"Time flies! Do you remember? When we first met here, you were nine years old, and nine years have passed. ”

Speaking of the past, a look of remembrance appeared on the paladin's pale gold face.

"Yes. ”

Jean's memory was also awakened by the paladin's words.

When Jean was still a little girl who didn't know anything about the world, she would come to the beach every evening to pick up the shells that had been swept to the shore by the waves, and wait for her father, who had gone out to sea to fish, to return by boat, and when her father's boat came to shore, she would climb on his shoulders and ride his father's neck home together. When she returned home, she would give her mother the shells she had picked up and ask her to make a beautiful set of shell ornaments for herself.

But one day, Jean waited on the beach until the sun went down, and did not see her father's boat return, and then her mother came, and the wives and children of the other men who were in the same boat with her father also came, and everyone waited anxiously on the beach all night, but until dawn, the fishing boat that had gone out to sea did not return.

The second night there was still no news of the people who went to sea, the people who were waiting were desperate, some people began to cry, and on the third night, everyone began to give up hope, only Jean did not, and on the fourth morning she was the only one who woke up early and came to the beach to continue waiting, she believed that her father would not break his promise, and he promised that he would come back, and at night Jean, who had not seen her father, began to cry, and at this moment, a strange man appeared.

"Little girl, why are you crying?"

The stranger was attracted by Jean's cry.

"My mother said that my father was taken away by the sea. I'll never see my father again. ”

Jean choked up and told the stranger about her father's trip to sea and did not return.

"I see. ”

The stranger squatted beside Jean, patted her on the shoulder, and said with a kind face:

"I have a way to get your father back to you, I wonder if you'd like to try it?"

"Really?"

Jean grabbed the stranger's arm desperately like a drowning man grasping at a straw.

"Of course!"

The stranger said with a smile.

"I'm willing to try, tell me how to do it. ”

For some reason, looking at the confident expression on the stranger's pale golden face, Jean immediately believed what he said.

"I have one more condition. ”

Although Jean was about to go crazy, the stranger was still very calm.

"On what terms?"

"If my solution works, your father is back. You will worship me as a teacher, and you will go with me to a far land. ”

The stranger simply stated his own conditions.

Jean didn't answer immediately, she felt instinctively afraid of a little girl who was only nine years old to leave her warm home and a stranger to a strange place.

"What, you don't want to save your father?"

The stranger saw Jean's hesitation.

"I want to save my father. But my mother won't let me go with you. ”

Jean shook her little head.

"Don't worry. Your mother will say yes, your father will come back, and they will be proud of you. ”

Seeing that Jean looked a little depressed, the stranger was relieved.

"Well, I promise you. But I also have one condition. ”

"Oh, you have the conditions too?"

The stranger laughed.

"Yes. I want all the people on the fishing boat to come back alive. ”

It sounded like a difficult request, but I agreed. ”

The eldest and the youngest made an agreement, and the stranger took Jean to a reef by the sea, sat her cross-legged, and gave her a long speech.

"Is this a prayer?"

Jean had heard many people in the village chanting this passage.

"That's right!"

"Will this be useful?"

Jean was a little unconvinced, and after her father's accident, her mother prayed almost every day, but it didn't seem to work.

"As long as you have a religious heart, I believe that God will be able to hear your voice and grant your desires, after all, you are different. ”

The stranger replied in the affirmative.

"The Almighty God of Light, your most pious people, Jean Julian, prays to you......"

Although Jean didn't feel that he was any different, he still followed the stranger's teachings, put aside all distractions, and began to recite prayers.

"Sir, where is my father?"

Soon, Jean's prayer was finished, but her father did not appear, and the others in the boat were nowhere to be seen.

"Julian, you're in such a hurry. After you have prayed for three days, you will know that I have not deceived you, but you must remember to keep your promise. ”

"Don't worry, sir. If my father and companions come back, I will definitely keep my promise. ”

"Good!"

After speaking, the stranger laughed and drifted away.

It was the first time Jean had seen the paladin, Heywood Rowland, and the paladin was not lying, Jean's prayer worked, and on the evening of the third day, she had just finished her last prayer when a black spot appeared on the sea level as the sun set. The black dot was getting bigger and bigger, and although it was still some distance from the shore, Jean could already recognize it as the fishing boat that her father was driving when he went out fishing.

"My father is back, everyone is back. “

Jean rushed to the village to report the news, and at first everyone didn't believe her, but soon someone confirmed her words, and when the villagers flocked to the shore, it was the time when the fishing boats landed.

Jean's father was the first to jump out of the boat, followed by the others, and all the fishermen who went out to sea.

"God of Light blessed, you're back!"

The villagers rushed forward to meet their loved ones, and they were excited to express their gratitude.

After some inquiry, everyone learned about the experience of the fishing boat during this period of time.

It turned out that the fishing boat had been encountered by pirates.

Generally speaking, pirates do not rob fishing boats, because the materials loaded on fishing boats are not of high value, but this time the pirates not only did not let them go, but also chased them when they tried to escape, and finally a boatload of people fell into the hands of pirates. However, the pirates did not rush to kill them, but took them all back to the island where they were stationed and locked them up.

The fishermen who were captured by the pirates thought they were dead, but on the night of the fourth day, a group of mysterious people suddenly came to the island to kill the pirates, and then rescued them and let them get on the boat and go home on their own. And so they returned unharmed.

A month after the incident, just when Jean thought that the stranger she had promised him would not return, Haywood Rowland suddenly appeared at Jean's house one night. When Jean returns home to see him, he seems to have finished talking to Jean's parents.