Annan had a dream.

He dreamed that he had become a boy and followed the fishermen's children of the village to a hidden bay, where he saw a beautiful maiden cowered in a shell.

The sun shone on her mutton-fat-like white skin, as if it were shining.

The boy moved away from the rocks, took a handful of pearls from the bottom of the rocks and gave them to him, saying that if she cried, there would be pearls, and we were going to make a fortune. I'll just tell you, you look at her, I'll go to the town and tell the mayor that we're half of the money we've earned.

The boy ran out, and Annan looked curiously at the girl in the shell. Her beautiful cheeks have both joy at something new and sadness at leaving home.

Doesn't she like it here? Oh, yes...... How can a fish in the sea like land?

"Do you want to go back?" Annan asked her.

"I ...... I want to go to the land and see it. "He said he would take me to the big city and meet dragons and elves." ”

"He's cheating, he wants to sell you to the mayor." Annan said.

"What then?" The girl looked flustered.

Annan put down the pearl, stood up and went around the back of the shell, pushing the giant shell, plowing a deep mark in the sand.

Pushing the giant shellfish into the sea, Annan stood up and said softly, "Let's go...... Don't cry anymore to a place where a greedy person can't find you......"

Annan, who watched the seashells slowly sink into the sea, woke up from a dream vision.

The charred girl stood out from the blood pearl that had lost its power, and the giant shellfish in front of Annan withered like a flower and turned to ashes.

The loose blood pearls began to crumble, burying traces of her existence.

She finally rejected the Leaf of the World Tree.

Annan could understand what she meant, she wanted to go home, but she had been polluted by the land, so she had to return to the ocean in her dreams and free herself in reality.

If only you were there......

It was as if there was a sigh in Annan's mind.

Annan was suddenly surrounded by unprecedented sadness, and muttered to himself: "I always thought that I could change the fate of many people, but there are too many things that I can't do......"

The sigh that lingered around Annan seemed to caress his cheeks, and he whispered, Please don't cry for me.

"I don't want to ...... But it seems that there is no control. ”

Annan's sadness made him want to cry, but the majesty of being the lord of Liberty City made him want to suppress it.

It is said that the Kraken has the magical power to manipulate other people's emotions, so the girl in the shell is ...... Kraken?

When the lingering sigh disappeared, the sadness that had befallen Annan's soul gradually faded.

Annan turned his head and saw the scorched girl's dark eyes looking at him.

"There are so many pearls here that they dazzle my eyes." Annan rubbed his eyes, glancing at the pearls of blood that were still buried in them.

These things...... Annan resists from the bottom of his heart when he thinks of where they come from, but they are worth a lot of money......

Since the girl in the shell didn't take them, it means that she gave them to herself, right?

Thinking of this, Annan put the blood pearl into the magic ring. This evil thing is not suitable for jewelry, but it can be sold to the devil.

The accumulation of blood pearls was gone, and the empty cellar was restored to only a few clothes, among which the leather armor, weapons, and staff were unusually conspicuous.

It seems that the gold diggers have been here, but they have not been able to see through the traps and resist temptation.

In addition to these, there is a flute in the place where the girl in the shell withered.

Annan picked up the flute, which seemed to be a crystal clear instrument made of the bones of some kind of sea beast.

Think of it as a souvenir.

Annan put the flute in his pocket.

"Are you alright?"

The charred girl shook her head, and Annan picked up the magic lamp that had fallen on the ground and walked to the ground.

The cellar is too empty to be a shelter.

Annan searched around the manor in the twilight, and finally the charred maiden helped him find a cellar in the utility room in the garden.

At midnight, Annan stood under the cellar and looked up at the light above, and the outbreak of the royal city tonight was much shorter than the previous two days......

Is the princess getting weak?

Early in the morning of the third day of entering Hearsi, Annan climbed out of the cellar.

Annan looked out of the city first, but the southern countries still did not move, not even the gold diggers he met on the street not long after.

The mercenaries, armed with weapons and leather armor, stood in front of them, looking at Annan in disbelief.

He didn't look like a gold digger at all, so who would be alone in Persona?

Some of the gold diggers are ready to flee, and the rest are ready to run away after the fight—they are the best at that.

Their vice-captain boldly asked, "Who are you?" ”

"I'm the king's maid guard, outsiders, get out of the way."

Hearsa couldn't cast spells, and Annan didn't want to argue with them.

"Pretending to be a ghost......

The vice-captain muttered and got out of the way with his companions.

Annan continued on his way, and as he passed the gold diggers, a soft murmur sounded.

"Are you a spellcaster......?" Their captain, a muscular female warrior, stared greedily at Annan's face, "Grab him and send him to my room, I'm going to interrogate him properly......"

"Boss, will you still interrogate?"

"Less nonsense!"

Annan stopped at this moment, and his black eyes fell on the gold digger captain: "Those who break the rules should be punished......"

The scorched girl emerged from his shadow.

"Weird! He's weird!! ”

Gold diggers are not afraid of their kind, but they are tortured so badly that they don't want to face weirdness.

The charred girl did nothing, and the gold diggers fled and disappeared into the distance.

Annan had no intention of reaching them out and continued on his journey.

When passing by a shop, the waiter in the shop stepped on broken glass and greeted us: "Customer, what do you want?" ”

Annan ignored him and moved on.

"What do you want...... Our goods are cheap and good-looking......" The waiter followed Annan with a false smile, reaching out to grab him.

Smack-

A charred hand grabbed the waiter's wrist, and the smirking waiter exploded like a bubble, and the store it walked out let out a dull and angry whisper.

The inner city is indeed much more dangerous than the outer city, but the benefits should also be a lot more, otherwise the gold diggers would not rush to it - Annan saw a lot of weapons discarded by the gold diggers along the way, as for the fate of their owners...... It shouldn't be too good.

On the third night, Annan found a church as a shelter. Although the gods and believers are gone, the remaining power should allow the Weird to avoid here.

At least some of them avoid it.

Annan hides in the dungeon, which is the scene where the church punishes criminals and heretics, but considering that this church belongs to the good god line, Annan is extremely relieved...... Especially after he was in the deepest cell.

As it turned out, Annan's peace of mind was fake.

(End of chapter)