The Witch and the Doll Swear

The outline of the tower became more and more clear, and the terrace, floor-to-ceiling windows, promenade with pointed arches and columns, and the ever-burning magic lights hanging on the window edge were also brighter than before.

Liliana frowned.

"...that's too clear."

"It's not just because the puppet and Miss Liliana are approaching, the barrier of that shadow is also gradually weakening."

"...Did it weaken too quickly?"

"So it's true..."

Compared with when he left the opera house, the shadow enchantment covering the central area of ​​the ruins became thinner, and the outline of the tower and the lights on it became more conspicuous. Through the shadow, it was like a stick holding the moon and Black columns at night.

Although I don't know how long it was, Liliana has slept five times since leaving the Opera House.

Calculated based on one day of sleep, at most six days, within six days, will the great magic designed to cover the entire central area of ​​the ruins weaken so quickly?

Liliana still remembered that when she stuck to the rescue on those suspended pools, she ate and slept every day, and was occasionally awakened by the howling of the shadow beast to look over there, and the enchantment of the shadow had not changed.

And after that, if you want to talk about the difference between this ruin and the previous hundreds of years...

That is, this living doll took back all the parts from the four temples, causing the four temples to collapse and annihilate. Considering this, it is simply...

Liliana looked down at the doll in her arms.

"In this case, we have to find a way to solve this problem before entering the main tower."

"...Yes..."

Plans don't always keep up with changes.

Initially, the goal of Liliana and the puppet was to find the hands of the puppet, unlock the gesture code lock of the [Raw Ore Hall], and pass through the channel for transporting the processed ore under the Raw Mine Hall, bypassing the shadow barrier that has lost the function of blocking shadow beasts Go straight to the inside of the main tower.

But after getting the torso and hands and feet, go underground to enter the interior of the tower, and then go all the way to the top of the tower-this route is a bit redundant.

There are still the most basic magic security agencies inside the tower, and it is too unrealistic to bet on the fact that they are all scrapped. It is better to go directly to the Sith and be completely guarded by humans before they become relics, so now there is no one. Go to the top of the dangerous tower.

In this way, the shadow enchantment that was initially determined to be bypassed became the obstacle they had to face again.

In the process of arriving at the main tower, in order for the puppet to supplement the magic power consumed by using the flying function, and for the girl to have a full rest, they stopped twice on the way, and then took off from the roof of a laboratory not far from the central area. , not long after.

The enchantment of shadows, in a literal sense, is like a wolf or tiger blocking the way, blocking it in front of it.

When the golden red wings were tens of meters away from the semicircle barrier, hundreds of ferocious beasts suddenly emerged from the hemisphere that had turned into a thin shadow.

Giant wolves, tigers, rhinos, poisonous snakes... or heads, or upper bodies, or even terrifying, several-meter-long fangs and twisted and wriggling tentacles.

The distortion of the shadow wall only takes place when the screen wall turns from eggshell-smooth to absurd nightmare. It only took a short blink of an eye, like a colony of ants stimulated by honey, like a mad shark swarming after smelling blood.

I don't know how many shadow beasts have integrated into this layer of shadow curtain that is constantly weakening, but is stable enough, and now remembering their mission of guarding the building, they bared their fangs at Liliana and the puppet.

"Wow..."

The dolls were all stunned. She knew that there were a lot of strange shadow beasts that Flamel made and stocked, but she didn't expect that these shadow creatures would be so disgusting after being crumpled together.

After the weakening of the darkness is not so deep, the enchantment of shadows is no longer an obstacle to prevent them from entering the building, but a lair where these monsters flock to.

"...Compared to the mission, I think, are they coming out so consistently because of the flames that covet Miss Doll's wings?"

"That's also possible."

"...I can't help at all."

"It's okay, it's okay, just leave it to the puppet."

A gathering of shadow beasts of this scale is no longer something that Liliana's magic can interfere with. Whether it's fireballs or arcane missiles, they are all easily swallowed by the fully materialized shadow tide.

[Ability to Seek the Truth] It has already been untied from the necklace, and another blue eyeball found in the temple where the doll's hands are placed is embedded in the eye socket of the doll as a replacement for the two eyes that have been used. Now, Lilia Na could no longer detect the structure of magic with that eye.

Liliana is a complete apprentice, and here, she can only do what a magic apprentice can do—flying uneasy in the sky by the small body of the doll, hugging her tightly She, waiting for the puppet to take her to tear apart this darkness.

