毕来牡蛎店中的畅情一夜 An Intimate Evening at Oyster Bill’s

作者：Jared Rosen

允你快意纵情

You will know joy

许你名就功成

You will be a hero

送你荣登殿堂，同侪英烈

And you will pass into legend as all great heroes do

此般殊遇唯一代价

The only price I ask for such treasures

是你

Is you

——奥希列许的往复：第十章，第七节

—The Cycle of Ashlesh: Chapter Ten, Verse Seven

比尔吉沃特没有什么出名的美食，所以卖蛎老毕的毕来牡蛎就显得很特别。这家店开在城中不那么富裕的地区，经过多年的经营获得了不错的口碑，整个家业都由一人扛起：“本地红人”、房产业主——卖蛎老毕。

Bilgewater isn’t particularly known for its cuisine, which makes Oyster Bill’s Oyster Bar an interesting conundrum. Located in one of the city’s poorer pockets, the establishment gained an impressive reputation over the years with the entire venture held aloft by “local celebrity” and proprietor Oyster Bill.

这个牡蛎贩子爱海鲜、爱听夸张的故事，此外他还喜欢在餐馆楼上留一间房，让形形色色的流浪者和漂泊客留宿。最近他就收留了这样一位客人：一个持戒修行中的战士，行李很少，脸上总挂着一副扯到耳根的怪笑。这不，这位客人刚刚把马尔科姆•格雷福斯一脚踹向餐厅的墙壁，撞出个大洞，整个人横着飞了出去。

Along with the oyster-man’s love of seafood and exaggerated stories, he also enjoys renting an extra room above the restaurant to various drifters and vagabonds. One such person being his most recent guest: an ascetic warrior with few belongings and an unceasing ear-to-ear smile—who just kicked Malcolm Graves horizontally through the dining-room wall.

“我什么都没干！”格雷福斯哼哼唧唧地说道，把嘴里的牙签滚到另一侧，“你要找的是别人。可能是赛娜。再不就是雷哥。”

“I didn’t even do anything!” Graves moans, shifting his toothpick to the other side of his mouth. “You want one of the other ones. Senna maybe. Or Rango.”

“你们的短视，如今正威胁着百万条无辜的人命，马尔科姆•格雷福斯。”一个陌生的口音用欢愉的声调说，“我要问你点事，关于你们在我家海滩上留下的那份小礼物——卡玛维亚的佛耶戈。”

“Your lack of foresight now threatens millions of innocents, Malcolm Graves,” replies a cheery-sounding voice in an unfamiliar accent. “I have questions about the little present you left on my shores. Viego of Camavor.”

说话的人迈着笃定的步伐穿过尘土和木屑，她的水样鞭剑悬在身边，仿佛一道发出幽光的虹影。她每迈出一步，都在这家肮脏昏暗的饭馆中投出耀眼的光彩。靛蓝和金黄色的光线投下怪异的影子，在墙壁、地面和天棚上乱舞。凌乱的黑色长发勾勒出一张纤瘦的脸庞，紫色的双眼透出一股异样的欣喜之情。她身边挂着一颗发光的球体， 球体表面捂着两只手，应该是用某种异邦金属铸造的装饰纹样。她是尼菈，格雷福斯已经躲了她好几个星期了。

The voice’s owner moves purposefully through the cloud of dust and debris, her liquid whip-blade suspended in a glittering arc around her. Each step illuminates the dingy restaurant as brilliant indigos and golds cast strange, dancing shadows over everything. Messy black hair frames a thin face and violet eyes, all underlined by an oddly exuberant expression, while at her side rests a glowing sphere held by two hands cast from a foreign metal. This is Nilah, and Graves has been trying to avoid her for weeks.

结果并不成功。

It hasn’t gone well.

尼菈好像一夜之间就到了比尔吉沃特，她的到来立刻就在城里引来许多目光。她每天都有好几次要背诵不同的诗文，通常还要用双手摆出许多复杂的手势；她的铠甲上画着奇怪的七只手的徽章，而铠甲的材质是一种没人认识的、散发着珍珠光泽的金属；她还坚称自己来自喀斯坎，但真正的喀斯坎人已经有七百多年没有踏足瓦洛兰大陆了。

Nilah arrived in Bilgewater seemingly overnight, and her presence immediately raised eyebrows across the city. From her odd habit of reciting various textual passages throughout the day—always while making complicated gestures with her palms—to her strange, seven-hand-motif armor, forged from a pearlescent metal no one recognized. Or her insistence that she hailed from Kathkan, even though the last full-blooded Kathkani hadn’t stepped foot on Valoran soil in over seven hundred years.

