Endless Silver Machine

It seemed that for just a moment when he opened and closed his eyes, Aika didn't realize that he had collapsed after drinking the glass of wine.

"Get up! Who allowed you to touch my wine!"

I don't know how long I slept before Aika was woken up by an angry shout. He drowsily raised his aching head.

The woman in red robe who had been sleeping soundly at the bar of the tavern that she had seen not long ago was now completely awake and was grabbing the middle-aged man's ears fiercely. It's just that the middle-aged man who was treated like this was still minding his own business, showing no signs of getting up.

"So, who are you?"

The woman in red robe finally turned her attention away from the middle-aged man and towards Aika.

Several windows in the tavern that had been closed were now open. The cool breeze blew by, and Aika's drunken mind sobered up a little. He quickly stood up from his seat and saluted the proprietress of the tavern.

"My name is Aika, and I am a traveler. I want to stay and work in your shop. The uncle said before that you should agree, so he asked me to stay here and wait."

"Okay, my name is Nia. This tavern is my shop."

"Grateful disrespect!"

"But you won't be paid."

"Okay...no!" Aika reacted after a moment's delay, "Why?!"

Nia pointed to several empty wine bottles scattered on the table.

"You drank too, right? Even if you don't say you want to stay and work, I will force you to stay and work to pay back the money."

"So this is the reason why he is so sure that you will allow me to stay here!"

Aika, who knew the truth, even stopped thinking for a while.

"That man is just like you. You can just call him Gurley. That's what he told me." Nia gestured with her eyes to the middle-aged man who was sleeping soundly in front of the bar instead of her. "He just said When I came here, I broke a bottle of fine wine that I had collected, so now I work here like you to pay off my debts."

——Brother, please don’t drag me on the boat with you! Aika cursed the middle-aged man named Gurley countless times in her heart, and then turned to Nia, who had done nothing wrong.

"Can you give me a place to stay? Any environment is fine, because now I can't even afford a hotel."

"There is a warehouse underground. It's cool in the winter and warm in the summer. You can live there with him." Nia pointed to the stairs in the corner. "I'll give you a task. Keep an eye on him. Don't let him wander around the warehouse. Eat and drink a lot. If you do a good job, I can also consider appropriately reducing the amount of your debt, how about it? "

At this point, Aika has no other choice. It seems that the next period of time will be spent in an underground warehouse that is warm in winter and cool in summer.

Although I was a little worried because I couldn't look at Luoluo and Ling at night, nothing bad should happen in such a peaceful town.

"Ah! By the way, Miss Nia, can you advance part of my salary first?" Aika then remembered that she had to solve the hotel's expense problem. , “Can all this money be included in the amount of debt repayment?”

"A person who works to pay off debts actually borrows money from creditors? I don't see it, little brother, you are really brave."

As expected of a businessman, Nia saw through Aika's intentions at a glance. In desperation, Aika had to tell Nia everything about her tragic experience.

After she listened, she didn't know whether she sympathized with Aika or was thinking of an excuse to refuse. She thought for a few seconds and suddenly made an unexpected suggestion.

"You still have two girls over there, right? Just let them live here with me. It's no problem for two more people in my room. As long as you stay here and work hard, I won't take them away." Their rent is paid.”

…………

"...That's it, what do you think?"

Aika was still in the corridor of the hotel, sitting down with her back against the door. With the last experience, he did not rush into the girls' rooms again, but relayed Nia's meaning to them through the door in the corridor. Although it was very embarrassing for other tenants to hear it, Aika didn't have much time to worry about those problems now.

The room seemed quiet for a while. Then there were several inexplicable sounds, and Aika stood up in a hurry.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"It's nothing, just wait a while."

Ling's reply came from the room, sounding as energetic as usual. Aika put down her hanging heart and sat down again with her back against the door.

After a while, the door behind him suddenly opened without warning, and Aika fell on his back according to gravity.

Behind the door is Ling holding the doorknob. Because of the angle of the fallen Aika, she caught a glimpse of the pure white lace under Ling's short skirt.

Ling, who reacted immediately and blushed with tears, held down her skirt, raised her leather-shoeed feet and stepped on his face without mercy.

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts—this is force majeure!”

Aika reluctantly got up from the ground, but was immediately attracted by Ling's brand-new outfit in front of her.

Although it was the first time to choose clothes for a girl other than my sister, I...or Tara's taste was surprisingly good.

The beige knitted jacket and plaid skirt perfectly show off Ling's slender figure that was previously hidden in the dark robe.

"Hey, can you stop staring at me like this..."

The awe-inspiring Ling actually hugged her chest with both hands and took a small step back with a timid look on her face.

"elder brother……"

"H-Sorry!"

Feeling that Luo Luo, who was standing behind Ling, was emitting a chaotic aura, Aika quickly looked away from Ling's body.

Then I happened to see a dark green suitcase in Ling's hand that I had never seen before.

"this is?"

