Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1269: Still can’t understand?

The meal was tasteless, as if everyone was worried about something, just focusing on eating, not saying a word, even Alice, who usually liked to liven up the atmosphere at the table, was silent like a machine, only repeating the steps of lowering her head and eating. Saint Shallia couldn't stand the depressing atmosphere, and tried to say something to ease it, but when the words came to her lips, she suddenly caught a glimpse of the absent-minded expression on the face of the young man next to her, and immediately swallowed the words back.

For some reason, she was also a little unhappy.

By the end of dinner, Shino still hadn't returned. Alice could no longer sit still. She hurriedly put the last bit of chicken breast into the bread, and simply spread the remaining vegetables and jam on it. After stuffing the homemade simple pie into her mouth, she stood up in a hurry without chewing it slowly, and squeezed out unclear words from her bulging cheeks: "Well... I, I'm full, I'm going to go out for a walk... chew it, and I'll be back soon..."

"Wait, Alice!"

Just as Saint Xia Liya was about to call her, the golden-haired maid ran away at a very fast speed, and disappeared behind the door of the hotel in a blink of an eye, leaving Saint Xia Liya speechless: If you want to take a walk, why don’t you wait for me to join you? And she remembered that Alice clearly didn’t have the habit of taking a walk after dinner. She preferred to play a few games to kill time.

As if a chain reaction had been triggered, after Alice left, the others also finished their meals and left with various excuses, as if they couldn't wait to escape this depressing atmosphere. Even Leticia and Ieta, who were originally scheduled to stay and walk with their sister, sneaked away. It seemed like just a blink of an eye, and only a few people were left in the restaurant.

Lingge was the last to leave. As usual, he slowly and leisurely finished all the food on the plate. After making sure that nothing was wasted, he calmly said, "I'm full," and then took the cleared dishes to the kitchen for the rabbit gentlemen to clean.

Watching the young man slowly walk up the stairs and disappear, Saint Xia Liya hesitated. She wanted to catch up with him, but she didn't know what she could do after catching up with him, and she was even more unsure whether the young man was willing to share his true feelings with her. At this time, the proprietress who was cleaning the table came over, gently pushed her back with her shoulder, and asked with a smile: "Aren't you going to find Ling Ge, Xiao Xia?"

“I…” Saint Shallia slowly withdrew her gaze and whispered, “I’d better stay and help you, Shesta.”

"No need." The proprietress coldly rejected her proposal and deliberately put on a look of disdain: "I can clean up by myself. If you stay, you will only get in the way. Take Shelia for example. She knows she is stupid, so she never stays to help me clean up the kitchen."

The bartender was holding the collar of her sleeping sister Xie Mi, intending to take her back to the room to rest. She paused for a moment when she heard the words, but soon returned to normal. She knew that this was a way of saying something in the name of comfort but in reality it was a complaint, but the always thick-skinned Xie Liya still ignored the warning from her elder sister and walked away like a warrior.

Goodbye, sister. My life is too wonderful to be spent in kitchen chores...

Shesta gritted her teeth and decided to teach her a lesson later, but she still kept a gentle and encouraging smile on her face: "Just do what you should do, Xiaoxia. We travel fairies have a saying, 'Don't worry about where tomorrow's road leads to, that depends on your feet now'. If you want to take the road you want to take and do something you want to do, you must do it without hesitation, otherwise -"

She lowered her voice and said mysteriously, "You might regret it for the rest of your life, huh?"

It was not known whether it was the advice of the fairy traveler that touched the girl, or whether the last sentence gave her a sense of crisis, but in any case, Saint Shallia's expression suddenly became firm.

"I understand." She said seriously, "Thank you, Shesta."

"You're welcome~"

The proprietress waved her hand and watched Saint Xia Liya's back disappear at the stairs with a smile. She felt that she was the kindest friend in the world, worrying so much about her friend's emotional life. Unfortunately, her own emotional life had not made any progress.

Not only has there been no progress, she has even skipped the stage of falling in love and entered the state of a housewife ahead of time. Her daily work includes but is not limited to preparing three meals a day, hanging clothes to dry, cleaning the hotel, and occasionally waking up a few children who are playing and staying up late, so that they will not be punished by their strict elder sister... It is unforgivable that she works so hard, but there are still people who do not understand her.

She withdrew her gaze and returned to the messy dining table. The proprietress raised her eyebrows slowly, took a deep breath, and said coldly: "Xie Liya."

"Get back here!"

……

On the other side, after leaving the hotel, Alice wandered around the Cloud Whale Sky Island for a long time before finally finding Shino by a small river. She had just finished training and washed her face by the river. Her wet long hair was shining in the moonlight in the forest, floating with a hazy mist like sand and hail. Some of her hair was blown by the naughty wind and fell on the river surface, creating circles of bright ripples, just like the strings of a guitar being plucked by an invisible hand, playing a beautiful movement that cannot be heard by the ears.

Brandi stood under a tree nearby, chewing a dry leaf in his mouth, while watching the movements around him with alert and vigilant eyes. Although it was basically impossible to encounter danger on the Cloud Whale Sky Island, as a natural warhorse and the best partner of the Whitethorn Flower Godafu family, his sensitivity to war was rooted in his bones, just like his master. Even though there were countless long distances between them, he could still feel the war taking place on the earth and blood, see the lonely figures of the soldiers falling, hear the sounds of weapons and gunfire clashing, and appear and disappear in his dreams countless times.

According to legend, the guardian of Grangenia has a pair of eyes that can see through time and a pair of ears that can travel through space, helping them see all the injustices that have happened on this land, from the past, present and future. Then he will ride on his warhorse, wield his spear, use his unparalleled martial arts and a passionate heart to save his people and bring them victory, freedom and justice. Only Brandi knows that it is not a legend, but a reality.

