Chapter 36: Rainy Afternoon
The entire morning, Xilutiya and a group of students listened to Scholar Heide explain the key points and precautions of the “Bonfire and Dance Steps” ritual.
“You all roughly remember the relevant matters now, but did you pay attention to that humming ballad from last night and the drum rhythm?”
“This…”
Many people on the scene looked at each other, some noble students had contact with music but not in depth, and it was still too difficult to immediately memorize things heard just once.
Xilutiya sat on a tree stump on the side, carefully recalling; she could vaguely remember part of the rhythm but still couldn’t describe it clearly, because she hadn’t studied music in her previous life, and although she might have learned it in this life before, she had no memory of it, so it was temporarily useless.
“Hehe, you see, this is the importance of mastering a few more skills.” Scholar Heide stroked his beard and spoke.
“The contents and skills involved in ‘rituals’ are quite broad; some rituals even require the host to perform in the form of a certain dance. The most famous among them is the elves’ ‘Flower Crown Dance’ held during the Spring Dew Festival, which has extremely high skill requirements for the dancers, but the effects are also obvious. This ritual can make a hundred flowers bloom and the earth revive; it’s one of the rare rituals that can change the environment.”
“Alright, today’s lessons end here. Regarding the humming ballad and drum beats in ‘Bonfire and Dance Steps’, I’ll have you transcribe the sheet music later to record them, but the best way to inherit it is still to listen to those elders hum it yourself, that way you can remember that unique rhythm, atmosphere, and emotion.”
The class ended, and the afternoon was free activity time, but before the students could go out to play, fine rain started falling from the sky.
Strands of raindrops trickled down through the thatch on the roof, moistening the ground; the village roads without stone bricks soon became muddy.
“Can’t go out anymore.” Komiya stood behind the house door, looking at the gray world outside.
In the room, Xilutiya was sitting by the front hall window flipping through a book this time; Karen sat by the workbench maintaining her personal tools and her longbow; on the other side, Valenie had her arms crossed in front of her, somewhat irritably looking at the rain curtain outside the window; as for Iona, she was still in her room and hadn’t come out.
The five girls all lived in this house; normally nobles and commoners rarely interacted, but today they had to stay under the same roof.
Leaning against the door frame and watching the rainy scene for a long time, counting the splashing water droplets and the tiny water flows in the stone brick gaps at the threshold, Komiya finally felt bored and turned around.
She looked at the few people in the front hall, circled around Karen and asked about the uses of various tools, then came to Xilutiya’s side and secretly peeked at what book this maiden was reading today, then returned to the bedroom trying to continue her nap, but unfortunately she tossed and turned without falling asleep.
“It must be because I slept too well last night.” She came to the front hall somewhat dejectedly and complained to the other companions.
Regarding her complaints, Xilutiya and Karen just smiled, finding it amusing and funny, not taking it too seriously; sure enough, soon Komiya was wandering around the house again, looking everywhere for something interesting.
‘Creak’—another door in the hallway that was closed opened.
Hearing the sound, Valenie, who had been somewhat restless, immediately changed her expression and trotted over; sure enough, she saw Iona who had just come out of the door.
This golden-haired young lady had her short hair neatly groomed, with a red thin hairband tied on one side; the color of the hairband complemented her eye color, and then there was the uniform dress on her body that didn’t match an ordinary student at all—its style was neat and gorgeous, the clothes were made of excellent material, with a small leather belt cinched at the waist, and cowhide boots on her feet suitable for outdoor activities.
Even though her situation was not as good as before, Iona still cared quite a bit about her appearance and demeanor, only now she couldn’t afford to wear luxurious clothes of different styles every day like in the past.
That pair of crimson eyes briefly scanned the others in the house; Iona looked at the rainy world outside, then came to sit by the table in the front hall.
Because this house itself was not large, and the front hall area was limited, the things that could be called tables here were a workbench against the wall and the wooden table by the window where Iona and Xilutiya sat on opposite sides.
“Lady Iona.” Valenie followed in small steps.
Seeing Iona sit down, her gaze fell on Xilutiya who was also sitting by the table; she felt jealous and annoyed inside—why did this guy get to sit next to Lady Iona too.
But if she drove her away now, she felt it would be losing face, making her seem ungraceful and uneducated, so she glared at that maiden several times with her eyes.
However, Xilutiya was flipping through the book in her hand this time and didn’t notice the frequent suggestive glances from the side at all.
Valenie’s little actions had no effect, so she could only pace back and forth irritably, hesitating whether to go over and directly tell Xilutiya to get up.
“Just stand there and don’t walk back and forth.” Finally, Iona waved her hand somewhat impatiently, telling Valenie to be quiet for a while.
Valenie, having received the order, immediately stood proudly against the wall with full pride; this fawning obedient behavior puzzled Komiya, making her feel somewhat foolish.
Is she not smart in the head? Komiya thought to herself, but didn’t dare say it out loud this time.
The house temporarily quieted down; Xilutiya continued flipping through the pages, Komiya sat beside Karen, sometimes watching her oil the tools and adjust the tension, sometimes turning her gaze to the other people in the room; Valenie was silent and still now, Iona propped her head gazing at the rainy scene outside the window, lost in thought.
Time slowly passed; in the house, besides Xilutiya’s occasional page-turning sounds, there were the endless raindrop sounds from outside the window.
Half an hour later, perhaps tired of the unchanging gray rainy curtain, Iona turned her gaze to the quiet maiden opposite her.
