38 - Chapter 38

Nevertheless, Siegfried was seen later. Roth told him to hide in the woods, but out of guilt he went to visit Tarina.

There were still otherworldly elements running through Tarina, so she sensed Siegfried from a long distance away.

She ran out again like crazy, and Charles and a group of knights chased after her nervously. She pushed aside the bushes and walked into an open forest clearing. The people who followed her were so surprised that they held their breath -there was a silvery unicorn standing in the clearing!

The unicorn bowed its head to the girl, as if bowing to salute, or bowing its head to apologize. Tarina staggered over and leaned her head on the unicorn’s body. The unicorn slowly lowered his body and lay down on the grass, letting the girl relax on his neck.

When asked about this moment, Charles recalled that Tarina and the unicorn were surrounded by light spots. They were talking in a way that he did not understand. The unicorn’s eyes were full of tears and when the tears fell on Tarina’s forehead, her breathing gradually recovered, and her face turned from pale to ruddy…

When she stood up again, Tarina had recovered her former health. She curtseyed to the unicorn and returned to Charles with light steps.

The unicorn also stood up and said in human language and voice: “It’s nice to see that you are safe, lovely children. I want to apologize to you, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I can’t make up for those injuries. I’ll repent for it all my life.”

After speaking, he turned around and went deep into the forest. A few knights followed curiously to pull away the leaves, but they couldn’t see him leaving.

No one understand what the unicorn meant by ‘repair’ and ‘repent’. There have been rumors of forest guardians in this area since ancient times. Maybe the unicorn is an overly responsible mountain god? Maybe he thought he didn’t protect this area well, so he apologized for it in tears? In the end, no one knew what was going on.

After returning to Silver Falcon, Tarina suddenly felt hungry. She was too weak these days and had not eaten anything. The eastern sky had just turned white, and it was not time for breakfast, so she had to go to the kitchen to get something to eat. Tarina didn’t want to bother the tired maid, so she decided to find something to eat by herself. Charles was worried about letting his newly recovered sister run around alone, so he insisted on following.

At this time, Roth was sitting at the long table in the kitchen, humming and eating hot muffins dipped in fresh cream. When Tarina opened the door, a candle at the end of the long table was blown out by the cold wind and the room went suddenly dark, but the girl moved her fingers and the fire suddenly rose again.

Roth had a muffin in his mouth and looked at her in surprise, and Charles who was following her was also startled. Tarina blushed and asked them to keep it secret. She had just learned to do it.

The lord unicorn taught her some tips to help her turn her illness into a talent.

*****

Burris was sleeping soundly but was suddenly awakened by a loud noise.

The wooden door was kicked open, and the latch and the door frame fell off together. Roth stood stiffly at the door, maintaining a posture as if he were saving someone in a fire. Fortunately, it was already dawn, and Burris could see the person who was coming when he tilted his head, otherwise he would almost cast a spell to defend himself.

“What are you doing?” The mage sat up and put on his clothes, stroking his chest and taking a few deep breaths. “Fortunately, I am twenty years old…If I was still eighty-four years old, I would have had a heart attack just now…”

Roth stepped over the remains of the wooden door unceremoniously, and naturally sat on the side of Burris’ bed. “I passed your room and heard you talking in sleep, mixed with a very painful moan. You must have had a nightmare. I knocked on the door a few times, you didn’t hear it, and you continued to hum, so I just…”

“My lord, the fright you have caused me is more serious than a nightmare.” Burris leaned on the head of the bed, not yet recovered.

Roth didn’t speak, just stared at him. Burris waited for a while, and couldn’t help but ask: “What’s the matter with you?”

“I’m waiting for you to continue sleeping,” Roth grinned, “I know you haven’t rested enough, so go ahead and sleep. This time I’ll stay here, you won’t have nightmares again.”

“My lord, you woke me up, completely destroyed the door of my room, and you are still sitting next to me, staring at me, how could I continue to sleep?”

“You have to learn to get used to it,” Roth said frankly, “Of course I don’t mean to get used to being scared awake… This was my fault; I will reflect on it. I mean, you have to learn to get used to being stared by me. The time we spend together was not enough to get along with each other. I will definitely stare at you in the future, and you are not used to it.”

Burris clearly felt that his intelligence had temporarily fallen again. He looked at Roth blankly, unable to speak a word, his language ability seemed to have been destroyed along with the wooden door.

Seeing that the mage didn’t mean to continue to sleep, Roth took advantage of the opportunity and chatted with him. “What did you dream of?”

“What did I say while I was asleep?”

“I didn’t understand most of it. There seemed to be a ‘roof’ or something? It sounded uncomfortable anyway.”

Burris recalled that the last picture in his mind before he was frightened was a tornado…

He furrowed his eyebrows. “It seems I dreamed of Hilda’s Academy. I was a teacher there when I was young. There was an accident in the Academy, and it was caused by a warlock… Maybe it’s because we are having trouble with warlocks again. That’s why I dreamt of the teaching institute.”

