Blade and Poetry

During the second half of the journey back, I almost fell asleep in a drowsy sleep.Until the car stopped bumping, I vaguely heard someone shouting: "Sorry, you have to go down here."

I climbed down from my seat and found the carriage parked outside the town where Hoftas was located.

"The traffic seems to be blocked." The driver shook his head at me to show that he didn't know the inside story either.

Large vehicles are prohibited from entering the town.There were several winged horses beside my carriage, snorting each other.Guards in black uniforms stood every few steps along that boundary line.I handed Hoftas' ID card to one of them for inspection, and was finally let in after some twists and turns.

I don't know if it's my illusion, but the town in the early morning seems to be much duller than before.The students who used to like to go out together during the winter vacation were nowhere to be seen. On both sides of the small street, there were only people selling newspapers with wooden baskets on their backs.I casually asked it for a copy, and it flapped its wings, causing a roll of gray newspaper to fly out, then tilted its little head to watch me count the money.

"Thank you." It said in a straight voice, took the money in its mouth, and flew back to the top of the eaves.

I opened it up and saw that on the first page, there was a headline "India and Saudi Arabia unilaterally propose to take war measures to our country".I swiped down; there wasn't any fighting going on yet, but there was a lot of gunpowder between the lines.India and Saudi Arabia is one of the two small countries that have been noisy before - I am not sure whether the declaration of war is limited to deterrence.As far as I know, although Insha is close to Columdunam, it is far behind in terms of land area and military strength.

Afterwards, nothing major happened in the newspapers, and the inexplicable blockade of the small town of Hoftas was not reported in the newspapers.I lost the newspaper, and distributed Die Shu to some friends while walking, telling them that I had come back safe and sound.

I think that little flower and bird may have gone home during the winter vacation, and Lando and Coleman may have returned to the capital together.Ward is far away. Ord should be the one on campus, maybe in the library.

Guessing the first familiar face I saw when I returned to school, I crossed the last particularly deserted street and walked quickly towards the gate of Hoftas.

Leaning under the stone arch is a man wearing the uniform of the East Court.He folded his arms, his eyes were half closed, and his face seemed a little pale due to the morning halo.

"Coleman!" I ran towards him. "You came here to wait for me?"

He opened his eyes and nodded.

"Let's go," he said.

I have a lot of words that can't wait to rush to my mouth, but I hesitate to stop them before the indifference in his eyes.I feel that he is slightly different from the past.Of course he was indifferent before, but it seemed to be different from the inhumanity revealed now; it was as if something had frozen prematurely in his eyes and refused to flow anymore.

He seemed to have something to say to me, hesitating how to express it.

"Someone had an accident in the west courtyard." He said.

"Odgo?" I blurted out, and stopped immediately.

"No," Coleman said.

I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time felt ashamed of the little bit of happiness that just surfaced.

"Then—" I lifted my feet and walked forward, but I didn't see Coleman beside me in my peripheral vision.

I suddenly had a bad premonition, turned around and found that he was still standing there.

"It's Lando." Coleman said.

He and I entered the medical area and sat side by side beside Lan Duo's hospital bed. The little girl was quietly closing her eyes, her curly hair was tucked into the quilt,

"When did it happen?" I asked him.

"A day ago," Coleman said. "She told me that she was going to go out in the morning and come to find me at noon, but we lost contact after that. I followed her traces and found her in the west courtyard. She is just like now, unconscious, with no external injuries. The person sent by the Magic Society to identify it said that it was the backlash of the magic circle. She seemed to have found a formation on the ground and tried to break through it, but was hurt by its protection mechanism."

"How is the situation now?"

"The hospital said that the magic lines that penetrated into her body were weird, and they haven't found a precedent for treatment. They can only temporarily stabilize her condition."

"How could such a safety accident happen in Hoftas..." My eyes stayed on her bloodless cheeks, "It shouldn't be."

"That place is sealed off." Coleman said, "No one knows who created the magic circle on the rooftop."

"Wait," my throat suddenly became dry and hoarse, "Which building's roof is on the west courtyard?"

"The main building of the west courtyard." He said.

I suddenly felt hard to breathe.

"I suggest you punch me a few times," I said. "Remember I mentioned it to you guys? I told her how to sneak in—"

I saw that Coleman's right hand was indeed clenched at that moment, and the knuckles on it were pale.

"It doesn't make sense," he said.Then he relaxed his fingers and touched Lan Duo's forehead. "Pointless."

"But at least you can—" I said, "feel better? If you turn your—in other ways..."

I feel like I said something else, but even I can't tell the logic of what I'm saying.

"That's different, Vicente," Coleman said quietly.

I had never heard him speak so calmly, almost deadly.If he hadn't looked up, I wouldn't even think he was in pain at that moment.The sorrow released from his frozen emotions can only stab the recipient with a slight pain; some anger that has no place to rest escapes into the air, flows aimlessly for weeks, and finally disappears in the barrenness.

I used to see the same confusion in him as I did, but not now, I was the one who was more confused.He looks a lot more insightful.His complex thoughts seemed to be squeezing each other, causing him to put on a bleak smile - he only ended them with one sentence.

"You haven't loved anyone, have you?" he said.

I stared at him blankly.

I just suddenly remembered another scene, as if someone had asked me this way before.

It was a bar in November, and Xiao Huaniao sat on a high stool and got himself very drunk.He usually has a precise grasp of the amount of alcohol he drinks, and every reception belongs to the group that can still walk in a straight line at the end, but he seemed determined to fill himself many glasses that day.It seemed that he was not afraid to pour out all the words in his heart until he was drunk, or let me think he was drunk.

"Love is another thing," he said to me. "I—fall in love with her, Vicente. I find that I can't say love to people anymore. No matter how blue eyes they have, sex' Sensual red lips, dazzling blonde hair."

I was staring at this former blonde and blue-eyed preference, racking my brain for a way to save it.

"I don't want you to comfort me," he said drunkenly, putting his arms around my shoulders, "I know you haven't loved either."

But other words and colors also flashed through my mind at that moment, not black hair, not dark blue eyes - I wanted to refute him, that I was an invincible warrior of love with the same preferences as myself. He's definitely different.But I didn't say anything.

I didn't say anything.

"You're right," I said to Coleman, "I didn't."

I promised him that I would work together to find the solution to the magic pattern in Lan Duo's body.The two of us sat in silence for a while, the closed door of the ward was knocked, and then pushed open from the outside.

The few who came in wore cloaks and the star pins of the great magisters; they seemed to belong to the magic society.

"Mr. Vicente Xiao," said the one who led the way.

"Vicente." Ryan also showed his head from behind.He was wearing the same attire.

"We are looking for you," said the one who entered first, "please come with us."

Coleman remained in the ward, and I walked out of the medical area behind the men.

Ryan slowed down and walked side by side with me: "Don't worry, just some simple questions."

"Is it related to Lan Duo's matter?"

"Think of it this way," he said. "You just have to answer truthfully."