"Unfortunately, not yet." Yuffie took Ed's hand and walked in front of Lily. The young man looked around in panic, too scared to speak.
"Now that things have happened, why don't you come out and meet me?" the girl raised her voice, "Mr. Howard Harris."
A sneer came from not far away, and it sounded like it belonged to an old man. "When did you find out?"
Lily recognized this voice. It was the old man who invited them to meet the mayor last night. He was the cousin of the current mayor.
"From the beginning, when Ed asked me the first sentence. But I couldn't confirm who the mastermind was until just now." Yuffie said flatly, "You plan to get rid of us, and then put Ed and Buffalo together."
His death is being blamed on us?"
Howard snorted and did not give an answer.
"Okay, let's change the question." Yuffie raised her forehead, "Where is Mr. Buffalo?"
The man sneered. "He's here, but you can't see him alive."
Ed looked around, as if he understood something. He covered his face with his hands, stared at Yuffie in disbelief, and sat down on the ground.
"Why are you doing this?" Lily felt her body trembling, not because of fear, but because of anger, "Both your subordinates and Ed, aren't they companions in this town!? You actually let them go like this.
Death!" Her voice trembled slightly, "Is there anything more important than the lives of these people!?"
"Of course." Howard sneered in a low voice, and then turned into a maniacal laugh, "In order to save the lost creatures, in order to promote the glory of our Lord, in order to bring the final salvation to this world!" He appeared from behind the tree and pounced.
To Yuffie who was closest to him, "Die! Ignorant! My lord——"
The dazzling silver-white light penetrated his heart for an instant, and the old man fell to his knees, struggling to spit out his last words.
"I will...get..." He fell forward, his body twitched a few times, and finally calmed down.
Yuffie treated Lily and Bell's wounds, squatted down, and softly comforted the crying boy. Alphonse came to Lily and patted her shoulder. Lily hugged Al's arm and stayed quietly for a while.
, and then back to their campsite.
She took out a lantern from the carriage and lit it, confirming the injuries of each attacker in turn. For some reason, she couldn't treat these people as ordinary robbers. Maybe it was because of their fearlessness... maybe it was because not long ago,
They are just townspeople living peacefully.
There were only three attackers who survived the battle, and all of them were in coma. In order to quickly subdue them, Lily had to prioritize attacking the vital points, and was unable to restrain her attack strength. The three people who were initially hit by Yuffie's spell were still sleeping, and Lily
They were simply tied up and brought to Howard who died in the end.
She slowly squatted down and turned the old man's body to the front. The lantern illuminated the old man's face, and his expression was unexpectedly peaceful, as if he had just fallen into a long sleep. Lily touched the old man's face with a bloody hand, and the wrinkles
Not much, with a slight body temperature, no different from other people.
"Why..." Lily murmured, "This is not interesting at all..."
"It's not your fault, Lilinono." Alphonse came closer at some point, "Don't blame yourself for unnecessary things."
"I originally thought he was trying to seize the position of mayor, or had some old grudge with Buffalo." Yuffie took Al's words, "Looking at it now, saying it was for faith, it's more like he received some kind of hint.
"She glanced around her, "Same as Buffalo...and Ed."
"Hint?" Lily raised her head, a little puzzled. "Are you saying that the naughty... uncle was deceived and came up with that bad idea? In this case, why don't you just convince him directly?"
Yuffie shook her head. "Thoughts are easily induced. It will even actively deceive itself, turning false news into 'facts' that it believes, and then believe it." The girl looked at the dead Howard with a trace of sympathy in her eyes.
"Everyone may unknowingly have their original judgment influenced by external objects. They think they have made a choice, but in fact, someone else gave the answer."
"The hint only adds to the process." She was silent for a moment and sighed softly. "We convinced him this time that there will be other mercenary groups next time, but the problem has not been solved." The girl squatted down and started from
A few silver and copper coins and several pictures were found in the old man's arms.
She found paper with strange symbols, and a copper emblem with two rings surrounding a seed in the middle. She studied the emblem for a while, "Faith can soothe the soul, and it can also confuse the world. Howard...maybe he doesn't understand.
What exactly do you want?"
Lily seemed to understand what she was hearing, and the inexplicable sadness just now was somewhat diluted. "What I want... is a little bit, I can't think of it..." She shook her head, "Speaking of Elena, what do you want?
What is it again?"
"Hmm. Pursuing reality, popularizing magic, etc... are indeed still too far away." Yuffie looked at Lily, thought for a while, and added, "Let the people I like live happily.
"
Lily suddenly felt her cheeks feel a little warm. She stood up and several familiar images flashed through her mind.
"Boss! I found a dead man!" Bell shouted from a distance.
