On the gravel road, a boy and a girl walked side by side. The bright moonlight cast a long shadow behind them.
"Yes, our hometown..." Erica felt a little emotional.
Almost ten years ago, in Laien, the capital of the Kingdom of Holy Flame, she and Colin detected wizard talent. Later, together with qualified children from other cities and countries, they were brought to this island by the mysterious and powerful Lapp wizard.
Ten years...just passed by like this.
"I really don't know if I will have a chance to go back again." Erica looked up at the white full moon, her golden hair falling from her young and fair face, hanging softly on the back of her head.
"...There is a chance." Colin responded in a low voice, his face a little pale, and he was trying hard to digest the memory.
When Erica heard this, she forced a smile. She only thought that Colin was comforting her. There were too many dangers on the sea, and there was no way to return to Laien without becoming an official wizard.
"Do you miss Len? Colin." She continued to ask while looking at the full moon.
"I miss you." Colin nodded slightly and exhaled softly. He finally recovered and his head no longer hurt.
He raised his head and looked at the moon, which was very similar to his previous life, and added: "...I miss you very much."
Ten years ago, the original owner was a little over 7 years old, born in a middle-class family, with parents who loved him, and a two-year-old sister.
In his memory, the original owner, like Erica, has always missed Lai En very much.
And he... also missed the earth.
Although I have just traveled through time, my homesickness is much stronger than when I traveled far away from Earth.
The gravel road under your feet, the black stone building beside you, the specious full moon in the sky... everything is strange.
He clearly and clearly realized that he was now in a foreign land separated by countless parallel universes...
As for Erica and the original owner, there is actually no special relationship. They didn't even know each other when they came to En.
But later on, because they both came from Laien, they had a natural closeness due to their identities, and because they lived in adjacent stone houses in the wizard's house, they were now considered familiar good friends.
Erica came to see him, and it was on the way back to the stone house where they lived.
"Colin... If possible, I would like to ask you something." Erica retracted her gaze from the moon and turned to Colin. Her blond hair beside her ears slid with gravity, covering her small ears again.
"If...I mean if, if you can become an official wizard in the future and return to Laien, I hope you can greet my parents for me..."
Facing Erica's expectant gaze, Colin moved his lips slightly, as if he wanted to explain something, but in the end he just nodded.
The two walked for a while, and Colin said:
"The dark forest... is too dangerous. Even if you can't advance in three months, you will just go to live outside in the gathering place. There is no need..."
"But then there would be no hope of returning home!"
Erica wrinkled her nose and interrupted Colin,
"On the entire island, only the Lapp School has official wizards, and only the Lapp School has the ability to train official wizards...
Moreover, if you stay in the school, even if you cannot become an official wizard, you still have the hope of following the school's recruitment fleet back to Laien every five years."
She sighed again and continued: "If you go outside and become a wild wizard, there will be no hope.
You also know that after the assessment is over, we will no longer be protected by the school, and those wild wizards on the periphery will have already formed gangs.
It was already difficult for junior apprentices like us to survive in the past, and it was simply impossible to do other things."
Erica's face was full of loneliness, and she whispered: "...I have no other choice but to try my luck in the dark forest, Colin."
Colin was silent, and he could tell that Erica had thought about it very carefully.
So is the original owner. The original owner has also thought about the things that Erica has thought about... They all miss home the same.
"I have no other choice. I can only go to the dark forest and try my best!" Erica said again, her calm tone revealing determination, as if she was cheering herself up, and then added:
"Anyway, I won't sell my body to stay in the school like Anne did."
At the mention of this, she couldn't help but shudder.
Colin also felt discomfort reflexively, and in his mind, Annie's hands and feet, which had been replaced by several grey-black greasy tentacles, appeared in his mind.
For wizards, selling one's body is really selling one's body, not just that aspect.
Even if the senior apprentices you meet are slightly better, they are still just playthings, and the gains outweigh the losses.
The two walked in silence for a while, and soon arrived at the residential area.
The residential area for junior apprentices is divided separately. On the westernmost side of the entire school perimeter, there is a square area with hundreds of single-family stone houses scattered at intervals.
The stone house of the two is on the far left side of the entire area, and Colin's stone house is closer.
When they reached the door of the stone house where Colin lived, the two stopped.
After a moment of silence, Erica said:
"Colin..."
boom!!
A sudden violent explosion accompanied by a strange scream came from a distance, interrupting Erica's words.
Erica and Colin reflexively covered their ears and looked in the direction of the sound.
After crossing the wooden fence surrounding the Lapp wizard's territory, outside the wizard gathering place at the foot of the mountain, a strange green light lit up like mist.
The next second, an invisible and transparent spiritual light came from the top of the Black Stone Castle in the center of the Wizarding Territory, just covering the entire Wizarding Territory.
Colin took a few deep breaths before he calmed down. The screams in the distance were so eerie that just hearing them made him feel dizzy and nauseated.
Fortunately, with the opening of the transparent shield, although the screaming sound still exists, it has lost the weird and disgusting feeling.
"I don't know what the hell it is this time..." Erica murmured while looking at the green light.
Colin was silent, his blue eyes reflected the green flames in the distance, and he felt inexplicably chilly in his heart.
Although he knew that he was in the safest Lapp wizard territory on the entire island, and that the green light would be handled by the wizards of the guard team, he still felt a little chilly.
...That is probably the shock that souls from a peaceful world feel at witnessing the loss of life with their own eyes.
"I don't know how many more people are going to die..." He murmured in a low voice.
Erica smiled, no longer paying attention to the green flames in the distance, and turned back to look at Colin and said: "...You didn't think like this before."
"Really?" Colin's heart trembled, his expression returned to expressionless, and he responded calmly.
"You used to only laugh at something like 'Death is just because you are weak; being weak is just making mistakes!'" Erica teased, but then her expression became depressed again.
"...You are right...weakness means making mistakes."
Colin sighed secretly in his heart, and the embarrassment of being reminded of the original owner's second speech disappeared in an instant.
For a moment, he didn't know how to proceed, so he could only remain silent.
Strength is the rule of this world... The second-level speech that would have been laughed at in the previous life has become the truth here.
"Don't talk about this, I plan to go to the Dark Forest tomorrow morning." Erica smiled, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "No matter what secret you have, but if that day comes, please remember my request... give me my regards.
Meet my parents."
There seemed to be mist building up in the depths of her amber-green eyes as she looked at Colin.
Colin's lips moved slightly, but in the end he just watched in silence as Erica walked into the stone house next door.
'How can the original owner have any secrets that can help him advance...' He shook his head and opened the wooden door behind him.
At the beginning, he wanted to explain to Erica, but he hesitated for a long time and finally didn't say a word.
He knew that Erica wouldn't believe him even if he told her.
But if she believed it, Erica would be in even more pain.
He could see that Erica went to the dark forest with the determination to die.
He even felt that Erica actually knew that the original owner didn't have any secrets that could help him advance.
She just needs to place a hope on him...
Colin walked into the house and locked the wooden door. When he turned around, under the moonlight, he saw a huge broken pattern smeared with unknown blood on the floor.
Seeing this picture, he sighed again.
"How can the original owner have any secrets that can help him advance...