Free Web NovelChapter 2052: Chapter 2052: Angling
Miss Maxim took off her pair of earrings:
"This was given to me by my mother when I was young. My grandmother gave them to her at her wedding. My mother was bedridden when I was young, worrying she wouldn’t see me get married..."
She has now become a witch.
"Later, I met Her Majesty Violet, who saw my potential to become a witch, healed my mother, and took me away. But I never returned these earrings to my mother. I’ve always hoped she could live healthily, and I never want to see her sick again."
Professor Sarah Evans thought for a moment and took off her ring, which was some kind of alchemical item:
"This was a gift from my mentor to celebrate my 14th birthday and hoped that both she and I could stay at Zaras Literary Academy to become professors. My mentor left many years ago, but I have fulfilled my childhood dream."
Everyone looked at Miss Magie Malone, who pursed her lips and thought:
"I have been an orphan since childhood, and although I was adopted, my childhood was not happy. I had no particular childhood wishes, just hoped I could grow up healthy."
"Then perhaps a bit of your blood or hair would suffice. You yourself are your own gift."
Professor Ivins suggested. Miss Malone hesitated a bit but eventually used a pin she carried with her to prick her finger, taking a small amount of blood and putting it into the glass tube that Shard provided, along with a strand of her hair.
The four "gifts" were placed by the four people beside the fire, as Miss Teresa murmured:
"So it’s the deity that saved us, asking for these childhood wishes and memories in return?"
"Don’t talk nonsense."
Shard gently reminded them, and they all looked towards Shard and then quickly lowered their heads. The ordinary Miss Malone even tilted her head, bleeding from her seven orifices, almost fainting entirely.
Though Shard wasn’t sure what they saw, at that moment when they bowed their heads, he too sensed the arrival of an indescribable presence pervading the area, one that he didn’t even need to see to feel.
So he turned his body to look back, where waves were surging. At the edge of the raft was a figure, clad in a black robe, about the size of a child.
The "child" had their back to everyone, facing the lightless sea, holding a fishing rod in hand.
At the moment of gazing at the deity, golden rifts ran through Shard’s eyes. When he turned back to face the bonfire, the ladies who didn’t dare to look again saw the golden cracks covering his body. Although the golden glow wasn’t as intense as flames, its appearance brought them a sense of peace and safety.
Moreover, Miss Teresa, warming herself in Shard’s embrace, almost cried upon seeing the "special state" Shard had previously exhibited in the Lost Lake, though even she didn’t know why she felt this way. None of that mattered now; the unprecedented sense of peace overwhelmed all fear, making her feel drowsy, even in the knowledge that danger still existed.
"Where are you going?"
Noticing that Shard was about to leave, the witch asked him pitifully.
"To speak with The Great One. Wait here for me; don’t move."
Mere seconds after leaving Shard’s embrace, her eyebrows began to frost, knowing well she couldn’t approach the deity any closer, feeling her body growing increasingly weak, Miss Teresa bid Shard farewell.
He then took each person’s "gift" and climbed over the raft, shifting toward the side where the black-robed figure stood.
Despite having reached the Seventh Ring, as Shard got closer to that figure, the divine pressure emanating from the deity affecting the surroundings and his soul was suffocating. In his senses, the small figure seemed like a mountain pressing against the raft’s edge. Yet, thankfully, this was merely a sensory illusion; otherwise, the raft would have lost balance long ago.
However, Shard’s earlier speculation wasn’t wrong. The deity - the Giver of Dreams - had indeed appeared here in a child’s guise.
But after Shard reached its side, the deity continued holding the fishing rod, gazing into the dark sea, without engaging him in conversation. Shard thus placed the four "gifts" beside the deity confidently, not worrying they’d be swept away by the waves.
The deity then softly spoke:
"The Creator of Innocence chose you to inherit the final work. It seems there was no mistake in the selection."
Shard felt a bit ashamed:
"That deity has aided me many times. His gift box has given me numerous wonderful gifts, yet I never found a way to repay him."
"A deity requires no repayment, child. You’ve actually done quite well."
Being called a "child" by an actual child feels rather strange; yet before Shard could delve into the thought, the Deity handed the fishing rod over to him. The "child" stared into Shard’s eyes with a gaze as deep as the night sky:
"You’ll fish for the first dream."
