The Witch and the Doll Swear

The next day, Tina got up early.

Please Alice wakes her up at dawn, the sky is still dark, everything is shrouded in darkness, there is no sign of dawn coming.

It's always like this in winter.

Even Miss Doll maintained a solemn expression of prayer and said seriously that in winter, even the great Saigon Sun would lie in the warm bed, so lying in bed in winter is the great sun that gives people inviolability divine right.

It is said that the Sun Sect, which still has a considerable number of knights on the mainland today, does have such teachings. When changing clothes, Ting Na joked that such a sect must be very popular.

In the soft conversation between the puppet and the girl, Miss Witch was still curled up in the bed, her petite body exuding the intoxicating aroma of wine.

Tina fell asleep before she got back to her room yesterday, and there was not a single drop of the two dozen wine bottles she had left on her bedroom desk.

It seems that although the amount of alcohol is exaggerated, it is still in the category of human beings after all. After drinking too much alcohol, it will also sleep more time. After getting dressed, Tingna sat next to Liliana and stroked her head. But the charming witch didn't even react at all, she breathed lightly, and the breath she exhaled turned her into a jug of seductive wine.

"Miss Tingna, it's almost time to go to the big bath."

"Well, good, good."

This made the girl take some effort to control her reason and leave from the bed.

"If Miss Tingna can't help it, it's okay to attack Lily, okay?"

"Assaulting a sleeping girl is a big problem both morally and legally! And..."

After hesitating again and again, Ting Na, who was only wrapped in a bathrobe because she was going to the big bath, let out a long sigh.

"...I have encountered a problem in life."

It came out very naturally, in front of Alice, these things that I would never dare to say to Liliana or anyone else, I could speak naturally.

"For Ms. Tina, Lily symbolizes the world and the unknown, symbolizes a life that has never been thought of but is now going on, longing for and admiring, but also hesitating because of it... the simplest influence , if Miss Tina followed Lily and Alice to travel across the mainland, then love, marriage, family, children...the lives of these ordinary people can be predicted to be on the other side of the horizon.”[1]

"That's right, I can't even imagine what would happen if my parents knew about this, although they are still quite enlightened..."

"But if you don't move forward like this, you will be left farther and farther away by Ai?"

"Hmm..."

Thinking of the girl who didn't hesitate at all, the girl shook her head in distress, looking up at today's calendar and time, she thought for a long time, and ended the topic with a second sigh.

She was going to the Great Bath now, and handed over the wax-sealed scroll—the one with Liliana's signature, the proof that she could purchase various raw materials from the Mage Association.

Aged wine only needs grapes and time, but the flavor of fast-brewed wine whose longest brewing time does not exceed 2 days is not only the quality of the grape itself, but also various auxiliary materials are also very important. Liliana needs to solve the problems of the merchants. Question, Jester has to coordinate the preparations for the judging session. On balance, it is most appropriate to entrust the work of purchasing raw materials to Mary.

At least Alice and Liliana thought so.

"Would Miss Alice come with you?"

"Miss Tina needs to help Alice wash her hair, because Alice no longer has the magic power to move her body."

"No problem, ah, take off your clothes first."

He hugged Alice beside the pillow, and helped her take off the seemingly simple but gorgeous nun dress, leaving only the golden cross pendant on her chest.

Speaking of which, Miss Alice doesn't wear anything under her clothes either...

"The so-called nun, saint or priestess refers to a woman who is ready to dedicate her body to God anytime and anywhere."

The golden eyes blinked, and Alice seemed to sense the girl's thoughts.

"Gods have been away from the world since the third era. Before that, all kinds of gods still appeared in front of believers from time to time. It was also an era when the patriarchal society was stable and women's power was weak. Regardless of time and place, they used their bodies Serving the gods is the job of female priests, and not wearing underwear is the belief of nuns—this trend will change after the collapse of the magic empire and the complete cleansing of heresy in the church.”

"Eh? But isn't the Sun Sect the current religion?"

Wrapping the puppet's human body with a towel, Tina was a little curious.

"But Alice belongs to that era."

