Welcome to Forge Town

As a freedom advocate who yearns for the life of the Roma(#Note), after failing to talk to Allen several times, Brandon shifted his target indifferently.

Speaking of this guy, I don't know where he got the coquettish suit. He is dressed as Batman today.Dressed in a fairly professional black leather jacket, it seemed that he was preparing for drinking without anyone noticing tonight.

Because of this protective shade, Brandon successfully plundered various wines at the venue—although their alcohol concentration and quality are generally not high, they are better than free.Brandon, who is penniless, is not picky anymore. After all, chatting is better than nothing, and a few more drinks can always get drunk.

So when Allen turned around, he suddenly realized that the guy behind him who should have repented had run away without a trace!This made Allen very angry, and strengthened his determination to deduct someone's food expenses.

However, despite this, Alan, who was vaguely suffering from Stockholm's early symptoms without Brandon causing trouble, felt somewhat uncomfortable.He looked at the carefully arranged venue, listened to the melodious music, and observed the unfamiliar faces on the dance floor.Suddenly, I felt like I was separated by a glass cover, with an unreal sense of detachment.As if everything in front of him had nothing to do with him.

After being silent for a while, Allen had no choice but to start studying the surrounding environment.

Judging from the arrangement of the party, Miranda's aesthetic concept is really not bad.The theme this time is "Starry Night", so black, which symbolizes the night, becomes the main axis.

The black walls are decorated with delicate glass beads, which reflect a soft shimmer under the dim light.Looking up at the ceiling, you can be pleasantly surprised to find that there is also a starry sky decorated with tiny light bulbs in the overhead space.They shone so brightly that one was almost dazzled by the dots of starlight.

In a daze, Allen heard the sound of several people talking not far to his right.

"God, look over there, that woman is seducing a man again! No shame," said a mean voice.

"Don't say that. If you don't rely on these methods, how can she climb to that position with her talent? I heard that the mayor is also her guest."

"Yeah, it is said that she once conceived a child for him - I remember that she was very proud of her first pregnancy, and she wandered around with the baby like a dog, but the child suddenly disappeared one day. "

"Probably sell it off. I heard that selling babies outside can bring you a lot of money!"

"It makes sense, otherwise her high-end clothes would not be affordable by ordinary people..." a voice said with a coquettish smile.

Allen looked back, and saw three luxuriously dressed ladies talking and laughing diagonally behind.

Without exception, they are all dressed in medieval banquet costumes, with delicate lace veils covering their faces.Judging from the sophistication of their clothes, they obviously put a lot of thought into this grand event, and they have a little wealth.But that loud voice and aggressive words made others look at him with disgust.

Looking at their figures and voice, Allen speculated that they should not be in the list of people he knew well.After all, although this small town is not big, it has more than a thousand people.It was probably those upper-class townspeople who had not been in contact with him in the four months since he arrived in Fogg Town.

In fact, in normal times, Allen is not interested in these gossips.After all, just the usual classroom design and so on, already kept him busy.But maybe it was really boring to the extreme at this time, so Alan followed their gazes and looked forward - only to be surprised to find that what they were talking about was Miranda, whom he had always admired!

Now, Allen really couldn't stop.Even if he is not a person who loves to be serious with women, he thinks that should not be what a gentleman should do.But he can be very sure that compared with these substantive slanders, the crime of removing a gentleman's demeanor is definitely much lighter!

However, just when he was about to take the first step, someone was one step ahead of him.

"Good evening, dear ladies!" said a tall man in a tuxedo.Hearing this pretentious tone is very familiar, Allen took a closer look-isn't it Simon Pearson?

I saw Simon holding the hand of one of the ladies with one hand behind his back, bending down and kissing lightly on the white glove she stretched out. "It's been a long time since I saw you. You are equally beautiful today, Ms. Ruisi." He raised his head and grinned.It made Ruisi and the others cover their mouths and smile shyly.

But in a few words, the three ladies were fascinated by the high concentration of pheromones released by the elegant Simon.Not only completely dispel the prejudice against Miranda, but even try to accept the new image of Miranda portrayed by Simon.