"But this number... No wonder Miss Liliana only met a few shadow wolves at first, most of the shadow beasts of Sith have been integrated with this enchantment, right?"

The puppet was not in a hurry to dive towards the shadow barrier.

She took Liliana and kept a considerable distance from the barrier, flying in the night sky, the moonlight shining, where their shadows passed by, shadow beasts swarmed.

The sharp claws that can tear apart the soft body can only be swung for no reason.

The only thing that bites with teeth that are strong enough to crush the hardest bones in the human body is air.

About half a meter in diameter, the long tail with bony spurs and tentacles covered with suckers and nail-like teeth danced wildly.

But no matter which one it is, it can't touch the girl's clothes.

These monsters could only howl at the girl and the puppet, but they couldn't do anything else.

The sky is not a realm of shadows. No matter how bright the moonlight is, the shadows of Liliana and the puppet are still projected onto the interface between the earth and the shadows. The shadow beast's specialty is sneaking out from the shadows, but now the girl and her There is also a distance of tens of meters between the shadows.

"They have also been assimilated in this enchantment."

Flying in this dim semicircle of wriggling, disgusting "tentacles," the puppet suddenly spoke.

"When these shadow beasts are greedy for the shadow of the enchantment, they also lose their own 'umbra'. After these shadows without entities are mixed together, it is much more difficult to separate them. At least, they certainly cannot Come out from there intact as before, and attack the doll and Miss Liliana."

"But we can't destroy them, as long as this magic is still working, and the magic power is sent to maintain the ineffective shadow curtain, it is almost impossible to destroy them... unless we destroy the enchantment first .”

Liliana immediately realized what this meant.

"Dolls and Miss Liliana don't need to destroy them too, Miss Liliana, look."

"...?"

The puppet points in one direction with a golden-red flame.

Along the way, Liliana saw a flying silhouette, about four or five meters wide, and more than two meters high. It was a rather large figure. Although the details could not be seen clearly, but...

I always feel that the outline is somewhat familiar.

"that is?"

Her eyesight wasn't so good that she could see Liliana, a dark shadow hundreds of meters away, lowering her head clearly with the help of moonlight.

"Human-faced bats, according to Miss Liliana, they are the ones who brought Miss Liliana to [Sith], right?"

"……yes."

"They are descendants of a few human-faced bats that escaped from the laboratory after a certain experimental accident. Since there is no second portal between Sith and the outside world, they also have to travel between here and the mainland through the portal on the top of the tower. I don't know how they know this, but it doesn't matter now, what matters is that if they want to leave Sith..."

"They have to pass through this layer of shadow beasts. These shadow monsters will not be released just because they are also monsters..."

Liliana reacted immediately.

"That's right."

The puppet smiled approvingly and paused in the air.

"So, as a reference, the puppet and Miss Liliana should take a good look at how they pass through here."

In the distance, the human-faced bat has gradually flown to the edge of the shadow curtain.

Like a puppet, the large bat with a face-like pattern on its membranous wings did not rush through the wriggling shadow.

It hovered over the barrier, and where the shadow passed by, shadow beasts assimilated with the barrier emerged from the surface of the barrier in groups. As soon as this monster moved, the shadow beasts also formed. Sliding on the surface of the world, they emerged from the shadows in groups, but no matter what, they couldn't touch those flapping wings.

From here, to there, from there, to here.

The man-faced bat flew in the sky, and the shadow beast squirmed on the barrier. This lasted for quite a long time. During this process, Liliana noticed a change.

The number of shadow beasts has decreased.

She must have seen it right, as time passed, the group of wriggling monsters was gradually decreasing. In the beginning, they were like large patches of measles on the entire shadow barrier, but now, these shadow beasts assimilated with the barrier seemed to realize that they could not touch the high life, so they melted back into the shadow curtain.

After such a process finally came to an end, even the thick tentacle that persisted the longest slowly slipped back.

The human-faced bats were still flying, but those shadow beasts no longer paid attention.

And at this moment, flying above the enchantment, leisurely like this human-faced bat that just came out for a walk after dinner, suddenly turned around and went down.

With just one flap of its wings, the patterned membranous wings that were several meters long were retracted, and the man-faced bat whose body width suddenly shrank turned into a galloping arrow and fell straight down. The distance from the shadow barrier was almost It was reduced to extremely short in an instant.

