When the bell rang for the end of class, Zero slung his schoolbag over his right shoulder and walked out of school. The summer cicadas chirp happily in the depths of the branches, and the sun sets, and the afterglow of the setting sun shines on the campus path. Zero suddenly stopped, turned around and saw Isery, who had been following him. When Isley saw Zero turn around, she blushed with fright, and turned sideways to look down at her toes.

"What's the matter with you?" asked her expressionlessly.

Iselly's cheeks flushed, and she cautiously turned her face to look at Zero and said, "I...... I was just...... I want to walk with you......"

Zero looked at Isery's shy face, and felt unhappy in his heart, he directly refused: "No need, we don't go the same way." ”

With that, Zero turned around and left, and Isheli still followed him carefully, with a distance of four or five meters between the two.

After walking for a while, Zero impatiently turned back to Iselly and asked, "What the hell do you want to do? Do you want to pester me from now on?" I'll be honest with you, I don't have much to expect from our marriage, so I hope you don't pester me with the excuse of marriage...... Don't you have anything else to pursue in life?"

Iselly looked at the stern-faced Zero and felt aggrieved, and tears began to roll in her eyes. She pursed her lips, clutched her skirt tightly with both hands, and looked at Zero with a weeping expression.

Zero was a little heartbroken by her pitiful expression, no matter how she said that the other party was just a little girl, she was also a victim in the matter of marriage, and she was a victim of the power struggle like him. It was a little inappropriate for him to speak so harshly to her. Zero frowned and didn't know what to do, looking at Iselly holding back tears, he thought to himself that he was going to be in trouble again.

"I'm sorry......" Isley held back tears and sincerely apologized to Zero.

Zero was stunned, surprised by Iselly's apology. The other party did not cry noisily, but bowed his head and admitted his mistake, this is the first time he has seen him. Zero suddenly felt guilty, feeling that what he had just said was too much.

Isheli sobbed for a moment, then said to Zero, "I actually want to tell you that in two days it will be the day I go to the Holy See of Light to awaken the magic power, I want to ...... I invite you to come along, because you are one of the few friends I have. ”

Zero, who had just felt a little apologetic in his heart, heard the words "magic awakening", and immediately became angry, he frowned again and looked at Iselly and asked, "Did you do it on purpose?"

"......Ahh

"......Shh

"I ...... I didn't ......," explained Iselly waving her hand with a look of grievance.

"This revenge was very successful, Isseli, it's really shocking......" Zero looked at Isely with a grin, "I thought you had really grown a lot through this kind of marriage, but I didn't expect you to be so naïve...... Okay, okay, just laugh at me, I'm a loser...... Are you satisfied?"

After Zero finished speaking, he pursed his mouth tightly, glanced Isley up and down, and then simply turned around and left, leaving a bewildered Iselly standing in the setting sun. She stretched out her hand to keep Zero, but she could only watch his back fade away, and she hesitated for a long time before she could say a word to keep him.

Evan looked at the school gate and beckoned to Zero, who walked up to him and asked, "Are you waiting for me?"

"yes," Evan nodded, "and go home as usual." ”

"I think you want to see Leah, if you want to see her, you can go directly to the Cretan carriage and wait, you don't have to come with me. ”

"No, I just wanted to walk home with you today. Evan patted Zero on the shoulder and smiled.

"That's a rarity......" Zero said, raising an eyebrow.

"Let's go......" Evan walked out of the campus with Zero's shoulder.

The two walked through the noisy and noisy wagon of picking up children at the school gate, and zigzagged into an alley. This is the fastest way to walk home from school, and the most important thing is that this narrow alley can only be walked, and the bulky carriage cannot squeeze in, so it is much cleaner than the noisy scene at the school gate.

Zero glanced at Evan and said, "You kid, do you have something to tell me......?"

"How can you be courteous?" Ai Wen smiled helplessly, "It's not because you've been depressed lately, so I want to talk to you to relieve your boredom." ”

"I don't have anything to be low about, instead of worrying about me, let's live my life well. Zero glanced at Evan and said.

"Don't say that...... Evan smiled bitterly, "Anyway, we're friends, and friends should be with them when they're depressed." ”

Zero squinted at Evan for a moment, then said "thank you" lightly, and then walked all the way forward.

