The pink Gururi approached with Apolo's belongings and handed them over as soon as he arrived. With all the time in the world at his disposal, the rejuvenated noble put on his toga, but immediately realized that he had actually torn it in half, so he had to tie a knot to keep it from falling.
With the toga on and the staff in his hand, Apolo tried calling Zoe to see if she recognized him and would finally come to his call:
—Zoe, come here, I have something to tell you!—Apolo ordered, raising his cane in the air, displaying all his splendor.
—What is the mission, master?—Zoe asked from behind Apolo, causing the noble and the two pink Gururis to turn around to look at her.
—Mission? Clearly, it's a punishment: The master almost died because of your stupidity!—Aquiles shouted immediately.
—If it weren't for us, the master would have died, clearly, he's going to take away his little cane and give it to both of us!—Nicolás squeaked immediately, understanding that this was a good opportunity to undermine his opponent's image.
—What nonsense are you two saying, can't you see that the master is in perfect condition!—Zoe replied reluctantly, although her face remained expressionless as a stone.
—Enough, hairless rats, stop arguing in my presence, and don't dare to ruin my next words!—Apolo ordered, putting his hand into one of the hidden pockets in his toga to take out the bronze ring. The young noble didn't exactly remember when he had put the ring in this place or if he had directly taken the ring from his chest initially, but the important thing is that he had finally found it again.
Carefully, Apolo withdrew his hand from the pocket and showed the necklace where the rusty trinket was hanging. Unintentionally, Apolo ended up staring at the trinket in his hand for quite a while, causing the pink Gururis to wait in silence for a few seconds, which slowly and at the pace that the great god dictated turned into several minutes. Until finally, Nicolás lost patience and broke the order given by his master to insist on the matter of vital importance:
—What is Zoe's punishment?
—Yes, the punishment...—Apolo muttered, coming out of the trance he was in, and instead looked thoughtfully at the three Gururis, each the size of a child, who were anxiously awaiting his words—Your punishment, Zoe, is to hide this ring somewhere in the mansion where I can never find it, and then you must make sure that I never get this ring back, regardless of the things I tell you to do in the future.
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While Apolo found it quite easy to say those words, the truth was that he didn't really want to get rid of this ring. After all, in a sense, this rusty ring was proof that he had survived that torturous night. Besides, it was the memory of all the great and sad adventures he "had" with Helena in his dreams, even though these fantasies were bitter and false, they were an important part of his life, and the young noble was not willing to part with them. So after finishing giving the order, Apolo did not hand the ring over to Zoe and shamelessly proceeded to put the ring back into the safety of his pocket. Despite this, and to his "misfortune" when Apolo looked up from his pocket to see his three Gururis, Zoe had already magically disappeared. With concern, the young noble put his hand back into his pocket only to find out that his precious ring had disappeared: Zoe had magically taken it!
—Zoe...—Apolo wanted to say something, but then he reacted and thought: maybe it was better this way, maybe it was better to leave the past behind and get rid of the ring to start a new life. Although deep down in his heart, the noble still wanted to keep the ring, his mind reminded him that it was best to lose it and never find it again; however, his heart...
—Zoe deserves that punishment and many more!—Nicolás shouted, interrupting Apolo's thoughts with his uncomfortable voice.
—Hundreds of punishments! What happened last night should show you that only the two of us can be trusted!—Aquiles yelled, making Apolo unconsciously cover his ears.
—Enough, stop yelling, you ungrateful brats! I was meditating on something very deep and important...—Apolo complained, but to his dismay, he had lost the thread of his inner conversation, and now there was only one thought causing a carnival in his head: By my ancestors, I finally got rid of that damn trinket!
While Apolo meditated on that phrase in a thousand different ways in his inner world, Zoe appeared again, causing an immediate reaction from the two pink Gururis.
—What is the next punishment for the traitor?—Aquiles and Nicolás asked in unison, showing that they had been discussing in private what to say when Zoe's return came.
—There are no more punishments, no more strange objectives given by a dead man, and finally, there are no more Helenas or bizarre dreams to be scared of. Now, there's only one thing left to do: buy ducks and become the greatest duck archmage this miserable empire has ever known!—Apolo replied with an ironic smile, proudly looking at his gigantic mansion with his arms outstretched to the sky.
Finally, Apolo knew that it was time to leave the pages of the sad past behind in order to welcome with open arms the blank pages of his bright future.
And with that, the writer realized that his story had finally concluded. As for the readers, they understood that it was time to jump into their next magical adventure, hiding this book in a dusty and secret shelf in the infinite library of their memories.
--------------♫♬♪♩𝄞----------The end, this tale has come to an end--------------♫♬♪♩𝄞----------