Portrait

  The rain stopped, but the cumulonimbus clouds in the sky did not disperse immediately.

  In the distance, at the boundary between the sky and the sea, the golden sunlight shines in, dyeing the sea surface and clouds one after another.

  Castletown Harbor was also bathed in the setting sun.

  Roy was walking on Brown Street. This time he didn't feel that he was being watched, and he didn't stop when he passed the pharmacy...

  But I did meet Sabrina coming out of the carriage.

  The long-legged elf beauty did not wait for Roy to accompany him, but walked ahead along the street.

  No one was watching, and Roy didn't want to force himself to Sabrina's side. He followed from a distance, looking at Sabrina's model-like figure, which was illuminated by the sunset with a clear outline, and the silhouette was stretched out on the road. Old man.

  The ground on the long street is still wet, and the gutters are still full. A large amount of accumulated water flows from the gutters to the sea.

  …

  Back home, Roy took a shower first, then changed into a set of dry clothes, washed them and hung them on the clothesline on the terrace.

  Moira hid on the terrace, leaning on the railing of the terrace with her forearms, watching quietly as the sun slowly set under the sea.

  But it left Roy with a lithe and graceful back.

  Ms. Belinda still didn't come back before dinner, so Roy ate a piece of fried horse mackerel alone. He didn't finish the last two croissants, so he had to save the good stuff for last.

  "Roy, do you have time now?"

  After Roy finished his dinner, he heard Sabrina calling to him from outside the next door wall.

  He quickly walked out of the house.

  The two of them had made an appointment to paint portraits of the sailors tonight. This was also at the request of Ms. Gillian. Roy didn't understand the specific reason, but he felt it had something to do with Moira.

  "Yes, at your house, or come to my house?" Roy responded loudly, standing at the door.

  Sabrina's tall figure stood behind the low wall, her hair still wet, wearing a long, loose linen skirt.

  "Come to my house, I've prepared three candles..." she said.

  "Well!"

  After Roy finished speaking, he looked towards the low wall, stepped directly over the low wall, and climbed into the yard of Ms. Jillian's house.

  Ms. Jillian was not at home either. The fish market at the pier had already closed its stalls by this time, and the fishing boats at the High Level should be at the pier.

  Roy rarely comes over here usually, and is quite curious about the furnishings in the room.

  The house is no different from Roy's home, with a living room, bedroom and kitchen on the first floor, and a bedroom and terrace on the second floor.

  This bedroom on the first floor should be occupied by Ms. Gillian, while Moira and Sabrina live on the second floor.

  Moira is already waiting in the living room. She is sitting on the single-seat sofa. There is an easel standing next to it. The drawing board is covered with a parchment. The dye tray is placed on the coffee table. Next to the legs of the easel is an iron sheet filled with water. Bucket, several paintbrushes soaked in the iron bucket.

  Moira didn't say hello when Roy walked in. She seemed to be staring at the easel in a daze.

  She has always been like this, always immersed in her own world.

  There is a Trident shaped candle holder on the coffee table.

  Before the candle was inserted on it, Sabrina asked Roy to sit down on the sofa next to the easel, while she sat on the high stool in front of the easel, with her bare feet on the bars of the high stool.

  Both she and Moira smelled faintly of lilac, which was very nice.

  "I'll draw a portrait of Jefferson first. You can watch the steps of my drawing. Later, you can describe the appearance and clothing of those sailors. It's best to be as detailed as possible." Sabrina said coldly to Roy. Said coldly.

  Roy quickly looked away from her chest.

  No way, the linen fabric clearly showed a little outline.

  Sabrina had just finished taking a shower. She originally thought that the loose sarong would be able to cover her up, and since she had to concentrate on painting, her eyes were bound to be focused on the drawing board.

  Apparently she was thinking a little too simply.

  "Oil paint? Not a sketch?"

  Roy asked, seeing the brushes, paints and palette.

  Sabrina tried to keep her breathing as steady as possible before answering:

  "I knew what Jefferson looked like, so I painted it directly with oil paints. The sailors were sketched first so they could be modified. After final confirmation, I painted them in oil paints..."

  Roy watched Sabrina paint for the first time. The paintbrush in her hand was like a small brush. She held the palette with one hand and rubbed the paintbrush into the dye on the palette, and then... Large smears are painted on the canvas.

  First, she applied a thick layer on the background, and she simply did not draw lines or any outlines.

  Just apply color layer by layer, and gradually, in the stack of colors, a vague silhouette appears bit by bit.

  The silhouette gradually became clearer, and the colors made it more vivid.

  In the painting, Jefferson's face was a little red, and he was holding a wine glass in his hand, with a drunken look in his eyes.

  Darkmoon Elf's gray skin and shadows in her eyes are clearly drawn.

