Section 17: Dilemma
Bruce woke up from his coma, his head hurting as if he had been hit with a mallet, and his stomach felt like a river was turning upside down, when a fair, slender hand took him and brought clear water from a wooden bowl to Bruce's mouth.
After drinking the water in the wooden bowl, Bruce sobered up a lot, his blurred vision regained his clarity, and what appeared in front of him was a beautiful blonde girl, whose appearance was definitely not inferior to Emma Watson [Hermione played by Harry Potter].
"Who are you?" Bruce asked a little weakly, the swamp witch's powder should be a strong ecstasy, and the mind was lost consciousness by the powder, and his body was paralyzed.
"My name is Mavis, and I'm sorry for my sister's behavior, she shouldn't have treated a nobleman so rudely." The beautiful blonde girl Mavis said apologetically on her face.
"Your sister, the monster?" Bruce looked out of the shack, and the swamp witch seemed to lean against the outside of the shack and peek inside.
"I beg your pardon, my sister has a very strange temper, but she is actually a very kind person." Mavis hurriedly explained to Bruce.
Bruce didn't actually intend to pursue it, after all, his life was saved by Mavis, the sister of the swamp witch was sweet-looking, with delicate facial features, skin as white as milk, blonde hair and shawl, a long white dress, and wide sleeves of Big Barley, like a noble lady in the swamp.
"It's okay, it's just the two of you?" Bruce asked curiously, very curious about this swamp beauty.
"Yes, this is our home, and we've lived here for as long as we can remember." Mavis nodded, she shrugged her shoulders and bit her lip, her cute and playful little expression made Bruce's heart flutter.
"By the way, you're hungry, I'll get you something to eat." Mavis smiled at Bruce, and she got up and walked out of the shack, walked over to the tongs pot, scooped up some fresh mushrooms, and put them in a wooden bowl, it turned out that the tongs pot was cooking mushroom soup.
Bruce took the wooden bowl handed over by Mavis, although he was hungry, but Bruce did not eat it immediately, he looked at Mavis with some hesitation, Mavis seemed to see his doubts, and without saying a word, he scooped up a little with a wooden spoon and ate it himself.
Seeing that Mavis had nothing to eat, Bruce hurriedly picked it up and ate it cleanly, but he didn't expect that the pot of disgusting-looking green liquid tasted indescribably delicious.
"By the way, I heard my sister say that you are the lord of Grinton?" Mavis sat to the side, her chin propped up with her hands, and looked at Bruce with a smile.
"Yes, thank you for saving me, I think I've almost regained my strength, and I'll give you a thank you gift when I get back." Bruce said to Mavis.
"Go back, why go back?" Mavis's eyes widened, and a pair of watery blue eyes looked at him, and her tone was full of doubt.
"I, I'm the lord of Glinton, and I must go back to rule my realm." Bruce explained to Mavis, but vaguely he felt that something was wrong with his abdomen.
"No, everything that falls into the swamp belongs to me, and you are the first man to fall into the swamp, you belong to me." Mavis's face stiffened, and she stood up and said to Bruce.
"I, I, what did you give me?" Bruce only felt a pain in his stomach, and he struggled to get up, but the pain was unbearable, but Mavis herself ate the contents of the bowl.
"I've heard for a long time that men are very difficult creatures to control, so I'm giving you poisonous mushrooms that are a specialty of this swamp, but don't worry, as long as you take the powder made by me and my sister every day, the poison will be controlled." There was an excited look on Mavis's face, she stroked Bruce's cheek with her hand, stretched out her little pink tongue and licked her lips, at this time there was no angel at all, like a colorful beautiful snake.
"Sister, the elders will blame us." Suddenly, from outside the shack came the voice of her sister the swamp witch, who whispered to Mavis.
However, the swamp witch's words did not stop Mavis, she clenched her fists and grabbed her hair, and shouted angrily.
"I don't trust that old guy anymore, he keeps saying he'll let us go out and live with other people, but he never delivers, I'm fed up with this life." Mavis said angrily, they have been confined to this swamp since they were children, and no villagers dare to touch them, not even Todd, and legend has it that anyone who touches the swamp witch will be cursed and die miserably.
"Whew." Bruce couldn't laugh or cry, how could he meet such a crazy woman.
"You're not going to leave us, are you?" Mavis turned, she walked in front of Bruce, leaned down, the girl's scent burrowed into Bruce's nose, and then she threw herself into Bruce's arms, sobbing and crying.
Bruce's forehead was dripping with sweat, and the pain in his abdomen almost suffocated him, but as a village official who had been working at the grassroots level for many years, his mind was extremely clear at this time, and he had to gain the trust of the two sisters before he had a chance to leave here.
"Yes, I'm not going, I'm not going." Bruce hurriedly nodded and promised Mavis, hearing Bruce's promise Mavis, the girl burst into tears and laughed, she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and looked at Bruce happily.
"Are you telling the truth?"
"Yes, what I said is true, but you'd better get rid of the poison for me, or I'll die." Bruce hurriedly made a request, asking Mavis to unravel the poison from his body.
However, Bruce's request was rejected by Mavis, who simply fed Bruce another poisonous mushroom that could temporarily contain the toxin attack.
"I'm curious, how do you know how to move in a swamp on a raft? You know, that's a method that only witches know. Mavis asked Bruce curiously.
"Oh, I, when I was on the manor, a bard once told me this method." Of course, Bruce can't tell Mavis that this is the physics he learned in junior high school, and he is now completely controlled by this swamp witch, so he can only look for an opportunity to escape, but before that, Bruce must first find the antidote.
After listening to Bruce's explanation, Mavis was relieved, the bard has traveled all over the continent to be well-informed, and it is normal for them to occasionally know a little about witches.
"Bards, I heard that their singing voices are wonderful, and they tell many stories about heroes and kings." Mavis's sister's tone was full of curiosity and envy, they had never been here, and the first man besides the Elder was Bruce.
"Yes, I happen to remember a bard song or two once in a while." Bruce rolled his eyes as he said to the two sisters.
"Oh, can you sing it to us?" Mavis's sister's name is Monica, and both sisters are swamp witches, but the older sister is extremely ugly, while the younger sister is beautiful.
Bruce was eager to please the two sisters, he cleared his throat, and vigorously recalled the story of the battle between the black and white kings that little Lori Anne sang to him, Bruce's voice was quite good, and when he sang it, he actually learned Anne to be like a sixth, and the swamp sisters had never heard this kind of narration at all, and they were fascinated by it.
"Knight~, get ready, the nobles gather troops to get up, the king's blood fights on the battlefield, the tears of the noble girl fall in the castle, only the crow hovers in the air, laughing for this gluttonous feast~~."
After Bruce finished singing the last stanza, the two sisters were silent, they were so immersed in this beautiful poem that they seemed to have entered the world of that heroic epic, even the swamp witch that the world feared was actually just two cardamom maidens.
"It's getting late, let's rest!" After listening to Bruce's last verse, Mavis did not show a happy look on her face, she seemed to be more serious, only to see her stand up and say to Bruce and lead her sister into the shack, but her sister Monica looked reluctant.
"Lord Greenton, will you continue singing this hymn to us tomorrow?" Monica saw her sister walk into the shack, quietly moved to Bruce's side, and whispered to him.
"Of course." Bruce smiled and said to Monica, who was much more innocent than her sister Mavis.