Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 755 - 754: Distance

Family...

Upon hearing this familiar yet strange word, Mary felt a moment of disorientation.

It took her a few seconds to gradually recall that she had indeed expressed her decision to her tutor a few days ago—she wanted to see her family.

The young female mage pursed her lips and hesitantly looked at her tutor: "Are they...?"

"In the upstairs living room," Daniel’s yellowed eyes stared at Mary, "you’d better freshen up before going up—especially your hair."

"O-okay."

Mary promptly agreed, then somewhat absent-mindedly left the basement where the immersion capsule was set up. She returned to the first floor, entered the public washroom, reached out to turn on the water valve, and watched as the clear water supplied by the magic-guided water pump flowed from the metal pipes. The sound of the rushing water gradually calmed her mood.

Her family.

She couldn’t remember what it was like when she left that home... a little girl who was ignorant and followed the older kids into the mountains for an "adventure." After getting separated from her companions at night, she stumbled upon an ancient mage tower, accidentally altering her life and severing contact with her family. Now, with more than a decade having passed, the memories of her childhood had long faded and weathered. The only impression related to "home" that she could still remember seemed to be a low, drafty old house, a dim portable lamp hanging at the door, and those bedtime stories meant to scare children.

Unfortunately, many of those chilling bedtime stories—the ones about dark wizards, ancient castles, the monsters in the mountains, and magical thralls—became realities in her subsequent decades of life.

As the water flowed and splashed, Mary scooped the icy water and splashed it on her face.

She could no longer recall the faces of her parents, yet she still wanted to meet them.

Leaving the washroom, the mood of the young female mage gradually calmed down. She saw her tutor already standing in the corridor, looking at her with a blank expression. Seeing her appear, the elderly mage in the black robe merely nodded before walking silently towards the living room.

Mary followed closely behind.

They arrived at the living room door, where a servant immediately stepped forward to push open the large door for the owner.

Mary saw the scene in the living room.

The fireplace was quietly burning on one side of the living room, its red light illuminating the nearby brass shelf. A dark red sofa was placed in the center of the living room, and an elderly couple, wearing filthy gray coats with gray hair and faces covered in wrinkles, sat on that sofa.

They sat cautiously, with most of their bodies outside the sofa, as if afraid to dirty the luxurious furnishings here.

—Apparently, her tutor only brought her parents and not her sister as well.

The elderly couple on the sofa saw the people appearing at the door. They almost immediately stood up, showing a respectful and ingratiating smile to Daniel. Then they saw Mary standing behind Daniel, and in that moment, family members separated for over a decade finally met again.

Mary stared steadily at the elderly couple, watching their cloudy eyes move as their gaze landed on her magic robe, watching them slowly show a humble and respectful expression, watching them slowly bow down.

This series of actions was as if it were a conditioned reflex.

"Honorable Mage," she heard them address her in such a manner.

Mary was at a loss, and she heard Daniel speak beside her, his tone cold: "This is your daughter, no need to bow."

Only then did the elderly couple straighten up, looking at Mary with a hint of astonishment, but there was still a distinct nervousness beneath the surprise. Mary didn’t know how she felt at that moment. Her lips moved several times before she finally forced a voice out from between her lips: "Father, Mother..."

She used a very standard, city-like pronunciation, and her words were of a more dignified, upper-class kind of address—because no matter how her past decade of life went, her mentor was always a high-ranking mage from the imperial capital with exceptional knowledge and upbringing. She never learned to speak in any other way under her tutor’s guidance.

The rural habits she encountered during childhood had long blurred in her mind.

The elderly couple seemed to stiffen for a moment upon hearing Mary’s address for them, then nodded stiffly, dryly repeating: "Good, good, very good..."

Once everyone was seated on several sofas, the living room quickly fell into an awkward silence.

Mary racked her brain, trying to think of something to say to ease the atmosphere, and only after some time did she manage to organize a complete sentence: "Is everything... still well at home?"

