The Witch and the Doll Swear

"...Speaking of which, Miss Tingna, do you know that Sinai is the only region on the mainland that has a large area of ​​desert..."

"...What... This kind of thing, as long as you have been to school, no one will not know..."

"Then you know... due to the large amount of yellow sand that can absorb very little heat, and the climate... Sinai is located in the hot and dry trade wind belt... can the highest temperature during the day be... 50 degrees or more?"

"57... In my hometown, the hottest time is over 40 degrees, haha, hahaha..."

"But, but...at night, because the yellow sand can store very little heat, the temperature at night can even be below 0 degrees, but this is at least better than high temperature...It is more suitable for monsters to survive, so, at night The desert is more vibrant than the daytime, some mosquitoes... and some monsters will come and go, but they often hide under the sand..."

Alice silently closed the wooden door of the bathroom.

Just before closing it, Tingna and Ai, who were immersed in the water that was heating up, were cursing in unison with a trance voice.

——"Damn bugs!!!"

After closing the door, Alice returned to the cockpit on the deck along the aisle of the cabin.

"Lily, Alice thinks that the fever-reducing medicine didn't work. Both Tina and Ai have repeated the same nonsense four or five times..."

"... There is no other way. I forgot to tell them to tell us immediately after being bitten by insects, and try to catch the insects that sting themselves."

The cockpit of the "Lightseeker" is a room built on the deck. A fixed wooden board extends from the wall, serving as a table for fixing the map. There is a rudder and compass on the console in the center of the cockpit, and a circle of bright glass is embedded in the wall, providing a full range of transparent vision.

But also because of this, the sunlight that diffuses in from all directions makes every piece of wood in the cockpit have a scorching temperature.

There were a few exquisite chairs against the wall, but neither Alice nor Liliana wanted to try them.

sand boat.

solar boat.

The pride of the Sinai magician, the only one in the mainland who can end the invention of airship transportation hegemony with its high cost performance in the vast yellow sand without rails and magic trains.

Cheaper than an airship, faster and safer than a caravan, but considering that only Sinai has a large area of ​​desert, this kind of transportation powered by solar sails and magic furnaces is somewhat inhumane in use— —To be precise, less human to those who live outside the land of Sinai.

For example, the cooling mechanism that is better than nothing.

Such as going to the toilet.

Due to the dryness and lack of water, in the desert area of ​​Sinai, the traditional way to go to the toilet is dry toilet.

The dry wind in the desert will quickly take away the moisture in the excrement, turning it into a dry powder and falling into the desert. After the convenience, you don’t even wash your hands with water, just hold a piece of sand that has been sterilized by the sun and rub it twist……

Therefore, although there are bathrooms on the sand boat, there is no toilet. If you want convenience, you can only get off the boat or go to the side of the boat.

When Liliana and Alice heard this kind of thing for the first time, Ai and Tingna's faces turned pale. Men are fine, but letting girls go to the toilet in this way is simply a crime.

The girls couldn't stand the dirty toilets, let alone the side of the boat, dirtying the hull of the "Lightseeker". When they needed to go to the toilet, they could only disembark in the sand dunes. Stop and go like this during the journey, and even stop more than ten times a day.

Although this does not delay the trip very much, there are other security risks.

like now.

On the fourth day of the journey from Yam, Ai and Tina fell ill together.

Although there is almost no greenery, there are quite a lot of life inhabiting the desert, such as various cacti, sand shells, the distant relative of sea shells on land, snakes and scorpions with various patterns, and of course dozens of species of mosquitoes.

In the high temperature of the day, they live under the shadow of the yellow sand. At night, when the temperature drops, these monsters who are good at enduring hunger and thirst will come to the sand and dust. Under the night sky, in order to survive, they will attack everything that can Assaulted life.

Before Ting Na had a fever, she said that she was bitten by a small mosquito on the back of her hand. She subconsciously slapped it to death, wiped it clean with paper and threw it away. The girl didn't notice any other characteristics of that mosquito besides its small size.

So Liliana and Alice didn't know what kind of mosquito bit her, maybe it was a small sand mosquito, maybe it was a yellow-winged mosquito, or it might be a cactus mosquito.

