Chapter 31: The End of Tinderbox

Outside the city, among the crowd of onlookers, a hooded silver-haired boy looked at the hanged soldier from afar.

"It seems that your tinderbox has become damp and cannot be used."

The boy is naturally Rhine.

After controlling the animated ropes to restrain the soldier, he took away the soldier's tinderbox.

Later, when the soldier came to him for help to get the tinderbox, he just pretended to walk away for a while, then came back and returned the tinderbox.

As a magician who grants wishes, Ryan did fulfill the soldier's wish literally, but with a small twist.

What he returned was a damp tinderbox that had been soaked in water! When he first received the tinderbox, Rhine had divined this famous magical item and was certain that the damp tinderbox would become ineffective for a period of time.

"Ah, why am I like the devil in the story, taking advantage of the loopholes in people's hearts, granting wishes literally, but twisting them."

The boy laughed at himself in a low voice.

"Summon the tinderbox of the three dogs, and I'll take it back!"

Rhine flipped his right hand.

There was a plop sound and a cloud of mist came out. The tinderbox that was just in the soldier's pocket appeared out of thin air in his palm.

"Retrieve items you have touched".

This is a new magic that Rhine learned after fulfilling the soldier's wish to "retrieve the tinderbox".

This even includes objects that Rhine had touched before learning this magic.

It’s a powerful conceptual ability!

The boy thought to himself. Many interesting uses suddenly popped up in his mind.

"I don't know what to call it. I'm terrible at naming things! I can't call it Zhuomuji Instant Summoning? 'Returning the Object to Its Original Owner'? That doesn't seem right either. Forget it..."

Rhine shrugged and put the naming issue behind him.

After a while, when the damp tinderbox dried up again and restored its original magic, Rhine took the tinderbox and teleported to an uninhabited wilderness.

Wipe, wipe, wipe... One! Two! Three!

Rhine rubbed the tinderbox several times, and with a few whooshing sounds, all three dogs appeared, their eyeballs bigger than each other.

As expected, all the wounds on the dog's body had healed. Its fur was shining in the sun, and it didn't look like it had been injured at all.

"It is indeed a magical creature. Its healing speed is amazing."

Unlike before, the dogs crawled beside Rhine, well-behaved and obedient. They seemed to have forgotten their old master long ago and were ready to follow the orders of the new tinderbox master at any time.

"This dog was able to find out that the princess was not in the palace, but in a small town outside the royal city. What a miraculous power!"

"Do dogs always smell the location of a target that their owners assign to them? Whether it's money or something else?"

"This is a bit of a dog's characteristic. We can try it out sometime to see how far away they can spot a target..."

"This tinderbox will definitely be useful in the future!"

"Aurora's 10th birthday is coming soon. According to Granny Rosa's idea, let's give her a tinderbox as her gift!"

The space around Rhine suddenly distorted, and the slightly thin figure became blurred again and disappeared into the wilderness.

…

Two days later, Rhine held a grand birthday celebration for Aurora.

All 12 witches came, and they reunited just like they had done ten years ago when the girl was born.

They gathered not only to celebrate the birthday, but also to quietly discuss when they should tell Aurora her identity as a princess and the mission she carries - this mission is too heavy for a 10-year-old girl, but it is only a matter of time.

Granny Rosa kissed Aurora on the cheek and handed the tinderbox to her personally—just as she had imagined from the beginning.

The old witch also thanked Aurora for defeating the soldiers who nearly killed her.

"I heard that on the day the soldier was executed, almost everyone in the royal city ran out to watch. It was you who made sure the criminal received the judgment he deserved!"

All the witches knew how Aurora defeated the three big dogs and praised her as an outstanding hero, just like the heroes in the bard's legends and myths - Aurora was as brave as those heroes, as skilled in martial arts as those heroes, and most importantly, she had a heart of gold like those heroes.

"Aurora, my dear child, you are already a hero in your own right."

"Just like in the story, every hero has his own mount. You can now rub the tinderbox to summon a magical dog to be your mount!"

Granny Rosa gave Aurora a big hug.

The Violet Fairy, the leader of the 12 witches, also smiled: "Yes, you should give it a try. It must be a beautiful sight!"

Aurora nodded slightly.

She and the others came to a field and started rubbing tinderboxes on the spot.

Wipe, wipe, wipe, wipe...

