Jessica recently met a new friend.

Shortly after she turned 10 years old, she moved with her stepfather to the north of the royal capital, near the narrow road, next to the newly built road, and the family of two made a living by opening a post station. From the royal capital to the former Pearl Lake site, there are many more pedestrians than a few years ago, but there is still only one nearby resident, and Jessica is very lonely, feeling that she has not seen a child her age for a long time.

Therefore, when she found "Michael", she was as happy as if she had gotten the first box of candy in her life.

"Uncle George, I'm going to play with Michael!"

Greeting the two more travelers to the front desk, Jessica turned around and shouted to her stepfather, then quickly turned around and disappeared from everyone's sight through the back door.

The stepfather couldn't help but sigh as he looked at her vanishing back.

"Hello, we want a big room with two beds, is there any room available here?" the two travelers asked, walking up to him, dressed in somewhat mysterious cloaks, and the red-haired woman at the head smiled and turned to him.

The stepfather looked back: "...... Okay, please register your names here. ”

"No problem. The other party nodded, took the small notebook he handed over, and muttered in a low voice as he wrote, "Joanna Hall, Leila White...... Big brother, don't worry, we have a clear path, we are from the New Tactics Alliance, and we won't cause you trouble. ”

The stepfather took the notebook and looked at it twice, then confirmed the badge on Joanna's chest, nodded, and smiled enthusiastically.

"A few welcome, don't worry, we have quite a few rooms left. ”

Suddenly, Joanna breathed a sigh of relief. Leila glanced at the back door where the girl had disappeared, and said casually, "Is that your daughter? ”

"She's my stepdaughter. The stepfather sighed again, looking a little helpless, "I'm usually naughty, and ...... Not long after her mother died, her behavior began to get a little strange, so please forgive me if I offended a few adults. ”

"I'm sorry. Leila said immediately.

Joanna was a little curious: "What's a strange method?"

"That's it...... She speaks to the air. Not long after we moved here, she announced that she had a new friend named Michael, who spends her days in the backyard, but as you know, we are a family around here, and I've never met her friend. ”

Hearing this, Joanna laughed a few times and said, "I fantasize about a friend coming out, I did this kind of thing when I was a child!"

Leila hurriedly poked her back in the back to remind her not to lose her words, but fortunately, Jessica's stepfather didn't care, but smiled with relief and said, "Really...... I was just worried that something was wrong with her, but I couldn't bear to say anything about it. ”

"It's fine. Joanna comforted, "She's just a little lonely because she has no one to accompany her, and it would be nice to wait for her to be a little older." ”

The stepfather nodded and said nothing.

Soon, he turned around, led the two up the stairs, and led them into the guest room. The rooms looked very basic, with nothing but a window, two beds, and a lamp. But it's better to be clean, and the two of them are not picky, and accept it with a smile.

With a squeak, the stepdad leaves the room and closes the door. Joanna and Leila lay down in their respective beds, finally able to relax.

"This mission is really troublesome. Joanna sighed, "I'm going to the Pearl Lake site again...... Why do we still wipe the ass of the church after ten years? I don't know what mutations have occurred under the rift, there are always demonic beasts coming out, and we can't kill them all. ”

Leila didn't care: "It's okay, it's all about killing demonic beasts, and it's not killing anywhere." ”

"Alas, after all, ten years ago...... Anyway, I don't really want to go to that place. Joanna shook her head, sat up from the bed, and said, "Do you know? It is said that this is the road, and it was the road under our feet that the dean first escaped from the royal capital. ”

"Sort of. ”

"I don't know where the dean went...... I couldn't stand the new dean, and the last time we met, she said my hair looked like a red tumbleweed. ”

"Just get used to it. Leila looked helpless, "Anyway, we are not the teachers of the academy now, so we don't see each other every day, and the students inside are miserable." I heard that she scolded and cried more than 30 scholars last month, and she is already very friendly. ”

With that, she sat up from the bed and walked slowly to the window.

Outside the window is the backyard of the inn, which looks quite spacious, drying clothes and bed sheets and other things. And in a clearing at the edge of the backyard, she saw Jessica, the little girl who welcomed them in.

