Family...
When Mary heard this familiar yet strange word, she felt a little dazed for a moment.
It was not until a few seconds later that she slowly remembered that she did tell her teacher her decision a few days ago — she wanted to see her family.
The young female mage pursed her lips and looked at her teacher hesitantly. "They are..."
"They are in the living room upstairs." Daniel stared at Mary with his yellowed eyes. "You better wash up before you go up — especially your hair."
"O... okay."
Mary hurriedly agreed and then left the basement where the immersion pod was placed. She returned to the first floor and entered the public bathroom. She reached out and turned on the water valve. She watched the clear water flow from the magic pump flowing out of the metal pipe. The sound of the water gradually calmed her down.
Her family.
She could no longer remember what it was like when she left that home. An ignorant little girl, following the older children to "explore" the mountains. At night, she was separated from her companions and accidentally stepped into the mage's ancient tower. Since then, her life had changed and she had cut off all contact with her family. Now, more than ten years had passed. Her childhood memories had long been blurred and weathered. The only impression she could still remember about her "home" seemed to be a low and leaky old house, a dim lantern hanging at the door, and those bedtime stories used to scare children.
Unfortunately, many of those frightening bedtime stories — about the black wizards, about the castle, about the monsters and magic servants in the mountains — had become reality in the following ten years of her life.
The water flowed. Mary scooped up the cold water and slapped it on her face.
She could no longer remember what her parents looked like, but she still wanted to see them.
After leaving the bathroom, the young female mage gradually calmed down. She saw that her teacher was already standing in the corridor, looking at her expressionlessly. Seeing her appear, the old mage in a black robe just nodded and silently walked towards the living room.
Mary stepped forward and followed closely behind.
When they came to the door of the living room, a servant immediately stepped forward and pushed the door open for the master.
Mary saw the scene in the living room.
The fireplace was burning quietly on one side of the living room. The red light of the fire shone on the copper shelf nearby. A dark red long sofa was placed in the middle of the living room. An old couple wearing dirty gray coats, with grizzled hair and wrinkles on their faces, were sitting on the sofa.
They sat very carefully, with most of their bodies outside the sofa, as if they were afraid of dirtying the luxurious furnishings here.
— — It seems that Teacher only brought her parents, but not her elder sister.
The old couple on the sofa also saw the person who appeared at the door. They stood up almost instantly and showed a respectful and flattering smile to Daniel. Then they saw Mary standing behind Daniel. At this moment, the family that had been separated for more than ten years finally met.
Mary stared at the old couple. She watched as their murky eyes turned and landed on her robe. She watched as they slowly revealed an expression of humility and reverence. She watched as they slowly bowed.
This series of actions was like a conditioned reflex.
"Honorable Master Mage." She heard the couple address her as such.
Mary was at a loss. She heard Daniel say coldly, "This is your daughter. There's no need to salute."
Only then did the old couple straighten up and look at Mary with a trace of surprise. However, there was still an obvious trace of nervousness in the surprise. Mary didn't know what she was feeling at this moment. Her lips moved a few times before she finally squeezed out a voice from between her lips, "Father, mother …"
She used a very standard, commoner's pronunciation and used a more solemn, upper-class form of address. Because no matter what her life was like in the past ten years, her teacher was always from the Imperial City, a high-ranked mage with outstanding knowledge and education. Under her teacher's tutelage, she did not learn any other way of speaking.
The habits of the countryside that she was exposed to in her childhood had long been blurred in her mind.
After hearing Mary's address, the old couple seemed to be stunned for a moment. Then they nodded cautiously and repeated dryly, "Good, good, very good …"
After everyone sat down on the sofa, the living room quickly fell into an awkward silence.
Mary tried hard to think of what she should say to ease the atmosphere. It took her a long time to organize a complete sentence, "Is everything … okay at home?"
