But there is also good news.
"How dare you do this to her?"
Under the light, a young girl's murmurs could be heard, faintly mixed with a hint of cruelty and resentment.
"so."
"You can't be my torn consciousness."
Chapter 61: Walnut's Previous Life
Time did not leave Hitzfeld much time to rest, and the next morning, Ashley had to go to school again.
"Actually, I don't have to go." At the dining table, Ashley rubbed her eyes and complained to the girl, "You should have listened to the story I told yesterday, right? I bet they won't take us there until we figure out what's going on there. If I go there today, it will just be normal training, which will hardly improve me."
"That's hardly how it's used." Hitzfeld poured her a plate of fried egg and chicken.
No matter which world it is, raising chickens and ducks is much easier, especially chicken, which is cheap and tender. She quite likes to arrange this kind of meal.
"Your previous physique was not acquired overnight, right? It is inseparable from your years of training... This is also true. Since you have decided to become a Flintstone Knight, you must not have such thoughts."
It was true that the sect was divided into the experiential and ascetic factions, but as far as she knew, no one dared to do this during the apprenticeship stage.
All knights are born from this. Because the number of ascetics in this traditional knight group has always been greater than that of priests, Ashley's behavior is considered "mental desertion", which is very dangerous in this era.
In other words, the Xieyang Cult does not pursue faith. If it were in any other world or any other religion of the old times, such behavior would probably send her to the gallows.
Ashley had never been able to win an argument with her on reason. Her dream of staying was shattered. She muttered something and hurried to eat.
She knew very well that she was able to come back yesterday because of the accident at the pond. This time, it would probably take 2-3 weeks for her to come back again. She would not be able to see Hitzfeld for a long time, and would not be able to eat the food he cooked for a long time.
"If you really want to eat it, why don't you learn to make it yourself." Hitzfeld put away his plate, sat down and cut the fried eggs with a spoon.
"It's too troublesome..." Ashley looked worried, "I'm not very good at things like this that require recipes."
She was sad, and no wonder.
Hitzfeld was keenly aware of her abnormality. She knew why - since she was brought back, this was probably the first time Ashley had to stay in an unfamiliar environment for so long.
In the past, I could come back once a week, but this time I have to go back for a month. After all, he is still a child, so it is normal for him to feel sad.
So should I tell her?
Forget it, I might as well give her a surprise when the time comes.
After Ashley left, Walnut came up to clean the table.
"Do puppets really not need to eat?" Hitzfeld suddenly asked her, "And your face... couldn't they make you more... more like you?"
"No need." Kurumi was stunned for a moment, then quickly answered, "As for appearance... Kurumi is lucky to be alive, Kurumi dare not ask for more."
Hitzfeld always felt that Walnut was different from ordinary puppets.
During this time, she read a bunch of books, and one of them happened to mention puppets. Of course, it didn't involve the method of making puppets, which should be the secret of the tree people, but at least she knew what kind of personality the puppets should have through the book.
That's usually more rigid.
Wood is not flesh and blood, so it can retain human consciousness, but human emotions will gradually fade away over the long years.
She wasn't sure if Asfen could be considered a puppet, he did seem rather cold.
But Walnut is different. She is passionate and unrestrained. Every time I see her, I always subconsciously feel that she is very happy... It is incredible that this situation happens to a puppet.
"I'll write to Tree-Ring and mention this," Hitzfeld went on, "if you wish and are willing to do so."
Walnut seemed touched and happy - it was clear that she did want "a wooden body that was more like her own", and this desire should be considered incredible among puppets.
It doesn’t matter, I’m always surrounded by weirdos anyway.
Hitzfeld decided not to dwell on the matter any more. After Walnut finished washing the dishes, he went upstairs to change his clothes, packed some necessary props and materials into his bag, and then went downstairs to prepare to go out.
"Where are you going?" Walnut, who had not yet taken off her apron, asked her in surprise when she saw this scene.
"Knight's Academy." Hitzfeld kicked the stinky shit Lily away and answered while putting on his boots.
"Yesterday's experiment wasn't enough. I want them to take me to the waterhole."
"Should I follow?" Walnut was stunned. Hitzfeld hadn't told her anything in advance. "And Lily... No one fed her during the round trip..."
"That place is not far away." The girl shook her head. "If Ashley's description is correct, we can hurry up and take the train back and forth in just one day and one night. It shouldn't delay anything."
The Caccia Mountains are not too far from Wayne and Blackwood. The last time they took a train from Wayne to the nearby town of Elnak, it only took a few hours. Considering the speed of modern trains, it is indeed very close.
This was what she called a "surprise". Maybe Ashley would have a chance to accompany her this time.
Walnut immediately took off her apron and went to change her clothes, which made Hitzfeld very satisfied.
Hitzfell Manor is the place that she treasures most now, and it is very difficult to be the housekeeper of this place.
She didn't ask Kurumi to follow her, but her implicit meaning was to acquiesce.
She wanted to see what choice Hu Tao would make, which could be considered a test.
But that’s not like me.
During her alone time, she suddenly woke up.
This is really not something she would do. In the past, she would directly state any requests she had, rather than testing them in such subtle ways - especially to her friends.
It seems that I am still affected.
She looked out the window and felt sentimental because of the emptiness.
His death...something is different.
Walnut quickly changed into dress pants and put on a mask on her face. After going out, she kept complaining to Hitzfeld about not informing her of this arrangement in advance.
"If you tell me in advance, I can prepare a carriage for you in advance."
"Is this important?"
"It's very important! Those big families have to tell their servants in advance what they want to do, and if the servants don't get it done within a certain period of time, they will be punished."
