Finally managing to soothe his tearful and exhausted mother to sleep, Rody realized that two people were missing.
Where were the succubus sisters?
"They've returned to the Fairy Garden. They left this for you." Gaven, the one-armed swordsman, seemed to read Rody's mind and handed him two mithril bracelets linked together. "They also left a message for you, but it's better left unsaid."
"I just want to know if they were hurt." Rody took the mithril bracelets, hesitated for a moment, and found that they had grown larger. He finally wore them on his left wrist, where a faint magical light flickered and merged into his skin. He immediately sensed that the bracelets contained two tightly connected storage spaces. They were small, but his consciousness could freely pass through one to the other, feeling as if they were one.
"Their faces were injured like Anastasia's, with poisonous wounds that will take time to heal. The rest are minor injuries, so don't worry," Gaven explained, making Rody understand why the succubus sisters had returned to the Fairy Garden.
They didn't want him to see their damaged faces, so they went back home to stay away from him.
But this made Rody even more worried about them.
"Gaven, I want to become stronger. Do you have any methods?" Rody looked at Gaven, knowing he was no ordinary swordsman, but had never managed to ask this question. Rody was reluctant to trust others and also possessed enough pride to believe he could rely on his own abilities to improve and surpass all.
"My methods are not suitable for you, Rody. You have your own path to follow," Gaven replied after a pause. "I want to tell you something."
"What is it?" Rody asked solemnly.
"Of ten archmages, eight have been to a magic academy, and nine have seen battle," Gaven said slowly. "A eagle that hasn’t endured the storm can’t fly over the high mountains; a seedling that hasn't suffered through drought can't grow into a towering tree."
"Do I have to go to a magic academy?" Rody pondered for a long time and then nodded, asking.
"If you don't go to a magic academy and instead run off to join the army, to the battlefield, then you'll likely be used as a sacrificial pawn by the higher-ups. If you don't want to be a tool in someone else's hands or a weapon for killing, you'll end up sacrificing yourself for your country, inevitably facing death," Gaven nodded gravely. "You might not learn much in a magic academy, but you can learn how to understand people's hearts, the use of power and strategy, and the influence of reputation. A magic academy is a battlefield without bloodshed, just as brutal as a real battlefield."
Stolen story; please report.
"Understood, I'll go to school in a few days. Please take care of my mother," Rody said, staring intently at Gaven, and added somewhat coldly, "Perhaps I should warn you, Mr. Gaven."
"I only wish to be a knight guarding the goddess in my heart," Gaven replied with a faint smile.
"Remember your words, Knight Gaven," Rody said as he dashed out the door and into the tavern, where only a few people sat drinking at the bar, all wounded yet still in high spirits.
The black-clothed man sitting alone at a table, the assassin known as 'Crow,' looked up at Rody, raised his cup, and drank it down in one gulp.
Rody brought out many bottles of liquor and food from behind the bar and announced loudly, "I'm treating you guys to drinks, drink to your heart's content!" Then, he stomped upstairs, kicked open the tavern owner's door, snatched the wine bottle from her hand, gulped down a few mouthfuls, threw it out the window, and yelled at her, "You're the exception! You're not allowed to drink a single drop today!"
"What else is there for me to do if I don't drink?" the tavern owner asked, surprised.
"Who cares about you..." Rody collapsed on the bed, laying over the tavern owner, closed his eyes, and said, "I'm borrowing your bed to sleep, I'm tired."
"Sleep then, it's good that you're back," the tavern owner was momentarily stunned, but a fleeting smile appeared in her beautiful eyes. With her arms, decorated with terrifying tattoos, she gently embraced Rody's body and said with a hint of intoxication, "Sleeping in my bed costs wages!"
A week later, Rody, with a small bag packed with magical beast furs and potions, along with several alchemy magic books given by Granny Ann, prepared to leave.
Rody's mother, deeply reluctant to part with her beloved son, knew that to let him soar like an eagle, she couldn't keep him confined to the remote mountains forever. He needed to go out, endure the trials of the world, and truly soar in the sky. She had to give him enough freedom and support.
This was the basic thing a mother could give her son, and the only thing she could give.
"My dear, you must take care of yourself and not worry your mother. I love you, my darling, and I will miss you!" Rody's mother hugged and kissed him repeatedly, unwilling to let go even for a moment.
The patrons in the tavern peeped out but continued drinking, with none coming out to see him off.
The tavern owner also watched from the second-floor window, but for once, she didn't hold her ever-present wine bottle, nor did she appear as intoxicated as usual.
"Mom, you take care of yourself too." Rody also kissed his mother's cheek, trying to cheer her up with a few words of advice. He then looked back at the tavern owner in the distance before turning to leave. Rody's mother and the tavern owner watched him until he was out of the valley, raising their hands as if they just remembered to wave goodbye.
"He will come back..." Gaven, the one-armed swordsman, gently consoled Rody's mother.
"I know, I will be here waiting for him to return," Rody's mother said, wiping the tears from her cheeks and smiling. "Though he has left, his heart remains here. My darling has grown up; he needs a broader sky, the freedom to fly!"
"The eagle will return to its nest when it tires of flying," Gaven nodded. "Let's go have a drink at the tavern, we might get some free drinks again today."
Rody's mother turned back to see the tavern owner still standing at the second-floor window, staring blankly.
Five days later, Rody walked out of the mountains, reaching the fork in the road he had chosen years ago. That decision to go to Whitestone Town had determined and given him so much. Reflecting on the past, Rody was filled with mixed emotions. Bruce, who had once lewdly teased his mother and received a beating from him, had died protecting her...
Choosing the secluded Whitestone Town seemed to be the right decision after all.
Rody believed that no other place in the world could move him or be as memorable as this small town. Looking back, a smile involuntarily formed on his lips.
Escaping from Koror years ago, he smiled out of relief.
Today, as he left Whitestone Town, he smiled with nostalgia. The same person, the same smile, yet with a completely different state of mind.
"I will come back, everyone just wait for me," Rody raised his hand, waving gently towards the lush greenery and the deep mountains hidden in the clouds, as if saying farewell to everyone.