然后她就开始捕杀海蛇——四十寻的，五十寻的，六十寻的。只要有船只遇险，尼菈就会跑到码头上，贴着海面飞过去，带着冷静的微笑，化作一道细线，冲向敌人的咽喉。随着她的名声越传越远，她开始向港口里感恩戴德的水手们打听一件事：他们有没有听说过一个大概是叫哨兵的组织……格雷福斯就是在这个时候开溜的。

Then she started killing sea serpents—forty, fifty, sixty fathoms long. When any ship was threatened, Nilah rushed down to the docks and soared across the surface of the sea with a wide, calm smile, her wiry frame launching itself toward the writhing necks of her foes. As word spread about her, she began to ask the port’s grateful sailors if they knew anything about a so-called order of sentinels... and that was when Graves started running.

现在尼菈已经找到他了，她好像不太高兴。

Now that Nilah’s found him, she doesn’t seem happy.

准确地说，是她的行为看上去不高兴。可是她的表情却愉悦得令人惶恐，脸上一直带着欢喜的笑容，而且她的言谈举止也始终保持着一种不自然的亢奋，一天到晚都不变样。正是这种奇怪的表现，让大多数人都摸不透她的意图——唯一能摸透的只有她病态一般与巨物战斗的癖好。总之，跟这个女子的谈话总是让人很难捉摸。

Or rather, she isn’t acting happy. She seems disconcertingly cheerful with her pleasant grin that never breaks and her demeanor and voice that stay locked in unnatural positivity at all hours of every day. It’s this peculiarity that makes most people unable to read her intentions—besides her pathological need to fight very big things—and that makes conversations with the woman hard to navigate.

“没听说过什么佛耶戈。”格雷福斯矢口否认，同时在碎石中摸索自己的枪。

“Don’t know nothing about Viego,” Graves lies, sifting through the rubble for his gun.

“我觉得就是你把他封印在了阿洛维德拉，我没说错吧？”尼菈愉悦地说，又走近了两步。她别致的步伐十分优雅，就像一条弓起身子的蛇，随时准备出击。“别撒谎哦。你这人类的块头，对我来说是很容易的。”

“I believe it was you who sealed him in Alovedra, am I correct?” Nilah smiles cheerfully, taking another two steps forward. Her legs move in a curious, artful pattern, like a coiled snake about to strike. “Don’t lie. You are man-sized. Killing you would be very easy for me.”

“倒也没那么容易吧。”格雷福斯吭了一声，新命运终于摸到了手里。他心满意足地享受着翻盘的快感，瞄准尼菈的胸腹连射三枪。至少，他觉得是瞄准了。但子弹好像避开了她……或许也可能是她避开了子弹。这三枪就像是射进了茫茫大海——格雷福斯感到一阵说不清的不安。

“Not that easy,” Graves snorts, New Destiny finally in hand. Savoring the moment to turn the tables, he fires three rounds directly into Nilah’s torso. Or, at least, he thinks he does. The bullets seem to move around her... Or maybe she moves around them. It’s like firing his gun into deep water—a thought Graves finds inexplicably unsettling.

尼菈笑容拉满的嘴角抽动了一下。格雷福斯不知道的是，她无法感受到愤怒，无法感受任何情绪——除了欢天喜地的愉悦。但她知道自己这时应该发火，只是做不到。她挥鞭猛抽，格雷福斯的枪被打脱了手，飞到了餐馆的另一边。她再次挥动鞭剑，切开了他脑袋旁边的一张铁桌。有那么一瞬间，格雷福斯真正切切地看到一双蓝色的幻影之手浮现在尼菈周围……不过这可能只是他想象出来的。他最近经常被撞到头。

Nilah’s wide smile twitches at the sides of her mouth. Unbeknownst to Graves, she is unable to feel anger, or any emotion beyond a radiant joyfulness—but she knows she would want to right now, were it possible. She whips the gun out of his hands and knocks it to the far side of the restaurant before bisecting a metal table next to his head with a brutal second strike of her whip-blade. For a brief moment, Graves swears he sees phantasmal blue hands in the air around Nilah... but maybe this is his imagination. He’s been getting hit in the head a lot lately.