There are seven or eight species of small mosquitoes in the desert, each of which is a natural carrier of multiple plague agents and toxins. Although the only symptom shown is fever, it is a headache to treat.

Liliana had no choice but to mix and feed her basic medicines for temporarily strengthening the body's immunity and medicines for reducing fever, and the girl survived by herself.

Ai's condition was also worrying. Until she fell ill and fainted, the girl kept her mouth shut about her being bitten. She seemed uncomfortable and only said that it was difficult to adapt to the heat.

It wasn't until Liliana took the medicine for Tina and Liliana was going to the kitchen to prepare lunch that the girl suddenly fell into a coma, and then, being stared at by Liliana with stern eyes, Ai hesitated to answer, when it was convenient, A fly landed on his ass.

. . . This is indeed an embarrassing subject for a well-educated lady.

But flies are even more of a headache. There are more than twenty different species of flies living in the Sinai Desert, some carrying diseases, some carrying poisons, and some burying their eggs in the ground without the victim even knowing they stay there for a short time. Their skin—Ai's body didn't have that kind of huge bug bag hiding larvae, so it should be possible to rule out this creepiest one, but even so, the scope didn't shrink in the slightest.

Medicine is not Liliana's strong point, and if she doesn't know the pathogen, she can't prepare the corresponding medicine. Even if Liliana has rare attainments in alchemy, she has no choice but to adopt exactly the same coping method as Tinna, letting her apprentice rely on her own body to carry it.

"... I am really not suitable for traveling with other companions."

Liliana sighed while keeping an eye on the two people soaking in the cold water with her "wizard eyes".

"...What to pay attention to in the desert, what to pay attention to in the grassland, and what to pay attention to in the territory of the Holy Church Church...Obviously I know it all, but I always can't remember to warn them, every time I wait until something happens It was only later that I realized that I could have warned them earlier... and because of this, Miss Tingna left a bad memory."

"If you ask Alice to answer, then there is no doubt that you are, Lily, you are not suitable to take care of others. You are too used to only having Alice by your side, and you have too much knowledge and memory in your mind."

The little puppet floated in front of the witch, tapping her head lightly with its small hands.

"But Alice still feels that, with Miss Tina and Ai—after having a secretary and an apprentice, Lily's expression is much better than before. And both Tina and Ai have been taken away by Lily. Part of the responsibility must be taken seriously.”

"...Is it the same as before..."

"That's up to Lily herself."

"...Alice always leaves me with problems."

"Alice is just a puppet. Thinking and solving problems are what people should do. However, take your time, there is still a long time to go on the journey, the most important thing now is to find an oasis or return to Nirokle Riverside, anyway, the barren desert is not suitable for recuperation - it is too hot here."

"...It would be great if there was a hot spring."

"Yes, it would be great if there was a hot spring..."

The sand boat moved on the sandy sea, heading east, towards the great river that nourished Sinai.

Every once in a while, the sand boat would stop, and Liliana would come to the bathroom to renew the cooling magic circle, keeping the temperature in this small room below 20 degrees.

Although the wooden boards of the sand boat are engraved with magic circles that block the temperature, the effect is not strong due to cost issues. In addition, there is no similar magic on the glass, only a magic that is turned on during the day and turned off at night to cover the too dazzling sunlight, which is better than nothing.

The direct result of this is that the sand boat is very hot, very hot, and it is sweaty and sultry. Although compared with the temperature outside of nearly 60 degrees, the mercury liquid column on the thermometer reaches 37 or 8 scales, which makes people feel uncomfortable. Denying the effects of these magics still made the two girls from the City of Thousand Towers and the City of Salt Sands complain endlessly.

What's worse, in order to save costs and promote civilian use of the creation of alchemy and magic, the plate used to engrave magic is cheap and inferior as an enchanting material. Even a master alchemist like Liliana has no way to use it Make changes in the magic circle above.

In order for Ai and Tingna to at least recuperate in a relatively comfortable temperature, she could only use such an inefficient method.

Another day passed, and there was still a long way to go before Nero Klein.

Tingna and Ai's fever has not subsided. Although it has not worsened, they are becoming weaker. The high fever makes them lose their appetite, and they don't eat much porridge. To fight against the disease requires sufficient physical strength. Although the milk produced by the black dragon's blood is rich in nutrition, there is only so much milk every day.