Her name is Tiya, right? Iona recalled the information about this maiden, but unfortunately there wasn’t much; she was a classmate in the class, whom she hadn’t paid much attention to anyway, let alone this one who had always been very low-key, as if forgotten in a corner.
The only impressive memory was the first time she saw Scholar Heide, when she noticed the glasses-wearing figure standing beside Scholar Heide.
At that time, she thought this was Scholar Heide’s granddaughter or formal apprentice; later she didn’t expect it to be just an ordinary commoner student.
For a commoner, delving into studies isn’t easy; her gaze turned again to the book in Xilutiya’s hands.
《The Mountain Kingdom at the Peak in Wind and Snow》—this book, in the form of a travelogue, records the author’s observations from traveling in the Winter Kingdom hundreds of years ago; that was the cold country north of Regas Kingdom, with the entire nation situated atop the mountains, endless wind and snow, and sparse population; yet such a country had stood for nearly a millennium. The national Winter Knights were renowned across the continent, a holy land in the hearts of many knights and warriors.
A girl reading this kind of book? It’s really rare. Although Iona wasn’t interested in this book, she was quite familiar with it, mostly because her father loved the country described in it very much, especially the legendary Winter Knights.
Regas Kingdom and Winter Kingdom had quite a few connections, because the founding monarch Regard Bouvier came from Winter Kingdom; Regas Kingdom’s national Fir Knights also had many shadows imitating the Winter Knights.
However, compared to Winter Kingdom’s harsh geographical environment, Regas Kingdom was much better off, with relatively abundant food.
While thinking, Iona turned her gaze to the reading maiden; she wore glasses, had delicate features, and upon closer look, her skin was also very good, seemingly fairer than her own.
Probably because I’ve been training for competitions and getting sun recently; this one stays in the corner reading books to be so fair, Iona comforted herself.
Speaking of which, she was actually competing with a countryside girl, which made Iona feel uncomfortable, just like the gloomy rain curtain outside that hadn’t stopped for a long time.
Taking a deep breath, Iona adjusted her mood; she prepared to return to the bedroom to be alone.
But before leaving, looking at the glasses-wearing maiden who had never paid attention to her and was immersed in the book’s world, she held back from speaking.
“Do you really understand it?” She knew that this book, written hundreds of years ago, had many differences in wording and text from now.
“Sigh, are you asking me?” Xilutiya looked up, then answered.
“I understand it; roughly because I read 《Fir Tree’s Annual Rings ~ Past Events of the Mountain Kingdom》 a while ago; the two books were written around the same time, so they can be linked together for understanding.”
Regarding this, Iona still somewhat didn’t believe it, because when she was little, her father had read these two books to her, and even he had to consult classics for some words to explain them to her.
“Then I’ll test you.” Iona stood up, and at this moment Valenie also got excited.
Sure enough, such a Lady Iona is so cool.
“When the Winter Knights were founded, where was it, and what class did they mainly practice?”
“When the Knights were founded, the host was an elderly priest who lived year-round on the snowy mountain peaks, skilled in secret arts and abilities of the ‘Sleeping Winter’ nature; the founding location was also in his small chapel.”
“The earliest batch of knight members consisted of only five young people; they hadn’t yet entered First Order, but that old priest patiently taught them, allowing the five young people to ultimately reach ‘Third Order-Sleeping Winter’ strength, mainly practicing the ‘Frost Swordsman’ class.”
“With these five knights as the core, the initial knight order was established; they spread their upheld beliefs in the mountain forest, uniting the various villages scattered across the windy snowy mountain peaks, forming patrol cavalry teams to protect local stability; later this organization gradually expanded until the forty-seventh generation knight commander Pereen, with great talent and vision, integrated the areas maintained by the knight order into a nation, and he himself advanced to the ‘Sixth Order-Sleeping Winter·Castle’ class ‘Winter Crown Knight’ due to founding the country.”
Winter Kingdom’s founding history was quite similar to Regas Kingdom’s, or rather, Regas Kingdom imitated Winter Kingdom’s history from back then to pioneer and establish the country.
Xilutiya’s well-organized explanation left Iona somewhat speechless, even feeling that the other knew more history than she did; but how was that possible? She had been immersed in it since childhood, and even though she had neglected it later due to indulging in social gatherings, it wasn’t something a countryside commoner could compare to.
Not only did she fail to pull ahead, but it made her seem less knowledgeable than a countryside commoner; this feeling stirred inexplicable irritability and panic from the bottom of her heart, making Iona restless.
She silently looked at the maiden in front of her, her fingers twitching slightly, but in the end she put them down.
Several seconds later, Iona finally spoke: “You read quite a lot of books.”
No, she couldn’t lose her temper here; she didn’t want to cause extra trouble and ruin the impression she had built in front of Scholar Heide during this time.
Then Iona pulled the door and returned to the bedroom, not coming out again; this action greatly surprised Valenie, and also made her resent Xilutiya.
Seeing Iona storm back to the bedroom, Xilutiya pressed her brow this time; how could she not see what had just happened.
It seems she still wasn’t low-key enough and had made this young lady lose face.
But clearly knowing yet pretending not to understand—that would be too forced and uncomfortable; she had a gentle temperament, but she wasn’t the type who could distort her true nature everywhere to cater to others.
She hoped this young lady wouldn’t pay too much attention to her, otherwise life ahead would have many extra troubles out of nowhere.
