"Garrett Nordmark, my dear child..."
Beautiful handwriting trailed across the paper. Serrana let out a small exclamation of surprise and reached out to touch the letter.
As soon as her fingertips touched it, the handwriting seemed to recoil in fright, suddenly retracting and vanishing.
The two of them looked at each other, stunned for a moment. Serrana withdrew her fingers, Garrett coughed, and cast a spell again.
Magical light descended, perhaps sensing that it was just him there, and the handwriting spread out across the paper once again.
This time Serrana didn’t dare to touch it. Instead, she lay horizontally across the table, leaning her head forward, and quietly read along with Garrett. Upon closer inspection, they both noticed something unusual.
The script on the paper wasn’t a common language, nor was it any of the languages known on the continent, nor was it the magical language Garrett had learned when he first encountered magic. It was beautifully rounded, adorned with many vine-like decorations.
At a glance, it was both refreshing and uniquely magnificent.
Under the light of the illumination spell, Garrett’s eyelids were lowered, his face showing no sign of emotion. His lips moved silently as he read on:
"When you read this letter, Mom has already returned to the Eternal Gathering Island. I’m very sorry that I can’t be there to raise you myself, but my kin have found me, and they are taking me back home..."
What followed was a rather mundane story, even clichéd. An elf who had traveled abroad fell in love with the youngest son of a noble from the Northlands. They shared mutual affections.
Under the rule of the Radiant Church, elves were not tolerated. Even though she was willing to disguise her appearance, the danger was still immense once exposed. They had no choice but to leave their homeland and moved to the Kingdom of Kent, where the church’s influence was weaker and the attitude towards other races was more tolerant.
Fortunately, the man was of little significance in his family, and the distance was great; thus, their departure cut all ties. They had hoped to live peacefully for the rest of their lives, but Garrett’s mother’s kin came knocking, insisting on taking her back...
From the outcome, it seems like it was a case of "lovebirds beaten by fate."
Garrett read on silently. His face was like a mask, devoid of any expression.
Serrana watched him for a long while, cautiously touching the edge of his hand:
"Ah... Oh?" Garrett suddenly snapped back to reality:
"I’m fine... Really, I’m fine. I just didn’t expect... that my origin... was ..."
Serrana kept quiet, her eyes shimmering as she continued to watch him. Garrett sighed, half-turned to face her across the table, and began to reminisce slowly:
"When I was very young, my mother disappeared, and I was raised by my father, practically supported by the kindness of various families in the neighborhood. Patching clothes, washing and scrubbing, it was all done by the aunties and grandmothers around. My father died in battle before I was ten, leaving behind this..."
A house, a set of armor, a small savings enough for his original self to grow up safely. Plus a box of books, and, in his lifetime, he taught his original self to read and write. ŘÀＮ𝙤ᛒËṩ
Everything was out of the ordinary. If his original self’s father was a nobleman, it all made sense.
As for which family his father belonged to, how powerful they were, where their lands were, what their title was—Garrett had no interest in any of it.
Let alone that it was his father’s patrilineal family, which had nothing to do with him. Based on the fact that the Rhine Kingdom was deep in the continent, and the Brolin Kingdom to the east, he would be insane to go there!
Why not be a magician? Why not be a doctor?
However, the story of his mother’s origin was what truly surprised him. Garrett reached up to his neck, tugging and pulling, and pulled out a small pendant:
Pale green, teardrop-shaped, neither gold nor jade, neither wood nor stone. Certainly not plastic, resin, or silicone.
He couldn’t tell what it was made of at the time, and even now, with his current knowledge, he still couldn’t tell. Perhaps, after returning to Nevis, he should visit the council’s exchange and the Transmutation School’s storage to broaden his knowledge?
"I remember—don’t know who told
me, but I have this memory—this was left by her..."
Serrana looked at it curiously. From the start of reading the letter to now, Garrett had been distracted, contemplative, but there was no sign of melancholy or sadness.
The calmer Garrett was, the more she worried. But not daring to ask directly, she simply went around and examined the pendant:
She couldn’t tell at a glance. She extended her hand to Garrett:
Garrett leaned forward, placing the pendant in her hand. The Silver Dragon Princess pinched, rubbed, and squeezed it, short of biting it, and still couldn’t tell what material it was made of. Only through the sensation of her psychic power could she make a judgment:
"This is good stuff!"
Being the treasure of the Silver Dragon race, she had seen plenty of precious items in her own family’s treasure trove and her aunt’s. Yet this pendant still deserved her praise:
"The life force within it is strong. Very subtle, but very strong. Garrett, quickly see what it’s for?"
The pendant was mentioned in the letter. It didn’t say what it was or how useful it was, but at the end of the letter, it earnestly mentioned:
"The map to the Eternal Gathering Island is engraved within this pendant. Once you reach level ten, touch it with your psychic power, and you’ll be able to see everything...
Garrett’s gaze drifted into the darkness. Emagil, in Elvish, means "jewel flower." Given his limited understanding of elves, the family with this surname must hold a significant status.
Level ten, huh? Only when he reaches level ten will he be eligible to travel to the elven settlements?
"Jeez, how stingy, to only let you know the map at level ten," Serrana wrinkled her nose:
"It’s just the Eternal Gathering Island! Although it’s far, on the other side of the new continent, it’s not hard to find... Garrett, if you want to go, I can ask at home tomorrow how to get there!"
It’s just an elven settlement, what could the Dragon race possibly not know? It’s only because she hadn’t been paying attention. There’s no way her elders at home wouldn’t know!
"Ah, no need." Seeing her discontent, Garrett instead smiled. He took the pendant back from the Silver Dragon Girl, hanging it around his own neck, looking at the puffed-up little princess with warm eyes:
"I’m not in a hurry to go. If I want to go after reaching level ten, we can talk about it then!"
Yeah, the world is so big, I want to see it too. A magician of level ten or above can go anywhere. Maybe by then, I’ll want to experience the scenery of the elven settlements?
"For now, let’s think about how to convince Uncle Calrend to perform the surgery on little Elvie..."
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