  The dyes on the palette meet, the brush in Sabrina's hand barely pauses, and Jefferson's portrait appears clearly on the paper.

  This kind of on-site painting gives Roy a strong sensory enjoyment. It is not the kind of clear picture directly painted by a printer, but more like the continuous focus under a high-definition camera, which becomes blurry and becomes clear little by little, and finally appears on paper... …

  Probably seeing the portrait of Jefferson becoming clearer a little bit.

  Under the flickering candlelight, the candlelight in Moira's eyes became blurry...

  There was a hint of crying in her voice:

  "He always said that I have the innate talent to be an assassin..."

  Moira is the kind of petite and weak elf with beautiful collarbones. Sitting on the sofa wiping her tears at this time makes people feel even more distressed.

  "If he hadn't insisted on you receiving training from Elf Dark Palace, Jillian probably wouldn't have fallen out with him."

  Sabrina sighed as she sat on the barstool.

  "Sister, do you think I was born just to enter the Dark Palace?" Moira murmured.

  "Don't always think wildly. You are who you are. We are all working hard for our ideal life, and you should do the same."

  Sabrina touched Moira's forehead and then wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  "Are you like this too? Roy." Moira looked at Roy pitifully.

  "On the premise of filling your stomach, it's not a bad thing to have a little ideal." Roy wiped his nose.

  "Okay, don't think about this anymore. He walked out of our lives a long time ago."

  Sabrina stroked her hand gently through Moira's smooth blond hair.

  Moira nodded, then sat aside and said nothing.

  Sabrina peeled the painting off the board and laid down another layer of paper, this time holding a quill soaked in ink.

  Roy quickly began to introduce the clothes and appearance of the crew members. The purpose of his coming here tonight was to describe the appearance and characteristics of the crew members in words.

  It has to be said that Sabrina's painting skills are almost Master Level. Her eyes can keep changing under his quill pen, and she won't stop until Roy feels that she looks like her.

  While painting these sailors, the atmosphere in the room gradually became more relaxed.

  Moira's mood gradually calmed down, and she even started chatting with Roy:

  "Is elf Academy fun?"

  "It's okay, but I had a pretty thrilling day. This morning, a group of Silvermoon Elf chased me all over the street." Roy's tone was a bit exaggerated.

  Moira's watery eyes widened and she asked curiously: "Have you had a conflict with someone just after school started?"

  "I don't want to do this either. In fact, I have been implicated by a bad friend. There is nothing I can do about it!"

  Roy said very helplessly.

  During the chat between the two, there were also various inquiries from Sabrina:

  "is that so?"

  Roy immediately began to look at it carefully, trying to make the picture in his memory clearer. After careful comparison, he said:

  "The eyebrows need to be drawn a little more heavily, and he still has a scar here."

  "They all have a very strong aura, the kind of aura that feels very dangerous..."

  Listening to Roy's description, Sabrina frened asked:

  "How did you get involved with them?"

  In fact, Roy didn't know how many times he had answered this question.

  "I just want to get some news from the human world on the other side of the sea. They want me to take them to find a cheap and clean hotel, and finally find a tavern for a drink. I didn't expect this kind of thing to happen."

  While chatting, Sabrina's second painting was completed.

  Not everyone may look exactly alike, but the sailors in the painting retain their appearance of sitting in a tavern, and the characteristics of several of them, including Young Master, are clearly depicted.

  If a single person appears again, it may not be identifiable based on this painting, but as long as they appear at the same time, Roy is confident that he can identify them based on this painting...

  "Okay, I'll push them under the box."

  Sabrina peeled off the second painting from the drawing board, shook her sore hands and said, this painting is much more difficult than the first one.

  "It's your turn this time, Roy, who do you want to draw?"

  Sabrina asked as she laid out the third piece of seagrass paper.

  The background color of this seagrass paper is even a little light green, and it is not easy to store. It is easy to grow hair in the summer when the humidity is very high...

  But it's cheaper!

  Roy didn't plan to keep the painting for too long. He just planned to take it to the tavern and show it to the well-informed elves.

  So while Sabrina laid out the drawing paper, Roy started describing the elf thief.

  The first time I saw him was at the door of the temple, I happened to see his embarrassed silhouette, and later I saw his face at the door of the Brown Street Tavern:

  "He is a thief. He is a little thin and about the same height as the pharmacy boss. He has messy greasy hair. His eye sockets are slightly sunken. His eyes are light blue. There should be two wrinkles on his forehead. He clamps his right arm when he walks. …"

  Sabrina carefully painted the elf in Roy's mouth on the drawing paper.

  Revise revise.

  Roy actually remembers not quite so many details. The most profound ones in his memory are the greasy hair and the right hand holding the package.

  As the image became clearer and clearer, Moira stood beside her and whispered:

  "The elf in this portrait looks like Peleus, Roy, do you want to find him?"

  (End of chapter)