The Book of Hibernation

If it hadn't been tied, Winter Thistle would have jumped up on the spot: "You...you already...?"

Lane said: "Well, I did it myself. But it seems that I didn't do it well enough... I didn't cut off the middle finger completely. The middle finger is supposed to be broken, but it seems to be connected. Um... I can't do it. I imagined it was more difficult. Moreover, I don’t know if I only need to cut off the index finger or if I need to cut off the middle finger together, so I will leave it at that.”

After finishing speaking, he added: "I finished it quickly before you woke up, because I knew you would definitely stop me."

"Where's the finger?" cried Winter Thistle. "Where's the severed finger? Do you keep it?"

"Keep it. I need to keep it and submit it to the temple in the future."

"Just keep it..."

What Winter Ji thought of was not to submit evidence, but as long as the finger was still there, there would be a chance to help him restore it.

Of course, it is impossible to completely restore it, and even if it is connected back, it will be as inflexible as a fake finger.But if it can cooperate with specific arcane techniques, it can help him retain part of his sense of touch. Even if it is inflexible, it is much better than losing two fingers completely.

Ryan said, "Look Winter Thistle, everything is back on track, we've found out what we needed to check, the troubles are over, it's over... we can go back to our old lives. We're going home Go, live like you used to, or if you want to travel around with me, what do you think? Go home or travel?”

"What are you talking about..." Dong Ji was in the middle of speaking, and suddenly thought that returning to his hometown could use the laboratory, which was better than not knowing where to go. He changed his words and said, "Go back to your hometown... Go back to your hometown."

Ryan nodded: "Okay, I think so too. But unfortunately, I can't stay in my hometown forever. I can only accompany you for half a year."

"What?" Dong Ji didn't think he had little time, but he didn't understand what he meant.

Ryan said: "You were going to accompany me through the tour period. When my tour period is over, I will officially take the oath and start accepting tasks. At that time, we will have to separate. But when we separated, we still It’s not enough time, and the tour period is still half a year away. You stayed at Aldin’s place, and I left. So let’s get along for another half a year, and then I will go back to the temple to surrender and receive punishment. Now the punishment I have received is far from enough, I There may also be imprisonment, excommunication, or other punishment. At that point, we are officially separated."

Winter Thistle made no answer.

He thought to himself, whatever you want, I can't control it.

As long as you are willing to take that finger and go back to the laboratory in your hometown, let me see if I can help you restore your sense of touch... that's enough.For now, that's enough.

In this way, they rushed all the way to the sea of ​​silent trees.The journey was fast, almost day and night, and the food was not very good.

In the middle of the journey, Winter Thistle remained obedient, and Ryan helped him untie the rope.Winter Thistle changed the gauze for Ryan and re-treated the wound. When he asked to keep his severed finger, Ryan refused to give it to him, and refused to let him touch his backpack and waist bag.

Winter Thistle didn't dare to fight Ryan.The first is that he is afraid of hurting Ryan's hand again. The second is that he sees that Ryan's mental condition is worrying and he doesn't want to stimulate him any more. The third is the most helpless point. The refiner is so much better, Ryan can subdue Winter Thistle with one hand.

In fact, Winter Thistle has another consideration: he suddenly disappeared from White Lake City, and Aldin will surely realize that something is wrong soon.Maybe Aldin would catch up and stop them on the way.

This is either good or bad.The advantage is that if Ryan can be subdued quickly, Winter Thistle will have a chance to deal with that finger; the disadvantage is that Aldin's people may conflict with Ryan.

Aldin has always been cautious in business matters, even if there is a conflict, it doesn't matter, he knows how to advance and retreat, but Ryan is not necessarily so.Even if Aldin is willing not to hurt Ryan, with Ryan's current mental state, he might do something else.

Winter Ji walked all the way in fear, but no one caught up.

Ten days later, they reached the border of the sea of ​​trees and returned to their hut in their hometown.

When he got home, Ryan still refused to let Winter Thistle handle his fingers, and he was not allowed to go out, to use the laboratory, or to summon other mages... In order to restrict his movements, he was chained and shackled. The ankles are chained.

Winter Thistle had no spell-casting materials and tools at hand, so she couldn't do much, and couldn't get rid of the shackles.In a fit of anger, Winter Thistle activated the house's defensive circle.

This is a preset multiple arcane defense circle, not a single force field barrier.It takes a long and cumbersome process to prepare this kind of magic circle. Once the construction is completed, you don't have to worry about it. After activation, the effect can last for a long time, long enough to compare the lifespan of a big tree, unless someone with authority manually deactivates it.

