On the first day of adulthood, Ash was chased all the way back to the village by the angry Aubrey.
Ash was running hard ahead.
"Stop right there!" Aubrey was behind him.
"Aubrey, don't bully Ash!" Behind her was Shanna.
The villagers watched and laughed, wondering, "Hey, Ash ran really fast today."
Ash also found that his steps were particularly light today, and he had enough time to turn around from time to time and look at Aubrey in confusion.
Aubrey ran so slowly today. He hasn’t caught up with me yet?
Aubrey was so depressed by his repeated looks, the kind of puzzled look that asked "Why haven't you caught up yet?", that a mouthful of blood got stuck in his throat.
It's a ghost!
Aubrey felt breathless. How come Ash, who usually got out of breath after running a few steps, was jumping faster than a rabbit today?
He always boasted that his arms were thicker than Ash's thighs and that he was Ash's big brother. Was he going to admit now that he couldn't outrun Ash? What a joke!
So even when Shanna asked him to stop, he pretended not to hear her.
The result of his show of bravery was that he chased Ash around the village three full laps.
He lay on the ground like a dead dog, while Ash was alive and kicking, accepting everyone's amazed gazes.
"Come on, let auntie take a look, is this still our Ash?"
"Ash, are you tired? Come and have some sugar water."
"Ash, I didn't realize you could run so fast."
"This is incredible." Derek also pulled Ash in amazement, looking him around, "Is there still such a qualitative change after adulthood? Can he actually beat Aubrey?"
Aubrey, who was lying flat on his back, turned over silently in shame: "..." After being knocked down by the weakling Ash, he chose death.
Ash also looked at himself in amazement. Is it possible to double the endurance and stamina after becoming an adult? Or... is this also magic?
magic.
This strange and mysterious word made his heart tremble.
If I could have magic...
He once again felt this desire.
But Ash still remembered what the old man told him last night. He calmed himself down and quickly suppressed the little bud in his heart. He looked up at Derek and said, "Uncle Derek, I have something to tell you."
He had made up his mind yesterday to tell Derek about his suspicions about Rachel, but he didn't expect that after all the twists and turns last night, Derek's hidden danger was completely eradicated.
But what comes with it is an even greater hidden danger.
“This is not the end”, “Peace will be completely shattered”… If these words are not alarmist, what should everyone in the village do?
After what happened to Rachel, Ash planned to seek help from the village elders from the beginning this time.
Ash's expression was too serious, and there was panic and worry in his eyes. Derek frowned when he saw it, and he grabbed Ash with his big hand: "Come with me."
Ash was taken to a small house at the entrance of the village.
"Eat some of this first." Derek took out a baguette from the kitchen. "It'll fill your stomach."
Ash thanked him quietly, took the bread and sat down on the sofa beside him, and started to eat it bite by bite. He was indeed hungry.
Derek poured him another cup of hot water and placed it next to him: "Drink whatever you want, don't choke."
Ash obediently took another sip from his water glass.
Derek sat across from him and waited until Ash was almost done eating before speaking, "What do you want to say? You look uglier than before."
Ash held the water cup in his hand, not knowing where to start.
After thinking about it, I decided to start with Rachel.
"Uncle Derek, have you seen Rachel this morning?"
Derek shook his head. "Not yet. What's wrong?"
"You'll never see him again," Ash said. "He died last night."
"What?" Derek sat forward, thinking he might have misheard.
"Rachel is dead."
Ash's pronunciation was particularly clear.
Don't be ridiculous, how can you say such a thing casually? - If it was Aubrey who said this, Derek would definitely stop him sternly and slap him in the face.
But the person speaking now is Ash.
Ash with full credit.
"..." Derek was a little confused, holding his forehead with a headache, "How did you know?"
"I saw it," Ash said.
"Ash, did you have a nightmare last night?" Derek wiped his face and chose his words carefully, "Did you take what happened in the dream as... uh..." Well, he couldn't continue.
Ash is not an idiot like Aubrey, who has a nightmare and cannot distinguish reality from reality, and makes a fuss about it so that the whole village knows about it.
"Wait a minute." He gestured to Ash to pause, then strode out the door.
Ash silently poured himself a glass of water, and his heart felt as warm as the warm water.
