My Magic Age

It was a clean long street with shops on both sides. Most of the houses in El City are brick and wood structures. The residents here like to build houses with red exterior walls, pointed roofs, and beautiful attics, just like small villas standing on the street. There is also a small yard behind it. There is a lemon tree planted in the yard, which is full of very small green fruits. It looks like the flowers on the lemon tree may have just withered. My adoptive parents live here.

I like the antique walnut furniture in the house, and I also like the glass windows with carved patterns. I even like the small attic with bright windows and tables, and the dry and soft small bed full of soap smell. But the real reason I chose this place is just that this small attic happens to have a view of the villa of Sister Guoguo’s house.

My adoptive father's name is Ryant. He is a teacher who teaches swordsmanship at a school called Stans War College in Ayr City. He is a very gentle person with blond hair. He wears training sheepskin leggings and a white shirt with lace all day long, and his beard is very clean. He rarely wears a sword unless he is in class. He told me to just call him by his name. His wife, my adoptive mother, is called Fanny, a judge of the arbitration office. But I think she prefers to do housework at home. The onion pancakes she fried taste very good. They are not a noble family, but an ordinary family that has just reached the level of richness, because both of them have very decent jobs, and the monthly salary is also quite generous. The living conditions are very comfortable, and they have the conditions to adopt people.

Later I learned the reason why they adopted me. Speaking of it, the reason why they adopted me was not because they had lost their son before, but because they had a daughter named Tracy, who was three years older than me and was currently studying at Stans College. The law of the Green Empire requires that women in the Empire must marry before the age of 25, otherwise it will be considered a violation of the law. Because the Green Empire generally faces the embarrassing situation of more boys than girls, it makes it difficult for girls in many families to find a suitable partner to marry, and even if they marry, it is not easy to have a happy marriage.

For the lifelong happiness of their daughter, they actually came up with a very strange way. This is also what Fanny, the adoptive mother who is a judge of the arbitration office, thought of, that is, to adopt an orphan and cultivate his excellent character and good education from an early age. In addition, this way, she can grow up with Tracy from an early age and establish a good emotional foundation. Maybe my daughter will have a happy second half of her life in the future. Of course, this requires me to be able to come back alive from the battlefield.

In fact, this cheap sister does not like me. Instead, she always feels that I have taken away half of the father's and mother's love and regards me as a mortal enemy. Tracy's swordsmanship is very good, thanks to her adoptive father Ryan, but her personality is more like her adoptive mother Fanny, introverted but with her own ideas. She usually likes to sit in front of the attic window and read some adventure books like "A Knight's Journey", but she has never thought of going out for adventure. She has her own circle of friends and is very concerned about her friends knowing me. She always keeps silent about me.

Days passed by like this, I was like a bird in a cage. On weekdays, unless Fanny invited me formally, I would rather lock myself in the attic room and stay there for a whole day. Ryan and Fanny were very worried about this. They thought I was a little introverted, maybe the early family changes caused mild autism. They often encouraged me to go out more and play with the children on the street, but even on the street, I just liked to stand on the side of the road and quietly watch those children of my age. Those games were so boring to me.

Every November, when spring comes to Green Continent, I will take a small trip with my bag on my back. I will go upstream along the White Elephant River, turn at the fork in the river near the city of Sloyte, and go upstream along the Horse River, all the way to the Baipu Cliff at the foot of the mountains of the Pai Plateau, and stand on the jade belt that seems to be pouring straight down from the sky.

The first time I traveled, Ryant and Fanny were worried for a long time. The second time, Fanny's countless instructions before I left really touched me. Ryant even took time out to let me learn some swordsmanship. He thought that awakening the magic pool at the magic awakening ceremony was good, but it was a one-in-a-million thing after all. If there was no magic pool awakening, then go to the War College to learn skills and tactics. Maybe it would be a good idea to choose the same school as Tracy.