"Okay, okay … we have enough food." The hunchbacked man nodded repeatedly. "Are you okay? Do you have enough food? "
"… I don't have to worry about food and clothing," Mary said awkwardly. "Are you … still living in the countryside?"
"Where else can we go?" The wrinkled old woman said, "The house and land are all over there, and there are livestock."
"How did you get here?"
"This master mage sent someone to pick us up." The old woman glanced at Daniel cautiously. "We took a carriage, a very big carriage."
She then looked at Mary's robe, and a trace of reverence appeared in her eyes. It was as if this reverence had been deeply engraved in her bones, so much so that whenever she saw something similar, even if she knew that the person in front of her was her blood relative, she couldn't help but feel nervous. "You are now a mage …"
"Yes, I am about to be promoted to the intermediate level …" Mary said, but she was not sure if the old couple in front of her could understand the meaning of intermediate level.
"Good, you … you are promising." The hunchbacked man nodded again with a flattering smile. He glanced at Daniel next to him and then looked away. "You were taken away by the master mage. This is your luck. Your sister and brother are not as lucky as you …"
Lucky … Mary suddenly felt that she did not know how to face this word.
The topic of conversation seemed to have ended very quickly, or rather, the topic did not exist in the first place.
Mary felt more and more uncomfortable. She believed that the old couple in front of her felt the same.
They were strangers, related by blood, but separated by thousands of miles. They sat in a place that seemed to be very close to each other, trying to talk about something that could make both of them feel comfortable, but they could not even pretend.
Soon after the second awkward silence, the old woman began to look at the door frequently. Her husband also became more and more uncomfortable. They did not know how to hide their emotions properly. Mary could see through their thoughts and feelings at a glance.
After sitting in this' luxurious' place for so long, the old couple from the countryside could no longer sit still. They didn't feel any joy from reuniting with their daughter from Mary. They had only come here because of the orders of a mage. Every minute they spent here was a torture.
Occasionally, they would sneak a glance at Daniel, and there was even a trace of pleading in their eyes.
Mary stood up.
"Let's stop here," she said in a low voice. "I … still have some magic experiments to do."
"Oh, oh, okay." The old woman stood up immediately. "Then … then you go do your thing."
"Are you going to stay here for a few days?"
"No, no." The old woman hurriedly waved her hand. "The animals at home need someone to take care of. We don't feel comfortable leaving them to others for too long."
Mary did not say anything more. She just nodded slightly, and then left the room as if she was escaping.
It was not until she hid in the nearby side hall that she realized that she had recklessly left her mentor behind. If this had happened a year ago, she would have been severely punished.
Just as Mary realized her mistake, the door of the side hall suddenly opened, and Daniel stepped in.
The old mage in a black robe just looked at Mary quietly and said casually, "I've arranged for them to rest somewhere else for a day. I'll send them back tomorrow.
"If you don't want to see them again, you don't have to during this time.
"After that, I'll send someone to take care of their lives."
Mary lowered her head and said in a low voice, "… Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Mentor, am I … not very good?" Mary bravely raised her head and looked at her mentor. "They're my parents …"
Daniel calmly interrupted her. "They didn't want to come at first. It was only when I sent an apprentice to show his identity as a mage and gave them a reward that they were willing to come and meet you."
Mary was a little confused. "Reward …"
"This is no one's fault." Daniel calmly said.
"Mentor, did you foresee this situation long ago?"
"Yes." Daniel said without any change in his expression. "But this is your own choice, and it's also a situation that you have to face, so I didn't interfere."
Mary bit her lip, then lowered her head and looked at the robe she was wearing, as well as the silver badge near the collar of the robe that represented her rank as a mage.
It was not only the separation of more than ten years that caused the estrangement.
"Mentor, between extraordinary and ordinary people … is the gap really that big?"
"In most places, it is."
Mary lowered her head and did not speak for a long time.
Daniel turned around and left the room, not wanting to disturb his apprentice again.
He still had the mission that his master gave him to do.