Uncle Derek probably went to Teacher Nathan to verify this.
It was because he trusted him that Uncle Derek went to verify it instead of just dismissing him as nonsense.
After a long time, Derek came back, damp and wet.
An indescribably complex expression on his face.
Rachel is missing.
Nathan thought Rachel had gone out for a walk, but Derek asked around and found out that no one in the village had seen him today.
Now, except for him and Ash, other villagers have not noticed this abnormality.
Derek resumed his previous seat.
"Tell me about it," he said with difficulty, "How did he get into trouble?" Such a big thing happened in the village, and the only one who noticed and knew about it was a child who had just grown up! Thinking of Ash witnessing a death, Derek felt a sense of relief.
Ash sat up straight and began to talk again from the beginning, including his initial wariness towards Rachel.
He had never spoken such a long speech before, and he had to pause from time to time, trying to find the right way to describe it.
Derek's expression changed from the attentive listening at the beginning to something indescribable again. His worldview was baptized by the surreal magical realism, and he was in disarray and on the verge of collapse in the wind.
magic?
Rachel knows magic, has held Aubrey and Shayanna hostage, and has designs on Ash.
The wandering theater troupe can also perform magic. They can make a big tent disappear out of thin air, and confuse everyone in the village so that they even have some small errors in their memories after a good night's sleep?
The latter one who could perform magic killed the former one and kindly left behind an alarmist prophecy?
Derek: “…” He still needs to slow down.
"It is magical." Ash reminded him quietly, "Look, I outran Aubrey today."
Derek thought in confusion, indeed, the only power that could cause this result could be magical magic, right?
But there is such a thing as magic?
Isn’t it the same as in the shows performed by the theater troupe?
Are there really humans who can call the wind and rain?
He was no longer a child who liked to listen to bedtime stories, and it was very difficult for an adult to accept such a statement. But when he met Ash's sincere eyes, Derek warned himself not to be narrow-minded.
It is undoubtedly foolish to measure the world by your own perspective.
He couldn't set a bad example for the kids.
He stood up and walked in front of Ash. His tall and strong body was extremely intimidating.
"Ash." He put his big, calloused hands on Ash's head and rubbed it hard, as if he wanted to infuse courage and strength from his own body into the boy. "Were you scared last night?"
Ash shook his head under his hand.
"You did a good job." Derek lowered his voice, "Thank you for trusting me. I will go to the village chief and have a deep discussion about what you said. The rest is our business. But——"
He smiled, "Ash, you always surprise people. If you find anything, you can tell me in time like you did today." He pressed his hand hard again, "You were the only one who was worrying about it before. Thank you for your hard work."
Ash pursed his lips and whispered, "I put away the blood-stained clothes from last night. And I cleaned up where Rachel fell, but there are traces left."
If we show these evidences to the village chief and others, they will be more likely to believe it.
Derek was stunned for a moment, and praised him again sincerely: "You did a good job."
If the traces are cleaned up in time, there will be no panic in the village.
If the prophecy was true, Derek was not in favor of letting the whole village know.
What good would it do even if I knew?
The "peace collapse" in the prophecy is likely related to magic. In Derek's opinion, this is on the same level as "there will be a big earthquake" and "there will be a big storm". Even if they know it will happen, they cannot stop it with their power.
It was impossible for them to move away from the village, and they didn't know where to move to safely.
Instead of living in fear and worry, it is better to know less and be a happy fool.
Derek sighed. He seemed to be so worried that his hair would fall out.
But there has to be someone tall to carry it. We can't let a kid like Ash carry it in the front, right?
Even if we know that a natural disaster is about to come and cannot be stopped or resisted, people are human and we will resist and struggle. Otherwise, what is the difference between us and a lying salted fish?
"That's a real problem for me." He muttered to himself, and ruffled Ash's hair vigorously, as if to take revenge on him for causing him to lose his hair. "If that prophecy is false, I will treat the whole village to a whole night of drinking to celebrate!"
Ash couldn't help but remind him, "Uncle Derek, you still owe the tavern ten copper coins."
Derek: “…”
Do you know that you may get beaten if you speak too bluntly?
…
Ash knew.
The author has something to say: Aubrey (putting on a strong smile): Let me tell you how many times I got shot in this chapter.
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