He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

Chapter 58 The Birth of the Trialer

"dragon"

A race in fantasy.

The mere name itself establishes an association with common-sense descriptions of "power," "beauty," "elegance," and "nobility"—dragons are powerful creatures, inherently sacred beings.

However, all the impressions mentioned above are based solely on Ai's memories of her past life.

The Nest World — has no dragons.

"dragon----"

Sprawled out on the grass, Ai Yi rolled over violently, making indistinct gurgling noises as she drifted into memories.

To fill the gaps in his knowledge, he spent half a month at the Foundation cramming on the worldview. Ai knew that elves, halflings, cygnets—and even fairies and other fantastical species that coexist with humans—existed here.

But there was no dragon.

Here, "none" means that it does not exist at all, and it is even unknown whether it ever "existed" - it should have been one of the most influential fantasy creatures, but it seems to have violated some taboo and was erased from the human world.

Today, however, Ai uses the art of "birdsongology" to capture the name of "dragon" in lost history.

—Did they originate from birds?

But why does it turn its back on the sky?

"Ugh—this is so troublesome!"

Ai quickly gave up thinking; he really didn't want to torture his brain any longer—after all, this was an ancient era that had been forgotten, so different from the Nest of later generations that it was like two completely different worlds, and most of the guesses here were baseless.

Instead of wasting time thinking about this, you should focus on figuring out how to increase Anda's favorability.

He looked to the side, intending to continue bothering Anda, but the little girl was clearly rejecting the previous topic. She was now somewhat withdrawn, her large, unfocused eyes staring blankly at the sky, her expression vacant.

Ai followed her example and raised her head, her unfocused gaze fixed on the distant land.

It was still early morning.

Scattered across the lawn were small groups of white sheep—a shepherd had driven away the threat from the sky, so they looked lazy and lethargic.

The sun's outline had fully emerged from the east, its radiance spreading and evaporating the dew that had condensed on the grass blades, casting swaying shadows onto the girl's serene face.

After staring at Anda for a while, and hesitating for a moment, Ai decided to verify some of her previous guesses first.

—But how can we, without being too abrupt, extract information from Anda about the heinous acts taking place deep within Agdius?—

But how can we find out Anda's position in the incident, her role, and her stance?

-Why----

Ai sighed softly.

He realized that Abram had already written the ending for Agdius in advance—tomorrow, the anti-suppression bureau from the Issu government would arrive here, and by then, the rusty village, destined to be wiped out, would leave no trace. No matter what had happened here, Ai would have no more chance to remember this "echo".

Time is running out.

"Anda".

Without further hesitation, he softly uttered a completely detached question: "Do you like this place?"

"?" Anda tilted her head, a look of confusion flashing in her eyes.

"That's how it is—"

Ai took a deep breath, then pointed into the distance: "Look, right at the edge of the deep wilderness, a transport train from Dunling is being erected—"

That giant python coiled on the earth, slithering between cities day after day, is like blood vessels, transferring nutrients throughout the country.

The tracks are like thin lines across a wilderness, connecting the large tissues and organs within the behemoth Ys—while the train represents a powerful force, symbolizing new things.

"They are more powerful than a hundred or a thousand packhorses, spitting out enormous volumes of steam and machinery. With each whistle, they transport hundreds or thousands of times more crops, meat, and products than the entire village's total output—traveling over distances that are almost absurd."

"What they connect is a vast human community that blots out the sky and occupies the earth. Ys: Under that sky shrouded in factory smoke, the individual is almost insignificant, negligible, and the absence of any one person cannot have a greater impact on that behemoth. But in Agdeweg—you are still going without bread because a miller is sick."

For civilizations, the more complex the system, the stronger it is, and vice versa—and just a few hundred miles apart, between Rusty Village and Dunling, there exists a chasm deeper than any other.

Ai whispered, relaying to the girl the story of the civilization beyond the deep wilderness, a civilization marching towards glory: "Leave the edge of this land, and on the other side lies that newly born industrial nation—in a corner of the city, every second of innovation is a change that Agdewe cannot catch up with in decades. Although we belong to the same species, the world beyond your eyes is already incomprehensible to you—"

He shook his head and chuckled softly, "Hard to imagine, isn't it? A world that could have light even at night. Even after the sun had set, they could light lamps, and people of all ages, regardless of gender, could gather in night schools to study. Scholars and workers used the power of knowledge to manipulate steel, sending giant, billowing ships off the docks to new continents on the other side of the ocean—"

Looking into Anda's eyes, as serene as a lake and shimmering with clear light, Ai gently traced her fingers. "Do these sound appealing?"