The shadow beasts who seemed to have given up seemed to have finally reacted when the man-faced bat was about to hit that layer of shadow screen, and shadows rippled at the position where the man-faced bat was about to fall.

They let out different roars, setting off waves of sharp claws and sharp teeth and alien organs.

The movement of these pure shadows is almost completely against the well-known physical rules. Liliana's eyes didn't even catch the process of them drilling out from the surface of the barrier, and she had already seen that they were about to tear the monster's body apart. result.

However, the bloody end did not come, and the man-faced bat did not change its flight trajectory.

It was just a circle of sky blue thunder, bursting out from its body, flashing bright for a moment.

In the light, the monster surrounded by the wall of the ball formed by the thunder passed straight through the curtain of shadow.

After the light faded, shadow minions came after it from the other side of the veil, but failed to catch up.

"...Although I don't know why they want to go out, it's surprisingly easy to understand."

"...I didn't expect it to be so simple..."

This time, even if Liliana didn't see clearly again, she figured out what method these human-faced bats used to pass through the enchantment where an unknown number of shadow beasts gathered.

The method is simple, really simple.

Taking advantage of the characteristic that shadow beasts will be extremely weakened or even eliminated under strong light, through the natural magic of controlling lightning, add a layer of bright shield to yourself, use the high speed of falling to pass through in a short time, and turn back The same method can also be used. Although the enchantment itself is covered by some kind of magic on the inside of the shadow curtain, if the shadow beast comes out, it can probably be seen.

It's not as complicated as imagined, but if you think about it carefully, if even these monsters can do it, then it certainly won't be such a complicated thing.

"The long flight before was to let these impatient shadow beasts relax and buy time. Although they have the talent to control lightning, that kind of spherical lightning may not last for a long time. Maybe Liliana Miss was also brought out like this?"

"... When I first arrived here, I didn't feel the numbness of the electric shock. So now we have to use this method to go through again?"

"No, there is an easier way for dolls. Speaking of which, you should be able to find them without looking for these bat dolls and Miss Liliana..."

After knocking on the little head, the puppet spread its hands left and right after speaking.

The darkness slowly gathers. In the field of vision, the moonlight gradually disappeared until there was only darkness in front of my eyes.

So Liliana also understood.

Not only the glare, but the shadow beasts will also disappear in an instant in the pure darkness.

"Although the puppet does not know magic, it is still possible to use the function of the puppet to simulate the effect of darkness. Pure darkness and pure light are fatal to the shadow beast. In this way, you can pass through it without incident. gone."

"... But Miss Doll, there will be another problem."

"What is it?"

"...How do we know we've passed through the barrier?"

After a few seconds of silence, the black ball in midair disappeared.

"Then, just use it when you're about to touch it."

In order to make up for the embarrassment of those few seconds, the puppet with its wings swooped down. When it was about ten meters away from the barrier, the puppet separated its hands again, and the dark elements quickly condensed, completely drowning out all the light .

No stars, no moon, no light, it was pure darkness.

If she was still in her own home by the Emerald Pooh River, such darkness would make the girl feel relieved and nostalgic instead of nervous. Liliana hugged the doll tightly, almost screaming.

It's not that she doesn't believe in the puppet's plan, but that the puppet's unthinking actions caught her by surprise after she noticed the small loophole in the plan.

This shouldn't be her illusion. After the doll is complete, its character or personality becomes more distinct and positive.

"——!!!"

The roar of the shadow beast still echoed in his ears.

A moment ago, they waited until the heavenly delicacy aroused their bloodthirsty desires.

At the next moment, apart from the echoing reverberations in the ear canals, there was silence in the darkness, only the even-numbered soft voices of the villains.

Even if they only have an IQ that is enough to be called stupid, those monsters that would perish without the light are more in awe of darkness than anyone else. They dare to roar in front of the light, but they dare not step into any pure darkness, and they dare not even make a sound .

"9, 10... almost, Miss Liliana."

When the little puppet slowed down and waved away the darkness that enveloped the two of them, they had come to a place that these ferocious beasts could not reach. Liliana turned her head after the darkness faded, her curiosity drove the girl, making her want to see What kind of reaction would those shadow beasts have when the darkness approached, but in the slight dazzle, there was only a star-sparse night sky.

"The puppet and Miss Liliana have arrived at the main tower area."

The puppet is calling her.

Only then did Liliana turn her head again, overlooking everything illuminated by the silver brilliance under the night sky.