“Occasionally, they also cooperated with some warlocks to help students study elements and the like. Once, a warlock accidentally overturned the roof of the auditorium, and the teachers protected the students in time without causing serious consequences, but the follow-up of the matter is quite a headache… A student was injured, but she was the prince’s fiancée of the Kingdom of Sandenia. So, the more the matter developed, the more troublesome it became. The Academy, the city lord where the Academy was located, the state envoy, the warlock himself and his teacher…Everyone had their own grievances, and they were constantly blaming others. The normal teaching order of the school was seriously affected… I was upset and lost sleep every day.”

Roth loves to hear this kind of thing. “What happened later?”

“The Sandenia’s people wanted to sentence the warlock. The City Lord wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to reduce the power of the Academy. The Warlocks thought that the mages should take more responsibility. The mages felt that the city Lord was weak and incompetent…In short, it was a mess. In the end, though, things were gradually settled. There’s nothing to say about the solution. It was just negotiation over and over again. In the process, some mages took the opportunity to put forward suggestions, hoping that the warlocks would build a self-discipline system like the mages, so as to facilitate the exchange of experience among colleagues, and also to gain the trust and understanding of the outside world…Of course, the warlocks would object, they despised the system. They believe that spellcasters should be free, not restricted by bureaucrats and the secular world. In their words, the mages are trading dignity for profit. It is not enough to sell their own people, but they also want to involve the warlocks…”

Roth nodded. “It’s true that warlocks love to be alone, and they are even more ostracized than mages… It sounds like a lot of trouble. But you weren’t a school manager at that time, were you? You just had to watch the fun. Why did you have insomnia every day?”

“Well…because I was still involved.” Burris said. “The warlock was right. Many wizards just wanted to take the opportunity to restrain the warlocks. They are too free, and the wizards always have thought they are unstable factors.… I also held this view at the time. One day, the warlocks mentioned me suddenly at the negotiation meeting, and they investigated my identity—I came from the north of the Shiva River and used to be the apprentice of the necromancer Yriel.”

“So what?”

“That’s a stain that I can’t wash off.” Burris shook his head. “Actually, everyone thinks that I didn’t want to ‘wash’ it at all, because I have been studying necromancy and never gave up learning from Yriel knowledge.”

Roth quietly moved his butt and moved closer and closer to Burris. “You haven’t changed your name or surname, and you can live freely. That means no one has condemned you.”

Burris said: “Actually, it is not that… After separating from you that year, I did not dare to go back to the north for many years, did not dare to enter Alder, did not dare to approach North Star City… until I participated in the expedition to save the Gem Forest. The Free City State Fesisit and the Arcane Federation pledged me together, and North Star City completely revoked my wanted status. Many people thought that I was still a dangerous person, that I was ambitious, and that I was mediating among the powerful, that I found a few backers for myself…that’s what those mages thought. They pointed out that since the Academy allows people like me to teach and the city allows people like me to stay, the city lord and wizards have no position to supervise ‘Dangerous spellcasting behavior’.”

Roth covertly held the mage’s shoulders. “What happened later? Did they fire you?”

“No. Later, the Academy, the city lord, and the Sandenians reached a reconciliation and made some compromises with each other, and the matter ended like this. In the end, it seemed that there was nothing wrong with the warlocks… after the reconciliation, at the tea party, the two warlocks were not invited at all. Of course, they did not invite me either. I was not important at that time.”

“Uh, that said, the accusations of the warlocks didn’t seem to affect you.”

“No,” Burris said. “In retrospect, I also felt that my insomnia was worthless. But when I was in that situation, I couldn’t be unaffected.”

Roth thought for a while. “I’ve seen such a statement in the book. When you are worried about something, usually things will turn around after three days. When you look back on the fourth day, you feel that your worry was unnecessary.”

“It’s almost what it means, but not necessarily the standard ‘three days’…” Now Burris’s brain didn’t seem to be very useful. He lowered his head and unconsciously twisted the cloak buttons, but he didn’t even notice Roth’s arm on his shoulders. “But thinking about it carefully, this is not right. The person who said this is kind, and he wants to make people who are worried stronger, but…as long as things happen, it is impossible. It ends without a trace. Whether it is a good or a bad thing. Even if there is a turning point, even if the matter is over, it will still leave a mark on you. You can only continue walking with these marks.”

Roth worked hard to figure out what Burris meant. The mage spoke too implicitly, as if it was embarrassing to say something straight.

Roth asked: “Then…the school didn’t fire you, but everyone excluded you?”

“Not really.” Burris smiled bitterly. “Can you imagine this situation… No one hates you, everyone can accept you, but in fact no one will really approach you. From then on I have understood, as long as I’m ‘Burris Gershaw’, I will always be like this.”

These words made Roth a little happy. “So you are not Burris anymore, you are Kreve. Now I’m close to you.”

He imitated the implicit expression of the mage. “Humans are as phototaxis as bugs. People can accept you because you shine… I mean your abilities and achievements, not the top of your head. People don’t really get close to you because you have the shadow cast by the White Tower of the Icefield. They like your light and hate your shadow, so they are neither willing to stay away from you nor close to you.”

Burris was silent for a while and asked: “My lord, don’t be angry with me… Did you copy the romance novels you just said, or did you think about it yourself?”

“Of course I thought it myself! Why do you think I copied it?”

“Because… It’s nothing. It just was unexpected.” Burris couldn’t say why. Roth has always liked to analyze others, but his words used to be more straightforward and shameless, but now his words suddenly became aesthetically beautiful.