“挺有意思的武器，”尼菈饶有兴趣地说，“我猜对上低级的对手肯定很管用。”

“An interesting armament,” Nilah muses. “I imagine it works well against lesser opponents.”

“那你算是什么级的？”格雷福斯不忿地说。

“So what does that make you?” seethes Graves.

尼菈没有回答。她把武器收回到了那个球里，悄声背诵了一段文字，格雷福斯没听清。“抱歉。从你的战斗风格来看，你不是我要找的那个哨兵。”

But Nilah doesn’t answer. Instead, she sheathes her weapon within the sphere, offering a brief recitation under her breath that Graves can’t quite make out. “My apologies. Based on your fighting style, you're not the sentinel I’m looking for.”

“塔米•肯奇大吃一口啊，你应该是个大英雄之类的吧？”格雷福斯怪叫着从碎木和废铁中坐起来。“我也是，怎么着也算半个大英雄！所以你可别折腾我了，行不？”

“Sweet Tommy Kench, ain’t you supposed to be some kinda hero?” Graves yells, sitting up among wood fragments and twisted metal. “I’m a hero too, when viewed in a certain light! So lay off, will ya?”

格雷福斯喘出一口气，“该死……你这魔法还挺厉害。我佩服。”

Graves exhales. “Damn... Nice magic, though. I gotta respect it.”

尼菈又默念了另一段文字，悄声背诵的同时双手也在不断变换手势，脸庞在黑暗中露出诡笑。“多谢夸奖，马尔科姆•格雷福斯。我为之付出了许多。”

Nilah offers another recitation, her hands shifting as she mouths the words beneath her breath, smiling ominously in the dark. “Thank you, Malcolm Graves. I gave much to wield it.”

“叫我格雷福斯就行。”

“I would prefer if you’d call me ‘Graves.’”

“我拒绝。”尼菈说，“真名之中蕴含着巨大的力量，马尔科姆•格雷福斯。请你牢记。”

“I wouldn’t,” replies Nilah. “There is great power in a true name, Malcolm Graves. Remember that.”

“行吧。”格雷福斯看向尼菈的身后，“后边那帮人你们听到了吗？还是要等我们先开腔？”

"If you say so." Graves looks behind Nilah. "You folks in the back hear that, or should we speak up?"

话音刚落，街上传来一个洪亮的声音，“我们要找那个海蛇杀手！”

Right on cue, a voice rings out from the street. “We’re here for the serpent slayer!”

尼菈转过身，看到六个佣兵正在透过墙上那个刚刚撞开的洞窥探。她的目光游到人群之后，看到一个巨大、苍白的东西，在地板上晃荡。于是她的心停跳了一下。经常会有心存不满的杀手尾随她，但她还从未见过这种活物。

Nilah turns to face a half-dozen mercenaries peeking through the hole she’d ripped in the wall. Her eyes drift past the men to a massive, pale something shifting on the planks behind them... and her heart skips a beat. She is often followed by disgruntled killers, but she hasn’t seen one of these before.

“我就是她。”尼菈答道，紧盯着那个活物。“你们有什么目的？详细说说。”

“I am she,” Nilah replies, her attention fixed on the creature. “What do you want, exactly?”

“你害我们几位老板亏了一大笔。你是觉得自己可以在猎海市场上兴风作浪么？这片码头，那些帆船，都归我们管，所以现在，你也归我们管！”

“You’re losing our bosses a lot of money. Think you can just flood the market with serpent catch? We own those docks and those ships, and as of now, we own you!”

尼菈完全没有理会那群佣兵，而是扭头问格雷福斯：“后边那是什么东西？”

“What is that creature?” Nilah asks Graves, ignoring the mercenaries.

“深海大吃。”格雷福斯喃喃地说，“它们专吃沉到海底的锚棺。尝惯了人肉味。下嘴特别狠，脑子特别笨，所以这帮蠢货就给它们拴上链子，掐住它们怕疼的部位。”

“Deep eater,” mutters Graves. “They chow down on anchor graves that sink to the seafloor. Gives ‘em a taste for people. Mean and real dumb, so these idiots drag ‘em up and sic ‘em on marks they don’t like.”

尼菈的双眼发出兴奋的光。“它们能长到多大？”

Nilah’s eyes flash with excitement. “How big do they get?”

