Evetrona's old stories

[178] Black Magic and White Magic (Part [-])

Erinde asked her many questions, but for some reason, Eve always felt that the girl was a little absent-minded.

After bathing, the two cooperated to help each other wash their hair. It has been more than half a year since Eve dyed her hair, and the original color of the hair can be clearly seen from the root of the hair.

"Do you prefer gold?" Erinde asked her while helping to pour water.

"Actually, it's not...it's my younger sister. She always wants me to dye my hair blonde." Eve replied, "Sisters, they like to wear the same clothes and dress up the same way."

"I understand." Erinde nodded, "We also have such a pair there, Harsha and Alani, and sometimes I envy them."

"Each has its own way, well, probably. When are we going to leave?"

"Let's go back in the afternoon after dinner." Erinde frowned when she thought of those kids in Qingshui Castle.

After washing her hair, Eve wanted to find a towel, but Erinde recited a spell on the spot—afterwards, a gust of warm wind swirled around them, slowly drying their bodies.The wind brushed against Eve's waist and back, as if someone was constantly tickling her, making her shrug her shoulders.

Whether in Bomeng or in Benlong Castle, Eve has never seen anyone who can use magic on others in such an open manner—from a moral point of view, this is obviously an offensive behavior; on the other hand, Elinde’s magic level is indeed evident—it is very simple to use magic to destroy, but to use it properly in life requires not only long-term practice, but also a considerable degree of logical use and mental calculation ability. Very confident.

Eve was stunned for a while by Eileen Delu's move, but when she came back to her senses, the other party had already tied up her hair and put on her clothes, so she had to move faster.

Wearing the female knight's parade outfit, Eve's temperament also changed a little. This military outfit made her originally quiet and delicate face more energetic and less friendly.She fastened her neckband, wiped the fog off the bathroom mirror, and started to straighten her hair.Erinde hurried forward to help. She saw Eve's train of thought, and braided her hair with a familiar and delicate technique.

"Thank you... It's the first time I've seen such a neat technique, it's so beautiful." Eve was surprised at the speed at which the other party braided her hair.

"It's nothing, practice makes perfect." Erinde didn't show much interest in Eve's praise.

"How about...you go to work first?" Eve could see that she had something on her mind, "I'll stay here to do some laundry first."

"It's okay, I'll wait for you." Erinde was indifferent.After she finished speaking, she found a stool and sat on the side.

Helpless, Eve had no choice but to wash her few dirty clothes under her watch.She washed slowly because of her new clothes and the poor laundry supplies.Erinde was sitting not far behind her, and not long after, Eve faintly heard the sound of sobbing.She stopped what she was doing, and when she turned her head, she saw Erinde wiping the corners of her eyes.

"Have you... recently... encountered anything?" Eve asked tentatively.Only on this occasion did she react more masculine-meaning, she was still as awkward as ever.

Erinde shook her head silently, still sobbing, big tears dripping down her puffy skirt.

Eve walked up to her and wanted to pat her on the back and comfort her, but unexpectedly, she was hugged by her waist. Her behavior surprised Eve.Erinde leaned on Eve's body and let go of her hand after crying for a while - she took a few deep breaths and quickly calmed down.

"It's okay," she explained, her tone still trembling, "There will always be some unsatisfactory things in life, and they will all pass."——This seems to be self-comforting.

It was close to noon, and the ground was a little wet, probably because it had just rained.Cascading gray clouds filled the sky, and the sun shone through the gaps, leaving mottled shadows on the lake.Eve stood under the corner and stretched her waist. She stretched her body and yawned a few times, causing tears to overflow from the corners of her eyes. She looked like a child who just woke up.

At this moment, she thought of Elinde just now.

The so-called "maturity" is not a trait that a person possesses due to growth, and it is not even a good character—it may just be a symbol of gregariousness.How can you really keep it for yourself?Either make a self-deprecating first, so as to be invulnerable; or hide it in the dark, and simply pretend that you don't know anything.Why is Erinde crying?And why did you choose to cry at that time?

