Dark city

If in winter（2）

An hour later, the Portrait of the girl was placed in front of Black Gold.

The Gray Dwarf kept the Master waiting for forty minutes before he could climb out of the raw stone mine, which had filled the whole table and blocked half the passage, and then listened for a minute to the Master's explanation. Deep blue is the world of magic, and also the world of gold coins, but there is nothing artistic. With one foot halfway up the Magic Peak and the other at the top of the Gold Coin Mountain, the Gray Dwarf's physical height, though barely touching the Master's chest, was the opposite of his mental height.

The Gray Dwarf did not listen to a word of the Master's explanation, and he skipped over all explanatory statements to get to the point, the work of Richard, one of the cases that His Highness Suhelen had specifically requested to be reported. Hear here, black gold also dare not neglect, with a pair of hard rough, full of thick hard degree comparable to Warcraft scales calluses, carefully tore the wrapping paper, revealing the inside of the girl Portrait.

There was silence.

The gray Dwarf stared almost motionless at the statue of the Maiden, his lips opening and closing rapidly, and he did not know what he was talking to himself. The master was deeply shocked by it, and did not think that black gold could actually see the charm of this painting that streamer stone fire, and tremble for it. The master suddenly felt that he had been biased against the gray Dwarves, who said that this race did not understand art?

Black gold suddenly spit out a mouthful of turbid gas, rubbed his sour eyes, and said: "That's it?"

"Huh? Yes..." The Master was puzzled.

"Does this picture need some more color?"

"..."

The master struggled to restrain his beating heart, took a long breath, and then reluctantly answered: "This is a plain painting."

The Gray Dwarf suddenly realized, re-examined the Portrait of the girl, and commented: "Well, it is not fully developed, but the figure and appearance should be very average." I measure it by your human standards, and if in our Stormhammer tradition, hum... Ahah! I see it! The lunch box! That's a lunch box especially for Richard! It's perfect detail and proportion, not even a single line can be picked out. It's Richard! You know, Lord Lordan, who teaches the Array, has praised him three times this week. How many times this year? Let me see, 50 or 70... A lot anyway! You know, the old man hasn't complimented anyone so many times in the last ten years!"

The master really could not say his own mood, and could not break out against black gold, but could only guide him patiently: "You look carefully, the moment captured by this painting..."

The Gray Dwarf looked carefully, and looked again, and looked again... Finally, I thought the picture should be colored.

When he left the office area of Black Gold, the master's heart was almost as dark as Richard's, and the unprecedented frustration made him almost lose his self-confidence in art. He never understood why this master appraiser of jewelry, magical equipment, and antiquities knew so little about painting that every foreign word he uttered had such a striking effect.

Behind the Master, the two bronze doors of the Gray Dwarf's office closed slowly. The door is twice the height of the normal area, which means that the height of the Gray Dwarf's office is also twice that of the rest of the people. Therefore, these two ancient and luxurious doors, which represent wealth and status, have always been the object of envy and jealousy of many people in deep blue. The reason why gray dwarves, who are only half as tall as tall humans, have their office space so high is self-evident.

When the door closed, the gray dwarf behind the door suddenly sneered and muttered, "The boss's pleasure, how can it be so easy?" Just in his cabinet, if this picture of the girl is also included, the events that want to let Su Helen 'joy' have been filled with more than half of the cabinet, a total of sixty-seven.

The Gray Dwarf instinctively walked towards the gem mine, but frowned again, stopped his steps, went back to his desk, opened the maiden again, examined it carefully for a dozen minutes, then closed it, hesitated, and put the picture in another cabinet, one size smaller. In the small cabinet, there were also events or reports intended to make Suhelen 'happy', but there were only five in total, and this painting was placed in the second place. Unlike the big cabinet, the report in this cabinet will soon meet the legendary mage. And the contents of the large cabinet may be dumped out like the waste mine in a few months.

