"...... his legs?" the scene in front of her made Alicia cover her mouth. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"It's not just the legs. Valrhona said lightly with a sad face. She slowly lifted the hem of her brother's thin shirt, and the subsequent picture made everyone speechless.

Joshua's body, starting with his feet and continuing to his chest near his heart, was stiffened with stones, and the silver-gray heaviness gave the people in the room a feeling of suffocation.

"The place turned to stone is no longer able to move, and now the only thing he can move is his head and hands. Valrhona had been looking at her brother with great pity as she said this.

“......”

The others didn't utter a word for a while, because the scene was so shocking. Why does a young boy who is eight or nine years old have to suffer like this? He is still growing in his body, but his body has stopped growing, and he can only look out the window in a daze every day when he is still dreaming of dreams. Alicia couldn't help but look at him sadly, but Joshua only wore a shallow smile, which made Alicia feel even more worried.

"What is this?" asked Kyeloa first to break the silence.

"I don't know. Valrhona said with a helpless expression, apparently she had tried many ways to find and cure her brother's illness, "Since six months ago, people in the village suddenly started getting sick. At first, it was just a scale-like grouper on the skin, and people didn't pay much attention to it, but gradually, the grouper began to spread all over the body and cause petrification of the body. ”

"It's like falling for a spell from a batwing banshee. Daron said.

"It's worse than that. Kyeloa put his hand to his chin and said as he pondered, "Normally, monsters like batwing banshees, gorgons, or gargoyles can petrify people, and the petrification effect is temporary, but I really haven't seen a petrification spell like this that slowly spreads from one point to the whole body." Miss Valrhona, may I ask if any of the petrified people have recovered?"

Valrhona shook her head and said, "Do you see those stone statues on the road?"

"Do you mean the humanoid sculptures on the road?"

"Yes. Valrhona nodded, sighing sadly, "Those aren't sculptures. ”

Another bolt of lightning pierced the sky, illuminating the room and the shocked expressions on everyone's faces. The thunder that followed was deafening, and Mei Lufa's whole body was curled up in fright.

"You mean, the sculptures are all human?" asked Alicia, surprised.

"Well, those are the villagers of Peramo. ”

Alicia suddenly understood why the man refused to stand in the house they had broken into before. Then she remembered the sculpture of the child lying on the bed in the room she had seen before leaving......

"Is there no cure for this disease?" asked Alicia excitedly.

"We've tried everything, but we can't even stop the spread of petrochemical. So I had to look for the most famous doctor in the big city, but it costs a lot of money to find a doctor like that......" Valrhona said with a sad face.

"So you stole our money!" Zazha Cha was standing in the corner with his hands on his chest, unwilling to participate in the conversation, but finally couldn't help it when he heard this.

"Yes......" At this moment, Valrhona's long, low-hanging eyelashes trembled slightly, as if they were about to be sucked down by gravity.

"Actually, you had such an idea to approach us in the first place, right?" said Zazacha, her expression becoming more and more angry, "No matter how righteous and awe-inspiring your reasons are, you can't use it as an excuse to deceive your friends!"

Valrhona seemed to be a little speechless by Zazacha for a moment. The arrogant goddess archer also became speechless at this point.

"Don't talk about my sister like that!" a child's voice suddenly sounded, and everyone's eyes looked at the bed in unison, only to see that Joshua's face was already covered with tears, "My sister has always been very good to me, you are not allowed to talk about my sister like that!"

Alicia immediately gave Zazacha a stern look, so the brave southern warrior had no choice but to shut up for the time being, and went back to the corner and hugged his chest.

"My sister took care of me since I was a child, and now my mother is gone, I only have my sister anymore, don't say anything bad about her anymore!"

Joshua's cry resounded through everyone's hearts, and in a child's world, it was quite transparent who was good and who was bad.

“...... I did have that idea at first. Valrhona was the first to break the awkward atmosphere between them, and said frankly, "But I also found that you are all very good people during the trip, and I wanted to break off such thoughts for a while, but ......"

As Valrhona spoke, she suddenly turned her head to look at Alicia.

"But you're royal!"

Suddenly, there was hatred and hostility in Valrhona's eyes, which made Alicia shudder. The words that came out of her mouth also shocked everyone present. Outside the window, lightning and thunder roared again, as if a rainstorm was coming.