"The Hitzfeld family is not a big family. I'm the only one here. There's no need to apply those rules to me."
Walnut was stunned for a moment.
She is indeed more emotional than the average puppet, and is particularly sensitive in this regard.
"Does the body owner know that Walnut is actually very happy that the body owner is like this?"
She began to try to change the subject.
"What's there to be happy about?"
Hitzfeld gripped his cane tightly and walked in the snow, following the footprints that were most likely left by Ashley, feeling that it was another heavy snowfall yesterday.
"You've become more outgoing, isn't that a bad thing?"
The girl paused for a moment, and a faint smile appeared on her face: "There should be a limit to being willful, and I am not qualified to be willful all the time."
"If the host is not qualified, then there are really not many people in the world who are qualified." Hu Tao said seriously.
"I know... everything the body owner has paid in the past."
"You don't know." Hitzfeld's voice turned cold, "That's not 'everything'."
She suddenly turned around and stared at the puppet, "Is this the task that Year Ring gave you?"
Otherwise, it would be hard for her to imagine that Walnut would take the initiative to bring up such a topic.
Was this meant to comfort her?
Isn’t it too hard?
"Not really." Kurumi shook her head, "It's just... Kurumi remembered her first master."
"Who is that?"
"Mr. Rafa-Pisis."
“…I don’t know this person.”
"That was the master Kurumi served when he was still a human."
Hitzfeld opened his mouth.
She suddenly thought that the fact that Walnut was made into a puppet meant that she died in the first golem disaster. There must be more stories buried in her history as a human being.
A little girl from a poor town... She shouldn't have been very old at the time, so did she become a servant at such a young age?
Hitzfeld thought of a lot of things, such as that Walnut's original family might be in poor conditions and were forced to sell or send their child away, so that there would be one less mouth to feed at home and someone would feed the child outside.
This should be considered a personal sad thing for Walnut. Her resentment disappeared all of a sudden, and she found that she didn't know how to continue the topic.
"this is nothing."
The puppet is still conveying the emotion of "joy".
"Hu Tao just doesn't want to see a similar situation again."
"What do you mean by similar situation?"
"Noble sacrifices," said Walnut.
"Those who compromise can take the opportunity to survive."
Chapter 62: Mr. Rafa-Pisis
Even when he went down the mountain and took a taxi to the Knight's School on Flo Street, Hitzfeld was still thinking about the puppet's remarks.
This is actually a question that can be classified as a philosophical one in her opinion, namely, "Is the sacrifice of the victims meaningful? Is the significance big enough for them to do so?"
In most cases, the victims do not think much about these things. Some of them sacrifice only for the people they care about, such as their wives and friends. But it is not ruled out that some people sacrifice for the greater good, and the word "great good" seems rather empty most of the time.
Most of them couldn't say what it was specifically, although they could talk about some general principles, but history - the history of the two worlds that Hitzfeld had seen - did prove that this kind of sacrifice had limitations.
So Walnut’s meaning can be roughly understood as: If people like you and Hitzfeld sacrifice themselves, then when all of you are dead, who will be left?
Hitzfeld feels that Walnut has a prejudice against humans, that is, she always has a stereotyped impression of everyone.
For example, Hu Tao’s perception of himself may be that he is a “good person”.
Others are either “average” or “bad guys”—she’s just using this as an analogy, and they don’t necessarily have to be labeled that way in reality.
But Hu Tao does have this tendency. In her cognition, these people are fixed. Good people are good people, and bad people are bad people. She has never considered that the two can actually switch at any time. The boundary is actually very vague in many cases.
Personally, she believes that sacrifice is meaningful.
It is precisely because she has witnessed so many such sacrifices that she has the determination and willpower to fight against evil.
This really has nothing to do with being noble, and she doesn't think she is that great.
She always insisted that she was cold-blooded. She did those things and helped out not necessarily because she sympathized with anything. It could also be understood that she couldn't stand something and didn't want some bastards to do it.
So isn’t this also a kind of will, or spiritual inheritance?
Hitzfeld felt that Walnut had problems with her understanding in this regard, but after thinking about it, she felt that this situation was normal for Walnut.
She is just a puppet, and being stereotyped is not even a shortcoming for her.
What's more, she was just a teenage girl before she was made into a puppet. How high can you expect the ideological awareness of a little girl to be?
It's good that she can distinguish between good people and bad people.
After thinking for a long time, Hitzfeld decided to drop the topic.
But Walnut was not happy.
"If you don't understand something, just tell me directly." Pinocchio was sitting opposite the carriage and spoke in a very sincere tone.
"I don't really care about this kind of thing..." Hitzfeld said vaguely, "What's the point of thinking about it? I just -"
"Very useful." Kurumi interrupted her, and then her next sentence made her face change: "Kurumi... likes the host."
"Kumi is very satisfied with working and living beside her master, so if possible, she doesn't want to change masters again."
Hitzfeld was speechless for a long time. She felt that the subtext of these words was praising her too highly.
"You kind of... overestimate me, and underestimate others." After thinking for a while, she could only reply like this, "Even if I wasn't there, there would be people to solve those cases... After all, there is more than just one Eye of the Evil God..."
"There have been so many God Devourers throughout history, but I've never heard of anyone who can bear the flesh and blood of an evil god." Walnut interrupted her, "...The abnormalities that have appeared in the host's body during this period, if I'm not mistaken, are also complications of the fusion of flesh and blood."
"..." Hitzfeld was speechless again. After a long while, he could only ask her: "You didn't realize this yourself, did you?"
