Free Web NovelThe morning sunlight was bright and pleasant.
A silver-throated sparrow landed on a branch, flapping as it folded its wings, tilting its head and chirping cheerfully.
Vieya glanced at the green-headed little sparrow outside the window, then turned her attention back to Rania, her emerald eyes carrying a hint of curiosity.
“You said another Hero wants to meet me?”
“Mm.” Rania nodded. “She’s the Hero responsible for security in the southern region...” Pausing for a moment, she then added softly,
“Unlike me, a wandering Hero with no fixed place, she’s one officially assigned by the Royal Capital to guard the South... A few days ago, when she heard something this serious had happened within her jurisdiction, she rushed back overnight from Tantar City.”
“A Hero in charge of the southern border? Just one?” Vieya asked doubtfully.
Back when she hadn’t died yet, each of the four borders had at least two stationed Heroes.
Newly appointed Heroes were even sent to follow veteran Heroes for training, and only after three years could they act independently.
Uh... forget it. She’d been an exception herself back then.
So thinking about it now didn’t really matter. The only certain thing was that the human side’s border defenses were now far weaker than before.
Seeing Vieya’s puzzled look, Rania assumed she didn’t understand the current distribution of human power, so she explained, ƒгeewёbnovel.com
“These years, no new Heroes have been born. Many of the older Heroes whose achievements had piled up to a certain level chose to temporarily step down. They’re not accepting new missions from the Royal Capital for the time being, choosing to go into semi-retirement—unless humanity faces another extinction-level crisis, they won’t appear again... And right now, out of the eighteen Hero seats, many are still vacant...”
“I see.” Vieya frowned.
“But don’t worry,” Rania said softly, “I told Lumi to wait until you’ve recovered before coming to visit you. Lumi is the Hero in charge of the southern border defense—the one people call the Star Hero.
“She’s actually a very responsible and admirable senior Hero, but in recent years monster outbreaks have been happening everywhere, and she alone can’t manage the entire South. So she’s very sorry about what happened this time.”
“The Star Hero...”
Vieya thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I’ve heard of her, but we’re not close. Maybe I’ve seen her before, but I can’t quite remember.”
“Really?” Rania said, surprised. “I thought you didn’t know her at all. Hehe, anyway, never mind that—I brought you some fruit.” As she said it, she touched her long violet hair. “But I didn’t know what you like, so I just bought a bit of everything.”
“All of them? Then do you have mulberries?”
“Eh? You like those too? I didn’t buy much...”
Rania fidgeted awkwardly. “Since I’m a free Hero, I only get a basic stipend, so I don’t have as much money as the others...”
“The stipend’s not small, is it?” Vieya blinked.
“It’s not small... but the Royal Capital hasn’t issued it in almost a year now. I thought they’d send it this month... but they didn’t.” Rania’s voice dropped. “I have to save what I can, but if you want to eat more, I can buy some next time.”
Actually, she could have found other ways to make money.
But aside from fighting, she wasn’t good at anything. Out of respect for her teacher’s reputation, she rarely even took bounty missions—unless she was on the verge of starving.
And since she’d been busy searching for her teacher’s whereabouts, she rarely bothered hunting monsters herself. She didn’t earn much, but spent quickly.
So, by all accounts, she was neither poor nor anywhere near rich—a middling, struggling Hero.
Rania lowered her head in embarrassment. She truly had once treated money like air, but now she couldn’t even bear to spend a single silver coin on a pound of fruit.
On the bed—
Vieya silently stared at her student, her gaze seeming to say: How could you end up doing this poorly?
......
By noon, Aislin had taken on the duty of being Vieya’s caretaker, marching into the kitchen to wage war against pots and pans.
Rania stayed for lunch. After they talked a while about what had happened and about Lilian’s situation, she promised again and again that next time she’d bring more mulberries before hurriedly leaving.
Once the brief liveliness faded, Vieya lay there alone again, one solitary slime turning moldy on the bed.
Heavens, how boring.
The same old ceiling, the faintly yellow lamp light, Jasmine at the desk copying spell formulas, and the sun outside slowly sinking below the horizon.
When the sun’s last orange-red ray faded, night quietly arrived.
Jasmine closed her magic manual and let out a long sigh.
At first, writing spell transcriptions under her mother’s gaze had made her feel uneasy all over, but once she noticed that her mother was merely staring off blankly in her direction, she relaxed a lot.
Besides, with her mother’s current childish appearance, there was really no sense of authority.
Jasmine soon lost herself completely in those complicated and obscure runic formulas, working on them until the moon rose.
“Study time’s over, Mama...” Jasmine turned, ready to have her mother praise her—but she found that her mother had already fallen asleep.
Leaning sideways against the headboard, Vieya’s breathing was even, the corners of her lips faintly curved upward, as if she were having a pleasant dream.
Would Mama see me in her dreams?
Teacher Anna once said that intelligent yet weak creatures, to better survive, always disguise themselves—and that disguise relaxes only within dreams.
That means people in dreams usually reveal their truer selves.
And Mama always seemed defenseless when asleep.
So what would I be like in Mama’s dream?
Obedient? Cute? Well-behaved? Playful? Maybe... not very bright?
Jasmine wondered curiously.
But then, a thought suddenly struck her—a rather unpleasant possibility.
What if Mama never dreamed of her at all, not even once?!
Uuuh...
Just imagining it made her feel anxious, sad, miserable!
Jasmine slid down from her chair, tiptoed to the bed, and crawled up carefully. After hesitating for a moment, she reached out and poked her mother’s cheek.
Soft and squishy.
Poke...
“?”
Vieya opened her still-drowsy eyes, staring at Jasmine’s face right in front of hers, feeling the ticklish sensation on her cheek.
She blinked blankly and asked on reflex, “Did you finish your homework?”
Did you finish your homework?
Such cruel words.
Jasmine puffed out her cheeks like a little pufferfish and huffed, “Mama, you big lazy pig, you’ve been sleeping all afternoon and haven’t said a word to me. And it’s almost dinnertime—the elf sister’s been busy cooking in the kitchen!”
“It’s that late already?”
Vieya yawned, glancing out the window. It was pitch black, with only the occasional chirp of insects in the wind.
“The wind’s strong tonight...”
Knock, knock, knock.
A sound came from the door.
Then the handle turned.
Click.
Aislin stepped in holding two trays, humming a cheerful little tune. Her long elven ears swayed lightly, her beautiful eyes curved like crescents—she looked genuinely delighted.
“Now, you two little ones, try guessing what we’re having for dinner tonight?”
“Eh? I can smell roasted corn!” Jasmine’s eyes sparkled. This elven sister’s cooking was just too good—even though she ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) was firmly loyal to Mama’s side, she couldn’t deny the elf’s culinary skill.
Not only were the colors and aroma perfect, but even the taste left Mama’s cooking far behind.
The only pity was that once Mama got better... she wouldn’t get to eat this anymore.
Sniffing the delicious scent, Jasmine couldn’t help swallowing. She really didn’t understand why, when using the same ingredients, Mama’s food only managed to fill the stomach.
Well, filling the stomach was impressive enough, she supposed.
Jasmine resolved secretly to use the time while Mama was still recovering to learn at least half of the elf sister’s cooking skills.
That way, she could both lighten Mama’s burden and eat tasty food herself.
Two birds with one stone—perfect!
Vieya munched on her corn cob, her gaze shadowed as she watched Jasmine whispering nonstop beside the elven girl.
In between their murmurs, she caught bits and pieces—“Mama’s raw beans,” and other very impolite phrases.
And the silver-haired elf’s occasional giggles behind her hand.
This brat... was she gossiping about me behind my back?