"...??"

It took a lot of effort. Only under the explanation of the little puppet did Tina understand what this sentence refers to, "now, Alice wearing the costume of [Sun Princess]"—that is, [Sun Queen] Alice belongs to that era's identity.

Even with the same identity, different eras are not the same.

So, she sticks to the definition of that identity, and if she doesn't, her self-awareness will be disturbed, and she won't even be able to act.

"In the final analysis, Alice is not an ordinary living doll. I don't know where Alice's soul exists, and I don't know if it was extracted from someone and sealed into this body. Incapable of defining yourself."

"Yeah……"

After acquiring some useful knowledge, the girl holding the doll walked down the stairs in her yukata.

Soon, she regretted it.

Although the sky was still dark, the first floor of the castle was brightly lit.

Bare-chested men with muscular silhouettes wrapped in sweat mist walked back and forth at both ends of the corridor, carrying grapes and other ingredients from the cold storage, and younger teenagers were doing it with mops and rags. Daily cleaning.

In order to prepare for the daily work, and now to prepare for the tasting, the day of the winery starts very early.

Seeing Tina, they all stopped what they were doing.

"..."

what to do?

Her footsteps froze completely, and only then did Tina realize that there seemed to be very few women in this winery, all of them were strong men and young guys, and every pair of their eyes was fixed on her protruding from the bottom of the bathrobe. Here comes the half calf.

Someone even whistled at her, loud and clear like a titmouse flying down from the top of the clouds, flying to her ear and turning around, nothing was exposed where it should not be exposed, but for some reason the strong shame drove her to whistle. Tina wanted to disappear from their eyes immediately.

But if you run, this long but loose bathrobe will only reveal more skin, and there will be a large group of tits chirping in your ears.

——Love, Miss Alice, what should I do!

The first time I used the pair of [Iola telepathy] engraved on the black pearl ear clips, it was actually for this kind of thing.

The trigger condition for this magic is a strong desire to confide something to someone. She was a little confused yesterday, but now she understands.

——Would it be enough to just walk over there?

Alice answered in this way. The little puppet looked at the girl's clothes. Except for a small part of the calf and ankles, almost no skin was exposed. She didn't understand what Tina was nervous about.

But Tina couldn't move.

She doesn't think she has crowd phobia, but standing in front of a large group of men wearing only a bathrobe still makes her feel ashamed from nowhere, and she can hardly walk out.

"What are you doing, what are you doing, don't stop what you're doing!"

The roar of the lioness came from behind Tina, and the chirping tit flew away, and the red-haired girl came from the other side of the corridor. The eyes of the men moved away from Tingna in unison, and the actions at hand resumed. They were like small animals trying to escape from the predator's hunting ground.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ting Na quickly ran across the corridor, the long hem of the bathrobe fluttered, not revealing much skin, but following the booing sounds, Ting Na pressed the clothes tightly, her cheeks flushed.

The booing soon turned to pleadings, but Mary had no intention of letting them go.

The girl twisted a boy's ear, and with the other hand stopped the boy who was holding a basket of grapes and wanted to slip away. She stood beside Tingna, bent down and pulled her trouser legs to her knees , and pushed Tina hard again.

Pushed from behind, Tina was like a frightened rabbit. After understanding Mary's plan, she quickly ran away from the corridor.

"Why, haven't you seen a woman's calf? Come on, I'll show you all."

Such a voice came from behind, and then the men laughed, but the laughter soon disappeared, and the noise of work enveloped the corridor again.

After a while, Mary walked in in the women's locker room of the large public bath.

"Sorry, they don't mean anything malicious, but there are very few young women in the winery, and they happen to be at this age, nah."

While speaking, Mary took off the white apron she was wearing outside her clothes. She glanced at Tina's attire, and then tilted her head in doubt.

"Do all women in the South wear clothes like this when they go to the shower?"

"...No, it's just my habit..."

In Liliana's high tower, she soaked in the hot springs every day, and loose and convenient bathrobes gradually became a girl's habit, but now should not be the time to resolve this misunderstanding.

