Basically, a mountain trail is a rugged trail that has not been fully constructed, has evolved from footprints accumulated over many years, and in most cases only guarantees a minimum of traffic. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoFor less experienced pedestrians, its convenience is sometimes less than its guiding role.

"Mistaken-"

Struggling to navigate the mountains and forests, Alex couldn't help but sigh and mutter.

The mountain path was not easy to follow, and the branches of the trees always stretched out to scratch her skin. Of course, it couldn't have scarred Alex, but the leaves that kept falling from the top of her head to her hair were still upsetting. It wasn't the first time Alex had walked in the mountains—she had to cross the Tria Mountains on her way from Nome to the plains of the North—but it was different: it was winter, and the entire mountain was covered with more than a meter of snow; The second is the geographical gap, although they both belong to the Tria Mountains, but with the length of this mountain range, it can even be used as the border between the Northern Plains and the Kingdom of Nome. Alex crossed the mountain on the western side of the mountain range, but here it was in the far east, and the two were fundamentally different in terms of climate and vegetation.

Whether the difference between the snow and the desolation of the snow and the green leaves of the place is full of life - it is not known whether this difference can be used as a reflection of the mood.

Alex certainly didn't have the heart to think about this, and what bothered her the most at this time was the branches and leaves that had been covering her vision. She had expected to find her target soon after going up the mountain, but the leaves that were tightly walled around had already consumed her time for half an hour.

"Ahh It's so annoying! ”

Alex kicked on the trunk of a nearby tree, and in return, a layer of leaves fell on her head with a thud.

"Hah...... If only I were a magician. Alex sighed deeply and whispered to herself tiredly.

The intention of this sentence is to see the trendy prospect that magicians can cast spells to burn the jungle.

-- This is undoubtedly a crime.

"Well! It's a spiritual practice. Alex plucked the leaves off her head and puffed up her energy.

Speaking of cultivation, Alex couldn't help but think of a man named Hill who practiced somewhere on this mountain.

"Do you like to face your enemies head-on as a thief? What a strange guy. ”

The girl, who is completely unaware of how strange she is, moves on while recalling Shalom's introduction in Partridge's office.

※

"Is there really one!?"

Alex, who received an unexpectedly positive answer, could barely believe her ears.

"It's obviously my own question, why are you so surprised? - 'The world is so big, it's possible to have one or two thieves who like to attack from the front' - Didn't Miss Alex just say that? ”

"Well, that being said...... But if you know that it really exists, you'll be surprised, probably similar to how horror lovers feel when they actually see ghosts. ”

"Please don't compare His Highness Hill to a ghost."

"Ciel? Is that the name of that person? ”

"Exactly."

"What kind of person is it?"

Hearing Alex's question, Salom had a proud look on her face.

"In one sentence, it is the trump card of our kiss of death." It wasn't technically a kiss of death, but Salom still used the word "we", and Partridge raised an eyebrow on the side without speaking.

"Kiss of Death has been established for nearly thirty years, and although it is not as numerous or large as the Bloody Hand, we are still slightly better in terms of the quality of members. There are many first-class thieves in the organization who are highly skilled, and many of them are top-notch people who can go down in history. Among these experienced seniors, the weak age of sixteen years is tied among them...... No, it should be said that it is outstanding, it is His Highness Hill. ”

"Sixteen!? Isn't that the same age as me? ”

Can a teenager of this age be able to stand alone in a well-known thief organization on the mainland? Alex was skeptical.

"Exactly. At the age of sixteen, Miss Alex was already a superior profession - though a guardian - which was one in a million among professionals. But His Highness Hill is not far behind, although it is still a basic profession of thieves, but as long as you have an idea, you can immediately change to a superior profession at any time. And even more on top of this is the God-given and incomparable talent of His Highness Ciel......" Seeing the disbelieving expression on Alex's face, Salom had a smile on his face: "His Highness Ciel is now practicing on the mountain, how about you go and meet him in person?" If you can convince His Highness Hill to accompany you on your path of revenge, our Kiss of Death will not stand in the way. ”

"Unbeatable?" Alex thought to herself as she walked through the mountain paths, "Could it be that Serra, who is his master, is also a hidden big man?" That easy-to-use attitude is very mastery......"

Just as Alex was worrying about whether her actions before going up the hill (breaking Serra's pot) would provoke a petty revenge from an outsider master, a loud bang came from her left.