Jessica was left alone, dancing and looking excited.

Leila frowned slightly.

"About that imaginary friend...... Did you really notice anything wrong?" she asked suddenly, looking back.

"What's wrong?" Joanna was puzzled.

Laila's face was serious, she looked at the little girl playing alone outside the window, and said slowly: "Maybe I'm too careful, it's just ...... As the little girl led us through the door, I could feel a faint trace of the undead on her. ”

"Undead?"

Suddenly, Joanna's appearance became serious.

She walked to the window, and the two of them looked at Jessica together. At dusk, the backyard of the inn looked unusually peaceful, and they didn't sense anything wrong. But the way a little girl talks to herself in the corner still looks a little weird.

- as if she was really talking to someone.

"Are you sure it's the undead?" Joanna said after looking at it for a while, hesitating, "In the world of the living, the undead will not exist long before they will destroy themselves, and there are very few things that can cross the abyss and come from there...... If there are undead spirits moving here, it will certainly not be easy. ”

"I just sensed a faint breath. Leila replied with a frown.

The two glanced at each other, and each other's eyes were extremely serious. Eventually, they decided to get closer and check it again.

Walking down the stairs and into the backyard, both Joanna and Leila are ready for battle. They clenched the pendants on their chests, activating the runes inside, building an invisible wall of spiritual power around them, ensuring that they would not be attacked by any illusions.

Jessica was crouching on the ground, fiddling with a doll mirror or something......

So, the two put away their serious expressions, made a casual appearance, and walked towards Jessica.

"You are...... Two big sisters, why are you here?" Jessica was stunned when she saw the two, and soon showed a bright smile.

Joanna walked in front and smiled at her.

"Jessica, what are you doing here?"

As they spoke, the two of them reached out their spiritual power and scanned towards the corner. I have to say that the corner of the backyard is really a bit eerie in the dusk, surrounded by bare flat land, but behind Jessica, a clump of grass grows in the ground very eye-catching, lush and green, there is a subtle incongruity.

But...... They found no trace of the undead.

This made Lyra's face hesitate a little.

"I'm playing with Michael. Jessica raised the knight rag doll in her hand, showed it to the two, and said happily.

“...... Michael?"

The two looked at each other with strange expressions.

Could it be ...... The little girl said that the new friend she met recently was this rag doll?

It was a doll that looked like it was still two percent new, with rough workmanship and the appearance of a knight, and it was available everywhere. And from the doll, they didn't sense the fluctuation of spiritual power, nor did they sense the unique death qi of the undead, just a very ordinary doll.

Layla became more and more uncertain, because the undead breath she had smelled on the little girl had disappeared at this time.

Was it really her delusion?

The last time she went to the world of the dead was more than ten years ago. Since that time more than a decade ago, the giant bone dragon has been guarding the edge of the ghost abyss, and no one can enter it, causing the academy's research on the undead to gradually stagnate, and no one has the opportunity to contact the undead again.

Therefore, she really can't be sure.

"Can you show me this doll?" asked Leila after hesitation.

"Okay. Jessica didn't hesitate to agree.

Leila took the rag doll and looked at it several times with Joanna, but finally found nothing. For a while, the scene was a little awkward. Jessica looked at the two with curious eyes, there was no way, Joanna could only be cheeky and return the doll.

"That...... Very cute doll. She squeezed out the words.

"Thank you. Jessica smiled, took the doll, and said, "By the way, what's the matter with the two big sisters? Is the room not satisfied? If you want to change the room, go to Uncle George, but you have to pay more." ”

"No, no, we're just hanging out. ”

With that, the two lifted their guards, chatted with Jessica for a few more awkward words, and then turned back to their room. There is no doubt that the little girl just named her doll and called it a friend, and had nothing to do with the undead or anything like that.

They are indeed overly attentive.

"Rest early, we're on our way tomorrow morning!"

As night fell, after meditating, the two of them felt very tired, and at about nine o'clock they turned off the lights early, lay down on the bed, and fell into a deep sleep. There weren't many passengers in the inn today, and as the time got late, the whole building fell silent, and the last few bright windows were darkened.