The college’s diet combines the flavors of the West Coast and the islands: the soup base is homemade rich tomato paste, fresh beans, barley and seasonal vegetables, and a small amount of white pepper and salt are added in turn, and scallops and oyster meat are added to enhance the freshness when it comes out of the pot. Such a pot of tomato soup is the staple food at noon today.In addition, there is also a self-brewed wine with sugar - the alcohol content is not high, and it tastes a bit like fermented sweet grape juice, which is more in line with the taste of local witches.In autumn, the shrimps and crabs are plump, and students sometimes go to the west beach to catch the sea. According to the cooking habits of the archipelago, these shrimps, crabs and shellfish are either steamed or boiled without any condiments—for them, the freshest ingredients and their fresh and fat taste are perfect.

Lelier said that it might rain heavily later, so she advised them to go back early, so Eve hurriedly packed her luggage and left the apartment with Erinde.She didn't go to Yuqie, but only asked Lelier to leave a message, asking her to help him say hello and tell him where he was going.

It was just after one o'clock in the afternoon, it was cloudy, the lake was windy, the water was rippling, and a bark boat rested on the shore surrounded by green grass.Eve followed Erinde to this place, and she saw a woman in black with a hood sitting on a stone slab beside the boat.The woman wrapped herself up tightly—long clothes and trousers, gloves and boots—and was almost black from head to toe, except for two strands of long hair that hung down her chest, showing a dull gray color.

Erinde called her "Isabelle."

Isabeau is also a beautiful woman—in fact, most of the witches are good-looking and well-proportioned—Isabeau seems to be reluctant to talk, but her attitude is not cold, she is a gentle and quiet woman. people.She let Erinde and Eve sit in the boat, and she stood at the bow of the boat. Seeing that she didn't use oars, Eve guessed that she was going to use magic to row the boat... but she never thought that the speed would be so fast.

Yishabo chanted the spell, and the light boat under them seemed to come alive suddenly, swimming quickly.

Erinde was sitting across from her. Seeing that Eve seemed to fall on her back, she quickly grabbed her wrist—and after Eve sat down firmly, she did not let go of her hand, but instead held the other's hand in her own.

Yisabeau supported the bulge of the boat's bow with one hand, and slightly raised the other hand, with her palms facing behind them.The wind comes from all directions, like countless gentle hands pushing this light boat to the rugged shore.

"Sit still." Erinde smiled at Eve, her eyelashes were white and long, as if covered with frost and snow, and the wind swept her hair, like a lover's face, revealing her neck and earlobes.Eve raised her head and stared at her without blinking—feeling the warmth of the other's palm, seeing the reddish corners of her eyes and the clear eyes still filled with tears, it was the first time in two lifetimes that this person felt his heart beating.

Walking to the center of the lake, sporadic rain fell on their heads and scattered on the lake, sparkling in the sun.The girls looked at the clear blue sky, and among the layers of clouds, they couldn't tell whose prank the rain was.

At some point, the sun disappeared, and white mist rose from the lake. The white mist came from all directions, covering the sky and the beautiful scenery.Under Eve's surprised gaze, the silent Isabeau took out an exquisite silver lantern - the style of this lantern was very familiar, and it was exactly the same as the lantern used by Maoqi on the top of the Musk Rabbit Mountain - the lantern emitted a dazzling blue light, extending to the end of their walking direction, and the thick white mist disappeared under the light of the blue light, leaving a narrow and stretching corridor.The bark canoe was still gliding quickly on the water, and Eve looked around curiously—the nearby water was dizzyingly fast, and on both sides were gray fog walls, which quickly closed behind them, as if invisible ghosts were chasing after them—the faster they ran, the more ferocious it was chasing.

On the surface of the endless water, people will always have an instinctive sense of fear; but in the face of the unknown depth, the mentality of resistance is always full of tenacity before surrender-this may be the greatness of being born as a human being.

Finally, when they came to the opposite bank, Eve still felt lingering fear. The light boat rushed to the shore by inertia, ran for nearly ten meters on the wet grass, and then tilted to one side.Elinde seems to have been familiar with this reckless way of going ashore. Before the light boat stopped completely, she jumped ashore together with the oarsman Isabeau. She still held Eve's hand firmly and did not forget to give her a hand at this moment.After she stood still, Erinde withdrew her hand. Her movement was natural and decent, but it made Eve unforgettable.