"Ah, this suitcase was given to us by the big sister we met at the hotel door before. She said that she was going to end her work here soon, and this suitcase was not of much use to her, so Gave it to us who happened to be at the counter at the time.”

Luo Luo got out from behind the box and interjected.

"Tara? Is she leaving? When I chatted with her before, she also said that she would stay here to work for a while."

"I don't know the specifics, but that's probably it."

"That's it... I won't care about her for now. Having a suitcase is better than nothing. Having said that, don't you think about it again? After all, pubs are places to work, and there are all kinds of people. The environment It may not be the same as you imagine.”

Ling turned her back to Aika, tangled her fingers in the hair hanging down from her face, and urged Aika in a reluctant tone.

"Whatever you do, I'll just follow you. Anyway, I'm just here to make a living, and I have no right to be picky..."

"You have been friends with me and Luo Luo for a long time, right? Don't think of yourself as a freeloader anymore."

"There's so much nonsense. If you want to leave, just leave quickly!"

Ling blushed and shook off these words, then quickly walked past Aika and disappeared into the stairwell.

"Sister Ling is just very grateful that you have always cared about her. I haven't known her for a long time."

"If you want to thank me, wouldn't it be enough to just say 'thank you'?"

"So, my brother is a fool..."

The old man with the white beard was still standing at his old position at the counter on the first floor. He smiled kindly at Aika and the others who were about to leave.

"Have a good trip, young man. Make good use of your youth."

"No...what happened yesterday was an accident..."

Aika could only smile helplessly. It seemed that the bed-sharing incident last night had spread throughout the hotel through someone.

…………

At dusk, Aika rushed to the tavern with Ling and Luoluo.

"Two beautiful ladies, would you like me to have a drink with you?"

"Hey, don't spoil the kid!"

"I'm not a child!"

"I'm about the same age as my brother, I'm not a kid anymore..."

Gurley, who was drinking alone at the bar, immediately cheered up when he saw Aika coming in with Luoluo and Ling. And Nia in the town market didn't know what she was doing, and she was not standing behind the counter now.

Gurley immediately left his seat and walked to the two girls. He took off his wide-brimmed leather hat, revealing his manly and resolute face, and politely extended an invitation to them.

Both Ling and Luoluo were frightened by Gurli's sudden move and took a step back involuntarily. Aika could only step forward to prevent them from being harmed by Gurli like herself.

He had thought Gurley was a more composed man. Although he acted like a gentleman now, his motives were obviously impure.

"This uncle's name is Gurley. He is the guy I told you when I came here, the guy who broke the wine bottle and was forced to work to pay off the debt."

"Hey! You kid, is this the first impression I left on them? At least it must be something like a 'reliable big brother'!"

Geli immediately passed over Luoluo and Ling, grabbed Aika by the collar and lifted him up from where he was, and said in a loud voice that only he could hear.

"Image... pay attention to image..."

Only then did Gurley remember that there were two beautiful ladies beside him, so he pretended to be calm and put Aika down, and then continued his performance.

"Where's Miss Nia? Why haven't you seen her?"

Aika looked around, but still couldn't find the figure wearing a burgundy cheongsam.

"The landlady knew they would come today, so she stayed in the room upstairs and never came out. I don't know what she was doing there."

Gurley picked up the wine glass and took a swig. Because Aika and Luoluo's father also drink at home, it doesn't matter if Luoluo, who is already used to it, sees it. It goes without saying that at Aika and Ling's age.

"Curiosity killed the cat. Drunkard, do you want to come up there and take a look?"

A hearty high-pitched sound came from the stairwell. Nia was still wearing the burgundy cheongsam from the morning and slowly walked down the stairwell.

"No, no, no," Gurley waved his hand quickly, "I don't want to know so many things I shouldn't know."

"This uncle is surprisingly honest in front of her."

Ling was slightly surprised and whispered into Aika's ear.

"This is what is called when people are under the roof and have to bow their heads."

"Brother, is she Sister Nia? It feels very powerful. That uncle seems to be afraid of her."

"They're about the kind of relationship you imagine."

Aika had witnessed with her own eyes the scene of Gurli being "oppressed" by Nia.

Nia returned behind the counter and looked at Ling and Luoluo who were standing next to Aika. The two girls unconsciously shrank their shoulders.

"Are they the two children you mentioned?"

She glanced at Aika.

"Yes. This is my friend Ling, and the one next to me is Luoluo, my sister."

"Hello, brother, please take care of me."

"I will take care of you during this period, just call me Sister Nia!"

For some reason, Nia looked a little excited. Is she the kind of person who likes to take care of children?

"Please take good care of me, Sister Nia."

Ling still complied with Nia's request and called her "sister". Although I don’t know Nia’s exact age, she is probably slightly older than Tara.

Are Luoluo and Ling too nervous? Aika couldn't help but think when she saw their somewhat reserved attitude. But this is normal. It is inevitable that I will be nervous when I come here to communicate with Gurley for the first time.

Nia and Gurley are both very easy-going people, and Aika already knew this when communicating with them.