The activation rune of the magic circle is in this old study room. It was originally decorated with gold leaves. Winter Thistle has the authority to activate it. No tools or materials are required to activate it.

Winter Thistle deliberately reversed the arcane characters, changing "no entry from the outside" to "no exit from the inside".Now Ryan was also locked in the house.

There is only enough food and water in the house for a few days at most.Winter Thistle understands that going on like this is not an option, but he would rather suffer a little bit, in short, he deliberately spends time with Ryan.

When he first found out that he couldn't get out, Ryan first reasoned with Winter Thistle and begged him to disarm the magic circle.

Dong Ji looked at his younger brother, secretly feeling amused.Ryan's tone was similar to when he was a child.When Ryan wanted to go out to play in very cold or very hot weather when he was a child, Winter Thistle was afraid that he would get sick, so he wouldn't allow him. That's how Ryan begged Winter Thistle at that time.

Winter Ji said that disarming the magic circle is fine, but you must unshackle, hand over your fingers, do the inspection obediently, and cooperate with me in everything that follows.

Ryan said yes.But Winter Thistle still refused to disarm the magic circle.

He asked Ryan to repeat what he agreed to just now, and to swear to God.So Ryan refused again.

Later, Ryan stopped asking for winter thistle, and he silently brought food and water to winter thistle, but didn't say much.Winter Thistle didn't tell him anything else about the matter of pressing her finger whenever she saw Ryan.

=====================

Throughout the morning of this day, Ryan sat on the floor facing the door, looking at the lush forest outside the door, and the forest path full of his childhood memories.

He barely fell asleep last night, his mind was in a mess, it was cold in the room, and his hands hurt especially at night.

The exhaustion along the way climbed up, and before he knew it, he fell asleep leaning on the leg of the table next to him.

After sleeping for an unknown amount of time, Ryan vaguely heard the sound of horseshoes.It sounded like there was only one horse, walking very slowly.

Ryan thought vaguely, no, it wasn't the horse, it was the mule that came back with us.It is really strong enough, after walking such a long way, dragging a cart with two people on it... Ryan originally wanted to take it to the village and sell it, but now he can't go out. Fortunately, the surrounding vegetation is flourishing, and the mule should Can't starve to death...

Thinking is getting more and more lax.He was fast asleep again.

The hooves stopped, the wooden steps and floors creaked slightly, and someone was walking towards the house.Lane didn't hear it at all.

Probably because he was in the hometown where he grew up, he felt inexplicably safe.Across the creek behind the house is the Land of the Elves, and it has indeed always been a safe place.

Coupled with the fact that the body is really tired, Ryan's vigilance has not been thrown anywhere.

Something touched the tip of Lane's nose, possibly his upper lip.Ryan's senses were dull, and he was still confused. He thought it might be the wind, or his skin was itchy.He flicked it with his hand casually, without opening his eyes.

Then, a hand was placed on his forehead, as if to test his body temperature.

Ryan woke up instantly.

He opened his eyes, quickly jumped up and put on a fighting posture, subconsciously stretching his right hand towards his waist.But he didn't bring a sword, and even if he did, he couldn't hold it.

Looking at the person in front of him, Ryan looked shocked: "How...how could...you?"

To show no hostility, Aldin took a step back and opened his hands.

He frowned and looked at Ryan: "The first time I came here, I saw you paralyzed at the door as soon as I came, and thought you were dead."

"Why..." Ryan originally wanted to ask "How did you come in", but suddenly remembered that Winter Thistle seemed to say that something in the magic circle had been changed... That's probably why.

In order to appease Ryan, Aldin took the initiative to explain: "You must be very curious about why I was able to find this place. Winter Thistle didn't tell me the exact location, and I followed you all the way here."

"Follow us?" Ryan asked in surprise.

"I didn't follow you from behind, but followed your whereabouts. I guessed that you would go back to your hometown. Although I don't know the exact location, but I know the general direction, so I can guess the route you will take after starting from White Lake City. Then just ask along the way, You can know where you have passed and where you are going next. For example, if you buy mule carts or dry food, you will definitely leave some clues. Just like that, I will follow behind, probably a day or two behind you.”

Along the way, Ryan and Winter Thistle did not hide much.Ryan was slack in his mind and didn't consider this issue.

Ordinarily, Aldin is not considered an enemy now, but Ryan is still instinctively on guard.

"What are you doing here?" Ryan asked.

Aldin looked down at Lane's hand.Ryan didn't hide it either, as if there was nothing strange about the hand, and that's how it should be.

Aldin said straight to the point: "There is a Maida in charge of the chamber of commerce. Not long ago, he and several of his subordinates died in White Lake City. You killed him."

"Yes." Ryan said.

