◎The antidote to the plague is handed over to the God of Death. ◎
Mucha didn't notice anything unusual about Dill. He wore the sachet around his waist, along with the knight's most important sword.
The cold moisture blew from the lakeside, and Dill suddenly came back to her senses. She looked up and saw the young man's bright smile. Very good, he cheered up. The girl reluctantly gave him a weak smile, and the binoculars under her hand were neatly put away.
Dill, Dill, put away your unnecessary sympathy. You should take care of yourself first.
She planned to leave first: "I have something to do with the mayor later..."
"The mayor may not be able to see you. He went to Sir Elder's place early in the morning."
Dill thought of the dispute in the temple the day before yesterday and couldn't help but curiously asked: "Are they really planning to burn down the forest?"
Mucha was silent for a while, then slowly said: "Sir Elder did not go back to Schulenburg at midnight last night. We have many things to ask him."
He Sai will be very happy with this news. Dill thought silently in her heart.
Mucha suddenly took a step forward. His back was to the sun, and the shadow covered most of his expression. "The mayor is worried that the werewolves will start spreading plague and chaos like they did before. I pray at dusk today that they will definitely have a result."
"The result?" Dill heard the disturbing sound of flies again, but now she didn't even think of reaching out to rub her ears, letting the uneasy premonition lead her to clearly see the outline of doom.
Mucha seemed reluctant to speak out, but under the girl's unwillingness to look away, she still succumbed.
"A random scapegoat, a result that everyone is willing to accept, can at least temporarily calm the turmoil caused by last night."
Scapegoat. Dill's mind flashed back to Mrs. Cole's distracted face that morning.
She looked at the knight in front of her and asked subconsciously: "Would you agree?"
Mucha did not answer immediately, but looked at Dill quietly.
Dill forced a smile, pretended to adjust the medicine cabinet on her back, and turned to leave.
"I won't."
The voice coming from behind was as light as a gust of wind, but Dill couldn't help but turn around.
The sun shines on his face, and the young man's eyes are pure green, almost a kind of burning gold. Although they are not the same as Amber, Dill feels that they are both sparkling, too dazzling to look directly at, and both contain hidden meanings. With strength.
"I will not let any innocent person die again, I swear to you."
Dill forgot her answer, she only remembered the warmth of the sun on her face.
She had to rush back to Cole's house before the sun went down. The sudden sound of wind whispered in her ears, and Dill knew that she had not taken the wrong road.
Vaguely, the noise seemed to form clear sentences, and she heard a brisk children's song:
"...Jingle-ding-ding-ding, black-hat-ding-ding-ding, the children of the red hats must go home before the sun goes down..."
There was a group of children playing around Lily in front of the door, singing and dancing in a discordant manner, but Dill could hear an old hound among them growling lowly from a distance.
She used her binoculars to identify one of the children who smashed the window, and she went straight to bite him without any nonsense.
How long the children's laughter turned into screams, and the powerful flapping of wings suddenly turned into birds and beasts. Dill hurried up to check on Lily.
Fortunately, the girl didn't look injured, but the birthmark on her face was messy with paint, and her watery eyes seemed about to shed tears at any time. Lily was wearing a red hood that Dill had never seen before. As soon as she saw Dill, she immediately threw away the hat and threw herself into the girl's arms.
"...Lily, it's okay..."
"Don't give me to Mr. Wild Wolf!"
Dill thought of what Mucha said and couldn't help but hug Lily tightly.
"No one will send you there. They are just joking. It's morning now. Where did the wild wolf come from?"
Dill felt a weight in her arms, and the girl's little head shook hard.
"When the bell rings, the wolf will come..."
Dill thought of the girl's nightmare last night and touched her head guiltily, trying to divert her attention: "Look at the many sheep grazing on the mountain, but there are no wild wolves at all."
The old hound waggled its tail and came closer. It licked Lily a few times and finally coaxed the girl to smile.
"I...I have heard Mr. Wild Wolf speak."
The children's jokes were like the breeze caressing the grass, but Dill felt that the air was suffocating for a moment.
She could hear a piercing and abnormal scream, the insects and flies of bad luck seemed to smell the smell of carrion, and Dill chose to catch the flash of light.
The memory quickly reversed, and she thought of the first night when Lily suddenly talked loudly about the Big Bad Wolf and the girl's weird nightmare last night, which was just after the bell rang.
She couldn't help asking eagerly: "What did Mr. Wild Wolf say?"
"...I can't say." The head in his arms shook his head eagerly.
The girl lowered her voice and asked another question, like a gossip: "Lily, have you seen Mr. Wolf?"
"kindness...…"
"Have you told anyone else about Mr. Wild Wolf?"
The girl in her arms shook violently, and Dill felt a slight moisture on her chest: she was crying.
Just when Dill regretted and wanted to give up, the girl raised her face, her eyes as red as a tabby cat, and she replied in a trembling voice: "I told my father, so he will sleep all the time. I don't want my sister to sleep all the time too." wake up."
