The City of Marronligar

According to my ill-fated old friend, bounty hunters usually have a practical and utilitarian attitude to the extreme, are used to living a carefree life, and logically keep all the secrets that cannot be revealed. past.

"You can treat it as a craft, no different from mending pots, weaving nets, shoemaking, or even selling yourself, except that you will get blood on your hands, and you may die"——When he said this, we were sitting in a tavern talking to each other drink.I don't know if this is a joke when he was drunk or his sincere words, but this friend drinks very well, and I hardly ever see him drunk.

He also said that once he chooses this path, even if he washes his hands midway, he may not be able to get rid of the imprint of memory for the rest of his life.

——Miscellaneous Notes of Silver Bay Tower: Light and Darkness of the Bounty Hunters Association

Outside the half-open wooden window, the music and the "thunder" of the fireworks have gradually subsided, and the dawn and the shadows of seabirds in the sky seem to be urging the crowd to disperse.The sleepy townspeople threw the mess on the pier to the organizers of the celebration, staggered back to enjoy themselves, and fell into another dreamland one after another.

And the ruthless Marenlica is slowly waking up from his orgy dream.

After the tribute to spring, people ruminate on the brief indulgence.But in addition to happiness and regret, I am afraid that there is more long emptiness.

"The sun is coming out soon."

After a night of lingering, Adrian was lying on Louis' bed, and from his angle, he could just see the changing sky outside the window.

The weather has turned warm, and there is basically no need for a brazier indoors.The snake-shaped pendant hanging on Adrian's neck appeared dull in color due to the lack of a bright light source.

"That's the end of the carnival night." Louis opened the wooden window, and the air that poured into the room seemed to have a faint smell of alcohol. "Did you know that in the past, a governor wanted to extend the carnival to three or five days, but he failed in the end."

Adrian turned over, leaned against the wall and slowly sat up again, his loose shirt was opened to an unseemly extent by this movement.

"Why?" His voice was softer than usual.

Louis shrugged: "Even if the nobles and businessmen don't work for ten days and a half months, their savings can withstand the toss, but the common people don't necessarily. For them, happiness is temporary, even illusory. Yes. If you miss a few days of work for the carnival, the price is a few days of food, which is not worth it.”

Without the participation of ordinary citizens, this carnival will become dull, which is not what the dignitaries want to see.

Adrian nodded knowingly.

In the six months since he came to Marenliga, he has initially understood the meaning of "inequality", and Louis will only experience and witness more.However, talking about these things now may spoil the mood.

So, Adrian changed the subject: "Did you have any special experiences during the Spring Festival celebrations in the past few decades?"

Adrian didn't mean to pry into Louis' inner secrets, but just wanted to know him better.

Louis didn't intend to keep anything, after all, he had told Adrian enough secrets: "About seven years—maybe eight years ago, my style was relatively...casual, and Samuel knew it. After that orgy, I spent the night with a young maid at Flying Lions' mansion."

"..."

"Because I was so drunk, I even gave her my father's relics. It was a string of amulets inlaid with moonstones, and the logo of the association was engraved on the back of the metal base. The shape was very strange, as if it was the only one It was an orphan. But within a few days, the girl left Marunliga, and I don't know her whereabouts."

"..."

"... Anyway, that's it." As if consciously wrong, Louis' tone weakened. "I haven't told the second person about this. Since then, I finally understand the truth of 'drinking is wrong', and I have restrained a lot."

Adrian didn't speak for a while, didn't show any anger or displeasure, and didn't even look surprised, just looked at Louis with extremely complicated eyes.

Now, Louis felt a little embarrassed: "Are you not going to scold me?"

The young man lowered his head, picked up the metal pendant that was ironed by body heat, and asked in a flat tone, "You want me to blame you?"

"You're right to be angry, I was prepared before I told you about it. 'Mistakes I made when I was young' - I don't like that excuse, it's a good time to be honest."

Adrian let go of the pendant, and sighed softly: "I just didn't expect that you have such a deep obsession with Feishi Mansion, even the maid..."

—He seems to have misunderstood something.

Louis immediately stated: "I didn't know she was hired by the Torresso family at first, when we were all wearing masks—"

Adrian couldn't help laughing: "You actually take my joke seriously."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Louis also smiled: "Is it because of the carnival? You seem to be different from usual. You really have taught me a lot."

He sat back on the bed, wrapped his arms around Adrian's shoulders, quickly kissed the corner of the other's mouth, and brushed his fingers through the messy black hair.

"...it seems a little longer than before." Louis murmured.

It wasn't until this moment that Adrian realized that his hair tie had fallen somewhere.Of course, he didn't care about such trivial matters.

But at a certain moment, he was suddenly afraid that Louis would abandon him, just like the young maid who left without saying goodbye (and took the relics of the old president).

