of Arc was ambushed and the White Knight Hibberton bravely rescued her army; and the information also seemed to mention that the Windmill Cross would build a white windmill as a logo at each base, and Xino's father, "Paranoid" Reynald, died after charging at a windmill in the wilderness late at night. People at the time thought he was crazy, but was it really the case?

"It's on the second floor of this mansion." Xino said with a smile, "There are several rooms specially prepared for guests. Although they have not been used for a long time, they are actually cleaned every day. I think there will be no problem for you to move in directly."

The young man left the library and went to the living room to meet Saint Shallia and Shino. The three of them waited for about half an hour before Alice, who looked unsatisfied, came back with Gloria, who was very excited, and Metien, who was yawning non-stop. Without Linger's signal, Saint Shallia took the initiative to walk over and scolded her, until the golden-haired maid begged for mercy, "Master, stop reciting, stop reciting" before she stopped.

After all, it would be better to let Saint Shallia give her a good lesson.

He must be a very powerful extraordinary person, and he has the support of the aliens of Granjinia, so the Windmill Cross did not dare to use tough means to make the baron surrender. They finally made a second choice and left a stronghold on the edge of Granjinia. Since it was an uninhabited area and strictly speaking, it was no longer within the territory of the Gustaf family, Baron Vince could only turn a blind eye.

"How does it compare to the room at the Fairy Sleep Inn?"

"Well, I haven't stayed in a hotel, but I hope you won't be disappointed."

"So what are you waiting for? Take us there now!"

Alice urged them repeatedly, and in a few words, the matter was settled, without giving Lingge or Saint Chariya a chance to refuse. This golden-haired maid was always smart when she shouldn't be smart, almost making people suspect that her intelligence was born for crooked thinking. But...

Glancing at his tired-looking sister, and considering that she would be even more tired if he asked her to walk a distance back to the hotel to sleep, Lingge turned a blind eye and acquiesced to this guy's arbitrary behavior.

As we all know, on Yunjingkong Island, if Lingge doesn't object to something, it's basically a done deal. So the golden-haired maid got the opportunity to stay at the Shaduoli Manor as she wished, and after experiencing the softness of the bedding herself, she warmly invited Xinuo to stay tonight - to play games with her.

Ling Ge never expected that this guy would dare to stay up late at someone else's house, and even tried to spread this bad habit to others. Fortunately, Xinuo was a normal person and declined her invitation. Although the golden-haired maid was a little disappointed, at least she was not assimilated by her.

However, Shino didn't have the habit of staying up late, which didn't mean she would go to bed so early. At eleven o'clock, when Saint Charia and Gloria were half asleep in their quilts, the good boy Metien had fallen asleep, and the bad boy Alice was still playing games, the girl left the mansion with a kerosene lamp. Before going to bed, she took a final tour of the manor and replaced the old butler Weber who went to bed early due to his old age. She turned off the lights in various parts of the manor one by one, checked the locks of various buildings, and finally returned to the mansion to sleep. It was exactly twelve o'clock, and midnight had arrived.

As for why Lingge knew it so clearly...of course it was because he saw it.

The young man's room had a good view. Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, he could overlook most of the manor. Of course, due to the shade of the trees and the darkness of the night, he certainly could not see the figure of the girl, but he could see the lights going out one by one in the deep night, just like the stars in the distant universe going silent one by one.

The girl returned to her room and blew out a candle on the bedside table. Then, the last remaining light in the Shadoli Manor was drowned by the eternal night, and an almost peaceful atmosphere enveloped the ancient manor. It was like a sleeping giant beast, quietly crawling in the shadow of the Loser Mountains. The sound of the wind blowing through the forest and the rustling of branches and leaves was the rhythmic breathing of it in its deep sleep.

It's time for me to go to bed too.

Lingla closed the curtains and went to bed. However, in the last moment before closing his eyes, the figure of the girl with white hair and red eyes still flashed through his mind.

A cheerful, sincere, self-disciplined girl who hides many secrets and is sometimes a little melancholy... How can she change?

With such questions in mind, he fell into a deep sleep.

……

Early the next morning, the young man woke up to the sound of clear and melodious birdsong. The natural environment of the Chardouri Manor was full of vitality, so even the early morning air was filled with a freshness and coolness that could instantly cheer people up.

The first thing the young man did after getting up was to go to the window where he had observed Xinuo turn off the lights last night, draw open the curtains, and breathe in a few breaths of morning air to clear his somewhat confused thoughts. However, before he could do so, his eyes had already swept across the courtyard and lawn, and fell on a familiar figure not far away - it was Xinuo, she had already gotten up, and was now sweeping the fallen leaves on the boulevard with a familiar big broom.

The broom branches rubbed the ancient stone road with a clear sound, and at the same time gently swept the yellow, dark green, purple, and colorful fallen leaves into the soil on both sides. The girl's movements were relaxed and freehand, and there was a hint of natural elegance, as if she was not sweeping the floor, but doing an artistic job. She was also very peaceful. Even though the crowns of the trees above her head were still dropping leaves while she was sweeping, she did not seem to be in a hurry at all. The sunlight at seven o'clock in the morning shone through the branches and fell on her body, making her delicate profile seem to be covered in a layer of sacred light, focused and calm.

To be honest, Lingge had been traveling for so long, but this was the first time he had met someone who got up earlier than him (except for a certain Princess Bemang who never slept), but on second thought, it seemed natural. After all, for such a large manor, most of the daily affairs had to be done by Xinuo. If she was not diligent, there was no way she could manage it in an orderly manner.

After watching quietly for a while, the young man turned around and left, went into the bathroom to wash up, and then called the other companions to get up. Except for Saint Xia Liya and Metien who had the habit of getting up early, Alice and Gloria were still staying in bed. The former was not surprising, but the latter, probably because of the change of personality, also changed their living habits. The third princess of the Great Brittany Kingdom certainly would not stay up late, but the talented beautiful girl golfer who became famous at a young age might not be the same.

When the group slowly arrived at the restaurant on the first floor, not only had Shino finished her cleaning, but even her grandfather and the old butler Weber had been waiting for a while. Although they did not mean to blame the guests for being too lax, Linger still secretly glared at someone, but the other person was very thick-skinned and pretended to ignore it.

After having a simple breakfast at Xiaduoli Manor, Lingge once again said goodbye to his host and prepared to return to Yunjingkong Island.

I haven't returned home for one night, and I don't know if everyone on Sky Island will be worried.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)