It has been five years since I came to Ayr City. When I walked out of Ayr City with my travel bag, I saw Fanny's worried eyes in the glass window at the door. She has been feeling more and more worried recently. As we get along longer and longer, our feelings for each other become deeper and deeper. She is more and more worried that one day I might leave without saying goodbye. She covered her mouth and tried not to let her tears flow down. When I turned around and waved goodbye to her, she could still nod to me with a smile. I knew that she must have tears in her eyes in the sand-grained glass window.

I told myself that I must go and come back quickly this time, so as not to worry Fanny. In fact, I don't know why I always have to take such a trip every spring. Maybe it's to let those memories be deeply engraved in my mind. I thought to myself: Maybe one day I will suddenly meet Sister Guoguo under the Hundred Waterfall Cliff.

... Beautiful dividing line...

Starting from the city of El, walking northwest along the White Elephant River, there is a corner forgotten by the world in the mountains stretching for dozens of miles. It is called the Cursed Land.

It is full of blue-spotted weeds that even gazelles don't like to eat, withered and leafless blood-sucking trees that can suck the blood of humans and animals, burning fruit trees with blue flames all over their bodies, and some other mutant plants. The vegetation here is very special. Many plants will cause people to get some strange diseases if they are eaten by mistake. According to legend, tens of thousands of years ago, a strong man from the Hell Demon Clan died here. His body turned into mountains stretching for dozens of kilometers. His flesh and blood nourished the land here, turning the originally rich and fertile mountains and fields into barren land. This place and the surrounding areas are not suitable for human survival, so this place is almost forgotten by the people nearby.

Four years ago, I accidentally broke into this place along the Benma River and found that this place is different from other places. The soil here is black and shiny. When you step on it, it seems that grease can seep out of the soil. The plants here are very new to me, most of them are species I have never seen before. There is almost no introduction to these plants in the parchment scroll plant encyclopedia of Old Kuru, so everything here makes me feel particularly curious.

Every year when I travel, I will stay here for a few days to study the new species here.

Deep in this group of mountains, there is an abandoned castle. In fact, this castle manor built on the mountain is not very big, but when I found it, it looked abandoned for many years. I once asked the residents outside the cursed land about this castle. Many people did not know its existence, and the residents nearby were very afraid of the cursed land. They believed that cattle and sheep would go crazy and die if they ate the grass in the cursed land. Generally, they rarely approached here, so they were not very familiar with the situation here.

Until one time later, I followed Ryant to the library of Staines College to play, and found the documents introducing this cursed land in it. I learned that the original range of this area was only a few kilometers in size. After countless years of evolution, this cursed land is actually expanding little by little, but this process is very slow, so slow that people can't detect it. The castle deep in the mountains was originally built on the edge of the cursed land. Some magicians from the magician's union who studied magic plants and magic potions once lived here. This castle was the original observation station. In the nearly 100 years since then, dozens of magicians have come here one after another, trying to unlock the secrets of the magical plants here, and want to study and discover some new values ​​of the plants here. Unfortunately, most magicians have returned empty-handed. Slowly, the cursed land gradually eroded the land around the castle, making it more and more desolate and uninhabited. Slowly, even the magicians forgot about this place, so there was an abandoned castle here.

However, every time, this ghostly castle is the best place for me to camp. At least there are some stone houses that can shelter from the rain, and the blood-sucking trees that can move in the soil in the wild don't like to come to the castle area. Every time I am chased by those half-animal and half-plant blood-sucking trees, I will hide in the castle.

The reason why I can linger here is that there is a very familiar Burning Fruit Tree here. It is a big tree that is constantly burning in flames. The Burning Fruit Tree has no leaves. The dry branches are like carbonized, and the branches are full of bright red fruits. The whole tree is wrapped in blue flames. Any animal or plant that touches the Burning Fruit Tree will be turned into ashes.

Old Kuru once guessed that I was abandoned after eating a Burning Fruit, so when I found that I could see this weird plant here, it aroused my strong curiosity and wanted to study these strange plants. These plants are obviously not native species here. These strange plants are more like plants from the hell world.

