Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1261 Is there anything I can’t help with?

Leticia's adult plan eventually came to nothing. She seemed very disappointed, but Ling Ge was relieved. At least he didn't have to worry about her bothering him every night. As the eldest sister, Saint Xia Liya took over the education of the little bat. She advised her earnestly that there is no evil way to grow up. You have to study hard, make progress every day, eat more vegetables, go to bed early and get up early...to become a qualified adult. The little bat burst into tears and said that I must turn over a new leaf. It was not because Saint Xia Liya smiled and said that if you don't listen, I will write a letter to the countess about this matter.

In addition, other people involved in the case also changed their ways after her visits, and entered a state of walking on thin ice, trembling every day, fearing that they would make a mistake and be caught by Saint Shalia as a typical example. As a result, Lingge's night life has been particularly peaceful recently. There is no princess of Beman nagging in his ear, and he does not have to worry about being deceived by an alchemist with a strange reason. He has really had a comfortable life.

But that is not necessarily the case for Saint Shalia.

Because after this incident, she suddenly discovered an incredible truth, which is——

"Except for me," the shepherdess looked at the young man sitting opposite her in the teacher's office with a suspicious look on her face, "Did everyone spend the night with Lingge?"

"Cough cough!"

Although he was not drinking water, Ling Ge still coughed violently, as if he was choked. If it were any other time, Saint Xia Liya would immediately express her concern, but at this moment, she just sat in her original position, quietly watching the young man cough. Her clear and flawless eyes seemed to have seen through his guilty conscience and were waiting for a reasonable explanation.

Ling Ge coughed for a while and found that it had no effect. His voice gradually became lower. His expression was a little awkward, but he still pretended to be calm and said, "It seems a bit ambiguous to say overnight, and it's not for everyone. For example, Xino doesn't have it..."

Saint Shallia's eyes shone, but she asked gently, "So, do you hope so? If so, I can tell her for you."

"That's not what I meant." Ling'er's expression suddenly became solemn, indicating that I was just giving an example and you shouldn't get the wrong idea.

He didn't know whether Saint Xia Liya believed it or not, but the young man believed it anyway. He couldn't not believe it either. If he showed any guilt at this moment, it would cause big problems.

"..."

The blue-haired girl remained silent, staring at the young man for a long time, and suddenly stretched out her hand to him, her white palm facing upwards, with shallow veins like the twists and turns of branches, and a long story vaguely visible. In this way, she asked for something from him, just like trees ask for something from the earth, water and sun. This request was natural and accompanied by a heavy responsibility: "Give it to me."

Ling Ge was stunned for a moment: "What?"

"The key." Saint Shallia's cheeks were slightly red, but she tried to put on a normal tone: "Give it to me, so that others can't harass you."

Weird.

If those guys wanted to enter Lingge's room, there were hundreds of ways to bypass the door lock. It was just a decoration. But because it was a decoration, it was given a sacred meaning at this time. It was like the Pope's scepter or the king's crown. Once you have it, you are born with a certain right to declare to the world: You are all traitors, and I am blessed by both destiny and law, and I am justified!
Logically speaking, such an important thing should not be given to others lightly. But facing Saint Shalia's request, the young man found that he could not refuse.

He was stunned for a while before reacting. He turned his head awkwardly and said, "... the boss lady should have some spare ones. You can go to her and get them. Just say, uh, I agree?"

Saint Xia Liya withdrew her hand with satisfaction. Although she could ask the boss lady for it privately, as a good friend, she would definitely not refuse. But as the saying goes, it is legitimate. Why did Olvera hide the secret between her and Lingge? Why didn't Leticia dare to reveal this to herself? Why did Rolena play such a shady trick? Even after the matter was exposed and they were punished by me, they didn't dare to say anything. Is it just because they are afraid of the so-called "sister's majesty"?

All the reasons can be summed up in four words: "legitimate".

Whoever gets Lingge's recognition will be legitimate.

Now it seems that instead of scheming like them, it would be better for us to just let things take their own course.

Saint Xia Liya couldn't help but feel a little proud, and the last bit of resentment in her heart towards her sisters' reckless behavior completely dissipated. She had no intention of pursuing the matter, and Ling Ge was even more relieved. Let this matter go with the wind, it would be good for everyone. After resolving this small setback, the young man took out a letter from the drawer, gently opened the envelope with a paper cutter, and took out three neatly folded pieces of letter paper. He unfolded the first piece and saw a familiar handwriting. Although the content on the paper was dense, because the writer was quite patient and meticulous when writing, it did not appear messy, but gave people a sense of order.

Saint Chariah saw this and thought, "Is it a letter from Metien?"

"Yeah." Linger nodded slightly, and pointed to the other two pieces of letter paper on the table and said, "There are also letters from Mitch and others, and a letter from Mr. Carson, which were sent together."

Eight days had passed since Medien left the Cloud Whale Sky Island. In her letter, she described what she had seen and heard after arriving in the iron city of Bad Ain. She was curious and excited about the scene of Bad Ain city being rebuilt after the war. She also said that she had met the said powerful General Fransander, who was indeed an old and imposing general. However, she felt that Miss Nevill was more powerful because the countess was not afraid of the general and sometimes even suppressed him. This gave the girl a new understanding of the value of the silver-eyed countess.

Both General Fransander and Grayhill Eagle took good care of her and gave her some time to adapt to the new life, but the girl refused this care. The day after arriving in Bad Ain, she went to the temporary military hospital to help treat the soldiers injured in the war - regardless of friend or foe.

At first, everyone doubted her medical skills because of her age, but after the actual experience, they put aside such concerns and praised her selflessness and bravery because of her age. Although Metien felt that she was not the bravest person, people like Mitch and Kadora were younger than her, but they had to go to the battlefield and were much braver than her.

