Chapter 222: This Night (Part 1)

  "Just this one night, you damn old man, trying to wear me out to death?" Ethan looked up at the sky full of stars, and at that sickle-like new crescent moon, and murmured.

  The Royal Capital rarely had such a clear night sky; the countless stars looked as if someone had crushed giant gems and scattered them across the night sky, and the crescent moon hung there quietly, as if trying to hook something it couldn't grasp.

  The Royal Capital was noisy, but at least the Magic Academy was relatively quiet, and the top of the Grand Cathedral was even more so. With a half-empty pot of wine beside him, he sat alone and quietly, facing the sky full of starlight and the moon. It was very quiet, very leisurely.

  The agreement with Sedros was over, and he had finally regained his freedom. It had been a long time since he had been this leisurely. How long? A year or two? But it seemed this leisure would last for only this one night.

  What reassured him was that Sandro had returned safely from Diya Valley, and that Regiment Commander Roland and Sophia never mentioned the matter of the true face of the thing in the dungeon they wished to know about, and he himself no longer had to act strangely. They didn't say what had actually happened, just busied themselves with preparing for his departure tomorrow.

  "Kid, although I know it's a bit unfair to push all this onto you, this is all I can do. And I don't know if you're helping me or I'm helping you, in any case... you're on your own." Sandro looked at him inexplicably at the end, and said this with a strange expression.

  Perhaps he really was on his own. If everything could go smoothly, after taking that thing to the designated place and storing it safely, perhaps all these disputes would come to a major end. But how far was this road? How long, and how long could he walk it?

  He didn't know. He didn't know how far or how long the road was. In any case, he would walk it step by step. This was not the helplessness of having no other choice, but rather the knowledge of what to do.

  Death, separation, the weight of responsibility, loneliness, loss... these could all make one feel terror and subconsciously want to escape. But what was gained after facing them calmly was a sense of security, a feeling of autonomy that allowed one to face one's own path step by step, a somewhat lonely, secure, and autonomous feeling.

  Just this one night of leisure? A slight drunkenness made his consciousness a bit blurry. There was nothing on the top of this hundred-meter-tall cathedral, only himself and the boundless night sky above. The night wind brushed gently. The night sky was him, and he was the night sky. The starlight was so brilliant it didn't seem like starlight, but the cells within his own body singing loudly in the sky.

  Comfortable. And also lonely.

  Even with his departure imminent, he didn't want to chat with anyone or spend more time with them. Instead, he came alone to this place a hundred meters high to drink under the starry sky. He didn't know if it was because those responsibilities and feelings were fundamentally impossible to share with anyone, or because he had long since grown accustomed to this kind of loneliness at some unknown time.

  He subconsciously touched the small urn he carried at his waist. Inside was the person who had accompanied him the most and given him the most warmth during this period of time. But even so, the two of them barely knew about each other's past experiences. What they shared was only a warmth that seemed to be that of fellow travelers, yet also of mutual dependence. And in the end, she died because of him.

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  Sophia. The hope that had once occupied the most place in his heart turned out to be just a longing as illusory as a flower in a mirror or the moon in the water. She now had too many responsibilities. The two of them were ultimately just drifting further and further apart on two different paths.

  All things must come to an end... Or, are people lonely from the very beginning?

  Ethan, lying on his back, took another big swig of wine. This was the strongest, most pungent wine; it was like a ball of fire being poured down his throat and searing his chest and abdomen. There was a kind of cathartic pleasure, like a full-throated roar.

  Footsteps approached. Someone had actually climbed up to the roof of the Grand Cathedral. Ethan looked back, and in the vast starlight and moonlight, he saw a tall figure walking over, a head of blonde hair flying valiantly in the night wind.

  "You dare to sit and drink on the sacred and solemn Grand Cathedral?" Talise glared at him as she walked over. "You were hard to find."

