Chapter 11

The child knew that long hair would easily show through the hat, so he cut his hair short himself, and then let it grow for a while. Now, it covers his ears and the back of his neck.

There is quite a lot of hair, but it's just some long and some short. You can imagine what an uneven hairstyle it was when it was first cut - he definitely didn't look in the mirror when he cut it!

Elphis looked at the short hair on his head and the many curled and wavy medium-length hair, which reminded him of The Lion King.

The contrast with the child's cool face was so strong that he couldn't help laughing out loud.

From Winster's habit of keeping clean even when wandering outside, we can tell that he is a child who cares a lot about his image. He can endure pain and be despised and expelled by everyone, but he is unwilling to live in dirt and humiliation, as if this would really mean losing his life.

At this moment, when Elphis made fun of his hair, Winster felt embarrassed for the first time. His face turned red, but he didn't want to glare at this person who helped him a lot. He could only look down at the ground.

The young boy, who was more than a head taller than Winster, had curved eyebrows and a smile on his face as he spoke: "Come here, I'll help you wash."

Unfortunately, no matter how gentle and harmless Elphis looked, it was useless against the child's paranoid complex.

Winster has never been close to people since he was a child and he hates being touched by others. Later on, he would become defensive if someone approached him.

If someone said they wanted to wash his hair, he would only suspect that the person wanted to drown him in a tub.

He knew that Elphis would not hurt him, but psychologically he was not used to this somewhat intimate behavior.

The child quietly refused Elphis: "Thank you, I can wash it myself."

Elphis didn't force it and just sat aside and waited.

After the child was washed, she poured out the water boiled from the leaves of the four-color flower from a water bag, soaked the cloth, and wiped off the color stains on Winster's skin.

Winster pulled out a few strands of his hair and was stunned to see that it had really changed color.

"Wipe the water off."

Winster took the dry cloth handed to him and wiped his wet hair woodenly.

He thought he would be happy if he could cover up his hair color, but when it actually happened, he was more confused.

Winster's only thought before was to avoid people and stay alive. Now that he is not being hunted, where should he go and what should he do?

Elphis looked at the child's short hair with a little envy. He really wanted to have a neat short haircut, which would make washing his hair much easier.

There are no hair dryers in this world, so it is so annoying to dry your hair every time, especially in winter when it is cold and hair dries slowly.

Although the mainstream hairstyle here is long hair, there are also short hair. Elphis can cut it, but he thinks long hair is more suitable for this face. It can add a bit of gentleness and make people more easily let down their guard.

He believed that, as an outsider, he was able to integrate into this land smoothly. Besides his ability to act well, his appearance was also an important reason. People are always happier when they see beautiful things.

Moreover, the town has been developing its economy in recent years, and Elphis has inevitably had to give advice to others on how to do things. Although his attitude has always been good and it seems that he is negotiating, in essence he is just giving orders.

If she had a neat short hair, she would probably look more aggressive, especially when she is not smiling.

In short, in order to better develop interpersonal relationships and create long-term benefits, Elphis chose to endure this beautiful but troublesome long hair.

Winster had already combed his hair into a mess, and Elphis couldn't bear to watch it, so he handed him a comb. After the child had combed his hair smoothly, he nodded with satisfaction, "This hair color suits you very well, but your hair needs a trim."

The child had just washed it for a long time, as if he was afraid that it wouldn't be dyed, and then it was dyed into a slightly darker amber color. Even so, Winster didn't look as gloomy as before.

Winster looked at him. After saying a few words, his voice was no longer so hoarse: "How much is this magic potion?" For the time being, let's just set paying back the money as the goal.

What magic potion?

Elphis blinked and looked at the child's serious expression, as if he was carrying a mountain of debt.

This time he didn't speak vaguely like before, as if he was too lazy to open his lips. Instead, he spoke clearly for the first time, revealing the gap where a new tooth had grown after the tooth was knocked out by the toast. Elphis was amused by the contrast again.

"What kind of magic potion is this? It's just worthless wild flowers. They will fade after a while. So you have to boil water with these flowers every time you wash your hair."

Winster heaved a sigh of relief, he had never seen anything related to magic, but when he saw that the water was magical, he immediately thought of the expensive potion he had heard passers-by mention, and thought that he would have to pay off the debt for a long time and would never be completely free.

