Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1159 Can You Smell It?
Because she was in a good mood, Rorona generously let Lingge go. As for why she was in a good mood, Lingge didn't dare to ask, always feeling that it was not an area he could step into. He even felt that it was a mistake to come to Rorona today, and he should come again tomorrow. Although the same thing might happen tomorrow, at least... it delayed it for a day, right?
Young people gradually understood why some people can't help but want to escape when they encounter problems even though they know that escape is not the solution to the problem.

It's just human nature. Lingge once thought that he could always remain rational and above emotion, but the facts proved that he was just a mortal.

Before leaving, Lorena suddenly stopped the young man.

When Lingge turned around and looked at her in confusion, wondering what new tricks this Princess of the Sea was going to play, the girl put her hands behind her back, her fingertips slightly entangled, and her clear eyes like the shallow sea blinked. In the sunlight that passed through the woods, it seemed to convey a kind of sincere trust and long-term attachment: "Lingge, you promised to go back with me to see mother and sister."

Her eyes were extremely gentle, with no trace of the sly and complacent look from before: "Don't break your promise."

The young man couldn't help but recall the time when he, Saint Shallia and Alice were riding the waves on the sea and land. The azure background of the sky and the sea was impressive. At that time, he went to Lotdana for a ridiculous suggestion from a genius player. His memory of that coastal city was nothing more than sewage, thick smoke, garbage everywhere, and dead animals on the beach. The streets were bleak and desolate, the leaves of the silver pines fell, and the long stone breakwater made a terrible whistle under the beating of the sea water... Everything was gray, making people feel depressed and dull.

It was not until the girl appeared in the field of vision that the whole world seemed to have color again. She stood on the breakwater, quietly looking at the ocean in the distance. What kind of mood did she want to convey in her melancholy and sad eyes? In her age, which was not counted by the human calendar but by the growing amplitude of the coral trees in the sea, has she ever met a traveler as unique as him? The pollution of the sea water is like the pollution of the human heart, always fluctuating with the ebb and flow of the tide, but she is the only one who always maintains a crystal-like heart.

He nodded gently: "Okay."

Then he turned and left.

Rorona stopped trying to persuade him to stay, but quietly watched the young man walk away, just like when she once stood on the seawall and looked towards her hometown, she was worried about the increasingly serious pollution, but she never thought of returning home. She was sure that she left her hometown because of the difficult mission she had to undertake, and she was also sure that no one else could accomplish this mission except herself. This was a premonition, but she regarded it as the truth.

According to legend, the path of an alchemist is the path of pursuing truth. Whether it is turning stone into gold, the philosopher's stone, creating something out of nothing, or the illusory source of magic power, it has attracted the fanatical pursuit of all living beings in the world, but only a few succeed in the end? However, for this girl, truth is not any meaning or purpose, it is just the reason for her to embark on this journey. What she is pursuing is something else.

Could that young man be one of them?
Or is it the only one after fulfilling your long-cherished wish?
She doesn't even know.

"All right."

Princess Umisu stretched herself vigorously, her tone slightly drawn out, as if she were humming a happy tune: "It's time to get down to business."

"It's a nice day, work, work."

The girl turned around and walked into her alchemy workshop. Only the two lounge chairs were still quietly placed in the clearing in the forest, illuminated by the warm and bright sunlight, as if waiting for someone to come back.

……

After leaving the woods, Lingge returned to the street. The road forked in front of him. The left side led to the Fairy Sleep Inn, and the right side led to the primrose field. After a little thought, he finally chose to go right first. After all, there was a girl waiting for him in the flower field for a long time. Even Xie Liya complained that he was not gentle enough and had not been with her for a long time after visiting her.

In fact, the young man never forgot about it for a moment. After all, among all the girls on Yunjingkong Island, the one that worried him the most was this one.

He stopped and saw the shadow of the flower field.

The white windmill slowly turned in the fragrant flower meadow. The wind blowing through the ridges brought with it the fragrance of soil and grass leaves. Several flower fairies gathered in the flower field, whispering about something. When they heard the footsteps of the approaching people, they scattered, leaving only innocent laughter. No matter what happened, it seemed that only these darlings of nature were always so carefree, not caring that they had come to a distant foreign continent, and not caring about how many difficulties they would encounter in the future. For them, life seemed to be just about playing.

Maybe it was because the scenery was so beautiful, or maybe it was because they were taking care of a certain girl's mood, everyone on Yunjingkong Island liked to hang out near the flower fields. Olvera came to water her violets every now and then, Xino always took Brandi for a walk on the ridges, and Metien, Shemi, and Leticia also regarded this place as the best place to play, not to mention the fairies and various small animals in the forest. It was quiet and peaceful here, like a landscape in a painting, full of a fairy-tale atmosphere.

With so many people around, loneliness seemed like a thing of the past for the girl.

But if loneliness is a disease, then it has many symptoms. Being alone is one, resisting communication with the outside world is one, and loneliness caused by a lack of security is naturally one of them.

What’s pitiful is that the girl has experienced all three types of loneliness mentioned above.

Standing under the slowly turning windmill, the young man gently knocked on the wooden door covered with traces of the past. The knock-knock sound was clearly transmitted through the door. There was silence inside for a moment, and then the girl asked, "Is it Lingge?"

She always had a special talent, which allowed her to easily detect the person standing outside the door, whether it was the gentle elder sister who came to accompany her because she was worried that she would be too lonely, the proprietress and the bartender who brought food to share with her, or the young man who had not visited her for a long time - although in reality, this period of time was only half a month, which was incomparable to the long 700 years she had spent in the quiet canyon, but the more so, the more she could not bear it.

