Lord of Mysteries: Yao Guang

Esther didn't know how long it took her to regain her composure. She sat on the deck close to the fence, letting the cold sea breeze blow on her back.

When she had the strength to look up again, the crimson moon was already hanging above her head. But through the green light curtain that the "Clover" held up for her, everything Esther saw was green.

Tomorrow night is the full moon, and the mumbling will be even more serious then...

Esther raised her knuckle-covered palms and took off the asymmetrical gemstone necklace around her neck. She could feel that the illusory cracks on the outside of her skin were closing, and circles of closely interlocked rings appeared and disappeared. Occasionally, a little light would shine through from under her clothes.

The green light curtain around her collapsed and disappeared.

An unfastened iron box was kicked next to Esther, making a soft knock on the fence.

Alexander was sitting on another box, as if using the weighted box as a bench, which was much more stable than a chair. His scrutinizing gaze fell on Esther through the thick lenses, and she seemed to still be in some kind of state. A state of contemplation.

"Thank you, you don't have to wait for me." Esther lifted up the box, placed the necklace flatly on the black satin inside, covered it with two glass shells, and then fastened the outermost box build.

"We can't use it again for a week."

The repeated calls for help could be faintly heard in Esther's ears, making her sigh: "I know, I am suffering from that negative effect now."

In fact, this was the first time she felt such a strong influence from an extraordinary item. Although it was not gibbering, hearing a voice repeatedly pleading and shouting was enough to make Esther feel worried.

If we wait until the full moon comes tomorrow night, we don't know if this sound will change. Maybe the babble will suddenly be amplified, causing the person who uses it to face the threat of death.

Esther glanced outside the ship and could only see the endless sea: "Where are we now?"

"Luck is not good, but it is not bad either. We have returned to the violent sea area between the northern continent and the southern continent, but we are in a safe channel. If everything goes well, it will only take three days to reach the port of Behrens in the east. Half the voyage.”

Esther couldn't help but smile, and the bone fragments on her body gradually blended into her skin. She rubbed her exposed arms: "We are quite close to the target. It seems that my luck is not too bad. We have come back. .”

"Seeing that you and Aaron always act on intuition, I almost believe that there will always be such 'good luck' favoring you." Alexander's voice was a little hoarse.

Esther realized that he might have been sitting on the deck from the evening until now, waiting for her to recover... which also included monitoring her for any unusual movements so that she could take countermeasures as soon as possible.

After all, there was another box sitting under Alexander.

Although the buzzing and accompanying headache had subsided, Esther was still a little dizzy. She did not get up in a hurry: "Yes, it is a very lucky way after all."

"This is different." Alexander raised his head. Although he showed a friendly smile, his eyes were calm and indifferent. "You did steal Mary's thoughts, and there was no corresponding contamination on the key. The items are contaminated, so that should also be your own ability."

Esther was silent for a few seconds and rubbed her hair twice: "If you are really curious, yes, the aperture on the island before was also an ability of the 'destiny' path, and it was a high-sequence one. But I don't know why I can It uses the power of two extraordinary pathways, so sometimes it will be difficult to control it.”

Alexander nodded: "I know what you mean, but I don't want to find out the inside story of this matter."

Esther was stunned for a moment: "Is that so? I thought you were worried about my influence on Aaron."

"I'm a person who doesn't like to believe in luck. Although I won't be as straightforward as Thomas, but for me, 'luck' is a very ethereal thing." Alexander took off his glasses, revealing a pair of dark gray eyes like a valley. Looking at his eyes, he took out a handkerchief from his arms and gently wiped the lenses, "Now that I think about it, you make me feel the same way."

"Do you feel like you're being too sensible?"

Alexander paused while wiping the lenses: "Maybe it's for this reason that I habitually deconstruct everything around me and establish the whole through one-sided construction."

Esther looked at the dark sea outside the fence: "You think I am an unstable factor and cannot form a stable whole."

"You're right. So I suggested to Aaron that he consider a plan to recruit you as a member of the organization when he wrote to his teacher."

Esther opened her eyes blankly: "What do you mean..."

Alexander put on his glasses as thick as the bottom of a bottle again: "Are you interested in joining the organization behind us? After going through this incident, I think I can give you more trust. Mainly because you are here,' Siye It seems the Grass's means of escape could be made more stable. As you can see, we don't have many people in this fleet."

Esther opened her mouth, but nothing came out. After a moment of silence, she silently shook her head.

Alexander showed a relieved smile: "Unexpectedly, it was Thomas who guessed the result correctly this time."

"You don't seem too surprised."

"If you agree straight away, I will find excuses to delay this matter. This is our plan."

Esther also smiled back: "No, you were sincere when you said that just now. I can feel it in this aspect. But you can't promise me. If I really agree directly, it will prove that I am even more serious. It’s suspicious, maybe it’s coming for your fleet.”