Erinde took the initiative to carry Eve's luggage and lead the way. Isabeau dragged the light boat to the open space, overturned it, and buckled it upside down on the sand. After a while, she caught up with the two people who were walking ahead. .

Walking along the stone wall, Eve looked at the lake, when the white mist disappeared again.

"The fog is actually a special formation." Seeing her doubts, Elinde explained: "I heard that the technology of the last era was used to prevent outsiders from breaking into Qingshui Castle. I don't know how Aniye's generation did it... I heard that this rock wall is not the original thing. It is to make a piece of land for a lake. They cut off a corner of the mountain-the dean always said so, but I don't think it is credible. To flatten half of the mountain, you have to dig out a lake... Is this really possible? ?”

"It's indeed a bit sensational." Eve looked at the rock wall in front of her - only when she was in it could she feel the towering and heavy of the cliff.

Thick dark clouds enveloped the sky, and it was about to rain, but Eve found that Elinde actually led them into a "dead end" - the road in front of her was surrounded by mountains and lakes, and there was no other way to go.

"Isabelle, it's your turn." Erinde stopped and said to the woman in black beside her.There was smugness in her tone.

Isabelle shrugged, took off the silver lantern from her waist, and raised it above her head.In this dark weather, the lantern emits a dazzling blue light, like a burning star, causing everything to burn and lose its original color.Soon, a miracle happened—like the out-of-the-box spire on the Musk Rabbit Mountain—a broad staircase silhouetted from a distance, from the top of a section of rock wall, slowly laid like an extended carpet, connected to the solid ground, and finally unfolded before them.

"Let's go," Erinde said.

They stepped up the stairs and headed up the mountain.On the wide and stacked steps, there will be a platform every twenty or thirty steps, so the slope of this section of the road is gentle, but very long.Yisabeau hung the lantern on her waist, and the faint blue glow was still working.

The archipelago described the thunder as God's "pulling the mill". Indeed, the autumn showers here are always accompanied by a mild and dull thunder-the gray sky was finally overwhelmed at this time, and the bean-sized raindrops fell, so they quickened their pace.

"Eve, you must have brought a raincoat, right?" Irene clearly remembered that the other party did have one when she packed her luggage in the apartment.

"There is one thing." In fact, Eve didn't forget this matter, but just considering Isabelle and Erinde...

"Then take it out quickly." Erinde said, "I'll follow you to get some glory, let's get closer—" She handed the bag back to Eve.

"That Isabeau..."

"Don't worry about me." Isabeau nodded to her, pointing to the brim of her hat.The rain beat on her hood but didn't soak her clothes.

Eve took out the raincoat from the bag, and Erinde put her arms around her waist, and the two of them were almost stuck together.They each pulled a corner of their large raincoats and covered their heads like holding a tarp.

"Walk carefully." Isabelle reminded them.The rain is getting bigger and bigger, the world is boiling, and the dark steps seem to be covered with a layer of white gauze under the water of the rain.In such a pouring rain, using a raincoat like this is actually not very useful, but the two still stubbornly hold it above their heads-not to block the rain, but rather as a useless protest.The rain seeped into Eve's cuffs along her wrists, and Erinde was also wet on half of her shoulders at this time.

The torrential rain soon stopped, and the three of them finally walked through the steps and reached the top of the rock wall.They continued to climb up along the narrow path on the outside of the stone wall, and the overhanging staircase was still pouring accumulated rainwater on both sides, forming a slanted rain curtain.The wind was blowing against Eve's wet body, causing her to shiver involuntarily.Isabeau put away the lantern, and the steps melted away, making the rain curtain even more magnificent, and when the steps disappeared completely, everything returned to its natural appearance—only, they had now come from the bottom to the top.

The warm sunlight reflected on the lake that had just returned to calm, and the shimmering light reflected to the surroundings through the turbid atmosphere, with a layer of hazy and crystal-clear brilliance.