Except for immortality and innocence, most of Liliana's physical characteristics are no different from ordinary women.

"Huh..."

"Goo...haha..."

Ai and Tingna used conversations to maintain their consciousness before, but from the beginning of this day, they were all sickly soaked in a wooden barrel filled with cold water, and they were in a half-dream and half-awake state all day long. The witch should consider using life-support magic like "Eternal Ice Coffin".

"...According to this speed, it will take another two days to return to the Nile Clay River."

"Alice feels that Miss Tina and Ai not only need to recuperate, but also need a local doctor in Sinai. Lily is an excellent magician and alchemist, but she is not an excellent doctor, because even if she gets sick and dies once, her body will recover. There is no medical course at Guanghui College..."

"……Um."

A good magician, a good alchemist, does not mean a good doctor, and Liliana was rarely annoyed when she sailed eastward in a sand boat.

"Although it didn't get better, the condition didn't get worse. A fever of this level wouldn't burn out Ai's clever little head. As for Tinna...well, that kid was stupid—wait a minute, Lily ,there!"

The sand boat stopped suddenly.

Through the glass of the cockpit, a touch of green appeared on the right side of the ship. It was a dazzlingly fresh green in the yellow sand. In the steaming atmosphere of the scorching sun, it swayed vaguely, with the shadows of trees and shrubs. Since childhood, the carpet-like grassland and the gushing spring seem to be plated with broken silver and sparkle.

"...Is it an oasis, or a mirage of an oasis?"

Liliana also saw that without Alice's reminder. The witch picked up the sextant placed on the table. When she put down the sailing equipment "generously" given by the seller of the sand boat, the witch thought about it.

If you are not sure whether it is a mirage in the desert, the wisest way is to ignore it, but that refers to the normal trekking situation - on foot or in a camel caravan. But now they are driving a sand boat, which is a new type of vehicle that spreads out its solar sail and uses the radiance of the Sun of Saigon and the magic furnace as its power source.

Whether it was just a fantasy or a real oasis, it was not too far away from them. There was no reason not to take a look at the ships sailing on the yellow sand.

"...Let's go and have a look."

"Um."

The witch turned the sand boat and headed that way.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

An oasis indeed.

As we got closer, the hazy greenery in the desert summer heat became clear. The sun shines through the shadows of the trees, and is so bright that under the scorching sky, the sparkling crescent-shaped spring water also brings a little bit of cool comfort to the soul that is restless due to the scorching heat.

The witch released her invisible magic eyes and flew across the sky. Beside the bright spring, two traditional Sinai rammed earth houses were painted with heart-shaped pods of compass grass with cyan paint. There were also large tracts of grass beside the houses and the spring. In the medicine field, some common desert herbs grow vigorously under the nourishment of the oasis.

The little girl with her brown hair cut short saw the approaching ship from a distance among the trees, and ran into the house yelling.

After a while, a middle-aged woman walked out of the house. She was wearing a light gray linen skirt. Her dark skin was ravaged by time, making it rough and loose.

With the cow's skull on her head and the marble potion in her hand, Liliana recognized her as a witch doctor.

This ancient medical profession has never disappeared on the mainland. Some of them are liars, magicians, and some are half-baked doctors with only superficial knowledge of herbal medicine. But there are also some people who achieve a delicate balance between medicine and magic, using both. The power of the person drives away evil diseases and illnesses.

As for this middle-aged woman, Liliana thinks she is the latter.

Because when the little girl pulled her and yelled at the approaching sand boat, her brown eyes, which had not become cloudy with age, were staring at the sky, staring at the "Wizard's Eyes" that should be hidden .

A witch doctor living in seclusion in a desert oasis?

Anyway, this is good news.

Waving her hand to dispel the magic, Liliana sailed the sand boat to the edge of the oasis.

When she walked down the gangway and came to the girl and woman standing under the shade of a tree closest to the sand boat, the girl was looking at her curiously.

"Little sister, why don't you wear it?"

Before the witch could speak, the girl with a small freckle on the bridge of her nose had already spoken to her, but before the girl could finish her words, the woman tapped her head gently and greeted Liliana.

"excuse me."

For someone who lives in seclusion in the desert, her lingua franca is incredibly good.