The whole summer seemed to Richard to have passed in the blink of an eye. One day later, the Harvest Festival is coming, which is the beginning of autumn and the end of the fishing season in the floating ice bay. On this day, millions of people in the floating ice Bay who depend on the sea for their livelihood hold great celebrations to thank the sea god for giving them food to survive the long and harsh winter. Deep Blue, located in the floating ice bay, also regards this day as a festival, which is the official sign of entering autumn.

Harvest Day meant nothing to Richard, who spent all his time meditating and accumulating magic and practicing his magical skills, except for the heavy workload of his almost never-ending schoolwork. He had to fill all his time, or his thoughts would come up in a string of bubbles, pressing down here and floating up there.

On the evening of the harvest festival, Irene arrived at Richard's residence on time and brought his dinner. The heavy boxes are already hard for young women to carry on their arms, but they will continue to gain weight in the foreseeable future. Eileen sat quietly and watched as Richard swept away the food. Now not a single gold coin had been exchanged between the two men, and they hardly even spoke. So Irene never received a single gold coin from Richard during this time. Eating was now a complete torment for Richard, and the girl's melancholy could not be hidden from him no matter how, but she refused to reveal the reason. So Richard was in pain, but he couldn't do anything about it.

The last piece of dessert was swallowed by Richard with a strong will, and then he looked directly at the girl for the first time, habitually wanting to say thank you, but the rows of numbers that appeared on the girl's body made him stiff on the spot! The girl's body has changed, and in the digital vision, the original subtle changes are infinitely amplified, which is extremely eye-catching in front of his eyes.

Her breasts had grown slightly, and they were not balanced, obviously not natural growth, but because of external injuries. And her movements also seem very unnatural, especially the legs occasionally tremble gently, the waist also keeps moving quietly. As if sitting on a chair cushion covered in heavy brocade made her feel tingling. And the girl's eyes were slightly puffy, redder than usual, and seemed to cry hard for a while. Today, the girl's sorcerer's robe is especially tightly wrapped, but in the inadvertent movement, it reveals a bruise on the neck. And her heart beat much faster than usual, as Richard himself only did when he had just experienced something very important.

All the signs put together, and at once an answer came to Richard's mind, an answer he felt he could not believe. When he was just eleven, Richard had not understood the initiation of noble children at seven or eight, but now that he was eleven and a half, and Irene had carried him most of the way, he already knew all that was bound to happen between grown men and women.

"You... With another man?" Richard's voice was so dry and hoarse that he could hardly distinguish it.

Irene's body shook and her face turned white. When the truth was revealed, she calmed down slowly, raised her hand, straightened the hair on her cheek, and said, "Yes, just last night."

Richard took a deep breath and closed his eyes, no longer letting the desperate numbers jump before him. "Why?" His voice was as calm as Irene's, but with a chilling coldness.

"I need money."

"I have plenty!" Since paying attention to Irene's changes, Richard, like a bird breaking his shell, began to probe the world outside of his studies. Although there is still no friend to talk to, at least Richard has understood that he cannot measure others in Deep Blue by his own standards. Taking consumption alone as an example, his monthly income is enough for dozens of people to live well in deep blue.

Irene, her face pale, gave Richard a long look, shook her head, and said quietly but firmly, "But I don't want to take your money."

She packed her lunch box as usual, and when she reached the door, she turned and said, "I forgot to tell you that from tomorrow on, another person will bring you food. So... Goodbye, Richard. "

The metal door closed slowly, and when the heavy thump came, Richard suddenly lost all his strength and slumped back in his chair. He was clutching his hair, trying to believe that nothing had happened, but it was not just the two gifts of enlightenment, but all the qualities of his childhood that reminded him of this cold, hard truth. But he could not for the life of him understand why Irene would not want to take his money.

At this time, Richard still does not understand that when people are young, there will always be some inexplicable persistence, and to move themselves, but often inadvertently let the really important things flow from the fingers.