Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 878: Don’t you understand girls’ minds at all?

After finally getting rid of the townspeople's enthusiastic hospitality, Shino and a few others came to the only carriage and horse shop in the town of Regrum. A group of children were playing in the open space outside. They were holding homemade wooden spears and shields in their hands, riding on ponies made of straw and grape vines, happily playing the role of knights. They looked so majestic as they charged into battle, which made Alice envious.

"I want this too." She told Lingge, but Lingge ignored her.

Surprisingly, there was a girl among the group of children. She looked older than the other children, about twelve or thirteen years old. This gave her an absolute advantage in height and strength, making her the undisputed leader of the children, leading them to fight against the imaginary invaders, leading the way and being very brave.

"Ah!" She was riding in the front and soon saw Xinuo's figure. She immediately cried out in surprise, and then called out a name that no one expected: "It's Big Sister!"

My dear elder sister... Lingge and the others looked at Xino with strange eyes, which made the latter a little embarrassed. He coughed twice and forced an explanation: "These are all, uh, children who don't know better, just joking."

She is not joking. I think she came prepared.

"All members of the Saint Maiden Guard, listen up—" The girl raised her spear high in her hand, and her clear voice resounded under the clear sky: "Line up to welcome my sister!"

"Oh!!!"

The "knights" behind her responded in unison, with amazing momentum, and then quickly formed two neat rows behind the girl, holding their guns in their left hands and clenching their right fists on their hearts, performing the standard etiquette of the knights in the Kingdom Era when meeting their masters, and shouted loudly: "Greetings, Sister!!!"

A hand reached out from the side and tapped her forehead gently. The knight commander who was so majestic just now screamed subconsciously, covered his forehead, raised his head, and looked aggrieved: "Sister, why did you hit me?"

Xino covered her face with one hand, looking as if she couldn't bear to look at it. Lingge couldn't help but wonder, if there was a river in front of her now, would she just jump in?

Hey, an ancient castle, an old witch, and a princess? All the elements were complete, and Alice suddenly became excited: "I know this well, and I will definitely not let you down!"

These words made the knights behind him excited, and they all raised their spears to respond to the call. Then, a large number of shouts of "Long live the Saint Lady" spread across the sky. Even a few adults on the street joined in the fun and echoed, "Long live the Saint Lady! Long live the young lady!"

The more embarrassed she was, the more excited Alice became. She asked excitedly, "Can I join your Saint Guard?"

"Ah this..."

"How to prove it?"

"So," Saint Shallia seemed to find it very interesting. She leaned down slightly, put her hands on her knees, and asked the girl in front of her with a smile from a height that was the same as the children's: "Are you playing the role of Saint Lady?"

The noises of the children were also heard on the street, but the adults passing by didn't pay any attention. At most, they just glanced in this direction and went back to do their own things. It seemed that this well-known organization had been active in the town of Regrum for a long time. The local residents were not surprised by it. Only outsiders like Lingge found it new and amazing.

After teaching the girl named Chloe a lesson, Shino turned around and looked at the knights behind her. Her snow-white ponytail swung in the air, drawing a chic arc. "And you guys, have you finished your homework? Are you just playing here? Go back and study hard. If I come to complain to you personally, I think your uncle and aunt will spank your butts into eight pieces, right?"

"As long as you sincerely follow my sister, we are happy to see new partners join us." The girl looked Alice up and down, and said thoughtfully: "However, if you want to become my sister's sharpest sword and strongest shield, it is not enough to have awareness, but also strength! The selection criteria of our Saint Maiden Guard are very strict. This is not to despise the weak, but to be responsible for your companions. I think you should understand, right?"

“No! I am playing Lady Rostia, the Knight Commander of the Saint Maiden Guard!” The other party pointed out Saint Shallia’s cognitive error and said seriously: “The only one in this world who is qualified to play Lady Saint is Sister! We are all Sister’s knights, and we must fight for her and create a new era of peace and beauty!”