Sister Livia is also respected, even more so than the doctor. She prays for the living and mourns for the dead. She helps those who hesitate to move forward to strengthen their faith and brings peace to those who are afraid. Perhaps in this age of war and fire, people need spiritual comfort more than physical treatment. Even if the physical wounds are healed, they will be torn again on the battlefield one day in the future, and even follow you until the end of your death. But spiritual comfort is like a long river, flowing so meaningfully. Under its witness, death is not the end, but a new beginning.

However, it was not all happy things. In his letter, Metien mentioned that the situation of the rebels seemed good, but there was always an uneasy atmosphere in Bad Ain, and all kinds of contradictions were brewing: the contradictions between soldiers and local residents. Although the general and the Eagle of Gray Hill repeatedly emphasized it, under the great pressure of the war, some soldiers still made irrational actions, resulting in the local residents not supporting the rebels like other places, but watching from the sidelines with a cautious and vigilant mentality.

The conflict between the rebels and the city's trade unions and chambers of commerce. In order to prepare war materials, the rebels asked for cooperation from the blacksmiths' union, leather workers' union, leather workers' guild and several large chambers of commerce in Bad Ain. However, due to their own lack of materials, they were unable to give reasonable compensation, so the other party had to bear most of the cost expenditure, which caused dissatisfaction among some people. At the same time, the attitude of these people caused dissatisfaction among some officers within the rebels, who believed that they were ungrateful and unwilling to contribute to the cause of liberation. They even proposed to use force to confiscate the property of the trade unions and chambers of commerce as military funds.

Although this reckless proposal was quickly denied, it somehow still reached the other side's ears, causing the relationship between the two sides to reach a freezing point. Although it has eased slightly now, it is actually not much better. If it is not handled with caution, it may even cause civil unrest and plunge the finally settled city of Bad Ain into the quagmire of war again.

Even the rebels were not united. The most prominent problem was the conflict between the Northern Army and the Liberator Front. Although the leaders of both sides had a good relationship and agreed to cooperate, the soldiers below were not necessarily so. The Northern Army believed that the soldiers of the Liberator Front were all guerrillas and vulnerable. They relied on their support to take down the Iron Forge City. They might even be a drag in the future, and they hated them very much. The Liberator Front believed that the Northern Army would only take advantage. If it weren't for the Grayhill Eagle's trick to deceive the enemy commander, they would have held up most of the enemy's forces. How could these guys have entered the city of Bad Ain?
In addition, the quality of the soldiers of the Northern Army was not much better. Although there were elite troops such as the Mountain Falcon Knights and the Mage Corps, there were also cannon fodder troops temporarily recruited from criminals and slaves. They did not regard this war as a glorious war of liberation, and they had no attachment to this strange land. Naturally, they did not care about the so-called discipline and honor, so they acted arrogantly and recklessly. The conflict between the rebels and the local residents mentioned earlier was most likely caused by this group of people. As a result, not only the local residents, but even the soldiers of the Liberation Front could not stand these guys who acted recklessly on their hometown land, and contemptuously called them "rogue troops."

These contradictions can be slow or urgent, but if they are just left there, they are like a pile of gunpowder barrels that can be ignited with just a little fire. By then, they are more than just contradictions. Even General Franshander, the leader of the Northern Army, and Carson Borg, the Grayhill Eagle, the leader of the Liberators' Front, should not have failed to see the problem that they themselves could see?
But so far, from what Metien had observed, they seemed to have put more energy into solving external problems, such as continuing to recover lost territory and compressing the space for the 17th Legion to move around? Every day, every hour, every minute, every second, even when he wrote this letter, in the dead of night, there were still countless new orders and countless confidential documents coming out of the temporary command post in the Governor's Mansion in the center of the city and sent to various places on the front line. The army in the city was also on standby at all times. Many teams were disbanded and reorganized, and then sent out again, performing reconnaissance, support, luring the enemy, vigilance, containment, raids, ambushes and other tasks in places that were invisible to the residents of the city. The most sophisticated network in the world was woven by the seemingly most old-fashioned and strict general. Even if one could only glimpse a little, it was still amazing.

"No wonder Mr. Carson is so looking forward to the arrival of the Kingdom Army, but perhaps what he is looking forward to is not military assistance, but a force that can decide the outcome. In his mind, even 100,000 soldiers are not as good as General Fransander, because the former can only win the battle, while the latter can help the former win the war."

Medien mentioned her feelings in the letter she sent to her brother. At the end of the letter, she wrote: "Mitch and Kadora also received new tasks. After saying goodbye to me in the afternoon, they hurried out of the city. I didn't ask them what they were going to do, because that was not in line with the rules. Perhaps I should wish them to complete the task smoothly and realize the dream of liberating Gray Hill as soon as possible. But at this moment, standing on the standpoint of a friend, I just hope they can return safely. People often say that it is worthwhile to make small sacrifices for a great cause, but I can never reach a similar state of mind. Is this right, Lingge? Or am I not as mature as I think and still need to grow? If you know what's going on, please tell me in the next letter, and by the way, tell me about you and everyone's recent situation. I will always look forward to your letter."

"Now, it's time for me to go and pray for my friends."

"Good night, Ling."

The signature is "Your dear sister, Metien", and the trace of the last word is darker than the other strokes. Lingge seems to be able to imagine that when his sister wrote the last word, the tip of the pen remained there, unwilling to put it away for a long time, so that the ink soaked the handwriting.

She was thinking, or rather, the war was helping her think, and this was the meaning of the girl's decision to leave.

The young man put away the letter silently, with an expression on his face that made it hard to tell whether he was relieved or lonely.

Choice, thinking and meaning, the three most important things in life.

Unfortunately, Lingge had no way to help her with these three things.

Give me some meow