At dawn, the fragrance of water lilies floated from the small pond in the garden outside the window, and a row of robins jumped on the telephone poles outside the window.
Someone knocked on the door outside the bedroom: "Good morning, Mr. Traveler in a foreign land. I'm here to bring you breakfast."
This sound was the singing that continued until 12 o'clock after Mayor Kelso left. Shangluo, who was in a daze, woke up immediately.
"Mr. Traveler, are you there?"
"Here." Shangluo, who was wearing pajamas, put on his school uniform hastily and went to open the door.
Karin stood in the doorway holding a breakfast tray containing cream of mushroom soup and toast.
Today, Karin changed her hairstyle and tied a blue hairband on her head, letting her hair hang down from both sides.
"Thank you." Shangluo took the tray. After what Mayor Kelso said last night, his mood was a little complicated now. He didn't know how to treat the "Karin" in front of him.
However, to his surprise, Karin also stood there after taking the tray, as if she wanted to say something.
Her eyes were so close. Jean Shangluo also confirmed her identity—the eyes were the same as those seen by Caesar in Night of Alexander, with a faint light flickering in her pupils.
"Sorry." Karin's eyes dodge, "I"
"Is there anything you want to say?"
Karin did want to say something. After hesitating again and again, she shook her head: "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Anyway, please enjoy your breakfast. Don't worry, this is made by Karin's mother. The soup she makes is delicious, really delicious. tasty."
After saying that, Karin moved away and walked towards the other end of the corridor.
[Now when I mention Karin, I may have to put quotation marks.]
Shangluo nodded. He originally thought that only Mayor Kelso knew about this, but now it seems that "Karin" herself also knows about it.
"She was very hesitant."
[I recognized her expression, 89% of it was apologetic. 】
"What is she apologizing for?"
[Maybe he is apologizing for his birth. After all, she is Karin's replacement. I just don't know when she started to know. 】
"I'm afraid I knew it from the beginning. The mayor said that she studied very hard and often helped the family with housework. She was as perfect as a treasure given to her by God. I'm afraid from the beginning, what drove her was apologetic but... What does she have to apologize for? She doesn’t have the right to choose."
【No. Changelings are also new beings, and they cannot decide when or where they will be born. It's really sad to be born in someone else's body. 】
"But in the final analysis, this home belongs to Karin." Shangluo put the tray on the dining table indoors. This thick soup with bread made him feel like he had fried dough sticks soaked in soy milk, and the taste was also very familiar to him. And like Karin said, it's really delicious.
"In short, I don't want to put Karin in quotation marks for the time being. This is a difficult question to choose, but in the final analysis, the biggest victim is Karin herself and her family. Even this... this 'Karin in quotation marks' Lin' was also a victim. It's such a tragic story, everyone was tricked by the power of the forest."
[This is the karma that the Romans cannot escape. Anyway, what are you going to do? 】
"Karin, putting Karin's own interests first, I can only do this. After ensuring that Karin herself is protected, then consider other people. I am not an angel, and I can't give everyone the most happy ending. , I can only help the people who need help the most. Tsk, why is this problem so difficult to solve? It’s like I have the switch of the tram in my hand and I have to control whether it kills one person or a group of people.”
[Well, then what would you choose? 】
"The premise of this question is that people are going to be killed no matter what, right? So I can only calculate it once. Since people are going to be killed no matter what, then I can only kill the one with the smaller number of people. Of course this is It is not a happy ending, and it also makes my sympathy suffer. But - my sympathy has boundaries. My sympathy will not overflow, it will eventually stop at the boundary of etiquette. But I will try my best. .”
He sighed: "And I don't have no choice, right? Who asked this question? Why should I answer according to his ideas? I still have a chance now, so I should overturn the tram!"
【You are not allowed to speak ill of the train! The tram is so cute, why do you scold it? 】
"Where are you? Why do you always like to empathize with strange things, such as folders and the like... By the way, you are very strange to begin with. But this is a metaphor, a metaphor."
[Metaphors don’t work either. The tram was the most innocent one. It didn't know anything, but someone tied up a hostage in front of it, and it even had blood splattered on its face. Woohoo~ The trams are the most pitiful. 】
"Okay, okay, I'll change the metaphor when I think of it."
He continued to eat. The gumbo tasted really good.
"Good morning, foreigners from Cathay." Titus looked more energetic, "Did you all sleep well last night? It's time for class."
"There seemed to be someone vaguely playing a broken record." Wen Yuan held his head, "I didn't hear it clearly, but it must be more painful for the people sleeping next to it."
"Really?" Han Xingzhi was stunned for a moment, "I fell asleep right away, so I didn't feel anything."
"Xuan Xiu is so good, but I seem to have eaten too much Qi Hai. I played games for a while and exhausted all my Qi before I fell asleep." Lu Liang yawned, "But I seemed to have heard it. But at that time I was I was playing games, but I didn’t seem to hear it very clearly. That place is closest to Shangluo, right?"
"Ah, yes. It's a broken record."
In a way, it was a really broken record. Different from the myth, what was sent from the forest was not an ugly little monster, but a daughter who became "perfect" because of guilt. However, she was still incomplete. She came from the forest and could not escape the wear and tear of time. She was broken. Even she knows it.
Titus looked at him thoughtfully, then tapped on the blackboard:
"Well, everyone, our introductory class on mysticism is divided into two parts. Before the second half of the class talks about theory, the first half of our class will be used to study the objects of this mission: the Golden Bough and the Forest King. The so-called myth is History presented through stories is the eternal continuation of history.”
He said exactly what Mayor Kaisuo said - this did not surprise Shangluo, because this was what he told the mayor.
"The forest king we are facing has an origin that is much older than written history. It is the 'Witch King'. The Witch King does not refer to the kings with magical powers in the game. The Witch King here is a professional in anthropology. There is a noun. It refers to the rulers who were composed of shamans and chiefs in the early history of human civilization. They were both divine and human. They were one of the earliest forms of human power. Many sorcerer-kings grew up to a certain age. In recent times, it still retains the right to rule, such as the forest king in front of you. Yes, it can still become the secular ruler of Lake Nemi, this is true. However..."
He said seriously: "I don't want anyone who still has a choice to take this bloody road... This is a terrible road."
(End of chapter)
