In a corner of the Magic Academy there was a very small and old chapel, an abandoned old building that almost nobody came to.

  An old pastor hurriedly walked over, looked inside after arriving here, and immediately went in.

  "Your Eminence, isn't this going a bit too far?" asked the elderly pastor, who had finally found the person he was looking for, with great care.

  "It's not like I'm hiding or anything. I just wanted some peace and quiet." Asa sighed, unable to believe he'd been found even here.

  "But at least change places." The old man always pays more attention to details and rules.

  "It's okay, the atmosphere is great here."

  "The Minister of Finance is looking for you..."

  "Assistant Minister? Don't know him. What does he want from me? If he wants to see me, let him come himself."

  The old pastor's face, with its white eyebrows and whiskers and wrinkles, twitched helplessly for a moment as he looked at the young superior in front of him. He realized that saying anything would be useless, so he could only turn around, shaking his head, and walk out.

  Asa shifted uncomfortably, the seat wasn't designed for comfort, no surprise since the craftsmen had built it to hold sacred texts, relics and the bishop's hands, not backsides. The surrounding frescoes and carvings depicted deities in various poses, some gazing sideways, others glaring or staring gently, all watching the person who should be serving them lounging on the altar.

  A familiar footstep echoed from the entrance of the grand cathedral, neither fast nor slow. Asa still didn't turn around, only sighing and saying: "So it's you? I thought it was someone else."

  "Although this temple is no longer in use, you're actually sitting on the altar, isn't that too presumptuous?" said Assistant Minister's calm and dignified voice.

  Asa smiled and replied, "Where can it be considered too excessive? Just now a devout old clergyman only said that I was 'a bit over the top'."

  "Originally, the old pastor didn't want me to come in, but I insisted on coming. He then told me not to mind because you've always been like this." The assistant minister's voice had a hint of amusement. "It seems like you often do things like this."

  "What have I done? I don't think I've done anything. Just drinking, eating meat... Last time, I was lucky enough to find a one-eyed lizard in the bushes outside and roasted it for food, but then I got scolded by the bishop for quite a while."

  "Oh? Is that the one called 'Southern Glass Bead' single-eyed lizard? I remember you've always said you wanted to try what it tastes like." The assistant minister's voice became a bit more lively as he recalled past events. "Didn't Bishop-sama scold you for not being allowed to kill indiscriminately?"

  "Ah, no," said Ah Sa, shaking his head and sighing. "It was raining outside at the time, so I was roasting a lizard in here and just grabbed a book to use as fuel. Who knew it was some kind of rare theological classic?"

  "Haha, you're still the same as ever, haven't changed a bit."

  "You've changed, your voice sounds more mature and steady than before. No wonder you're the Minister of Finance Assistant, the only female minister in the empire."

  "Is that so? I've also noticed it a bit." The assistant minister stepped forward a few steps, saying with some self-deprecation, "Probably because of old age, I suppose."

  Asa turned around, but still saw that slightly round and delicate face, with those slender eyes, straight nose, thin lips, however the lively and spirited air in his memory was gone, replaced by maturity and composure, and that well-fitting official uniform, which added a few points of majesty to his elegant beauty.

  "There's no old age. It just becomes more mature and beautiful." Asa smiled at her, looking at the unfamiliar appearance and temperament she had never seen before, and inexplicably felt a sense of strangeness from the bottom of his heart. He had this feeling when he met Rodhart too. He sighed and said, "I find that once people become officials or have something to do with business, they quickly change their appearance, becoming more mature and experienced."

  Xiao Yi smiled faintly and said, "Having experienced many human relationships and worldly affairs, I've also been through a lot of tempering. When one's mind and thoughts are focused on their own career, they naturally won't be as frivolous as before."

  "But why am I still the same?" Asa sighed.

  "It should be your personality that's not suitable for these things." Xiao Yi smiled. "Actually, even I don't quite believe you can become a divine officer, a great hero in the future. You...you don't seem like it."

  "Yes. I don't fit in. I just realized it yesterday, and now I'm sure of it. This place really isn't for me." Asa let out a long sigh, squeezing all the air, frustration, and helplessness out of his body. "I'd rather survive alone in the swamp or desert, facing beasts and monsters, than stay here again. I'm too stupid. Too foolish. I can't see anything clearly around me, can't understand anything. Even when I try to do something, I end up grasping at nothing, unable to control it. So I'm fed up, and I want to be alone in this place for a while. Then I thought..." He trailed off without continuing.

