(I hope you read the first chapter slower, human nature has spent a lot of pen and ink)
There are no steam trains passing by, and there are very few tourists coming and going. This is a small mountain town with endless snow-capped mountains behind it. Except for the old people who have gone out, the people in the town are there. I have been living here, hunting for a living.
The center of town is a small square. There used to be a fountain, but now only the residue of the bonfire is covered with heavy snow. It is early in the morning when a footstep passes by the snow. Merlin came out of the house, carrying his suitcase. He is going to the mountain to gather some firewood. The footprints follow the clean snow trail and slowly extend to the distance.
may be because there are few people passing by on the side of the snow-capped mountain, and the snowy area looks very clean. At this moment, there was a slight bulge on the snow. Merlin lowered his head and saw the black cloth exposed in the snow. He quickly slapped the snow away completely.
“It’s a woman, it seems to be freezing to death! I have to save her quickly.”
Merlin hurriedly picked her up. The woman’s body was already completely stiff. I don’t know if she died, but she can’t take care of that much now. Merlin carried her into the box and ran home.
When he returned home, he boiled hot water and put some herbs in it, and carefully put the woman in the bucket. The body was stained with blood, and the skin had changed a little. Merlin glanced at the woman lying down. , Suddenly hesitated, but then walked forward——
The clothes fell one by one, and water vapor rose up in the small room, and slowly the woman’s stiff body became softer.
“I hope you can wake up.” Merlin stopped in sweat.
In the afternoon, Merlin was sitting at the door in a daze. He simply fenced a small yard outside the door. Some wood was piled scattered and a thick layer of snow was piled on it. There is also a wooden dummy in the yard, where my father taught himself hunting skills.
Until one day my father went hunting in the mountains and didn’t come back, my mother went to look for him… There was only one person left at home.
“Merlin, Merlin” a voice interrupted his contemplation. It was Kate who ran over.
“Good news, good news, Merlin, the prayer went well today, and we will have good luck.” Kate rushed into the yard from the door happily. He was wearing a wide jacket, and he looked a little thin. He was one of Merlin’s few friends in the town.
“What’s the matter?” Merlin rarely sees Kate so happy, a little strange.
”The lottery is about to start? I went to see Granny Suramar today and asked her to pray for us. She has always been very spiritual, and we will have good luck next week!”
“That’s great.” Merlin also laughed, which is indeed good news.
The so-called lottery is a ceremony that has only been held in the town in recent years. The hunters in the town live on the snow-capped mountains, but there is a wild beast on the top of the snow-capped mountains. In recent years, they have come down to eat people, injure livestock, and destroy the town.
After several times of extermination and no results, the town decided to send a person to the beast on the top of the snow mountain every year to eliminate the disaster… Of course, for the luck of most people, it is often right. The most desperate moment of the person who was drawn.
Merlin said to Kate earnestly: “We will have good luck.” Kate once saved Merlin from a hunt. As a best friend, Merlin very much hoped that he and both of them would be fine.
sent away Kate, Merlin was cutting a sharp wooden pole in the yard. His father once said that good hunters have one-handed arrow craftsmanship. Although Merlin didn’t have much hunter talent, he still persevered. After all, he looked thinner and weaker than the strong hunters in the town.
I don’t know how long it took, and suddenly there was some noise behind her. Merlin turned her head, and a girl with long hair was leaning at the door and looking at him with her head tilted.
“You are awake.” Merlin turned around and smiled and said: “Go to the rest meeting again, your body has not recovered yet.”
The girl didn’t speak, her face was half hidden behind her loose long hair, she was staring at Merlin carefully. Merlin noticed that the girl’s complexion was very clean, but slightly pale. She changed into a slightly thick cloth robe-it was mother’s clothes, although it didn’t seem to fit well.
“No need.” The girl will continue to say after a while: “Did you save me?” She looked at the small yard and asked.
“You fell there, so I—”
“Thank you.” The girl interrupted Merlin directly, and then fell silent, as if she didn’t want to continue. When Merlin turned around and planned to continue her work, she suddenly heard the girl say:
“I will repay you.” After speaking, the girl lowered her head and turned and walked into the house.
Melin was taken aback, then stood up.
