Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 958: Any ulterior motives?
"After this incident, the Wushan Hermitage became extremely vigilant and rarely contacted the outside world. Even Solomon could only get in touch with them through the channels of us mountain people, and relied on the favor owed to him by the current Great Spirit Envoy to barely borrow the manuscript of the saint. You are just some outsiders, and you don't have much friendship with the Great Spirit Envoy. Even if I am willing to help you, I am afraid it will be difficult to succeed."

Chief Wilhelm explained the difficulty of this matter to Lingge and others, perhaps hoping that they would give up. However, after thinking for a while, Lingge still insisted on his original idea: "This matter is very important to us, so no matter how small the possibility is, it is worth trying."

Chief Wilhelm nodded gently. "I understand. In that case, for the sake of the Lord of Sun Snow, I will pass on the message for you. As for whether the Great Spirit Envoy agrees, that is not something I can decide. Besides, it will probably take some time to wait for the Great Spirit Envoy's reply. During this period, I hope you can wait patiently."

"It's natural."

Lingge was not so anxious, and he was not idle while waiting. He had to live on Mount Osor for a while at least. If he could map the star map as planned, he would not need the saint's manuscript in the hands of the Misty Mountain Hermitage, although the possibility of this was very small.

In fact, even after obtaining the manuscript of the saint, Solomon was ultimately unable to replicate Saint Tomi's feat. He was a philosopher of the Witch Society, one of the promoters of the magic system, and later became the leader of the Truth Society and the founder of the Thirteen Hermits. Whether in terms of human wisdom or will, he stood at the top of the world. Even he could not do it, which shows how difficult this task was.

However, this matter still needs to be discussed with Chief Wilhelm and Elder Aina. After all, the Saint Stone House on the top of the mountain was built by the ancestors of the Xiatoto people for Saint Tumi. Strictly speaking, it should be considered their "ancestral property". For many years, the Wusu tribe has also been maintaining these three stone houses. Now, Lingge, a foreigner, wants to stay there, so he naturally has to ask the owner for his opinion.

After listening to the young man's request, both Chief Wilhelm and Elder Aina had no objection. For the Wusu tribe, the importance of the Saint's Stone House was more symbolic. Their maintenance of the stone house was just to clean it every once in a while to prevent it from gathering dust. Now that it can play its original role, it is undoubtedly a good thing and should not be rejected.

Not only that, Chief Wilhelm also took the initiative to suggest: "Since Lord Lingge is going to live on the top of the mountain, I'm afraid it will be inconvenient for his daily life, Sontaya."

He looked at his daughter and said in a calm but unquestionable tone: "Starting from today, you will be responsible for delivering meals to Mr. Ling Ge at noon every day, so that he can focus more on this work and not be disturbed by these trivial matters."

"Eh?"

Songtaya was still immersed in the shocking secret that had just happened. When she heard her father's words, she blinked subconsciously and asked in confusion, "Me?"

"Yes." Chief Wilhelm nodded to confirm his daughter's guess. Not only that, he also assigned more tasks: "In addition to delivering meals, if Mr. Ling has other needs, you should also try your best to satisfy him. This is the way we, the Chattoto people, treat our guests. Do you understand?"

Try to meet Ling's needs?
When Alice heard this, she was ready to make some remarks that were not suitable for children. However, Saint Shallia keenly sensed her intention and took decisive action. In a place where no one could see, she gently stroked the back of the neck of the golden-haired maid, which immediately made her hair stand on end. She had to give up this dangerous idea.

Lingge didn't say anything like "I have companions to take care of me, so you don't need to worry about it." He knew that Chief Wilhelm's proposal was essentially just an advance investment, just like the ancestors of the Xiatoto people invested in Shengtu Mi. This level of goodwill was just a piece of cake for the Wusu tribe, but the rewards were rich, so he had no reason not to do it.

When it comes to the level of climbing and trekking in the snow-capped mountains, no one can compare to these Chattoto people. Since Chief Wilhelm is willing to let his daughter help, there is no need for Lingge to trouble the proprietress to deliver meals. After all, she has to cook for a group of lazy islanders every day. It is already hard enough. Let her take a rest.

Because it was her father's request, Songtaya could not disobey and could only agree reluctantly, but she still looked a little unhappy. Of course, the reason for her unhappiness was not as dirty as Alice thought. She just felt that as the best hunter of the younger generation in the Wusu tribe, she had fallen to the point of delivering food to others. It was really embarrassing. If her friends knew about it, I wonder how they would laugh at her.

Of course, delivering food to a big shot like Sheng Tumi is not a shame but an honor. However, Lingge is not Sheng Tumi, he just has that hope.

After discussing the main business, everyone stayed for a while and chatted about some irrelevant things, such as the history of the Chattoto people, the various legends left by Saint Tomi in the local area, and the secrets related to the Witch Society. It was not until Songtaya, who was listening in, was so bored that she began to yawn secretly that she said goodbye. In fact, the main reason was that Alice refused to leave and insisted on drinking the whole pot of broth. This behavior of always insisting on something inexplicable made everyone speechless.

After the meeting, Chief Wilhelm asked Sontaya to see the guests off. The girl Chattoto forced herself to cheer up and led the group out of the tent. She saw the children of the tribe gathered around Brandi, discussing something excitedly. When they had a dispute, they would argue loudly, as if whoever had the loudest voice would have more confidence.

Facing this situation, although Brandy is just a horse, she actually showed a human-like helpless look on her face. Fortunately, although these children were noisy, they were still sensible and did not take action. Even if some ignorant children tried to take advantage of the situation and secretly reached out their hands to touch Brandy's soft fur, they would be caught by other children, who would then shout "This is sacred sun snow, what do you want to do with it" to stop them.

