Allen greeted politely, the music stopped abruptly, and the old man looked up at the teenager who had suddenly entered.

"You are"

"My name is Alan, we met during the day, do you remember?"

Alan walked up to the old man and half-crouched down.

"Alan, you're the kid in the morning."

As if remembering Allen's appearance, the old man nodded and said,

"It's you, yes, I remember you."

"Old man, your music is very moving, but why don't you say goodbye?"

Alan didn't want to ask about herbs right away, he thought it would be rude to the old man.

"Oh no, it's that I didn't say goodbye, it was Hayabusa who said he wanted to leave."

The hoarse voice said something that Eren couldn't understand.

- Falcon? What is that? The grandson of the old man?

"Old man, who is the falcon?"

"My name is Gary, and Falcon is this child."

Gary handed the piccolo-like instrument to Alan.

"You said the falcon is this flute?"

Alan looked at Gary incredulously, wanting to reach for the flute and take a look, but was stopped.

"Hayabusa is my child, and he can't be touched by anyone else."

As he spoke, Gary packed the falcon in a delicate pocket embroidered with gold thread and carried it in his arms. Alan looked at all this and felt more and more strange.

"Grandpa Gary, did you mean that the flute was talking to you when you said that the falcon told you to go home?"

"Silly boy, how can a falcon speak. But even though he can't speak, he has a heart and soul with me. ”

Gary laughed, the folds on his face almost squeezing his eyes.

"Since you can understand Hayabusa and my music, it means that we are also destined, and my story has never been told to anyone else, and it seems that before I die, I can also entrust Hayabusa to someone who understands him."

Gary's relieved look made Alan a little uneasy, but he couldn't tell the origin of this feeling. Alan sat across from Gary and, as during the day, listened to him quietly.

"It was all years ago, when I met Falcon. It's been so long, so long that I can't even remember. I was only 13 years old at the time, probably about your age. My family and I live in Twin Star City, and one day I found the injured troubadour in a log cabin by the lake where I often played. That man was very ugly, so ugly that I can remember him vividly to this day. It was as if his face had been grilled by fire, two-thirds of it had melted, his skin was long gone, and his flesh was blurred into a mess. One eye was blind, the other eyelid had been burned off, and the huge gray eyeballs were staring straight at me, which was terrifying. ”

Gary was still a little excited when he spoke, and it seemed that he was really scared at the time.

"His lips were burned, his teeth were there, and his body was fine, but his clothes were in tatters. What impressed me the most were the two brown horns on his forehead. So I'm sure he must not be human. He looked dying, and I didn't speak when I approached him, and I don't know if I couldn't speak, or if he was already dumb. At first I didn't want to save him, but I thought to myself that if he died in this room, I wouldn't be able to play here again. So I was also selfish, and from time to time I would bring him some water and food. But he didn't eat anything but water. And so three days passed, and on the third day the man died. When I got to the cabin, he was dead, dead outside. I don't know how he managed to climb out, but I'm grateful. I buried him in the back of the house and offered him some fruit and flowers. This falcon is his relic. ”

"Since it's a relic, why don't you bury it together?"

"Buried, of course I buried, but I can't. I buried them all that day, but when I got home the next day, I woke up and found the falcon lying on my quilt. I was so frightened that I immediately went back to the cabin and dug a hole again and buried the falcon in it. But then he will still be there for me, and no matter how much I discard him, he will eventually come back. So in the end, I confessed, and as a gift from him, I left the falcon behind. ”

Gary gently stroked the bag as if he were caressing his own child.

"And how did you know the name of the flute?"

"I dreamed of it. The night after I left the falcon, I had a dream. In my dream, a man with brown horns told me that the flute had a name. And he also told me that it was he who gave the name to this flute, and that this flute also has a real name, which is called the sacrificial box. ”

"Sacrificial Box?"

The appearance of the short flute appeared very clearly in Allen's mind, can such a thing be called a box?

"It's hard to believe, right? Actually, there's nothing to believe in it, it's just a name. But then something incredible happened that made me really believe in the true meaning of the name. ”

Gary took out the falcon again, and his fingers gently brushed it over, and the golden powder slowly emerged from the five round holes, and a box of gold dust appeared above the flute. The gold dust gathered more and more, and the appearance of the box became clearer and clearer, and the gold dust gathered together and fused together, and soon a golden clamshell box appeared in front of Allen's eyes. The box is not large, but it cannot be held in one hand, and in the middle of the box there is a small crystal transparent lock, and the keyhole is strangely round. Gary held the box in his hand and continued,

"This is the real sacrificial box, an all-purpose wishing machine. When I found out the secret, it was already four days after I got the Falcon. Actually, a lot of things have happened, but it's not necessary to say them all one by one, so I'll give you an example. I've always wanted a catalogue of all the surviving maps of the continent of Alelaste. But in Twin Star City, that kind of booklet is not sold, and occasionally traveling merchants come to sell, and it is also very expensive, so this kind of thing is what I always dreamed of. However, as soon as I woke up that day, the book was in my bed. There are many more things like that, you can see, this sacrificial box can know my wish and make it happen. ”

"Then this box is too dangerous, in case it falls into the wrong hands"

Gary was also taken aback by what Alan thought, and often children of this age would not consider this problem at such a time.

"Hehehe, you don't have to worry about this, the magic of the sacrificial magic box is limited, although it is not fatal, but it is also a very cruel fact, I only found out after a long time, but I regretted it for a long, long time after I knew it" (To be continued.) )