Curse of the Stars

Part 3 Lost Pathos

"Love is read as happiness, and writing is bitter."

1-m leisure

"This is the Ryx Altar."

"So that's what you've been talking about."

"We were shattered in the fight with the djinn, and if the wind chimes hadn't arrived in time, we would have died."

Melo Entekman and Erin Akayi were talking at the Altar of Rex, looking for something together at the foot of the snowy mountains north of Windwalk.

Erin changed into a new winter coat - a leather jacket made of saber-toothed tiger skin, which was the same style as her daily casual clothes, much thicker, but not so bulky. The leather jacket is black, and there are white fluff on the cuffs and neckline edges, which is dignified and cute. Different from Milo's saber-toothed tiger skin jacket, Irene's one is specially made, breathable, can be warm in winter and cool in summer, and is easy to transform, adding a little hard leather to become a high-quality leather armor, much better than the rattan armor she was equipped with at the beginning. Erin also made a small hat to match this leather jacket, modeled after the Spellet Imperial Royal Guard dress hat, showing her style of dressing from a military family.

Erin had a handcuff pinned to her waist from Captain Finn, and after her calibration and adjustment, the handcuff was now ready to use its actual combat power.

"You have good eyes, did you spot it?" Mello asked.

"No, can you tell me what it looks like?" Erin said.

"A small diamond-shaped stone with words engraved on each side." Milo repeated the details of this thing.

"Found it!" Erin crouched down next to the rubble pile to pick up something, shouting excitedly.

"Great!" Melo took the stone from Erin, the spell stone that had been used to call the wind chimes. He examined the stone carefully, still the same as when he saw it more than two years ago, time had not worn away the notches and words on its surface, and it shone faintly.

"Is that what you're looking for? What is it for? Erin asked, staring at the Spell Stone, her cheek almost touching Milo's face.

Milo didn't notice that Erin was so close to her, and continued to pay attention to the spell stone, saying, "When this spell stone was released, it made a strange sound, similar to the dragon roar we heard on the Pearl, so I wanted someone in the know to help see what the words on it meant." ”

"You're talking about Kelan, right?" Erin asked, her gaze not taking off the spell stone.

"Well, the night sparrow used to see it, but couldn't explain it. So I'd like to ask Kelan to help me decipher. Oh, remember to keep it a secret, she really wants to know about the wind chimes, let's talk less...... Well? After Milo finished speaking, she found that Irene's cheeks were next to her eyelids, and when you look closely, her skin is really delicate and flawless, no wonder she will be voted the first place in the beauty pageant by everyone.

"Huh?" Erin noticed that Milo was watching her, and did not distance herself, closed her eyes, and motioned for Milo, who took off her hat, lifted the bangs on her forehead, and kissed her lightly on the forehead. Erin felt the touch, smiled and opened her eyes, snatching her hat and putting it on her head.

"Humph! It's rude. She mischievously said that she distanced herself from Melo.

"Something has been found, it's time to go back, don't let them worry." Erin said, taking Milo's hand, and the two began to return to Windwalk.

Yes, the two at this time are boyfriend and girlfriend of each other.

It's January 21, 1806 in the imperial calendar, and a lot has happened in the past month or so.

After the "Cake Incident", Erin and Milo's relationship took a step further, and the two occasionally took advantage of their free time to meet up to watch a show in the town theater, go to the market to see if there were any rare goods, or try to shoot - of course, Erin has always been the winner. At the end of 1805, Mello asked a skilled dressmaker to make the jacket we mentioned above from the saber-toothed tiger skins he had accumulated for two years, and gave it to Irene as a New Year's gift. After that, at the instigation and prodding of Viscount Li, Night Sparrow and Snow Dog and others, the two officially dated.

To be sure, neither Milo nor Erin had any real experience in relationships, but with a good foundation of childhood acquaintances, as well as the care and trust they had built up during their trip to Dragon, it was only natural that they had come to this point. Night Sparrow and the others were also happy for them, and the viscount also specially arranged more free time for them, so the two of them had a lot of opportunities to go out, this time they came to the Ryx Altar at the foot of the snowy mountain, and they still had to spend the night on the way, and the two didn't think there was anything wrong, and they held their trust in each other.

But in fact, neither Milo nor Erin have completely come out of their respective psychological shadows.

When Milo and Erin returned to Windrun Town, it was noon on the 22nd, and the two of them also took turns keeping vigil when camping at night, and Milo took the initiative to take on more time. At the drawbridge at the fort, they ran into Parrett Chevalier.

"Hey! Parrett, how's the outpost going? Milo greeted warmly.

"It's all built, and I've left some people to keep an eye on the movement in the south. I heard that the scope of the sandstorm has expanded again, and if this continues, the entire continent will become a desert! Parrett replied somewhat pessimistically.

Parrett returned to Windrun in mid-December, and as he said, the Sprelet Navy did not make it difficult for him, so he was able to return to Windwalk. He then received orders from the Viscount to build several observatories and temporary earthen forts on the commanding heights between Windrun and the Desperate Desert, and now that the construction was over, he also returned to Windwalk. Due to the Viscount's orders, he did not accept a new job as a bodyguard after his return, in order to deal with unexpected situations.