""

The girl's fingers were unbelievably slender, and her body was unusually light, as if she were hollow without marrow, or as light as bird bones. In the sunlight, she had a transparent, unhealthy, and pale blood-red color.

Ai squeezed her soft palm, not daring to use too much force.

"Anda?"

Seeing the shepherd seemingly lost in thought, Ai whispered in her ear, causing her to carefully turn over.

The girl gently turned her head to the other side, seemingly unintentionally avoiding Ai's hand that was deliberately reaching out, as if a little shy. Her voice was so soft it sounded like she was eating in her sleep: "Thank you—"

"What?"

"—" Anda mustered her faint courage, her voice rising slightly, "Thank you for telling me all this—"

"In Agdewe, few people talk about that distant land. Although many know that the fast car can take the entire village to the edge of the wilderness in just a few hours, almost no one wants to leave. Everyone is used to it, used to life here, and to the slow pace and stillness in the air."

She murmured, "Those things that sound so powerful might just not be suited to the Agdewe people—"

"And what about you?"

The fox listened quietly to everything, but then relentlessly pressed for an answer: "I don't want to know what others think—I only want to know your opinion on all of this."

—How could I possibly let you off so easily?

He circled around halfway, then sat down directly in front of Anda, pressing his advantage once more: "After all, you are the most special one in my eyes."

"Gurgle—"

After hearing these words, the sunlight seemed to be filled with honey, a sweet and dense atmosphere—Anda swallowed clearly, looking somewhat bewildered.

"I don't know, I grew up here, I'm an Agdewey too —"

She explained, then her toes curled up nervously as she tried to shrink herself away, but she couldn't escape that obviously intense and increasingly ardent gaze.

—The riddle dungeon exploded!

The fox finally figured out the fastest way to advance the main character's storyline. Since this is an echo that cannot be repeated, there is no need to worry about any impact on subsequent developments, provided that we have done our best.

I can't take it anymore, I'm going straight for A!

"Anda, how old are you?"

Of course, before going up there, we still need to clarify the bottom line. And when Ai heard the answer "seventeen years old," a glint of light flashed in her eyes.

He took a deep breath, the Moth's Principle raging within him, forcibly blocking the sense of transgression from Lot, and began to speak freely: "If—I, from Dunling, am willing to ask the Church to let me walk with you—Anta, if I were to tell you now that I have fallen in love with a shepherd, perhaps it is love at first sight? After all, before this, I have never seen such a holy person, as white and pure as a lamb born."

"Wait—" the girl trembled as she tried to stop her, but by then, Ai had already taken over all the initiative.

He simply smiled and continued, "I don't need your answer right now. I will prove everything with my actions, Anda—you may find this all very sudden, but I can wait a long time. I can even stay in this village with you until you grow up a little longer, until all of this is no longer so abrupt, and then I will ask you for a promise—"

"Don't treat the future as my charity; think only of yourself now—Anta, forget Agdewey for now, forget your 'destiny' and the past, just tell me your true wish now."

Ai gently brushed the girl's hair aside, resting his chin lightly against her smooth forehead, and whispered above her, "If your future companion doesn't want to see you rot in this stagnant land, if he wants to send you out into the world, to that world brimming with new life and glory. He wants you to meet more people, experience more things, and realize more possibilities—would you be willing to walk that broader and more glorious path for yourself?"

—How does the Tori-no-Miya herself view the fate she is about to face? This is the most important question.

Ai waited quietly for her answer.

"I used to think that birds were eternally light creatures, with their wingtips always pointing towards the sky."

Anda ate absentmindedly, "I want to go outside, I dream about going—I want to see more changes, I want to go there, to a higher and wider sky—"

—Isn't that the right way? Isn't it better to be honest with each other?

Just as Ai Yi was quietly excited, Anda suddenly changed the subject, her soft voice filled with an unprecedented melancholy.

"But I can't get out now—"

"Why can't we get out?"

Ai took a deep breath, suppressing her excitement. She felt herself advancing the main storyline at a frenzied pace. "Who is stopping you? The Church? Or so-called destiny? Faced with those invisible constraints, perhaps only I can help you."

"because----"

Anda had already sat up at some point. She carefully put her shoes and socks back on, then jogged down the slope. Her voice only slowly returned several seconds later.

I'm not telling you!