"Rainbow!" Erinde pointed to the east, "Over there... is the rainbow?"

Under the dark gray-blue clouds, a faint halo of color seemed to be imprinted there—the uniform color band showed a perfect arc, crossed the lake, and was half covered by the mountains.

The three of them stopped and looked at the empty distance, as if they wanted to keep this gentle scene in their hearts.

[179] Black Magic and White Magic (Part [-])

The main building complex of Qingshui Castle has a history of nearly a century. These stone buildings with no more than three floors are scattered in the open space on the mountainside, delineating the living area and activity place of the witches; a curved stream flows from here After passing through, a small pool of clear water is gathered in the downstream, and the fallen leaves are deposited here with the currents. Occasionally, a few big fish can be seen in the pool; more than a dozen large trees have dense branches, covering half of the sky. As the high places blew past, the fallen leaves and rain fell together.

This settlement has kept its original natural appearance to the greatest extent, but from a defensive point of view, the barrier made of magic is hidden in the dark, making it as indestructible as a real fortress.

The little girl standing on the lookout at the intersection was the first to notice the three returning people, so she hurried back to her friends.After crossing a stone bridge in the middle of Qingshui Castle, Yisabeau bid farewell to the two and returned to the residence alone.Erinde continued to lead the way, and they went to the big single house in the deepest part of the witch settlement—it was an elegant house with white colonnades, and the two sisters Sigourney and Tyrian lived here.

Eve and the "Dean" Sigourney met in the living room. This 140-year-old man is still very healthy. She and Eve hit it off right away. When they first met, Sigourney laughed and hugged her, saying that she was "finally here."

In the room, there is another young girl sitting on the sofa in the corner—this girl also has snow hair—she wears round gold-rimmed glasses with chains, her hair is tied in a bun at the back of her head, and she is holding a thick book in her hand when Eve enters the door.The girl's name is Deliz Setillian. She is two months older than Erinde and will be 17 soon. She is the leader of the "fifth generation".

"Dean, is Terian still asleep?" Erinde asked Sigourney—both spoke in casual tones.

"Been sleeping for a while." Sigourney's face became a little heavy when she mentioned her younger sister, "Go, it's about time to wake up."

"Then excuse me first." After Elinde finished speaking, she hurried to another room.

Tyrian is sick.In April this year, the old man fell on the steps of his house and broke his leg.In the following months, she has been lying on the bed to recover from her injuries, but her condition has not improved. Not only that, her appearance and memory have also continued to decline with the passage of time, and now she has reached the point where she can't take care of herself.

Sigourney knew that Terian probably had a short life.The end of the long-lived people is roughly like this-they search for the truth, and then they are blessed by heaven, and they maintain health and vitality for most of their lives, but they still cannot escape death in the end-even if every step forward is moving towards eternity, if they stop for a while, they will be destroyed instantly.For them, death can be avoided in theory, but from a practical point of view, it cannot be forced. If a lifetime of exploration and learning is only for the pursuit of immortality, they are doomed to live under the shadow of death and die prematurely in the long-term anxiety of survival.

"After waiting for you for so long, you are finally here." The two sat in the living room, and Sigourney said to Eve: "Wenzina said that Egraine is your mother, so I have always wanted to see you... You really look like her."

"I don't really know much about her," Eve said.

"It doesn't matter, I'm just surprised that Egraine's daughter is so young." Sigourney smiled, "Whether it's your mother or Aniye, without them, there would be no Qingshui Castle today. Now that I am old, I can see you——I am very happy to see their descendants."

"Nice to meet you, too," Eve said.

"Nice to meet me?" Sigourney was amused by the girl's polite words, "Since this is the case, then I have to teach you more skills. Has anyone taught you magic?"

"Moki has taught me some, but... because of my own special situation, I need a spellbook to use magic, so I don't learn it comprehensively."

"I've heard Wenzina say this, can you lend me that spell-casting book?"

Eve nodded.She took off the leather case from her waist, and handed the spell-casting book to Sigourney. At this moment, a bronze coin was revealed from the leather case, and Sigourney noticed it.