"What about the food? You can keep a record of it and I'll pay you back later."

Elphis admired this little guy more and more. He was a man of integrity and responsibility.

"I'm too lazy to remember. I can still afford to support one more person. If you don't get into trouble, I can support you until you are eighteen."

As an adult, he can go wherever he wants, and his compassion and care are usually only for children.

But... Elphis' smile suddenly faded. If he found out that this little guy had some bad habits that he couldn't correct and that he really disliked, he might take back his kindness in advance.

Hearing this, Winster's long eyelashes trembled, and he lowered his eyes and said vaguely: "If you help the son of misfortune, the gods will not bless you...disaster will befall you sooner or later..."

Elphis frowned, tapped the kid's forehead with his finger, and said seriously: "As a victim of feudal superstition, you should resist such false rumors. Why are you helping a group of liars spread wrong ideas?"

Winster touched his forehead, thinking about what happened the night he left the village. He moved away from Elphis, and his expression and tone suddenly became more fierce: "This is not a false rumor. If you get close to me, you will die... Don't be too nice to me."

Alphis had lived with Pastor Calvin for so long that he was really tired of persuading people not to engage in feudal superstitions. Moreover, he could tell that the child must have witnessed death to be so sure, so he stopped talking.

Facts speak louder than words. Once he has been active and wealthy for a few years, the children will probably believe what he says.

Thinking of this, Elphis nodded perfunctorily: "Okay, okay, you are the son of doom and the enemy of the world, so can I enslave you? I'm going back now, you help me bring back the things I just brought, follow me quickly."

Winster was stunned for a moment, and seeing that the man had already left the cave, he hesitated for a while before picking up the basket and the wooden basin and following.

Elphis thought it was troublesome to deliver three meals to the forest every day, so he simply took the child in. Considering Grandpa Kevin's kind nature, he would probably have no objection.

Moreover, the child is sensible and mature, and does not need his grandfather to worry about everything. In addition, with the money he has earned over the years, it is not a problem for him to provide Winster with food and clothing.

The young boy walked at a leisurely pace, telling Winster about his future residence.

"Although you can't see it, the place where I live is actually a small church, where the pastor preaches. Did you know that the Holy See of Light is the source of the rumor that the two blacks are the children of doom?"

Winster paused. If Elphis hadn't helped him conceal his hair color, he would have thought that the other party wanted to trick him into the church to be purified.

Elphis looked back at him, motioned him to keep going, and then gently comforted the child: "Don't worry, there are only me and an elderly priest living in it."

Even though he was old, he was not necessarily without threat. Winster asked, "Does the priest know magic?"

The corner of Elphis' mouth twitched, "Have you ever seen magic?"

"No." He had only heard that the Holy See had powerful light magicians who were born to destroy dark creatures like him.

"Seeing is believing, hearing is not, you know?"

Winster saw that Elphis didn't seem to take the rumors about the Son of Darkness and the magician seriously at all, but he knew that he was indeed not normal, so he didn't respond to him.

"Grandpa Pastor believes in the story of God saving the human race, and he also believes in the teachings of the Church, so you can't let him find out about your hair color."

"Other than that, he's just an ordinary, kind old man."

At this point, Elphis smiled and said, "I was abandoned shortly after I was born. It was the pastor grandfather who adopted me and took care of a baby and raised me. He also taught the children in the town to read and write for free. So you see, he is a good person, right?"

Elphis said this to make the child let down his guard and believe that the church is a safe place, but Winster's focus was - how could any parents abandon someone like him?

Winster frowned and looked up at the figure in front of him.

Being cold-hearted by nature and having never felt cared for, he actually felt almost no emotion when his father disliked him. However, he actually found it hard to understand why Elphis was abandoned - it was really ungrateful for the parents to abandon a child who was so impeccable in appearance and character.

Alphis brought the child, who had been almost silent all the way, to the chapel. Just as he was about to take him in, Winster put down his things, turned around and ran into the forest again.

Eh? Didn't we already say on the way that we would live together in the future?

This kid, instead of living in a house, likes to be a savage in the forest, right?

Finally, considering that the child's mental illness was difficult to cure and could not be forced, Elphis let him run away, thinking that he should have some time to adapt to getting along with others.

