The plans of the young adventurers were repeatedly postponed. River Singal spends more time in Visa than in the castle, Vala rarely goes out, and Eren still disappears for days after saying hello, and Iss knows that he never stops asking for news of Scott.

It was difficult for them to find a time to avoid both parents and get together for several days to walk alone. Then, lonely and bored, Ed falls off the castle wall while doing some kind of strange climbing training, luckily breaking only one leg. Vala summoned a priest from the Temple of Collins to heal him, but severely forbade him to leave the castle. When the ban was finally lifted, the cold wind howled across the mountains, and winter had arrived.

The first snow covered all the roads. People retreat into warm homes and try not to go out again. Time is always a long time to wait, but it is only a moment to look back, and in the blink of an eye, another spring has descended on the mountains of Karnak.

Before the snow melted, Ed finally had the opportunity to leave the castle with his father, who had gone to Karnak Village to find someone to drink under the pretext of discussing business. As he slipped into his friend's room as usual, Iss had just woken up from his sleep.

"It's really unfair," Ed complained, "I have to get up before dawn every day, and I'm forced to learn all sorts of useless things, why can you sleep until the sun goes down!"

Isis was startled: "Is it evening now?"

“...... Aren't you hungry at noon?" Ed squatted boredly on the chair beside the bed.

"Why do you always like to squat?" Iss couldn't help but ask him.

"Because he's a monkey!" Naria said loudly outside the door.

"When I was a kid, I always squatted on the dock and watched the boat, it was just a habit. Ed jumped out of his chair and casually sat on his footprints: "Isn't Delian at home?"

Isis shook his head. Alan left a few days ago, saying that he was visiting a few friends in Visa, and that it would take some time to get back.

"What a chance!" Ed lamented, "If my parents weren't there, we could go to Esterlo!"

"Even if your parents aren't there, the castle steward won't let you go out alone. Isis said. The castle's butler was a middle-aged woman as thick as four of him, whom he had never dealt with, but his instincts told him that she was definitely not easy to deal with.

"That's a lot better than listening to them fight every day. Ed said with a sad face, "My father wanted me to be in business like him, but my mother wanted to send me to Stonebuch to be a squire of some noble knight...... She wanted me to be a knight. They've been arguing about this since they moved here, why don't they ask me what I want to do!"

"What do you want to do?" asked Is.

"A great adventurer!" replied Ed loudly, straightening up. Naria let out a "sneer" laugh outside.

The memory was touched, and Iss glanced at Ed thoughtfully, "Why don't you try the Paladin?"

One night when Iss was six years old, Scott casually asked him, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Paladin. The boy replied dryly.

“...... Because I'm a paladin?"

Iss nodded earnestly.

Scott smiled: "It's really...... You don't have to do the same thing as me, Ise, everyone's path is different. Maybe one day you can really find your own god, and you will know in whose name and why you are fighting. Until then, you need to know that you have a lot of options. There's no need to rush to decide, you still have a long, long time......".

"You want to be a paladin?" Vala Singal looked at her son suspiciously, her beautiful face with the usual serious expression. She was only in her thirties, but the wrinkles between her brows could no longer be smoothed, and her light brown hair was mixed with silver gray.

"I don't even know if you believe in any of the gods. She decided that Ed was just messing around, or on a whim.

"You always wish I could be a knight. Ed looked more serious than ever: "Isn't a paladin good, too? ”

"yes, look what his gods have done for him?" Vala smiled sarcastically. The whereabouts of the castle's former owner remain unknown, and most people are convinced that he is dead.

Besides, she didn't know if her precious son really didn't understand or pretended not to understand, she wanted him to become a knight, so that the Singal family could be among the nobles...... The paladin's life, soul, and even all possessions belonged to the gods he believed in—the Crissus family was an exception, but this exception could not have been carried over to Ed just because her real name was Crissus.

River would have gone mad with anger if he had known that his son intended to give all his possessions to the temple.

