Ah...Really? It is indeed like this. "Ethel's expression looked a little sad, "Although I hold on to the luck of having a year underground and a day in the sky, the time spent simply carving on the tree has exceeded the age of the village chief, so I can only accept the reality. "
"The time simply carved on the tree -" I swallowed and turned to look at the dead tree.
Apart from the word "Run", there are no other traces.
"You...what do you mean by the time carved on the tree?" My voice began to tremble unconsciously, "What's on the tree?"
"These are the symbols I use to count!" Ethel smiled as if he suddenly understood, "Oh! Are you some kind of scholar? You saw the symbols carved on the tree, so you thought it was an ancient relic or something? "
She touched the back of her head in embarrassment and said: "Hey, hey, I'm sorry if I misidentified you, because I stayed here for too long, so I have to forget a lot of things! This is just a word I created myself. Yo~"
"What did you write?"
"'Run'." The pure Mandarin pronunciation came from a person from another world, which seemed particularly harsh in this extremely silent place.
A deep fear climbed up his spine, accompanied by muscle spasms and the hairs on his hair standing on end.
"What you just said - do you know what it means?!"
Ethel suddenly became panicked. She came to me and waved her hands in confusion and asked, "Huh? Is there something that makes you unhappy? Why is it so loud all of a sudden?"
Could it be said that a senior time traveler once came to this place! ! ? Such words have been left behind in ancient times! ?
"Ah, this is the counting method someone taught me." Ethel touched his head in embarrassment, but there was no such sudden look on his face, as if he was not aware of any violation.
"It's said that this is a magical symbol, and you can calculate numbers based on the strokes~ Hehe, this is-"
In the middle of speaking, Ethel's expression suddenly froze, and the words she was speaking stopped abruptly.
It doesn't matter if I'm frozen for a moment, my nerves were so tense that they were about to break, but now that Ethel is like this, I almost run away...
But the last trace of curiosity slightly overshadowed the desire to survive, causing me to get ready for a 100-meter start and look at Ethel, who seemed to be dead.
After a long stalemate, Ethel suddenly sighed, then showed a bitter smile, sat in front of the tree and said: "Oh... I really forgot."
"Forgetting means?"
Ethel touched the back of his head in embarrassment and said, "It seems that counting uses a symbol, not this word."
The words used for counting should be correct.
"It's too weird to count with 'quickly'..."
Just when I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a sudden flash of inspiration came to my mind, and I realized something that I had ignored.
"Wait—Ethel?"
Something that concerns life.
Ethel still seems a little dazed, but she can still respond to normal reactions from the outside world: "Hey, what's the matter?"
"Although it may be offensive, I want to ask: Do you remember how you died?"
Ethel puffed up her cheeks and said with a slight anger on her face: "Huh——? It's too rude to ask a girl how she died!"
"Just checking..."
"I forgot." Ethel said lightly, "Death should be a memorable thing, but it is not a good memory, so it is not worth remembering, so the answer is - forget ”
"Then the problem comes -"
I took two steps back and forced a smile.
"If you always engraved the word count in the first place, why would you forget it?"
If you are really counting day and night, even if you don’t recognize what the word is in the end, you should still remember how to describe it. Even if you have forgotten why you do this or even the meaning of the word, you can just rely on instinct. Follow the same pattern.
Crying, already in place.
I have not sensed magic power, which means that there is no such thing as magic power in the outside world. This is also the reason why the quick-charging magic circle was not activated just now. Until now, the only magic power that can be used is the remaining magic power in my body.
Be careful with your budget.
So I decided to fight only as a swordsman for the time being.
"Huh?" Ethel was stunned. She fell into a long test, but she didn't seem to find any answer.
"It seems like this... If I have been using words for counting, why do I remember it wrong?"
I raised my head slightly and looked at the dead trees shrouded in mist.
I don't know when the mist has dispersed a little, and most of the ancient trees were finally exposed to my sight.
Through the intertwined branches like dry bones, on the trunk above the crown, we can see the Chinese characters that were penetrated and divided by the branches, fragmented but still densely packed and engraved in layers.
【Run quickly】
"So...I've never died, so I don't know."
"But I have some personal insights into this phenomenon."
from where.
"Maybe most of the memories will be lost directly after death, but there may be another small possibility."
While narrating, my eyes looked around, calmly observing the world around me like a robot.
"For example, after death and becoming an earthbound spirit that exists for a long time, it will remember certain things because of obsession."
When did the fog start to lift?
“So you carve out words that were meant for counting and become the words that stick with you when you die.”
Ethel looked at me dully, her eyes seemed a little foggy and lost their light, but I could still see her expression collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Then the question is: why is this the most memorable statement for you?"
The attack... where did it start? !
"Unfortunately, as a student of words, I know what that word means."
Ethel lowered his head slightly and repeated the word in Mandarin vaguely: "Run quickly."
I sighed and glanced around.
The fog was about to lift, but the surroundings were deserted, and there was nothing that could be used as a cover.
"Run quickly." Ethel's body was trembling, and even the image of her soul was distorted.
Finally, she yelled.
"Run quickly!!! If the fog clears, that guy will appear!!!"
I gripped the sword tightly, waiting for the next moment to come.
"Ah, I know, but it's too late now."
Yes, this should have been thought of from the very beginning.
This is a ritual arranged by the mysterious man to protect himself.
I smiled slightly and said, "Because - this is a trap."
