Because of the relationship with the priest girl Lulu and the end of the heavy rain, Boom and Rikka were no longer sleepy. The two sat on a wooden pile and looked up at the sky.
"Hey! Dear magician, can you tell me a story?" Rikka leaned on Boom's shoulder and kept nudging him with her little head.
Boom pulled away from his thoughts, and then tightened the bear skin wrapping the two of them tightly again. After thinking for a moment, Boom's voice slowly floated.
This is an ancient story. Some people say it is true, while others scorn it. But no matter what, this legend has become an integral part of Highgarden.
It was a rainy night 30,000 years ago. The moonlight dyed the grassland silver. The girl opened her animal skin hood and looked up at the night sky like Boom and Rikka.
At that time, the Augu continent was a whole, with neither the so-called nine principalities nor the countless borders dividing the territory.
It was a simple era, and it was also the most powerful period of humankind. The beauty of art had just sprouted, and poignant love was constantly being staged.
The girl waited on this grassland for three days and three nights without moving or complaining. She was waiting for her lover in the distance and her lover's love letter.
No matter what age you are in, parting is always painful. It makes you afraid to look directly at the journey ahead. It makes you physically and mentally exhausted, and you toss and turn.
If there is any bad news, it is that they still love each other deeply, love so straightforwardly, love so strongly, and love so much that life would be worse than death.
But although there is no break point in the long horizon, this longing is conveyed very slowly. It is so slow that it takes more than ten days for each other to say a word.
The girl came to High Court from Augu City with her parents. The helplessness of life is the main reason for human migration. The source of food is gold coins, but gold coins never appear automatically.
The girl once struggled and cried to her lover. But one morning, she still got on the leaving carriage and slowly disappeared into the mist.
But from that day on, there was an owl in her arms. A messenger that connected her with her lover, and the only tool that could break the barriers of time and space.
Time flies, and the girl gradually exudes the alluring sweetness from the ignorant green fruit. Fruit flies swarm in like a strong wind, and there is an endless stream of prodigal sons who peek at her appearance.
The father was gradually seduced by the gold coins, and the mother's words of advice to marry replaced all concern. But the girl flatly refused and began to wander outside the High Court all day long.
She became more and more taciturn and alienated from others. Apart from the owl flying into the sky, there was no reason to smile.
Whether it is the hustle and bustle of the Fengyue Moon, the heat of the Wheat Fragrance Moon, the coldness of the Water Beaver Moon, or the frost of the Black Rain Moon. The girl always wears that leather hood and waits quietly on the grassland.
However, the owl flew back slower and slower, until one day it closed its eyes. The girl buried it in the grassland, turned around and ran away into the distance.
Twenty-eight days! The girl walked for twenty-eight days! The robe was in tatters due to thorns, and the originally bright eyes became darker and darker.
Finally, she returned to Aogu City. After seven years, she returned to her former home with familiar streets and unfamiliar hotels, but it had long since become a market area.
Huddled in a dark alley, the girl regained some strength late at night. The green moss on the wall was slippery and wet, and the drunkard on the road vomited his dinner.
Finally, the girl stopped at the door of the Lion Bar, her tears wet the only piece of cloth on her body, and her jagged nails were embedded in her palms.
Tears and blood fell on the bluestone pavement, and eventually merged with the stench of the sewer. The girl saw her lover, the lover she had missed for seven years.
However, the beauty of meeting may only exist in novels. At this time, the other party is holding a young girl in his arms, looking extremely shameful and ugly.
Dragging her body that had already reached its limit, the girl slowly walked towards her lover. She tried her best to squeeze out a smile, hoping that the other party would recognize her.
However, instead of recognizing her, the other party slapped her to the ground. Unbridled ridicule and sarcasm lingered in the night, like silver coins that sent away wild cats and dogs falling in front of the girl.
The girl didn't make a sound, let alone pick up the silver coins. The figure of the other party was swallowed up by the darkness, along with her heart that had been boiling for seven years.
Unable to return to that grassland, and without any sustenance, the girl finally leaned against a small mound and slowly closed her eyes.
The night wind surrounded her body, and the owl feathers on her neck were floating in the air. The soft fluorescence continued to penetrate her body, gradually solidifying into reality, and rushing towards the sky.
That night, the grassland outside High Court was lit up by countless lights. Curious people walked out of the city gate one after another, but no one dared to go deep into the strange scene.
The bright moon is high and the stars are bright. These light spots gradually break and are replaced by cries. Gray-white feathers cover the grassland, and countless owls appear out of thin air.
From that night on, this land was called "Nightingale Prairie". One was to commemorate these owls that suddenly appeared, and the other was to mourn the girl who was tortured to death by love.
The story ended here. Boom gently wiped away the tears from the corners of Rikka's eyes, while Rikka stared blankly at the night sky, motionless as if petrified.
"Brother, it's really a poignant story, but...did you peek at the newly bought novel?" Rikka turned to look at Boom and asked angrily.
"Ah? Hahaha... I was discovered by you. How about it? The story I polished is very exciting, right? Do you want another one?"
Boom nodded awkwardly. This story was a passage in the novel. He just changed some words in it, just to fool Rikka.
However, while the two were having fun, an owl suddenly swooped down from the branches, and its target was a mole that had just emerged from the mound.
Seeing this, Rikka wanted to help, but was stopped by Boom. The mole eventually became the owl's night snack, while the cubs in the mound were still crying for food.
"Brother... Mole is very pitiful, people... they just want to..." Rikka said timidly when she saw Boom's face was cold.
"What are you just thinking about? Do you want to save them? Like saving Lulu?"
"Owls prey on moles for their young, and moles use them as bait to protect their families. Who is at fault?"
"They all have a reason to live. From different angles, the results they see are naturally very different."
"Just like the girl in the story I told before, reality is always cold. Even though there are brilliant colors, it cannot be taken as a matter of course."
Boom slowly took out the black wooden staff and released the twelve palace bombs in front of Rikka's astonished eyes. The hot flames scorched the entire tree and overturned the mound.
"Go back to Highgarden tomorrow morning. We have wasted so much time here that you have forgotten your identity as a poor person." Boom walked into the Wonder House and ignored Rikka's tears.
Growth is cruel, and Boom is not a mentor, so naturally he will not follow the so-called teachings. In his opinion, seeing the real world with his own eyes is always more effective than preaching.