The Deity’s gaze even reminded the Outlander of his childhood back in his hometown for a moment. However, the average fishing rod felt less comfortable to handle compared to the one Mr. Edmund had lent him.
Shard nodded slightly, picked up the fishing rod, while internally doubting his fishing skills, then turned towards the four "gifts":
"Which one should I start with?"
"That should be your own choice."
The Deity watched Shard’s choice, and after a few seconds of hesitation, Shard picked up Miss Schultz Teresa’s round-framed glasses. After pulling up the fishing line, he tied the glasses onto it. This action seemed peculiar, but the Deity stood by smiling continuously and guiding him on how to fish:
"Alright, now cast the bait out. Don’t be nervous; fishing for others’ dreams is a very interesting task. It doesn’t need much technique, but rather, your curiosity and... just the right amount of luck."
"But what exactly am I fishing for?"
"Of course, whatever the bait can attract, boy. Childhood dreams and past dreams intertwine into the adult self. And when using childhood once more as a beacon to try finding the past, people often notice those things they hadn’t paid attention to."
Tied with the glasses, the fishing line was cast by Shard into the lightless deep sea. Almost the moment after the glasses hit the water, Shard immediately felt a tugging force.
He hurriedly reeled it in, but saw that caught between the two arms of the glasses was a beautiful glass bead. This is a toy children play with, seen often in the year 1854 of the Sixth Era.
"What does this mean?"
Shard, clasping the glass bead, questioned the Deity, but the Deity, in the form of a child, gently brushed it, causing it to glimmer.
A glimmer projected the figure of an eleven or twelve-year-old girl beside Shard, kneeling on the ground worriedly looking in front of her. The girl with the round-framed glasses and braided pigtails also held the beautiful glass bead in her hand, whereas in front of her were five other glass beads distributed evenly, seemingly playing a game but hesitating as she did not know how to proceed.
The child-like Deity observed the scene with a smile, and Shard felt he understood.
Thus, Shard shifted his position and placed the glass bead caught by fishing into the indentation formed by his curled right index finger, his thumb touching the edge of the glass bead. He closed one eye and pressed his face against the wet floating board.
[To the left, to the right, back a bit, yes, not too hard, good.]
His thumb flicked the glass bead outwards; amidst the sound of the waves, no collision sound of glass with glass could be heard, only seen how the glass bead flicked by Shard hit the first one and then changed direction to hit the second one. The struck two glass beads kept rolling, then hit the third and fourth ones. The third and fourth beads collided and continued rolling, finally hitting the fifth glass bead.
Although Shard had flicked his glass bead, the eleven or twelve-year-old girl with braided pigtails happily stood up, clapping her hands with joy. She held onto Shard’s hand and then pointed to the sea ahead on the left:
"I’m over there, be sure not to make a mistake in direction."
Then the little girl faded away, and Shard glanced back at the four people curling up by the campfire as if they’d fallen asleep again, feeling he fully grasped the purpose of this time exploration:
"Child’s dream?"
"Indeed, even after reaching adulthood, maybe one will still remember the games that were not completed during childhood times. Regrets from childhood transform into sweet or bitter wines in the memory as an adult. Although it might seem trivial to others, someday when she glances at the corner where this glass bead lies again, she will surely reveal a smile only she understands."
The Deity commented, reaching out to Shard to take the glass bead back, placing it solemnly into his pocket, as if the ordinary glass bead was more precious than anything here.
Shard, however, said:
"Could you not use winemaking as a metaphor... kids shouldn’t drink alcohol."
The smile on the Deity’s face grew even more evident:
"The first fishing is not yet complete, continue with that bait, you must have guessed what you will ultimately fish up."
Tied with the glasses, the fishing line was again cast outwards, naturally in the direction the little bead-tossing girl pointed towards earlier. After waiting for over ten seconds, the fishing line began shaking again. This time the force of the ’fish’ struggling was much stronger. Since Shard couldn’t leverage himself well on the floating board, he enabled the [Power of the Red Dragon] and barely managed to fish the ’fish’ up.
A half-piece of white chalk was caught between the left-side glasses arm and frame. The chalk was completely soaked in seawater, and utterly unusable. As the Deity brushed over it, with a glimmer, a new phantom unfolded beside Shard and the Deity.■
