Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 114 Firelight and Music

The flickering flames of the campfire illuminated the different smiling faces of the people around them.

At the enthusiastic invitation of the little guy and his father, Cui Fanke, Ruger also visited these not-so-familiar neighbors.

He leaned against the low wall facing the street, holding a wine glass. The burly, one-armed man, Cui Fanke, also held a wine glass and sat down next to him. Ruger noticed that Cui Fanke was watching several children playing on the street with a peculiar look in his eyes. The persistent and interesting little ones were naturally among them, but the change in his gaze was definitely not because he saw how cute his own child was.

"Isn't that amazing?" Ruger asked.

He took a sip of his drink and glanced at the children running around.

“Yes, they actually find the darkness interesting. Maybe that proves that my efforts to come here were worthwhile. At least my little Lucien won’t have to wait to get moldy in a dilapidated house in the Abyss District like I did when I was a child, and he won’t have to worry about having his toes bitten off while he’s sleeping…” Cui Fanke smiled and took a sip of wine.

Daisy had finished her work and, seeing Ruger there, she brought out the pastries she had made and shared them with the neighbors who had gathered together.

Interestingly, the starlight pastry failed to shine because the mushroom bits didn't glow, but it still tasted delicious.

The entire street as far as the eye could see had become a gathering place for several neighbors to gather around a bonfire, with some people even taking out musical instruments that could make crisp sounds and playing them.

The children, on the other hand, were always freeloading, running from one place to the next with the light of a campfire, and getting all sorts of odds and ends that the adults gave them wherever they went.

Little Lucien, that little fellow, has even come back twice to deliver it, and even picked out a sausage for Ruger from who-knows-who.

He accepted it with a smile, and had to admit that it tasted very good, with a quality score of over 8 out of 10.

The only quiet, somewhat out-of-place spot on this street was Ruger's neighbor who never left his house. The surrounding light and laughter made that place seem even darker, and even children would run around that corner, as if it had become a forbidden zone on the street.

Ruger suddenly noticed that little Lucien was bravely heading towards that dark forbidden zone.

The little guy was holding up one corner of his clothes, with some things he'd gotten from who-knows-where tucked into his arms.

As for the little guy's father, Cui Fanke, he was already drinking strong liquor by the campfire with the knight he had clashed with on the street that day. The two, whose shoulder injuries had not yet healed, seemed to have become inseparable friends again.

Ruger silently prayed for the little guy, then sat down on the stone slab lying horizontally against the wall and continued to savor the wine in his glass.

He had just put down his glass when Daisy smiled and brought him a plate of steaming roasted meat strips. She had been busy by the campfire since earlier, and her thick black and white floral dress made her look like she was wearing the stars of the dome. Compared to her meticulousness at the manor, she had a more cheerful demeanor and looked more like a carefree young girl than a mature butler candidate.

Ruger lowered his head and took a delicious bite of roasted meat. When he looked up again, he found that the little guy had returned at some point and was swinging back and forth by the campfire with his arms wrapped around his father's severed arm, occasionally letting out a giggle. Meanwhile, his father was still holding a glass full of strong liquor and drinking with the knight.

A slender figure stepped over the stone slabs and sat down next to Luger.

With a piece of roasted meat in his mouth, Luger looked at the suddenly appearing witch apprentice and couldn't help but admire the little girl's courage and tenacity. Of course, this was a success; if it had failed, it would have been called recklessness and stubbornness.

The witch apprentice glanced at him and yawned.

Daisy, who was busy running around, seemed to have been keeping an eye on Ruger's side. Soon she came over and brought a plate of roast meat to the witch apprentice as well.

"Thank you."

She yawned as she took the grilled meat and began to eat.

As Ruger ate his meat strips, he sized up his strange neighbor.

She ate the roasted meat on her plate slowly, glancing occasionally at the little guy by the campfire, seemingly captivated by his giggling laughter.

“In my memory, I’ve never seen anything like this before. Perhaps family and kinship are the price one has to pay to walk the path of a wizard.” She glanced at Ruger and said in a deep voice.

Ruger was completely bewildered. He looked at the little guy in the distance, then at her. "Does a wizard need to abandon family ties?" He couldn't understand it at all.

