The female devils I saved came to my door

In the open space near the city, the rogue traders who wanted to make money had already set up tents and set up stalls, selling a dazzling array of goods.

Some landowners and small and medium-sized nobles also spent their savings for the year and wanted to take advantage of the Winter Solstice Festival to make some purchases to prepare for the long winter ahead.

In the palace of Ipoli, the old king and the princes were probably busy arguing with the hired accountant, calculating the country's income and expenditure this year, and arguing over who had done more meritorious deeds and who should be rewarded.

…………

Nothing big happened in Ipoli over the years.It's just that occasionally there are gangs from other countries, or some medium-sized fighting breaks out to snatch water sources and farmland - this is normal.

They didn't cause too much trouble, and they were all dealt with quickly.

So, there is nothing to worry about, everyone is getting ready for the winter solstice celebrations.

Lovna's mother is no exception.

Early in the morning.

"Lovna!" Her mother frowned and shouted her daughter's name while searching the inventory in the closet: "Are you there?"

"Ah... I'm here..." The sleepy girl yawned, walked out of the bedroom, and looked at her mother with squinted eyes: "What's going on?"

Lovna is now fourteen or fifteen years old.

She is no longer the silly, unpopular, skinny girl she was when she first met Ciel.

Perhaps due to her gluttony and love of making noise, her growth rate is much faster than that of other girls of the same age. She is also tall and slim. When she stands on tiptoes, she is even as high as the bridge of Teacher Charles's nose.

The once dirty dark red hair has been taken care of and has become smooth and smooth - this is a care skill she learned from Hilna.

Even waist-length hair will not get dry and split due to the damn weather in Ipoli.

Although she was wearing an earthy gray cotton coat sewn haphazardly by her mother and several maids, which looked dirty, she still looked slim and handsome under the support of her tall and slender body.

His appearance no longer looks childish.

Nearly perfect oval face, moist and smooth skin, white and neat teeth, slender and long arms, and those smart eyes...

An absolute beauty.

According to the tradition here in Ipoli, a girl of her age should have been married long ago.

But she was usually taken care of by Teacher Charles, and her father didn't care much about his daughter's marriage, so Lovna got what she wanted and has been putting it off until now.

At this time, looking at the girl who was still squatting at home even though she was a grown-up, the mother was anxious but helpless: "Lovna, are you free today?"

"There should be...what's wrong?"

"Okay, then, go to the market near the city and help me see if there are any cheap clothes and hats. If there are any, buy them. If there are spices and pickles, buy some for me too."

"Ah, you want me to go out again..." She was a little reluctant: "I also plan to go to Teacher Charles' house later."

"Stop being so long-winded. Teacher Tiantian Xiaer, you are always troublesome to others, and you have been using them for so long. Aren't you ashamed?"

Lovna curled her lips: "Mom, how many times have you said this? Teacher Charles doesn't care about these little things at all. People are getting annoyed when you keep saying this."

Teacher Charles has actually been doing pretty well in Ipoli these years.

As an outside member of the local church, he represents the church and takes over the work of organizing documents and hosting ceremonies for various weddings and funerals. Occasionally, he also performs some fancy magic spells at celebrations to entertain the guests.

There are also making enchanted weapons for knights and soldiers, helping farmers select quality seeds, repairing equipment for mill estates, and helping churches paint religious paintings...

It can be said that as long as it is technical work that requires a cultural person to be responsible for, or a simple magician to take orders, he can do it.

But even so, he didn't save much money.

Because a lot of his expenses were either spent on training Hilna and Lovna, or he paid out of his own pocket to compensate the innocent citizens who were killed by the "devil" seven or eight years ago.

Therefore, his living standard has not been very good.

But because of this, Charles is well-known and prestigious in the Ipoli area.

Both civilians and nobles will respectfully call him Mr., thinking that he is a saint sent to Ipoli by the eternal Father.

His reputation was so great that when neighboring countries had disputes, Ciel would be invited to act as the adjudicator.

Even though Ciel is only in his 20s now.

Therefore, Lovna felt that Teacher Charles was not a common person and he did not care about money at all.

But the child's mother is the child's mother after all, and if her daughter talks back, she will definitely get even more angry.