"You didn't disappear suddenly, did you?" Adrian asked bluntly, and he himself was a little embarrassed after the words came out. "Sorry, I almost forgot what I said just now."

Louis' expression froze for a moment, and he shook his head pretending to be calm: "You don't have to think too much, we still have time."

Adrian lowered his eyes and whispered, "Actually, when you told me this, I was a little angry."

"Just a little?"

"Hmm." Adrian quickly changed the subject. "By the way, regarding your meeting with that Ms. Linka, to be on the safe side, I think I'd better be there."

Louis raised an eyebrow and asked mockingly, "What's wrong?"

Adrian's attitude is very serious: "You just said that after the slave ship incident, you put the ledgers and employment contracts seized from the slave trader into her hands, and those criminal evidences are enough to accuse the current president Chu De and His henchmen."

The bounty hunter nodded: "That's right, this is why Samuel persuaded me to stay. I made an appointment with Linka that if I die unexpectedly, she will reveal those secrets to the public. Over the years, Chu De has probably been looking for These things. As long as the evidence exists, he will not dare to risk my life on the gallows."

"What if they attack you and Ms. Linka at the same time?" Adrian pursed his lips, reluctantly planning for the worst.

Louis shook his head: "This is why Linka seldom returns to Marenliga, and has been wandering around the peninsula. However, even if something unexpected happens, I believe she will stay behind. This time, she came back to see me specially. own reasons."

"Then I'll go too. If I was there, at least the members of the association would not dare to accidentally hurt the 'young owner' of the Flying Lion Mansion for personal revenge. The Torresso family is not easy to mess with."

Louis was quite surprised: "When did you start using your identity and background? This is using power for personal gain."

Adrian smiled and said, "It's not that you teach well."

Meeting old friends whom you haven't seen in a long time is always a joyful and tragic experience.Especially sitting on the ground at the foot of the lighthouse, looking at the deeper and deeper indigo blue on the dividing line between the sea and the sky, peeping at each other with the stars in the sky, the rolling tide seems to be far more real than Maren Liga, just as the old memory is more profound than the present life.

Louis said that when he and Linka were still in the Bounty Hunters Association, every time they solved a difficult commission, a group of their life-and-death partners would gather here to drink and have fun. The rising sun of the next day wakes people up, or the lighthouse keeper comes to remind them not to roll into the sea.

However, things are different in the world, and now the only ones who can sit here and reminisce about the past are Luis and Linka—a bounty hunter and a former bounty hunter.As an "outsider", Adrian seems to be able to only witness and listen.

——By the way, there is also "insurance".

As they walked across the harbor area toward the lighthouse, they sensed a certain sight.Without turning your head to look, you know someone is staring at them.The object of surveillance may be Luis, Linka, or even Adrian.At least for now, the watchers dare not act rashly for the time being.

All in all, having Adrian on hand was the right decision.

After a few greetings, Linka gulped down a glass of strong wine, slapped the glass on the grass, picked up the jug to refill her glass, and chanted the names engraved deep in her memory: "Gordo, Mi Haile, Gucci... what a fine lad, but they're either dead or gone."

Of course Louis remembered them: "Bounty hunters basically don't have a good death—the old president's words are not just words." He laughed at himself.

If one dies at the hands of wild beasts, the lightless, or insane criminals, there is mostly regret in pain; but if one dies due to conflicts of interest or mutual killing of colleagues, there is only resentment.

Linka said: "Compared to the time when we were most active, the number of the Lightless seems to have decreased. According to the guards in the city, there has not even been a report of the Lightless this month."

Louis shrugged: "So the bounty hunters are almost out of work, and their jobs are getting dirtier."

"I said a long time ago that no decent person would do this." Linka's smile was bold and bitter. "Since the business scope of bounty hunters has expanded from hunting wild animals to killing people, tragedy has been doomed. Either choose conscience or choose interests. Those who want the best of both worlds can only gamble their own lives."

Louis still broods over the past.He shook his head, and Yu Hui made his face extremely haggard: "I have thought countless times, why the association was born?"

He looked at Linka guiltily, hoping to find the shadows of his former friends who had passed away from her: "Six years——no, it should be almost seven years ago. It was my impulsiveness that hurt you."

Linka saw it very clearly: "I don't think it's your fault, let alone we can't go back to the past to find someone to settle the score. The problem of the association lies in its root, not you, not the old president, Chu The depravity of that group of radicals has only pushed it further into the abyss."

The female bounty hunter from the northern tribe is more open-minded and straightforward than men, so that Louis and others hardly regard her as a woman.She would bluntly point out that "everyone's parents have died and their backgrounds are humble", "If it wasn't for a moral error, they wouldn't be bounty hunters for money", and by the way, she would share her suffering experience of wandering in her early years as a talking point.