Thousands of thoughts flashed through Dill's mind, but in the end they all turned into a comforting cry: "Dad is just sick."
"He's always here, hasn't he?" She wiped the paint on the girl's face with a handkerchief.
The large black birthmark spread from the bridge of the nose to the right eye socket like splashing ink, leaving a so-called devil's mark on the girl's face, but to Dill, it looked like a mask covered with black gauze, which contrasted with the girl's green eyes. The eyes are more mysterious and beautiful.
Lily actually smiled. She touched the birthmark cherishingly. Then she remembered something and said cautiously, "Dad said not to tell anyone about the wild wolf."
Mr. Cole knows?
Dill quickly glanced around the area with her eyes. There was no barrier in the vast grassland. Even if someone caught a glimpse of it from a distance, they would only think it was a girl comforting a young child.
"Then what else did dad say?"
She avoided the sensitive issue of werewolves and made indirect remarks.
"Did he say anything else before falling asleep?"
Sure enough, Lily hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Dad said before he fell asleep that he would give the antidote to the plague to the God of Death."
The antidote to the plague? grim Reaper?
Dill couldn't help but frown.
Mr. Cole is a plague doctor who has saved countless lives. This is why the people in the town believe that the disease that killed him must be the curse of the werewolf.
But now Lily says that Mr. Cole discovered the antidote to the curse before he died? There can be no cure for the curse unless...
Dill relaxed her brows.
That's not a curse at all.
What Mr. Cole discovered may not be an antidote.
Dill handed the old hound to Lily and let the girl hold the dog. She stood up and walked towards Cole's house step by step.
If she guessed correctly...
With every step she took, Dill's heart beat a little faster, and her whispers that were originally like headless flies now sounded like a whole swarm of bees sharpening their knives. The more they whispered and threatened, the more Dill knew she was on the right track.
Crisis is a turning point. Ahead may be the fangs of disaster, but it may also be a flash of light at the exit.
She came to Mr. Cole's study. The small prayer window was framed with blue sky and white clouds, like an exquisite oil painting. The only trace of last night's nightmare was next to the window; a deformed bird's beak mask dropped a machete. Like a shadow, the empty glass eyes looked at the girl silently.
The antidote to the plague is entrusted to Death.
Dill took off the mask. The cowhide was coated with beeswax and tightly sewn. The tip of the beak was coated with a layer of poison-testing silver. The narrow beak was filled with various aromatic herbs that purified the air. Every time it was used, it Disinfect with boiling water. In the past, Mr. Cole wore this mask and walked between life and death to save the world.
The place where the plague doctor appears is the place where death spreads. They use strange beak masks to hide their true appearance, and their dark coats are like crows announcing mourning. People revere them and fear them, just like the god of death.
The big white goose curiously pecked the mask with its beak. The snow-white red beak and the dark crow's beak showed a strong contrast.
Dill could only pray to heaven that Mr. Cole would disinfect his mask with boiling water after using it for the last time.
She took a deep breath and put her hand into the bird's mouth.
Fortunately, there were no used herbs inside, only a thin roll of something that looked like paper. Dill touched it tentatively and finally took it out with her fingers.
It was definitely a piece of paper, but the uneven edges seemed to have been torn from a book in a hurry.
Dill swallowed and unfolded the paper...
"Child, what are you doing here?"
Mrs. Cole, who had just finished grazing the cows, came over following Lily's words and saw the motionless girl standing in the room. There was the sound of someone's heavy breathing in the air.
She called a few times, and the figure finally turned around.
"Mrs. Cole, I have something very important to tell you."
-
When the setting sun began to tilt, the glass windows of the church were coated with a layer of burning copper red, and both angels and witches seemed to be being tortured and punished in red flames.
Almost everyone in the church gathered together; from the arrogant Sir Elder, the frightened civilian couple, to the foreigners with deep faces, and even the bell men in black robes.
They prayed devoutly to the Supreme God amidst the fragrant beeswax and incense, and at the same time formed a circle of walls that did not allow anyone to escape. The air was extremely quiet, just as the dark clouds gathered before the storm, and the heavy atmosphere seemed to condense at any time. And out.
The mayor was so uneasy that he was not even in the mood to sit down.
"One person is missing."
As soon as he finished speaking, the door of the church was pushed open again, and the silver knight was plated with a layer of copper-gold sunset, belatedly arriving for this dinner.
Dill raised her head and looked at Mucha almost at the same time.
"Then let's get started."
One of the alarm bell men, who was tall and had a loud voice, couldn't wait, even ignoring the shocked and angry face of the mayor. Dill remembered that the other person's name was Shu Ke, and he was the leader of the alarm bell men, kind of like a guard captain.
"One of our members was victimized last night. I request that the ancient ceremony in Jones Town be immediately held under the witness of the Supreme God, and a "guide" be appointed to enter the forest to search for traces of werewolves."
coming!
Dill couldn't help clenching her hands under the dining table.
"The "guide" must be a town citizen who has a connection with the werewolf. He will put on a red cloak and wander into the forest for a night, using his own blood to quell the werewolf's anger."