Just when Ash was judged as non-recyclable residual waste, in the prosperous imperial capital 'Nabisteen' far away from them, there was a series of magnificent and solemn palaces. Among the palaces, the most eye-catching one was the towering tower built on the small island in the center of Lake Yalan, with white walls and blue roofs, orioles singing, and white pigeons surrounding it. This building seemed to be not from this world, but only existed in fairy tales.
“… In this way, the brave knight defeated the fire-breathing dragon and found the beautiful princess in the dragon’s lair. The two returned to the capital together and were congratulated by everyone. The king presided over their wedding. The knight and the princess lived happily ever after. Congratulations, congratulations.”
The kind old lady closed the comic book with a smile on her face. At this time, the clock in the room rang and the cute cuckoo jumped out to tell the time.
"Your Highness, the clock has struck 12 and you should go to bed." The old lady gently pulled the quilt, as if she was afraid that the action of covering the quilt would hurt the princess on the bed.
The princess blinked her beautiful light green eyes, which sparkled like stars. Her skin was as white as snow, her lips were as red as blood, and her long black hair was like a waterfall, spreading out on the pillow like a fan.
"Grandma Martha, when will the dragon come to catch me?"
The old lady smiled and patted the princess' head. "The brave knights are outside protecting you, so the dragon can't capture you, my lovely princess."
"Oh? Won't the dragon be disappointed?" The princess said with some sorrow: "It wants to capture me as much as I want to see Nina... Grandma Martha, when will Nina come to see me?"
"Princess Nina is very busy. She will definitely come to see the princess when she has some free time."
The old lady turned off the desk lamp and quietly left the room.
The princess was lying on the bed, daydreaming. She imagined the dragon in her mind: it would have four beautiful horns, a bunch of glittering scales, and a mouthful of ferocious but neat fangs. Its eyes were as big as a half-length mirror. I could see myself in its pupils...
When the princess turned over, she was stunned: a bronze dragon that was exactly what she imagined appeared outside the window, flapping its wings gently in the air and staring straight at her through the window with its vertical pupil.
The princess threw back the quilt and got out of bed. She was wearing a set of pure white cotton pajamas. She walked barefoot on the cold marble floor and walked to the window to look into the eyes of the bronze dragon.
"Are you here to arrest me?"
The bronze dragon said nothing, but just looked at her quietly.
But the princess seemed to have heard something and smiled: "Okay, I'll go with you."
Compared to the knight who has been guarding her under the tower, the princess feels that the dragon in front of her is more like a hero who saves her - she will sit on the dragon's back, fly in the sky, overlooking the magnificent earth, and experience thrilling adventures. This is exactly the life she has been looking forward to for a long time.
She climbed over the window carefully, and the barrier that had blocked her seemed to disappear at that moment. She sat on the edge of the window sill, her two cute, crystal-clear little feet dangling gently, and she opened her arms to the bronze dragon: "Thank you, evil dragon."
However, the knights under the tower are actually guards.
Bronze dragons do not exist in reality.
But the princess really jumped.
As a shrill whistle pierced the night sky, the entire palace was alarmed. The palace magicians were urgently summoned, and the three-winged sanctuary magicians flew directly to the room at the top of the tower to conduct a carpet search, but still found nothing.
"Where's the princess?"
"The princess is missing!"
"Go find her quickly! Send the prophet over!... No, just use the Gospel to find out where the princess is! No matter how many points or how many Gospels it takes, use them first!"
"No, the Gospel will not accept it!"
"How can it be… "
The frustrated pursuers quickly left the princess's messed-up room and expanded their search to the entire imperial capital.
No one noticed that an uninvited guest had already appeared in the room and had been watching the show.
He walked to the window, laid his hands on the windowsill, and stretched his head to look down at the magnificent royal city that was lit up below. Layers of curtains like aurora gradually unfolded above the city, and thousands of "Eagle Eye" drones took off everywhere. Laser-like patterns appeared on the ground, and all monitoring systems were fully activated. In a few minutes, every corner of the city was checked, so the space miracles were purified, just to find the missing princess.
"It saves me a lot of effort." He held his chin and smiled, "It took me a lot of time to educate Sword Princess."
"Who are you?"
Suddenly, there was a sound of anger from behind, and the viewer turned around and looked at the girl in a black dress standing beside the bed. She had a beautiful face, skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and long black and beautiful hair.
But unlike the quiet and lovely princess who had just jumped, she looked furious, with her hands on her hips, staring at the viewer with a puffy face, as if she was about to rush up and bite someone.
"Although I really want to say this is our first meeting, we have already stared at each other for a while." The Observer spread his hands and said, "Nice to meet you, Witch. I am the End Observer, you can call me Observer."
"I'm not a witch!" She walked directly to the viewer and poked her finger at his chest: "I am Princess Lisdiya. You can call me Princess Lis or Princess Diya. I have never used such a weird name as witch!"
The spectator leaned back strategically and asked, "So, should I call you Liz or Diya?"
The other party blinked, "...Diya."