With the sound of "whoosh, whoosh, sou", three dogs appeared one after another. The smallest one among them had eyes as big as tea bowls.

Aurora rode on the dog with eyes as big as teacups and drove it across the wilderness. Two other big dogs followed behind the girl.

At first, Aurora's movements were a little unfamiliar, but the blessing gave her an impressive physique and amazing learning ability. After a while, she was as skilled as a skilled rider.

What a heroic look!

The dogs ran happily, and their eyes were wider than ever.

…

The birthday celebrations are coming to an end.

Aurora put away her beloved tinderbox.

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She seemed to like her birthday present very much, but she obviously had some worries and concerns. Even at her birthday ceremony, she couldn't hide her worried look.

"What are you worried about? My little Aurora." Grandma Rosa asked with concern.

Aurora recounted everything the soldier said after she met him.

"If what the soldiers said about the Ender prisoner is true, Ender may soon announce the truth about the curse. When everyone knows that our Kingdom of Rose is cursed, the country will be in chaos, which will be a disaster! "Besides, even if the king and the royal family successfully cover up the truth, everything will only be worse!

"If there really is such a curse - I have asked my teacher, and he said that this curse is absolutely real - when the disaster strikes, there will be no room for remedy."

At this moment, Aurora didn't look like a little girl who was celebrating her 10th birthday and should have been catching butterflies. Although her tone was still childish, she looked like she was worried about the country and the people.

Rhine exchanged glances with the witches and frowned slightly.

Although the king had blocked the news, the people in the country did not know the full details of the princess's birth ceremony and the existence of the curse.

However, at that grand banquet 10 years ago, there were also a large number of foreign guests attending.

It is obviously impossible to expect them to keep the secret.

Aurora's voice trembled slightly when she said this. She stared at Rhine with her eyes piercing. It was not until this moment that the blonde girl realized that this teacher, who had been respected and taught her valuable knowledge for many years, was not much taller than her.

"Teacher, why did the king and queen hide the truth about the curse?

"A disaster will befall the Kingdom of Rose in a few years. In this case, shouldn't everyone know about it?

“Let everyone who has the conditions to leave the kingdom, regardless of their job, class, or gender, stay as far away from this cursed land as possible!”

The girl became more and more excited as she spoke, and clenched her small fists: "Teacher, you once taught me the principles of being a human being. Since there is such a curse, we... we should tell the truth to everyone - before the enemy country reveals the truth.

"The people of Rose Kingdom should have the right to know the truth and leave this cursed land in advance!"

When Aurora said the last sentence, she was almost roaring, and there was a sense of unquestionableness in her words.

The voice of the girl who was blessed with strength, that gripping voice, now seemed to have magic, making Rhine unable to help but feel his emotions fluctuate.

With the blessing, Aurora is a natural orator. Even I, who know the whole truth, almost agreed with her for a moment... Rhine sighed in his heart.

When the Violet Fairy saw Aurora so excited, she hurried forward to comfort her and explain the fact to her that "even if you escape the kingdom, the curse will not end until you die, and at most you can only live a few more years."

Unexpectedly, Rhine made a gesture to stop the Violet Fairy who wanted to explain.

The silver-haired young wizard stood up and gently placed his hand on Aurora's shoulder. "Aurora, I want to ask you, if one day, you were allowed to be the king of this country - replacing the current king, would you do better than him?"

Aurora nodded vigorously without even thinking.

"Tell me, what would you do?" Rhine asked.

"I can use a sword, and I also know a little magic. I will find the whereabouts of the black witch Maleficent, gather as many warriors as possible, and enlist your help, teachers, to gather the power of the whole country to challenge this culprit, defeat her, and force her to tell me how to lift the curse - or, if this curse can be lifted by killing the curser, that would be even better."

The corners of Rhine's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a relieved smile.

"But there are no ifs in this world." Aurora lowered her head. "Only the king's children can become king."

Then, the little princess whispered something that almost made the witches unable to control their facial expressions: "At this point, even if the royal family is overthrown, it will not help. It will only make the situation worse."

Rhine raised his hand and touched Aurora's small head covered with soft golden hair: "You don't need to be a king to do what you said. I can take you with me right now, go abroad, find out the whereabouts of the black witch Maleficent, catch her, and defeat her!"

(End of this chapter)