The oil lamp is always bright, a small wooden table is placed in a clean room, and the fireplace next to it makes a crackling noise. It was repaired by Merlin himself the year before. With the fireplace, the cabin looks much warmer, and the window is squeaking. Compared with the blizzard, it is like two worlds.
At the moment, Merlin is sitting at the table and talking to the girl.
“If it is convenient, can I live here for a while?” After a few conversations, the girl lowered her eyes and turned her head and continued: “I’m just a homeless nun. I can’t stop the wind and snow. ····”
”Do you…do not want to go home?” Merlin asked strangely.
The girl did not respond.
“Okay, my name is Merlin…that, I don’t know your name yet.”
Meiling knew that the girl’s body needs to be cultivated for a while, so she agreed. He didn’t mention the blood stains on her body and how to cross the barriers of the mountains but fainted in this remote town. The other party seemed to avoid these problems deliberately.
“My name is Jenny.” The girl made a ceremony which seemed to indicate that the agreement was established, and Merlin sat there awkwardly not knowing how to respond.
Just like that, the empty cabin became more popular, and the girl stayed in and slept in the room used by her parents. She changed back to the nun’s robe that was once exquisitely made. The girl was taciturn and didn’t like to talk very much. Merlin looked at her clothes and looked different from the people in the town, and had a special feeling.
suddenly thought of something, Merlin said: “Don’t go out before next week, otherwise everyone may catch you.”
··········
Next Tuesday is a special day for the small town in the snow-capped mountains, because one person will die for everyone on this day. Merlin was sitting on the steps beside the square, beside him was his good friend Kate.
“Merlin, who do you think it will be?” Kate asked.
“I don’t know, we’ll be fine.” Merlin comforted his nervous friend.
At this moment, everyone in the town is concentrated on the town square, covering the small square. There are four mutilated human-shaped statues in the four corners of the square, surrounded by several steps, and many people are sitting on it. The bonfire is slowly burning in the center of the square, and the cold look of people is reflected in the dusk. This is not a beautiful thing.
Elder Xiuyi was reading loudly by the campfire: “The terrible beast, Bekal, nests on the snow-capped mountains and determines the fate of everyone. It brings wind and snow, brings fear, brings greed, and brings Come to die…” He is the elder in the town, and many people listen to him.
“Kate, how can you kill that kind of thing?” Merlin asked.
“That’s impossible. After all, so many people have already died.” Kate thought for a while and said, “Now everyone’s thinking is-Bekal started attacking us recently, maybe it won’t happen again in a few years. What? After all, I have been calm for so many years.”
Elder Xiuyi shouted loudly in the center of the bonfire: “…We have fought, we have persisted, but this is a nightmare bestowed by the snow mountain, the spear broke on its body, and the sword was turned into powder. , Ruthlessness and greed are its symbols…”
The sound of recitation was heard solemnly by everyone in the square. The wind and snow did not know when, for people in the snow-capped mountains, perhaps this kind of weather is the norm.
“I don’t like gatherings like this. If I have enough capacity, I want to go outside and see.” Merlin looked at the twilight and said, the unpredictable night sky seemed as attractive as the outside world, but it was out of the snowy mountains. Can you really live well in the outside world?
“I heard people say that the outside of the mountain is not very good. There are wars everywhere.” Kate thought for a while and said: “I want to go outside too. I haven’t seen a steam train or a radio yet. These are the latest ones. I heard that there is a magical gun which can be used to kill a beast at once! It’s a pity that it doesn’t work for Bekal.”
The old man Xiuyi’s voice gradually became high-pitched. “…that is not a conquerable existence, its name is-Bekal! In order to calm its anger, we decided-to choose one person!” After falling, the surrounding crowd gradually produced a commotion, and trivial comments came from all directions.
“Well, in fact, the reason why we are still here is only because everyone feels that so many people will not choose themselves.” Merlin glanced at the crowded crowd in the square and concluded.
The lottery began. Elder Xiuyi began to put down a lot of wooden blocks by the bonfire in the square, and a person’s name was written on each wooden block. The process of the ceremony was to let everyone line up and pass in front of the wooden block to confirm Everyone in the town is inside, and eventually the wooden block will be received in a big bucket with a hole. The first wooden block that falls out when rolling will determine a person’s fate.
Not long after, the team moved slowly in front of the wooden block. Merlin hated this feeling, but he had to follow everyone. So there were circles and circles of marks being stepped on the snow, which looked like a noose that could strangle people to death.
