Chapter 2739 Reunion in the Snow
In the thick white mist, the tall “boatman” in black robes had stood up, walked to the bow of the boat behind, and caught the frozen soul thrown by Shade who was still rowing in front.
The soul was hidden in the black mist surrounding the god, and the **** asked Shade:
“Now, do you understand what the ferry means?”
Shad, with the cat on his shoulder, looked in the direction he came from in the fog:
“Please let me think about it. Send people to other places?”
The gods said:
“In the most ancient times, intelligent beings who just walked around the world built cities along rivers and lakes. Traveling by boat has been the most important mode of transportation since then.
Ferry means the process of getting from one shore to the other. It symbolizes crossing physical and spiritual barriers after a long wait, and represents breakthrough and transcendence. ”
The [Sin Chain] connecting the two boats disappeared silently without any operation by Shade. Shade’s boat remained still in place, while the boat on which the **** was riding slowly retreated:
“When you pick up the oar, remember where you are going. It may be lonely, and the journey may be long, but stranger, you can only ferry this small boat.”
The figure of the **** completely disappeared in the thick fog, but some golden light flew from the fog and entered Shade’s body.
[Outlander, you have received the ferryman’s blessing: you can paddle your boat on the water, and if you have a goal, you know the direction. 】
[Artifact: Ferryman’s Paddle, which becomes a component of the old wooden boat you hold. 】
This saved Shade the time to think about how to pass this artifact to the Sixth Era. He lowered his head to look at the item in his hand, sighed, turned around and looked forward:
“Just now, I thought I would directly give the ‘ferrying’ spirit rune.”
【A little too greedy? 】
“She” asked with a smile, and the cat meowed:
“Meow~”
He thought of Chloe again, so in the thick fog, intermittent golden light spots pointed him in the direction he wanted to go.
(Luvia is divination.)
Fifth Era, Winter of 925 in the Universal Calendar, Northern Continent, Falling Star Lake.
Even though the maids cleaned up in time, the heavy snowfall for days still left the camp by the lake covered in silver.
Snowflakes are falling among tents, unicorn huts, chocobo shacks, and temporary storage cabins. Towering snow-capped mountains stand on the horizon in the distance, and the river flowing down from the top of the snow-capped mountains forms Falling Star Lake on the silver-white snowfield surrounded by mountains.
Even though it is daytime, clusters of bonfires are still burning in the camp. The maids in long skirts were busy walking around the bonfire. Although their own Witch Emperor was on vacation at this time and did not need to deal with too many official duties, they still had a lot to do.
Out of the window of the Unicorn House, the pure white little beast stuck its head out, its sky-blue eyes looking at the figure on the shore of Falling Star Lake in the distance. Chloe stood alone on the snow on the shore, with her hands behind her back, looking at the calm, mirror-like lake.
“Falling Star Lake” is named after a meteorite that fell here a hundred years ago. Now that meteorite has been taken away, the strange star still changes the nearby landforms and makes this area created by the impact. The large lake does not freeze even in the winter of the northern continent.
Although the snowflakes were swirling and falling from the sky above her head, none of them could fall on her hair or shoulders. The long silver hair was not **** and was just blowing in the wind. The golden eyes were staring at the lake, looking forward to the early arrival of the person who made the promise.
Elegant, mysterious, and noble. Although she is not tall, anyone who sees Chloe Marcus Marquez at first sight will not deny this cold charm.
Wearing a black dress that is a little out of place in the snowy weather, it still has white lace decorations on the cuffs and skirt. Although her eyes were looking towards the lake, her heart had already drifted away with the wind.
The wind howling on the snowfield was not loud, but at a certain moment it suddenly brought a man’s singing voice.
Chloe has thought about how to welcome Shade countless times, but when the singing sound really came from the lake, she still forgot those carefully prepared words and actions, lifted up her skirt and stepped on her high heels , and hurriedly stepped onto the water.
“The princess in the castle will not understand that the freedom to walk in the world is what we pursue.”
“When you meet a witch at an intersection full of lavender, where are you going to pick that handful of herbs.”
“Hold the snow on the top of the snow mountain and watch the sun in the depths of the desert.”
“If you can meet us, dear girl~~”
“Please call our names softly and ask your questions.”
“Where the lilies are blooming, or where the sunflowers are to the west.”
“Please wear a beautiful dress and hold up the purple thyme.”
“The people who love you and the people you love are all here, this palace filled with sunshine.”
When the first lyrics appeared, the singing sounded like it was coming from the top of the snow-capped mountains far away. But when Chloe ran onto the water with her skirt in hand, the figure holding the boat had appeared like a black spot in the distance of Falling Star Lake in the snow.
