Chapter 547: Years 1
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Kovitan Kingdom
Around the mountains surrounding the Kingdom, there were many mushrooming towns and villages of different sizes.
These villages were centered around the Kingdom, with many farms and windmills everywhere. What used to be the Kingdom was no longer just a small area, but was now a gigantic city more than ten times larger than what it used to be.
Garen stood on the large white road far away, watching the huge city that used to be covered by the Ultimate Protection, his expression unnaturally calm.
The Ultimate Protection above his head had vanished completely a long time ago, and there was no longer any hint of totem power in the air.
He had come all the way here following the road, and of all the people he met along the way, basically none of them had any totem power.
There was vaguely the sound of radio music coming from a car repair shop by the road nearby, a little boy humming as he arranged the things inside the shop.
Coming straight at him were two bull carts with some unsold fruits. There was also a wooden plaque beside it, with a sign on it, with the words "Square Stone Road" on the wooden plank pointing forward.
He had no intention of making a fuss, on his way here, after discovering the condition and general situation of the world, Garen knew that his face, that had not aged for several dozen years, represented something huge in this time.
He walked forward slowly, his steps looking slow but actually far faster than a normal person"s walking speed.
After going through several little towns and villages outside the city, the sky had already gone dark outside, and the road that wound around the mountain, that had led into the Kingdom and was once heavily guarded, was not too far ahead of him.
There was n.o.body on guard anymore in the arrow guard tower, this was an era of peace, the arrow tower no longer posed any threat now that cannons were everywhere, and there was a sign that refused visitors on the door.
Finding a carriage that went uphill, Garen was kindly taken up the hill together with a talkative old carriage driver, he sort of hitchhiked, as the two of them chatted idly on the way.
The old man had also experienced the warring times, and believed completely in those matters regarding the totem users, and as he spoke, he kept on lamenting how the young people these days did not believe all that had happened back then, or how they did not respect the true history, so many of the older generation had seen the Kingdom under the Ultimate Protection with their own eyes back then.
Now many of the elderly had pa.s.sed away, the totem power had wasted away, and this younger generation began to treat the legends of the totem users with incredulity, they could not believe that those could match up to the bombs and cannons they had now, and a.s.sumed that those were just the results of the fear and respect the previous generation had, allowing things to be slowly deified.
Garen kept nodding in time beside him, but also found out a lot about the situation in the Kingdom.
He found out that the Black Swamp Palace had somehow become a general university now, and that prodigy disciple that he had acknowledged back then was now one of the Black Swamp Palace"s two most accomplished scholars, he even held the power in Kovitan, and was an extremely influential person throughout the whole country.
Garen could not help but sigh inwardly, the time had pa.s.sed like an arrow, and to think that the little fella back then had now become a pillar of the country.
Just as it was about to become completely dark outside, Garen got off the carriage at the entrance to the Kingdom on top of the mountain, there were no more guards there, and instead there was a lot of traffic there, many people ascended the mountain at night in search of entertainments, and left the city at night to return to their own estates and cottages, interweaving and flowing like a stream at the city gates.
The house prices inside the Kingdom were too high, and many people who could not afford it had to stay outside, so over time, many small areas came up around and outside the Kingdom, halfway up the mountains, and the whole Kingdom had truly become a city within a city.
Garen walked towards the direction of his cousin Hathaway"s place, completely familiar with the way.
Many new buildings had come up in new places around the roads and streets from several decades ago, and several places on the road had also been changed.
He still had to ask many people before he finally found the house Hathaway was living in.
At night, standing outside the house, Garen raised his head and looked up at the little bit of yellow lamplight on the second floor of the house. This world had no more totem power, and the technological pathway that had been developing slowly before was now blossoming.
With the foundations of the totem forgers, the development of science far exceeded everyone"s imaginations, and electricity was created to meet the demand.
This was originally just an unstable source that totem users had stumbled across in their experiments, and after totem power disappeared, it had finally and rapidly replaced totems in their functions.
These forgers were also now what modern people called scientists.
The electric lightbulb was one of these scientists" newly-invented products.
Garen glanced at the guard post outside the house, there was a guard sleeping there.
Soundlessly, he darted, as though floating, past the guard post, leaping up and landing in the garden behind the metal gate.
Walking up to the door of the house, his palm jolted towards the door, and with a crisp "ker-chak", the house door was opened lightly.
Sitting on the living room sofa, an old white-haired woman with a white towel on her knee entered his line of vision.
Maybe the sound of the door opening had attracted the old woman"s attention, she put down the book in her hand, raised her head, and glanced over at him.
With that look, she never lowered her head again.
Garen was also staring dazedly at the old woman on the sofa, the fifty years of time had carved deep traces on her once-handsome features. Her previously smooth and fair skin had become wrinkled, loose skin. Her once bright and beautiful eyes, had also become the muddled, calm eyes of the elderly.