However, these questions are a bit too deep for a child like me. Two years ago, when I passed by the cursed land, I met an interesting old man. His name was Moras. He was a wood magician. His recent research topic was "The Difference between Magic Plants and Mutated Plants". In order to write an excellent paper, this old man had stayed here for more than half a year. He was also very curious about me. I had to make up a lie that I was a lost child and I didn't know why I came here. In fact, I was chasing a hare at the beginning. Later, the old man let me stay in the castle for one night and gave me some delicious dried fish. On the second day, he personally sent me out of this cursed land. I think he is a very kind magician scholar. Later, when I passed by the cursed land again, I never saw him again.

In the past few years, Sloit Province has been invaded by barbarians on the ice and snow tundra in winter. Many men from villages around the city have been kidnapped by these barbarians and sent to extremely cold places to work as mining slaves. This caused many farmers in the countryside to be displaced. Many people were very dissatisfied with the Grand Duke of Wall in Sloit Province. They thought that the Grand Duke of Wall might be too old, so he condoned the barbarians and should be in power. The big shots stepped forward and led the North Wind Army to teach the barbarians a lesson and tell them to go back to the north bank of the White Elephant River.

Even more extreme, some people who have lost their homes believe that since the aristocracy in power is unable to protect their own safety, they have no reason to collect taxes. This group of people began to fight continuously. They even killed the tax official sent from Sloit City, burned down the village, and hid in the mountains to become bandits.

One day, I suddenly discovered that the old castle in the Cursed Land had become the stronghold of the bandits. They were indeed very good at finding places. It was estimated that the people from the Sloit Guard Group would never find this place. , but for me, this is not a good thing. I once regarded this place as my own back garden, and it was suddenly occupied by others, which made me very unhappy, but I couldn't do anything about them.

Sister Guoguo once said to me that if I can't awaken the magic pool in the magic awakening ceremony and become a magician, then I might as well hide myself and become an ordinary person. Otherwise, those evil magicians who peek at my magical talent will eat me right down to my bones, so I have no intention of dealing with these pitiful and hateful bandits.

They were a group of cowardly people who had been bullied miserably by the barbarians on the ice and snow tundra and the nobles of Sloit City, so they acted as bandits and bullied the residents of the surrounding ordinary villages. For someone like me who has officially become a resident of El City, I am more willing to believe in the guard camp in El Town, although they are equally bad.

...beautiful dividing line...

Pushing aside the messy weeds, I poked my head out of the grass, reached out and pulled off the grass blades stuck to my face. There was a complete blue grass on my head, like a bird hiding in the tangled grass. The guinea pig in the pile, my whole body was still buried in the black mud-like soil. Although I was wearing a moisture-proof and waterproof sleeping bag outside my body, the feeling was still not very comfortable. The smell of the soil in the cursed land was very smelly. It smells like asphalt.

Seeing the group of patrolling bandits sneaking towards the castle in the Cursed Land, I suddenly became curious as to what happened to make these mountain bandits hide in the Cursed Land all day long. Are the thieves so nervous? You must know that more than half a month ago, when I went to Baipu Cliff, these bandits still looked like they were just waiting to die. But more than half a month later, the place was so heavily guarded that not even a fly could fly over.

You must know that this is an inaccessible and cursed place, a place that has almost been forgotten. The more the bandits are like this, the more they want to hide it. Originally, I wanted to rush back to El City quickly so that Fanny wouldn't worry about me. I thought she must not have had a very good dinner these days. But seeing the appearance of those bandits aroused my curiosity. I really wanted to know what was hidden in the castle that made them so nervous.

Seeing that the group of bandits had gone away, I carefully took out a handful of raisins from my pocket and stuffed it into my mouth, then took another big gulp of water. Raisins have a particularly high sugar content and are a great way to quickly replenish your physical strength. Maybe these bandits have never discovered me hiding in the dark, but I have sneaked into the castle several times in the past two years, and I am quite familiar with the situation of bandits in the castle. Speaking of which, they are just a ragtag group of people.

But their leader is not an ordinary person, he is a wanted magician. I don't know how strong he is, but it is obvious that he is not doing a good job in managing this group of bandits. It only took me two nights to figure out the patrol methods of the bandits.