Tingna took out the scroll written by Liliana from the space storage ring, and she could go to the Magicians Association to buy the scroll of Mozhi at a discounted price, and handed it to the girl.

"Miss Liliana has something for you."

"I know, my father has already told me that our little lord has something to give to me, Miss Tina, but wait a while."

"Huh? Why?"

"Why do you say... just handing over work-related things to me before taking a comfortable bath in the morning, isn't it a bit too that, and I've already stripped off."

While speaking, Mary had already taken off her clothes. Unlike Tina, because she had worked in the winery for many years, her muscular body was revealed in front of the girl's eyes.

...Indeed, it would be inappropriate to give that out now.

...And, even there is red...

Putting away the scroll, subconsciously looking at Mary's body, Tina thought a little impolitely.

"Okay, you can take it off too. Although there are few women, the size of the bath is not as big as that of the men's bath, but it is still very comfortable. Miss Alice... do dolls like baths too?"

"Because Lily likes it very much, and Alice likes it too."

"Yeah……"

Mary fell silent suddenly.

The red-haired girl stared at Tinna who untied the towel from Alice's body and put it in the rattan basket together with the bathrobe, and waited until Tinna looked into her fiery red eyes with some doubts.

"Miss Tingna, speaking of it, I don't know your age yet..."

"Eh? I'm already 20 years old...

Ting Na, who picked up the little doll again, was taken aback for a moment, and then she found that Mary's eyes were staying on a certain part of her body before her...

bow your head.

"..."

It was as delicate and smooth as a baby.

"!!!There is a reason for this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, there is a reason!!!!!!"

Tina let out her first scream of the day.

………………………………………………………………………………

The brewing business in Olympion has always been a man's domain.

Although this is true of most industries except the custom industry, it is even more so in wineries. A certain emperor of Olympian even made the following speech:

"The only job for women in the winery is to maintain a pure body, wash their feet clean and break the skin of the grapes, what else can they do? Let the boys have an eye addiction?"

Obviously a very problematic statement, but it has always been the case in Olympian's winery that women only use their feet to work during the step of breaking the skin.

Until now, there are still many people who think that the best wine can be made by stepping on the broken grapes with the feet of beautiful and pure girls, but Masura Winery switched to machines a few years ago.

Therefore, except for some old people in the family, the women working in the winery, except for Mary, only have a few descendants of the family.

Therefore, compared to the baths where the men were so wide that they could almost swim, the tiled baths where Mary, Tina, and Alice soaked their bodies from the shoulders down into the hot water were much smaller.

But Tina had never seen the men's bathhouse next door, so she lowered her head and listened to Mary's words, her face flushed.

"Women in the south will make it so clean... won't it feel chilly?"

After complaining about the smallness of the women's bathroom, Mary brought the topic back,

...I can't take it anymore.

"No, that, it's just my personal behavior. Most people don't leave it hairless. It's indeed a bit chilly at first, but after getting used to it, it just returns to the feeling of childhood."

Tina never thought that her act of making herself naked would arouse Mary's great interest, even elevated to the level of cultural customs in the north and south, and the most troublesome thing was that she still didn't know how to explain it.

Tell Mary it's because I like Liliana's tender and cute feeling?

She will definitely be regarded as a pervert... Ah, Miss Alice, don't laugh.

"Eh, so..."

Seeing that Tina suddenly began to rub the hair of the doll who was smiling slightly for some reason, Mary lowered her head, and through the water mist and clear hot water, a piece of red seaweed swayed under her lower abdomen.

"...I didn't like being a kid."

That is a sign that he is no longer young and has grown up.

"……Eh?"

"No, it's nothing. I think if a girl is still stepping on grape skins, it might be more hygienic to shave the underside? But the winery has completely replaced it with machines now."

Before Tingna could figure out the relationship between clean shaving and hygiene, the girl changed the subject casually, her expression becoming calm.

"That was the traditional way in the early days of the brewing industry, when there were no machines. However, Alice felt that Miss Mary was a person who respected and admired tradition. She would lose her temper just because she had to brew instant wine in the tasting meeting, but in the But here you look very proud?"