"Good, good... food’s enough," the hunched man nodded repeatedly, "Are you well? Is the food enough for you?"

"...I’m lacking for nothing," Mary said awkwardly, "Are you still... living in the countryside?"

"Where else would we go?" the wrinkled old woman said, "The house and land are there, and we have livestock."

"How did you get here?"

"This Lord Mage sent someone to bring us over," the old woman cautiously glanced at Daniel, "We took a carriage, a very large carriage."

Then she looked at Mary’s robe again, unable to resist overlaying her gaze with awe—as if that awe was etched deeply into her bones, so that as long as she saw something similar, even knowing that the person in front of her was her own blood, she couldn’t help but become nervous: "You are now a mage..."

"Yes, I’m about to advance to middle-ranked..." Mary replied, though she wasn’t sure if the elderly couple in front of her understood what middle-ranked meant.

"Good, you... you’ve done well," the hunched man nodded again, with a somewhat ingratiating smile, glanced at Daniel next to him, then quickly withdrew his gaze, "You were taken away by the Lord Mage, that’s your luck, your sister, your brother didn’t have your luck..."

Luck... Mary suddenly found herself unable to face this word.

Topics for conversation seemed to have ended quickly, or rather, there was never a topic to begin with.

Mary grew more uncomfortable, believing the elderly couple in front of her felt the same.

They were strangers, bound by blood yet worlds apart, sitting in a seemingly close space, trying diligently to say things that both could find agreeable, but couldn’t even pretend.

Shortly after the second awkwardness and silence began, the old woman started frequently looking towards the door, and her husband appeared increasingly anxious—they didn’t know how to appropriately hide their emotions, and Mary could see right through their thoughts and feelings.

Sitting in this "luxurious" place for so long, the elderly couple from the countryside was already restless. They felt no joy of reunion from Mary. They were there only because of an order from a Lord Mage, and every minute they spent there was a torment.

Occasionally, they stole glances at Daniel, with even a hint of pleading in their eyes.

Mary stood up voluntarily.

"Let’s end it here," she whispered, "I... have some magical experiments to work on."

"Oh, oh, okay," the old woman immediately stood up, "Then...then you go do your work."

"Are you staying here for a few days?"

"No, no," the old woman quickly waved her hand, "The livestock at home still need looking after. We’re not comfortable leaving them with someone else for too long."

Mary didn’t say much, just nodded gently and then fled the room as if escaping.

It wasn’t until she hid in the nearby side hall that she realized she had recklessly abandoned her mentor—if this had happened a year ago, it would have resulted in terrifying penalties.

Just as Mary realized the mistake she made, the door to the side hall suddenly opened, and Daniel stepped inside.

The old mage in the black robe simply gave Mary a quiet glance and casually said, "I’ve arranged for them to rest elsewhere for a day. I’ll send them back tomorrow.

"If you don’t want to see them again, you don’t need to during this time.

"After that, I’ll have someone watch over their lives."

Mary bowed her head and murmured softly, "...Thank you."

"No need."

"Mentor, am I... really bad?" Mary bravely raised her head, looking at her mentor, "They are my parents..."

Daniel interrupted her calmly, "They didn’t initially want to come. It was only when the mage apprentice I sent showed their identity, and offered them a sum of compensation, that they agreed to meet you."

Mary was somewhat confused, "Compensation..."

"It’s not anyone’s fault," Daniel said calmly.

"Mentor, did you foresee this situation long ago?"

"Yes," Daniel said without much expression, "but it was your choice and a situation you had to face, so I didn’t intervene."

Mary bit her lip, then lowered her head to look at the magic robe she was wearing, and the silver badge near the collar representing the mage rank.

The divide created wasn’t just due to over ten years of separation.

"Mentor, is the gap between the transcendent and ordinary people really so vast?"

"In most places, yes it is."

Mary lowered her head and remained silent for a long time.

Daniel turned and left the room without further disturbing his apprentice.

He had assignments from the master to attend to.

...