Ai stared blankly in that direction and saw several blurry black figures almost out of his field of vision waving at him. Then, faint shouts came from afar.

He tried to identify it.

It was Agdewu’s native language, and I couldn’t understand a word of it.

—What the hell! You've disrupted my rhythm again?

On the other side, Anda had already skillfully given the little wolf the command to "stay still" and was jogging towards the villagers in the distance.

Ai quickly followed behind.

Along this path, Anda's petite figure darted lightly across the uneven grassy slopes like a bird, seemingly effortlessly reaching the villagers.

After a brief exchange, Anda looked anxious, and the group hurried towards the wooden house by the river.

"What's going on?"

The clueless bystander Ai Yi could only follow Anda's lead. He stood dumbfounded in front of the wooden house, watching the group escort the girl inside, and asked them a question.

"Childbirth, suddenly—needed, doctor not here, midwife." Someone described with difficulty, "Shepherd, pure, holy, she can deliver babies, baptize, and bless."

Clearly, few people present knew the language of Ys, so Ai could only piece together the scene from scattered words.

It seems a pregnant woman suddenly went into labor, and there wasn't enough time to find a professional, so they pulled in someone to deliver the baby.

Anda, as a shepherd of the church, seemed to have a very noble image in the eyes of the villagers, so she was chosen to be their doctor.

But is this really okay?

Having a blind girl deliver a baby?

Ai frowned. As an outsider, it wasn't appropriate for her to go in, so she could only wait outside for a while. Through the thin wooden door, she could faintly hear a woman's tearing screams coming from inside the room.

—Okay, even if I get in, it won't make a difference; foxes don't know how to deliver babies.

And this wait lasted for half an hour.

Finally, the wooden door was opened from the inside.

Anda walked first, holding the baby in her arms.

The girl's once clean robe was stained crimson, and her fair, smiling face and slender wrists were covered with hideous bloodstains that flowed in streams.

She stepped into the sunlight, which illuminated her youthful face. She seemed to be smiling, and the petite girl, bathed in the crimson light, resembled a statue of a goddess, as vibrant and beautiful as a rose.

The people standing behind Anda also had smiles on their faces, and many of them were already spreading the news and sharing their joy.

—Looks like things went smoothly?

But something seems off.

Ai tilted his head. He felt that Anda's mood was not right. That smile was as unreal as a dream, as if it were just a phantom that conformed to others—beneath which lay endless sorrow.

She held the swaddled baby above her head.

"We have welcomed a new challenger—a fledgling that has spread its wings and is flying to the Kingdom of the Lord."

She sang a hymn of praise to God's grace in her usual bright and cheerful tone—

—Bird, I praise your arrival.

You are a newborn descendant of the Lord, your bones are hollow and light like those of a bird, you are born with wings and will grow full of feathers—a fledgling from the sky. If you are born knowing the way of flight—then please convey the prayers of the wingless to the sky, so that the Lord may hear them.

—May the Lord have mercy—

—We will ascend, High Country—Paradise! We will return to your embrace. Once the laughter and cheers have subsided, and with almost frenzied joy, the news of this rebirth will reach everyone's ears, and soon, the good news of the Trialer's birth will spread throughout Agdewe.

The baby, however, was left unattended in Anda's arms.

There were only two people left when they got here.

"Are you alright?" he whispered in Anda's ear, then watched as the corners of the girl's mouth gradually sunken in.

Until the sweet smile turned into a bitter smile with a fishy, ​​sweet taste.

"Sorry—I lost my composure."

Those golden-red eyes flickered rapidly, then, like juice seeping from crushed rose petals, they were wet with bright red tears: "This is something to celebrate—we shouldn't be crying."

"Tsk." Ai clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.

—Still putting on a brave face.

After hesitating for a moment, Ai decided to bend down and gently hug the trembling girl who was sobbing softly, then watched as she wiped her tears all over her sleeves.

—It's really—hard to understand.

In fact, Ai had already noticed that there was no vibration of movement or breathing coming from the swaddling clothes, nor the crying sound that a newborn baby should make.

He carefully lifted the swaddling cloth, and what came into view was a monster.

A body so thin it was almost grotesque, even repulsive, with skin tightly wrapped around flesh and bones, and a pair of deformed, wet wing bones that clung to the back and were almost larger than the rest of the body.

Such a physiological structure clearly makes it impossible for a human infant to survive.

—Tsk.

Ai narrowed her eyes.

This is a dead infant.

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