"I know, if I want to become a man, I still need some medals of manhood." Rhody said with a slight smile, showing his pearly white teeth.
Rhody, holding Jill, walked step by step into the Magic Academy, passing by Dean Buck who was half-asleep and yawning. Thousands of rays of morning light shone down behind him, making him appear as if he was shimmering in golden light.
Dean Buck, glancing unintentionally, was stunned, his entire being struck dumb.
He first stared blankly as Rhody entered the dormitory. After a while, as if suddenly remembering something, he rushed past the beautiful instructor, exclaiming, "What did I see? Am I dreaming? He, he, he's back? When did he come back? Hey, am I really not dreaming?"
"You must be dreaming!" The beautiful instructor threw an ice ball that hit his face, blasting Dean Buck away.
"Hey, shouldn't you be happy now? Why are you angry?" Dean Buck got up, confused. But before he could finish speaking, another ice ball from the beautiful instructor sent him flying, crashing beside the Drunken Cat. The Drunken Cat, in his drunken stupor, rolled over, shook off the ice, and mumbled unclearly, "That's her way of expressing happiness."
"That's not right, she's not usually like this when she's happy," Dean Buck retorted.
"That's because she's not usually that happy. When she's extremely happy, that's how she expresses it!" The Drunken Cat rolled over again, saying, "Don't talk to a drunk person, it's stupid!"
"So this is how you express being very happy?" Dean Buck laughed out loud, shouting, "Why don't you ask about my way of expressing extreme happiness?"
"Who cares about you?" The Drunken Cat went back to snoring.
"..." Dean Buck was dumbfounded.
In a daze, Jill felt she was dreaming of him again. This feeling, just like him carrying her on his back through the forest, was so comfortable. She rested on his back, listening to his slightly labored breathing. If she wanted to get down, he would definitely refuse. Despite the dangers of the Land of Evil, she felt incredibly safe with him by her side.
At first, she was reluctant to let him carry her.
But at some point, it became natural to let him carry her, whether it was to escape danger or to rest when tired. She would naturally lean on his broad back, using him as her most reassuring support.
If possible, she really wished to stay on his back forever.
She liked the feeling of being carried by him.
Because that feeling was so secure, so comfortable, so joyful. For a long time, she hadn't felt this way, for a long time, he hadn't held or carried her. This, this must be a dream. Jill felt she was dreaming again, but this time, it seemed clearer and more comfortable than any dream before.
"I don't want to wake up, let me sleep in his arms for a lifetime!"
Jill felt like in a dream, he was holding her again, as if he was walking with her through the evil forest again, that familiar feeling, that unique warmth, and the gentle care, all made Jill not want to wake up.
Suddenly, she felt herself being placed on the bed, and instantly realized she was dreaming, her heart almost shattered.
After a while, someone gently wiped her tears with a towel, and Jill's heart became even more unwilling, she didn't want to wake up! She wanted to stay in the dream, because only in the dream, he exists! Only in the dream would he return to her side, hold her, or carry her, just like before in the land of evil, allowing her to act coquettishly towards him.
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Jill first thought it was her aunt, turned her body in a huff, thinking of returning to the dream she just had.
Suddenly, she felt something was not right, the person behind her, why didn't it feel like her aunt, but more like him in the dream? Jill suddenly turned around, cautiously opened a slit in her eyes, fearing that a slight glance would make him vanish like smoke.
Before she could see clearly, Jill had already jumped up, threw herself into his arms, and began to cry loudly.
It was him, it was him...
"There, there, still so tearful, like a big crybaby!" Jill heard his voice, the one she missed thousands of times in her dreams, felt him gently stroking her head, and cried even louder, like a child who had been wronged, seeing a relative for the first time.
"Woo, I missed you so much, woo woo woo..."
The next day, Jill reverted to her previous shy and introverted self.
When facing Rody, she still lowered her head, spoke in a whisper, or didn't speak at all, only stealthily watching him under her long eyelashes. Wherever Rody went, she followed like a little tail, and if asked anything, she mostly shook her head, or took a long time to utter a few 'hmms'.
Even a blind man could see that Jill really liked Rody.
However, Rody felt that the little girl's liking for him was more like a little sister's dependency on an older brother, unrelated to romantic love.
He actually also quite liked Jill's obedient nature, thinking if he had such a sister, his mother would be very happy. He often teased Jill, making small toys, then gave them to her as gifts to make her happy.
Little darling Alice had been missing for a while, and after Rody returned, she suddenly appeared again.