The barrel slowly rolled up. This was a slightly sloping **** on the square. For a while, everyone’s eyes were focused here, as if they could ignite the wooden barrel. Merlin slowly swept over the drooping eyes of everyone present, and a trembling body beside him told him that everyone was not as calm as the surface.
Then, the first wooden block fell out, and the barrel stopped rolling. Elder Xiuyi stepped on the side and picked up the wooden block.
He took a look, then lifted the wooden block to the sky and shouted:
“Kate!”
The scene seemed to be quiet for a while, and Merlin was stunned. He couldn’t help looking at his friends beside him, only to see that his gaze was dull and he still couldn’t believe it.
Slowly, the surrounding people gradually dispersed, leaving the two of them empty, as if a boundary was drawn from the surroundings, and everyone stood far away.
Time seems to be passing slowly, Merlin saw Kate standing in the middle and slowly clenching his fist, he seemed to recover. Kate’s shoulders were shaking, and Merlin heard him muttering to herself: “No, this must be a mistake… I will never believe it! Show me… Show me Look, hurry up!” Kate spoke faster and faster, and at the end he called out.
Suddenly, Merlin was pushed aside, Kate rushed to the center of the bonfire, grabbed the wood block in the hands of Elder Xiuyi in everyone’s eyes, and then suddenly let out a miserable cry:
“No, this must be a mistake! A mistake!” Kate threw the block into the distance fiercely. Then he kicked the wooden barrel under his feet and shouted: “Some of you must be lying to me, stand up and tell me who it is! How could I be drawn to me? I don’t believe it!” His eyes suddenly burst into tears, and he rolled frantically on the snow. Picking up wooden blocks.
The wind and snow hummed and blew among the standing crowd. Merlin looked at the figure crying in the snow from a distance. He clenched his fist and could only slowly lower his eyes. The surroundings were quiet and there was no sound. Some children were put their faces in their arms by their mothers, and the dusk became deeper and deeper.
“Sorry, kid.” The old man Xiuyi sighed and turned to leave. Several hunters who had been prepared by the side suddenly rushed forward, and rushed up while Kate was digging through the blocks. Stopped his arm.
“Damn, let me go!” Kate began to struggle frantically. He suddenly turned his head and bit on the hand of the tall hunter next to him. The opponent howled in pain and couldn’t help letting go. Then Kate kicked another hunter in the stomach, and backhanded the hunter who hugged him from behind. Got out.
“Don’t come here!” Kate drew the knife from behind, eyes bloodshot at everyone who was slowly approaching: “Don’t come!” Then he suddenly turned and ran to the side, and everyone in the square followed The direction of his impact could not help but disperse, but more hunters pulled out their hunting knives and surrounded them.
As Kate escaped, the circle of people in the square was broken. Some women and children scattered around. The noise of snow stepping and the metal sound of swords hit one after another, and the noise was like water ripples. The crowd spread.
“Kate, put down your weapons, this is destiny!” one of the hunters shouted.
“Shit! Coward, in order to keep myself alive, I have to go to death, isn’t that the case, why am I, why?!” Kate raised the knife in his hand and pointed at the people around him and said, “It’s fair now , Whoever dares to ask me to die will die first!” He waved the knife in his hand from time to time and looked at everyone threateningly.
“Then let’s compete, kid.” said Khufu, a recent hunter, one of the strongest hunters in town.
waved everyone away, Khufu held up a knife and carefully looked at Kate. The two walked around in a circle. At this moment, Kate walked around to the side near the bonfire, and Khufu who was in the dark suddenly seized the opportunity and jumped over. , Yelled: “Drink”
The sound of the blade’s impact was clearly heard in the snow. Khufu slid along Kate’s blade to his wrist along with the knife. Kate slammed the other side to the side, and then kicked him out, but after all his experience was not as hot as Khufu, Khufu turned away and moved away from the waist. As soon as he twisted, his shoulder slammed into Kate.
This shoulder collision directly knocked Kate a few yards away. Falling to the ground for a long time can not get up.
“Listen, this is fair to everyone.” Khufu twisted the knife, held his backhand and put down his arm and said in a cold voice: “If you disagree, don’t stand here before. , Didn’t you have the chance to leave? Didn’t you go outside the mountain? Has anyone stopped you?”
