Cornflower Witch

Chapter 69 Grandpa when he was young

The carriage creaked and groaned along the road, and Taliel leaned against the window, her eyes filled with excitement as she looked out at the rolling hills and scenery.

Inside the carriage, Hilti was wearing a convenient dark gray coat, her long silver hair casually draped over her hood and shoulders. She initially looked out the window, just like Taliel, but now she was probably sleepy, so she leaned back in her seat for a nap.

The slight bumps in the mountains did not wake her; as she gradually became familiar with the rhythm, it instead became a lullaby-like soothing melody.

Scattered snowflakes drifted down from the sky as the carriage moved at a leisurely pace. The vast plains were devoid of people, save for the occasional bird flitting by and chirping.

During her hazy nap, Hiltiya recalled her past life, when she would travel to her hometown during holidays, which involved long car rides.

The adults' conversations and laughter, the undulating mountain roads, and the refreshing mountain breeze that filled the car—all these were so familiar and nostalgic.

My hometown in winter and my hometown in summer have different scenery. The cicadas and shimmering water of summer are gone, but there is warmth around the fire and the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes.

As time went by, she and her childhood friends from her hometown grew up until they went their separate ways to unfamiliar places.

……

As evening fell and darkness descended, the carriage slowly climbed a high slope and then descended. On the flat land, a village nestled among fields came into view, with scattered orange-yellow lights faintly guiding the carriage closer and closer.

"Whoosh, whoosh—" The horse with the long hair neighed, exhaling white hot air, and then its hooves tapped casually on the stone slabs a few times, and the carriage came to a stop.

"Tia, we've arrived." Taliel, wearing a small brown cloak, stepped out of the car and called to the girl behind her.

"Mmm," the girl replied softly, then pulled up the hood behind her head and got off the car.

The two were standing in the village square, which looked the same as it had a few months ago. Only a few minor traces of the battle remained, such as the carbon ash left in the cracks between the stones and the gaps cut into a railing.

“My home is at the back of the village, come with me.”

Taliel waved to the coachman and led him onward, as the villagers they met along the way greeted her.

"You're back, Taliel."

"You've grown quite beautiful in the few months I haven't seen you."

"Hehe, thank you, Uncle and Aunt," Taliel replied sweetly.

"I'm back," she announced, slightly louder than usual, as if she wanted to shout it out to vent her frustration.

As she walked, Taliel's steps became light and bouncy.

Soon, they arrived at the village chief's house. The old village chief had already heard the noise and was waiting at the door.

"You've finally come back to see me, Taliel." He reached out and hugged his granddaughter, and the two of them cuddled and laughed together.

After catching up for a while, the old village chief reluctantly put down Thaliel and greeted Hilti.

"Excuse me, Miss Tiya, I got a little excited, haha." The old man had dark brown hair and a thick beard.

"It's alright. How have you been lately?" Xilutiya walked over and put down the two bottles of medicinal wine she was carrying.

"Drinking some of this in winter will make you feel much better." The medicinal wine contains a small amount of herbs with the "blazing sun" property, so it is very warming to the stomach.

“Oh, you’ve really gone to so much trouble.” He invited the two men inside and then went to arrange lodging for the driver and a place to unload the goods.

That night, the three of them gathered in the hut for dinner. On the table were freshly baked bread, smoked sausage, and steaming vegetable root soup. Although it wasn't luxurious, it was a very well-off dinner in the village.

While eating, the old man inquired about the two's recent situation in Jiaoshi City. Upon hearing that Hilti was studying under Maester Hyde, he gave her a thumbs up.

“Very good. That old man was a remarkable scholar. If I hadn’t been broke back then, I probably would have sought him out for instruction.” “Sigh, when Grandpa was young, Mathematician Hyde wasn’t that old either,” Talil remarked, propping her head up with her hand.

"He wasn't very old, but he was already quite famous back then. Many girls in Jiaoshi City admired and liked him," the old man replied, rubbing Taliel's head.

“I was just around 20 years old at the time, working as an adventurer in Scorched Stone City. Maester Hyde was in his early thirties and had already become a 'Second-Tier Mystic' Maester, helping the previous Viscount Sherwin manage government affairs. He often led people to visit nearby villages to solve problems, so many people in this area knew him.”

“Some villages still have his early education books, which he reportedly funded and printed himself.”

"Although there are still not many literate people, at least some people who want to learn to read now have a way to do so," the old man recalled.

"I didn't pay much attention to that back then; I was focused on doing adventure quests to make money, and that's how I met your grandma."

"What does my grandma look like? Is she pretty?" Talil asked curiously, shaking the old woman's arm and demanding an answer.

“Your grandmother…” The old man stroked his beard.

“She wasn’t the kind of person who was immediately strikingly beautiful. She came to Jiaoshicheng with a circus troupe. Her aunt worked in the circus and was said to be a fortune teller.”

“I didn’t have money to buy a ticket at the time, so a few of my friends and I climbed over the wall to watch the show. That’s when we met your grandma who came out to get water.”

"She was about eighteen or nineteen years old, with wispy chestnut hair tied in simple braids on both sides. She had an exceptionally sweet smile, and I was completely captivated by her dimples."

"We didn't get to see the circus performance. My companion and I were chased out by your grandma with a broom. It was quite surprising that she, a little girl, wasn't afraid of several of us strong young men."

"However, we were going to live in Jiaoshi City for a long time, so it wasn't worth going into the sheriff's house for such a small matter. Therefore, we didn't dare to hit her, but just chuckled and dodged the broom before running out."

"However, we eventually got to know each other. During the time the circus stayed in Jiaoshicheng, I would always go to see her and gradually became familiar with her."

"She told me a lot about faraway places, such as fire-breathing lizards, crows that could understand human speech, and black vines that rise at night."

"The various stories completely bewildered me at the time. Although I had seen many novel things as an adventurer, I was still occasionally frightened by her."

"She seemed very pleased to see me being frightened, and felt particularly proud of it. We ended up having almost endless things to talk about."

"But the good times didn't last long. The circus eventually had to leave, and we would have to part ways with them."

“She begged her aunt to let her stay, and I was with her at the time.”

“That was the first time I met your grandmother’s aunt. I can’t remember what she looked like anymore, but that dark purple hood and the crystal ball in front of her have been appearing in my dreams ever since.”

“Her aunt initially disagreed, saying that her grandmother would not be happy staying here because she was a fortune teller and many people in the circus believed in her. So, the first plea completely failed.”

"Originally, I also felt that the chances were slim and I didn't have the courage to force them to stay, because at that time I was neither respectable nor wealthy, just an ordinary adventurer living hand to mouth, and I hadn't even officially stepped into the first tier yet."

"The last few days passed like this. When I was mentally prepared to see your grandmother off, she seemed to have made up her mind. She jumped off the carriage and threw herself into my arms."

"I have never remembered the feeling of that day so clearly. When I held your grandmother's body in my arms, that warmth and softness was the source of my lifelong dream." The old man poured wine and slowly recounted the story.

"Because of your grandmother's insistence, her aunt finally had no choice, so she sighed and told me to take good care of her, and gave her a necklace to your grandmother, saying that she should keep it safe."

“Happiness came so suddenly. We soon returned to the village and held a wedding. Many friends and relatives came to offer their blessings, and the joyful scene lasted for several days.”

“After that, I lived a peaceful and warm life. The first thing I did when I got home every day was to hug your grandma, tell her about what happened that day, and then eat together. Whenever I came across something new and delicious, I would bring it back to your grandma. Just doing that made me happy.”

"And so we lived happily until later, when your father was born." The old man's story slowly descended into its second half.

(End of this chapter)