Chapter 61 – 59. Homecoming
Human emotions, ironically, have many contradictory aspects.
Just as there is a saying that the end of tuning is originality.
This is because unhappiness exists at the end of happiness.
If you ask why this phenomenon occurs, it is because the threshold for happiness is gradually increasing.
Just like no matter how delicious food is, if you keep eating it, you won’t feel any taste anymore.
Just like entertainment, no matter how fun it is, will no longer be fun if you keep doing it.
Of course, most people cannot reach this level, so they do not dare to know that misfortune lies at the end of good luck.
This is a phenomenon that only a very small number of extremely wealthy or powerful people can experience.
We can think of one question here.
If your threshold for happiness becomes incredibly low due to continued unhappiness,
In other words, if you ask what will exist at the end of misfortune, Arthur will be able to answer as if it were obvious.
“I’m happy.”
At the same time, Arthur will feel that everything around him is losing meaning, as if he has fallen into optimistic nihilism.
Saying that everything has no meaning was the same as saying that only Arthur could give it true meaning.
“I don’t even need to study anymore.”
Happiness in not trying.
“There is no need to be compared to others anymore.”
Happiness comes from eliminating all ties in life.
“Now I will do what I want.”
Happiness in the false freedom without fences, called grazing.
“And I have to die.”
Finally, happiness at the end of life.
By redefining the meaning of the many things that made him feel unhappy, Arthur began to feel happy.
I think it’s an illusion…? No way. The person I love the most is cheering me on next to me, so this can’t be an illusion.
Right?
“Okay then, Arthur. “I will live happily from now on.”
Look at this.
Hilia is talking next to me. Let’s be happy.
“I’m having a hard time. Can I drop out of the academy? “Hilia.”
“Do whatever you want.”
As Helia spoke while stroking my head, Arthur’s steps became faster.
Arthur burst through the door of her undergraduate office and immediately got to the point.
“I came to apply for withdrawal.”
“Yes.?”
When the woman doing administrative work looked embarrassed, Arthur showed her student ID and spoke again.
“I want to drop out.”
“Ah.! Yes “I will help you.”
The woman who received Arthur’s student ID began checking various procedures, and after a while she answered with a troubled expression.
“Well. It’s impossible for first year students to apply for withdrawal.”
“Ah. What should I do? Helia. Leaving without permission? I think it’s okay. “It doesn’t matter anyway.”
Cold sweat began to flow on the woman’s head as she suddenly saw Arthur talking to himself and talking nonsense.
“Well… Then how about taking a leave of absence? It is possible to take a leave of absence.!”
“A leave of absence, a leave of absence. A leave of absence.? Great. I’ll take a leave of absence!”
After that, the woman looked at Arthur’s thoughts and asked various questions, but Arthur gave vague answers and waited for it to end quickly.
“Well. I need a reason for a leave of absence. What is the reason?”
“Why? Ah.! That trip! I wanted to go on a trip, but there was someone precious there. I really want to meet you. That’s why.! I have to go quickly… Huh? But it’s next to me…”
“Are you okay?”
Are you okay?
I’m happy, what are you talking about?
The woman asked with a worried face, but Arthur couldn’t see anything.
He’s just annoyed by women who bother him.
“I honestly don’t want to hear what they say, nor am I curious. “Please just take a leave of absence.”
“#$%&#@!!”
After that, the woman kept talking,
“Hilia, you can go home soon, right?”
Arthur talked to Hylia and ignored her.
The woman had no choice but to reluctantly approve Arthur’s request for a leave of absence.
“%$&#.”
“I guess it’s over. Thank you.”
Arthur bowed his head to the woman, took Hylia’s hand, and headed out of her academy.
A crowded street.
It was a scene I often saw, but today, perhaps because I was with Hilia, it felt new.
“Hilia! Shall we buy skewers and eat them?”
Perhaps she wanted to eat Helia as well, and Arthur could see her smiling and nodding.
“Give me two skewers!”
After ordering, Arthur looked at the skewers that the man was wrapping and took out her wallet to pay.
“What? I don’t have any money… Hilia! Please buy it!!”
“Honey, are you okay?”
“Yes.?”
Why does everyone say the same thing when they see me?
“Hilia will give you the money!”
Arthur proudly pointed to Hylia next to her, but her uncle’s expression became increasingly dark.
“Huh. I’m already at that age. It’s pitiful. “I’ll just give you the skewers, so you’ll enjoy them.”
He is a strange person.
She took her money from Hilia, and she was condescending, saying she would just give it to her.
Is it a scammer?
“Why are you looking at me like that? What a strange person! Right, Helia?”
“Huh. “He’s a strange person.”
Look. I’m not strange.
Everyone else is weird.
Yum yum.
After eating as if inhaling a skewer, Arthur cleaned up his place, got up, and went to find a carriage to escape the capital.
In order to return to the village, one had to go to a city called Padun first, and the carriage going to Padun was so expensive that Arthur, who had no money, could not ride it.
“Can’t Hillia give it to you instead?”
I tried asking for it like I did with the skewers, but unfortunately, Hilia just shook her head.
“Then I guess I have to make money. Shall we try becoming an adventurer?”