"Well……"

She couldn't help but narrow her eyes.

Although it was only a short dozen seconds, the girl was still dazzled by the sudden fall into pure darkness and the sudden recovery of bright light.

When she blinked vigorously to get rid of this uncomfortable feeling, she was shrouded in shadow, and only the outline and some sparse areas of light could be seen outside, and finally appeared in front of her eyes.

There was not nothing beneath the tower, nor was there darkness in the shadows.

From the sky to the earth, this place is far brighter than the sparse lights seen outside the barrier, and the white light illuminates the black marble Gothic houses and the granite roads. There are many street lamps, and at the intersection of some streets, there are some crystals that are bright and dazzling. Maybe these are the center of magic power, or the diversion valve of the magic power of the street, probably the dots of light seen from the outside are these Bar.

The same crystal is also inlaid on the tower, becoming the light above the tower seen through the enchantment of shadow. This is the area of ​​the main tower. No matter from which angle you look at the buildings that can almost be called the city, you can't avoid the towering round tower.

Without the cover of that layer of shadow, Liliana can see more details of the tower, those scattered stone slabs, weathered and incomplete reliefs, layers of terraces and the Gothic style that every building on the tower has. The standard spiers are all from the era of the ancient magic empire, but the tower itself is not the slightest slender and gorgeous.

Rather than saying it was a tower, it was better to say that it was just like the girl's imagination, a tall tower raised to the sky in order to support the icy moon. Two lands bent like ribbons are floating on the left and right. I don’t know if the people who live and live here will feel trembling when they see these two lands suspended above their heads.

"...like a city..."

"It's just a city. When it had the most people, there were 3,000 people living in the main tower area. There must be some big project being researched here. It would be great if we could find clues..."

Under the tower and the two pieces of land, the blocks and houses are arranged in a geometric beauty. Flying above, Liliana sees all hard marble and granite, from the tower to the city, even the streets. Every brick has a natural pattern familiar to girls.

Now, only the most extravagant nobles will use these expensive and rare beautiful stones in the reception room or ballroom, but here, every building is composed of them.

There is no doubt that these stones come from the Inland Sea of ​​Elegance. I don’t know that for these majestic creations, the magicians of the ancient magic empire wiped at least several small islands off the map. It was such an era, prosperous, powerful, but It also permeates the madness of seeking truth in the bones of magicians. Even their buildings, their creations, seem to exude a subtle madness under the surface of elegance and wisdom.

The puppet and Liliana approached the tower while overlooking the ancient ruins.

"The preservation here is better than other places."

"...The streets are full of shadow beasts, are they attracted by the light?"

"Probably, before it is strong enough to eliminate shadows, stronger light will only bring deeper shadows, both of which are irresistible to shadow beasts."

In the sky, the girl and the puppet were talking. The half-light and half-shadowed street looked mysterious and spectacular, but they didn't plan to go down, and they didn't even have the idea of ​​lowering their altitude so that they could see more clearly.

Compared with the street, the square and spire at the top of the main tower, which are more important to them, are in front of them. They are all a little excited, and the dolls can hear the trembling cheers leaking from the bottom of the girl's heart.

Such emotions also infected the puppet. She fanned the golden red fire feathers and raised the flying height again. Hundreds of shadows immediately emerged from the hidden side of the shadow barrier. These brainless monsters Roaring at them, the puppet and the girl couldn't help holding their breath when they looked at the lawn, pool, fountain and half-hollowed-out spire at the top of the tower, covering all of these.

Because of the great long moon.

Because this is the tower that supports the moonlight.

Counting from top to bottom, the second floor, the top of the entire tower is supported by this entire layer of thick stone pillars, blocking the front of the moon, and the ends of the two lands are connected to the hall by two bridges.

On this floor, there are more bright chandeliers than stone pillars, many of which are extinguished, but many others are just a little dim. The bottom-up light and moonlight illuminate the top floor together, and the scattered shadows are poetically tiled On grass, flagstones and water.

Their target was at the very center of these shadows. From far away, both Liliana and the puppet saw the human-faced bat. This big bat passed through the broken window on the spire and flew to a place. Above the pool, a blue light flashed, and the monster disappeared.

Unimpeded.

"Just fly there."

"...However, although it is only now that the ruins have been sealed, the teleportation magic is still in operation."

It doesn't get any more exhilarating than that.

