Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

The girl carrying the chandelier walked lightly along the corridor, until she stopped in front of a door at the end. The girl in the red dress turned her head slightly, signaling to the two people behind her.

Su Huilin leaned against Xia Yinci's arms, constantly wagging her tail, Xia Yinci restlessly looked around with curious eyes, saw the girl looking at her with soft eyes, and then revealed to her Respond with a smile. The girl turned the key and opened the door, and the three of them walked into the room.

Accompanied by the creaking sound of the floor, the dim yellow candlelight was gently lit by the girl, and the room suddenly became much brighter.

There are patterns of trees everywhere, and the cabin made of wood makes people really worry about whether it can withstand the erosion of rainy weather and storms. Even so, the bright yellow walls bring a sense of peace of mind.

Presumably, if this is a reality, this wooden house must have been inhabited all the time. However, this is a dreamland, so no matter how long it has been left here, the dust will not be able to break in through the window along with the light, and the room will always be as clean as it was in memory.

"Then please rest here. If you need anything, you can call me anytime." The girl in the red skirt smiled lightly, nodded slightly to Xia Yinci and Su Huilin, and then left the room.

When the door was opened again by her, there was a loud noise of laughter from the tavern downstairs, and the sound was covered by the closed door in a blink of an eye.

Xia Yinci shifted her eyes and looked around the room. Beside the bookcase for people to read, there are simple tea tables, reclining chairs with the back of the chair and the cushion at an obtuse angle. Xia Yinci supported Su Huilin to sit on the bed, then walked to the bookcase, took out a book, and sat on the edge of the bed.

The text in the book is difficult to read, and almost every two pages will draw a magic circle slightly different from the previous one. Xia Yinci leaned back pretending to be relaxed, and fell on the bed. Su Huilin also lay down, the horns on her head retracted.

"The books in the dream world all come from the memory of the owner of this world..." Xia Yinci looked back slightly, only to see the blond hair scattered on the bed beside her. There are absolutely no less than a hundred books in the bookcase. Perhaps from this point, it can explain why Elus can use so much magic. "Hey, do you know the fundamental difference between the dream world and the reality?" Xia Yinci knew that Su Huilin could not answer, but she still deliberately glanced at Su Huilin. Although Su Huilin could not speak, her eyes replaced her. She responds. Xia Yinci smiled mysteriously, and put her index finger in front of her cherry lips.

"How do you start? If we don't stay here, then this place won't exist~ This is the most fundamental difference between dreams and reality."

Su Huilin didn't quite understand what Xia Yinci meant, and the sound she made when she moved her mouth couldn't make a sentence, so she had to tilt her head.

Even for Su Eirin, who has always restrained herself and kept herself from messing around, "being unable to move her body all the time" is really troublesome. Judging from the words of Chalt and the others, it is clear that Xia Yinci and Su Ruoyang gave orders to "shut up" and "enough is enough", but the negative effect of backlash brought to me now obviously exceeds her. the extent of the command.

"No matter where we are, every corner of the real world exists objectively...this is the 'real world'." Xia Yinci moved her gaze away from Su Huilin, and then closed it gently, As if imagining something.

"And in a dream, only the place where the dreamer stays really exists. Once the dreamer leaves, this place will disappear naturally because it has no meaning of existence... Presumably, Elus doesn't want this place to disappear."

Having said this, Xia Yinci opened her eyes that were originally closed, and the unknown mystery was reflected in her pupils. Su Huilin's pupils were still full of confusion, but Xia Yinci showed a wry smile with unknown meaning. Elus is not as confident as she appears on the surface, Xia Yinci knows this.

"Elus, she... probably never had the idea of ​​looking for a dream palace."

Not so long ago, the war for domination had not yet begun. William once discussed with Xia Yinci about the dream palace while the rulers were gathering.

"Why?" Xia Yinci was very confused, and William sighed softly. He glanced at Elus who was standing opposite and was discussing something with Chart. She probably heard something interesting. , Elus showed a bright smile.

"Compared to dominating the dream world, Elus should want to immerse herself in memories." William said here, recalling the scene of his first encounter, and exhaled the smoke softly, "She will participate in the domination war, so what Isn't that the purpose?"

"Well, when I saw Elus's attitude towards the young man in the tavern and the old man, I understood. Of course, I don't understand what kind of memories Elus is imprisoned by, but I know her What is your attitude towards memories?" Xia Yinci said softly.

