In the small restaurant of Ximu Town, the flickering oil lamp cast the shadows of two silent figures on the mottled wall.
On the wooden table were simple dishes: black rye bread, stewed beans, and two cups of light beer.
The warmth of the food had long faded, just like the atmosphere at the table—cold and stagnant.
Aili mechanically poked at the beans on her plate with a fork.
They rolled around like her chaotic emotions, meaningless and restless.
Three days of harsh special training had drained her strength, and the fact that the person before her was about to leave was slowly sapping away the support she had only just managed to gather.
She secretly looked up at the person across from her.
Shi Hanfeng ate quickly and cleanly, a kind of efficient consumption that seemed meant solely to replenish necessary energy.
He had been here for nearly a month now, and he sorely missed the pleasures the industrial age brought to the taste buds.
His profile became even sharper in the dim light, and those emerald eyes, so out of place in this world, hung low, making it impossible to read his emotions.
Only the occasional furrow of his brow betrayed that he wasn’t as calm inside as he appeared.
He knew she was looking, but he chose to ignore it.
Some farewells were inevitable, and unnecessary eye contact would only increase pointless entanglements.
“Are you full?”
He set down his utensils, his voice steady and without fluctuation.
Aili snapped back to herself, almost instinctively nodding.
“Mm.”
“Then let’s go find a quiet place.”
He stood up, placed a few silver coins down, his movements crisp and decisive, without a trace of hesitation.
Aili stood as well, her steps a bit unsteady.
The nights in the small town weren’t noisy.
Occasionally, the drunken laughter of Adventurers drifted from distant inns, only making the silence between the two of them feel even more deafening.
He didn’t head towards the inn but instead led her through the back alley, over a stone bridge spanning a babbling creek, arriving at a secluded clearing outside the town.
She secretly glanced at his upright back ahead of her, a figure that was both reassuring and filled with an insurmountable sense of distance.
The grass was wet with night dew, and the air was cold, carrying the scent of earth and plants.
Above the night sky, twin moons hung: the pure, silvery-white Silver Moon, and the faintly glowing Green Moon, always giving an uneasy feeling.
The two-colored moonlight intertwined, spilling over the clearing, enveloping them both.
Shi Hanfeng stopped and turned to face her.
The mingled silver and green moonlight fell on his impossibly perfect face, casting a faint, inhuman divinity upon his features.
Aili’s heart skipped a beat—not just from awe, but from some foreboding premonition.
“Aili,”
He spoke, his voice lighter than the night wind, yet clear in her ears.
“Just as I said three days ago, I’ll tell you the truth.”
Aili held her breath, her hands unconsciously clutching the hem of her Practice Uniform.
“I am not of this world.”
His tone was steady, as if stating a fact unrelated to himself.
“And I’ll soon have to go back.”
Not of this world?
Go back?
Aili’s pupils contracted.
It took her brain several seconds to process the explosive information in those simple words—a truth enough to upend her worldview.
Shock, confusion, panic—
Countless emotions burst through, overwhelming the calm she had worked so hard to maintain.
So that’s why.
That’s why he was so powerful, so strange, with such incredible abilities and items.
All her doubts suddenly found reasonable explanations.
But instead of enlightenment, the explanations only brought deeper darkness.
“Go back?”
Her voice was dry and trembling, tinged with a pleading she herself didn’t realize.
“Where are you from? Where are you going back to? Can’t you stay? After… Afterward, can we meet again? If I want to find you, what should I do?”
Her questions shot out like hastily loosed arrows, disordered and urgent, each word filled with the panic of unwillingness to accept the truth and the last thread of hope.
She even subconsciously stepped forward, as if that would bring her closer to the answer that was destined to disappear.
Shi Hanfeng looked at the gathering shimmer in her eyes, where the twin moons’ light and his own silhouette were reflected.
Something deep inside him seemed to tremble, but reason quickly suppressed it.
For what he was about to do, without enough strength, he probably couldn’t return.
Even if he did, who knew how long it would be.
So, there was no point in giving false hope.
He turned his gaze aside, looking into the darkness in the distance.