  "Even the most agile eagle cannot live in the sea." Xiaoyi's voice had a hint of gentleness. "You're not stupid, probably just not suited for this environment."

  The tenderness in his tone was just a hint, but it gave the empty and helpless heart a sense of fulfillment. Suddenly, those things that had been dormant for a long time, almost forgotten, jumped out again. Asa fell silent for a moment, then asked: "Do you still remember what I told you before? I wanted to travel all over the continent, all over the world."

  "I remember you often mentioned it before." As she spoke of the past, Xiao Yi's voice became softer.

  Asa looked into those slender eyes, the faint smile inside seemed to have lost some of its former purity, but the gentle warmth still filled every gap in his heart. He thought for a moment and said: "Actually, I had a question for you a long time ago, but never asked..."

  "What's wrong?"

  "I want to travel freely. Will you go with me?" After asking this question, Asa turned his head and looked at the dusty statue, not daring to look at her again.

  There was no answer, only the breathing of two people alternating in this old chapel. This dusty place was full of historical marks everywhere, as if time could easily be pulled back into the past by memory.

  "Do you still want to travel now? What about the things Bishop-sama has arranged for you?" Xiao Yi's voice returned to its usual calm and mature tone. "Although you're not used to this environment yet, you should face what needs to be faced and take on the responsibilities that need to be taken on. Escaping is useless." She paused, her voice becoming even calmer, but with a hint of melancholy. "We've all grown up now."

  A Sa smiled wryly and didn't say anything else.

  The two fell silent again. After a while, Asa asked, "What brings you here?"

  Xiao Yi handed him a letter. "This is entrusted to me by my sister, and I'm supposed to pass it on to you, so that you can give it to your friend Rodhart."

  "Why doesn't she go herself? Does she need you to pass it on to me and then I'll pass it on again? Is this some kind of joke?"

  "It's probably just embarrassment. There might be something difficult to say in the letter, and having two people pass it along makes it feel less intense." Xiaoyi's tone was surprisingly worldly. "Girls' families always have things like this that are hard to grasp."

  A Sa took over the letter, shook his head and sighed: "It's really unpredictable..."

  "Alright. My task is done. There are still many official duties waiting for me. You should just focus on doing your own thing." The female assistant minister turned around and walked out.

  Until she walked out of the Magic Academy's gate, she turned her head to look at that old and shabby little chapel again, sighed and said: "Why didn't you ask me back then..." Wiping away tears from the corner of her eyes, she slowly boarded the carriage.

  "Struggling to do my thing? Do you know what I want to do?" In the chapel, Asa also let out a sigh. His hand took out the scroll from his bosom and slowly looked at it in his hands. The small skulls on both ends of the scroll emitted a faint glow. As long as he grasped these two small things and pulled, all the troubles in this world would no longer be related to him.

  The feeling of relaxation and relief is indeed pleasant, but at the same time there is also a painful sense of loss. I wonder if that side will be forever goodbye?

  The next day, troops departed for Aili to quell a rebellion of heterodox teachings.

  Asa looked at the vast army and frowned, asking Rodhart: "Is it necessary to use so many people?"

  Rothhart rode a snow-white high-headed horse, wearing a suit of silver armor and a purple cloak, looking completely in line with his commander identity. He walked side by side with Asa at the front of the team, shaking his head and saying: "Not many, only five thousand people. I am very familiar with Aili's situation, and there is absolutely no disadvantage in terms of timing and location. According to the reported situation, the heretic group is probably around five or six thousand, but they are all irregularly equipped mobs. It's not a problem to deal with them."

  Asa pulled out the letter from her bosom and handed it over to him. "This is a letter that Chris wants her sister to pass on to me, and then I'll pass it on to you."

  Rodhart furrowed his brow and took over the letter, opening it.

  "What's written above?" Asa asked.

  "Nothing much. She told me that the Emperor has already proposed to His Excellency the Duke." Rodhart replied indifferently.

  "What?" Asa was slightly surprised and looked again at Rodhart's calm expression. "It seems like you already knew?"

  "Of course." Rodhart nodded. "When I heard Chris mention her and the Emperor, even she probably didn't realize it at that time, I guessed that things would develop to this point today. However, due to the impact of the last hunting event, it came faster than I expected."

  "You and Chris... should have always been... in a good relationship."

  "Of course." Rodhart nodded again. "Duke Mlak sometimes intentionally arranged it that way."