"Little Sparrow has never left this oasis since she was a child. She did not mean to offend your oath."

"...?"

"Lily, clothes, clothes. Without Miss Ai and Tina to remind you, you ran out without wearing anything. This witch doctor probably regarded you as a monk who followed some special vow and did not wear clothes. People."

The little doll whispered in the witch's ear. Liliana lowered her head and saw her familiar body.

Some knights and monks would indeed make some weird oaths to sharpen their faith and heart, such as not holding money or speaking words.

But not even a trace... Well, no, this is not the time to think about these things.

After gathering her divergent thoughts, the witch spoke directly to the woman.

"...Two of my companions got sick after being bitten by mosquitoes during the trip and they need help."

"Oh, it seems that you have neglected to prevent insects. Little sparrow, go home and make two clean beds. I will go up with this lady to check on her companions."

The girl called Little Sparrow nodded, looked at Liliana with a red face, turned around and ran back towards the two houses. The woman followed Liliana up the gangway and came to Tina and Ailan's ward.

After hearing the whole story, the woman quickly turned Ai over with her thick arms. Just like Liliana, she first eliminated the disgusting bugs that parasitized the larvae in the human body, and then she removed Ai. He opened the girl's eyelids, asked for a rub of salt and put it on Ai's nose, then opened her mouth, looked at the girl's thin tongue coating, touched the girl's armpits, and muttered some mantras.

Finally, she took some herbs, kneaded them into a ball covered with juice, and stuffed it into the girl's butt - this action made Ai let out a cry of shame and pain, and she turned her face away in shame and anger. , and screamed because the woman's fingers pushed the ball of grass deeper.

Liliana sat next to her poor little apprentice and comforted her. Two minutes later, Ai's face looked better.

After all this was over, the witch doctor didn't take out the weed ball, she let the girl lie down again, and nodded firmly at Liliana.

"It's a hot snake fly, this child is poisoned, the damn poisonous insect likes to use this kind of poison sipped from the hot snake's body to make the victim fall into a long-term high fever, gradually lose their resistance, and eventually become their food and seedbed .”

"Hot snake venom..."

When Alice heard this, she showed a very disgusted expression.

Hot snakes are rare herbivorous snakes, and they are not aggressive in themselves, and there are almost no cases of victims in other parts of the mainland.

But in Sinai, hot snake flies will gather in the snake's nest and extract their venomous secretions as weapons for hunting. Almost most of the hot snake venom victims are not attacked by hot snakes, but Got bitten by these annoying flies.

"...And what about this girl?"

"As for this girl, heh, she looks really tall. She is in better condition than this girl. Look, the bloodshot eyes have decreased. Although she has a fever, her throat—"

She washed her hands with water, and pushed her fingers down Tina's throat.

"Ugh—"

"..."

Wherever a witch doctor's methods of treatment are strange and brutish, they seem to work.

But the experience is really not good.

The drowsy girl twitched because of this, and the strong vomiting reaction made her wake up from the semi-consciousness. Looking at the middle-aged woman who suddenly appeared in front of her and the witch standing beside her, she felt a little dazed after several days of fever. The eyes are frightened.

Liliana came to her side, stroked her hair as if comforting Ai, and wiped away the sweat from the fever. At this time, the woman pulled out her finger and said in a firm tone:

"But the temperature in the throat is very low, and the ends of the fingers and toes are not swollen. This is cold throat disease. I don't know what the name of this disease is in your hometown, but in Sinai, it is as common as a cold."

"Will it heal soon?"

"It can't be said to be fast, but it won't be slow. It can be cured after a few days of correct medication."

After the inspection, the woman asked Liliana and Alice not to worry in a relaxed tone, and then she asked the witch to pick up Ai, and she picked up Tina and took them to the earthen house by the spring.

The little girl had made the two plank beds with clean linen, and after Ai and Tina, in their white breathable linen robes, had been placed on the bunks, the women went to bathe.

Water symbolizes the cleanliness of the soul and body. In the Sinai tradition, no matter what you do, you must start with a bath.

The little sparrow was also ordered to help Ai and Tingna take a bath. Seeing this little girl who was not even ten years old running around barefoot, the witch couldn't bear it. However, the little sparrow didn't mind the trouble. When the witch manipulated the water from the Crescent Moon Spring to flow on the two patients, the girl's eyes almost burst into stars.