"Instead of saying that Elus wants to immerse herself in memories like William, it's better to say... Elus wants to make everything in her dreams a reality."

Having said that, she closed her mouth and spoke again after a moment of silence. "...If we leave here with Elus, this tavern will not exist until Elus returns here."

There was a flash of light in Su Huilin's eyes, and she gradually understood what Xia Yinci meant. Xia Yinci proposed to stay here with her, presumably the real reason is to protect the authenticity of this place of memory for Elus.

More precisely, if Xia Yinci did not stay here, Elus would never leave here. How could she allow her memories to disappear for a moment?

＊＊＊

The personal dream world is essentially formed based on personal memories.

The dream world puts together the people we have seen, the things we have seen, the places we have walked in our memory... everything that has existed has been pieced together to form this intricate world determined by individual will.

"Everything here is the memory of Elus." When I told the truth, the color in Elus' eyes dimmed suddenly, she turned around and ran out of the ruins, even forgetting to bring her staff. I froze for a few seconds, then hurriedly grabbed my staff and chased after her.

I ran along her footsteps, but it seemed like I would never be able to catch up with her, the distance was just getting farther and farther away. Panting for breath, I sprang out of the jungle and came to a plain. Suddenly tripped over a dragon egg dropped by a giant dragon passing by in the sky, and had an intimate contact with the grass.

For some reason, I had a hunch that if I failed to catch up with her here and separated from her, I might never see her again. And this suspicion became more and more real, I quickly propped up the grass and ran forward.

I raised my head and looked at the sky, trying to distract my tired body, and time suddenly stopped. I couldn't help but pause, and ran forward stubbornly. The distance finally stopped getting farther and farther away, but I could never get close to her, and the distance was frozen together with the still time.

Suddenly, I felt a slight gasp in my ear, and I knew who it was without thinking carefully.

I suppressed the urge to talk to her first, bit the bullet and ran forward. Anyway, if I take the initiative to ask her for advice, I will only be laughed at by her. I made up my mind that if she didn't talk, I wouldn't talk to her either.

However, Qianyan followed me quietly as if deliberately trying to play tricks on me, keeping an itchy silence. She seemed to guess that I wanted to ask her opinion, and even expected what she would say to me. Vaguely, I seemed to see those cold eyes with a little smile.

I finally couldn't bear it anymore, stopped my steps, and looked back at Qianyan.

"If I keep silent, you won't talk to me......?"

Qianyan raised her hands hidden in her sleeves, and spread her hands with an expression of not understanding what I was talking about.

"Well. Who knows."

"Are you also here to laugh at me this time?"

"No wonder." Qianyan put down her hand, stroked her silver hair that fell on her shoulders, and put on a helpless expression.

"What, no wonder what?"

"What do you think?" Qianyan smiled mysteriously, seeing that my expression was really ugly, she showed a clean smile.

Damn it... I can't get angry when I think about Qian Yan smiling with a cold face. This is cheating, cheating! !

"Idiot. Let me tell you, it's no wonder Xia Yinci doesn't want to tell you anything. Random suspicions will certainly make others angry."

I don't know if Qianyan let me figure out what she means by myself, or if she is not good at expressing her opinions frankly, in any case, what she said is unclear to me. However, I always feel that Qianyan is a little different from the last time we met.

Sure enough, she was a girl whose sense of mystery was even higher than Xia Yinci's.

"Mysterious? I really don't know if it should be a compliment or a complaint."

This made me tremble suddenly. Unexpectedly, Qianyan responded to the thoughts in my heart flatly, which made me feel a burst of instinctive discomfort. But thinking that Qianyan is my dream maker, then she will understand that my heart is not incomprehensible.

"Anyway, you don't care about my opinion." I don't know if it's because of my ridiculous self-esteem in my heart, I always want to put on a condescending posture in front of Qianyan, although of course it doesn't work very well. I don't know why Qianyan smiled, and I couldn't help but give her a weird look.

Is this guy smiling too often today... Sure enough, the Qianyan I meet every time is not the "same Qianyan", right?

"I am who I am. Speaking of which, do you still have time to think about me?"

I was touched by a nerve that was almost relaxed by her words, and I quickly slapped my palms, and looked towards Elus, keeping the distance.

Although the most important thing is to catch up with Elus, what should I do? In her dream world, I couldn't catch up with her at all.