It was about one o'clock in the morning......

There was a soft creak, and the door to Joanna and Leila's room was gently pushed open a crack.

The short figure came in through the crack.

At this time, the two were still lying on the bed, sleeping soundly, without any alertness. The moment the door was pushed open, it was as if an invisible force field covered the room, and the air was subtly reddened. That force field descended on the two of them, causing them to sleep more heavily than before.

- Even if someone walked to her bedside, Joanna wouldn't wake up.

"We ...... Do you really want to do this?"

Looking at Joanna who was asleep, Jessica asked with a wooden knife in her right hand, lowered her head, and looked at a badly worn tooth in the palm of her left hand.

Her teeth didn't move, but Jessica's face became more hesitant as if she had heard someone's answer.

"But...... But...... I don't think they're bad guys. She struggled and said, "Michael, they haven't really found you, and they won't threaten you." Tomorrow morning, these two big sisters will leave, how can they take today's affairs to heart. ”

When she had finished speaking, she stared back at her teeth, as if she were patiently listening to something, and the room fell silent.

After about half a minute, Jessica sighed.

"You're lying to me, aren't you?" she looked down at the tooth in frustration, "Michael, you're too fond of deceiving people. They weren't bad people at all, they were very powerful mages. Just because they may have noticed you, you have to kill them...... That's too much!"

"Michael, be sober, this is not what I know you at all!"

"Why do you hate them so much? Did you know each other before? No, why do you hate them? I don't believe that you hate everybody, do you hate me too? No, no...... You're a good person, I believe you're a good person, don't be bad......"

She stood on the edge of the bed, arguing with the teeth in her hand as if she were talking to herself, and the more she talked, the more excited she became. Joanna and Leila on the side slept like dead pigs, and the scene was very weird.

After a while, Jessica wiped away tears.

"Michael...... Why do you want to say that? You're not a bad person......"

However, as she sobbed quietly, her dead tooth suddenly moved—as if pulled by an invisible force, it jumped out of Jessica's palm and headed straight for Joanna who was asleep!

Jessica screamed in horror at that moment.

"Don't ——!"

What she didn't realize was that the moment the teeth jumped out of her hands, the power that enveloped the room suddenly faded, and the red vision returned to its original state. And Joanna, who was sleeping, also woke up from their dreams suddenly after the force field subsided.

Joanna opened her eyes and saw the tooth falling head-on.

She summoned flames, almost instinctively.

Flutter! A small flame appeared out of thin air, stopping the tooth, and the tooth made a muffled sound under the scorching flames. At that time, Joanna was still a little confused, she had no idea what was going on, she just subconsciously cast a spell and released a large amount of fire elements that she had stored in the runes.

Then, the teeth were completely submerged in flames, and waves of fluctuations came out of it. Joanna stared at it blankly, and a strange feeling rose from her heart, as if the flame was enveloping a living thing.

It's like...... There was a soul that howled in pain.

Lyra, who woke up, was also stunned.

"Mai, Michael......"

Jessica looked at the white fire, with tears on her face, and her whole person was stunned. She saw the teeth melt little by little in the flames, and she felt Michael's soul die, and that familiar feeling was passing by with time.

Why......

A few seconds later, a faint shadow rose from the flames.

It seemed to be a young woman, and she couldn't see her face clearly, but she could see the golden pupils as sharp as a cheetah. Jessica looked at the figure, and in fact, it was the first time she had really seen her "friend" for what it really was, and it was also the first time she realized that "he" was actually "her".

She froze, but her heart welled up with unwarranted sadness, just like the day her mother was buried.

"Why are you ......"

She tried to ask something, but the shadows in the firelight began to dissipate. Soon, the teeth burned in the flames, and Joanna withdrew her magic in confusion. Then, the flames cleared, and calm returned to the dark room, as if nothing had happened.

A deep female voice rang in Jessica's ears.

"I'm leaving. The voice said, "And you, too, should grow up." ”

It was the first time she heard her friend's voice – and of course, for the last time.