“不知道。十到十五桨？这只看上去就挺大的。”

“I’unno. Ten, fifteen oars? That one looks pretty big.”

“有趣。”她悄声说，“是个够格的对手。”

“Interesting,” she whispers. “An enemy of worth.”

“喂！”一个佣兵大叫道，“我说话的时候，要么给我听好，要么就给我死。听懂了吗？”

“Hey!” shouts a mercenary. “When I’m talking, you listen or you die. Understand what I’m saying?”

“是的。我想我听懂了。”尼菈回应了一句，指尖轻轻触碰身边的那颗球。“我是第七界狱的尼菈。愿这一战令后人传唱。”

“Yes, I believe I do,” replies Nilah, dipping her hand into the sphere at her side. “I am Nilah of the Seventh Layer. May our battle sing across history.”

尼菈抽出鞭剑，流光之水组成两条锋利的尖头长叉，在空中舞动着发出鬼魅的辉光。不知道那群佣兵对这场战斗原本抱有什么样的预想，总之肯定不是这样。随着尼菈的武器不断变换、不断延伸，他们全都战战兢兢地在心里犯嘀咕。

Nilah whips her blade outward, its glimmering water forming two sharpened prongs that dance through the air with ghostly radiance. Whatever the mercenaries were expecting, it wasn’t this, and they mutter nervously as the weapon shifts and expands.

他们还不知道，自己已经没机会活着离开了。第七界狱可不只是什么奇怪的称号，是一个神秘的组织。他们用坚毅的决心面对那些无论是力量还是尺寸都无法想象的对手。这些野路子佣兵只不过是铺路的石子，踩过去之后才是真正的挑战。而今晚，这个大名鼎鼎的“深海大吃”是唯一够资格的敌手——这只体型庞大、长着黏糊糊鱼鳞的海潮虫张开了血盆大口，满口沾着血渍的尖牙看上去着实狠毒。

They don’t know it, but none of them will leave this encounter alive. The Seventh Layer is not simply a title, but a mythical order steeled to face opponents of unimaginable power and scale. Self-trained killers are merely pebbles on the road to true challenge, and tonight, this so-called “deep eater” is the only foe of worth—a massive isopod with sickly, flesh-colored plates and a mean-looking maw of bloody teeth.

在尼菈身体最深处，一股饥饿的愉悦开始涌起。

From the depths of Nilah’s being, a hungry joy begins to swell.

接下来的事发生在一片模糊的残影中。尼菈以骇人的速度穿过房间，斩杀那些茫然无措的对手，脸上始终带着那抹欢愉、不变的笑容。她鞭刃的每一次挥击都带着排山巨浪的力量，同时这团跃动的水鞭有如打磨过的石片一样锋利。尼菈挥鞭、腾越，身姿优美而又夺命，她的敌人纷纷崩碎。

What happens next is a blur. Nilah bounds across the room with frightening speed, cutting through her unassuming opponents while wearing that same cheerful, unmoving smile. Each strike of her blade connects with the force of a towering ocean wave, yet the dancing water is sharp as polished stone. Nilah glides between blows, beautiful and deadly, as her enemies are blasted apart.

几秒种后，眼前就只剩下深海大吃了。鉴于“十桨”的尺寸应该指的是某种体型更大的怪物，眼前这只还算不赖——大概有一辆带篷马车那么大。尼菈打过更带劲的对手，但在比尔吉沃特，这场战斗已经足以引起人们讨论了。人们会铭记这次胜利，其他都无关紧要。

In seconds, all that’s left is the deep eater. Considering that the words “ten oars” had suggested a beast of much larger proportions, this one isn’t too bad—about the size of a covered wagon. Not the most exciting opponent Nilah’s ever faced, but here in Bilgewater, it was something that would get people talking. They’d remember this victory, and that was all that mattered.

尼菈跳到它的背上，游动无形的水刃在黑夜的空气中反射着光芒。“深海的巨兽！愿你见识欢愉！”她高声吟诵着，将怪兽干脆地一刀两半。

Nilah leaps onto its back, her formless blade flickering in the night air. “Beast of the deep! May you find Joy!” she sings, and she slices the monster clean in half.