Even Liliana's question was so careless, the girl stared at the place where the blue light was shining, almost crying.

Finally, no matter what, it is finally possible to leave.

"Because this method of sealing is called [conditional sealing]. The small world directly in the void is not so stable. Once the teleportation magic connecting each other is completely closed, it will be very troublesome to open it again, Miss Liliana said. The abyss where I fell should be full of magma... It seems that I am not listening."

"...?! No, no, I just..."

"Don't be nervous, don't be afraid, Miss Liliana can go home soon, so."

Flapping its wings, accelerating, and flying to a height overlooking the top of the tower, the puppet smiled at the flustered girl.

"So please be happy."

Liliana stared blankly at the puppet who raised her face in her arms and smiled towards her. Shaken, nervous and flustered all left slight signs on her face. At the end of these mixed emotions, Liliana Na softly smiled.

"……Um."

The mixed emotions haven't gone away, but they're nothing compared to this smiling face relaxing for the first time.

Holding the huge moon, the tower is getting closer and closer.

"Then, it's time to land."

The flying speed slowed down. In order to land, the puppet lowered the frequency of flapping its wings, and together with Liliana, it descended from a height high enough to overlook the tower.

Everything seems to be developing towards a happy ending, here there are only moonlight and Liufeng, neither of which will become their hindrance.

In no time, she would be safe.

Looking at the puppet in her arms, Liliana pursed her lips.

As long as she passes through the portal, she can return to the mainland.

Although I don't know if the opposite side of the portal will be the abyss after the lava has receded, but as long as she leaves here, she and the puppet will have a way to call for help and be rescued. will no longer be able to threaten her.

Yes, everything seems to be heading towards a happy ending.

Except, a bunch of bells.

--jingle.

—jingle bell, jingle bell—

"...??"

"This voice is...?"

The crisp wind chimes mixed with the summer night wind, and the puppet shook its ears, feeling a sudden chill.

When did this bell ring? She tried to recall, but found nothing. It didn't take much time from the distance of 50 meters to 20 meters from the top of the tower, but the puppet couldn't find when the sound sounded.

"Did Miss Liliana hear that too?"

Creepy.

The puppet yelled loudly at the flying girl supported by him. Liliana lowered her head and looked at her. From those dark eyes, the puppet saw the same horror as herself!

"Can't get any closer!"

"...we must rush over immediately!"

They spoke at the same time, but they had different opinions. After they finished speaking, both the doll and the girl fell into silence. In the silence, the golden red wings were still flapping, pushing them to the tower.

--jingle--

The wind chimes are crisp.

The puppet was stunned suddenly, something suddenly gushed out from her heart that didn't beat, a kind of will, a kind of emotion, a kind of grand and majestic thing that she couldn't understand.

Responsibilities, wishes, dreams, missions...

Mission, yes, is a kind of mission, awakened or infused by this curling bell, so that after she finished saying "can't get closer", she spontaneously had a strong impulse to go there and hit the barrier of reason superior.

"Miss Doll, speed up!"

"?!"

The puppet opened its mouth wide, and their speed was still slowing down, but they still didn't stop.

perhaps. Liliana recognized this as the puppet's decision to adopt her strategy, urging her to speed up, rushing to the lawn on the top of the tower or even rushing into the portal when the ringtone didn't show any more dangerous effects.

It's a risky choice, but only now.

Just do it.

The puppet opened its mouth, ready to respond to the decision.

"..."

"...?!"

There was no sound, Liliana showed a frightened expression on her face, they started to accelerate, and the puppet felt that something was wrong, because she hadn't controlled the wings to accelerate——

"...?"

The aphasic silence was broken.

The wind blew up the golden hair, and the puppet suddenly realized that something was wrong. Liliana looked down at her in horror. There was no golden red wing light in those eyes.

"【The soft feathers of the vulture, follow the long wind blowing in the sky!】"

fall.

After a long time, Liliana used her body to feel the oncoming wind when she fell.

The difference from the last time is that this time the chasing and falling is not a bottomless dark abyss, but a vast sky where you can see your ending clearly. Same as the last time, Liliana is not clear what happened this time. what.

After the series of wind chimes, the dolls suddenly retracted their wings, completely ignoring that they were in the high sky where even their bones would be smashed after falling, even though they screamed and called out, they did not respond, and their sapphire pupils were no longer there. Focus——

Liliana had no idea what happened.

