Alice in the Land of Steam

Sister Livia didn't have to wait too long. Soon, the person that Ling wanted her to meet arrived.

And she came in a particularly noisy manner. Before I even saw anyone, I could hear her excited voice: "Hi, hi, here I come! Lingge! Sister Xiaoxia! Miss Xinuo! I'm here to bring you food! Today's dinner is stewed meat with rat root fruit, grilled lamb chops and cedar bitter tea. It's very rich, right? I hunted that mountain goat myself. I saw it in a forest, then quietly drew my bow and shot it dead with one arrow! After I went back, everyone praised me for my accurate shooting... Huh?"

Songtaya stopped and sniffed the air, like a Chow Chow that smelled something unusual. A puzzled and thoughtful expression appeared on her face. "What a nice smell! What's that smell? Have you started eating? Is it Miss Shesta's cooking again?"

Her gaze then fixed on the unfinished pot of cream mushroom stew under the big cedar tree. She looked at the milky white soup and the plump matsutake mushrooms floating quietly in the soup, her mouth slightly open and her eyes fixed on it, leaving no doubt that she would drool and salivate in the next second.

"..."

Lingge was speechless watching this scene. The girls also subconsciously put down their bowls and spoons and had no intention of swallowing, because they always felt that it would be a very cruel thing to continue eating in front of the Xia Toto girl.

"Gurgle." A loud sound came from Songtaya's stomach. She came to her senses and her face turned red, even redder than the sunset on the snow-capped mountains.

Linger didn't ask any low EQ questions like "Did you have dinner?" Instead, he casually invited her: "This is cream mushroom stew and fresh yokan cooked by Miss Shesta. If you don't mind, would you like to eat with us, Songtaya?"

"How can this be so embarrassing?"

Songtaya felt that this was not a good idea, as she could not take advantage of the guests. However, her body was not willing to let her go. Her legs started to move on their own, and she moved step by step to the tree. She half-crouched down, and then very skillfully took out a bowl and a spoon from the bamboo basket she had brought. She skillfully scooped a bowl of the still steaming hot soup for herself, and then very skillfully put a spoonful of it into her mouth. An expression of enjoyment appeared on her young face: "Wow~ It's so delicious! It's a hundred times better than Uncle Zack's cooking!"

Uncle Zak is the cook of the Wusu tribe, responsible for preparing food for the tribe members. Due to the scarcity of supplies on the snowy mountains, the Wusu tribe still adopts the primitive collective distribution system, that is, all the food collected and hunted is processed in a unified manner and then distributed to the tribe members according to their needs. Among them, the elderly, children, pregnant women and hunters will be allocated better and more food.

Songtaya is both a child and a tribal hunter. Theoretically, she has no shortage of food. Unfortunately, the snow-capped mountains lack many essential spices, so that after so long, the mountain people's cooking skills have not improved. The big pot meal model also means that they cannot put too much effort into cooking. This is why Songtaya is obsessed with the proprietress's cooking skills, and she can never go back after eating it once.

The girl put aside the dinner she brought with her, and then ate the food of the guests with relish. Her eating manner was particularly amazing, and she drank three bowls of hot soup in the blink of an eye. Linger sighed silently, then turned his head away, unable to bear to watch any longer; Sister Livia's eyes were full of love and sympathy, probably thinking that Songtaya was living a miserable life in the tribe; Xino, in the same caring spirit, picked up the fresh yokan that was also not finished next to her and poured it all into the soup, as a snack for the girl; the lamb lay beside its owner and looked down on Songtaya, not because it disliked her eating the guests' food, but because it disliked her eating manner, which easily reminded it of an old friend who was not very friendly...

Only Saint Xia Liya gently but firmly reached out her hand, held down the hand of the Xia Toto girl who wanted to take the fourth bowl of soup, and said: "Songtaya, you can't eat anymore."

"Ah?" The girl raised her head, looking confused.

"If you eat too much, your body will become sluggish. You will have to go down the mountain later. What if you are unable to move and encounter danger?" Saint Xia Liya thought for a moment and cited a specific example to prove her point: "Alice once said that a mountain traveler named Wu Song encountered a tiger in the forest and almost died because he did not abide by the rule of 'three bowls before crossing the mountain'. So, you should also be careful and not cross the mountain after three bowls. Do you understand?"