Combing the long golden hair messed up by Tingna, only the doll wearing the golden cross necklace blinked the same golden eyes.

Maybe there was only one personality-defining decoration left. Her voice was very, very soft, and it was only because there was no one else in the big bath, so Mary could hear it clearly.

She froze for a moment, then grinned slightly.

"I used to learn magic for a period of time, under the guidance of Master Jamie, who was not the head of the association at the time. Although I only learned it for half a year, I returned to the winery because my brain was not good enough, but I did an experiment in the mage tower. .”

"experiment?"

"Is there any difference between the wine made from the girl's feet and the grapes whose skins were broken by the machine? The result of the experiment is yes. The former is more dangerous in terms of hygiene, but in terms of flavor? I asked 20 people about the two wines. No one has definitively shown that the former is better."

Mary shrugged.

"So I went back to the winery and after a few years when my father tried to get me to manage the winery, I first changed the method of breaking the skins to a machine."

"This is really, an unexpected answer..."

"But Miss Alice is right. I am a person who advocates tradition...or in other words, a stubborn and old-fashioned person with a bad temper. I will never compromise on brewing things...In this Golden Demon Tree Before the disaster, I did not compromise."

Mary leaned against the tiles of the bath, exhaling long, pleasantly.

"Old people in my family sometimes describe me as more of an old man than they do, and I know that, but I don't intend to change."

That face literally said, "Ask, ask, and I'll tell you."

"Not going to change, are you?"

Although it is a private matter, if I am willing to confide in others, a little curiosity is allowed, right?

Ting Na, who was thinking like this, spoke in the lingering mist.

Mary was silent for a while, then picked up a small wooden bucket from the side of the bath, filled it with hot water and poured it over her head.

The fiery red hair was attached to the white skin moistly due to the flow of water. Mary wiped off the water droplets on her face vigorously, and when she opened her eyes again, she began to narrate.

"You should have noticed that my hair and eyes are different from the people in this land. Well, my life experience is a bit complicated, but now, it doesn't matter. I mentioned before that I study magic, but Because my brain is not good enough to go back to the winery, when I was young, I was very unconvinced. After returning to the winery, I got into the library, saying that the power of magic comes from knowledge, so I was thinking , if I have enough knowledge, maybe I can impress Jamie."

"What a lovely idea."

"Is this a mockery, Miss Alice?"

"No, Alice thinks it's really cute?"

"Then, I'll take that as a compliment."

cute?

The red-haired girl smiled wryly.

"However, this is a winery. The castle was not built at that time. The library is just a small room with a small area. Since it is a small room and it is a winery, the books stored in it are of course related to wine making. I read it over and over again. , I have learned a lot about brewing, but it seems that it has nothing to do with magic. But I didn’t give up, so I searched and searched, and finally found a whole set of books that are not brewing books, a whole set.”

"The history of the Masura Farah de Lisucia winery."

Tina was taken aback.

This is the first time she heard the full name of the winery from the people of the winery.

After the string of not-so-rememberable names was uttered by Mary, the fiery eyes changed.

Just like believers go on a pilgrimage and priests pray, Tingna herself once showed that expression, praying in the Virtue Church in Salt Sand City.

Of course, after meeting Liliana, when she showed that expression, she was more fascinated by Miss Witch...

"That's the history written down from generation to generation since the founding of Olympian. It's a lot and very thick. I didn't know for the first time at that time that the history of this winery is so long, almost as long as the kingdom. Those books When piled up, it can be piled up into two stacks taller than me at that time, and once opened, there are densely packed small characters, which look very much like the magic guide books in the wizard tower."

This made the young girl feel like a treasure at that time. Although she didn't know if this knowledge would be useful, it seemed to be more useful than a hundred wine brewing recipes. So, the girl spent all day in this small room, carrying a thick dictionary, reading without sleep or food.

When she realized that these histories had nothing to do with magic, the original purpose was no longer important.

