优先遵循ANK汉化
蛋糕与钻石
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2022-08-03更新
最新编辑:Lu_23333
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更新日期：2022-08-03
最新编辑：Lu_23333
蛋糕与钻石
我在老鼠罐子——奥德郎城的外国人酒吧中，第一次看见这个女人时，我正在跟我的老鼠伙伴谈话。现在的布莱顿女人在老鼠罐子中是越来越常见了。布莱顿这族好像有远离他们的栖息地·高岩的倾向，然而，老布莱顿妇女不是那么常迁徙的。这老女人在室内徘徊，与每个人谈话，并引起了注意。虽然有注意到她，但我只想加入我的伙伴们。
尼姆罗斯和欧迪亚德在他们的老地方喝着跟平常一样的东西，欧迪亚德正在炫耀以某种违法方式获得的奖品—一颗巨大的钻石，跟婴儿的拳头一样大，清澈如春天的新露。当我听到我后面老骨头的吱吱响声时，我正觉得向往不已。
“你好啊，朋友”老妇人说，“阿贝勒·克理迪特是我的名字，现在我需要一些能帮我到奥德·雷德尼亚的经济援助”
“也许你可以去神殿要些施舍”尼姆罗斯短短的说。
“我不是来要施舍的”阿贝勒说，“我想要些交易”
“别让我作呕啊，老太婆”欧迪亚德笑着。
“你说你叫阿贝勒·克理迪特吗？”我问道“你跟高岩的炼金术士阿贝勒·克理迪特有关吗？”
“极度相关”她呵呵的笑道，“我们就是同一个人，也许我能为你们调制一服药水来交换金钱？我注意到你们之中拥有很完美的钻石，而钻石的魔法特性是无穷的”“抱歉，老太婆，我不会为魔法而放弃它的，偷它就够让我身陷麻烦了”欧迪亚德说“我已经联络我的联系人以金币交换了”
“你的联系人也会要一部份的，不是吗？如果我给你一服隐形药水作为交换呢？作为那钻石的报答，你能有好手段来偷更多”
“蛮棒的交易，但我没有金币”欧迪亚德说。
“做好药水后，我会拿走钻石剩余的部分”阿贝勒说，“如果你把它送到法师公会，你也得要提供其他的材料并且付钱。但是，我在荒野学习这一身技能，不用把钻石化成灰也可以办到”，“当你只根据一些简单的技巧，用手工来做，老天保佑剩余的部分不会被公会那些笨蛋直接吞掉”
“这点子听起来不错”尼姆罗斯说，“但是，我怎么知道知道你的药水是不是有效？如果你做好药水，拿走剩下的钻石，拍拍屁股离开，我们直到你走了才知道药水有没有效”
“啊！现在人都不流行‘信任’了吗？”阿贝勒轻叹。“我可以为你配置两份药水，然后应该还会剩下一点钻石，不是很多，可能足够让我去奥德·雷德尼亚吧！你马上可以在这里试用第一份药水，看看满不满意”
“容我插句话”“她可以配置一份有用一份没用，然后给自己留下比较多钻石，甚至可以给你一份慢发性毒药，等她到奥德·雷德尼亚，你才会一命呜呼”
“你们这些暗精灵真是多疑！我已经拿不到多少剩下的钻石了，但是我可以做两份药水，然后你可以满意药水有效而且没有不良的效果，还不相信我的话，跟我到我桌子那边亲自见证一下我的技艺”
事情就这么决定了，我跟阿贝勒回到她的桌子，桌上堆着装满药草与矿物的旅行袋。我要确定她没有做两种不同的药水。她花了几乎一个小时准备，但是很大方的准许我在监视她作业时，喝她半满酒壶里面的酒。把宝石敲碎并化成粉末需要很多时间，她一次又一次在宝石上面挥动她干瘪的手、吟咏先古的咒文、把宝石捣的越来越细。她分别做了捣碎的苦草跟红色戴尔阿克·斯帕球茎糊，和几滴西西莲尼油，我也把酒喝完了。
“老太婆……”我终于叹口气说“这要花多久时间啊？我实在觉得一直看你工作很累”
“法师公会总是愚弄一般大众，让他们认为炼金术是一种科学”她说，“如果你累了，闭上眼休息一会儿”
我的眼皮好像自己有意识一样闭上了，但是酒里面有不寻常的东西，就是它让我做阿贝勒要我做的事情。
“我会把药水做成蛋糕的样子，这样会更有效”“现在，告诉我，年轻人……我把药水给你朋友以后，他会怎么做？”
“在街上抓到你然后搜走剩下的钻石”我简短的说，奇怪，我并不想说实话，但它就是发生了。
“虽然如此，我还是想确认一下。你可以张开眼睛了”
我张开了眼睛。阿贝勒已经准备好小小的展示品在木质浅盘上：两小片蛋糕跟一把小银刀。
“把蛋糕拿起来，拿去他们桌子那里”阿贝勒说“一个字都不要说，除非是赞成我说的话”
我照做了，那是一种奇怪的感觉，我并不在意当她的玩偶。当然回想起来时，我很愤慨，只是在那时，遵守她说的话就好像天经地义一样。
阿贝勒把蛋糕拿给欧迪亚德，我也忠诚地证实两份蛋糕是用同样的方法作的。她建议欧迪亚德把其中一块蛋糕切成两半，两个人各吃一块，这样就知道是不是有效而且没有毒的。欧迪亚德觉得这是好主意，就用阿贝勒的刀来切蛋糕，她拿起刀子左边的蛋糕吃下去，欧迪亚德则是更小心翼翼的拿起刀子右边的蛋糕咽下去。
阿贝勒和她所有的袋子几乎同时从视线中消失，但欧迪亚德则没有变化。
