Section 8: The Past

While Ashrufat lay in bed contemplating his future, on the other side of the mansion, the two sisters returned to their bedroom. It should be noted that although this pair of sisters is said to have reached adulthood, they have not separated rooms. Even if you sleep, you sleep in the same bed.

It was late autumn evening, and the wind blowing from the north was already carrying a thick chill. Especially at night, the chill is even more pronounced. Besides, it's not a bustling place, just a suburb of a small remote town. So before it got dark, most of the people who had had dinner went back to their rooms, and at most three or five people gathered together to chat and pass the leisure time before going to bed. It is not surprising that the two sisters went back to their rooms early to rest.

The room of the two sisters is located on the second floor of this house. As mentioned earlier, this is a country manor mansion, that is to say, it is neither as lavish and magnificent as the country mansion of the great nobles (which is usually a castle), nor as simple and ordinary as the house of an ordinary commoner. The mansion consists of four buildings, with a two-storey main building in the center, the first floor for the living room and the second floor for the owner's living room. On one side of the main building are the guest rooms with six or seven rooms (where Ashrufat lived), and on the other side are the kitchens and the servants' quarters. There is also a warehouse located further away from the main building.

It was not early, but it was not so dark outside the window that you couldn't see your fingers, and you could see the afterglow of the sunset through the window.

"Sister, you say...... What now?" Hoshimi asked first as he closed the door to his room. "I mean...... Ashrufat's thing. ”

In fact, even outsiders can see that among the two sisters, Xingke, who is the elder sister, is the leader - although they are twins, there is a big difference in the personalities of the two sides.

"My aunt has made it very clear. Xingke replied. "Take care of everything we have, property, estates, mansions, shares, and so on, and we must keep the ownership in our hands. He's a 'fiancé', but he's just a 'fiancé'. I think what my aunt said is very reasonable, and this is indeed the best way to deal with it. As for Ashrufat...... Although he has lost his memory, he is still a rogue!"

There is a reason why Xingke says this. In fact, they have known Ashrufat for more than ten years, or to be more specific, more than ten years ago, the two sides had a contact.

It was an experience that they kept secret. The sisters died in an accident when they were young. However, when the two sisters were young, they were selected by the Church's magic academy because they showed a talent for magic. This seems like a good way forward for twins who have lost both parents, and if they succeed in their studies, they will definitely become high-level members of the church, and thus an effective support for the whole family. Because of this, almost all the relevant members of the Griffin family at that time supported the two sisters to go to a foreign country to study at the Academy of Magic.

It also seems to prove that this is a good choice. The two of them were soon promoted for their outstanding performance, and for a time became teachers at the academy. However, like the twists and turns that take place in those stories, the two sisters began to dabble in the study of the dark arts because of their scholarly spirit.

When doing this kind of research, they originally thought it was simple. The reason why the Church says that black magic is taboo (and that it is very dangerous) is because it is not used in the right way. If they can prove that black magic energy is a safe and controllable amount of magic power with a practical example, their research must wait for everyone's approval. Unfortunately, they were never given a chance to defend themselves or explain themselves, and when they were discovered to be studying the Dark Arts, the Holy Knights of the Church soon came to their door—not even to arrest them, but to execute them.

What followed was a thrilling escape. The two sisters were accused of 'learning the dark arts' and were hunted down by the Holy Knights. It was during this escape that they met Ashorufat, a mercenary. Or rather, they enlisted the help of Ashrufat, the captain of the mercenaries, through an agreement.

The outcome of that escape was unexpected, and the twists and turns of the road. They thought they had managed to escape the hunt, but they were attacked by the Holy Knight at the last moments—a deadly attack when they thought they were completely safe and had completely abandoned their vigilance.

Although Ashrufat is a mercenary, he shows that he has a considerable knowledge and insight into the dark arts in his discussions with the two sisters. After the two sisters were mortally wounded, the Ashruphat used some kind of magic that the sisters couldn't understand (most likely some kind of unique black magic) to save them, healing the wound that would have been certain to die.

If this were the end of the story, then Ashruphat would undoubtedly be a knight of miraculous power, like the protagonist of those children's stories. Unfortunately, Ashrufat also took advantage of the two sisters' serious injuries and was unable to resist, repeatedly took possession of their bodies, and then left them before they fully recovered, and never looked back.