She could only take out the scroll of Feather Fall from the space storage ring in the first second of the fall, and then realized in the second second that she couldn't let go of the puppet wrapped in her hands to grab the scroll and tear it apart. When she fell to the center of the hall with many stone pillars and was still falling at an accelerated rate, the girl almost screamed and sang the interpretation of the magic she used the most in this ruin.

"[Feather Fall Technique!]"

Immediately afterwards, the space storage ring popped out the shriveled spider's silk sac, a small test tube of viscous solution.

The falling speed will be decelerated for a short period of time according to inertia after the Feather Falling Technique takes effect. During this period of time, the new [interpretation] was quickly sung by the girl.

"[With the eight-legged lady's will, hold the silk net!]"

"【Black Widow's Thread Pulling Spider Web Technique!】"

A spider web with a radius of several meters flew out of the girl's hand and stuck to the granite wall. A white thread extended downward from the center of the spider web, and finally wrapped around one of the girl's little fingers.

Sufficient viscosity and sufficient toughness, plus the Feather Fall technique makes the body light. These three elements gathered together to stop the falling momentum of Liliana and the doll.

The speed that finally decayed to 0 became the length of the white line. After the elastic deformation ended, Liliana, who was holding the motionless doll tightly with one hand, realized that the back of the dress had been wet. up.

"...It's really...dangerous..."

The lungs that squeezed out every trace of breath during the chant were filled with air again. Liliana, who was floating in the night wind hanging high in the sky, moved her fingers with lingering fear, letting the spider that was only wrapped around the little finger of her left hand Silk also wrapped around her ring finger and middle finger, and was finally clenched by her palm.

The girl swayed and turned around, leaning against the wall of the tower with her bare feet.

"If I had known this, I shouldn't have cut off my toenails to make it easier to walk while wearing shoes..."

Liliana sighed at the coldness coming from the soles of her feet and the height of the cobwebs sticking to her.

It is not difficult to climb from here to the floor with many stone pillars. Feather Fall can make the most difficult climb as easy as swinging. If the dragon's nails are still there, it will be easier.

But because of the deformed feet, it is difficult to wear shoes. After the doll got back the arm, Liliana tried to subtract the hard and sharp nails. As a result, the shoes were lost in the sky above the lake. up.

Moreover, Liliana is not sure that climbing up is a good choice now.

—jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell bell—

The sound of the wind chimes continued.

To her it was just a piece of music with quaint rhythms.

Liliana stared at the doll's lifeless eyes, and the street below was not much thicker than a match. Her arms around the doll tightened slightly, and after a while.

Liliana climbed up the outer wall of the tower to the hall lined with stone pillars.

Brightly lit.

A straight staircase is sandwiched between two rows of neat stone pillars, and the bridges on both sides of the hall connect the two suspended lands. Apart from the stone pillars, there are only mosaics on the floor and chandeliers on the ceiling, which can even be said to be very unpleasant.

But just above this layer, there are lawns, streams and plain white flowers.

"The function here is actually a banquet hall. Whenever there is any progress in research, or a major breakthrough is made, or every festival, the two emperors will order fine wine, cigars, and women. At that time, except for a few people Unable to leave their posts, almost everyone will come here, use magic to create tables and chairs, raise their glasses, and drink to their heart's content."

The puppet whispered, staring at the stone pillars and lights here in a daze.

"Sometimes the lewd banquet lasts for a day and a night. Everyone is so drunk that they can't get up from the woman's body. It takes a lot of time to clean up the aftermath. Even so, they still enjoy it. Almost every month, There will always be a banquet like this here."

"...I always thought magicians hated banquets."

Perhaps because of the wind blowing in the sky all the time, there is no dust on the smooth mosaic floor, and the lights, the moon, and the figure of the girl are printed on the stone bricks of various colors.

Unknowingly, the sound of the wind chimes disappeared. Just as it quietly appeared, now, this sound also quietly disappears.

"Is it surprising? But magicians are not completely rational creatures. They also have emotions to vent and desires to satisfy. Not everyone can be desperate as long as they can pursue the truth-this is what a recorder wrote in a certain In the duty report, he described a certain banquet in very extravagant words, it was simply a paradise of desires, and a hell of morality and law.”

The doll looks up from the girl's arms to the shining chandelier.

Each lamp is made of gold, and each lamp is lit with enchanted diamonds. If it is flesh and blood, the eyes might be pricked to tears by the brilliance of money.

