Seeing that His Royal Highness had left, Lightning pulled Maggie to a corner of the hall.
"Goo?"
Her hair was almost touching the ground, and when she moved she looked like a floating ghost. Pushing aside the white hair that covered her cheeks, Maggie's cheeks were bulging, and her mouth was still holding a piece of pork chop that she hadn't swallowed.
"I found an interesting place," whispered Lightning. "It's in the Concealing Forest, and I plan to explore it tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?"
"Gulp." Maggie swallowed the food in her mouth and nodded again and again. "Okay, what do you need to prepare?"
"Three things for the expedition … No, three things that are most commonly used," Lightning found that when she spoke, she would occasionally use some strange words that His Royal Highness Roland often used, "a fire sickle, dry food, and a dagger. The distance isn't far, and you only need to bring enough food for a day. Don't fill your pockets like last time. "
"Okay, goo," Maggie patted her chest and was ready to leave, but Lightning stopped her.
"Remember, this expedition is our secret, you can't tell anyone else," the little girl said. "Tomorrow morning we will set off."
Looking at Maggie's back, who couldn't wait to go to the table, she curled her lips and began to think about tomorrow's plan.
Although the bomb was a success and didn't disappoint His Royal Highness's expectations, she found that her flying was far less flexible than before, as if something was restricting her movements. As long as she raised her speed, Lightning felt as if there was always a devil chasing her from behind.
This was an obstacle brought by fear. She realized that the source was the trip to the stone tower. After seeing the frightening figure at the basement door, she lost her calm and calmness, and only wanted to escape from here as soon as possible. After that, she began to doubt her identity as an explorer.
Fear wasn't terrible, what was terrible was the unknown. If she wanted to overcome it, she had to get close to it first.
In her heart, Lightning silently recited her father's teachings. Tomorrow she might encounter real danger, but an explorer shouldn't be afraid of danger, let alone retreat. If she couldn't overcome this, she was afraid that it would be difficult for her to fly freely in the future.
This was also the reason why Lightning decided to hide it from His Highness Roland and act on her own. According to His Highness's plan, the exploration of the Stone Tower would be arranged after the Months of Demons, and at that time, the First Army and the witches would be dispatched. She was worried that at that time, even if she visited the stone tower again, it would be difficult for her to have the idea of conquering fear. She would have to rely on the courage of the crowd to approach the dangerous place. It could not be called an adventure at all.
His Highness might scold her and confiscate her ice cream, and her sisters in the Witch Union would be worried about her, but she still made up her mind.
As the daughter of Thunder, the greatest explorer of the Fjords, Lightning could not accept herself as a coward.
However, this decision did not mean that she acted recklessly. Compared to a few months ago when she was unprepared, she now had a revolver given by His Highness, a better understanding of the demons, and Maggie by her side.
Especially the last point … If they really encountered a group of demons in the tower, even if Maggie couldn't turn into a demonic beast to drive away the enemies, she could at least take her and escape.
Explorers don't need a large group of people to boost their courage, she thought, but they can have a few trustworthy teammates.
After the banquet, Lightning put the honey meat she had saved up into a cloth bag, followed by weapons, torches and water bags.
The successful completion of the bombing mission had given her some confidence back, and His Highness's encouragement and the slight stubble on her cheeks had doubled her courage.Striking the iron while it was hot, tomorrow was the best time to leave.
Early in the morning, she flew to the top of the castle, where Maggie was squatting on top of the wall waiting for her.
"Check your bag."
"I've brought everything you told me, goo," she changed back to her original appearance and opened the backpack that was slung across her waist for the little girl to check. This time the bag was filled with less than half of the food, but at least it was filled with a dagger and a fire scythe.
"Well, this time you're qualified … Let's go," Lightning soared into the sky and flew towards the direction of the Concealing Forest with the pigeon.
…
This journey had been repeated many times in Lightning's mind, so even if she closed her eyes she could still find the right direction. Today's weather was slightly gloomy, but it was a lot better than the last time when it was covered with dark clouds. The color blocks that made up the earth slowly moved backwards, and the closer they got to the area of the stone tower, the more nervous Lightning became.
"You said last night that the interesting place, was it the new eagle's nest?" Maggie asked.
"No, it's much more interesting than that," Lightning shook her head, "The goal we're going to explore is an ancient ruin, it's a stone tower that was left behind more than four hundred years ago, the basement still hasn't collapsed, maybe we can find some ancient books that describe the situation at that time.
"Ancient books?" Maggie shook her wings, "It doesn't sound as interesting as digging out eagle eggs, goo."
"An eagle's nest has at most two or three eggs, you can eat them up in a few bites," the little girl said patiently, "If you can really find such books and bring them back to His Highness Roland, he'll definitely be willing to reward you with a basket of eggs, whether it's boiled or steamed, you can eat three eggs a day for a long time."
"Really?" Maggie suddenly became spirited, "Then let's hurry to find the ancient books! Goo goo! "
Near noon, the two successfully arrived above the destination.
Half of the stone tower covered with vines and moss still stood in the forest, everything around it looked the same as a few months ago, nothing had changed.Lightning descended, flew around the stone tower, and after confirming that it was safe, gently landed.
"Is it here, goo?" The pigeon lay on her head and shouted.
"Shh," Lightning made a gesture to keep quiet, in the quiet forest, their voices were particularly noisy, "Speak quietly, there may be demons here."
"Demons?" Maggie's tail immediately stood up.
"You wait for me up there," she pointed to the top of the broken tower and said in a low voice, "I'll go and explore the situation first."
Stepping on the gradually withering grass, there was a slight rustling sound under her feet. The entrance of the stone tower was not blocked by the plants again, and Lightning could still see a small cluster of vines that she had cut with her dagger last time. She held her breath, went into the tower according to the original route, and approached the basement passage in the center of the tower little by little. Looking at the dark staircase in front of her, she could even hear her heart beating fast.
"Fear comes from the unknown, overcome fear, approach the unknown …" The little girl kept encouraging herself in her heart, lit a torch, and walked down the stairs step by step.
Walking to the corner of the passage, she sneaked a peek. The collapsed wooden door was already broken, and there was no sign of the demon at the entrance of the basement. Only the deep darkness behind the door was left, like a big mouth that was about to devour someone.
At this moment, she heard a voice floating over from the darkness. It was faintly discernible, but it was extremely familiar.
Lightning could not help but shiver, and all the hair on her body stood up in an instant. She almost could not restrain the urge to turn around and run away! She clenched her teeth, suppressed the surging fear in her heart, covered her mouth, and listened again.
This time the voice was much clearer, and the tone was exactly the same as the last time.
"Help me …"