“Don’t resist, don’t force me to chop off your hand!”
Without any nonsense, Kate turned over and jumped up, holding the blade high, and slashing at Khufu, his power actually suppressed Khufu temporarily in the rage.
“If I leave, everything in the town will no longer belong to me! Isn’t that what you think? Whether it’s my house or everything else, right, this is the rule! Shit rule!”
The blade continued to make piercing impacts with the chopping. Khufu suddenly tilted the tip of the knife. Kate followed Khufu’s blade and cut aside. Khufu seized the gap and slammed into Kate’s body. Knee hit Kate’s abdomen, and then slammed back the knife to cut Kate, Kate barely retracted the knife to support it in severe pain.
“Don’t blame me!” The words fell, Hufu’s explosive force knocked Kate’s unstable blade, turned around, and then slashed Kate’s wrist in the horrified eyes of everyone!
“Dang!” At this critical moment, a bow stood in front of the blade.
“Wait!” Merlin said eagerly, standing in front of Kate crouching to stop the final blow.
“Whh–” Kate’s knife flew out and plunged into the snow.
“Merlin, you have finally come forward, Merlin, you want to help me, you are my best friend!” Kate sat down on the snow with tears, the campfire shining his sad look by his side, one day His world was not like this before, but now he is facing death.
“I don’t know what to do.” After Merlin finished speaking, he glanced at everyone around him. Those eyes were staring here one by one, as if with a powerful force dividing everything in the center of the square and everything around it into two. In the camp, he finally retracted his bow.
“No, you are the smartest, if you have a way, you must help me! I beg you for the last time!” Kate cried, but at this moment his eyes suddenly widened, as if thinking of something , Said: “No, I know, this choice is unfair.”
Kate suddenly got up and ran towards the old man Xiuyi, shouting: “This is unfair!” Someone next to him wanted to stop, but the old man Xiuyi shook his head and walked back.
He suddenly stopped and looked back at Merlin, and said eagerly, “Merlin, you will help me, right? I’m your best friend.”
”····I will do my best.” Merlin took a deep breath while looking at his friend’s eyes.
After hearing Merlin’s reply, Kate seemed to be relieved, and suddenly knelt in front of the old man Xiuyi and several other hunters and said, waving her arms and shouting: “Isn’t our choice absolutely fair?” Everyone in the town should write their names on wooden blocks?”
“Yes, I assure you.” The old man Xiuyi looked at the people next to him strangely and gave a positive answer.
“No, but as far as I know it’s not like that!” Kate turned around and pointed at Merlin, and suddenly said, “Merlin, there is a woman in Merlin’s room. That woman didn’t write her name!”
“Wow——” All the people present suddenly burst into discussion, and their eyes began to slowly focus on Merlin.
“How did you know!?” Merlin was a little dazed by the blow.
“I went to find you the day before yesterday, and you went to collect firewood, so I saw that there is a woman in the window, a beautiful woman!” Kate seemed to use gestures to show how beautiful that woman is, but she was anxious. As if choking in his mouth, he couldn’t say clearly.
“Kate, she is not from our town, she was saved by me on the road, I don’t know who she is!” Seeing the look of people around him getting worse and worse, Merlin quickly interrupted him. There was a bad feeling in his heart.
Sure enough, when Kate heard these words, Kate laughed, spreading out her hands with joy, and said, “That’s great. If this is the case, why kill me and just give this outsider to Bekal? We are all in the same town!? Right, Merlin, you said you would help me!”
The campfire crackled, and at this moment Jenny was sitting at home, and suddenly she raised her head and looked out the window with feeling.
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“Merlin, you said you would help me!”
As the voice fell, the world seemed to become quiet. Snowflake hit her shoulders with wet marks, and Merlin looked at Kate’s hopeful gaze, and didn’t know what to say for a while.
The flames flickered before my eyes, bringing the silence back to reality.
“Kate.” Merlin finally spoke bitterly: “You are my best friend, of course I am willing to help you.” Kate’s eyes lit up, as if she had seen hope for the first time in despair. But then Merlin said: “It’s just…this is the town’s business, she shouldn’t be involved.”