  "What do you want with me?" Ethan glanced sideways at the female Temple Knight. To be honest, he had almost forgotten about her. The female knight had played almost no role in this entire incident. First, she was captured by Javi at the very beginning. Then, after being released, she failed to intercept Javi and just waited foolishly at the Magic Academy until the incident was over. And he had heard that she even revealed her identity as a Temple Knight and argued with the High Priests, almost coming to blows. In the end, it was only because Regiment Commander Roland intervened that she wasn't captured again and thrown into the dungeon.

  Talise walked to Ethan's side and looked down at him, asking in one breath: "Tell me, what on earth is going on here? What exactly does Bishop Javi want? What did you do to him? How come I sensed another very strong dark magic fluctuation coming from the Imperial Palace at that time..."

  Ethan didn't answer her, just lazily patted the spot beside him and said, "Don't just stand there, aren't you tired? Sit down."

  "Don't try to get friendly with me, I'm asking you..."

  "You're blocking my view of the moon."

  "...You..."

  Talise glared at him for a moment, then finally, very reluctantly, sat down beside him. She asked again, "Are the High Priests here at the Magic Academy all senile old fools? They don't know anything when you ask, and they're stubborn as hell. After that guy Javi was captured, they actually blamed everything on His Majesty the Pope, even insinuating that I was some kind of accomplice sent by His Majesty the Pope. I almost cut him down with my sword... Tell me, what on earth is going on here?"

  "What's going on..." Ethan repeated dazedly, smiling bitterly. "I don't even fucking know what's going on..."

  "You... then tell me piece by piece, what was in this Grand Cathedral at that time? I heard that Bishop Javi sealed this place off and went inside several times, who knows what for, and then the Paladin Order sealed it off the next day. Asking those guys is useless too, they don't know anything. I'm sure something strange is going on."

  Ethan didn't speak, just lifted the wine pot and took another drink. Just as Talise was about to lose her temper, he finally answered lazily: "...It's better for you to know less."

  "You..."

  "You should just go back to Celeste. You don't have to repay my favor. How about that? A good deal, right?" Ethan drank the last of the wine in the pot, smiling bitterly. "Only now do I realize, it's better to know less about some things..."

  "I must know." Talise's voice was the complete opposite of Ethan's, resonant and forceful, as if her tone alone could cut through gold and jade.

  "Then stay here and find out for yourself. I'm leaving tomorrow. But I advise you not to be too curious, and not to pry too much. Since they could turn a Cardinal into a crippled idiot and send him back to Celeste, I believe they wouldn't mind sending back a crippled, idiotic Temple Knight as well."

  "You..." Talise seemed to want to get angry, but then seemed to feel that he was right, so she just looked at Ethan and asked again, "Where are you going?"

  "None of your business."

  "I'm going with you."

  "Huh?"

  "I. Am. Going. With. You." Talise stared at Ethan, saying each word with a more determined tone than before, as if she wanted to cut and shatter him with her words. "I can feel that what you're going to do is definitely related to everything that happened here. Since there's nothing more to be learned here, I'm going to follow you. If you won't tell me, I'll see with my own eyes and find out what's really going on."

  "You're going to follow me all the time?" Ethan asked, staring blankly at Talise.

  The Temple Knight nodded resolutely, repeating in an oath-like tone: "Yes, I'm going to follow you all the time. I'm telling you, don't even think about running away. My master taught me tracking skills; not even a rabbit in the wilderness could escape me..."

  Ethan smiled.

  A very soft, very gentle, very warm smile. He felt he had never smiled like this before. It felt as if he wasn't smiling, but that a very gentle, very warm flower was blooming on his face.

  Although he knew that the words from her mouth didn't mean that, but at this moment, in this half-drunk, half-awake haze, in a loneliness where it felt as if he was the only person in the world, to be able to hear someone say such a sentence to him so sincerely and with such determination, the warmth that seeped out from the deepest part of his heart and surged up was truly incomparably comforting.

  "You... you... what are you smiling so strangely for..." Talise's voice had softened a lot, and she looked at Ethan with a strange, puzzled, and hesitant expression. Although she had never seen anyone smile at her like this, she could vaguely feel the emotion within this smile. Many things do not require experience or learning, especially the innate things between people.