Later, the sisters returned to their hometown, where they were sheltered by their immediate family, Aunt Marie, or Countess Marianne. At first, they kept their names incognito, for fear that the church would know that they were still alive. Luckily, within a few years, there was news of the Greenskins' invasion and capture of the holy city of Oren. You must know that the green skin does not have any scientific research spirit, and will not be interested in human text archives. Oron fell, the archives of the Church were burned to the ground by Greenskins, almost all of the Holy Knights died on the battlefield, and even the legendary Archbishop Carl, who was blessed by the gods and immortal, was killed by Greenskins. The archives related to the two sisters, and even the related parties are dead.

After this incident, the two sisters were able to gradually show their true identities. And it ended up being the situation it is now. Live peacefully in the countryside – if nothing else – for the rest of your life.

"Sister, I've always felt ...... Maybe there was some other reason at the time. Hoshimi said suddenly. "At that time, we clearly promised him...... But he didn't ......"

"A hooligan is a hooligan. Xingke replied. "The mercenaries are a bunch of scum, scum and hooligans. Selflessness is not in the nature of mercenaries, taking advantage of others is what they do best. ”

"But I think ......," Hoshimi said and stopped.

"What do you think you don't think! The man who takes advantage of the danger of others is the worst! Hmph. Let's take care of the affairs of the family seriously, lest we be ruined by him and don't know what happened to the road. ”

"Auntie said we had to take him to the dance, right?"

"There's no way around it. Since he played his fiancé, he had to make things look like that. Xingke replied. She went to the dresser and began to remove her makeup.

Like most wealthy women, the two sisters also wear makeup every day. However, women of the same age use makeup to make themselves look younger. And these two sisters use makeup to make themselves look more mature. This is supposed to be the effect of practicing black magic - although the two sisters studied black magic spontaneously, they were not derived from the orthodoxy of black magic, the vampire kingdom of Callean, but they also knew the effects of black magic. As the books say, dark magicians have an unnatural youth, and old men who are too old can look like seventeen or eighteen years old. In fact, it is precisely because of this that even under the severe crackdown of the church, there is no shortage of followers of the learners of black magic.

"By the way, sister, have you heard any rumors about vampires lately?"

"You mean the stories that the bard tolds, the one we last met at my aunt's house? I think it's false. What do you say that the vampires who survived Kalean have re-established the dark realm in the south of the Anthropocene realm, and there are many dark magicians or people who are interested in learning dark magic, all of whom are heading over there in order to get first-hand information from vampires and take a step further on the path of dark magic...... If that happens, the church will not give up. Even Kalean in his heyday was wiped out by the coalition forces of the Church Order, let alone the remaining vampires. ”

Xingke's opinion is more rational. The two of them used to be the backbone of the church, and of course they knew the true strength of the Taoist church. Although the fall of Oron, the fall of the Holy Knights and the killing of the archbishop were a major blow to the Church. But this blow does not affect the true foundation of the church, which is recovering from this unexpected blow, or sooner or later. Whether this rumor is true or not, the remaining vampires have little chance - at least no future.

"Let's leave aside the irrelevant things that happen in faraway places, and think about the ball. ”

"Prom?" Hoshimi asked.

"First of all, we had to get a men's outfit...... Well, after all, he is our fiancé, so he can't wear those servants' clothes or everyday casual clothes to the ball. We'll have to get a tailor...... I'm afraid it will cost a lot of money. Xingke's mind has been completely immersed in the daily life of firewood, rice, oil and salt, calculating the problem of money.

Although the income of the two sisters is barely enough, even by the standards of the lower nobles, their lives are still a little poor. In fact, to judge whether a family is rich or not, there is a trick that has been tried and tested: look at the horse. Because according to tradition, horses are the best sign of their status. There is a huge difference in the price of a good horse and a bad horse, and a qualified war horse is topped by ten ordinary pack horses. And a famous horse is often considered a priceless treasure, the most boastful possession of a nobleman.

There were four horses in the two sisters' stables, all of which were ordinary variegated cart horses, none of which could be called "horses". This is enough to say a lot.

"Speaking of which, we haven't been experimenting in any time. Hoshimi said suddenly. "Ever since Ashrufat came here. ”

"Well, it can't be helped, there is an extra patient in the family, and if we leave home to go to the secret base to do experiments, then it will be too conspicuous. Xingke had finished removing his makeup and sat down on the bed. "Don't forget that amnesia is just the loss of memories of the past, but skills, knowledge, and so on are preserved. If Ashruphat was indeed a dark mage, then he would be aware of our magical experiments. Because he must have a keen sense of dark magic energy. But my aunt made it so important that she couldn't let him know about our study of the dark arts. Because after all, he has lost his memory, and he doesn't know what kind of thing Lu Dao will do. There is an extra man in the family...... It's really troublesome. ”

It was already completely dark, and different people fell asleep with their own different hearts.