"It's me." Ling Ge said simply, "I'm here to see you, Yieta."

After that, without waiting for the girl's reply, he pushed the door open and walked in. Knocking on the door was just a courtesy, or a warning to let the other party prepare themselves mentally. In fact, the door of this windmill tower room has never been locked. It is easy for people outside to get in, and it is also easy for people inside to get out.

After entering the room, the familiar and simple furnishings were still there: a bed, a cabinet, a table and chairs, white walls, window frames that exuded a faint pine scent, potted plants on the windowsill and wisteria sticking out of the window, blue plaid curtains, and the girl who was sitting at the desk in front of the window and seemed to be writing a diary. She held a feather pen between her slender fingers, which was as white, delicate and dust-free as the feathers by her ears.

"Ah, Lingge." The girl was not panicked by the young man's behavior of not allowing her to enter. She just said blankly: "Wait a minute, I will finish writing soon."

Then he continued to write and draw on the paper, as if his simple brain could not cope with speaking and writing at the same time.

The blank paper was gradually filled with delicate and beautiful small characters. Just by looking at the font, one can imagine that the person who wrote it should be an elegant and gentle girl. But if you turn to the previous pages, especially the first page, you will find that the girl's handwriting at that time was crooked, not much better than a child's doodle. This is understandable. After all, when she was in Avignon Village, she had never practiced writing, but she was more skilled in farm work. The violets planted by Ovilla in the small garden grew up under her guidance, although they have not bloomed until now. It must have taken a lot of effort to practice the handwriting to the current level, right? There are not many notebooks left that serve as diaries, and it is almost at the bottom. Ling asked, "Are you almost done?"

"Yes." Yieta nodded vigorously. "And, uh, two sentences? No, three sentences! I also want to write about Lingge's visit to me today!"

Actually, what I asked was, "Are you almost done with this diary?" But the young man thought about it and didn't correct her. Anyway, even if he asked, Ieta would probably say, "Just change to another one when you're done, and continue writing!" The boss lady and the bartender doted on her so much, Saint Charia loved this most obedient sister, Ovira was her best friend, and Rolena was so kind to her, and they were all willing to meet the little requests of Miss Angel.

Yieta didn't write in her diary every day.

Usually, she would only write it down when she felt something memorable happened today, whether it was happy or sad. Even now, the thick diary can no longer hold her memory, as if for this girl, everything she has seen and experienced since leaving the valley is so worth remembering. She even sometimes recalls past events, such as when she lived in Avignon Village, or when she was wandering even longer ago, and records them. No one said that a diary can only record today's events, right? For the girl, the past is also extremely important.

When she imprisoned herself in the Great Rift Valley, it was these memories of the past that supported her and prevented her from completely losing her human emotions. But after so much time, the girl slowly forgot some things. She would surely forget more things in the future, right? She didn't want this to happen, so Olvera taught her to write a diary, which became the best way to fight forgetfulness.

So, it's more of a memo than a diary.

"The weather is very good today, the sunshine outside is so warm, a primrose flew in, and Lingge also came to see me, so I feel so happy." Yieta talked to herself while writing and drawing on a piece of white paper. Lingge felt that the writing style was very simple. How to put it, it felt like a primary school student writing an essay.

They are two extremes from Olivia.

"Okay, I'm done!" She put down her pen, picked up her notebook, and admired her work in the sunlight outside the window. After a while, she nodded with satisfaction and turned back to blink at the young man. That innocent expression seemed to be asking: Do you want to see it?

"Let me see it." She invited enthusiastically. The young man couldn't refuse, so he reached out and took her diary.

Before I had time to look through it, Yieta asked again: "What do you want to talk to me about today, Lingge?"

The hand that was about to open the diary paused.

Actually, something really happened.

The cooperation with the Ash Guerrillas requires the help of Yieta. After all, she can control the Cloud Whale Sky Island. If such an aerial fortress with both firepower and mobility is used well, it may play an unexpected role in the war. At least, those magic warships that give the people of the East Continent a headache are no threat to the Cloud Whale Sky Island. At least the Constructed Mecha needs to come forward to curb the offensive of this sky island. However, if it gets to that point, I am afraid that the attention of the entire East Continent will be attracted.

The young man thought about it and shook his head slowly: "No, I just came to see you."

"You're lying!" Yieta exposed his lie without hesitation: "Obviously something has happened! And it must be something very important!"

"how do you know?"

"Because you smell." The angel girl came closer and sniffed the young man's neck. The breath so close to him brought a tingling sensation, which made Ling Ge lean back subconsciously, a little surprised: "Smell?"

"That's right, it's the smell of Sister Xiaoxia, the smell of Sister Xino, the smell of Medien, the smell of Gloria, ah, and the smell of Sister Rolena, it's still very new. If it wasn't something very important, why would you tell everyone about it?" Yieta looked at the young man with sharp eyes, with an expression that said, "You can't fool me."

Are you... ?

Ling Ge almost shouted out that word, but at the last moment he restrained himself and managed to stay calm. He just said helplessly: "Can you even smell this?"

"Of course!"

Yieta put her hands on her hips, looked up and proud, and didn't look like what Shelia said, that she had fallen into a state of autism because of the matter of Themis in the heaven. Or was this a deliberate disguise she made in front of him?

Thinking of this, Ling Ge couldn't help but look the girl up and down again. When he saw that she felt a little guilty for some reason, he suddenly said, "There is indeed something I want to discuss with you."

"That's what I told you." Yieta said proudly, "What is it..."

"Let's talk outside."

But Ling interrupted her and pointed outside the door.

"Eh!?"

Give me some meow