So now Aika no longer feels the nervousness of arriving for the first time. He puts his hands on the shoulders of Ling and Luoluo respectively. As expected, both of their shoulders were a little stiff.

"It doesn't matter, I will be here to help during this time, so after all, we can still see each other every day."

After saying that, Aika leaned close to Ling's ear again...

"So you feel nervous like this too."

Said this softly in her ear.

Ling's expression immediately changed from nervous to dissatisfied, and then he turned back and raised his hand in a cool manner.

--Snapped!

…………

Nia took Luoluo and Ling up to the second floor, while Aika puffed up her red cheeks, and the slap marks left by Ling were still vaguely visible.

"Since the boss lady has snatched away all the lovely ladies, we are the only two grown men to have a heart-to-heart relationship with!"

"Sorry, I don't have that kind of hobby."

Aika decisively refused, and Gurley could only drink a sip of wine to relieve his worries.

After drinking all the wine in the glass, Gurley's expression became serious as he put down the glass.

"You should know that there will be a lot of people in a place like this at night, right?"

"Yeah," Aika nodded. "A place like a tavern should be a place where good and bad people are mixed."

"In other words, the flow of intelligence here is very sensitive. What I am going to say next is the gossip mentioned by those who came here to drink recently. A few days ago, a village in the south disappeared out of thin air. That's it. 'Disappeared' in the literal sense. Now it has become an ordinary mountain forest, with no trace of human life at all. The village has rarely interacted with the outside world. It is said that it came from someone who had interacted with them. The news came from the businessman. If this kind of thing really happened, it should not be as simple as just 'disappearing'..."

Aika immediately stood up holding the bar.

"Is it the village behind the southern forest?"

The disappeared village described by Gurley is very close to Aika and Lolo's home. Could it be that he had only left home for a week and that village no longer existed? No matter how you say it, it's too farfetched.

"Calm down. The village that disappeared out of thin air is further away than where you said it is, and is already close to the coastline. And didn't you just leave home for about a week? That village was said to have lost contact with the outside world a month ago."

Gurley patiently explained to Aika, which convinced him that the rumored missing village had no connection with their home.

Gurley poured the remaining half of the wine in the bottle into the wine glass again, holding the glass between his fingers and twirling it.

"And now the Holy See has issued a wanted order."

"Holy See?"

"Don't you know? The two most powerful people in the Bisi Empire are Augustus in the Imperial Capital and the Holy See in the Holy Land. The point I want to talk about is not here. I want to tell you about the wanted object. "

Why did Gurley talk about a wanted order that had nothing to do with them for no reason? Aika didn't think it was just Gurley casually chatting.

"That wanted warrant, does it have anything to do with us?"

"It's still unclear. The wanted people are two girls. They both have bright hair colors. One of them has blonde hair and the other has white hair."

After Aika settled down, his heart began to rise again, because there was a girl with dazzling golden hair next to him.

Is the girl wanted by the Holy See Ling? Why? Aika couldn't understand the situation at all for a while.

Gurley shook Aika, who had lost his virginity, and pushed a glass of wine in front of him.

"After all, I only heard it from the mouths of those drunkards, so it may not be that accurate. The arrest warrant has not been sent to border towns like ours yet. But if it is really the wanted order issued by the Holy See, then the matter may be It’s much more complicated than just talking.”

"Why do you say that?"

"Don't worry about it now! Come on, drink!"

Aika picked up the wine glass without thinking. The cold liquid passed through my throat, and my head became much clearer.

He took a deep breath and put down his glass. Only then did he remember that he had fallen into the same passion trap not long ago.

"Hey, could this be..."

"Haha! Have you discovered it?"

"Wouldn't that be another debt?"

"Good brothers share blessings and hardships!"

Aika no longer knew what to say.

"And if you hide it well, the landlady won't find it in a short time."

"This means that it will definitely be discovered!"

Aika was completely desperate.

"Haha! You're not so nervous now, are you?"

Gurli patted Aika on the back with a proud look on his face, as he did when they first met, without any reservation of force.

"I'm even more nervous than before!" Aika distanced herself from Gli with full of resentment. "But thank you for telling me this."

"It's not a big deal, anyway, the chances of staying here to inquire are as high as possible. And the longer the time, the more and more accurate these scattered information will be. Besides, if the blond girl on the wanted poster is really Miss Ling, She must already know about this matter, and she should tell you the truth when it’s time to tell you.”

"Um……"

Despite this, Aika was still worried about Ling.

When we met for the first time, I was penniless, soaked and had a high fever. I mistook myself for someone else and showed such strong hostility.

Possessing that golden sword that is valuable just for its visual appearance and exudes a noble temperament, it shows amazing combat effectiveness when fighting against the fire wolves.

Ling is certainly not an ordinary girl. Just like Aika once told her, she must still have many secrets that she has not told Aika, and Aika has already been mentally prepared for these.

The reason why I can't worry about her now is because the two of them have not yet formed a relationship that they can rely on each other.

If they really need to face unexpected harsh reality, where should the three of them go? …………