"Hey, Milo. The lady who just came to open a library is really nice! Parrett said with a little meaning, but Milo smiled when she heard it, and said, "People have families, you better think clearly." Parrett grimaced and said goodbye to Melo with a wry smile.

Windtown's new library is located in the northern part of the market, in a quieter area that is not affected by the chaos of the market. The library opened on January 6 – because on that day, Koran Dutved came to Windrun as promised, and was warmly welcomed by everyone. Viscount Lee spent a lot of money to buy a large number of books, but it took Orchid half a day to transfer hundreds of books of different types from that magical book pocket, and handed over the gold coins to a trusted person to bring back to the Alex City Library. Today, there are more than 1,000 books in the library, which basically meet the reading needs of Fengxing Town.

"Kelan, you can help take a look at this." Milo and Erin enter the library and hand the Spell Stone to Koran.

"Hey, AI↘, spell stone! I'll take a look at the text above. Koran put down his work and took the spell stone, "Hmm...... I know all the words, but this doesn't seem to be a standard word, at least I haven't seen this word, the spelling...... It's very special that the next few words show a repetitive style...... Probably, onomatopoeia. Kran's reasoning confirmed Milo's idea that the sound of the spell stone was not meant by a certain meaning, but more like a sound—the cry of a living being.

"Can you tell me where this spell stone came from? After all, it's no longer usable. I guess...... Could it have something to do with that 'wind chime'? Klan asked Milo with a smile, she had already guessed something.

Milo smiled and nodded, not intending to say anything more.

"Sister, this book will be returned to you." Erin interrupts the conversation at the right time and presents Kiran with a book, Charlie in Candy Wonderland, which she has read three times.

Kelan took the book and said with a smile: "If you still need any books, just come to me to borrow them, and welcome good girls who love to learn at any time." ”

Erin saluted and thanked her, and she and Milo prepared to leave the library.

"Ah, please wait a minute!" Kelan stopped the two, "Viscount Li came to me yesterday to discuss how to deal with the strange sandstorm weather in the southwest desperate desert, I decided to take a few guards from Fengxing Town to check it out, and Milo will help me recommend a few people, it just so happens that you are familiar with the affairs of the guard." If all goes well, I'll take someone out tomorrow. ”

When Milo heard that Koran was helping to solve the matter of "Shaling" together, she quickly made a list and handed it to Kolan. The two thanked each other again, and Erin and Milo left the library.

Instead of going to town, the two turned back into the fort. During the "shelter" trip, Splett's spies kept going into the air, and later gave up the covert search altogether. But to be on the safe side, Erin rarely goes to town alone, and is usually accompanied by Milo.

Outside the council chamber, Night Sparrow was wandering back and forth with a sad face, and when she saw Erin and Milo, she frowned slightly, and said, "You're finally back." The Viscount is talking to the merchant from the south about Shaling, and it seems that there is an imminent crisis now, so you should go and discuss it with the Viscount in a moment. ”

Melo told Nightsparrow about finding the spell stone, and the latter lamented that it would not be easy to find the stone after two years. Nightfinch asked Milo a little mysteriously, "Did it happen on the way?" Deliberately lowered her voice so that Erin could hear her. Milo didn't answer, glanced at her with slanted eyes, shrugged his shoulders and said, "You think too much." Nightfinch looked disappointed, and then regained her sadness.

The door to the council hall opened, and several vendor-like people came out of it, and although they were only in a hurry, Milo saw this look on their faces: Don't ask any more! I've had enough!

Viscount Li saw that Milo and Erin came back just a few simple greetings, and did not say anything like the night sparrow, and the night sparrow, the viscount's face was very ugly, as if he had just witnessed some tragedy, he went straight to the point and said to Milo: "Let our worst fear happen, the sand and dust is advancing northward, the speed is not fast, if it continues to expand at the current rate, it is expected that there will be another month...... A little more than a month or so, it will arrive in Windrun Town. If you look at the map, this village ......."

Erin stared at the map, and in the vast area between the southwest of Windrun Town and the Desperate Desert, there were signs of three small villages, with a cross drawn next to the name closest to the desert.

"The people just said that they saw the village covered by a sandstorm at night, and that the sandlings raided the village during the night, and that they were alert and were lucky to escape. If you look at their expressions, they must have left a psychological shadow. The viscount continued.

"What about the damage to the village?" Mello asked.

"All those who didn't escape are missing." The Viscount said coldly, with some inexplicable indignation suppressed in his heart.

"Missing?"

"Yes. Sandstorms disappear during the day and only appear at night. The Imperial Army of Sprelet took advantage of the dawn to search the attacked village, there were no corpses, no traces of battle, and all the people disappeared. ”

The Viscount sighed deeply and continued, "I can be sure that the sand spirits will not appear and attack humans during the day. But at night, instead of simply attacking those who strayed into the sandstorm, they will take the initiative to attack those who are covered in the sandstorm as the sandstorm expands...... I have received news that the magicians of the Imperial Army and the Demon Court do not dare to act rashly now, and they are also observing the development of the situation. But one thing can be confirmed -

"The Shaling Crisis has begun!"

Mello understands that her leisure vacation is over.