With such a huge plot turning point, the onlooker Allen wanted to stand up and applaud—not only to celebrate Miranda's reputation being washed, but Simon's unfathomable deception ability alone made him have to bow down!

And it was probably the early discovery of Allen's existence.After Wraith's side had finished their dealings, Simon casually took two goblets from the table and walked over with the relaxed pace of a victor.

"Your eloquence is really good." Allen praised sincerely: "Fortunately, Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (#Note) is still young, and I was lucky enough to escape the disaster." Probably in a good mood, Allen was so rare laughed at Simon.You know, usually facing Simon, Allen can only be molested unilaterally.

Simon smiled and handed the wine glass to Allen, and raised his glass. "Thanks for the praise. The only way to dispel rumors is to create new rumors." He shared his experience.Perhaps because he wanted to cooperate with Allen's abnormality, he, who has always been high-profile, unexpectedly showed modesty.

Watching Allen take a sip of the red wine, he smiled and asked, "It's boring to stay here for a long time, do you still want to stay here?" He glanced outside.

Allen thought that he should understand Simon's hint—indeed, everyone is busy with their own work now, and he has no other chat partners because he is withdrawn by nature. Maybe going out with Simon is also a good choice.At least, it's better than being a live set here.

So he responded with a smile: "Oh, of course not." Then he narrowed his eyes, drank the remaining wine in one gulp, and followed Simon out of the venue.For some reason, he felt that he was in a particularly happy mood at the moment, so he wanted to go out for a walk.

In the past few days, with Christmas approaching, the temperature has also begun to drop sharply.At night, it was the last snow of the year, and the originally dry and clean ground was covered with a thin white quilt again, and it glowed with a blurred silver light under the reflection of the moonlight.

The two walked out of the venue and stood in the corner of the wall.And under the eaves next to it, there happened to be a mistletoe hanging.

In the culture of Country E, mistletoe is a symbol of auspiciousness. Every Christmas, every household will put on new mistletoe to bring good luck in the new year.

Seeing that the red berries hidden in the green are fresh and tender, there is also a section of ocher red ribbon with no unique craftsmanship on it-Alan remembered that he tied it by himself this morning.With the combination of red and green, they are very bright and joyful.

"This is indeed a day worth celebrating. Meg hasn't attended this kind of gathering for a long time." Looking at Meg who was standing at the door talking with Miranda, Simon said suddenly.

Allen turned his head to look at him, and he seemed to feel the alcohol in his body starting to work.Perhaps for this reason, he found that he couldn't understand Simon's words for a moment, and there were a thousand bees buzzing in his ears.

"Her daughter Marilyn was originally a student in our school." Simon said, and took a cigarette from his arms and lit it.He watched Meg disappear into the boundary of vision, and said in a low voice and slowly: "She is a naive and lively high school kid. Remember, it was the New Year's party that night, she drank some wine at the party, and said she was going out to reveal Breathing and the like—just like us. But I didn’t expect that once I went out like this, I never came back.”

Then, he turned his gaze to Allen.Those blue eyes, which are always charming and sentimental, now hide behind the hazy moonlight and dense white smoke, appear especially deep, making it difficult for people to see clearly the emotions contained in them.But vaguely, Allen felt that those eyes were not only looking vaguely, but carefully examining all his reactions.

So maybe, the alcohol catalyzed the atmosphere, or the ambiguous atmosphere accelerated the effect of alcohol.Allen tried to keep his eyes open, feeling a little hot in his body, and his eyes gradually became dizzy.He leaned on the wall, watching the cigarette butts that were flickering and extinguishing in front of his eyes, unexpectedly changed from one to two, and then from two to four.Even Simon's face became several afterimages, too numerous to count.

In the end, all he heard was a voice whispering in his ear, "Alan, it would be great if you could be like a teddy bear forever..."

#Note 1: Roma, that is, Gypsies.A wandering Indian nation known for its mysterious image.Historically, they were mostly engaged in divination, singing and dancing.

#Note 2: Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (CharlotteElizabethDiana), the daughter of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Princess Kate.Currently over a year old.