From here, the tower is no longer a solid, cold research institution, but a palace, a dance floor.

The alchemy sage, who is famous for his casualness and pleasure, led an elite team of magicians here to guard the door to the outside world. There are no more people stationed here, but the floor here. The smooth stone pillars still seem to retain their luxury.

"The puppet has always wanted to see this place, to see the world that is only recorded in the puppet's knowledge in words and pictures..."

The little puppet smiled softly.

"Now the puppet has seen it."

"... Let's not talk about this first, just now, what happened?"

Slightly, avoiding the blue sea-like sight, Liliana walked towards the stairs in the middle with a blank expression.

"The puppet doesn't know. After the bell rang, the puppet became speechless. Not only could it not speak, but it also couldn't move its hands, feet and neck. The wings of the seraphim also suddenly disappeared. , when it fell, the puppet originally wanted to use the function of [Walking in the Abyss] to directly make a slideable ramp for Miss Liliana to slide to the top of the tower... but that function was also unavailable."

"...Didn't it mean that there is no defense mechanism on the tower? This is also in the part of the memory that was erased?"

"The puppet doesn't know..."

Weakly slumping its shoulders, the doll could only repeat "I don't know" when faced with the girl's question.

The excitement of seeing this scene with my own eyes was immediately extinguished.

More urgent and doubtful questions re-germinated along with the spontaneous emotions.

"Puppet, what the hell is it..."

But the puppet didn't stay depressed for long.

Basically, as long as there is a question, there will be an answer, and the answer can be found slowly after it is safe. The most urgent thing is to leave the ruins of [Sith].

This has always been her consensus with girls.

"..."

Liliana didn't speak again, she went straight to the bottom of the stairs without railings, hesitated for a moment, and then stepped on the stone steps.

A blue light flashed across the top of the tower, and Liliana, who was holding the doll, stepped stiffly on the next step, but she quickly realized that it was not a defensive magic that no doll knew, but Something went through the portal again.

"Miss Liliana, don't worry too much, no matter what happens, the doll will protect you."

Maybe it was another human-faced bat, and he seemed like a frightened bird.

Putting the puppet's words behind her, Liliana walked up the stairs step by step.

After stepping on the last level, the top of the tower supported by stone pillars is a garden of lawns and pools, just like the sea, just like the name of this area, demure and elegant.

All that is seen in the sky - those knee-high grasses, covered pebble paths, fountains wriggling on the water, those delicate and beautiful statues, now, if a girl wants to get close, they are within reach .

Even under the hollowed-out spiers with graceful arcs as the motif, the portal with blue lights shining——

"……Eh?"

The moon, which was closer than ever, cast silver light and shadows on the ground at the top of the tower.

In the middle of the shadow, in front of the portal.

……No way.

Liliana's eyes widened in disbelief.

……No way.

She bit her lip hard.

Her eyes clearly saw two figures.

One tall, one short.

One was wearing the robes common to magicians.

One of them was wearing an expensive and exquisite dress.

"Miss Liliana, someone, it doesn't look like the clothes in the doll's memory."

The puppet frowned, and held the girl's trembling hand warily.

She felt immediately that the girl's trembling was not from fear.

"...That would be Miss Liliana—eh?!"

Slap.

The puppet blinked, and looked at the girl's fluttering skirt in a daze, and she was thrown down.

And the girl ran towards the portal, more precisely, in the direction of the two figures, stepping on the rustling grass blades, stepping on the crystal calm pool water, crying, shouting, and constantly repeated.

Those are two names.

"Mentor Tai Lun!!"

One, belongs to the teacher of magic that the girl respects.

"Miranda!"

The other is an excellent playmate chosen by the parents since the girl was sensible.

The night wind spread her hoarse shouts throughout the courtyard, and the figures who seemed to be arguing in front of the portal turned their heads, and seeing the girl running towards them staggeringly under the moonlight, they called out that name in astonishment.

"Miss Liliana?!"

"Liliana?! Your hair—"

This name belongs to Emerald Pearl, the youngest member of the Einsteins family, a noble bloodline of the royal family of the Holy Seven Hills Empire, and belongs to a girl who was assassinated some time ago and her whereabouts are unknown.

This call finally disintegrated the girl's last strength.

Liliana threw herself into their arms, amidst their incredulous expressions and shocked greetings, amidst the warmth of a person that she hadn't felt for too long.

The girl who had been expressionless all this time was just, just, wailing.