"I always feel as if I have answered similar questions many times."

Doctor Mikhail put down his knife and fork and raised his hands with a smile.

"I think I should allocate time to my career and my own work, and have no spare time to worry about my wife and family... So I decided very early on not to waste other people's precious youth or delay other people's pursuits.

The free right to happiness.”

Hailis shook his head with a half-sigh:

"Mikhail has always been a workaholic. You shouldn't expect any other answer from him, Gilbert."

The middle-aged doctor, who was almost half-bald, also shook his head and sighed, and soon turned his eyes to Azik, who had a bronze complexion. His expression was like that of a drowning man who saw a life-saving straw.

"Haha, although I am not as focused on my work as Mikhail, I haven't gotten married yet just because I haven't met the person I like..." Azik replied with a gentle smile, "But you guys

As you know, there are not many career options for history graduates, but I finally chose to become a teacher and came to Hoy University to start as a professor's assistant and a teacher in the school. Maybe it was because I watched from the perspective of a teacher.

Much more. Now I gradually begin to feel that it is enough to be able to watch the growth of students and watch them pursue happiness with a smile."

Whether it was an illusion or not, Alice felt that after the other person finished speaking, he seemed to glance towards her again. Even with her eyes half-closed, she could picture that realistic picture in her imagination.

Strangely "human", but not malicious...

She held her chin and listened to the chat at the dinner table for a while longer, hearing Mr. Gilbert mocking himself with exaggerated and vicious metaphors, hearing Mr. Haylis and Mr. Azik whispering about their past college days.

The Hurts' daughter, ten-year-old Elsa Hurt, was tugging at Shermin's medicine coat, asking him to tell more stories about his travels...

She raised her wrist and raised the wine glass. She was about to take another sip of Southwell red grape wine, but found that her wrist was gently held down.

"You don't look well. Don't drink too much." Dr. Mikhail took the wine glass from her hand, pushed over a tall glass filled with juice, and said with a warm smile, "What's next?

Just like little Elsa, drink apple juice."

Alice blinked twice in confusion, her hazy eyes that seemed to be filled with mist turned to the cup of fruity drink, and then back to the amiable Dr. Mikhail.

"...Doctor, don't treat me like a child." She muttered and took the juice.

"Really? This is just the thoughtfulness a Loen man should have."

Dr. Mikhail shook his head and smiled indifferently, his gentle and gentle eyes always following her delicate expression as she lowered her eyes and sipped the juice, and followed the rosy redness on her cheeks that was too drunk.

"Alice."

"...Hmm. What's the matter?" She put down the cup and looked sideways at the doctor beside her.

"It's nothing, I just want to say thank you. Whether it's helping with the many chores before and after the opening in the past two weeks, or the reassuring trauma treatment techniques, without you here, the clinic will face more and more difficult problems...

...Of course, I am also grateful to Shermin, but you are different from him. You only work for a month and then go to university to complete your studies. You only signed a short-term work agreement and there is no need to devote so much energy to the clinic, but you

Still faced all kinds of difficulties with us..."

I don't know whether he was affected or catalyzed by alcohol. Under the interlacing lights and shadows, Dr. Mikhail rarely lost his mature and reliable calm temperament, and the expression on his face was also soft and hard to see in ordinary times. It could almost be called gentle.

Alice thought for a while and replied:

"I just get paid to do things... plus I don't hate working in the clinic, which makes me feel calm."

"I hope the busy work has not dulled your inspiration for creating art, our little musician." Dr. Mikhail raised his glass lightly.

"How could it be? Sparks of inspiration can always burst out in life. No matter working or studying, only the ideas that are grasped inadvertently can be called inspiration..."

casually responding to the doctor's words of concern, Alice gradually turned the topic to the direction of music creation, softly recounting her experience of weaving the emotions and thoughts of walking at night into the melody of notes.

In her slight drunkenness, her voice became a little erratic and brought into a poetic tone like an aria. A few simple narrations led others into the music she composed, as if she were narrating a series of stories full of emotions.

A fantasy poem with indescribable charm.

The hands of the gentlemen's pocket watches turned round and round, and accompanied by the inaudible ticking sound in the mechanical dial, the pleasant and warm dinner time at Dr. Mikhail's house gradually came to an end.

The guests were welcomed by the host to the living room for guests to enjoy tea and snacks after the meal. In the restaurant next door, two domestic servants were busy clearing away the cups and plates and wiping the dining table.

"If you feel uncomfortable, I'll ask someone to take you back first. You don't have to force yourself to wait until the thirty minutes of chatting are over."

Glancing at Alice who seemed to be walking unsteadily, Dr. Mikhail expressed concern.

"It's okay, I'm okay..." She shook her head and found a single sofa to sit down, feeling that she could hold on for a while longer.

Alice knew that her drinking capacity was bad, and she would feel dizzy after a few sips. However, this level of dizziness would not have much impact. At most, she would just walk a little wobbly, looking like she might fall down at any moment...