At dusk, while the bandits were changing guard, I sneaked into the castle secretly from the side door at the back.

I hid in a pigeon coop in a tower of the castle and quietly waited for the night to come. If you don't enter the castle before nightfall, once the gates of the castle are closed, it will be difficult for ordinary people to sneak into the castle. Even if I can climb the cliff-like stone wall outside the castle, it will still take a lot of effort. .

No pigeons have been here in the tower for a long time. Since I last felt that this place has a wide view, can be protected from wind and rain, and is also very secluded. It happens to be hidden behind a protruding attic, so I decided to clean it up. Then put some common supplies, and unexpectedly it became a good hiding place.

When I was hiding in the pigeon coop and falling asleep, I noticed some movement in the courtyard of the castle. Usually there was no one here.

A carriage drove out of the courtyard of the castle. A woman dressed as a cook was helping her into the carriage, holding a magic wand inlaid with magic crystals. A man wearing a magician's robe followed. He stood in front of the carriage and did not follow him. At this time, the fat woman who looked like a cook suddenly turned around and said to the magician: "I am going to Shiluo this time." It will take about three days in Yite City. Keep an eye on that old guy and don’t let him run away.”

"I understand, Teacher Kalai. I will do as you ask!" The magician below said respectfully.

Mrs. Kalai narrowed her eyes, forced a sweet smile on her fat face, gently waved the magic wand in her hand, and said softly: "Very good, if we can succeed this time, we don't have to stay in this ghost place anymore. Well, it's almost time, I should set off!"

An owl flew out of the carriage and disappeared in the dusk.

After Mrs. Kalai, who looked like a fat cook, got into the carriage, the driver sitting in front of the carriage waved a long whip and drove the black carriage out of the castle. It was dark, and I couldn't see where the carriage finally went.

But I got an important piece of news: Sure enough, these bandits seemed to have caught a very important person.

In fact, I was just curious and wanted to see what happened in the castle that made these bandits so nervous. In fact, my sense of justice did not reach the point of having to rescue people. I seemed to be able to come and go freely in this castle, but I didn't think I had the ability to take the people in the dungeon out of the castle safely. After all, I didn't want to care about this matter. I felt that my ability was limited and there was no need to get involved.

However, it was rare that the tower was dry and ventilated, which was much more comfortable than sleeping in a sleeping bag in the wild. There was no need to beware of those blood-sucking trees here, so I fell asleep unknowingly.

I was awakened by waves of girls crying. At that time, I was sleeping very sweetly alone, and I seemed to dream that Sister Guoguo rode a horse and took me for a ride on the Xinghu grassland, but when I woke up, I found that I was actually just in the tower, with a whistling cold wind blowing everywhere. The wind became very cold after nightfall, which made me shiver all over.

I cursed: damn bandits, they really can't let me rest for even a quarter of an hour!

Robbing goods and women is normal, but the noise in the middle of the night even woke me up, which is a bit too much. Even so, I still didn't plan to cause trouble.

But when I was hiding in the pigeon nest and looking out, the window of the attic in front was pushed open, and a girl climbed out of the attic, holding a white sheet in her hand, and was desperately climbing out of the attic. With the bright moonlight, I could clearly see her smooth toes stepping on the tiles, shivering in the cold wind. At this time, she was looking towards me, and I happened to be looking out at this time. Under the moonlight that was as bright as snow, we looked at each other face to face...

"Morayaer, where else can you escape to? Do you want to fall from the attic here? Well, I can guarantee that everyone here will see a naked female corpse in the yard tomorrow. Haha, I think we should let old man Moras take a good look. I wonder if he will be very sad?" A man's voice came from the attic behind. It was the magician who talked with the woman who looked like a cook in the yard in the evening.

I really wish I hadn't heard this sentence, or hadn't looked at the girl face to face at all! I quickly made a silent gesture to the girl, and she covered her mouth in astonishment. Obviously, she just thought I was a small bandit in charge of sentry in the castle, but she didn't expect that I would actually make a gesture to her. So... the girl called Moraer covered her mouth, but the look of surprise was on her face...