“...... That's true, but I'm only half a royal at best. Alicia suddenly touched the back of her head and said with a smile.

"In my opinion, she doesn't look like a royal at all......" Daron couldn't help but complain. As long as you recall Alicia's usual rough and naughty behavior, where is the slightest bit of royalty.

Seeing the reactions of the two, Valrhona was stunned, and after a long moment, she suddenly laughed.

"It's not like royalty, and I don't know what the people of Galbadia would think if they knew what their princess was like. Valrhona smiled. Joshua saw that his sister was suddenly so happy, and he was inexplicably happy, and the atmosphere in the house finally changed a little lighter.

Alicia smiled unmindingly and asked:

"Valrhona, why do you hate royalty so much?"

Valrhona finally stopped laughing, and after a long silence, she bit her words, as if she were about to exhaust her strength, and said, "Because it was the royal family who killed my mother." ”

Alicia couldn't hide her surprise and immediately asked:

"When?"

"Three months ago, when my mother was rushing to Yebasta, the capital, to seek medical treatment for everyone in the village...... Farhona recounted.

"Three months ago, the incidence of illness in the village was getting higher and higher, and many people had been reduced to stone statues on the road. As a result, many villagers packed their bags and left the village of Peramo. There were originally more than 100 households in the village, but now there are less than 30 of them. ”

Alicia nodded, it turned out that this was the reason why the village looked so depressed.

"Most of the people who are willing to stay in the village are because there are family members who have already contracted this petrification disease, and they are unwilling to abandon their families, so they stay in the village together. Our father died at an early age, leaving me, my mother, and my brother to take care of each other. Seeing that the village could not be lived, we were ready to move out. But at this time, groupers began to appear on his brother's feet. ”

"Mom was so sad at first, she kept blaming herself for not taking us away sooner. However, since my younger brother was already sick, my mother of course thought about how to cure him first. So, my mother took the money pooled by the whole village and went to the capital Yebasta to seek medical treatment, while I took care of my younger brother at home. ”

"My mother finally reached the capital Yebasta, after several days of travel, and just as she was about to go to the hospital, a group of soldiers suddenly surrounded her and drove the crowd on the avenue to both sides. My mother, who had come to the city for the first time, was frightened, and then she saw the soldiers standing in front of them in a line, and all the people around her knelt. She was at a loss for what to do, and she could only follow everyone to do it. Everyone's faces were facing the ground, as if they were afraid of something. Therefore, my mother could only look down and count the patterns on the stone road. ”

Slowly, she heard the sound of a carriage, and she looked up cautiously, only to see a black carriage drawn by four horses speeding towards them. The inner chamber of the carriage was obscured by expensive dark red velvet curtains, and the people seated in the carriage could not be seen. Mom was a little curious, so she asked the people around her who was sitting there. The people around her replied to her, it was His Majesty the current Emperor. ”

"Night......" Alicia suddenly clenched her fists.

To the surprise of the others, Mom suddenly stood up, rushed out of the crowd, stopped in front of the carriage, and knelt down. The galloping horses were frightened and raised their front hooves high, and the groom finally drove the carriage to a halt, and the soldiers on both sides rushed to take his mother away. But Mom struggled to say a word to the Emperor, and in the end it was the man who came out to stop the soldier that Mom had the opportunity to say what she wanted to say. ”

"The first time she came to the capital, she didn't know any rules, she only knew that the emperor was here, and this was the best opportunity. If we report the matter directly to the emperor here, then the wise saint will definitely be able to save our village. With this in mind, she stopped the carriage. As a result, the man came down, and my mother told him very sincerely about the situation in our village, and waited with hope for the emperor to save his people. But that bastard! Do you know what he did?! After listening to what my mom said, he just said, 'What a waste of time,' and ordered her to be put in jail. I finally found my mother in prison and heard about it. I pleaded with the guards and the warden, but they ignored me. Not long after, I learned that my mother had been sentenced to death for stopping His Majesty's carriage!"

Another bolt of lightning dyed the night into a momentary day, and the thunder sounded like the roar of a giant from heaven and earth. Scattered raindrops began to drift in through the window, and it finally started to rain outside.

Valrhona put away the bamboo pole that held up the window, closed the window, and the room became extremely oppressive and quiet for a moment.