"Don't talk back to me! Hurry up, take the money and go out to buy something for me! Also, with the remaining money, you can pick some good things for me and give them to Mr. Charles as a gift. Go!"

Buying a gift for Mr. Charles gave Lovna some motivation.

Enduring her mother's scolding, she slowly put on her shiny coat, put on her non-slip fur boots, and opened the door.

The cow behind her yard, Mianyang, immediately barked, seemingly wishing her good morning.

She exhaled a breath of hot breath with white mist, rubbed her hands, stepped on the mud with ice slag, and ran in the direction of the city.

Winters in Ipoli are cold, wet and long, so getting outside can be tough.

Lovna just wanted to go back to the warm bedroom, drink a cup of hot milk, and play at Teacher Charles' house.

After running along the dirt road covered with wheel marks and footprints for a while, the distant noise gradually approached.

Lovna saw the flags blown by the cold wind at the top of the city, as well as rows of colorful tent spiers.

A wandering troupe playing flutes and drums set up a simple wooden stage in the market and performed fancy puppet shows on it;

Bulky chefs light fires and show grilled sizzling sausages and steaks to passing children, forcing their parents to take out their wallets to comfort their crying children;

The vendors were holding pickles in cans, showing off the preserved fruits spread randomly on the chopping board, and shouting loudly;

The solitary hunters who usually stay away from human beings also brought the animal skins they had harvested over the year and stood silently by the roadside, waiting for the guests;

The smell of spices, grease, incense, and sweat was a bit strong, and it made Lovna a little unbearable.

She randomly found some stalls, and after some haggling, she bought the things her mother asked her to buy, and packed them in cloth bags. The task was considered completed.

I looked at the remaining coins in my pocket and saw there were quite a few left.

She cheered up - it was time to buy a gift for Teacher Charles, and she couldn't be careless.

But what can I buy?

There are indeed many vendors in the city, but most of what they sell are food.

Lovna felt that it was too rude to give the teacher a sausage or a bag of dried fruits on the winter solstice, so she had to come up with something new.

Maybe a bottle of golden red wine?

But Teacher Charles doesn't like drinking very much.

Then buy some books for Teacher Charles?

Mr. Charles himself is the most famous painter and writer in Ipoli. Over the years, he has produced four to five hundred hand-painted fairy tale picture books.

How about buying a sword?

This money is definitely not enough.

…………

After wandering around the market in confusion for a while, Lovna still had no clue.

"How about buying a ham, or some otter skins to make a warm fur hat or scarf."

Thinking like this, she simply calculated the amount, feeling a little big-headed - even now that she has grown up, she still hates counting.

Continue to wander aimlessly.

After a long time, the sun rose into the sky and the weather was no longer so cold.

At this time, she noticed that at the edge of the market, there was a stall surrounded by many people.And unlike other stalls, not only poor people wearing rough linen clothes, but also many rich people wearing thick cotton clothes and coats gathered around the stall.

It didn't seem to be a place selling food and clothing, because in the stalls, the exclamations of children and the praises of adults could be clearly heard.

After pushing through the crowd curiously, Lovna discovered who owned this stall.

"Sirna? Why are you here?"

That's right, this simple stall only has a cart with an iron box, a drawing board with white sketch paper, and a girl - Hilna, who is drawing with a paintbrush.

Seven or eight years have also allowed Sirna to grow from that timid but smart girl to a truly down-to-earth and generous princess.

With dark blue hair and clear blue eyes, a dignified and elegant face like a classical sculpture, coupled with a luxurious cobalt blue dress with gold patterns, it really makes people feel like she is an angel walking out of an ancient painting.

At this time, she was holding a paintbrush and quickly sketching the image of a little girl in front of her on the drawing board.

She moved her pen very quickly, and with just a few strokes, she sketched out the outline of her face. Adding the last few points, a girl with twinkling eyes was drawn.

Sirna confidently picked up her painting and handed it to the girl in front of her.

This girl seemed to be from a noble family. She was very satisfied when she saw her elegant self in this painting. She thanked Sirna and handed over a few silver coins.

Hilna took the silver coins with a faint smile: "Thank you for your support."