"But I think Witch sounds better." The viewer turned and looked at the gradually bustling imperial capital in the distance: "So Witch, how does it feel to be free?"
"Are you laughing at me?" Diya grabbed the viewer's collar and twisted him back, almost lifting him up: "Who are you? Why can you break through the numerous barriers and enter the royal city, and even enter my tower? If it weren't for the help of the bronze dragon, I would never be able to leave this cage!"
“If it is possible for a legendary magician to sneak in here, then the fact that you can see me has completely surpassed the realm of mortals.” Diya said seriously: “I am not a soul, not a spirit, not a magic power, but an illusion, a thought, a mood...Except for Liz, no one else can notice my existence. No one in this world can see me.”
"How can you see a thought?"
Diya carefully studied the misty appearance of the viewer: "Are you the Lord God?"
"I'm sorry to disappoint you."
Being lifted up by Diya like this, the spectator was not annoyed at all, and said calmly: "I am not a god, at least... not yet. On the contrary, I still come to ask for your help."
Diya tilted her head, "What help?"
"Become my companion and accept my arrangements."
"Can I take this as your declaration of servitude?"
"I will defend to the death your right to free imagination."
"absurd."
Diya suddenly pushed the viewer out of the window, and pure white color began to radiate with her as the center. In an instant, the whole world turned white, leaving only Diya standing and the falling viewer.
The viewer's dark red windbreaker slowly turned gray, and he stood there, as if frozen in time.
"Although I don't know who you are or how you see me, since you can communicate with me, it means you are in my mind." Diya said word by word: "It is very dangerous to break into someone else's mind."
She clasped her hands together and said, "Be cut into pieces by countless time, viewer!"
As soon as Diya finished speaking, the viewer's body shattered like a mirror, getting smaller and smaller, until it turned into a pool of crystal sand.
Humph, nothing more than that... Just when Diya had this thought in her mind, suddenly there were shattering sounds coming from all directions!
Snapped!
Diya looked up and found that the pure white and still world she created was actually cracked like a mirror! In each fragment of the world, the viewer's hazy and blurred appearance emerged!
In the sky and on the earth, in all directions, endless and everywhere!
"Not an illusion, not a false image, each one of them is the real me."
The voices of the audience were like thunder, and the resonance of the voices almost shook Diya's body: "We come from the last second, the last nanosecond, the last millionth nanosecond... Instead of using time to kill people, you should learn how to use time to avoid death."
"It seems that we can't save the energy that should be saved."
... ...
When Diya came to her senses, she found herself sitting on the edge of the bed and the viewer was still leaning against the windowsill, as if nothing had happened.
But Diya knew that in the battle of thoughts just now, even in her own realm of thoughts, she still lost, and lost miserably. She couldn't describe this feeling - free thoughts could actually be defeated!
She rolled around on the bed and hid behind it to avoid the viewer's sight. Like a startled little rabbit, she asked cautiously, "Do you really need my help?"
"You seem to have overestimated me." The viewer laughed and said, "I am actually just a distant thought. If it weren't for some special methods, I would never have seen you. My original body has just stepped into the Time Continent. I don't even have a golden feather. My strength is worse than yours. With your help, the next exploration of the virtual world will be much easier."
How is it possible... Diya didn't believe that the viewer only had two wings, but she soon noticed the key words mentioned by the viewer: "Virtual Realm Exploration?"
"Yes, you will join my virtual world exploration team and rush across the time continent together." The viewer nodded: "But don't expect me to give you any information. You know more about the virtual world and the time continent than I do."
Exploring the virtual world together? Diya subconsciously wanted to deny this fantastic idea, but when she thought about it carefully, compared to the viewer being able to see herself, forming a team in the virtual world seemed normal.
The point is, there is no need for the viewer to deceive herself into thinking she is just a two-winged magician, even if she is a two-winged magician favored by a bronze dragon.
However, if the viewer's strength is really worse than yours, then...
"Oh, right," the viewer suddenly remembered something and said, "I have a fellow swordsman. We swam in the sea of knowledge together and killed many enemies together."
Diya suppressed the bold idea that came to her mind, "Do I have the right to refuse?"
"I also have a fellow swordsman. Together we have swum through the ocean of knowledge and slain many enemies together." The viewer repeated the words with a smile.
She was so angry that she pointed at the viewer and shouted, "You are threatening me!"
"I prefer to call it bribery." The viewer tilted his head: "But I will defend your right to free imagination to the death."
Diya seemed to want to say something, but suddenly her face changed and she quickly disappeared.
"She didn't even say goodbye. What an impolite princess." The viewer sat lazily on the chair of the dressing table. "She was just caught by the cultists. Why is she so nervous? She should have known that the favor of the bronze dragon is not so easy to bear."
"Compared to you, she is really much more naughty."
Sword Princess sat on the edge of the windowsill, her long black silk legs dangling gently in the air, looking a little worried: "But she is too naughty. I am more worried whether Ash can handle her."
"rest assured."
The viewer smiled playfully and said, "Isn't there still Sonia?"