His voice remained steady but softened, hoping she could understand.
“Aili, imagine the world as fruits growing on a tree.”
He lifted his hand, making a casual motion in the air.
“We come from different fruits on the tree. If you can understand, to see other fruits, and possess the power to leave one fruit and reach another, that’s what I am now.”
“Right now, I’m only here briefly with the help of a Great Existence. When the time is up, I must return.”
It was a rough metaphor, but already the simplest explanation he could give without bringing up more complex concepts like ‘Destiny Space,’ ‘dimension travel,’ or ‘Reality World.’
He lowered his hand, then smiled, reaching out to ruffle Aili’s hair.
“Aili, listen to me. After I leave, your path won’t be smooth. There is a certain ‘Malice’ in this world.”
He chose his words carefully, his gaze locking onto hers to ensure she was listening.
“A powerful existence that enjoys toying with fate, finding pleasure in the suffering of others. It can exist anywhere. Remember my words today.”
“In every battle that follows, whether your opponent is a Goblin or something else, remember: intelligence, equipment, escape route—none can be missing! Being fully prepared is your only guarantee to survive. This is the last lesson I’ll give you as your Teacher.”
“Malice?”
“Order of Fate?”
“Great Existence?”
These words were far beyond anything Aili had previously known.
She listened in confusion, as if hearing an obscure mythical fable.
But she felt a concern in his tone she had never heard before.
A sense of being cared for wrapped around her, bringing her a bit of comfort.
She opened her mouth, wanting to ask more.
What is it?
Why does it exist?
How can I defend against it?
But Shi Hanfeng didn’t give her the chance.
He gently pressed his long index finger to his lips—a gesture of silence.
From him, the action carried an inexplicable elegance and mystery.
He blinked, a faint arc curving his lips, a smile mixing encouragement, warning, and a hint of something ungraspable.
“These,”
His voice dropped lower, like the wind brushing over grass,
“You need to understand and discover for yourself. Some truths, just knowing them is the greatest danger.”
He no longer looked at the confusion lingering on her face.
He stood, dusting off nonexistent dirt from his clothes, adopting a casual air, as if the heavy topics just now were mere small talk.
He gazed toward the town, twinkling with scattered lights, his tone turning into a careless reminder.
“If one day, you truly understand my words today, and possess enough strength…”
He paused, as if choosing his words.
“…Perhaps you could try seeking out a Mage. She’s famous for collecting and researching various magical artifacts, has a quirky temper, but might offer unexpected help.”
He was no omniscient sage, nor an obsessive binge-watcher.
He’d only heard from a friend in his previous life that beings who stepped off the chessboard of the Gods existed in this world, too—truth unknown, but at least a possible direction.
He turned his face, the moonlight illuminating half of it, the other half swallowed in shadow.
“And also, if you have the ability in the future, help those Border Villages as much as you can. Their suffering is often the deepest.”
He didn’t explain why, but being rescued in Ximu Town and nearly perishing in the Goblin nest was itself part of the answer.
Maybe, just maybe, it could save the painful childhood of the Goblin Slayer a little.
Having finished, he seemed to finally complete all the handover procedures.
He reached out, his fingertip tapping lightly in the air.
A glimmer of light flashed, and two items appeared in his palm, radiating a faint halo, foreign to this world.
“These are for you.”
He handed them over.
They were gear he’d obtained from treasure chests—good effects, but incompatible with his current equipment, better given to his disciple for self-defense.
One was a silver-white metal ring, simple in design but engraved with intricate runes, a tiny, vibrant green gem set at its core.
The other was a meticulously crafted silver Leaf Brooch, its veins clear, glowing with a gentle vitality.
“This is the Ring of Endurance. It increases your stamina cap, slowly storing any overflowed stamina which you can then unleash all at once in battle—it might save your life at a critical moment.”
He introduced the equipment in a flat tone, as if discussing ordinary tools.
“This leaf can trigger a Healing Spell once a day, with decent effect, and can dispel most common poisons.”
Aili stared blankly at the two items—clearly not ordinary objects—emitting a reassuring power in his hand.
She looked up, emotions swirling in her eyes.
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