When Xinuo saw this scene, a smile appeared on his face. Songtaya also said enviously: "Brandi is really popular."

The Chattoto girl felt that she had ridden Brandi before and had a good relationship with her, so she could call her by her name.

I just don't know who she envied.

"Hey, you guys." She walked up with a proud expression on her face, as if she felt superior to these friends who had never even ridden a horse before. "Why are you surrounding the guests' horses? They are all going back, why don't you get out of the way? If you offend the guests, I will report you to the leader and let him teach you a lesson!"

Obviously, he was timid in front of Chief Wilhelm, not daring to say a word, but he turned around and used the chief's title to bully others. This familiar behavior made everyone think of someone, and everyone looked at him.

"Ah?" The golden-haired maid scratched her cheek, not understanding why. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"Nothing." Xinuo retracted his gaze and gave the disappointed children a gentle smile: "It's okay, thank you for accompanying Brandi during my absence. She seems to like you very much."

"Ah, it's that beautiful big sister with a great figure!" A childish voice came from the crowd: "Her name is Brandi? Are you her owner, big sister?"

"No." Shino corrected: "Brandi is my best friend. We grew up together."

The children seemed to understand but not quite. They were still young and probably could not comprehend such deep emotions. They just felt that the older sister in front of them was not only beautiful but also spoke very nicely, which made them want to get close to her.

Perhaps because Xinuo's temperament was too friendly, one of the children bravely asked: "Well, big sister, can you let me ride Brandi? Just for a little while, just for a little while!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the other children also raised their heads and looked at Xino eagerly.

Their eyes were full of desire and expectation, which reminded Shino of a little girl in his hometown of Regrum. Shino had heard similar requests from Chloe before, but Chloe wanted to ride on Brandi's back because she admired knights, while these children wanted to get closer to the Snow Mountain Horse because they admired it.

Both emotions were equally sincere and pure, like the first snowflake falling from the sky, not yet tainted by the filth of the world, so that Xino soon realized that he had to take their requests seriously, because children's hearts are the most precious treasures in the world that cannot be wasted. Only by facing up to childhood dreams can one water out beautiful wishes for the future.

She chuckled and replied, "Of course you can, as long as Brandi doesn't object. But Brandi likes children very much, I don't think she would object, right?"

The young knight winked at her good friend secretly, suggesting that she should cooperate with him and that he would give her a snack when she got back. Brandi didn't care much about such trivial matters, otherwise she wouldn't have allowed Songtaya to ride on her back. Now there was the temptation of a snack, so she nodded and agreed without hesitation.

Unexpectedly, Songtaya jumped out at this time and seriously reprimanded those ignorant children: "How can you make such excessive demands on guests? Don't you know that Sun Snow is the most loyal, dedicated and steadfast horse in the world? Once it recognizes its owner, it will never let another person ride on its back. For them, betrayal is more unacceptable than death! Do you want Miss Xino to let down her friends and bring shame to Brandi's reputation?"

After a righteous lecture, the children were ashamed and bowed their heads to reflect on their willfulness and unreasonable behavior. At the same time, Shino and Brandi, who were the parties involved, were stunned: How come they didn't know that Sun Snow had such a habit? If being ridden by a second person is considered betrayal, then it's not your turn. As early as in the town of Regrum, Chloe made Brandi betray once.

And if I remember correctly, it was you, Songtaya, who was the one who begged Brandi to let him ride her on the Cloud Whale Sky Island. You are committing this knowingly. Isn't this even worse?
Or was it that the Chattoto girl was truly concerned about the guests and didn't want to cause them any trouble, so she made up a white lie in an attempt to dissuade these kids from going there?

There's no need to make it so serious, right?

Everyone was confused, except for the wise Ai-chan. She rolled her eyes and immediately understood what Songtaya was planning. Because people with similar personalities have similar brain circuits. She couldn't tolerate such a despicable person playing tricks in front of her, so she came forward and said sinisterly, "Hey, isn't that right? Didn't you ride Brandi before? I didn't hear you say such a thing then."

"Ugh!" Songtaya's face froze. She didn't expect Alice to backstab her, but she couldn't bother to argue with her. Because of Alice's words, the children looked at her with suspicion. She had to come up with a suitable reason and explain it clearly as soon as possible: "That, that's because-"

"Oh~ I understand!"

Before she could think of a good reason, Alice used a tone of sudden enlightenment to casually expose the fact that Songtaya tried hard to cover up: "Is it because you have ridden it yourself that you don't want others to ride it? Because only in this way, you will be the only one in the Wusu tribe who has ridden the Sun Snow, and you will have the confidence to show off to other children."

Alice smiled at the gradually pale face of the Chateau girl, and spoke clearly, "Is that so, dear Miss Sontaya?"

"No, no, I am a righteous person, I don't have such dirty thoughts! Well, aren't we good friends? So, you will believe me, right? Haha, I said, how could you listen to Alice's nonsense? Compared to an outsider, the friendship between us is more trustworthy, right? Uh, wait, what are you all doing here? Why are you looking at me like that? Wait, wait! I suddenly remembered that I still have things to do, so I'll leave first and don't disturb your chat... Wow! Don't come over!!!"

Songtaya's screams echoed throughout the Wusu tribe.

Alice, the instigator of this tragedy, could not bear to watch it, so she turned her head away, unwilling to watch any more. At the same time, she also felt sad because of what Songtaya had done to herself: "So, vanity is not good. It is better to be down-to-earth. Don't you agree... Uh, why are you looking at me like that?"

Sometimes, silence does not mean consent, but speechlessness.

Unfortunately, the golden maid didn't seem to understand the meaning.

Give me some meow