Ai Wen followed Zero, and said as he walked: "Actually, I don't think you need to worry too much about your future, because you still have plenty of time to change yourself, as long as you are willing to persevere, sooner or later you will be able to change the minds of the people around you." ”

Zero didn't speak, just walked on the road without hurrying, and when Evan saw that Zero didn't answer, he didn't know what to continue to say, and walked next to him. The two were silent for a long time, and just when Evan felt embarrassed, Zero suddenly spoke.

"Aven, if one day I'm gone, I mean not here...... You have to take good care of Leah. Zero didn't look at Aven, his eyes looked ahead as he walked.

"What?" said Evan with some confusion.

"Don't you like her? If you are sincere, protect her and give her proper care, and I am not talking about the material care of the Cretan family, but the spiritual ...... You also have to grow up well, don't be contaminated with the gentleness of those wealthy children in the imperial capital, and be an upright and motivated person seriously. ”

"Oh oh......" Evan listened to Zero's words and nodded a little ignorantly.

"Don't be afraid, since you have a loved one, you have to make yourself brave, and when the person you like is in danger, you must have the courage to stand up and protect the other person, which is what a man should do. ”

Zero kept instructing, and the pace under his feet did not slow, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them were about to reach the end of this alley.

"I see," Evan nodded earnestly, "but ...... Why are you saying this all of a sudden?"

The two walked to the mouth of the alley, Zero looked at the people coming and going on the street, took a long breath, then he turned to look at Evan and smiled and said, "It's nothing, Evan ...... You kid, it's good...... Promise me that you must take care of Leah. ”

"I promise you. Evan replied with a solemn nod.

Zero smiled when he heard Aiwen's answer and said, "Since you promised, you must do it, this is a promise between men." ”

"Of course~" Evan laughed, and then asked with a puzzled face, "What's wrong with you today?" How do I feel about what you told me...... It's like you're going to get out of here and go far away......"

"It's nothing......," Zero shook his head, "but I just thought of it and told you." Alright, go home, goodbye. ”

"Goodbye......" Evan shook goodbye to Zero.

Zero watched him purse his lips and chuckled, then turned to leave.

Evan stood still and watched Zero's back go farther and farther away, slowly submerging in the crowd and never to be seen again......

Late at night, in the inner courtyard of the Cretan family, he lived in a secret room.

Zero assembled the energy ring on the homemade barrier breaker, and then installed a piece of the source stone prepared on the side into the back slot. After he was done, he flipped the switch above the breaker, only to see the breaker tremble violently, and then the central energy ring lit up, the surrounding magic elements were attracted to the past, and the driving core in the center of the energy ring also lit up, and a faint halo emanated out, and the action shells on both sides of the breaker opened outward, casting a paper-like light light curtain. Zero was overjoyed when he looked at the functioning breaker, and he opened the folded shell outwards one more time, only to see that the light curtain had doubled in size.

"Great!"

Zero was overjoyed to look at the homemade breaker in his hand, and suddenly heard a sound of footsteps outside the door of the secret room, Zero quickly closed the breaker and put it in the storage ring. Just then, the door was pushed open, and Quinn entered the chamber and saw Zero sitting at the long table.

"What are you doing here at this late hour?" asked Quinn, looking at the unkempt Zero, confused.

I saw that Zero's hair was scattered, his face was stained with a lot of oil, and the long table in front of him was full of various mechanical parts, which looked extremely dirty. There was only one lamp on the table in the room, and the whole room was very dim, and the smell of engine oil made the secret room even more stuffy. Quinn frowned, turned on the headlights on the roof, and the entire secret room instantly lit up.

Zero immediately put away the design of the breaker placed on the table, folded it and threw it into the box containing the parts at his feet, he then stood up and cleaned up the various parts and tools scattered on the table, while explaining to Quinn: "I can't sleep, come and play with the machinery, I'll go back to sleep when I'm done......"

Quinn stood in front of the door and watched the busy Zero, and after staring at it for a long time, he sighed softly and said, "Is it because your father won't let you continue studying magic?"

Zero Wenyan paused to clean up the table, then the corners of his mouth hooked up and continued to clean up, and he smiled and said, "It's nothing ......"