"Mary is a good child, but it's a pity that she is not as smart as you."

Esther's smile was a bit forced: "Maybe it's because I once paid the price for my slowness. I almost lost the people around me, and later I did lose something."

"After all, it's all part of growing up, and the sea is just as cruel." Alexander stood up from the box and stretched out his hand towards Esther, "You don't want to blow the cold wind here all night, do you? We have classes tomorrow."

Esther took the palm offered by the old gentleman and said, "Thank you, I promise I won't fall asleep in class."

Esther didn't sleep all night.

When I close my eyes, the voice that keeps calling for help will gradually become clearer, but there is always a barrier that is difficult to hear clearly.

When someone is calling for help endlessly in her ears, it is really difficult for Esther's character to sleep peacefully. She knows that she can forcefully enter the "sleep" state, just like a machine that shuts down for a short period of time, but she always Hearing that voice, Esther found it difficult to calm down.

So she simply sat up and, using the crimson moonlight coming from the window, flipped through the Intis novel Alexander lent her, "Taco the Fatalist and His Master"*.

"...When we lose our friends, we obey fate, and when fate calls us, we also obey fate. We accept the decisions fate makes to them without complaint, and we will never resist the decisions fate makes to us. The decision was made.”

These are the words the owner used to comfort Taco.

The narrative tone of this novel is very interesting, and the author talks to the readers very frankly, without letting his perspective just be immersed in the story. The whole story unfolds in the chat between Taco, his master and others. The wording and sentence making are quite colloquial, which is very suitable for Esther to practice the corresponding language sense during reading.

"Master: He said that gods and devils work miracles.

Taco: How do you distinguish between the miracles of gods and the miracles of devils?

Master: According to reason. If the doctrine is good, it is the miracle of the gods; if the doctrine is bad, it is the miracle of the devil.

Taco (whistled and continued): Who is going to tell me, a poor ignorant creature like me, whether the truth of the Miracle Worker is good or bad? …”

Esther put down her book and blinked her eyes, which did not feel tired. She leaned on the back of her chair and looked out the window. It was already time to go to the restaurant to have a meal.

The sun rises high, this is a new day, and in a dozen hours it will become a new night, and the sea will usher in a crimson full moon.

——

"You get up so early," Mary muttered in greeting.

Esther grabbed a dinner plate and sat next to Mary in the corner. Mary yawned loudly and lay half-ly on the table almost without any image. As the only two students in Alexander's "Language Tutoring Class", after attending classes together for several days, Esther and Mary's relationship became more and more familiar.

Esther put sausage slices between slightly burnt bread slices. The food at sea was almost the same every day. She had no complaints in this regard. It was good to have something to eat: "Don't you get up very early too? ?”

Mary rubbed her eyes and began to peel the last dry orange on her hand: "I didn't want to either, but I encountered so many things yesterday and I was a little nervous. I couldn't sleep well."

"Looking on the bright side, the Clover is safe and sound, which is enough."

"Hey, I like your optimistic thoughts." Mary laughed dryly and threw the sour orange into her mouth.

Esther took a sip of water, which had an indescribable astringent taste. She simply squeezed the juice from the shriveled orange and added it to the water: "You want to say that I'm kind of stupid, right?"

"If you are stupid, there probably won't be many smart people on this ship." Mary rolled her eyes at the lady next to her, "Yesterday's situation was so difficult, I really thought we had to face the Death Ship, but luckily we didn't. But then the rift in the spiritual world opened again, and you——"

Mary's words suddenly stopped, and Esther swallowed the bread in her mouth in confusion: "What's wrong with me?"

"No, it's nothing." Mary shook her head vigorously, then glanced left and right, lowering the conversation, "It's just that I heard the argument between Aaron and Thomas at the door of the captain's cabin last night. Aaron seemed to You were annoyed that you used magical items twice in a row, and Thomas was scolding him for his attitude, thinking that he should be happy that a boatload of people escaped death."

"I won't die." Esther continued to nibble on her own slices of bread and quickly finished her breakfast.

"Why are you so sure? Thomas is the complete opposite of you. He keeps scolding Aaron about 'that damn good luck'. I didn't quite understand the content behind it."

Mary paused and continued: "He...he said you would never survive tonight."

Esther knew that the "spiritual intuition" in her mind would not hurt her. Since it had no unnecessary reaction to the voice, it meant that she would not experience anything too terrible tonight.

So Esther winked at Mary: "Luck or miracle, which one do you choose?"

"Then it's better to be lucky. Miracles are too slim."

Esther spread her hands: "I am greedy, I will want both."

She has experienced both of them, and she has not reached the point where she needs to pray to them both. Tonight is the moment to listen carefully to the truth of the cry for help.

"Jacques the Fatalist and His Master" - Denis Diderot, translator: Luo Peng. Here is a spoof of the name Taco, which is a homonym for burrito.