Continuous light rain has been falling in this ancient holy city for many days. The dripping raindrops are falling on the windows, like the sound of jade beads scattered on a red carpet. It is not so crisp, but it is nice to hear.
Tall city towers, majestic buildings made of precious white stone, sidewalks paved with stone bricks on both sides of the streets, mine lamps that light up on time after seven o'clock in the night, and the lights of steam locomotives on the wide bluestone streets twinkle with the raindrops falling from the sky.
Patter.
Troubadours often say that Danfeng Boluo is such a beautiful place. It is the place where the goddess Nuo Xi established her capital, and it is also a holy capital bathed in divine glory.
But they also said, don't try to go to Danfeng Boluo, because it is a place where once you go in, you can never get out.
Millstone Square, built with a ten-meter-high millstone fountain as the center, is a holy place for alchemists across the continent because it has the most complete equipment, the most alchemy books, the widest network of alchemists, and the most extensive network of alchemists.
The authoritative Royal Alchemy Guild of Sentinoa.
At the same time, they are also very mysterious. Just like mechanics, once an alchemist appears in a civilian family, it is a great deed that can revive the family.
"Master, there is a dinner hosted by Count Christopher, and you are invited to it. Now we can start preparations." The housekeeper in formal clothes bowed deeply to the old man beside the fountain.
The old man didn't speak. He took a puff of cigarette quietly, then skillfully blew out a smoke ring and watched it disappear in the dark night.
"I won't go, there are more important guests." The old man sighed.
"But, Master, you personally agreed to this. And Count Christopher has sincerely invited you to the table many times. Isn't it a bad idea for you to do this?"
The housekeeper frowned, but her attitude remained humble.
"Well...he just wants his son to be my student. When the time comes, he can just find an opportunity to agree and kick him out." The old man thought for a moment, and then spoke cheerfully.
"...I understand." The housekeeper held her forehead helplessly, but she had been working for many years and had followed this old man for a long time, so she was already very familiar with his style.
"Master, it's raining outside, you'd better go to the guild first." The housekeeper looked worriedly at the old man holding an umbrella alone, but there was a bit of hardness in that figure.
"You go down first, the next person is not something you can handle." Albert waved his hand, and the housekeeper nodded and carefully retreated into the house.
The night was dark, and the light rain still showed no sign of stopping. It was beating on the old man's umbrella. The corners of the old man's brown coat were already wet. He looked at the fountain in the rain and whispered something softly.
"Is it Albert Antoinette?" A black figure appeared behind the old man at some point. The man in robe tilted his head, and only his mouth could be seen through the dark hood.
However, compared with Master Albert, who was nearly two meters tall, the man in black robe only reached a little below his chest, making him appear particularly petite.
"We should have met once when you were young." Albert smiled and looked at the man in black robe in front of him.
"You are old, you shouldn't stand outside waiting for me." The man in black robe frowned.
"It's been almost forty years, and I have met my family again... Antoinette was not destroyed. I heard that you alone saved her." Master Albert stroked his beard and handed over some umbrellas.
The man in black robe also grabbed the old man's hand, and the two of them walked through the Grindstone Square and came to the grand stone staircase of the Alchemist Guild.
The man in black robe quietly took off his hood, and the next moment, his long honey-blond hair fell down like a waterfall.
The alchemists passing by all exclaimed softly. The soft and silky long hair reached to the waist, and the rare honey gold color was particularly dazzling under the mine lamp.
Even Master Albert was stunned, but the honey-blonde hair of the Antoinette family still allowed him to vaguely see the outline of the little girl he was once familiar with.
Especially those dark purple eyes. The first time I saw this girl, her eyes were Antoinette's pure deep purple, as clear as gems, but now they made people feel chilly.
"Some people say that when I come of age, I will come to retrieve the things that belong to me from the alchemist who once belonged to my family." The girl paused, "So, Albert Antoinette, give me the things."
."
"Little Cissa, sixteen years ago, someone also left something with me. If it's yours, take it back." Master Albert said softly.
César Antoinette wrinkled her nose, tilted her head, and stretched out her hand.
Albert sighed, and he looked at the girl, his lonely eyes overlapping with another familiar shadow.
He took out the cold and broken pendant from his coat pocket. Its material did not belong to any kind he knew, and its cold touch could never be warmed by his hands.
There was also that pitch-black color that scared even the light. If it hadn't been for the person who told him, Albert would have died to test what it was.
However, he could not have imagined that the person who finally came to pick up the pendant would be a girl who had just turned 16 years old.
She was also the patriarch of the ancient Antoinette family, and it was she who ignited the final flames of Antoinette, the temple family that was about to decline.
"Is this it..." Sisser carefully picked up the thing and held it tightly to her chest.
What price did she pay? Some people say that she gave everything she had and made a deal with the devil, which allowed the Antoinette family to revive.
Albert sighed. He didn't know why, but when he looked at this girl, he always felt the same as the boy he once had, the same loneliness, the same unyieldingness, the same... despair.
Sither held the cold black stone pendant. Under the mine lamp on the rainy night, her thoughts drifted a little.
"So, little girl, what are you willing to pay?" The old man in black smiled. He just snapped his fingers, but the people around him were already as silent as a cicada.
"I have nothing left." She still remembered that she was sitting on her knees with bruises all over her body, wearing the old man's own black coat.
He was a solemn and elegant old man, but his eyes were like abyss, and the faint chill made everyone awe.
She had almost forgotten the old man's appearance, but the only thing that deeply impressed her was the jet-black and pure black hair, and the ink-like eyes.
"No, you still have it. Think carefully, what else do you have?" The old man smiled, his black umbrella covering the two of them, isolating the cold rain.
"Well..." She suddenly thought of something and laughed suddenly.
"If you want it, sir, then take it. My body, my soul, my...everything..."
"Very good, then the contract is fulfilled. I'm about to die, but I can still see such a beautiful little guy." The old man laughed. He stared coldly at the black-robed men around him, and the next moment, he felt murderous intent.