…
Oldenheim, a dark alley in the east district. A man with a messy beard, deep eye sockets, and an ordinary appearance was staggering through the alley.
The man gave off a strong smell of alcohol, and he was carrying a cloth bag with food in his hand. His hair seemed to have not been combed for a long time, and the shabby clothes he was wearing was the standard of living of most people in this district.
The winter sky always darkened early, and the dusky sky had already enveloped Oldenheim. Sparse magic crystal street lamps lit up from afar, illuminating the old and dilapidated streets in the east district. There were few pedestrians on the streets. The people who went to work in the factories had not returned home yet. Occasionally, people would appear on the streets. If they were not suspicious unemployed people, then they were low-level prostitutes with heavy makeup who had just come to the streets.
The drunk man was walking on the street. Suddenly, an inexplicable palpitation came to his heart, and the man in the shabby coat stopped.
It seemed that he was just holding on to the wall next to him because of the discomfort of being drunk. His right hand quietly pressed on his waist, and quietly held a sharp needle made of gold in his hand.
There was a glimmer of magic on the surface of the needle.
A tramp with a messy beard walked past him. When they passed by each other, the tramp suddenly turned around and looked at him.
In the eyes of the drunk man, the tramp suddenly twisted and turned into a figure in a black robe, whose face was hidden in the shadows.
A voice came into his ears, "Meet at No.14 of Black Iron Alley."
The drunkenness in the man's eyes had completely disappeared. He quietly put away the golden needle and felt another consciousness quietly beating in his brain. He changed his direction and said in a low voice, "Yes, Bishop."
The man turned around and left the alley. On the road he walked, there was no tramp with a messy beard, as if it was just an illusion from the beginning to the end.
…
A dazzling light cut through the darkness, illuminating a plain shrouded in dark clouds. The plain was barren and dry. The desolate ruins of buildings and plant debris were buried by the wind and sand. The endless wind continued to blow across the whole world. In this ruined world, countless shadows were trekking on the plain.
Their expressions were numb, and their eyes were blank. It was as if this trek had no destination and no end.
In the distance of the plain, at the end of the light, there stood a splendid city. The city was towering and magnificent, like the perfect city in the legends.
In the sky full of dark clouds, two figures suddenly emerged.
One of them was wearing a white dress and holding an illusory lantern in her hand. The other figure was tall and thin, with black hair and a gentle monocle.
"Archbishop Selena," the elegant man wearing a monocle said to the woman holding the lantern beside him. His tone was slightly respectful. "This area is the largest overflow projection found so far. It is also the only overflow projection found so far that is completely out of the City of Dreams and generated in the 'imaginary zone.'"
"It looks like a ruin, a ruin that has existed for god knows how many years." Selena Geer frowned. "All the overflow projections showed normal cities or villages, and our hysteresis has successfully controlled the flow of time in Sandbox No. 1 to synchronize with the real world. In theory, there should not be such an area in the sandbox that has been deserted for so long … Archbishop Yuri, what do you think?"
"Perhaps, the historical process in Sandbox No. 1 has been separated, and time is no longer linear," Archbishop Yuri said thoughtfully. "Or perhaps the world inside it has expanded to such a large scale that some areas are functioning normally, while others have been deserted for hundreds of years."
"… Unfortunately, this is just an overflow projection. All the interference we do here can't affect the operation of Sandbox No. 1."
Selena Geer said softly. She looked at the plain shrouded in darkness below. After a moment of silence, she gently shook the lantern in her hand.
The entire overflow projection dissipated silently in the shaking of the lantern, returning to the basic black and white grid lines and the gray fog that shrouded the sky.
"Summon Daniel next week," Selena said to the elegant man beside her. "I want to talk to him personally."
"So soon?" Archbishop Yuri was a little surprised.
"Yes, faster than expected. That Daniel seems to have noticed some problems and is conducting some investigations in private. It just so happens that we can talk to him."
(Oh my!!!!)
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