After saying that, she stood up from the chair, straightened her skirt, and said to the people watching: "Everyone, I have run out of paint today and can't paint anymore. I'm really sorry -"

The crowd around them made annoyed sounds and then slowly dispersed.

"Hello, sister Lovna." At this time, Sirna had time to say hello to her sister.

"Uh, Hilna, why are you setting up a stall here to draw paintings for others?" Lovna was a little confused.

"Actually, I'm not here to set up a stall, I'm just waiting for someone. I've been waiting for several days, and I'm really bored, so I draw some paintings for others for free. If others are happy, they will naturally give me some rewards. I plan to save up. The money is here to buy some gifts for Teacher Charles, so I accepted it."

"Oh..." Lovna snorted and said nothing more.

Sirna's painting talent is also outstanding.Over the years, she has been following Mr. Charles, watching the various exquisite cards and fairy tale picture books he made with excellent drawings. She has been deeply influenced by it. She has also learned from it, and she has made rapid progress.

Her hands are like a printing press, able to draw any scene conceived in her mind with absolutely no errors.

The level of detail is even inferior to that of Mr. Charles.

"Sister Lovna." Hilna didn't notice her sister's embarrassment: "What are you doing here?"

"I'm helping my mother buy some things. Well, I also want to buy some gifts for Teacher Charles, but I don't have enough money..." Lovna was embarrassed.

"It's okay, sister." Hilna was still in high spirits: "I'll choose a gift with you later. Let's pool our money and buy one for Teacher Charles."

"Okay." Lovna nodded: "But, Hilna, you said you are waiting for someone? Who are you waiting for."

"The merchant who is waiting to trade." Hilna pointed to the box she brought: "These are the items for trade."

"Trade items?"

Curious, Lovna opened the box.

Then, she was stunned.

There are hundreds of fairy tale picture books in the box, including "The Crazy Knight Fighting the Windmill", "The Three Little Pigs", "Snow White", "Cinderella", "The Tinderbox", "The Sculpture of the Prince", "The Little Pig". Princess"…………

They are all those pop-up fairy tale picture books that Mr. Charles used to make.

They were all carefully drawn stroke by stroke by Mr. Charles, and then stitched and glued bit by bit.

Lovna grew up listening to these stories and reading these picture books.

17. A gift for Teacher Charles

"Herna!"

This time, Lovna was really a little angry: "These are picture books that Teacher Charles spent countless efforts to produce for us! Why do you just sell them on your own initiative!"

"It's not me, it's Teacher Charles who wants to sell it." Hilna also looked a little lonely: "I also want to keep it, but these three-dimensional books have been made for several years, and some of the papers have turned yellow and cracked, and some have already been It’s about to fall apart. It takes up space in the teacher’s residence.”

"Then you shouldn't sell it..."

Lovna picked up a few of her favorite fairy tale books with some distress: "I really like these stories, I will never get tired of reading them, so I sold them..."

"Actually, it's not a sale, but a transaction." Hilna corrected Lovna: "The teacher was actually commissioned before to draw some picture books for a nobleman who likes to collect books. The nobleman liked the teacher's works very much. , saying these are all works of art.

"The noble was very happy when he learned that the teacher had produced hundreds of such fairy tale books, and wanted to buy them from Teacher Charles. Teacher Charles didn't want to sell them at first, but the noble promised to exchange them for what the teacher needed. Therefore, Teacher Charles agreed.

"The noble said that he would come to pick up the goods around the winter solstice. The place agreed with Mr. Charles was the market outside the city. Mr. Charles was busy a year ago and had no time to come here to wait for him every day, so he asked me to take his place. Come and wait for someone."

After listening to Sirna's explanation, Lovna felt a little disappointed: "Teacher Charles should at least tell me...at least before selling these books, let me read them again and memorize all the stories."

"Lovna, you have read every book here many times. Every time Teacher Charles makes a fairy tale book, you are the first one to read it. Every time you play at Teacher Charles' house, you are also the one who reads it. Read and read. You remember all the stories, there is no need to be so sad."

Hilna comforted her: "The teacher will make up more stories for us in the future. You know, the teacher has too many stories in his mind to tell us."

But Lovna was still unwilling to give in.