The singing has become so clear that the girls in the camp also looked towards the big lake. The boat was sailing smoothly on the lake at this time, and the figure of the cat holding the oar at the stern and the cat standing on the shoulder was clearly visible.
Obviously it is a song that everyone can sing, but when it is sung by a man, it makes the witches feel so different. And the little silver-haired figure had already reached the center of the lake with her skirt in hand. When Shade finished singing the last line, she swooped towards Shade in the heavy snow.
As the cat meowed, the girls in the camp saw their master hugging the man and falling on the boat. Then they smiled and looked away, not daring to see what would happen next.
Because Shade was knocked down, the cat could only stand on the side of the boat and howl dissatisfied. Shade, who was lying on his back on the boat, looked at the falling snow like elves dancing under the clear blue sky, smiled and hugged the silver-haired girl lying on his body.
[Eighteen minutes left. 】
“The mission has been completed. Can we discuss it with the tree father now? Extend the stay. I will not stay in this era and change the past. I just want to spend more time with her.”
The shadow of a big tree seemed to flash past in the snowy sky, and Shade got “her” reply:
[Please wait]
[If you are willing to give up the Miracle Spirit Rune-Tree, you can stay for 6 more hours. 】
After only a moment of hesitation, Shade agreed. In order to rescue Fiona in Eternal Night City, he voluntarily gave up the “dark night”, but the dark night eventually became his strength. Although the “Miracle-Tree” was equally valuable, he was willing to pay such a price if it was to accompany Chloe.
If he needs this power, it will be his sooner or later.
【Countdown: 6 hours, 17 minutes and 12 seconds. 】
Chloe didn’t know Shade’s decision. She pressed the side of her face against Shade’s chest, feeling his body temperature and heartbeat:
“I knew you would come, Shade~ I knew you would keep your promise.”
She struggled to sit up again, then moved her body forward, held Shade down again and kissed him, who was also trying to sit up.
Golden eyes looked at him with a smile, but the cold kiss still had a warm feeling. She hugged him tightly in the heavy snow. Although she knew he would leave again, at least at this moment she didn’t want to be separated from him, and she didn’t want to wait for a long time.
“Chloe, you’re a little too excited.”
When the silver-haired witch finally let go of Sha De, the foreigner expressed his dissatisfaction in a small way:
“Can we go to the shore first? This boat is too small. Mia, what’s your expression? I didn’t throw you off my shoulder.”
Chloe also remembers this warm cat, hugging Shade’s neck:
“No, right here. I know you can’t stay too long, so I don’t want to waste a single second before you disappear again. Don’t tell me how long you can stay, otherwise I will waste a lot of seconds. Thinking about how long you can stay with me.”
“It’s different this time. I can stay for six hours, so can we go to shore?”
Chloe, who was pressing him, sat up immediately with a surprised expression on her face:
“Six hours? What did you pay for?”
“It’s not important.”
Shade combed her long silver hair with his hands. Chloe’s long hair was very textured. This doesn’t mean that it doesn’t look like hair, but her long hair has a cool feeling:
“Six hours is not a long time, Chloe, do you really want to waste your time discussing this kind of issue? Besides, if we don’t move, I feel like little Mia is going to be really angry. ”
“Meow~”
The cat’s meow echoed on the calm lake, causing the birds in the snow that were about to land to rest immediately fly further away.
Chloe’s appearance in Falling Star Lake was not by chance or because of the beautiful scenery, but because the space-time stability in the Falling Star Lake area is weak, making it easier to achieve time-space communication in this place.
At first, Chloe just wanted to come here to try out her new ideas, but she didn’t expect to encounter a boat drifting from the water and Shade on the boat.
So after Shade left last time, she called more maids to build this huge camp by the lake. In this way, even if she couldn’t wait for Shade, she could still arrange for people to wait in the long years to come.
The continuous camp is located on the north side of the lake shore. Judging from its size, it is probably more than enough to accommodate three to four hundred people. Most of the girls were wearing maid’s clothes. In the cold winter, the skirts only reached to the knees. Their calves were wrapped in white stockings, and their feet were wearing small black leather shoes.
They all have at least an intermediate level, so they are not afraid of such a cold winter.
In addition to the maids, there are also some relatively weak civilian staff in the camp. Although they are also witches, they can only handle minor clerical matters.
PS: The picture in this chapter is “Ice Witch Chloe”.
There was a version of Chloe’s illustration before, but I was never satisfied with it. Now I switched to this one which is more in line with the character’s appearance and temperament.