"Is Miss Sister a witch?"

Nod, nod.

"Wow, wow, is she really a witch?"

Nod, nod.

"Lily is a witch, and Alice is Lily's familiar, a moving doll."

"Wow, wow—"

He yelled again.

Alice felt that this little girl with a name that is not commonly used in Sinai was very interesting, and the little doll floated in front of her, teasing the little girl.

At this moment, Liliana and Ai seemed to understand where they had come. After hearing that the witch doctor—that wrinkled, wrinkled woman with rough skin and rough movements would treat them, Ai He and Tingna both showed dull expressions.

"Miss Liliana...I don't think she looks like...a doctor at all..."

"Master, I, I also don't think she looks like..."

"...Because she's a witch doctor."

"..."

"..."

"Miss Tingna and Ai's illness, this witch doctor lady is very familiar with, so Lily and Alice decided to temporarily stop the journey and wait here for you to recover."

The faces of the two girls were almost crying.

But no matter what expressions Tina and Ai showed, this was already an established matter that would not change.

In this way, the Lightseeker docked in this unnamed oasis in the desert, and the treatment and self-cultivation began like this—although for the two people who were treated, it might be more appropriate to describe it as "torture".

The medicine that the witch doctor lady prescribed to Tina was a thick purple medicinal soup. Every morning, she added many herbs that Tina could not name to a large pot, and stirred while chanting strange words.

When the water in the pot boiled, the smell of soil and grass blades would turn into puffs of green smoke and come out of the pot—Tinna could swear she was right, the smoke was green, It's like the lush grass in the summer sun by the spring, but the medicinal soup that emits green smoke is purple, as rich as unmelted paint.

As for the taste... Every time after drinking a bowl of medicinal soup with her breath closed, the moment she regained her breath, the girl would pass out because of the taste left in her mouth and the breath rolling up from her stomach.

Even Liliana couldn't figure out why these herbs she knew turned into strange colors she had never seen before after simple brewing, and the witch doctor asked the girl to drink this medicine soup three times a day.

Therefore, Tingna also fell into a coma three times a day. After two days, Tingna's expression gradually changed from resistance and sadness to dullness and numbness. Every time she woke up from the coma, she would sit blankly for a while. However, from the first day, the fever of her body was really suppressed.

What's more, compared with Abby, Tingna felt that she was lucky.

Different from Tingna's cause, Ai's high fever is caused by toxins. Rather than treating it with drugs, it is better to use antidotes to slowly neutralize and remove the hot snake venom that has spread to the whole body through blood flow.

The best way is to exchange blood first, but there is no blood exchange equipment or blood bank here, so the only indirect method is to let Ai absorb the antidote and slowly neutralize the toxins in the body - using the rectum.

"This potion cannot be used or drunk."

According to the witch doctor, once you drink it into your stomach, you will keep blowing out gas until it makes a "bang--" like an overfilled balloon.

When the witch doctor said this, he put his hands together on his stomach, and made a gesture to spread out. Ai's face turned pale at that time. She shook her head desperately, and looked at the witch and the witch with almost pleading eyes. puppet.

But the heat all over her body made her go limp after shaking it twice.

"...Just do as you say."

Liliana nodded decisively to express her agreement with the treatment plan. The witch doctor then took out a small iron funnel with a bracket, sterilized it twice with boiling water and spirits, and then put Ai into a posture of pouting her buttocks. After smearing with olive oil, the funnel was inserted into the place where it was not originally used to "go in".

The tube of the funnel is very thin but the funnel is big. She let the boiled antidote cool down and poured it in. The two full pots did not fill it up. After pouring, she put the lid on the funnel again. Seal the gap with wax.

"...Although I have indeed seen some urban hospitals use retention enemas to deliver some medicines that are not suitable for drinking, but..."

"It's really the first time I've seen this heroic way of administering medicine..."

Unlike Tingna, who was able to move freely after drinking the medicine, Ai could only lie on the bed in that shameful posture with her butt up after she started delivering the medicine. Even if she wanted to move, it was a luxury.

Even if you go to the toilet, you can only pass through the opening on the bed, use a clay pot to connect it, and then wait for Little Sparrow or Liliana to help her pour it...