"I declare in advance...don't even think about asking me for help." Qianyan dispelled my thoughts in advance with simple words. I looked back with some disappointment.

If time stands still, so will the distance between me and Elus. This doesn't do anything. It would be the best to be able to go back in time like before, but without Qianyan's help, I couldn't do it at all.

I suddenly felt helpless, scratched my head irritably, and tightly clenched the staff in my hand...

Wait... is this Elus' staff? !

A memory suddenly flashed before his eyes. In the snowy campus in my dream, I once made a contract with Elus. The content is, she wants to solve the problem that bothers me. And the contract has no deadline, which means it still works today. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but tickle the corners of my mouth.

I loosened my grip on the staff, and in a blink of an eye I saw Qianyan with her arms around her, and I was suddenly depressed again. Still, I quickly undo the stillness of time. While the distance was getting farther and farther away, I immediately opened my mouth and shouted with all my strength towards the distance:

"It is said that magicians always keep their contracts. So, you must keep your promises. Tell me... Where are you now?"

The sound echoed across the endless plain. The giant dragon with its tail flicked away the clouds and picked up the dragon egg behind me. In the blink of an eye, the surrounding scene changed, distorted and transformed into another appearance. I closed my eyes hard again, and opened them again with difficulty.

——In the forest outside the ruins, Elus and I sat face to face by the lakeside under the night sky.

Elus was hugging her knees with tears in her eyes, and her head was gently buried in her arms.

I finally breathed a sigh of relief, and my hanging heart finally found a home and fell down.

Really, it was almost separated from her. If you fail to catch up with her, you will never be able to see her... This unspeakable premonition comes from her sad expression and everything I saw along the way.

However, even after catching up... I still didn't know what to say to her, so I had to stuff the stave that was unusually bulky compared to her that I kept for her along the way before her eyes. I was stunned for a while, those bright eyes stared at me for a long time, and a sentence came out of my mouth that made me feel helpless——

"You cheated... bastard."

Although there was a slight displeasure in her voice, when the word came out of her mouth, it made people feel a little limp, and there was no threat at all.

I froze and smiled at her.

"No way, you were the one who calculated me first."

After hearing what I said, Elus snorted childishly, stretched out her little white hand, and grabbed the staff in my hand.

"But your calculations are even more extreme."

Suddenly, Elus knocked the staff to the ground, stood up, and then pointed the front end of the staff to me, and the gentle anesthesia rushed to her body along with the flashing purple current. Before I could react, The anesthesia suddenly became more intense, which made me tremble all over, and I also let out a strange cry...

Uh... even I feel a bit like meowing. I frantically waved my fingers that were still feeling numb, and gave Elus a puzzled look.

"It deserves it~ Who told you to keep calling me... the little magic cat~" There was no sense of guilt in Elus's tone, but my current reaction seemed to be exactly what I wanted. She smiled coquettishly, "This is punishment. This kind of contract will cause me trouble!"

"Yes...is it?" I ground my teeth due to the stimulation of the electric current, and finally opened my mouth, I couldn't help but gasped. "It's the same with you, your contract has caused me more trouble."

Elus obviously didn't understand the meaning of my words, and looked at me blankly. I squint my eyes.

"There is no time limit for the contract you and I made. You had two requests to me at the time. One was to find Chalt, and the other was to take you back... However, you didn't say where to send you. It’s time to go back.”

When I said this, I paused, and hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether I should speak out, presumably I will be often ordered by Elus in the future. But for some reason, I finally made up my mind.

"Eluth, you are wandering in the confused streets right now. It would be more appropriate to say that you never went back. If I didn't pull you out of the confusion, I didn't take you back, and my mission was not completed. "

"Hey! Are you an idiot!" Elus interrupted me, she deliberately showed displeasure, "You don't need to remind me of such things..."

"... After pulling you out of confusion, I will lead you to win the domination war. If you don't do this, you won't be able to go back with peace of mind. This is the case with most of the dominators except me. Before that, I still I want to be your mercenary for a long time. Therefore, you will cause me more trouble.”

Elus took a few steps back and stared at me blankly. "Stupid," she just repeated the word. Although she tried to express her complaints against me, what made me feel more was the meaning of acting like a baby. Seeing me looking at her with a smile on my face, she had no choice but to look away in a self-defeating manner.