She has saved dying lives from the claws of the Lightless, and personally beheaded bounty hunters hired by slavers.Like Luis, Linka's sword was stained with the blood of her peers, and she paid a heavy price for it.

In the slave ship incident, the sinners were punished as they should be, but not all, such as Chu De.Some bounty hunters were arrested, and Louis and Linka were impeached within the association.Both sides suffered losses, and neither got what they wanted.

—Of course you can send them all to the execution ground, but in this way, Chu De's henchmen have no reason to spare your life.

Samuel had persuaded Louis so earnestly that it was difficult to refuse.

—Louis, you must resent it, because I do too.

In the end, Louis followed Samuel's suggestion and handed over the key evidence to Linka for safekeeping until today.

"I'm tired of everything about bounty hunters." Linka sighed. "I'm here this time to say goodbye to you."

Louis raised his head, and his cupped hands tightened suddenly, similar to his reaction when he heard that the slave ship was coming into port.Just like watching a migratory bird, he will watch an important friend leave.

"I'm going back to my hometown in the north." Linka said with a smile pretending to be relaxed.

Louis laughed twice: "The war in the north has never stopped, are you sure you want to go back?"

"Besides my hometown, I can't think of a better place to live. It's ridiculous that people like us can feel homesick."

"What about your used book business in Peninsula?"

Linka shook her head: "The transaction in Marenliga these two days is the last one. From now on, I probably will never come to the south again. As for the things you entrusted to me for safekeeping, I have put them in the last A safe place, you will find an opportunity to get it after a while."

This is probably the farewell.

Louis stared at the wine glass in his hand and didn't speak for a while.

The former bounty hunter also fell silent.It wasn't until Adrian filled a glass of wine for the two of them respectively that she raised her glass and tapped on the rim of Louis' glass lightly: "Let's touch the last glass."

"I wish you all the best." Louis couldn't think of more words.

Linka tried her best to squeeze out a hearty smile: "You too."

The two drank the wine in their glasses.

Linka turned her gaze to Adrian, who had been silent all this time: "Young man, Louis trusts you a lot, which is a good thing for him. I hope this trust can change something."

The three of them looked at each other and smiled, leaving the unfinished words in the wind of Yinwan and the flames of the lighthouse in the future.

The setting sun soaked in the clouds and slowly sank under the city wall, and bid farewell to Ma Lunlijia standing in the corner of the mainland once a day.

The big ship to the northern port will set sail after sunrise the next day.In order to avoid the possible mistakes of boarding the ship early, Linka did not spend the last night in the hostel, but stayed in the room on the ship in advance.

After settling the limited luggage, Linka couldn't help feeling sorry for it.

She's not without feelings for Maren Liga: there's her life as a bounty hunter, her life-defying friends, the nostalgic chatter and bustle.And of course, there's the haunting pain, the fall and the sacrifice she's witnessed.

Would it be better to spend the night on the shore? Linka thought aimlessly.

Still, it wasn't like her to dwell on the past.

After bidding farewell to Maren Liga, what awaits Linka is the second half of her life, whether short or long.In the strange hometown where she has been away for a long time, she can start again without any worries.

Thinking of this, Linka unconsciously let go of all her vigilance, like getting a long-overdue sense of security after crossing a dangerous situation.

It was nearly midnight, and she was about to go to bed, when she heard someone knocking on the door, probably the crew was checking the situation of the passengers.

"What's wrong?" Linka took a few steps and opened the door.

Before she even had time to see the appearance of the person, she was fixed in place by a short knife wedged into her abdomen.The short knife with the bloodletting groove cut half a circle in the abdomen, and the blood flowed profusely in an instant, and the severe pain dragged the consciousness away from Linka's body little by little.

——Bounty hunters basically don't have a good death.

When she fell down clutching the handle of the knife, Linka suddenly remembered the words of the old president.

It seems that I still haven't been able to return to the north.

If it was in the past, she would never have been plotted against so easily.

Linka could no longer make a sound, and her upside-down vision quickly dimmed. She could only watch helplessly as the vague figure locked the door and rummaged through the room.

——Just look for it slowly, those criminal evidences are no longer in my hands.

At the end of her life, Linka sees the lighthouse of Maren Liga in a trance.She felt that her consciousness was turning into a migratory bird, leaving this tired and painful body, breaking away from the shackles of the past, and flying unrestrained to the north.

Author has something to say: TheTreeWhenWeSatOnce - MarcinPrzybylowicz

I was recommended by a friend to play White Album 2, addicted to Shura Field and couldn’t extricate myself

At the beginning, I didn’t pay attention to the orientation setting of Marunliga, and wrote the direction of the sunset backwards. I found a bug when I modified it_(:з」∠)_