"Preacher's copper coin." Sigourney's face flashed an unexpected look.

Eve hesitated for a moment, then picked up the copper coin and handed it to Sigourney along with the spell-casting book.

Not far away, Delize, who was reading a book, also looked towards this side curiously.

"Well, these two things were probably brought by your mother, she herself is a mystery, and most of the treasures she brought can't be explained by the science of this era." Sigourney first checked the two sides of the copper coin, and then flipped through the small book, but it didn't take long before she returned the two things to Eve, and said: "The establishment of Qingshui Castle, in a way, is also to solve and excavate the mysteries of ancient magic tools. Most of them have more than one use, and that's part of their charm."

After Eve put away the things, she thought about it, and then took out another item—a blue gemstone—it was the gemstone that made her fall into a coma.

"What do you think this is?" Eve asked her.

Sigourney didn't take the gem, she just watched.

"Is this what your mother left you too?"

"That's it."

"I'm not sure about this thing." Sigourney looked up at Eve, and after looking at it for a while, she said, "Put it away, no matter what it is, don't show it to others... Especially someone who seems to know the tricks like me."

"You mean, this thing is very precious?"

"I can't promise, girl." Sigourney's face darkened, "Put it away." She said in a calm voice, almost ordering.

Eve had no choice but to put the gem back into the leather case first.

"If possible, I really want to keep you in Qingshui Castle." Sigourney sighed, "I know that my reputation has always been good, but this is not the reason why you can trust a stranger. You are too easy Believe in others, a girl like you should always stay with the elders." For some reason, the dean seemed a little angry.

"You taught me the lesson, but I'm still willing to believe you." Eve didn't agree with Sigourney's evaluation of herself - she thought that she was always cautious and not as simple as the other party thought, so she defended: "Actually, there is a reason why I want to believe you, not just because of the trust in you by Olugin or Wenzina, but more importantly - the atmosphere of the college and Qingshui Castle is harmonious - before I met you, I also met Lazinana and Erinde. They can see your shadow, so I am willing to trust you."

"Okay, I underestimated you." Sigourney didn't take her words seriously, she shook her head with a smile, "At least she knows how to flatter. Indeed, she is much smarter than Nana."

It turns out that in Sigourney's opinion, Eve and Lazinana are considered to be of the same class?

"Forget it, I'm an old lady, and my speech is ugly, and you can still talk with your peers. Delize, our little guest will be arranged by you. She will live here for a while, and arrange a place for her. It's in your yard. When you usually do exercises, you must also let her participate."

Delize stood up and walked in front of Eve. She nodded to the girl and signaled her to follow her.

So, Eve bid farewell to Dean Sigourney, and at this moment she finally remembered that she still had to finish what Olukin had told her—she took out a letter from her inner pocket, and handed the letter from Andwena to Sigourney.

"Dareless." Sigourney smiled and patted her forehead with the envelope, and then drove the two out.

When she walked out of the room, Erinde also chased after her. She heard that Delize was going to arrange a place for Eve, so she insisted on letting Eve live in her own room—the fifth-generation witches still live in a bedroom shared by two. After all, most of them are teenagers and need the company and care of others.Erinde and Delize are the two oldest among them. Deliz has to take care of the youngest Lopel, and only Erinde lives in a single room.

"We have a lot of vacancies." Delize's tone was also gentle, "Eve is a guest and won't stay here forever."

Seeing that she couldn't make sense with Delize, Erinde asked Eve: "We live in one bedroom, so I can easily wake you up in the morning, what do you think?"

"I can do both." Eve's answer was ambiguous.

"She said yes." So Erinde made the decision for her.

There are currently nine fifth-generation witches—the oldest being 16-year-old "Deliz" and "Elinde" of the same age, followed by 15-year-old "Limeya" and 14-year-old "Redillo", and the sisters "Hasha" and "Alanni" mentioned by Eileende—these two sisters are 12 years old this year—the last is "Gayapin", "Kani" and "Lopel", who are ten, nine, and eight years old respectively.