Bang -

It was the sound of a heavy object falling on the ground, accompanied by a loud sound, the leaves of the trees were constantly shaking, and countless birds of all kinds were startled from the surrounding woods and flew into the sky through the gaps in the trees.

Although the mountain has not yet shaken, the sound is enough to call the ground move.

Alex came back to her senses, cautiously peering in the direction from which the voice had come from. However, her vision was obscured by the green leaves, and she could only see a faint clearing. She hesitated, then got up sideways and walked through the trees.

"Torotaro, stand up."

After walking a few steps in the woods, a voice reached her ears. It was undoubtedly a human voice, and depending on the circumstances, it was even the voice of the same Ciel, which Alex felt somewhat familiar, and at the same time was aware of the peculiarity of the voice.

The first is tone.

The continent of Trenza can be roughly divided into four parts by country, but the accents vary greatly depending on geography. In order to facilitate communication, in addition to the local languages and ethnicity of each region, there is also an official language known as the "continental lingua franca". The design of the lingua franca was undoubtedly the brainchild of all the scholars of the time, because it was very difficult to design. First of all, it is necessary to ensure that the pronunciation is easy to understand, and on this basis, it is necessary to make it as developmental and expandable as possible. The most important thing is to weigh the pronunciation of each race.

After the 164th census, there were 372 intelligent races on the continent at that time (43 subsequently adopted by the new standard), and the differences in the body structure of different races made each of them have some "sounds" that are difficult to produce. For example, it is difficult for the trolls to pronounce consonants well, and the snake people have no relationship with vowels at all. Considering the pronunciation defects of various known races, and combining the pronunciation habits of various regions, the final birth is the continental lingua franca.

The voice that sounded just now was in the lingua franca that is now the main language.

But that voice was too standard. Or rather, the standard is overdone. Although it is a lingua franca, it is inevitably used with regional and ethnic characteristics, and sometimes it is even unique according to the individual's personality. Although the voice was only six words, its pronunciation and tone were accurate enough to be a ruler.

Basically, intelligent beings are nothing more than organisms driven by emotions and purposes, and when they express their voices, their tones tend to point out the tendencies of their feelings: they become sharp when they are angry, light when they are happy, calm when they are relaxed, and silent when they are nervous. However, the voice that has just sounded does not carry any of the above qualities, and seems to be expressed purely for the sake of expression. It feels like someone who doesn't understand the meaning of the language and reads it according to the pronunciation notes on the side.

- It looks like a mechanical puppet, Alex thought through her mind for a moment.

The second is timbre.

The voice was undoubtedly from a teenager, but it had a neutral character. This is not to say that it sounds indistinguishable from a man and a woman, but because the voice is neither soft nor brutal, but has a special texture to it. If the human voice is reduced to an image, Alex's voice can be compared to a blooming sunflower, Salom is like a slow-flowing cold water in winter, and Partridge is a dry sand mixed together in the sun; What about this voice? It's hard to find a fitting metaphor for something that is somewhere between something and nothing, and if you have to say, it feels close to the clear water of a stream on an early autumn morning, or a square block of clear ice that is not chilling.

Taken together, these two points paint an image of a type that Alex has never seen before, and Alex can't help but be curious about the person who makes the sound.

Walking through the trees, the eyes suddenly opened up.

It was a clearing, hidden in the middle of the woods.

Among them was a teenager standing, and there was no need for too many clues, this should be the person Alex was looking for, but at this time, Alex had no intention of paying attention to these.

"Torotaro, a man should be indomitable."

The boy said to the creature lying on the ground on all fours in front of him, but the other party was clearly unmoved.

Alex froze in place, speechless as she looked at the boy who had stepped forward and tugged at one of her target's forefeet to try to get it up.

"Torotaro, be a man."

The teenager is still working tirelessly.

Reconfirming the creature in front of her, Alex was convinced that it was not her hallucination.

The person who is called "Torotaro" in front of him is neither a human nor even a tiger. It was one that took up nearly half of the clearing, and its head alone was almost the size of a teenager, and its entire height was more than ten meters long...... A giant bear.

The scene in front of her was too fantastical, and there were so many slots that Alex didn't know how to complain for a while. She tapped her head, trying to calm herself down.

Then he took a deep breath -

"What the hell is this??"

The girl's voice resounded through the mountains and forests, and the flock of birds that had just fallen from the branches were startled again.

Although it is not very elegant, but fortunately, it expresses the mood completely, and this complaint is qualified.