"No one knows God's arrangement," said Ed, in all seriousness, "I had a dream...... I think it was like a revelation from God. Besides, what's the harm in giving it a try? The plains of Collins are nearby, and I think it's better to go to the temple of the god of water for a while, at least than to do nothing in the castle. ”

Vala was silent for a moment, not knowing what her son was up to, but she guessed it was probably because she was tired of her endless bickering with her husband.

At the age of twelve, Ed once slipped out of the house silently during their argument and disappeared for days before being found. Vala never cried so uncontrollably, and River punched his son hard for the first time, but they also assured him that they would never argue again.

- How long did they hold out? Half a year?

Ed didn't run away from home again. He'd learned to stay away, always smiling and pretending he didn't know anything when he appeared in front of them, which was probably the only way he could protect himself.

Vale stretched out his hand and cut the messy hair that had been scattered across Ed's forehead behind his ear.

"Well," she said, her voice soft and helpless, "you can go and stay for half a month." ”

Ed Singal used all his self-control to not jump up and cheer in front of his mother.

River Singal had no problem with his wife's decision, and apparently, he didn't think Ed really wanted to be a paladin.

"Bring a gift!" he had only one small suggestion for his son's pilgrimage, and he even personally selected a gift, a sword made of elves. Although he didn't like weapons, he added a lot of money to the castle's shabby weapons gallery to please his wife and son.

Ed happily accepted the gift, and snuck a few others along the way in the weapons room. When they were finally escorted on the road by the castle's guards, they had to bring an extra horse to carry Ed's excessive luggage.

They followed the road through the forest to the village of Karnak, where they stopped for a while to allow Ed time to say hello to his friends, and then walked through another forest to the plains of Collins, and walked southeast along a wide and smooth road, and soon reached the temple of the god of water.

This wasn't Ed's first visit to the temple. But under the setting sun, the snow-white marble building that towers quietly over the blue Lake Stanestel like a big ship still makes him forget the language in shock.

The temple does not need to be enclosed. A white stone bridge crosses the lake to the square in front of the temple, where the huge statue of Ni'o, the goddess of water, is surrounded by a fountain that never stops. Many of the believers from afar sat motionless under the statues, letting the splashes of water wet their clothes, making Ed, who passed by them, shiver with cold. He didn't quite understand the point of that.

That was piety that Ed couldn't understand. He is grateful and respectful if the gods really created this world and all living beings as the legend says, but he does not intend to let any one god dictate his actions.

However, if the water god is willing to offer a little luck and blessing for his little adventure, he will definitely not refuse. After all, it was a gentle and beautiful goddess.

With the reputation of the Chryses family—and the fact that the plain was the domain of the Chryses family hundreds of years ago, it took no effort for Ed to get permission to live in the huts on either side of the square, like the rest of the faithful.

"Five days. He asked the two guards to stand at a distance, presented a small bag of gold coins, and said to the person in charge with a bright smile: "I hope to be able to stay here for five days and listen to the guidance of the god of water." He was sure that the precious sword was not needed here, at least not more than he did.

He sent the guards away before dark. "Fifteen days later, at noon, waiting for me at the junction under the pinnacle at the edge of the forest. He said, trying to make himself look like he wasn't too excited: "Collins Plains is safe, you don't have to be here to pick me up." ”

On the fourth day, he received a letter from his mother, wrote a reply as quickly as he could, and asked the dark-skinned man who lived with him to give the messenger three days later. He believed that for the rest of the day his mother would not have to find out in any other way whether he was really in the temple - Vala Singal was not such a verbose woman.

Early on the sixth morning, he left the temple impatiently. Arriving in the forest under the pinnacle at noon, he craned his neck and waited anxiously.

A pine cone slammed firmly into the back of his head, and the sound of crumbling horses' hooves sounded behind him. He turned around and saw that the brothers and sisters of the Delian family were smiling at him on their horses.

"It worked!" Ed could finally cheer loudly, "I can't believe it could be so easy!"

"Let's wait until we make it up the mountain, and by the way pray that Alan won't go home early. Naria said. Most of the snow on the peaks of Estero has not yet melted, and this season is not so good for climbing.

"It's going to go well, there's no doubt about it!" Ed was confident, "Now, dragon seekers, let's go!"

qidian.

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