“那，你找哨兵究竟是要干什么？”格雷福斯问道。他知道自己躲不过了，要么把话讲清楚，要么就被切成肉丁。“我们基本上是散伙了。发给我的东西我都拿去当了，如果你要找那些魔法石头什么的，我也没有。”

“So, what exactly are ya lookin’ fer the sentinels for?” asks Graves, consigned to either having this conversation or being cut into little pieces. “We disbanded, mostly. And I pawned all my stuff, so you’re not getting those magic rocks or whatever.”

“卡玛维亚的佛耶戈迟早会逃脱的。”尼菈答道。她的笑容柔和了许多。甚至可以说是带着友善。“禁锢他的是海力亚的魔法，会随着时间的流逝而变弱。我的同胞正处于无法想象的危险之中。”

“Viego of Camavor will free himself someday,” Nilah replies, her smile now kind. Friendly, even. “The magic binding him is Helian, and it is weakening over time. My people are in unimaginable danger.”

“呃，我们既然赢过他。”格雷夫斯说，“估计还能再赢一次，虽然他确实很厉害。”

“Hey, we beat him once,” replies Graves. “He’s strong, but we can probably do it again.”

“他本身不是真正的威胁，马尔科姆•格雷福斯。”尼菈说，“他的破败恶咒在这世界上滋生了新的魔法……这个行为会让恶魔一族狂化。足以惊动它们的原始先祖。”

“He is not the true threat, Malcolm Graves,” says Nilah. “His ruinations write new magic into the world... an act that drives demonkind berserk. Enough to stir their primeval forebears.

“被遗忘许久的，十大恶主。”她用指尖轻轻拍打身旁的球体，继续说，“永远都不可以让它们苏醒。”

“Ten lords, long forgotten,” she continues, tapping the sphere at her side, “who must never be allowed to wake.”

“恶魔，呵？”格雷夫斯说，“你不是恶魔吧？”

“Demons, huh?” says Graves. “You’re not a demon, are ya?”

“不。”尼菈笑着说，“不全是。”

“No,” Nilah laughs. “Not entirely.”

这位持戒的修行者又摆出一个手势，悄声默念一句。在她说话的时候，格雷福斯出神地望着她的幻光液态球体，几乎要被吸引进去。他嘴角不自主地扬起微笑，耳边回荡起尖锐又飘渺的笑声。那双金属纹样的手，几乎就像是是在把这颗球……献给他。

The ascetic performs another hand gesture, reciting something under her breath. As she speaks, Graves gazes at her sphere of prismatic liquid, which seems to draw him in. An unconscious smile curls at the edge of his lips as high-pitched, whispering laughter rings in his ears. It seems like the metal hands are almost... offering it up to him.

“别凑太近。”尼菈提醒他。格雷福斯突然回过神来。“这头怪兽永远都吃不饱。”

“Don’t look too closely,” Nilah warns, and Graves snaps back to attention. “The beast is always hungry.”

尼菈把手扣住自己腰间。“啊，时候不早，恐怕你也没有更多能告诉我的了。我要回房间休息。”她平静地说，从疑惑的格雷福斯身边经过，绕过受损严重的餐厅，走上了饭馆的楼梯。“如果你遇到任何特殊的怪物，就过来找我去杀了它。如果你遇到卖蛎老毕，替我向他道歉，今晚给他添了不少乱子。”

Nilah claps her hands on her hips. “Ah, but the hour is late, and I fear you have no further answers to give me. I will retire to my room,” she says matter-of-factly, walking past a confused Graves as she circles the damaged dining room and climbs the restaurant stairwell. “If you encounter any monstrosities of note, come find me so I can slay them. If you encounter Oyster Bill, tell him that I apologize for tonight’s damage.

“很高兴能遇到同道，马尔科姆•格雷福斯。”

“It is good to meet a fellow hero, Malcolm Graves.”

楼上传来关门声，那个女子消失不见了。

A door closes upstairs, and the woman is gone.

格雷福斯把牙签吐到地上——经过刚才这番激烈的场面，早被他嚼烂了。他翻找其他可以叼的东西，但什么都没找到，于是只好静静地望着这条街，六具尸体和对半切开的巨型海潮虫散落一地。

Graves flicks his broken toothpick to the ground, bitten through in all the excitement. He reaches for a replacement but finds none, so instead gazes quietly out onto the street where six dead bodies and two halves of a giant marine louse are scattered.

“我的人生都被哨兵给毁了。”他喃喃自语。

“The sentinels ruined my life,” he says to no one in particular.

“不过这位小姐倒是挺麻利的。”

“Neat lady, though.”