“That would take too long. “How about walking instead?”
I was traveling alone with Hilia…
Good.!
“Yes!”
After the inspection, Arthur left the capital and walked blindly along the road in front of him.
“Hilia, can we go here? “I don’t know the direction.”
Although Arthur was afraid that she might lose her way.
She was reassured by the fact that Hylia indicated her direction with her hand and told her to follow.
“I will only trust Hilia! Hehe.”
In the end, Arthur, who was following Hilia, lost her path.
…
How many days have passed?
Arthur continued walking without being able to eat, sleep, or wash properly.
“Today is so hard, should I rest now and walk again tomorrow?”
“Sure.”
At some point, Hylia’s appearance was no longer visible to Arthur, and only her voice was heard.
Arthur didn’t care. She thought that hearing voices meant Hylia was around, so she thought her eyesight had gone bad.
“I’m hungry. Helia, can I eat this.?”
When was the last time she had a normal meal? It became a habit for Arthur to put plants in her mouth whenever he found them.
“Wow!!”
“Hey, I guess this isn’t meant to be eaten. Hehe.”
After roughly hollowing out the inside, Arthur lay down on the ground and looked up at the sky.
The sky is clear.
Wouldn’t she be able to close her eyes and sleep like this?
Because she just happens to have no strength in her whole body.
“Arthur, look over there.”
“Huh.?”
Hearing Hilia’s words, I looked at the sky again and saw black smoke rising.
“Let’s go over there, Arthur. Maybe I can ask for help.”
Arthur struggled to get up and headed towards the place where the smoke was coming from, and was able to meet a group of men and women sitting around a bonfire and resting.
“Hey, over there.”
Perhaps because Arthur suddenly appeared from the grass, the members of her group looked wary, but when she saw Arthur’s behavior, she withdrew her weapon.
“Are you okay.?”
A woman who appeared to be the leader approached Arthur and spoke to her, and Arthur, feeling safe now, let go of her legs and sat down.
“Yes. I was just tired for a while, so it’s okay.”
Arthur, who was fortunate enough to meet kind adventurers, was able to recover her condition with various help.
“So where did she say she was going?”
“Ah. It’s a city called Padun.”
“It’s Padun. Ah! Come to think of it, didn’t you say you came from Padun before, Esil?”
Arthur followed the leader’s gaze and saw a woman wearing a large cone hat. Her name seemed to be Essil.
“That’s right. But why is that?”
However, perhaps she felt uncomfortable, and Esil’s attitude was nervous.
“Hmm… We have to go south from here, but Padun is to the east, and none of us have been to Padun except for one person? But asking a man to go there alone is no different from telling him to die. It would be better if someone took him there. If possible, someone from Padun knows the road well and knows how to use magic, so there will be no danger on the way…”
“Ah! Okay! I got it!! I can just go!”
“Also! Thank you, Essil. And of course we will distribute the compensation for the subjugation, so don’t worry and come back.”
“You are stating the obvious. “Be prepared to buy alcohol when you come back.”
“Then of course it is.”
After a moment of bickering, Essil turned her gaze to look at Arthur.
“Hey.”
“Yes, yes.?”
Perhaps because Arthur reacted timidly, Esil seemed to be in a worse mood.
“Do you have money?”
“Uh…”
Of course, Arthur didn’t have a single penny.
After thinking about it, Arthur remembered that her escort duties usually cost a lot of money, and he became afraid that he might be abandoned if he didn’t have money, so he spoke out in a hurry.
“Ji, I’m not there right now. I’m at home.!”
“House? Haha. Then that won’t work, because this floor doesn’t work unless you pay in advance.”
Arthur’s heart sank at Esil’s words, but she started laughing, telling the leader to stop teasing her.
“You know it’s real, Eshil. “You look like you’re going to cry right now?”
“No. Kidding.?”
When Arthur found out that it was a joke, he shed a tear of relief, but Essil’s face became contemplative because she seemed different in other people’s eyes.
“Uh? Wow, bitch. It makes a man cry.”
Just as she responded to the leader’s words, those around her also responded.
“To make a man cry, complete trash.”
“Let’s wean off the milk that has no use at this point.”
Esil’s face was as red as a blush as she was suddenly made fun of, and she made one decision to avoid this situation.
“Oh, did you say Arthur? Sorry. Was that a joke? Well, let’s start from the beginning. And you don’t need money, so don’t worry.!”
The decision was to get out of this place quickly.
“Are you ready to leave already? Well then, goodbye!”
Essil, who had just skipped the leader’s words, motioned to Arthur and urged him to leave quickly.
“Esil!! “Don’t confess to me just because you’re a pretty girl!!!”
The leader, who wanted to tease Esil until the end, jokingly raised his middle finger towards her without even turning around.
“Water.”
While chanting, she created water and shot it straight at her leader.
However, the leader, whose entire body was wet from the water, responded by thanking him for making him cool.
Arthur, who was watching this situation, thought.
They are interesting people.
Normally she would have thought that the road to Padun would not be so boring. She felt grateful.
However, Arthur, who no longer trusted others at all, was secretly happy that he had caught a stupid idiot.