Lily responded and walked quickly towards Bell, with the other three following behind. She shined a lantern at Bell's side, and Buffalo's strong body lay flat there, with dried blood on his head and face, and on his chest.
His clothes were soaked in dark red, and his arms hung weakly at his sides. Lily pressed the man's arms, which felt a little stiff.
Ed broke away from Yuffie's hand, threw himself on his father, and cried loudly.
"Do you have a solution?" Lily looked away unbearably and looked at the thoughtful girl, "You must have a solution?"
"With my own strength, I can't resurrect him." Yuffie walked around Ed and looked at the dead man. "But there seems to be a familiar aura on him...ah, here."
The girl took out a folded paper from the pocket of Buffalo's jacket. She slowly unfolded the paper, and inside lay a crystal as thin as a cicada's wing, emitting a soft blue light. There seemed to be writing on the paper, and Yuffie scanned it.
He glanced at it and put it into the material bag on his waist.
She placed the crystal between the man's eyebrows and whispered a prayer. Ed stopped crying at some point and watched the girl's every move without blinking.
Lily stared at Buffalo nervously, her right hand unconsciously holding his arm tightly. The man's arm muscles softened, the dark purple marks on his skin gradually faded, his body became warm, and then his heart started beating again.
The prayer took much longer than Lily imagined. The light of the crystal first strengthened, then slowly dimmed, until it finally disappeared. Yuffie breathed out, put away the lost crystal, and raised her hand to wipe away the non-existent sweat on her forehead.
, showing a satisfied smile.
The man's body moved and he slowly opened his eyes.
"I...where is this." Buffalo coughed a few times, and his eyes gradually returned to focus, "...Ed...you are still alive."
"You big stupid bear!!" Lily stared at him like a hungry tiger and yelled, "Listen clearly! If you do something stupid again, there will be no such thing as a good thing again!"
…
The dawn of a new day comes on time, and the rising sun dyes the forest with a touch of gold, but it cannot erase the tragedy that happened here last night. The crows flew over the treetops with their hoarse cries, not knowing whether they were laughing at the shallowness of human beings, or for those who have no sense.
Sighing at the loss of life. Everyone helped Buffalo and stacked the dead townspeople on a flatbed carriage.
They had come here in it, and now they were riding it back again - but lying down.
Yuffie briefly treated the injured people, but the damage Lily caused - including psychological damage - might not be able to be recovered within a day or two. Buffalo claimed that they would be punished according to the rules of the town. Lily was a little worried
They, but Yuffie grabbed her arm and shook her head slightly.
Before leaving, Ed came to Lily and his party and bowed to them respectfully.
"Sister Lily...Sister Elena...and Brother Bel and Brother Alphonse." The young man looked very reserved, completely missing his initial outburst, "I...after thinking about it, I'd better not cause any trouble to you...
...And," he turned to look at his father and lowered his voice, "I'm also...a little worried about him."
Lily lowered her head and stared at the boy, "Are you really not going to travel? We think you are quite suitable?"
"Ugh..." Ed shrank back, "Maybe... no, I will definitely do it when I'm older! I'm going to a lot of places I haven't seen before!"
Lily laughed. She patted Ed's shoulder hard, ignoring the boy's soft cry of pain, "Good boy! We were not wrong about you!"
"This is for you." Yuffie thrust a silver coin into the boy's hand. The silver coin reflected the white-gold luster in the sun.
"Ah... it's hot?" The boy held the silver coin with both hands and opened his eyes wide.
"You have the talent to become an excellent wizard, and this is proof for you." The girl replied lightly, pursed her lips, and sounded a little nostalgic, "If you make up your mind, take it to the City of Water and Eagle College.
Mr. Dean will take you in."
"Is this considered...a good friend, Lilinono?" Alphonse asked.
"We don't know either." Lily looked at Ed and then at Al, "Maybe... let's just forget it?"
"No one listens to my story anymore..." Bell muttered as he put the harness on the horse.
Then they go out again.
"Speaking of which, Lily." When the Buffalo carriage disappeared from sight, Yuffie poked her head out of the carriage, "I still need to apologize to you for what happened before."
"Eh? What did you say?" Lily didn't react for a moment.
"I decided to take Ed with me without permission." Yuffie shrugged, "It ended up putting you in danger."
"Ah, that matter doesn't matter." Lily waved her hand, "The result is not bad anyway... right, that's enough?" She suddenly remembered something and turned around, "By the way, the crystal on that stubborn uncle's body
,what is going on?"
Yuffie laughed. She took out the folded paper from her pocket and handed it to Lily. Lily spread it out and found that there were only two lines written on it.
"This is a birthday present. Happy coming of age."
——Alicia Hilda Steinmetz
"It's a gift from my mother." The girl said happily, "It's as mysterious as every year."