The people who had been watching silently nearby finally couldn't sit still anymore. Everyone exclaimed and gathered over. Some people shouted "Cold water, get cold water!", and some people were already saying hello to Hesta and Valenti, asking for them. They come to their store quickly - burns are still very troublesome. No matter whether it hurts or not, they have to wash them with cold water first.
"I'm fine."
Hesta held out her right arm so that everyone could see that she was completely uninjured. After a brief moment of surprise, someone in the crowd finally realized that the tall black-haired man standing next to Miss Valenti might also be a Mercury Needle - nothing unusual would happen to a Mercury Needle.
When the crowd dispersed, Hesta finally handed the wooden spoon-like key back to the little girl.
Valenti also squatted down. She recognized what was in the little girl's hand at a glance, "Oh, flagpole key... did you make a flagpole key?"
The little girl nodded.
Hesta looked at Valenti, "...Is this really the key?"
"Well, it's a key from the Bronze Age. Later, because this kind of lock is not very good at preventing theft, it will no longer be used." Valenti explained with a smile. She looked at the girl: "Where did you know about the 'Flagpole Key'?" '?Did your parents teach you that?"
The little girl shook her head, "From the book."
"That's great!" Valenti praised.
The little girl lowered her head shyly, then raised her head to look at Hesta who was squatting beside her, "...can I touch your hand?"
"my hand?"
Hesta instinctively handed over her human left hand.
"No, it's the right hand."
Seeing the little girl in front of her stroking her bionic prosthesis with novelty, Hestad was briefly distracted again.
At this moment, she suddenly remembered an action of Chiba many years ago - of course, it might be that she was overthinking it, but what happened at this moment made her hold her breath.
Everything seems to be the intertext of fate.
After parting ways with the little girl, Hesta was recalling what had just happened. She recalled many distant pasts and her fear of everyone and everything when she first entered the base many years ago - but when she stood on Looking back at the past, she could not recall the specific feeling at that time.
In her memory, the little girl who was always trembling with fear seemed to be another person. She had gone too far, but if she had the chance, she really wanted to go back and hug her then.
"Eureka?" Valenti's voice once again awakened Hesta from her memories, "What are you thinking about, so happy?"
Hesta looked at her suddenly, "I didn't."
"Why not? You've been smiling from just now to now - it's really rare for you to be in this state. What are you thinking about?"
"Really?" Hesta was a little surprised. She looked up at the golden street tree above her head, laughed happily, and then moved her arms.
"I just thought that the bionic arm is really convenient. In daily use, it can feel touch, pain, and hot and cold just like a normal arm... But when these feelings exceed a certain threshold, its receptors will automatically lock again. Shields excess pain, so that even if the arm is suddenly broken or injured, the pain will not affect your condition - this is really much better than the original arm."
Valenti looked at the cheerful Hesta with a smile, stepped forward and took her right arm.
The two of them were walking in the brilliant orange streets, and whenever the wind blew from behind them, countless fallen sycamore leaves would chase them forward.
Hesta had not felt as relaxed as she did today for a long time. She was immersed in a gentle mood and suddenly remembered the mother and daughter she had seen in the "White Ship" a long time ago.
Admittedly, Miss Chiba was right when she said that after becoming a mercury needle, it is best to completely give up the illusion of becoming an ordinary person. However, if she doesn't think about the future or the past and just stares at the present moment intently, when she sits in the restaurant with clear windows and dines with Miss Valenti, how will she be different from other diners in this restaurant.
Hesta suddenly had a strange feeling, as if one of her was sitting at the table chatting with Valenti, and the other was like a gust of wind or a mist. She slowly rose up and glanced at the whole place. Restaurants in between, sweeping to further streets, and even the entire province of Nia and the third district.
Back then, she stood in front of the world map and marveled at the vastness of the world. Now, her footsteps are both in habitable land and in the wilderness. She passed the cold and solemn church spires, the dark and damp corners of the alleys, the rainy and rocky coast, the rugged mountains and rivers...
Although ahgas always has countless rules that bind her, what kind of life is closer to freedom than other people living in livable places?
Hestad couldn't give an answer either.
"Let's go." Valenti paid the bill, and she gently tapped Hesta's head. "What's wrong with you today? I've been deserting while talking to you."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Hesta touched her forehead, "What did you just say?"
"Let me ask, did you ever hear Wei Chuyun's love story when you were a child?" Valenti waved the two tickets in his hand, "This is the show we are going to watch tonight, "The Dagger and the Sheath"."
The name suddenly flashed across Hesta's heart like a bolt of lightning.
"...I didn't." Hesta replied in a low voice.
Valenti was still looking at the show information on the ticket.
"What's the heroine's name... Oh, Volva." Valenti said softly, "I remember Wei Chuyun was a businessman active in District 14 in the middle Bronze Age. Volva... seemed to be Hess at that time. A princess from the Ta tribe? I’m not sure about the specifics...have you really never heard of it? I thought you would be very interested in it."
Valenti lowered his voice and moved slightly closer to Hesta, "Because the heroine, like you, also has red hair——"
"No."
Valenti was a little surprised. Normally, this story should be very famous among the Hesta people.
But she thought about it and smiled, "That's right, after all, you have been in the third area."
She placed the ticket in front of Hesta's desk, "Here, take your ticket."
…
Standing in front of the Central Theater of Nia Province, Hesta stopped again. She raised her head and saw a huge poster of "The Dagger and the Sheath" in front of her.
The main color of the poster is silver-white - after all, this story takes place in the snowy fields in the north of District 14.
At the top of the screen, a man is looking ahead in the wind and snow with stern eyes. His sharp eyebrows and starry eyes, his white hair is as white as the snow. In his arms, a woman is looking up at him with tender eyes and clinging to him. That is the heroine of this musical, Volva.
Her long hair is like a burning wisteria flower, curly and winding like a river, becoming a bright red color in the painting.
Underneath the busts of the two men is an unsheathed dagger.
Hesta had heard the name of this musical a long time ago, but she always avoided it subconsciously, not wanting to know what the story was.
"Eureka!" Miss Valenti waved to her in the distance, "Come on! We're in!"
Hesta took one last look at the woman on the poster.
In the past, she might have turned around and left, but at this moment, she suddenly felt the urge to face it head-on.
Maybe it's because since the afternoon, everything in the past has been flashing back.
This made her vaguely feel that maybe today was a special day.
Maybe when she walks in, she will find that the stories she didn't want to hear or didn't dare to hear in the past are nothing to her now.
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