…

With this in mind, she chatted with Dr. Mikhail for a while. During this period, the bronze-skinned Mr. Azik who gave her a strange smile seemed to want to come over and say something, but in the end he did not come.

disturb them.

Because the Hurts' only daughter, the young and lively little Elsa, ran over and invited everyone in the living room to join the discussion she initiated.

"I, I said no, but little Aisha insisted..." Seeing the doctor and the girl she secretly admired coming over to join in the fun, Shermin's face suddenly turned as bitter as a Japanese melon, "She insisted.

If you insist on giving the clinic’s medicine garden a name, I shouldn’t bring up work matters with that kid..."

Doctor Mikhail just smiled, not showing any sign of trying to help him:

"Name the medical plantation? That's a good idea. Otherwise, let's name it after our clinic."

Shermin knew that the doctor was referring to the almost perfunctory sign at the door of the clinic - Mikhail Clinic.

According to this idea, shouldn't his medicinal plantation be called "Shermin Medicine Planting Garden"? It's too direct and makes people blush!

"Do you want to add some sense of ritual when preparing herbal potions? I think it's good." As for Alice's answer, it only added fuel to the fire of little Elsa, "But I won't participate in the discussion, um...

…I’m actually not very good at naming names.”

In this way, several old friends who had known each other for many years looked at each other and cooperated tacitly with the little girl's childlike and kind proposal. They sat around the sofa in the living room and made the proposal in a serious and research-based manner.

There were several options to choose from. Even Azik, who was calm and calm, with a faint sense of vicissitudes in his eyes, also used his extensive knowledge as a lecturer in the history department to tell little Aisha two good names with meanings.

However, Alice only saw it halfway as a bystander, and then turned her mind elsewhere.

There is no other reason - in the corridor of the telepathic communication, the chirping cry of the familiar Eve came.

"Alice Alice! I feel like I'm almost done digesting the potion! How about it, I'm awesome! Praise me!"

"...You contacted me just to talk about this?" Alice raised her head slightly speechlessly, trying to get rid of the dizziness that made her hazy, "Last week or last week, you and I

I mentioned the same thing, but 'almost finished' means that it has not been fully digested, so I don't need to remind you."

Hearing this, Eve's tone instantly became depressed:

"Chew...it's actually...me. I stole a very valuable and useful thing, but it was discovered by the owner. Now...I'm...being chased. I feel like I'm being chased."

If so, he will probably be killed by that terrible person..."

"So?" Alice felt that she could already guess what Eve was going to say next.

Sure enough, as soon as her heartbeat fell, she heard a desperate cry from deep in her heart:

"Chirp! Alice! Help!"

She stood up while everyone was still discussing, and after euphemistically expressing her wish to leave for a while, she turned and left the living room, and was led by the maid to the bathroom on the first floor.

After closing the door and setting up protective spells for isolation, Alice quickly took out the corresponding materials and chanted the incantation to summon the familiar.

A few seconds later, a black bird in a state of panic and with messy feathers flew out from the mysterious magic circle that emerged in mid-air. It flapped its wings in shock and circled the small bathroom several times before regaining consciousness.

He landed on the sink and smoothed the feathers on his chest twice with the tips of his wings in a very humane manner.

"Hey, I almost thought I was going to be nailed to the tree by the flying knife thrown by that pervert..."

"Is this the so-called valuables you stole this time?"

Alice turned her gaze to the "ghost hand" controlled by the familiar Eve, and observed the rectangular iron box tightly held by the "ghost hand".

Seeing that her life was out of danger, Eve quickly regained her composure, puffed up her chest proudly, and changed her feathers back to dazzling white:

"Yes, I can be sure that there are definitely valuable things inside!"

Alice pondered for a while, and did not rush to take the iron box, which was about the length and width of a dagger. Instead, she asked:

"Where was your theft, and who is the original owner of the lost property who is chasing you?"

"I'm not sure who the unlucky guy is. I didn't plan to steal today, but I went to the port where the passenger ships docked and found this good target... I, I didn't think much about it..." Eve

As he spoke, he shrank his head.

"Before you steal next time, make sure you are able to bear the consequences of theft."

After Alice finished speaking, she took the iron box from the invisible "ghost hand" and prepared to confirm the items contained in it.

But the feeling in the dark made her pause, and she suddenly raised her eyes to look at the robin familiar beside the sink.

She instinctively switched to the sensory realm common to her familiar, heard the illusory crackling sound in her ears, and felt some kind of power that did not belong to her merged in Eve's body, blending with the upward spirituality.

Become one.

In just a few seconds, she experienced the lightness and ease of "digesting" the potion through the mysterious resonance of soul connection.

"Love, Alice...I..." the little robin shook the air, stuttered and turned its dark green bean eyes, "I, I have finished digesting the 'Stealer's' potion, this, this kind

It feels like 'digestion'..."

"I know."

The girl chuckled in disbelief, shook her head to cut off the empathy with the familiar, and cast a detection spell to detect the situation inside the iron box, but she couldn't help but frown.
To be continued...