Seeing him admitting so happily, Aldin raised his eyebrows.

Ryan asked, "Is this what you're here for?"

"Yes, I wanted to thank you."

"……what?"

"Maida's been doing some little tricks in the dark and I've got a headache," Aldin said with a big smile on his face. "He must be trying to hurt your brother, that's why you killed him. Well done, Ryan, thank you very much, You did me a great favor."

After finishing speaking, Aldin spread his hands and walked slowly towards Ryan, making the gesture of wanting to hug his comrades in arms.Of course Ryan didn't want to hug him, so he backed away.

Aldin continued: "Don't worry, I will find a way to settle this matter, leave it to me, you don't have to hide."

"I broke my oath," Lane said.

"You didn't. You didn't kill Maida. The real culprit escaped, and we're still chasing him."

"but……"

"We have evidence. Even the Great Temple of White Lake City has approved it."

Ryan pondered for a while, then slowly said: "No. You can fabricate evidence as you like, I killed the person, and I will surrender in the future."

Aldin said: "Of course you can. This is your own business. You can go if you want to. I have no right to stop you. When do you want to surrender?"

"In about half a year..."

"That's just right. Isn't our 'fabricated evidence' just right to help you hide this matter? No one will arrest you within six months, and you can spend these six months with peace of mind. You see, I came alone , without your subordinates, you will never leak the news."

I don't know why, the more Aldin said this, the more he followed Ryan's meaning, the more anxious Ryan became, and even felt nausea from the bottom of his heart.

He really wanted to reprimand loudly, but he couldn't think of anything to say, and he couldn't organize the words at all.

Ryan stood there in a daze, Aldin walked past him, and he didn't stop him.

The house was not big, and Aldin quickly found the study on the first floor, and saw Winter Thistle sitting at the door.A winter thistle can only go as far as the door.

Seeing Aldin, Winter Thistle was not surprised: "You are here."

"It sounds like I'm here as a guest." Aldin knelt down to check the shackle.

Winter Thistle said, "Bring me my magic ingredients, I can open them."

"How do I know where your material bag is? It's okay, I can open it too."

Aldin took out a bundle of leather roll bags from his waist, unfolded it, and inside was a bunch of small tools.

Half squatting and half kneeling, he put Winter Thistle's fettered feet on his knees, and stuffed the corner of his cloak into the gap between the shackles and the skin to prevent the metal from hurting Winter Thistle. tool.

Winter Thistle asked, "Are you still doing this kind of petty theft?"

"The mercenary can do everything. I can't solve the complicated mechanism. It's okay to open the handcuffs."

Aldin had just poked the pointed tool into the keyhole when Winter Thistle suddenly changed his eyes and shouted "Be careful", grabbing his collar and pulling him aside.

Aldin immediately rolled to the side and pushed Winter Thistle away at the same time.

At that moment, he already guessed what happened.Looking back now, sure enough, Ryan was standing at the door with a sharp knife in his left hand.

If Aldin did not dodge in time, the blade should have pierced the back of his neck by now.

"You want to take the winter thistle with you," Ryan said, changing the direction of the blade to the right one. "No, the winter thistle can't go with you."

Aldin stood up slowly and asked, "Is it because he doesn't want to go with me? Or are you not allowed?"

"He promised me to stay with me."

"Since he agreed, why did he have to be handcuffed?"

Ryan ignored Aldin, but looked at Winter Thistle.Winter Thistle retreated to a corner of the room, and just stood up while leaning on the wall.

After standing up, Winter Thistle kicked something next to her feet, making a crisp sound.

It was the shackle, and the shackles had been broken.

Winter Thistle followed the pleated robe and took a few steps forward.Aldin stopped in front of him, fearing that it would be dangerous for him to get too close to Ryan, he shook his head and said it was okay, and stood beside Aldin.

Ryan asked: "Winter Thistle... Do you want to go with him? You repented, and you don't want to accompany me?"

Winter Ji looked at his younger brother sternly: "Put down the knife."

Of course Ryan didn't listen.He lowered his figure slightly, ready to fight.

"I'm so disappointed," he murmured, "Compared to me, compared to your relatives, you still prefer to choose him...you prefer to choose to be with this disgusting person..."

Winter Thistle laughed.Ryan tilted his head, wondering what he was laughing at.

Winter Thistle said: "Why do you think so? It's so strange. I either choose you or Aldin. Don't I have any other choice?"

In fact, he was not only laughing at this, he also thought of what Master Morton said.Morton once told him that he would either be Harman or Gold Leaf, and he thought it made sense at first, but now he doesn't think so.