  Asa recalled the judgment of Lord Boruk, who was very good at using his head. For a talent like Rodhart, Chris was an important bargaining chip for the Duke to guarantee that he could bring him under his command. But now this chip had obviously become more useful.

  "Doesn't the Duke know that the Emperor likes Chris?"

  "He didn't know. This matter was actually very secretive, except for me and Chris, as well as the Emperor himself, it seemed like no one else knew. The Duke was too attentive to major national political affairs, so he naturally wouldn't care about these trivial details of children."

  "Didn't you tell the duke this news?"

  "It's unnecessary for him to know." Rodhart smiled slightly, seemingly a bitter smile, seemingly a cold smile, somewhat mysterious.

  A Sa frowned and asked: "Is that all you wrote in the letter?" If it's just these words, it seems unnecessary to ask two people to deliver them in between.

  Rodhart's expression was slightly unnatural, and he said lightly: "She also said that she is very confused and doesn't know what to do. At noon today, she will wait for me at the tavern we often go to. If I go, then leave the capital with me." His tone was very calm, and his words were simple and clear, as if it wasn't a particularly urgent matter.

  Asa smiled wryly. Another such marriage, another stillborn elopement. But Rodhart looked different from himself at that time, he seemed to have decided what to do without much effort. She was waiting for him there, but he had already been busy with his own tasks, his work, abandoning her neatly and cleanly, without any hesitation or delay.

  Asa looked at Rodhart. The lines on his face were not very clear, a kind of handsome and affable gentle beauty mixed together, which was originally unrelated to the temperament of being strong and brave, but that calmness and rationality that remained unchanged no matter where or when had long surpassed any courage that could represent strength. This is someone who can blend in with this environment perfectly, and he will eventually become a true strongman in this environment.

  But those are no longer his concerns. Asa touched the waist, hard and stiff, and through the clothes, he could feel the magical power flowing on the scroll, which was the taste of freedom and abandonment.

  Leaving the imperial capital, he could quietly slip away and travel freely wherever he wanted, hiding and when cornered by his pursuers with no way out, all he had to do was unroll this scroll. He really didn't want to stay in the imperial capital anymore, stuck in endless plans and tasks facing things he didn't even want to face. It's just like Sandru said, there your emotions and efforts are worth nothing at all.

  A Sa glanced at Luo Dehart. Everyone should live in their own suitable environment. Big things, let those who can do big things go and do them.

  "I'm actually an orphan." Rodhart said suddenly as they walked in silence. "I don't know who my parents are. I was just a abandoned baby picked up by my grandfather."

  A Sa looked at him, puzzled as to why he suddenly mentioned this.

  "Although that's the case, my grandfather was always very fond of me. He put all his thoughts into educating me, hoping that one day I could become the best person, spending all the family property to send me to a knight school. Those villagers also thought that I must be able to become an outstanding knight, a hero. So from a young age, I made up my mind, I couldn't disappoint their expectations, I had to become a hero who upholds light and justice like the protagonist in stories. But later on...I was just too naive. I didn't become a hero, but rather a child who knew nothing, the culprit who brought harm to them."

  Rodhart continued to look ahead, his tone as calm as if he were telling an old story, the faint glow in his eyes seemed both elusive and unshakeable.

  "Later on, I finally saw reality clearly, recognized the world, and grasped the opportunity. I won't be naive again, I will be strong, I will rely on my own efforts to become a superior person..."

  He looked at Asa with a sudden smile, an expression that instantly broke through his previous calmness and strength, it was a smile full of pain and helplessness.

  "So even if I like her very much, there's only this choice."

  Looking at this very awkward smile, Asa suddenly felt sorry for him. Then, out of nowhere, he remembered the words that Duke Mrlak had said to him in his own bedroom.

  Those who can advance bravely in this world and strive to climb the peak, their strong motivation often comes from the pain and helplessness that are deeply etched in their hearts.

  "Everything I have now is what you gave me. You saved me and gave me the opportunity to get where I am today. You are the person I am most grateful for in this life." Rodhart looked at Asa, who could see the last trace of that simple boy from Aili left on his face. "I will do my best to move forward and help you too, as long as we successfully complete this mission in Aili, I will also gain further recognition from the church and a more stable position. At that time, I will no longer be the pawn of the Duke, but someone who can negotiate with him, cooperate with him. I must go higher, farther."

  Rodhart's gaze has always been directed towards Aili, where his past and future are.

  Asa made up his mind. He would go to Aili and help him complete this task before leaving.