Quinn looked at the young Zero, with a hint of helplessness and regret in his eyes, and said: "Seeing you is like seeing my past self, in fact, my previous interests are also contrary to my family's expectations, although so many years have passed, I still can't forget that deep sense of powerlessness......"

Zero didn't speak, just silently cleaned up the messy tabletop, packed all the parts and tools into the box, turned off the lamp and picked up the wet rag on the side to wipe the tabletop.

"In fact, looking back now, whether it is magic or fighting spirit, it is actually the same path, these two forces born between heaven and earth, in the end, there is still something in common, and it doesn't matter whether you practice magic or fighting spirit in the end. But only those who have cultivated to an extremely high level can glimpse the mystery in it, and how can I be convinced that I, an old man who is about to die, stand up and say such a thing? I have been hoping for someone to also discover this mystery, and I have been trying to prove that magic and fighting spirit can be combined, but I have never been able to find a way...... I can't change the world on my own, do you know my helplessness?" Quinn said earnestly to Zero, who was silently busy.

Zero finished wiping the table and put down the rag in his hand, looked up at Quinn and smiled, "What's the matter with you...... I'm just a child, there are so many people in my family, and every one of them is willing to listen to your troubles and worries, I'm just a ...... The 'spokesperson' of the family...... Actually, to put it bluntly, you all want me to grow up to be what you want me to be, don't you? Just like the Swordmaster Wayne......"

Looking at the pale light under Quinn's eyes, the indifferent smile on Zero's face, and the deep sadness in his eyes, he closed his eyes, sighed and said, "Maybe...... This is the sorrow of the big family...... Although I saw it in my eyes, I could only watch it decay and do nothing......"

Quinn suddenly opened his eyes, looked at Zero with a determined look in his eyes, and said, "But I always felt that you were different from them, you were very different...... I always thought that if it were you, you would have the ability to change this era, and I have always believed so faintly......"

Zero shrugged his shoulders and pouted and said with a smile: "But my greatest wish is only to learn magic, and then travel around the continent, maybe one day I can meet a girl who is very compatible with me, and then take her around the world with me." When you get tired of playing, you can find a beautiful place and no one will disturb you to build a house and live in seclusion. I'm just a very ordinary person, I only have very ordinary ideals, and this kind of thing will not happen to a person like me who has no ambitions......

Quinn looked into Zero's eyes and smiled and said, "Every great man is mortal in the depths of his soul, but he has the courage to do what no one else wants to try, and he persevered, and in the end he was able to stand out from the crowd of mortals." Every great man has achieved himself, and no one can go through the necessary pains for them, and no one can enjoy the success they deserve...... Everything has its own balance, which is the principle of the operation of heaven and earth. ”

"You don't have to compare me to the greats, I'm too small...... If you really want to train a great man, you should go to the Sword Saint Wayne, isn't that ready-made, much more useful than telling me the truth, and he is also a recognized hero. ”

Zero bowed to Quinn after saying this, then said lukewarmly, "I'll step back first," and walked out the door.

"But he's not the one I think can be a great man. ”

As he walked to the door and passed by Quinn, Quinn suddenly bowed his head and said to Zero.

Zero paused when he heard this, and Quinn then said to him, "He doesn't have a free heart like you......"

Zero suddenly laughed, laughing flat and relieved, he looked at the dim corridor in front of him and said to Quinn beside him: "Thank you, old lady, for praising me for having a free heart for a person like me who has bowed my head countless times in the face of reality, although I don't even believe in myself, but I also want to have a free heart......"

"Goodbye. After Zero finished speaking, he stepped on the stairs and walked into the dimly lit hallway and left.

Quinn stood alone in silence at the door of the chamber, and when he couldn't hear his footsteps, he walked to the long table, bent down and reached into the box containing parts at the foot of the table, and pulled out the folded design of the enchantment breaker. He opened it and looked at it, and the blueprint burst into flames in his hand. He threw it on the ground, pensively watching as the burning paper beneath his feet gradually turned to ashes and a puff of green smoke rose from it.

After a long time, he turned around and turned off the light and walked out of the secret room, only a small fire flickering silently in the darkness.

Zero walked on the dark courtyard path outside, touched the storage ring on his finger, and a smile hooked up on the corner of his mouth, he raised his head to look at the bright moon in the sky and took a deep breath.

"I'm leaving, goodbye......" he whispered.