Then when Elphis went to deliver dinner that day, he didn't see anyone in the cave - how come the progress of the strategy went backwards?

Elphis put down his things and left, not planning to stay and wait for anyone: he didn't owe the child anything, and he didn't have to do his best. Continuing to feed him would be right to his conscience.

He didn't know that on the way back, there was a little tail following him, and the tracking level was quite high and silent.

Winster watched Elphis return to the chapel safely before returning to the cave to eat the almost cold meal.

For a long time afterwards, the child rarely showed up, but he was secretly escorting Elpheus back, because he was worried that misfortune would befall Elpheus because of contact with this person.

If there were other options, Winster wouldn't even want Elphis to continue bringing him meals, but food was hard to find in winter, so he still accepted the favor.

The child secretly made a decision that when he grows up, he will find a way to make money and then give that person a lot of money as a reward!

Besides that, they shouldn't have any unnecessary contact. What if he caused the other person to die, or if he lost control and killed someone, like the father and son who wanted to capture him for the bounty...

After two days without seeing him, Elphis thought about how the child was always clean, and guessed that he often went to the stream to clean himself. It was a miracle that he didn't get sick even though he washed himself with cold water in such a cold day.

Although Elphis was particularly soft-hearted towards children, he still prepared hot water even though he thought it was troublesome.

Four days after changing his hair color, Elphis went to the cave again during non-mealtime and was really blocked by people.

For the first time, Winster felt at a loss and didn't know what to say.

Elphis did not mention the child's avoidance these days, "He has some new black hair, come and wash it."

After Winster finished washing his hair, Elphis emptied the basin of water and poured the hot water in the water bag into the basin, "Wipe your body."

Winster glanced at the boy who no longer had a gentle smile, and did as he was told without saying a word.

Elphis sat on the rock at the entrance of the cave, resting his head on his hand and daydreaming. What a troublesome little kid - never mind, at least he wasn't the naughty or uneducated type, so just keep him.

After Winster put on the winter clothes that Elphis had sent him, he didn't dare to go over and just said "thank you" in a muffled voice.

Elphis took a look at the bad hairstyle and took out a pair of scissors as if he had been prepared. "Come here and trim your hair."

When Winster saw the sharp weapon pointed at him, he tensed up and said, "I won't cut it."

Seeing him take a step back, Elphis glanced at the scissors in his hand and sighed inwardly, how defensive was he?

He did not force her, and took out a well-hidden dagger from his waist and put it on the ground. "You always stay in the forest, and you may encounter wild beasts. This is for self-defense. Don't use it to hurt people or do bad things." Elphis paused, and then teased, "For example, robbing people on the road."

Winster stiffened, remembering their first meeting, and lowered his head even lower.

Elphis couldn't imagine how boring it would be to stay alone in the forest, so he tried to find something for the child to do. "I'm going back. Can you help me deliver the things to my door?"

Not only did Winster send it back, he also washed it clean by the stream before sending it back. He did the same after every meal thereafter.

When Elphis took the things back from the door, he couldn't help shaking his head. Compared with this child, he, an adult, was quite delicate. He had to boil hot water to wash in winter.

The next day, Elphis brought him the bow and arrow he used as a child and taught him for a long time before leaving. He thought that Winster would practice archery when he was bored, and if he had enough practice time, he might become a great archer in the future.

Winster did practice archery very seriously every day. Besides the fact that he had nothing to do, the main reason was that he was naturally interested in mastering power, and the stronger he became, the sooner he could become self-reliant.

Soon it was time for Elphis to go into town to do some business.

When delivering breakfast that day, Elphis told Winster: "I have to go out today and will be back in the evening. I gave you fifty copper coins before. You can go to the town to buy some food at noon."

The child looked at Elphis's hurriedly leaving back in silence. He had never hated his identity so much before - if he was not the child of misfortune, he could be closer to his brother Al, live with him, go out together, come back together...

Yes, even though Winster had never called him that, in his heart he had already started to call Elphis brother.

However, if he wasn't the son of doom, he wouldn't be here to meet his brother...

For a moment, Winster didn't know whether this "if" was good or bad.

——

Elphis had been to the city many times, but he was rarely as excited as he was today.

Although today's plan would cost a lot of money, which made him feel a little distressed, it didn't matter, he would spend money to buy happiness!