After hearing these words, Anna stared blankly into the distance. After a while, she sat down and softly said, “My mother died in a fire, while I wasn’t buried inside of the thick smoke and the raging inferno and contrary to my expectation I instead became a witch. For a long time, I thought it was my awakening that had led to the fire, ending in the situation that I became extremely disgusted with myself for being a witch. Then, when I was imprisoned for being a witch, I thought that this was the way in which I could die in relief, but you saved me and took me out of prison. Teaching me how I could use my ability… I would never have expected that in addition to destroying and bringing pain, my flame could also bring so much usefulness. “Anna paused, “That I was able to meet you, I should already feel very satisfied, but now I have discovered that my way of thinking has already changed. Sometimes my heart feels oppressed, and I feel unwell, hoping for even more.”
She held onto Roland ‘s shoulder, “Even if it is like this, do you still want to hire me?”
Her lake like blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight and blowing her breath directly into his face, giving him a somewhat itchy feeling. Through their thin clothing, he could feel her soft body and her racing heartbeat. Despite all of this, she did not avoid his view, she was looking straight into his eyes. In the absence of Nightingale, she was full of enthusiasm and now even took on the initiative.
“Out there …”
Even before Roland was able to finish, Anna had already sealed his lips.
When they separated, he gasped, “I want to hire you, all the way, Miss Anna.
“Ok.”
This time, he took the initiative, lowering his head and closing the distance.
…
“Hey” Maggie who had already been chasing Lightning for a while now, suddenly felt an emergency and stopped in the sky, looking at the empty basket, “They’ve disappeared!
“Ah?” After a short glance back Lightning said, “They just sat down.”
“Don’t they want to see the outside scenery?”
“They can always take in the landscape later, but they don’t get many opportunities like this one.”
“Opportunities?” Maggie shook her wings and landed on Lighting’s shoulder. “I don’t understand
“That won’t do,” Lightning said, hugging the pigeon. “It is a sacred ritual that cannot be interrupted.”
“
“In short, I can only tell you that you will understand it in the future. Until then it’s better for you not to see it, at least that was what my father, the greatest explorer ever, told me.” Lightning tossed Maggie into the air, “Now it’s your turn to run, and my turn to chase you!”
The hot air balloon stayed in the air for around half an hour. Afterward, it slowly came to land in the castle courtyard.
When the basket of the balloon landed, it attracted the attention of all the other witches who had surrounded the waiting Nightingale one after another, and by now nearly all of the members of the Witch Alliance had gathered together in this place. Scrolls who had recently returned, from the City Hall had even run the whole way back. When she had arrived after taking a worried look up at the sky, as if she was afraid that a huge balloon would drop from it, she immediately requested to be informed about the situation.
The moment the Prince had climbed out of the basket, Scroll and Wendy immediately went over, bursting into a lecture, advising him again to not put his own life into so much risk. The Prince, however, defended his behavior using the novelty of the toy as an excuse and flipping the topic around at them. Nightingale who felt that the situation was actually quite funny and was on her way up to meet them, suddenly felt how her heart turned stiff stopping instantly in her place.
She’d seen the overflowing joy within Anna’s eyes when Roland had helped her out of the basket, staining her cheeks with a slight blush. Her flax colored bangs was skewed to one side, with the aid of a small hairpin which reflected the silvery within the sun.
Nightingale recalled how he had polished a piece of silver during the time when he was at the factory, guiding the blacksmith on how to operate those heavy machines.
Soon the other witches began clamoring that they also wanted to take a tour on the balloon, and like that the balloon began to rise again, this time with Anna and Nana standing on board.
Nightingale, however, stood outside of the crowd, staring at the hot air balloon, seeing it become smaller and smaller.
In her mind there was only one thought, Anna’s face, brimming with a gentle smile.
