While Aurora was waiting for Sharon to register, Gard and two or three other mercenaries knocked on Old Cain's door with some wine, meat, and herbs.

"Who is it? Is the old man back?"

After a short while of silence, a woman's weak voice came from inside.

"Act as normal as possible later, do you hear me?!" Gard warned in a low voice.

The three mercenaries nodded, and then Gard yelled against the door. "Mrs. Cain, it's me, Gard."

"Oh, so it's you, Captain Gard. Wait a moment, please... I'll open the door right now." After the voice fell, there was a rustling sound from inside, and after a while, the door slowly opened and a lady with gray hair came out from inside.

Her face was haggard due to the disease that plagued her, but anyone could still see the shadow of the pretty woman she was in the past.

"Captain, hasn't the old man come back?" Mrs. Cain looked around but didn't see her man's presence, "Why did you bring so many things?! Come in and have a seat, I'll pour you a glass of water."

"Yes, Mrs. Cain, we took on a mission this time. By chance, Old Cain learned from the employer during the break on the road that there was a cure for your disease in a place, so he was so excited that he left right away to find the medicine first."

Gard put the wine, meat, and herbs on the table and said, "You know, merchants travel far and wide and have a lot of knowledge. But that place is a bit far from us, so he told us to come and see you when we have time before he comes back!"

"This old man is really..." Mrs. Cain poured water for them while muttering her complaint, "I've gotten used to being sick for so many years, and I don't know when he'll be back after leaving like this."

"It's okay, it's okay, we bought good meat and vegetables here, Mrs. Cain. You should take a break, and we will take care of it for you." Gard winked, and the other three mercenaries stood up and took the things into the kitchen. After a while, the smell of food came from inside.

Not long after, the mercenaries brought the cooked meals to the dining table, and everyone sat and ate together, occasionally telling interesting stories about their adventures, which made Mrs. Cain very happy.

"It's strange, why hasn't Lady Aurora come here..." Gard kept paying attention to the door from time to time, and once there were any footsteps approaching, he thought it was Aurora who had arrived.

"Is there anyone else here, Captain?"

Mrs. Cain was also a little curious when she saw his anxious look; she had never seen him behave like this in her memory.

"It's okay, it's okay, that person should be delayed by something; don't let it get in the way!"

Putting Aurora's affairs behind him for the time being, Gard calmed down and accompanied the three mercenaries to accompany Mrs. Cain, telling jokes from time to time and sometimes making her laugh by dancing when she was excited.

Time passed quickly in this pleasant atmosphere, and the night was getting late before they knew it. The three drunken mercenaries bid farewell to Gard and Mrs. Cain and then staggered out, each supporting the other, while Gard stayed behind to help Mrs. Cain clean up the dishes.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Captain." Mrs. Cain saw Gard's empty left shoulder with distressed eyes several times on the way to clean up the dishes. She opened her mouth several times but didn't know what to say.

"It's small thing, it's small thing." Gard waved his hand lightly. "In any case, Mrs. Cain, you should prioritize rest and recuperation and leave the rest to us!" Gard packed up the dishes and put them away neatly, and he brought out a bowl of freshly cooked medicinal soup from the kitchen. "The priest from the association said that this medicine is helpful to your condition, so drink it while it's hot."

"Okay, okay... trouble the Captain."

"Then I'm going to say goodbye, Mrs. Cain. Go to bed early after you finish your medicine!" Gard warned, opened the door, and left in the dark.

Mrs. Cain quietly waited for the sound of Gard's footsteps to disappear before sighing softly. She rose slowly, lifted the oil lamp on the table, and staggered upstairs.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Pushing open the door, she slowly sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to pick up the photo framed in the crystal mirror. It was the money that Cain had worked so hard to save for over a year in order to purchase a magical photo studio for her 40th birthday.

In the photo, the slightly stiff expression of Old Cain facing the camera for the first time and the happy face leaning on his shoulders were permanently preserved at the moment of the clicking shutter.

"Old man... after all these years... you still don't know how to lie..." Mrs. Cain caressed the unnaturally smiling face in the photo, and tears fell on it.

"If you didn't risk your life to save me from that place back then, maybe I've already died under the sword of the rebel. In those days when we were hiding, even if I suffered from a serious disease, you never gave up on me once...

You said you would always be by my side. But, what about now? Didn't you say that when I recover, you will go with me to Brigitt City to see the beautiful beach..."