Alice approached cautiously, trying to make her footsteps as light as possible, not wanting to disturb the girl who was washing her hands by the river. She washed very seriously, from the palms to the gaps between the fingers, and then to the nails as thin as moonlight, wiping them carefully, as if to wipe away the blood that had once stained them. Suddenly, the knight stopped moving, turned her head, and smiled at the golden-haired maid hiding behind the tree: "Alice, do you want to scare me?"

“Eh!?” Alice didn’t expect that her stealth was discovered. She was shocked and jumped out in a panic, trying to defend herself: “No, no, I didn’t think about it…”

"If you're not trying to scare me, why are you being so sneaky?" Xino stood up and elegantly shook off the water droplets on his hands, like a string of crystal pearls falling into the river. He raised his eyebrows and teased with a half-smile: "If you have something to say, just tell me in person. Being sneaky is not your character. If you keep doing this, I will just think you are playing a prank on me, right?"

Alice's character was indeed not trustworthy, but she did not come to Xino to play a prank. After hesitating for a while, she stammered out her purpose: "I heard from Lingge that you are going to cause trouble for the Crusaders?"

Xino held his forehead helplessly. It was clearly a serious military operation, but why did Alice make it sound like a fight among street thugs?

"To be precise, I didn't go looking for trouble with them, but they brought trouble, and I have to solve it. If they can stay here honestly, it will be a good thing for everyone. After all, I don't really like fighting..." At this point, Xino suddenly understood something and asked thoughtfully: "You came to me, aren't you just to stop me from fighting, Alice?"

Just like the last time he stopped her from fighting the dark witch Carabosse.

Alice shook her head: "No, I didn't think of stopping you, because it's useless to stop you..." The meaning of this sentence is a bit complicated. On the one hand, it means that even if she wants to stop you, Xino will not listen; on the other hand, it means that even if she stops him, what can he do? If Xino doesn't fight, there will be no sacrifices? Celestial Themis died because of this naive idea. Alice has realized her weakness and naivety. She began to understand that sometimes making some sacrifices for victory is actually to avoid greater sacrifices.

Although sacrifice is sacrifice, whether measured in small or large terms, the harm it causes to people is equally profound and long-lasting, but no matter what, the former is always better than the latter.

"I'm glad that after what you've been through, you've finally started to grow up, Alice."

Shino looked at the genius player deeply, and was indeed somewhat relieved for her. Perhaps you would think that this kind of growth came too late and was too slow. Even children like Mitch and Kadora could quickly strengthen their beliefs and find their own path after seeing the cruelty of war, but adults like Alice had to watch their companions die in front of them before they realized it. But before saying this, don't forget that a long time ago, this girl in front of you was still a severe escapist who regarded the real world as a game world, herself as a player, and everyone as NPCs.

Xino also had an experience of escaping from reality, so she could empathize with this and would not deny everything about Alice just because of a disagreement. Growth is a good thing, there is no such thing as being late or not.

"Is accepting reality what it means to grow up?" Alice said gloomily.

"Of course." Xino replied without hesitation: "Don't forget, the biggest enemy we are facing now is reality."

It is meaningful and has a double meaning.

The enemy is strong and we are weak, the enemy is numerous and we are few. We can only advance step by step and make difficult plans before we can have a glimpse of a chance of victory. This is the reality.

The reality witch Tiantis is also reality.

Alice was speechless, so she decided to avoid the topic: "By the way, when are you planning to leave, Shino?"

"Tomorrow."

Xino gave an unexpected answer. Alice was surprised when she heard it: "Why so soon? Don't you want to..."

Don't you still have to do some running-in training with Brandi?

She wanted to ask this question, but then she realized that there was no such thing as running-in for this person and horse. After all, they grew up together and had a tacit understanding. Even if they had not been on the battlefield for a long time, the instinct flowing in the blood of the white thorn flower Gostave and the snow mountain divine horse Sun Snow would help them quickly regain their form. The so-called running-in training was more of a habitual term. As a knight, Shino would always take every battle seriously, whether it was necessary or not.

Xino smiled and said, "The enemy's reinforcements are on the way. We don't know when they will arrive. If we want to intercept them, the sooner the better. Tell me, Alice, what do you want to do? Do you need my cooperation?"

"Uh." Alice looked embarrassed: "You know everything?"

"Your intentions are too obvious." Xino sighed: "I am an adult with normal intelligence after all, how could I not see it."

"This, this is it..."

Alice hesitated and stammered, as if she didn't know how to express her request. It was not until Xinuo jokingly said, "If you don't say it, I will go back. Then you can tell Xiaoxia and Lingge," that she hurriedly said, "It's not a very important matter. I just hope you can leave later."

"Later? How late?"

"How about the day after tomorrow?"

"That's not a problem, but..." Xino stared at the golden-haired maid in front of him suspiciously: "What's the point of this?"

One day is not critical, at least not for the current battle situation, so Xino can still wait; but the same question is, what does Alice want to do with this day? As for the highest possibility, Xino can only guess that she wants to use this time to repair the game console and provide some help for herself.

So, is one day enough?
"One day is enough!"

Alice said happily: "I'll go get ready right away. Xinuo, you have to wait for me. Remember, tomorrow, you must stay on Yunjingkong Island. Don't go anywhere, and don't sneak away without my knowledge!"

"I will still keep my promise..."

Shino said helplessly. Before she could finish, Alice ran away in a hurry, as if she was going to do something extraordinary. The young knight stood there, looking at her back, and suddenly felt a little confused.

She was a little confused. No, it should be said that she never understood.

What on earth is Alice thinking?

Give meow
(End of this chapter)