Not surprisingly, after all, in the land of White City, any legend you hear about the saint will eventually point to that name.

The girl nodded seriously: "Then we will wait for your good news here... Oops!"

“Because I usually asked you to read less knight novels, but you refused to listen to me. I don’t need to tell you what will happen to a bad boy who doesn’t listen, right, Chloe?” Shino said unhappily. She finally broke free from her shame and realized that she couldn’t let this outrageous conversation continue, otherwise her Saint Maiden Guard would most likely welcome the first over-age member in history - even though her mental age was suitable.

This made Xino even more ashamed. He buried his face in his palms and didn't lift it up for a long time. His ears turned slightly red.

"After leaving the town, go east, cross thirty-three rivers, climb over twenty-one mountains, pass through twelve towns, and then go through a forest so dark that no light can penetrate. You will see an old castle. There is an evil old witch in the castle. She has kidnapped the poor princess. Go kill the old witch and bring the princess back. Then I will recognize your strength!"

"I'm very strong!" Alice wanted to join this energetic youth group and emphasized: "I have defeated many villains who wanted to endanger world peace and beat them to a pulp. Isn't that enough?"

"The Holy Maiden Guard, what a majestic name!" Alice, who was very good at getting along with children, won the favor of the leading girl with just one compliment. A smug look appeared on the other girl's face: "Of course! This is the personal guard led by Lady Rose Knight Rostia, who is responsible for accompanying and protecting Lady Jeanne's safety!"

"Well, if that's the case, it's not impossible to consider it." The girl frowned: "But words are not enough, you have to prove yourself!"

Look, she didn't say selection or assessment, but "selection". What a cultured little girl! At least her cultural level has surpassed Alice. No wonder she can become the Knight Commander of the Holy Maiden Guard.

The young knights on horseback shuddered and suddenly felt something uncomfortable under their buttocks. They looked at each other for a while, and finally, between defending the great cause of the Saint Maiden Guard and avoiding having their buttocks spanked by their parents, they chose the latter.

As the first member dropped his weapon and quietly slipped away, the huge Holy Maiden Guard soon fell apart and was no longer as powerful as before. Alice watched this scene and couldn't help but sigh: "This is much faster than the Knights of the Round Table."

Chloe didn’t know what the Knights of the Round Table were. She thought that this new member was confused about the future of the Maiden Guard, so she quickly comforted him, “It’s okay. They are just some small-minded people who take advantage of the situation. It’s okay for them to leave. As long as the two of us are still here, we can rebuild the Maiden Guard sooner or later!”

Due to the lack of manpower, she even automatically skipped the test and assumed that Alice was a member of the Holy Maiden Guard.

However, when it comes to playing fast and loose, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, flattering the powerful and trampling on the weak, who can compare to our genius player? When the Saint Guard was in its heyday, she wanted to join it even if she wanted to, but when the Saint Guard was in decline, she scratched her ears, pretending not to hear Chloe's words, and said to herself: "Since there is only one person left, there is no need for me to join. Why don't I rebuild the Saint Guard myself and become the Knight Commander myself?" "Huh?"

Chloe looked up, with a big puzzlement in her small eyes. She was innocent and kind, and was experiencing her first betrayal in her life. It would probably leave a very deep memory. Even after a long time, when she was an adult and recalled this past, she would still feel... How could there be such a hateful adult in this world!?
"Whoa!"

Tears spurted out.

……

Justice will be served, and evil will be punished, so Alice was punished, and the executor was Saint Shallia. The specific method of punishment was too bloody and violent, so I won’t go into details here. You only need to know that after the punishment was over, she lowered her head with tears in her eyes and apologized very sincerely to the little girl Chloe who was crying because of her bullying.

Seeing her miserable state, the young Chloe was moved with sympathy and generously forgave the golden maid. She also promised to write her name down in the member handbook of the Holy Maiden Guard. This kind of repaying evil with kindness was very touching.