The yellowed and specially treated paper exudes a faint smell of rust, and the words on it are thin and small. Although it is a tiring book, the girl sees the past.

She saw spring plowing and summer sowing, autumn harvesting and winter harvesting year after year, barrels of fine wine matured under the earth and shipped to various places, flowing rubies were poured into crystal goblets, under luxurious chandeliers, flickering candles Armored hands lift it up in the fire, and gold-dusted lips drink it.

People admired, people cheered, and the voice became the same name.

【Masura Farah de Lisucia】.

No winery has a longer history than it.

No land is more fertile than that of First.

People raise their glasses and drink freely, and the fine wine in that glass is our glory!

The words on the pages of the book are not sensational, but those rigid chronology of time engraved the time that Mary never knew, and reflected the scenery she never saw into her fiery eyes.

That day, the girl found her own life.

"It may sound silly to outsiders, but I did feel it, and it was profound... Since then, I have started to learn brewing with my father, how to control the degree of fermentation, and how to embrace wine and nature. With all due respect, my father didn't take me lightly because I was a girl, he gave me everything he knew, knowledge and virtuosity, and above all, the credo and nobility of a winemaker."

Mary grinned, that smile and the expression in her eyes were extraordinarily serious.

"Masura Winery has a long history equal to that of the kingdom. The skills accumulated in that history and the fine wine brewed are the glory of the winery, the first, and the glory of my father and me. We are proud of this, and have been working hard to maintain this honor... After all, except in front of that little lord, we are just Yamin's winemaker family, but in front of others, we are First, a nobleman, so It should be as noble and honorable as the nobles in the old stories."

A sense of honor that can be felt so strongly without trying to feel it.

"Honest, upright, brave, loyal, compassionate, just, humble, persistent..."

These are no longer aristocratic spirit or chivalry, but a simple pile of good characters. Even the teachings of the Virtue Church do not require people to have so many virtues.

But Mary declared such words clearly, like a knight swearing to his own sword.

"We are First and also the winemaker of Yamin. It is our honor to brew fine wine following the tradition."

"Is that why you have such a big reaction to Miss Liliana's words?"

...I always feel that I can understand it.

Tina thought.

It was because of such pride that Liliana's words made the girl in front of her feel so hostile towards her.

"Ah, that's right, she's just a teenage girl, and she said that glory should only be written in a book, with an arrogant expression that she thinks she has seen through everything!"

When the little lord was mentioned, Mary became out of breath, and her voice suddenly rose, but then fell softly.

"We... no, at least she is a real nobleman. Unlike us, who are only allowed to use the name and identity of First, she is the lord of this territory, a nobleman with glory on her back, but she is like that Naturally talking about throwing away the glory..."

Hugging his knees and immersing his face in the water, the unspoken words turned into a series of bubbles and disappeared in the hot water vapor.

No matter what, Liliana is the lord, Mary is just a vassal, and she is the lord's secretary, so there are some things that cannot be said... Maybe.

Tina looked at Alice, and the little puppet nodded, not knowing what she was agreeing with.

At least Tina now understands that Mary's hostility towards Liliana is not simply caused by a certain reason.

How much of the complicated hostility was about Miss Witch's indifferent expression of giving up the glory of nobility, and how much about Liliana asking the brewers to completely abandon the flavor of traditional brewing?

It's no wonder that Mary described Liliana's decision as "a victory" last night. In her opinion, this might be a kind of compromise from Liliana to her.

However, Liliana would not care about such things.

Tina was lost in thought.

At this time, at the door of the dressing room leading to the bathing pool, a gray-haired old woman poked her head out while leaning on a cane.

"Little Mary, oh, and Miss Tina is here too."

"Ah, Grandma Dan, are you coming to take a bath too?"

"As you get older, hot water and slippery floors are too dangerous. I'm here to convey the Lord's words. Little Mary, Miss Tina, the Lord is waiting for you in the conference room."

"Eh? Miss Liliana?"

"The little lord?"

Mary, who got out of the water, frowned and glanced at Tina.

Facing this questioning gaze, Ting Na could only shake her head.