Tina could hardly imagine what a shameful experience it was. The girl only went to see Ai once, and that time, she was stared at by her horrifying eyes like she was about to kill, so she couldn't speak a word.

On the second day after coming to this oasis, the girl cried bitterly in front of Liliana because of her shame and embarrassment. In front of the subject, it almost crushed her shame and self-esteem together.

After that, Liliana never entered Ai's room separated by curtains. Every day after using magic to help the witch doctor and the little sparrow do some housework, he hugs Alice and stays with Tina and the little sparrow.

The witch doctor didn't want the gold coins handed by the witch. Instead, she hoped that they could tell the little sparrow more outside things.

"After the child learns my medicine, he will leave after all. This is the rule of our witch doctor. Knowing more about outside things is not harmful."

So in their spare time, Liliana and Tingna tried their best to tell this little girl about the world beyond the oasis, this desert.

They quickly became acquainted. Everything Liliana and Alice said made this little girl who had never left the oasis very interesting. The deep blue eyes, the sea monster and the blood race...

The scenery that cannot be interpreted even by the most magnificent illusion in the desert always makes her marvel, like a little sparrow pestering them to ask this and that.

"One day I want to see these! Like Miss Witch, sailing a beautiful ship,"

"...If it's just a sand boat, I can teach you now."

The witch, who was bored most of the time, simply took her on the sand boat and opened the solar sail after hearing what the little sparrow said.

"I, can I really drive?"

The little sparrow obviously didn't think that part of her wish could really be realized early. After Liliana nodded several times with a blank expression, she held the wheel nervously.

The little freckled face cheered when the sand boat started to move under her steering. At the beginning, she drove very slowly, and spent a whole morning circled around this small oasis carefully. Gradually, her courage gradually grew, and she began to drive a sandboat beside the oasis. Some distorted and somewhat funny patterns were drawn on the sand, and I began to move away from the oasis a little bit, to get closer to watch the morning sun and chase the fiery red sunset.

Just like every kid who gets a new toy.

Only at a certain time, when the witch doctor yelled at her to study or do housework, would she reluctantly leave the two of them, go to the house to recite the prescriptions written on papyrus, or light the fire on fire. Fire up the stove and start preparing unique food.

Their lives are like being stuck with an accurate clock. Once, Tina got up late and asked the little sparrow what time it was. The girl answered a number without thinking, accurate to the second.

"Really or not... Let me take a look... Ah, let's not go..."

A little surprised, Tina took out her pocket watch to check the time, but perhaps the overheated weather damaged this cheap gadget, and the pocket watch had stopped.

"Does Miss Liliana have a watch?"

The witch thought for a while, and then called out her own treasure. Looking at the silver pocket watch, the witch's pupils contracted slightly.

"……Yes."

She nodded calmly.

However, gradually, the witch discovered something. After the little sparrow driving the sand boat drove out of the oasis for a certain distance, she looked at the sand sea spreading to the sky, the distant horizon, no matter how much expectation she had in her eyes, she Always reluctantly turned the direction of the sand boat and returned to the surrounding oasis.

"...Actually, it doesn't matter if you drive further, although you have to drive for at least a day or two before you can see different scenery."

"No, the master said that I must learn the skills of a witch doctor before I can leave the oasis. This is the rule, and if I run too far, the master will be worried."

The little sparrow sticks out its tongue and looks far away at the undulating line at the junction of the sky and the earth.

"...One day, I will definitely be able to..."

There was longing burning in those eyes, but the witch remained silent and said nothing.

In this way, three days passed.

After several days of medication, both Tingna and Ai gradually recovered their health, their fever was suppressed, and their appetite recovered. After staying for an extra day of observation, they were about to set off.

Before leaving, the witch doctor took out a pack of herbs.

"From here to the west, it takes less than a day to reach a small village by a tributary of Nile Klei. There is a family who is about to give birth to a new child. If you go there by the way, you can help me bring the herbs to Are they?"

"……no problem."

Liliana nodded and agreed.

It was the herb used to relax the muscles. Together with the herb, it was given to the witch, as well as the medicinal materials for replenishing physical strength and the prescriptions for some common diseases. She wrote these on several pieces of papyrus and gave them to Liliana.

