Chapter 3: Azure Album
“Yes, it happens to have the same name as your mercenary group.” Hood said. “It’s adapted from a famous Northern dark fairy tale.”
“What’s the story about?” Mia asked, flipping through the pages. “Is it interesting?”
“It’s about the knight Solomon, the mage Christina, and the priestess Melinda, three childhood friends who bravely set out to defeat an evil dragon to save their hometown and kingdom.” Hood said.
“Sounds interesting.” Mia said and continued reading.
After a few minutes, she suddenly looked up and asked Hood:
“Christina and Melinda, do both heroines like the male protagonist, Solomon?”
“Yeah.” Hood stared at the manga in his hand and said without looking up. “It’s the season of White Album again.”
Mia: ???
“This is too much!” After reading for another half hour, Mia threw the manga down and complained angrily, “Wasn’t Christina the first one to fall in love with Solomon? Why is Melinda trying to steal him?!”
“Are you serious?!” Hood jumped down from the carriage in shock. “Get your facts straight, okay! It was the male protagonist, Solomon, who fell in love with Melinda first! What did Melinda do wrong? It was only after Solomon’s persistent pursuit that Melinda finally accepted his feelings!!”
“No!” Mia retorted excitedly. “Read it carefully, okay? In chapter sixty-two, Solomon confessed his feelings to Melinda, but due to a misunderstanding, Solomon thought Melinda rejected him, so he went to the riverbank dejectedly to polish his spear, and that’s when Christina confessed to him!”
“So Christina clearly came first! Melinda is just the third party!”
“Bullshit!” Hood was also furious. “That misunderstanding was Solomon’s misunderstanding, Melinda thought she had made herself clear! She liked Solomon too! It was Christina, knowing that Solomon liked Melinda, who deliberately took advantage of the situation after he thought he was rejected. Isn’t that green tea bitch behavior?”
“Say that again!” Mia was furious.
“I can say it as many times as you want!” Hood shouted, sticking his neck out. “Christina, green tea bitch!”
“What are they doing?” Eleanor, who was reading “The Song of Roland” nearby, looked up at Hood and Mia, who were still arguing, and asked puzzled.
“It seems they are arguing about the manga plot.” Nuo replied casually, gathered her skirt, and squatted down, looking at the small flowers growing among the weeds by the field.
“Manga?” Eleanor said in surprise. “Isn’t that something only children read?”
“Aren’t they both children?” Nuo said with a smile.
“Oh.” Eleanor finally realized and smiled wryly. “I always think of Mia as a comrade of my age, but I forgot she’s still a minor.”
She put down “The Song of Roland” in her hand and handed it to Nuo, saying: “It’s too boring sitting here, I’m going for a walk.”
Opposite them, the argument between Hood and Mia continued.
“Say that again!”
“I can say it as many times as you want! Green tea bitch, Christina!”
“Let me tell you! Don’t think I…”
“Green tea bitch, Christina!”
With a clang, Mia drew her sword. The cold glint of the blade made Hood’s legs tremble.
“Big sister, calm down, big sister.” Hood immediately knelt down and hugged her scabbard. “There must be a misunderstanding.”
“I told you it was a misunderstanding.” Mia said resentfully. “Since it was a misunderstanding, Solomon can’t be considered to have successfully confessed! There’s nothing wrong with Christina confessing to him, right?”
“Right, right, right.” Hood thought to himself, You’re right about everything, please put down the sword first, okay?
“And then!” Mia, still resentful, continued, “Knowing that Christina was already with Solomon, Melinda still tried to seduce Solomon, making Solomon eventually waver. Doesn’t that strongly prove that Melinda is the third party?”
“Well… you can’t say that.” Hood still had his principles on major issues. “Melinda also misunderstood, she thought Solomon understood her implicit meaning, and Melinda didn’t know that Christina had confessed to Solomon.”
“Tell me! Is Melinda the third party or not!” Mia threatened to put the sword to his neck.
Hood was tearful. Can’t we just talk without resorting to violence?
“Melinda is the third party! Say it!” Mia threatened him.
“You might as well kill me!” Hood wailed. He couldn’t betray his beliefs.
“So, isn’t the real scumbag Solomon alone?” A voice came from the top of the carriage.
The two looked up and saw Miel sitting cross-legged on the roof of the carriage, playing with a wild sparrow.
“He clearly liked Melinda, but accepted Christina’s confession. After realizing the misunderstanding, he wavered, hesitating between the two. Isn’t Solomon himself the cause of the conflict?”
Miel said seriously, gently stroking the sparrow’s head.
The two looked at her in astonishment.
“We knew that already,” Mia said. “Solomon was always a scumbag, the problem is that Christina is too pitiful!”
“The truly pitiful one is Melinda, okay?” Hood argued. “After Solomon married the imperial princess, she returned to the Holy Temple alone and became the Holy Maiden of Light, never falling in love with anyone else for the rest of her life!”
Mia stared at him blankly.
“You actually spoiled it for me?” She said incredulously.
“Sigh.” Hood also realized his slip of the tongue and hurriedly waved his hand. “It was an accident… Forget it, can you pretend you didn’t hear it?”
“What’s the final ending of the story?” Mia asked with a straight face.
“Uh.” Hood hesitated for a long time before saying.
“After defeating the evil dragon and pulling out the Azure Longsword, the three-person team fell apart.”
“Solomon returned to the empire and married the princess according to his previous agreement with the emperor. Christina was heartbroken and eventually sailed overseas to find the legendary mysterious island of mages, and was never heard from again.”
“Melinda returned to the Holy Temple, became the beloved Holy Maiden of Light by the people, never married, and lived until her death.”
Mia was silent for a long time, threw the manga to Hood, and stood up.
“What the heck!” She muttered dissatisfiedly. “The biggest scumbag male protagonist actually has the happiest ending among the three? Garbage story.”
Mia walked towards the girls in the distance, while Hood carefully put away the manga and retreated into the carriage.
Miel on the roof of the carriage regained her composure and continued playing with the sparrow in her hand, muttering to herself:
“The author who wrote this kind of stupid story must have something wrong with their brain.”
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