“为什么药对巫婆有效，但是对我没效”欧迪亚德嚎叫着。
“因为钻石粉末只在刀子的左边有而已”一个经过我旁边的老炼金术士说“我可以感觉到她已经越来越远，急忙的离开老鼠罐子了”
我们再也没有见过阿贝勒·克理迪特或是钻石了，她是不是到奥德·雷德尼亚又是另一个猜测了。蛋糕没有效，除了让欧迪亚德持续消沉了将近一个礼拜以外。
The Cake and The Diamond
I was in the Rat and the Pot, a foreigner cornerclub in Ald'ruhn, talking to my fellow Rats when I first saw the woman. Now, Breton women are fairly common in the Rat and the Pot. As a breed, they seem inclined to wander far from their perches in High Rock. Old Breton women, however, are not so migratory, and the wizened old biddy drew attention to herself, wandering about the room, talking to everyone.
Nimloth and Oediad were at their usual places, drinking their usual stuff. Oediad was showing off a prize he had picked up in some illicit manner -- a colossal diamond, large as a baby's hand, and clear as spring water. I was admiring it when I heard the creaking of old bones behind me.
"Good day to you, friends," said the old woman. "My name is Abelle Chriditte, and I am in need of financial assistance to facilitate my transportation to Ald Redaynia."
"You'll want to see the Temple for charity," said Nimloth curtly.
"I am not looking for charity," said Abelle. "I'm looking to barter services."
"Don't make me sick, old woman," laughed Oediad.
"Did you say your name was Abelle Chriditte?" I asked, "Are you related to Abelle Chriditte, the High Rock alchemist?"
"Closely related," she said, with a cackle. "We are the same person. Perhaps I could prepare you a potion in exchange for gold? I noticed that you have in your possession a very fine diamond. The magical qualities of diamonds are boundless."
"Sorry, old woman, I ain't giving it up for magic. It was trouble enough stealing this one," said Oediad. "I've got a fence who'll trade it for gold."
"But your fence will demand a certain percentage, will he not? What if I could give you a potion of invisibility in exchange? In return for that diamond, you could have the means to steal many more. A very fair exchange of services, I would say."