Those who watched the entire farce could not think of any other words to describe their current mood except a series of ellipsis.

Anyway, let’s get back to the topic.

“Chloe, please tell Uncle Greensheim to prepare a carriage for us to go to the city. We need it now.” Shino said as he gently stroked the girl’s head, causing her cute little face to show a comfortable expression like a cat. She gently rubbed Shino’s palm and asked, “Are you going into the city, sister?”

"Well, because today is the last day to register for the tournament."

Chloe’s eyes lit up when she heard that. “So, onee-sama is going to sign up for the competition!? Great, I’ll ask everyone in the town to come and watch! With onee-sama’s ability, it will be easy for her to win, right? Hehehe!”

Hearing this, the favorite to win the championship (actual) Miss Gloria tilted her head slightly, while another favorite to win the championship (self-proclaimed) Miss Alice frowned: How dare you say such arrogant words in front of my Ai-chan? If you hadn't just been taught a lesson by Saint Shallia, I would definitely let you see what the real ability to win the championship is!

"It's not me." Xinuo said with a smile: "It's my friend who wants to participate."

"why is it like this?"

Chloe was a little disappointed when she heard that, and then she looked at the new friends behind Shino, and suddenly she was shocked: "Aiya, onee-sama! Why is there a man among your new friends! No, I will never accept such a wild man with unknown origin approaching onee-sama casually!"

Ling Ge: “…”

"Puchi!" A few snickers came from the side. I couldn't tell who was laughing, but it should be everyone.

“Don’t be rude to guests, Chloe.” Shino was both angry and amused. He changed from touching to tapping, gently tapping the girl’s forehead, as a lesson for the rude little girl. Then he gave the young man an apologetic smile and said, “Sorry, Mr. Ling, Chloe is still young and doesn’t understand. I was just joking. I hope you don’t take it to heart.”

"It's okay!" Alice jumped out to accept Ling's apology: "Ling is a generous man, he wouldn't care about such a small matter, don't you think?"

She poked the young man next to her with her elbow in a gloating manner, implying that as a grown man, you should be more open-minded and not get angry when a little girl says a few words to you. That is very ungraceful... So what else could Lingge say? Naturally, he could only choose to forgive.

“I know.” Chloe hung her head and said listlessly, “Then I’ll talk to my father and ask him to prepare two spare carriages for you. If there are no carriages, we can only use donkey carts, right?”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.” Shino said, and suddenly realized something was wrong. He exclaimed, “Two carriages? Chloe, you must have heard it wrong. I just said one carriage.”

She looked around and counted the number of people: herself, Lingge, Saint Xia Liya, Alice, and Gloria. Although it was a bit crowded, there was still enough room in the carriage.

“That’s not possible!” Chloe put her hands on her hips and said seriously, “How can I let you squeeze into the carriage? So I prepared a special carriage for you. It’s spacious enough for one person! Of course, if you feel lonely, I can come and accompany you!”

At the end, her real purpose was finally exposed, which made everyone sigh that little girls nowadays are really scheming, and Xino didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Stop being naughty, or I'll tell you on you. Go ahead, a carriage is enough, and you are not allowed to act on your own. Besides, I have something important to do today. If you want to go into the city to play, I'll let Weber take you next time, okay?"

"It's not very good..."

Although Grandpa Waver was very kind and would buy candy for the child, Chloe still wanted to go into the city with her elder sister if possible.

It’s a pity that elder sister never understands girls’ minds.

Thinking of this, Chloe sighed like a little adult. She did not try to persuade Shino anymore and went to the carriage shop she ran to prepare a carriage for her elder sister.

Shino looked at her dejected figure and tilted his head in confusion: "What's wrong with Chloe? She looks disappointed? Didn't I promise to take her to the city to play next time?"

But this is not what she wants.

At this moment, everyone, including Lingge, had the same thought as Chloe just now: Although Shino is a role model among girls, he does not understand girls' minds at all.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)