Seeing His Royal Highness leave, Lightning pulled Maisie to a corner of the hall.
"Goo?"
Her hair almost dragged to the ground, moving like a floating ghost. Pushing aside the white hair that was blocking her cheeks, Maisie's cheeks were bulged high, and there was a half of the pork chop crispy bone that was not swallowed in her small mouth.
"I found an interesting place," Lightning whispered. "It's in the hidden forest. I'm going to explore tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?"
"Guru." Maisie swallowed the food in her mouth and nodded again and again, "Okay, okay, what do you want to prepare?"
"The three-piece adventure set... No, the three most commonly used things," Lightning found that when he spoke now, he occasionally used a strange word used by His Royal Highness Roland, "Fire sickle, dry food and dagger. It's enough, don't fill your entire pocket like last time."
"Okay," Maisie patted her chest, and when she was about to leave, Lightning stopped her again.
"Remember, this expedition is our secret, don't tell anyone else." The little girl urged, "We will leave early tomorrow morning."
Looking at Maisie's back, who couldn't wait to move towards the dining table, she pouted and began to think about her plans for tomorrow.
Although the bombing was successful and lived up to His Highness's expectations, she found that her flight was far less flexible than before, as if something restrained her movement. As long as the speed is raised, Lightning feels that there is always a devil chasing her behind her.
This is the obstacle brought by fear. She realized that the source was the trip to the stone tower. After seeing the terrifying figure at the door of the basement, she lost her calm and composure, and only wanted to escape from this place as soon as possible. The identity of the family is in doubt.
Fear is not scary, what is scary is the unknown. To overcome it, you must first approach it.
Lightning recited her father's teachings to herself in her heart. There may be real danger tomorrow, but explorers shouldn't be afraid of danger, let alone hold back. If she can't overcome this, I'm afraid it will be difficult for her to fly freely in the future. .
This is also the reason why Lightning decided to act without His Highness Roland. According to His Highness's plan, the exploration of the stone tower will be arranged after the evil moon, and the first army and the witch team will be dispatched to go there together. She worried that by then, even if she came to the stone tower again, it would be difficult to have the idea of "conquering fear". She had to rely on everyone's courage to approach the danger, which could not be called an adventure at all.
Afterwards, His Highness might scold her and confiscated her ice cream, and the sisters of the Witch Union would also be worried because of this, but she still made up her mind.
As the daughter of Thunder, the fjord's greatest explorer, Lightning couldn't accept a cowardly self.
However, this decision does not mean acting recklessly. Compared with the unpreparedness a few months ago, she now has the revolver gifted by His Highness, has a better understanding of the devil, and is accompanied by Maisie.
Especially the last point... If you really encounter a group of devils in the tower, even if Maisie can't turn into an evil beast to drive away the enemy, at least she can run away with herself.
Explorers don't need a large group to embolden themselves, she thought, but they can have a few trusted teammates.
After the dinner was over, Lightning wrapped the honey meat slices that she had collected into a cloth pocket, followed by weapons, torches, and water bags.
The successful completion of the bombing mission brought her back some confidence, and Her Highness's encouragement and slightly mustache cheeks also gave her courage. To strike while the iron is hot, tomorrow is the best time to start.
Early in the morning, she flew to the top of the castle, and Maisie was squatting on the wall waiting for her.
"Check your package."
"I brought Guo as you told me," she changed back to her original form, and opened the backpack that was slanted across her waist for the little girl to check. This time, the food inside was reduced from full to half, but at least daggers and scythes were stuffed into it.
"Okay, this time you are qualified... Let's go," Lightning flew into the air and flew towards the Hidden Forest with the pigeons.
…
This journey has been repeated many times in Lightning's mind, and even with closed eyes, he can find the right direction. Today's weather is a little gloomy, but it's much better than the dark clouds last time. The color blocks that make up the earth slowly moved backwards, and the closer to the stone tower area, the more nervous the lightning became.
"The interesting place you said last night was the new eagle's nest?" Maisie asked.
"No, it's much more interesting than that," Lightning shook his head. "The target we're exploring is an ancient ruin. It's a stone tower left over four hundred years ago. Ancient books describing the situation at that time.
"Ancient books?" Maisie shook her wings, "It doesn't sound like it's interesting to dig out an eagle's egg."
"An eagle's nest only has two or three eggs at most, and it will be eaten in a few bites," the little girl said in a persuasive manner, "If you can really find such books and bring them back to His Royal Highness Roland, he will definitely be willing to reward you with a basket of eggs. , whether it is boiled or steamed, you can eat three a day for a long time."
"Really?" Maisie suddenly became energetic, "Then let's go find the ancient books! Gugu!"
Near noon, the two successfully reached the sky above their destination.
The half-stone tower, covered in vines and moss, still stands in the woods, and everything around it looks the same as it did a few months ago, unchanged. Lightning lowered the height, flew around the stone tower, and landed gently after confirming safety.
"That's it?" Pigeon shouted, lying on top of her head.
"Shh" Lightning made a silent motion. In the silent forest, the voices of the two of them were extraordinarily loud. "Speak softly, there may be a devil here."
"Devil?" Maisie's tail stood up immediately.
"You wait for me up there," she pointed to the top of the broken tower and said in a low voice, "I'll go check the situation first."
Stepping on the gradually withered grass, there was a slight rustling sound under the feet, the entrance to the stone tower was not re-blocked by plants, and Lightning could still see a small cluster of vines that he had cut with a dagger last time. She held her breath and drilled into the tower according to the original path, bit by bit approaching the basement passage in the center of the tower. She could even hear her own heartbeat as she stared at the stairs that were sinking into the darkness.
Fear comes from the unknown, overcome fear, approach the unknown... The little girl kept cheering herself up in her heart, lit the torch, and walked down the stairs step by step.
Walking to the corner of the passage, she quietly probed and glanced at it. The collapsed wooden door was already in pieces, and there was no sign of the devil at the entrance of the basement. There was only the deep darkness behind the door, like a big mouth that devoured the ground.
At this moment, she heard a voice floating in the darkness, if it was not there, but it was very familiar.
Lightning couldn't help but shivered, and the cold hairs all over his body stood up in an instant, and he almost couldn't help but want to turn around and run away! She gritted her teeth, suppressing the fear that surged in her heart, covered her mouth, and listened again.
The shouts were much clearer this time, and the pitch was exactly the same as last time.
"Save me..." (., Your support is my biggest motivation.)
...