He couldn't help but feel that it is easy for pure-blooded humans to have this kind of thinking. Many things have been chosen this way since ancient times: such as life or death, enemy or friend, male or female, night or day, success or failure... ...a myriad of things had to be sorted into two branches, and one of them should be weighed.

He tried to embrace the idea, but found he couldn't.There was an ancient superstition that the soul of a half-elf was a mass of chaos, undivided into man or elf, and perhaps it was so, that it could not be sorted into order.

Ryan lowered the knife a little, with a sad look on his face: "But I don't want... I don't want to hurt you... If you must leave with him, then forget it... You go."

"No, I won't leave for now."

"Then you want to..."

Before Ryan finished speaking, Winter Thistle ignored him, but said to Aldin: "Help me control Ryan. I'll go find the casting materials and his fingers."

"Easy to say?" Aldin laughed.

Aldin had a scimitar on his waist, but he didn't intend to use it. Instead, he took the knife off his belt and threw it away.

He tied the weapon belt around his hand and walked towards Ryan.

Ryan immediately prepared to fight.His knife is not a weapon, but an ordinary daily necessities, but he still wields it with the skill of using a dagger, and he is merciless, obviously with a real intention to kill.

Aldin did not dodge, but directly held the knife with the palm of the belt tied. Ryan wanted to withdraw the knife, but the blade slid across the belt and rubbed against it with difficulty, but he couldn't pull it away for a while.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Aldin threw himself on Ryan and knocked him into the corridor.

The door of the study room was vacant, and Dong Ji took the opportunity to run out.When Ryan saw this, he immediately got up and chased after him, but Aldin was too strong to get rid of it.

Aldin used his weight advantage to overwhelm Ryan, trying to take the knife in his left hand.In the stalemate, Aldin was hit with a knee in the stomach, but he resisted and did not retreat.

To his surprise, Ryan dared to attack him with his injured right hand.He jerked his head to the side, and Ryan tried to aim for the eye socket, but only hit the cheekbone.

This time Aldin could stand it, and it hurt Ryan even more.The moment a person suffers from pain, his strength will weaken. Aldin didn't care about the injured hand, but took this opportunity to snatch the knife from Ryan's left hand and use his toes to move it far away.

With neither of them wearing armor and only using their bare hands, Ryan was quickly subdued by Aldin.Aldin induced him to continue punching or kicking, using his movements to wrap his arms around him and pin him face down on the ground.

It was not easy to subdue a young Templar knight, and Aldin was out of breath.

If he was facing the former Ryan—wearing the unique light armor of the temple, holding an enchanted long sword, and healthy Ryan—then Aldin really didn't have the confidence to subdue him.But now the situation is different, Ryan is much weaker than usual, and he can't use his dominant hand yet.

"Be honest," Aldin gritted his teeth, "Do you know that you have a fever?"

But Ryan refused to give in and struggled as if he had endless strength.He kept mumbling something, but Aldin didn't listen carefully.

Fortunately the winter thistle returned soon.He ran to Lane and knelt down, took out a smelling salt bottle and put it in front of Lane.

Lane turned and dodged, and Winter Thistle grabbed his head and forced the smelling salt bottle under his nose.

Aldin looked at Winter Thistle and curled his lips secretly.It was the first time he had seen Winter Thistle do such a rough thing.

Soon, Ryan's tense body relaxed, his eyes were still open, his consciousness was obviously lax, and he lay on the ground loosely.

"Okay, let go." Winter Thistle said.

So Aldine let go of Ryan and helped him change from a prone position to a flat lying position.

"Did you find the finger?" asked Aldin.

Winter Thistle said: "I found it and put it away. I have to sort out the things that may be needed later, please continue to help me take care of him for a while."

"Of course. He won't wake up suddenly, will he?"

"That's not good. I didn't give him a particularly large dose, for fear that his body would not be able to bear it."

Aldin sighed, carried Ryan on his shoulders, and placed him on the recliner in the study.

While Ryan was fast asleep, he wanted to get something from the horse, but he couldn't get out when he reached the door.

He turned around and asked Dong Ji what was going on, Dong Ji was busy looking for various things, and at the same time told him about the defensive magic circle.

Aldin sighed: "I shouldn't have come to save you, you don't need my rescue at all."

Winter Thistle said: "It is still necessary. Once you come, Ryan and I can save a few days of stalemate and prevent his body from getting worse. You really didn't come to save me, you helped me save Ryan, thank you .”

Aldin looked back at him: "You...you are really weird now. It makes people feel comfortable and angry when you talk."

Winter Thistle said, "Didn't you too, you told Ryan he did a good job and helped you and all. I thought you were going to fight then."

Arden smiled and shook his head.