Her hair was snow-white, and Garen could only sense a vague hint of his cousin"s image from that indescribable aura of hers.
"You… you are his son?" Hathaway"s voice was slightly hoa.r.s.e.
Garen shook his head, a hint of gentleness in his eyes as he looked at his family"s cousin, who had once been pretty and handsome.
"It"s me."
He said softly.
"I"ve come back."
Hathaway"s old gaze gave a hard jolt. This familiar way of speaking, this familiar tone and gaze, it was as though she had instantly returned to the time fifty years ago, and it was as though that handsome and powerful young man had just gone overseas for a few days, saying calmly when he got home, I"ve come back.
Hathaway"s eyes welled up, she waited so hard for more than fifty years, and now, with the pa.s.sing of time, she was already this old, but Garen was just like how he was back then.
"Don"t lie to me… Did Dani get you to come here and lie to me? Did she give you the key?" She suddenly thought of something, and smiled sadly as she shook her head.
"Dani"s fine, right?"
Hathaway suddenly fell silent.
All of a sudden, she realized that she no longer knew how to face Garen. After waiting so hard for several decades, with the situation being what it was right now, what ending could they have? Now that there was no longer totem power, over seventy years old was already reaching the average lifespan these days.
She was already on the brink of death, and Garen… Hathaway laughed self-condescendingly, she did not believe that this young man was the Garen from back then.
"When did he go?" she asked suddenly.
Garen was dazed for a moment, and instantly reacted, Hathaway thought he was dead, and had asked his "grandson" to find his old flame before he died.
She still did not believe, could not believe that the Garen from back then was still so young.
All of a sudden, a sense of faint loneliness surged out from the deepest depths of Garen"s heart.
He looked at the old woman on the sofa, walked up to her, and half-knelt lightly, kissing the back of her hand.
"Don"t wait anymore…"
With that, Garen stood up, turned around, and left the room wordlessly.
Behind him, Hathaway did not say anything more.
Perhaps neither of them knew how to face each other.
After all these years, Hathaway had truly become the matriarch of the Trejons family and the Black Swamp Palace, she had adopted one of her little sister Dani"s grandchildren as her own, to become the next heir for the Black Swamp Palace Master"s position.
This grandchild was unnaturally excellent, and had the full support of the current Head of Military.
And now, even if Garen came back, what was the point? Other than disturbing everyone"s peaceful lives, there was no longer any place for him here.
Everyone, all of them, including Ivy, including Skyharp, Angel, et cetera, all of them thought Garen was already dead.
Died in the ice-sealed extreme depths of the ocean.
The Kingdom had even set up a memorial especially for him, every year there would be mighty officials and n.o.bles making their way there to pay their respects.
As for his reappearance, taking over the Black Swamp Palace again? What was the point of it?
Back then when Garen started this organization, other than to collect information, his deepest intention was simply to leave the mark of the White Cloud Gate in this world. He had regrettably died in battle in the Secret Technique World, so he could only leave his teacher Fei Baiyun"s legacy here.
The Black Water True Technique had traces of the Mammoth Secret Technique everywhere, it was actually equivalent to a totem version of the White Cloud Secret Technique. That was already enough.
Leaving the house quietly, Garen walked on the brightly-lit Kingdom roads slowly, there were night stalls and night markets on both sides, with snacks, clothes and accessories, little knick-knacks, a balloon-shooting game, gambling games, and all sorts of other night market activities, making Garen feel as though he had returned to Earth.
Before he knew it, he had actually walked back to where the Mercenary"s Guild was by himself.
What had been the Mercenary"s Guild was now just a true and actual bar, the people coming in and out were fat rich merchants with beer bellies and all sorts of slender barmaids. Or there would be young men and women, fas.h.i.+onably dressed.
Loud and noisy music floated out of the bar, and even standing outside the door, he could feel the rhythmic drumming sounds.
Garen released his five senses, and reached into the bar.
There was no one else with totem power inside, and they were all young people. He would occasionally "see" some young military officials with black military guns on their waists, and they would be the most intimidating presence here.
As for the totem user mercenaries? What about Angel, who Garen had unconsciously come here in search of, that friend of his who was the first to join his War Chain, there was no more trace of her whatsoever. He did not know if she had died, or left…
Garen stood for a while outside the bar, just staring at the bar dazedly, until some seductive young beauties came up to him to try and chat him up, only then did he slowly turn around and walk away.
"Fifty years… who"s still alive?" He asked himself in his heart.
Those friends from back then, who was still around?
He walked towards the direction of the Black Swamp Palace subconsciously, the night street market with the throngs of people, somehow made him feel a faint loneliness that even he was not aware of.