"...Is it necessary to give them even the prescription?"

"After all, my place is too far away from the village. If it weren't for the fact that some magic plants can be planted here, I would like to live there. However, there are occasional herb merchants passing by in that village, and they are all hands and brains." A simple drug that no one can do wrong should be enough for some common ailments."

"……I see."

Of course, this is a piece of cake, and in order to prevent such things from happening again, Liliana also plans to find a city or village in Sinai to purchase some incense to repel insects - this oasis does not have these props, and the witch doctor made them before. Both the pills and the incense are sold out.

The little sparrow watched with great reluctance as they boarded the sand boat, and watched the gorgeous solar sails raised on the deck of the sand boat, shining beautifully in the sun.

"...Speaking of which, don't let the little sparrow go out to have a look? Compared with us who are strangers, it is more appropriate for someone who knows the village to deliver the medicine. After delivering the medicine, we can send her back."

Before boarding the boat, Liliana suddenly said this to the witch doctor and the little sparrow.

The little girl's eyes suddenly lit up, and she looked at her teacher earnestly, but the witch doctor was silent. She stared into the witch's eyes from under the cow's skull, and shook her head after a while.

"You can't leave the oasis alone until you can be alone. This is our witch doctor's rule."

she says. There seemed to be something hidden in those brown eyes, and the little sparrow was a little disappointed, but she still hugged the teacher's hand tightly, and shook her head regretfully at the witch.

"……I see."

Liliana didn't say anything more, and stepped onto the sand boat.

The sandboat started.

"Goodbye—be careful in the future—"

She and the witch doctor stood on the edge of the oasis, and waved vigorously at them. After driving out of a few sand dunes, the witch turned her head.

That oasis is no longer visible.

The witch called out her treasure, and looked at the silver pocket watch and fell into deep thought. At this time, Ting Na also saw the pocket watch in the witch's hand. She came to the witch and wanted to check the time of a pair of pocket watches.

"...Eh? Why is it all right again...?"

However, after taking out the pocket watch, the girl froze for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"...No, it's nothing. I remember that my cheap pocket watch stopped running because it was too hot, but now it is going."

"I must have remembered it wrong, right? Although Sinai is hot, it's not hot enough to break a delicate mechanical watch."

"But I clearly remember..."

Listening to the conversation between Liliana and Ai, Liliana glanced at Alice, and the little queen of Shahai also frowned, and shook her head slightly at the witch.

Two days later, they headed west and stopped in a village by the river.

"...This is the village that the witch doctor said."

The witch stopped the sand boat, changed her clothes, and came to the village to ask if there was a family that was about to give birth. The villagers were very friendly to outsiders, but their faces were covered with a haze, so someone took them to a Outside and inside the house, the heart-piercing screams of the woman in order to give birth to a life were constantly echoing around.

And that voice gradually weakened.

There are old people outside the house who are constantly sighing. The women in their village have thin waists and small buttocks. Although they are slender and graceful, they always suffer a lot when they give birth. Now that the witch doctor is away, this birth may turn into a sad funeral.

"..."

"Although the witch doctor did say two days later, it's too accurate..."

Ting Na stared blankly at this scene, and watched the witch beside her go straight to the door, and handed the pack of herbs to the ferocious but powerless man outside who was clenching his fists.

"These herbs—where did you get them—"

"...Don't worry about so much, saving people is the most important thing."

Liliana didn't say much, and walked into the house directly. The man holding the herb stared at her and the large bag of herbs in his hand, slapped himself hard, and then ran away. Entering another room, roaring and praying to every god.

At night, the crying stopped, and the whole village was around this house, no matter old people or children, with their lips tightly closed. Immediately, accompanied by a crackling sound, a childish cry cracked the silence.

The first cry of a newborn baby.

The cheers were thunderous, and Tingna and Ai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

That night, a grand banquet was held in the village. As soon as Liliana walked out of the house, they were surrounded by the women of the village.

They thanked the witch for bringing them the life-saving medicine, and respectfully invited the girls to the first seat. After learning that they needed some insect repellent spices to carry with them, they took out the best from their homes.

Although Liliana and the others didn't plan to spend the night here, the witch still happily accepted a banquet.