"..."X4
I don't know why, but I suddenly felt very cold and had the urge to sneeze. Is it because we are on the snowy mountain? It's definitely not because Saint Shalia suddenly told a very cold joke.

After a while, Songtaya finally reacted and patted her chest and promised solemnly: "What are you afraid of? That mountain man named Wu Song is too weak. It's just a tiger. If it dares to appear in front of me, I will kill it with one arrow!"

However, Saint Xia Liya's dissuasion also made her realize that she was doing something greedy. She quickly took out the food from the basket, put it on the tablecloth and called everyone to come and eat: "Come on, everyone, come and eat together, you're welcome! Uncle Zack's cooking skills are very good, this rat root fruit stew is his masterpiece, don't miss it~"

But you just complained about Uncle Zach's cooking skills. By the way, it's best not to use the term "masterpiece" indiscriminately, as it may trigger some bad memories.

Seeing that Songtaya invited everyone to enjoy the special food of the mountain people, but he secretly served himself an extra bowl of cream mushroom stew, Lingge was speechless for a while, and had to cough lightly to pull her out of her eating state, and then asked about the business: "Songtaya, is there any progress in contacting the Wushan Hermitage recently?"

It has been a week since the last visit to the Wusu tribe. There has been almost no news during this week, and the surveying work has not been going smoothly. So although Lingge appears calm on the surface, he is actually a little anxious inside.

"Ugh!"

Songtaya swallowed a mouthful of stewed meat, blinked her light black eyes and thought for a while, then replied in an uncertain tone: "Maybe, there should be some progress, right?"

Probably? Should? Maybe?

Only three words were needed to make Lingge frown. Songtaya quickly explained, "I don't know the details, but Dad did contact the people from the Wushan Hermitage a few days ago. He didn't come back until noon today, and he brought a wooden box that looked very worn. After he came back, he discussed with Elder Aina in the tent for a long time. I don't know what they talked about, but it is probably related to the matter you asked me to do."

After a week of contact, Songtaya no longer avoided mentioning the relationship between Chief Wilhelm and herself. To be honest, Linger didn't think it was something that needed to be avoided, but Chief Wilhelm's attitude might be strict. Since Songtaya was obeying the orders of the tribal leader as a hunter, the boundaries of authority and responsibility must be clear, so Songtaya could only call him daddy in private. After listening to the description of the girl Xia Toto, Linger was thoughtful. It seemed that Chief Wilhelm's negotiation with the Mist Mountain Hermitage had been successfully completed. The wooden box might contain the saint's manuscript they needed. However, the Mist Mountain Hermitage would rather have Chief Wilhelm hand it over than send someone to escort such an important thing. It seemed that their vigilance was indeed very high, and they were even a little frightened.

That great spiritual messenger single-handedly disrupted the layout of the Witch Society and stirred up the situation in the entire religious community, but as a price he paid he ended up in his current situation. I wonder if he ever regretted it.

This was not something Linger should be concerned about, so he quickly put it behind him and started to think about other issues: If nothing unexpected happens, Chief Wilhelm should come to them tomorrow with the Saint's manuscript. After getting the manuscript, the progress of mapping the star map should be much faster. The young man hoped to complete it within two months. Then, Alice's super robot cassette and the Zero Arus reinforcement parts commissioned by Rorona must also be put on the agenda...

When Lingge came back to his senses from his thoughts, he found that the pot of cream of mushroom stew in front of him had been completely eaten up, not even the bottom of the pot was left. However, the traditional dishes of the Chattoto people had not been touched at all and were gradually cooling down in the cold wind on the top of the mountain.

The culprit licked the corner of her mouth, looking unsatisfied. She seemed to have sensed Ling's gaze, so she turned her head and smiled brightly at everyone: "Hey, the food is here, why aren't you eating yet?"

Then she stood up, brushed off the snow on her butt, and said with a guilty conscience: "I, I won't bother you anymore. I'll leave first."

"No." Linger said, "You can't leave."

"Why, why is this?" The girl Xia Toto looked a little panicked, probably because she was afraid that Lingge would charge her for her meals.

But young people would not do such boring things. He pointed at Sister Livia who was sitting next to him and said directly: "This is Miss Livia. You didn't see her the last time you came to Yunjingkong Island, but she is very interested in you and wants to chat with you."