The witch apprentice looked at him with surprise and said, "Aren't you one of them? Your talent was detected, and you were sent to the wizarding realm at a very young age, far away from your parents. As you grew up, you couldn't even remember what your family looked like anymore..."

She stared blankly at Luger, and Luger stared blankly at her as well.

Ruger suddenly realized who the old drunkard was. Why would he choose to return to his hometown to await death, while other wizarding apprentices, even those who failed their advancement, rarely did so? Perhaps this was the reason; many wizarding apprentices had no attachment to their hometowns, let alone any emotional connection to them. The old drunkard, however, was different. He left his homeland for the wizarding realm at a very old age, perhaps leaving behind his lover and close friends with whom he had risked his life when he left.

The witch apprentice looked Ruger up and down with a strange expression.

“My situation is very special,” he said vaguely.

The witch apprentice did not continue her investigation, but turned to pick up a cup of insect wine next to her.

"Then... why did you leave the Wizarding Domain and come here?" he asked curiously.

“To become a wizard, to embark on this path, of course, it’s all for the sake of becoming a wizard,” she said firmly. “The wizarding domain’s help with meditation is meaningless to me now, and staying there is useless. On the contrary, by coming out, I can hope to obtain some things that I could not get there.”

Ruger looked at her. People who could advance smoothly in the Wizarding Domain would naturally not come back to the Lower Domain to seek a vague opportunity. This person should also be a failure who tried to advance in the Upper Domain. It's just unknown how many more times she can try. Everyone's situation is different.

A chorus of cheers erupted around the campfire.

Ruger and his companion looked over at the sound and saw that the neighbors seemed to be cheering for an old man who had arrived late, bringing with him a fine wine that only the nobles of the inner city could afford.

To thank the old man for his generosity, they decided to choose two people to perform a talent for him by spinning a spoon. The old man watched the younger generation with a smile. Spinning a spoon is a game that mercenaries often play to draw lots. A spoon is placed on the bottom of an upside-down plate and spun around to see who it will eventually point to.

The first person the spoon pointed at was Daisy. Her face was slightly flushed, and her eyes were filled with excitement. She sang a strange song by the campfire, gradually relaxing from her initial tension. The strange tune was quite interesting.

Ruger listened with great interest.

The witch apprentice also seemed to be lost in some kind of memory during Daisy's a cappella singing.

Suddenly, to Luger's astonishment, the previously cheerful old man kicked the little guy away, sending him sprawling face-first into the mud. Everyone burst into laughter, even Cui Fanke joined in.

“That old man has fungal infection on his hands. Look at his fingers, they’re deformed and can’t straighten,” the witch’s apprentice said from the side. “He’s probably afraid of infecting children. My mother used to do this kind of work, raising a kind of large insect for nobles. First, you would use a kind of mycelium to infect the insect. Only after it was successful could you take a little insect paste from the blood sacs on the tentacles of each insect to make a kind of green wine. In my memory, I only remember my mother’s deformed hands, I don’t remember what she looked like anymore.”

After a few drinks, the old man by the campfire began to boast about how popular he was among the nobility, how he was a seasoned insect breeder, and how he could extract more insect sap than others.

The little guy slowly walked towards Luger.

“Mr. Fang, this is for you,” Little Lucien said, holding two small glasses of wine. “This one is for you, Ms. Unwilling to Open the Door.”

Luger smiled and took it; the drink was indeed green.

Just then, the spoon spun for the second time under the large hand's touch, and when it slowly stopped, it pointed at the witch apprentice who was holding a wine glass and staring blankly.

After a moment of silence by the campfire, it seemed that the new neighbor's reclusive personality and his identity as a spellcaster had already spread secretly throughout half the street in a short time.

Just when everyone thought the fun was about to end, she drank the green liquid in her glass, and with a flick of her right hand, produced a harp that was much taller than the little guy.

A corner of the enormous harp was planted on the ground. She rested her shoulder on one side, turned her head, closed her eyes, and gently plucked the strings with her fingers. The tinkling sound slowly rang out in the courtyard, and the area around the campfire became even quieter.

(End of this chapter)