”Should not?” Kate’s eyes shrank suddenly, his face suddenly changed, his arms looked a little stiff, and he slowly raised up and pointed at the people around him and asked: “Who should be here? Who wants Standing here, should I be? Merlin, I saved your life!
“Enough!” The old man Xiuyi yelled, Kate stopped, and the voice of the surrounding discussion also gradually calmed down. The old man was silent for a while, then suddenly asked Merlin: “You saved that woman, why didn’t you bring her here?”
“She has nothing to do with this.” Merlin said, looking straight into the old man’s eyes.
“No, that’s not right!” Hearing these words, the old man stared at Merlin and shouted: “Bekal is about to go down the mountain. Does it care whether a person belongs to the town? It concerns everyone! “The old man suddenly turned his head and said to the hunter beside him: “Khufu, read the rules to everyone again!”
The tall hunter next to strode forward, stood up in front of everyone, and exclaimed in full, “One, everyone in the town must stand here and accept the choice! Two, all leave Those who have lost the town are deemed to have given up all the property in the town! Third, those who violate the above agreement will be directly selected and dedicated to Bekal!”
Elder Xiuyi walked to the bonfire again and stared at Kate and said: “Have you heard? According to the agreement, we can only decide who to dedicate to Bekal after a lottery, no matter who she is and where she comes from! “
Kate shook his body after hearing that, he stepped back a few steps, staring bitterly at the old man.
The old man ignored him and suddenly turned to Merlin and said solemnly: “But now that this woman has come to town, she must stand here and accept the choice…because she became safe because of this. Among the people, she will also include herself!” (To enjoy the peace brought about by this, she is obliged to stand here and bear the risk of being selected)
He waved his hand to Merlin and said, “As for you, Merlin, although he knew all the rules, he still deliberately helped her to hide it!”
Merlin’s face turned pale, he seemed to know what the old man was about to say.
“So, you are the one who violated the agreement!”
There was a loud noise around the square, and everyone didn’t seem to have expected such a turning point. After all, Kate was chosen just now, but now it is astonishingly Merlin. But at the same time, some people nodded, and slowly, someone shouted from the corner: ‘That’s right, he broke the agreement! ’
“Yes, I should choose him!” someone shouted again.
“That’s right, it should be him!”
At first, the voice was just whispering in various corners of the crowd. As time went by, more and more people shouted, and the focus of the crowd became more and more focused on Merlin.
The old man waved his hand, and everyone fell silent again. The eyes on the snow were on the figure holding the bow and arrow. On the side, Kate seemed to be stunned by the turn. He pursed his lips as if to say What, but couldn’t say anything, and finally stood there.
“Is this a violation of the agreement…” Merlin gritted her teeth and slowly swept across the crowd and finally froze on Kate.
“Actually, when I rescued her, I didn’t think so much…” The bow and arrow in his hand became tighter and tighter, “… I just felt She doesn’t belong here… don’t need…”
The old man interrupted Merlin directly: “This is not a reason!”
”But, pushing out his companion cruelly, just watching him be eaten…Is this correct?! I hate this kind of lottery! Why can’t we work together to bring the shells together? Carl is killed!” Merlin yelled to the surroundings, and the voice spread far from the square, echoing in the snow and being heard by everyone.
“Good to say!” An old woman interrupted him and shouted angrily: “If you have the ability to kill, so many people have already died. Haven’t you seen those destroyed houses? Is that how my son died! This is just an excuse you made to save yourself!”
“Yes, this is your excuse, you violated the agreement, you are the one who should be selected!”
“That’s right, let him kill Bekal alone!” The clamor once again rang from every corner, and finally evolved into waves of cries, as if with great power!
“Shut up—I said shut up!” Merlin suddenly shouted to everyone around him. The people on the square slowly calmed down as the old man Xiuyi waved his hand. The night was shrouded in the small square. The bonfire looked a little dim as the firewood burned out. Everything around was so shadowy, and people were hiding in the dark. Looked at him ghostly.
Merlin glanced around slowly, remembering this scene earnestly, and continued: “It’s better to choose someone who violates the agreement than to choose an unlucky person, right, isn’t it?”
No one answered him.
“I understand.” Merlin glanced at the tall hunters who surrounded him faintly, and said word by word: “Actually, it’s useless to say anything. Everyone has made a decision. “
“I will…I will kill Bekal…how about it is as you wish!?” He shouted, suddenly thinking of something to look at To Kate. Kate didn’t dare to look at him, struggling to flash a complicated look in her eyes, but finally slowly avoided Merlin and slipped aside, not knowing what she was thinking.