"Eh? With me?"

"Yes." Livia nodded slightly. Although it was an excuse that the young man came up with on the spur of the moment, she did not expose it and continued the topic: "I heard that Miss Songtaya is a believer of the Father of Mountains. I am very interested in the teachings of the Mountain Guards, so I want to communicate with you. I hope you don't think this invitation is too abrupt."

Songtaya was a little surprised: "This beautiful elder sister, are you also a believer in animism?"

Sister Livia smiled and said, "I am a member of the True Spirit Sect, a follower of the Cursed Ring King Kenos. I believe in the doctrine of the 'Human Reason Ring'. All wisdom is limited to the scope of human power. Once it is exceeded, it will bring disaster. This is the doctrine of our True Spirit Sect, which may be different from the philosophy of your Holy Spirit Return Sect."

The so-called Holy Spirit Return Sect refers to those radicals who believe in the spirits of all things in nature and try to gather the Holy Spirit with all spirits to make the great saint return to the world as a god. Originally it was just a theory, but the leakage of the rituals of inviting gods and refined magic seemed to make this theory possible to practice, so most of the animists began to turn to this faction, and the moderates like the True Spirit Sect were a minority.

In fact, even the True Spirit Sect, under the wrong guidance of the Judge Mufasa, almost went down this path. However, after Sister Livia, who was once the Son of God, was defeated by the Dark Witch Carabosse, she turned back and abandoned that wrong practice, and began to follow the true Holy Spirit - yes, that is, Metien.

However, it is difficult to completely abandon the deeply rooted beliefs that have been ingrained since childhood, so Sister Livia still believes in the concept of the "Humanity Ring", but in addition to this, she has begun to deeply understand the teachings of the Holy Goddess. So you can think that half of her faith belongs to the Curse Ring King Kenos, and the other half belongs to the Goddess. It is such a strange state.

"Is that so?" Songtaya's expression was stiff and her eyes were wandering, because she had no idea what the True Spirit Sect and the Holy Spirit Return Sect were. "So, you are also a believer in animism. In that case, you should go to discuss the doctrine with Dad and Elder Aina. They know more than me."

"I believe that the piety of faith does not lie in the amount of knowledge, but in a pure and innocent heart." Sister Livia said, "I heard from Mr. Ling that you are a simple and kind girl, so you must be one of the most pious people in the mountain guards. So I believe that communicating with you will definitely benefit me a lot."

Did I say this?
Lingge glanced at Livia, and the nun said straight in the eye: Since you just made an excuse for me, don't blame me for using you as a cover, Mr. Lingge.

The golden people of the sea blue can sometimes be very stingy.

"Hehe, I'm not as good as you say." He said this, but his steps honestly stopped: "Well, what do you want to know? As long as it is related to Lord Shanfu, I know everything!"

She held her head high and chest out, looking as if no one else could do it better than her.

Doesn't look very reliable.

"Well," Sister Livia asked, "First, I would like to have a basic understanding of this great mountain god, such as his name. Can you explain it to me in detail?"

"That's easy! I'll tell you, the full name of the Mountain Father is: the Father of the Mountains, the Origin of the Great Abyss, and the Protector of the Three Valleys! The Father of the Mountains, of course, refers to His important position as the source of all the mountains and peaks in the world. Legend has it that the Mountain Father is the first mountain range since the creation of the universe. Other mountains and peaks were formed by falling off His body, and until now, they are still connected in some special form. His roots are deep in the earth, and once they move, they will cause the mountains to shake, so he is usually asleep and will not wake up; the origin of the Great Abyss, this is also easy to understand, the mountain father There is a saying among the people: Only when the weather is cold will you think of making a fire, and only when the mountain is high will you see the abyss. This means that while the mountain rises up, it also extends downward. Therefore, the father of the mountain is not only the ancestor of the mountains, but also created the concept of height and drop. He is the origin of all cliffs, precipice and the abyss that cannot be seen by the naked eye; the last three valleys are more simple. They refer to the three terrains closely related to the mountain, namely valleys, canyons and river valleys. All life, climate and even human activities nurtured in these three terrains are under the witness and protection of the father of the mountain..." (End of this chapter)