《高塔里的银发美人》会插秧的喵

1、故事的开头 引子

　　Elkhead is a shabby little inn just off the dusty country road leading to the capital. Travelers often stop here to replenish their food and water supplies for the last leg of their journey. If they want some rest, they'll need to pay a few coins for a bedbug-ridden room upstairs, and maybe some free oatmeal for breakfast the next morning. Luckily, the subpar lodging conditions are compensated by good alcohol. The owner of Elkhead is a great brewer. Not only travelers, lower-class workers from the capital outskirts also like to hang out at Elkhead for the golden ales and the full-bosomed waitresses. Old Jamie is one of them. He's an armorer and often the life of the party. Rumor has it that his grandfather used to work at the palace, but was beheaded for some unknown reason. Nonetheless, no one has ever brought it up in front of Old Jamie, because he's such a beloved soul. A few mugs down and he'll be standing on the table, waving his meaty hands, telling you the most hilarious and slightly indecent stories. His audience, often the entire inn, would cheer for his funny gestures and theatrical voices.

　　Tonight, Elkhead is as rambunctious as usual. Several merchants are celebrating an investment success at the counter; the red-headed girl is flirting with two swordsmen; and a few groups of young travelers are playing drinking games and causing an uproar. However, tonight, Old Jamie and his fellows are unusually quiet. They sit at the corner table in a circle, heads together, and Old Jamie is whispering something. The waitress got curious and walked over to eavesdrop, and she heard him talking about the tower.

　　'My old folk told me to take this to my grave, but god knows I can't hold it anymore!' his voice was low and coarse, almost sound like growling. He looked frightened, 'Last night, I went back home late. I was drunk, but I swear I saw lights coming out of the tower!'

　　'What tower', ask the stonemason who lives on the other side of the river.

　　'The tower in the royal palace. It's the tallest building in the capital,' someone at the table replied.

　　'I heard that the first king of our empire locked his archenemy in there manyyears ago,' the tailor looked around and whispered, 'the ladies in court gossip a lot when they come to my shop. They said the tower must be haunted because the palace guards heard strange sounds coming out of it at night, but no one has ever set foot in there for at least two hundred years...'

　　'No. That's not true.' Old Jamie shook his head. He took a gulp from the mug and wiped the beer off his tousled beard, 'my grandfather did.'

　　Everyone at the table gasped.

　　'Is that why...?'

　　'Yes, The guards caught my grandfather when he was trying to sneak out of the palace, they didn't know that he had come from the tower. He was sentenced to death by the old king because something very valuable was stolen that night and he was the only suspect.'

　　'So what does it all have to do with what you saw last night?' the carpenter asked nervously.

　　Old Jamie took another gulp, clenching his fists, as if he's going through an intense debate with himself, then he continued. 'My grandfather used to be the old king's armorer. Before the incident, he had been working on a piece for the prince, who's His Majesty now. It was for an important tournament with knights from many other kingdoms, so the old king demanded the best set of armor to protect the prince in combat. After spending months working on this piece, my grandfather still felt that something was missing from his work. To find inspiration, he investigated all the armors kept in the palace which belonged to previous kings and princes. But he couldn't find the best one, the one allegedly made by the last kingdom of dwarves, the one wore by our first king.'

　　'King Vitus,' the tailor murmured, 'the great warrior king who defeated dragons.'

　　Old Jamie nodded, 'Yes. My grandfather looked for the armor everywhere, because he believed that it was the key to bringing his own work to perfection. He was obsessed with it. He asked the palace librarian to help him find anything related to King Vitus from the archives. It was a long shot, but they found it. The librarian brought him a manuscript from when the palace was first constructed. It catalogued all the royal possessions located in the palace, and under the title tower, my grandfather found what he was looking for, the armor, among a list of other personal possessions of King Vitus. But also on that piece of document, there was a warning message: No one shall ever enter the tower, for what has been locked in it, if released, would pose grave danger to our nation and its people.'

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