“I used to thank you very much for saving me, Kate… I have always wanted to help you.” Merlin said.
“Now I can help you.”
“From now on, I don’t owe you anymore!” Merlin screamed out the last sentence decisively, and strode out of the square, but did not look at him when he passed by Kate.
The crowd slowly surrounded him.
……..
Soon after, some people stood outside the yard. Mei Lin glanced at the people behind him coldly, and then walked home.
opened the door, and the cold wind turned and brought a few pieces of snowflakes to the home, which melted into crystal water droplets in a blink of an eye. Merlin stomped her feet, shaking away the chill. The home is still so warm, and the outside seems to be two worlds. Jenny was sitting in front of the fireplace, with the fire shining on her soft face, and she was slowly rubbing an inconspicuous ring on her right index finger.
“You’re back.” Jenny turned her head and looked at Merlin and smiled. Her lips looked delicate and gorgeous under the light of the fire, and with that cold temperament and exquisite black robe, they were indeed very beautiful.
Merlin rarely sees her smiling, and for a while, she can’t help but stop. After a while, he said: “Well, I’m done.” He put his bow and arrow on the table and sat down, watching the oil lamp beating slightly in the room, standing on the wall in the shadow of the two people for a long time. .
“Jenny, where is your home, do you want to go back?” Merlin asked suddenly.
“Ask what this does.”
“I’m going out for a while, I may not live here for a long time.”
“Okay, I will leave by myself.” The girl replied very simply, and the ring in her hand flashed with a bronze glow under the light of the fire, which looked a little special.
Merlin stood up, he felt a little heavy, since the girl didn’t want to say more, he didn’t plan to say anything. On one side of the hut was a compartment. There was a well-packed shelf. Merlin placed his father’s belongings in it. Inside it was a hunting knife he treasured and some arrows made by his father. Merlin walked over and took a look.
The shelf is empty?
“I remember it was placed here.” Merlin flipped through the cubicle and couldn’t find it. He felt that the depression might have made his reflection a little slow. He returned to the front room and looked around, searching slowly. Memories, it’s impossible to put them in random.
“Are you looking for this?” Jenny said suddenly while sitting at the table. She took out a cloth package that Merlin was familiar with from under the table, and put it on the table.
“Yes!” Merlin stepped forward to check it, and asked, “Why are you here?” This is the weapon he used to bring with his father during this trip~IndoMTL.com~Although Merlin Knowing that Bekal is invincible, but giving up is not his style, he must at least give it a good look.
“I wiped it for you.” Jenny looked at Merlin carefully through the dim light of the oil lamp, and said: “Try it.”
opened the package, and the cold light flashing from the blade light made Meilin’s eyes light up instantly. It is a hunting knife that looks very heavy. The blade is thick and has a hint of blood and sharpness. The strong and sharp blade seems to be able to feel the powerful cutting ability, and the handle is simply wrapped with a dry rope. At the same time, the whole knife is integrated, the texture is extraordinary, and there are a few sharp arrows with sharp edges and corners beside it.
Merlin looked at the sharp hunting knife and the incredibly sharp arrow in shock, completely speechless. He grabbed the hunting knife and suddenly waved to the corner of the table, but he could not feel any obstacle and cut the corner of the table out.
“Is this… really my father’s hunting knife?” Although it looks exactly like my father’s relic on the outside, the cold texture is completely beyond the ability of the hunting knife before.
“It’s too sharp…not to mention the wooden table in front of you, even the tip of a spear made of steel can be cut off!” This thought flashed through Merlin’s mind and turned to look at the girl. : “Jenny, how did you do it?” He felt that the girl’s figure shrouded in the black robe at the moment looked so mysterious.
“It’s just polished, I hope it’s easier to use.” Jenny seemed to smile after she finished.
polished? Merlin looked at the blade carefully. He didn’t know how to sharpen a knife into what it is now. At this time, some coughing sounds came from outside the door. Merlin glanced out the window. Those people seemed to be unable to wait. He could only touch the handle of the familiar but unfamiliar knife, took a deep breath and finally said:
“Thank you, Jenny!”