She grabbed Rody, watched him make more than a dozen windmills for her, before she let him go, happily running around with the windmills.
"Rody, there's something I want to talk to you about." Dean Buck came to Rody, smiling: "Of course, the final decision is not ours, but yours."
"Is it about the 'Death Training'?" Rody guessed his intention, nodded, and said: "I've decided to join the Death Training, although Tommy and the others left a few days earlier, I should be able to catch up. I've already written a letter to my mother, explaining everything, and entrusted the merchant Fingal to take it to Whitestone Town. Dean, thank you for not telling my mother about it before, otherwise she would definitely be very worried!"
"I don't think you're the kind of guy who dies young, so I didn't say anything, ha!" Dean Buck laughed loudly, saying: "This year's Death Training is different from previous years, they won't be able to move openly, you just need to be wary of the underhanded tricks!"
"What about the magic notebook?" Rody stretched out his hand, he remembered Buck's magic notebook.
"Do you think a genius student like me would need a magic notebook?" Buck proudly said: "I have a tactical notebook, do you want it?"
"What other treasures? You're not sending me off to Norn to die empty-handed, are you? Just a book and that's it?" Rody took the magic notebook, flipped through it, found it detailed Buck's many years of magical insights, especially the 'Counter-spells', was overjoyed, gave Buck a thumbs up, put it away, and then extended his hand again.
"I myself am a pauper, if I had treasures I would have exchanged them for gold coins to watch beautiful women perform strip dances a long time ago, why wait until now!" Buck may be the poorest dean in the world, not even owning a decent magic staff.
"Being a dean and ending up like this is quite rare." Rody chuckled.
"I've said it before, in this academy, I am the person with the lowest status." Buck laughed: "Kid, if you perform well, I'll plead on your behalf and get you the Silver Eye Singer's harp, you also use spirit magic, it might be useful for you. But don't get your hopes up too high, that thing is even more precious than a king's head."
"Before I leave, I want to ask about some doubts in my mind." Rody curiously asked: "Why are the girls of Phelic so brave? Yet the men are so cowardly?"
"Phelic is the land of the God's Curse. Because Phelic once resisted the gods, they were cursed by the gods: 'People of Phelic, henceforth all your men will tremble on the battlefield, cower and be bullied by others, and from generation to generation, you will be the most cowardly traitors in the world!'" Buck sighed lightly: "Hundreds of years have passed, the curse of the gods is still effective, now probably only one in a hundred men is an exception. Of course, the gods did not expect that the women of Phelic would bravely stand up after the men lost their courage, keeping Phelic unyielding for hundreds of years. In fact, at that time, Phelic's army of tens of thousands was all men, not even a single female mage, they were strong enough to resist the invasion of the beast and demon races on their own. At that time, both the god and demon races attacked the Phelic Empire together, the army of tens of thousands all died in battle, none surrendered, none betrayed."
"Since Phelic was cursed by the gods, why did Ifis still come forward and say 'Whoever enlists first, I will marry him'?" Rody still didn't quite understand.
"This is the method to break the God's Curse." Buck nodded: "Only when a princess of Phelic named Ifis gets married, then the curse on Phelic can be broken, and the men can regain their courage and confidence, becoming strong again! Therefore, every generation's eldest princess is named Ifis, and none of them have married, vowing to marry a man who responds to their call and enlists in the national defense war!"
"Can't they just find a brave man to respond at that time?" Rody curiously asked.
"It's useless, as soon as Princess Ifis utters those words, not a single man in the world can stand up, no one can respond to her call! I've tried it, at that time I couldn't move, I wanted to respond in my heart, but I couldn't speak! By the time the magic's time limit ends, it's already too late to respond then, the eldest Princess Ifis will become a Medusa with snakes for hair, becoming the most terrifying woman in the world..." Buck nodded, speaking softly: "But one day, the curse on Phelic will be lifted, we have a lot of confidence, now more men of Phelic are able to break through the curse of the gods with their own will. Like you, Rody."
"Ah, yes." Rody didn't want to say he was a Koro from the country of Mesdustania, to avoid making Buck sad.
"This curse is not the most important, it's best if it can be lifted, but if not, there's no need to worry about it for now, our most important task is to protect 'Phelic's Hope'." Buck said softly, glancing at Jill.
"Your strategy is quite clever, putting her out in public, it won't attract attention." Rody praised.
"It's risky, but luckily the enemy is all fools, we deceived them." Buck said proudly.