After Yang and Yin finished their meal of the unfortunate Crimson Flame Bull, half a day had already passed. The two prepared to rest, waiting for their son to contact them, completely unaware that the communication orb had been lost. It makes sense—who would dare to steal a communication orb from dragons during their slumber? While a long-range communication orb holds significant value, anyone bold enough to rob a dragon would likely prefer to steal treasure. Only someone foolish would take something as seemingly useless as a communication orb.

Meanwhile, in the unknown village, through polite conversation with the bard Barok (or at least what I considered polite—poor Barok was more likely fearful), I managed to glean some information. Unfortunately, it was of little use to me—yes, utterly useless.

The continent we’re on is called Oran, a landmass spanning over 20,000 kilometers in both length and width. Although the continent is not a perfect rectangle but rather an irregular shape, it’s still useful to divide it into the four cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west.

Barok’s country is called Indarin, one of the oldest nations on this continent, located roughly in the western region. As a bard officially registered with the kingdom, Barok does possess some magical abilities. However, more importantly, bards can use their songs to produce certain effects. For example, the spell he used to cleanse the curse from Steel’s gold coin was a purification song—akin to purification magic—that can remove many negative effects. Due to the long time it takes to sing these songs, they aren’t as practical in combat as a wizard’s instant-cast spells, but in non-combat situations, they’re quite effective. One of the bard’s duties is to travel across the land, using their songs to cleanse areas afflicted by plagues or diseases. This is one of the reasons why bards are respected.

Barok wasn’t a thief, and in truth, Steel didn’t care much about a few coins. Initially, Steel was a little upset that Barok had erased the tracking spell he’d placed on the gold coins, but after Barok's polite explanation, Steel generously allowed him to keep the coins.

Personally, I found the whole situation laughable. After all, Steel hadn’t even glanced at the other treasures scattered on the ground—why would he be concerned about a few gold coins?

The sun was setting, and twilight was giving way to night. At that moment, Barok asked, “Is there anything else you’d like to ask, sirs? If not, I’ll be heading to the next village. I’ll also record the events here and turn them into a song to spread across the land, warning people not to foolishly touch treasures that don’t belong to them, lest they anger powerful beings.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Steel didn’t like the first part of Barok’s statement, but the last part made him quite happy. With a generous wave, he said, “No problem, I don’t care about these treasures. However, those who dare steal from me deserve a little punishment.”

A little punishment... I couldn’t help but silently comment on this in my mind. However, since human greed had led to their own destruction, and even the bard had no intention of blaming Steel, as the victim, I had no reason to criticize him either.

“It’s nearly nightfall. Are you sure you want to set out now?” I asked out of curiosity. How exactly do bards travel the world—by walking everywhere?

Barok, somewhat proud, responded, “It’s no problem. I can use levitation magic. I should be able to fly to the next village by eleven o’clock.”

“Alright then. If you insist on traveling at night, let’s part ways here. I hope we meet again someday,” I said, seeing his determination and choosing not to delay him further. After all, no feast lasts forever.

Barok bowed gratefully and then walked out of the village.

“What do you plan to do next?” I asked.

Steel’s earlier confident expression turned gloomy. “Uncle, I don’t know. What should I do?”

“Do you still want to find your parents first?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s figure out how to locate them. After all, even if I were to go to the Cloud Nation now, it might not fulfill my purpose. Given my current amnesia, seeking out your parents might be the best solution.”

“But I really don’t know how to find them,” Steel said, a little dejected. “After all, I’ve just reached adulthood...”

I thought carefully for a moment and realized the most important task now was to find the lost communication orb. No one would have stolen it, so how did it go missing? That’s the critical question we need to answer.

I asked seriously, “Where did you keep your communication orb? How did it go missing?”

Steel thought for a moment and replied, “Before I fell asleep, I was in a mountain range not far from here. Usually, I store important items inside my belly... but when I woke up, the orb was gone, along with all the treasures I kept inside. Not just the orb.”

“You’ve already searched the place where you slept but didn’t find anything?”

“Actually, what’s strange is that I kept everything inside my belly. It’s impossible for anyone to steal from me. Plus, I cast a powerful tracking spell on it, so even if I lost it, I should still be able to sense it. But oddly, I can’t feel the tracking spell at all. It’s as if I never had the orb in the first place.”

“I see. Let me think about it.” Even with my fragmented memories, I hoped I could suddenly recall something that might help Steel.

Seeing that I was deep in thought, Steel didn’t disturb me. He wandered around, searching for a place to stay the night, as he knew humans typically preferred to sleep indoors.

Meanwhile, I continued to struggle to recover more of my lost memories.

(To be continued)