After the warm banquet was over, the head of the village hesitantly spoke after sending them to the sand boat.

"Your Excellency the Witch, I don't know if I should ask... But those herbs and prescriptions... Are those Her Excellency the Witch, brought back from the Reed Field?"

"……Why do you ask?"

"I can recognize the handwriting on that papyrus. Rather, there is no one in this village or our generation who doesn't know each other. We have all been stroked on the forehead by that person, held in her arms and given nasty medicine... …We've seen it too many times to be mistaken, and the very chirping, energetic kid she later adopted, but."

The middle-aged man sighed long, and looked up at the dark starry sky.

"But, a year ago... yes, it was almost the family who gave birth today, shortly after they became pregnant, the desert took them away, together with that child, and that small oasis..."

"..."

"We are a remote village. Although we are just beside the tributary of Nile Klein, the land is not fertile. After planting food, we can't even squeeze out the land for planting herbs. For a long time, if someone gets sick, we can only Lock the patient in a room and obey the judgment of the gods until the witch doctor changes everything. Please tell us, my lord witch, is it because of this that the gods are angry? If so-"

The more the man spoke, the more excited he became, until the puppet on Liliana's shoulder spoke in a cold voice.

"The gods in this land are not so cruel guys, it's just... a sad tragedy that can be seen everywhere."

As if a basin of cold water had been poured on his head, the man's voice turned silent.

He folded his hands on his chest, silently repenting for his blasphemous words.

The witch didn't say anything more, boarded the sandboat, and walked into the cockpit. Tina and Ai also followed the witch to the cockpit.

The magic furnace roared, and the sand boat restarted.

"Miss Liliana, Miss Alice... what that man said, could it be..."

Tina was still a little dazed, the man's words made the experience two days ago that was not pleasant, but it did bring them back to health. She seemed to have heard such a fairy tale before:

A man lost in the wild walked into a mansion and was warmly received by the owner, but when he mentioned it to others, they told him that it was a deserted haunted house, and he must have encountered a demon, a witch, or something. The bewilderment of ghosts. So he felt terrified and went to the temple to pray. The priest used magic to make him spit out what he had eaten. It turned out that the roast goose meat was shriveled toads and lizards, the caviar was bat feces, and the fine wine was foul-smelling sewage.

"...Don't think about it, Miss Tina, it's not a dream or hallucination, your recovery is proof."

"But, but, the village chief said that the oasis was already—"

"...Haishi Zhan Tower..."

"……Eh?"

"...Does Miss Tingna know about the Hidden Tower in the Sea City? It is more common in deserts and seasides. Generally speaking, it is a prank of light and atmosphere. It cannot be touched if you get close, and it will disappear when you get close... Yes, usually Come on."

"what does that mean……"

Liliana was silent for a while, as if she was thinking about how to explain this to the girl.

"—Generally speaking, Haishi Zhanlou is just an illusion, but there are many unusual things in this world."

It was Ai who spoke first than the witch.

The girl covered one of her eyes with her hand, and after thinking briefly, she spoke:

"Actually, there are many records in the Eastern Kingdom. Fishermen drive into the market that is looming on the sea and sell their catch. The currency they exchange for is not from any country on the mainland. Travelers walking in the mountains stray into beautiful buildings, and the things they bring out from there , has never appeared on the mainland... Even the word "Haishi Zhanlou" was passed down from the Eastern Kingdom. Things that look real are actually false, and the scenery that is thought to be false can enter and bring out Things that really exist..."

Ai said, looking at Liliana.

"Master Liliana, could it be that... We just entered such a sea city by mistake, although we don't know if this is the last will of the deceased, or the space where different worlds overlap, or the retrospect of the past time ..."

"...It doesn't matter which one it is."

"Eh?"

The witch looked at Ai who was racking her brains and thinking, shook her head slightly, and then used those eyes to look at the girl who still couldn't believe it.

She shook her head slightly.

"...There are many secrets in this land. Although it is the instinct of a magician to break through the fog and find the truth, not all secrets must be revealed, and not all secrets are better revealed."

Ai showed a confused expression, she seemed a little incomprehensible, but the witch didn't say much.

She just looked at the direction of the small oasis from a distance, then turned the direction of the sand boat and sailed into the distant night.