There are no windows or clocks in the bath, so I don't know how long it took, or did Miss Liliana wake up at this time?

"Put on your clothes quickly and come here, everyone will work hard from today on."

"Okay—tsk, let's go and listen to what that little lord wants to say."

After getting out of the bath and wiping her body clean with a towel, the muttering Marie dried her hair and rewrapped her scarf.

Ting Na quickly took out the motto written by Liliana, and handed it to her.

"Ah, Miss Mary, this is for you, let's go first."

"Aren't you coming here together? Your lord is also summoning you."

Mary, who took the scroll from the girl, looked at her, as if she was a little puzzled, so Tingna could only pull the bathrobe on her body, and smiled at her with embarrassment.

No matter how you say it, it's too uncommon to walk into a meeting room in a yukata.

Tingna thought she was a person with common sense, so she went back to the bedroom, put on the well-washed suit that was placed next to the pillow, and dressed the little doll in a nun's outfit, then hurried into the second bedroom with her in her arms. floor meeting room.

There were not many people in the meeting room. Liliana, Mary, Jester, and several other brewers whose faces and names Tina hadn't remembered well, the upper seat at the long table, a witch in a dress with a shawl, was watching When the girl walked into the room, she opened her mouth.

"...The purpose of this meeting is to inform you of some key information about this tasting. As in the past, this time the average score of the five judges will be used as the final score of the tasting. Calculate the overall average score, and the wineries that get a certain score or more can stand out and go to Wangdu to participate in the finals of the tasting.”

It's not sloppy at all, it's just a little head nodding, and the voice still has the sleepiness of getting up early.

But even if she said something that everyone in the winery knew in such a tone, the majesty of the witch did not weaken in the slightest.

"... Generally speaking, the wines used for competitions will be selected from the aged wines brewed several years or even decades ago. This year's wineries should be no exception. However, due to the troubles of our winery not long ago, there is no winery that can be called It should be said that it is a considerable disadvantage because it is an aged wine, but maybe good luck has favored Masura Winery, and this tasting may be very beneficial to us.”

"favorable?"

Everyone, including Tingna, was stunned.

Liliana nodded calmly, and then she put a letter on the table. At this time, is there any factor that can be called favorable?

This question popped up in everyone's mind.

"Because this year's judging session is no longer just a competition of whoever is the tastiest can get a high score, the five judges from Wangdu Linlun brought the 'theme' of the judging session, and I used some tricks, Got the title from them."

It's like saying, picking a wild flower from the side of the road.

Liliana calmly announced to the members of the winery.

"[Innovation]."

"..."

Ting Na's expression was a bit subtle. Even in her student life, there were no less than ten papers on this topic.

But in the meeting room, except for Tingna, no one could respond to this topic.

"What did you say?!!"

Because before this, there was already a girl who was furious about another thing besides this topic.

Even Ting Na heard the phrase "some tricks were used", and thought of "this is terrible", which suddenly drove her to turn her head and look directly into those fiery eyes.

Then, unsurprisingly.

From Mary's eyes, Tina saw even more blazing flames.

……………………………………………………………………………………

Postscript of a certain day:

"Miss Liliana, what method did you use to get this test question from those judges..."

"...It's not difficult. There were three judges present at the banquet. Among them, Viscount Cullens seemed to like my small size very much. After drinking him a few glasses of spirits, he lifted his skirt and got it from his mouth. Answer."

"Is it really okay for such a person who can't keep secrets to be a judge..."

"...Earl Hakuta is very serious, but his son is just 10 years old, a boy with a spring heart. After showing his thigh intentionally or unintentionally, he sneaked into his father's study and told the upper level of the Brewers Union about I copied a copy of the judging documents for me."

"..."

"... Countess Baijiesi is a widow who lost her daughter. It seems that because my eyes reminded her of her own daughter, she invited me to visit her hotel after the banquet, where I also found the same documents. Although there are still two judges who did not show up at the banquet from the beginning to the end, there should be no mistakes."

"Should I say that she really deserves to be a witch..."

"...I am a witch."

"That's right... oh..."