I looked up at Elus who was standing beside me, looking at the lakeside, and raised the corners of my mouth. Her profile was painted with a touch of cherry red, and her long crimson hair was reflected with the blue sky behind her.

But gradually, the look of sadness returned to her eyes again, which couldn't match the curvature of her mouth. I suddenly lost my voice, and couldn't help putting away the smile on my face. She turned to me slightly, her lips tinged with cherry.

"Hey, do you know?" There was a hint of sadness mixed in her tone, and she didn't deliberately hide this feeling, "There...is the place where our journey started."

"Where did the journey begin?" Seeing that Elus was finally willing to open her heart, I couldn't help but feel happy...although the price I paid was my freedom for a while.

Ah, I regret it a little bit... I can't guess what this little guy will do with this, let alone think about it!

I shook my head vigorously, not allowing myself to continue thinking. Trying to figure out what she just said so far-fetched, but still can't find any answer. I simply gave up thinking about it myself, looked up at Elus who was standing in front of the lake, and said to her frankly:

"Um, I don't quite understand what you mean..."

After listening to my words, Elus raised her face slightly, turned her eyes to the lower corner and glanced at me, then turned her head sideways.

The long crimson hair fell down her shoulders, revealing her fair cheeks, and those clear eyes that were stained with perplexity but still stubbornly carried a bit of arrogance.

Feeling a little fascinated for a while, I quickly looked away a little embarrassed, and stretched out my index finger to scratch the side of my face.

"Hmm... I mean—our first adventure took place in this ruin~"

Elus' eyes turned leisurely to the water surface of the lake. In a blink of an eye, the scene in the ruins that I saw just now appeared on the water.

"No wonder you suddenly ignored me just now, and you were alone in a daze."

"...I still remember that those two idiots rushed forward without saying a word. The other party is definitely not a character that can be underestimated."

Her tone clearly carried pride and confidence in her companion, and her eyes were full of tenderness as she looked at the lakeside.

The picture reflected on the lake surface is like following the dusty memories of Elus, showing a picture of a blond boy with half a muscle breaking into the castle of the demon king's subordinates, fighting with the opponent with blood. When the blond boy was trampled under the opponent's feet, the silver-haired boy followed up not to be outdone, and stabbed at the opponent with the sharp ice blade on his arm. Then, from the magic circle shining blue light one after another, ice spears mixed with fireballs continuously stabbed at the phantom in the cloak.

"That's right, who would have thought~ Four mages who were barely grown up could defeat the Demon King's subordinates~"

When Elus said these words, it was more like she was feeling something. She raised her head slightly and looked at the night sky. The starlight shone with the falling stardust and fell into the endless darkness, falling to her eyes and colliding with the reflection reflected on the lake. The scene also changed accordingly—the scarred boys and girls walked out of the smoky ruins, supporting each other.

After returning to this magician's town, all the blames that were destined to fall on them who were talking about themselves to defeat the demon king's subordinates were finally suppressed because of the certificate that Elus brought back to defeat the demon king's subordinates. replaced by the cheers of the people. But even so, a lot of pressure accumulated and spilled on them.

Looking at Elus in a blink of an eye, she thought she would show a wry smile, but her face turned out to be gratified and calm.

"You can do whatever you want, I will never hinder you." On the lake, an old man said slowly to Elus who was standing in front of him aggrieved, "It's just the trouble caused by this. , you have to learn to handle it yourself."

The speaker was the image of the old man I had seen in the tavern. Seeing what the old man said, Elus suddenly showed unbelievable surprise. The old man gently rubbed Elus' head, although his tone was still the same as before, but what he said was shocking:

"Eluth, seriously...if you were a few years older, I'd probably have to tweet you."

"The store manager has always been gentle, but sometimes he likes to be old and unruly." Elus's tone was mixed with helplessness and nostalgia. She seemed to be unable to hold back the corners of her mouth in the next second. However, her raised eyebrows gradually lost their smile. That sad expression made me feel a little distressed, and a tight heartstring twitched.

"After we came back that day, the store manager warned us like this. But we all misunderstood what he meant. What we have to deal with has never been the oppression of the Magician Control Association."

The sudden gust of wind made the picture on the lakeside sway. The picture was blurred immediately.

After the breeze blew and swayed, Charlotte vaguely appeared with a huge luggage on his back. With a bright smile, he ran to the front of the road. The silver-haired boy followed his footsteps unwillingly, followed by Elus and the drunk girl.