Mrs. Cain looked at the photo frame with tears streaming down her face. Not long after, she gently placed the photo frame on the table with a much calmer expression, as if she had made a decision.

"Old man... I won't let you alone."

After getting the certification, Aurora immediately rushed to the place Gard had told her about before.

She didn't expect that a large group of mercenaries would flood in to deal with various things when the certificate was being processed, which made the clerks of the entire association busy. Even though Sharon ran back and forth in person to wait, it was already so late after she received the mercenary qualification certificate.

"It's such a headache. I don't know if it's too late now." Aurora muttered inwardly to speed up and ran into Gard as she crossed a street.

"Did something happen to Milady in The Mercenary Association?" Seeing Aurora in a hurry, Gard hurried forward to ask about the situation.

Aurora nodded. "Something happened, but I have successfully obtained the qualification certificate. Anyway, where is Mrs. Cain?"

"We've already gone to visit her. Lady Aurora must be hungry now, let's find a place to eat and drink!"

When Gard warmly invited Aurora, he noticed that many people ran to the other side, and they looked very flustered.

"Um?"

"Captain Gard, is something wrong over there?"

"What happened?"

Gard looked back and saw that many people were shouting something, and some even ran over there with wooden barrels.

In an instant, a bad premonition swept over the hearts of the two, and they ran in the direction of the crowd at the same time.

"Hurry up and put out the fire! It's on fire!"

As they got closer, they finally heard people shouting, and they could also see the black smoke billowing from the raging fire.

"Which direction is that?" Gard's heart trembled. "Not good!" He pushed his legs out and ran in that direction like crazy.

The place where the billowing smoke was coming from was in the direction of Mrs. Cain's house!

When Aurora saw that Gard was so flustered, she knew something was wrong in her heart and immediately followed him.

"Mrs. Cain!"

The place where the two ran was the house where Mrs. Cain lived, which was now burning fiercely. The people around them poured buckets of water into it, but the fire was so fierce that it was completely useless.

When Gard was about to rush in, Aurora grabbed him desperately. "You can't rush in! The fire is so big, you will die if you rush in!"

"No! I'm going to save her! I promised old Cain to take good care of her! Lady Aurora, please let me go!" Gard struggled desperately, his whole face filled with desperation.

Several people around him saw him like this, thinking he was going crazy from the fire, and at the same time rushed over and held him down.

"Let me go! Let me go! I'm going to save her!"

Gard's hoarse cries tugged at the strings of the hearts of everyone present, but even so, what could be done? The fire was too big, and the water in these buckets is just a drop in the bucket for such a big fire.

Unless there was a heavy downpour at this moment or the presence of a water magician with two stars or above, it was basically a dead end.

"Sigh…"

Aurora looked at the burning house and sighed deeply. Even if she switched to the water element to extinguish the fire, it would not have had any effect in a short time.

Moreover, she knew in her heart that the fire could not be an accident; otherwise, why did it start just after Gard left the house?

On the one hand, Mrs. Cain must have noticed that Old Cain was gone. On the other hand, she was sick and didn't want to trouble Gard and the others by taking care of herself, so she might as well leave with her husband.

[Ding! a strong soul crystal has been detected, do you want to extract it?]

The system's prompt sounded, and Aurora looked around suspiciously. Why did the soul crystals suddenly appear? Could it be that an elite monster appeared and was killed?

No! This made no sense!

If elite-level monsters appeared in the town, the guards would have already sounded the alarm.

[Yes]

Aurora clicked OK, and then a warm white light flew out of the burning house and rushed into the inventory space.

[Strong soul crystallization (the soul crystallization condensed by Mrs. Cain's bright and firm feelings, which contain unwavering love in life and death)]

"..."

Looking at the luminous crystal lying quietly in the warehouse, Aurora fell silent.

"Ahh! Please, let me go! I have to save her!"

Gard, who couldn't break free, begged those who held him down, and even the people around him couldn't bear to look at him and turned their heads away.

It was hard for them to imagine that a tall and burly man would burst into tears like a child and beg so miserably, but now it really appeared before their eyes.

"Captain Gard." Aurora put her hand on his shoulder as she looked at the house that was being licked by the flames and gradually collapsing. "Mrs. Cain has left, this is her choice..."

Gard didn't utter any response. His head kept lowering as he knelt powerlessly on the ground.