Among these nine people, only Delize inherited the second-generation witch's surname "Cetrian", and the rest only called each other by first name, and generally did not mention family names, and some of them didn't even have surnames.

When it was time for dinner, Eve finally understood why Erinde had been reluctant to come back earlier—these little fair-haired witches were very aggressive, they ran or made noise, or yelled, almost using the dining table as a playground.

The most active of these were the sisters Harsha and Alani and Ridilo, the rebellious teens who openly used magic with their meals - the drinks for the children were usually mixed with a little wine Clear water, they don't like to drink this thing, so they play with it - Harsha used the freezing technique to freeze the water into ice cubes, and Alani used fire to quickly burn the ice cubes, and after a while, the glass clicked It shattered, but the water inside remained as it was, as if contained in an invisible cup—it turned out that Rui Diluo was controlling the water.

Delize sat at the head and ate quietly all the time, as if she didn't see the children's little movements, but Erinde couldn't stand it, she slammed the table, and even startled Eve who was sitting beside her.The three little witches stuck out their tongues at her, finally being honest for a while, while the fat woman Torriciana took advantage of this time to drink up the water in her glass in one go, and floated it in mid-air The water polo scooped into the cup, and I was relieved.This Torriciana was sitting on the outermost seat of the dining table. Seeing that Eve was looking at her curiously, she waved her rough and fat hand slightly, grinning like teasing a child. Smiling at her flatteringly, Eve waved at her as a last resort.The three youngest children, Gayapin, Kani, and Lopel, are messing with something—the three of them are very close, with plates next to each other, and they are exchanging the food on the plate, which is more like eating than eating. is playing.Just when Eve was fascinated, Kani, the most well-behaved, came over with a small plate, and she put the plate in front of Eve, and said, "Just now we were discussing who is more beautiful, you or Erinde... This is for you to eat." After finishing speaking, she returned to her seat on her own.

Eve and Erinde looked at each other.

"Eat it, they gave it to you." Erinde said with a half-smile.

The small plates were filled with greens—lots of kale and cauliflower, and blanched turnip leaves.

Eve was still wondering whether to accept the children's "good intentions", but at this moment, she heard Erinde say: "Oh, these little brats are simply experts in classification—the cruciferous plants, they can tell them apart just by tasting them, but green peppers are an exception..."

Green leafy vegetables always have a hint of pungent or bitter taste, and children are always the most sensitive to this kind of taste out of self-preservation instinct.

Erinde ate dinner in a hurry and took the small plate of vegetables beside Eve—she went to the children and forced them to eat the food she picked out bit by bit.

Compared to the quiet Delize, Erinde is more like the leader of the fifth generation. Under her power, the three children finally ate up the plate of vegetables—even if Torriciana begged for help.

Torriciana is an ordinary person. She is mixed among a large group of witches in Qingshui Castle, but she looks like a different kind.The fat woman was lively, a stocky, dark-skinned Yuvak.According to Erinde, this person used to be an islander who lived at the foot of the mountain. Once, because she couldn't bear her husband's domestic violence, she ran to the college to take refuge in the middle of the night. The teachers of the college thought she was pitiful, so they They kept her for a while—until her husband promised the academy not to beat her, they let Torriciana go home; but then the man didn't keep his promise, and even got worse after drinking. He couldn't see it, so he sent the bruised and bruised Torriciana to Qingshui Castle, where she took shelter.The man couldn't wait for his wife to go back, so he gathered a few people and went to the academy to make trouble. The trouble lasted for more than two weeks. Last resort - They manipulated the wind torn off the roof of the house and drove the man from the islands with overwhelming violence.

Among the many islands in the Western Union Islands, most of the areas are still uninhabited. The winter climate along the west coast is extreme. In the strong wind and extremely cold environment, it is difficult for even survival experts to survive in this kind of place for a long time.

When Aniye built Qingshui Castle, he also changed the climate of this island. A barrier supported by Fengluwei made it feel like spring all year round, creating a dreamy greenhouse. Over the past century, this livable land has attracted some coastal islanders to live here. They fished, hunted, farmed and multiplied here. Blame the witches for being ruthless.