"It would be, but I have no gold to give you," said Oediad.
"I'll take what remains of the diamond after I've made the potion," said Abelle. "If you took it to the Mages Guild, you'd have to supply all the other ingredients and pay for it as well. But I learned my craft in the wild, where no Potion-makers existed to dissolve diamonds into dust. When you must do it all by hand, by simple skill, you are blessed with remnants those fool potion-makers at the Guild simply swallow up."
"That sounds all very nice," said Nimloth, "But how do we know your potion is going to work? If you make one potion, take the rest of Oediad's diamond, and leave, we won't know until you've gone whether the potion works or not."
"Ah, trust is so rare these days," sighed Abelle. "I suppose I could make two potions for you, and there'd still be a little bit of the diamond left for me. Not a lot, but perhaps enough to get me to Ald Redaynia. Then you could try the first potion right here and now, and see if you're satisfied or not."
"But," I interjected. "You could make one potion that works and one that doesn't, and take more of the diamond. She could even give you a slow-acting poison, and by the time she got to Ald Redaynia, you'd be dead."
"Bleedin' Kynareth, you Dunmer are suspicious! I will hardly have any diamond left, but I could make two potions of two doses each, so you can satisfy yourself that the potion works and has no negative effects. If you still don't trust me, come along with me to my table and witness my craft if you'd like."
So it was decided that I would accompany Abelle back to her table where she had all her traveling bags full of herbs and minerals, to make certain that she was not making two different potions. It took nearly an hour of preparation, but she kindly allowed me to finish her half-filled flagon of wine while I watched her work. Splintering the diamond and powdering the pieces required the bulk of the time; over and over again, she waved her gnarled hands over the gem, intoning ancient enchantments, breaking the facets of the stone into smaller and smaller pieces. Separately she made pastes of minced bittergreen, crushed red bulbs of dell'arco spae, and driblets of ciciliani oil. I finished the wine.
"Old woman," I finally said with a sigh. "How much longer is this going to take? I'm getting tired of watching you work."
"The Mages Guild has fooled the populace into thinking alchemy is a science," she said. "But if you're tired, rest your eyes."
My eyes closed, seemingly of their own volition. But there had been something in that wine. Something that made me do what she asked.
"I think I'll make up the potion as cakes. It's much more potent that way. Now, tell me, young man, what will your friends do once I give them the potion?"
"Mug you in the street afterwards to retrieve the rest of the diamond," I said simply. I didn't want to tell the truth, but there it was.
"I thought so, but I wanted to be certain. You may open your eyes now."
I opened my eyes. Abelle had made a small presentation on a wooden platter: two small cakes and a silver cutting knife.
"Pick up the cakes and bring them to the table," said Abelle. "And don't say anything, except to agree with whatever I say."
I did as I was told. It was a curious sensation. I didn't really mind being her puppet. Of course, in retrospect, I resent it, but it seemed perfectly natural at the time to obey without question.
Abelle handed the cakes to Oediad and I dutifully verified that both cakes were made the same way. She suggested that he cut one of the cakes in half, and she would take one piece and he'd take the other, just so he would know that they worked and weren't poisoned. Oediad thought it was a good idea, and used Abelle's knife to cut the cake. Abelle took the piece on the left and popped into her mouth. Oediad took the piece on the right and swallowed it more cautiously.
Abelle and all the bags she was carrying vanished from sight almost instantly. Nothing happened to Oediad.
"Why did it work for the witch and not for me?" cried Oediad.
"Because the diamond dust was only on the left-hand side of the blade," said the old alchemist through me. I felt her control lessening as the distance grew and she hurried invisibly down the dark Ald'ruhn street away from the Rat and the Pot.
We never found Abelle Chriditte or the diamond. Whether she completed her pilgrimage to Ald Redaynia is anyone's guess. The cakes had no effect, except to give Oediad a bad case of droops that lasted for nearly a week.
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