In Aldernon’s East District Back Alley, a man with a disheveled beard and deep-set eyes, with a rather inconspicuous appearance, staggered through the alley.

The man reeked of alcohol, carrying a cloth bag filled with food, his hair seemingly unkempt for a long time, and his somewhat shabby clothing reflected the living standards of most people in this part of town.

Winter days tend to darken early, and the dim twilight already enveloped Aldernon. Sparse magic crystal street lamps lit up one by one, illuminating the old and dilapidated streets of the East District. There were few pedestrians on the road; those who worked at factories hadn’t returned home yet. Occasionally one might see someone by the roadside, if not suspicious-looking idlers, then mostly heavily made-up, low-level prostitutes newly arrived at the street corner.

As the drunk man wandered the street, an inexplicable anxiety suddenly gripped his heart, causing him to stop.

He seemed to merely lean against the nearby wall due to discomfort from the alcohol, but his right hand subtly pressed against his waist, discreetly gripping a golden spike.

A faint magical glow flickered across the surface of the spike.

A scruffy-bearded vagrant walked past him and as they passed by each other, the vagrant suddenly turned and looked over.

In the drunken man’s eyes, the vagrant’s image suddenly distorted and shifted into a figure draped in a black robe, face hidden in shadows.

A voice entered his ears, "Meet at Black Iron Lane No. 14."

The drunkenness in the man’s eyes had completely disappeared. He discreetly put away the golden spike, feeling the silent pulse of another will in his mind, and while changing direction with his feet, he softly said, "Yes, Bishop."

The man turned away from the alley, and as he walked the path, there was never a scruffy-bearded vagrant, as if he was a mere illusion from beginning to end.

...

A brilliant light pierced the darkness, illuminating a plain shrouded in heavy clouds. The plain was barren and dry, with desolate architectural ruins and remnants of vegetation buried by wind and sand. Unending winds continuously swept across the entire land, and amidst this broken and desolate world, countless shadowy figures were trekking across the plain.

Their expressions were numb, eyes blank, as if this journey had neither a purpose nor a destination.

In the far distance of the plain, at the end of the shining light, stood a resplendent city, with towering halls, golden splendor, like the perfect city of myth and legend.

Within the cloud-covered heights, two figures suddenly appeared.

One was dressed in a white gown, holding a portable lamp that flickered with illusionary brightness. The other figure was tall and slender, with black hair, wearing a single lens for spectacle with elegance.

"Archbishop Selena," the elegant man with the monocle addressed the woman with the lamp beside him, with a tone slightly respectful, "This area is the largest projection overflow found to date, and it’s the only one discovered completely detached from the dream city, generated within the ’Imaginary Number District’."

"This seems to be a ruin, a wasteland that has existed for who knows how many years," Selena Gerfen frowned, "All previous projection overflows depicted normally operating cities or villages, and our retarder successfully synchronized Sandbox One’s time flow rate with the real world. Theoretically, the sandbox shouldn’t produce such a long-abandoned region... Archbishop Yuri, what do you think?"

"Perhaps the historical process within Sandbox One has been fractured, time no longer distributed linearly," Archbishop Yuri pondered aloud, "Or maybe the internal world has expanded significantly, with some areas running normally, while others have been abandoned for hundreds, if not thousands, of years."

"...Unfortunately, this is a projection overflow. All interference here cannot affect the operation of Sandbox One."

Selena Gerfen said softly as she gazed at the plain below shrouded in darkness. After a moment of silence, she lightly waved the portable lamp in her hand.

The entire projection overflow silently dissipated with the lamp’s sway, reverting to basic black and white gridlines, and the gray fog enveloping the sky.

"Summon that Daniel next week," Selena said to the elegant man beside her, "I want to speak with him personally."

"So soon?" Archbishop Yuri couldn’t help but be a bit surprised.

"Yes, sooner than expected—because that Daniel seems to have noticed some issues and is conducting private investigations, which is perfect, we can have a conversation with him."

(Oh my God!!!!)