Malin smiled and nodded his head, "Apart from love, friendship, and faith, everything in this world has a price."
"Why don’t those three have a price?" the girl asked again, with a touch more curiosity in her voice.
"Love is a priceless treasure that one person can give to another; friendship is a beautiful scroll painted together by two people who trust and recognize each other; and faith is the shield that guards the softest part of each person’s heart," Malin said, turning to the girl. "The rest are just trivial things of this world that can be priced and sold at will."
Malin did not know if anyone could truly understand his words, nor did he expect them to, for in the end, there was no one who could truly understand himself.
Even Faye, who held his hand with a giggly smile, was not the girl who could truly understand him.
But as a man, it’s better not to be too picky.
Upon safely returning to Carterburg, Malin had the Earth Elemental hand over the goods to the person in charge of the Merchant’s Guild warehouse near the city gate, who then gave Malin a receipt.
Taking the receipt, Malin led his team back to the Church. The goblin younglings attracted some attention; some merchants wanted to buy them, but Malin fended them off by saying they would be handed over to the Church of Justice.
The moment he said that, no one dared to take them up on it—those who dared were either dead or on the front line to death.
The Church of Justice, too, was somewhat unprepared for Malin’s Apprentice hunting party bringing in so many goblin younglings. When they learned that Malin and his team had burnt down a goblin habitation, confusion turned into admiration, and the Bishop personally awarded Malin a medal, which was for the entire squad’s participation in the hunting event.
Leaving the Church, Malin walked with Faye on the way back to the Church of the Goddess of Harvest.
The heavy snowfall reminded Malin of his own childhood, which had weather much , when he and she, two young children, first met.
It’s just too bad it’s all in the past.
As Malin thought, he noticed children huddled around a fire on the roadside corner, saw the fruit in the fire, and their hopeful faces.
Was it something like roasted sweet potatoes?
Although life wasn’t great, these little ones seemed to be able to entertain themselves.
Passing the crossroads, Faye took Malin’s hand and made him stop.
"What’s wrong?" Malin asked, puzzled.
"You seem unhappy, what’s the matter?" Faye asked curiously, while Milani sat on top of her head, and the little squirrel also looked at its new master with curious eyes.
"I was thinking about some unhappy things, but it’s nothing. I’m not the kind of person who can be overwhelmed by sadness," Malin answered with a smile.
"Is that so? I feel like you’re lying to me," Faye tilted her head, looking into Malin’s eyes as if trying to detect the hint of deceit.
Ultimately unable to discern anything, she pouted unhappily and hummed, then took Malin’s hand, "Mom wasn’t wrong, boys can lie in a way that makes people see ghosts in broad daylight."
Malin laughed, "That’s clearly the line I wrote in the novel; when did it become something Aunt Anna said?"
"She said it just yesterday," the girl answered with a hum, tugging at Malin’s hand. "Come on, let’s go. The snow is getting heavier, and I want to go back and drink hot cocoa."
"I want some too," Malin nodded.
Walking hand in hand with his peers through the streets and alleyways, Malin wove through the crowds until they finally returned to the Church. There, he saw Maya standing at the entrance of the front hall. The look of relief on her face when she saw Malin made him feel inexplicably uneasy. He reached out to pat the little leopard’s head and, holding her hand, entered into the Church.
"How was the hunt, Malin? I heard you guys took out a nest of goblins and caught quite a few of their young ones." An upperclassman greeted Malin with enthusiasm.
"How was the hunt? Why didn’t you all go out?"
"We were supposed to head north, but with the snowfall, we’re unable to make it into the mountains." The upperclassman spread his hands: "By the way, when will you come to practice with us again? I feel like I’ve made some progress lately. Next time we duel, I won’t be taken down so easily by you."
"Maybe in May. Right now, Old Hoffman is considering what grade I should skip to."
The grades of the Apprentices weren’t determined by age but by the Apprentices’ personal situations and their enrollment time, so it was possible to have twenty-year-olds and six-year-olds in the same grade. Malin joined the Apprentice class last year; a year had passed and, due to his advanced academic performance, the Church had already discussed his case several times. Some third-grade mentors suggested that it would be no problem for this kid to skip a grade; some fifth-grade mentors said that having Malin in the fifth grade would be oppressive to other students.
Moving any higher wasn’t an option for Malin (with just one year of study, he could only skip as high as fifth grade). But without skipping, the second-grade lessons for Malin would be a completely repetitive process, and in terms of Spell Formation work, even seventh-grade students couldn’t keep up with Malin’s pace.
However, Malin didn’t care at all; no matter how many grades he skipped, he wouldn’t be able to learn new Spell Formations before he was fourteen.
"That’s great." The upperclassman exclaimed and then waved goodbye to Malin, who was being dragged away by the girls: "See you, Malin."
Malin smiled and nodded, then was dragged into the rest area by the girls.
The rest area was for Church members to use, usually composed of semi-open small zones bordered by three-seat sofas and a double seat sofa. The girls from his squad had already prepared drinks in the rest area, while members of other squads gathered around, listening to each other boast.
"Look, here comes our commander." A young girl chuckled and introduced to her companion.
"Hello, Malin, I hear you had a good haul." Everyone was in the same grade, seeing each other frequently, so their relationship was quite alright. Another squad’s leader, who was also the commander of Logan’s squad, greeted Malin with a smile.
Malin also nodded: "Did you guys have any gains today?"
"We helped the villagers take out a nest of giant rats, a total of seventeen, and then conveniently killed a stray boar. Looks like our meat supply is secured for the near future." During the hunting period, everyone’s food supply had to be self-provided and couldn’t be taken from home, so capturing a sufficiently large wild animal was good news for the team’s sustenance.
"We still only have fruit to eat," Faye complained with a pout, her twig conveniently sprouting fruit in an instant.
"My lady, could you please not do that? These fruits are way better than our animal meat." The commander rolled her eyes: "Or we could switch."
"No thanks, you guys keep the meat for yourselves," Faye replied and tossed the twig to Malin. Malin reached out and the twig transformed mid-air. By the time it settled into Malin’s hand, it had become a wooden bracelet.
Milani popped out of Malin’s hood and squeaked at Faye, who took an Acorn from her pocket and tossed it to the squirrel. The squirrel caught the Acorn, which was bigger than itself, rolled around twice in Malin’s hood, and when it re-emerged, it had already taken a bite of the fruit.
"Spirits!" The commander initially tensed up, but then noticing the nonchalant reaction of Malin’s teammates, turned her attention to the squirrel: "A pet?"
"That’s one way to put it; I’m its keeper," Malin responded, snapping his fingers as Milani quickly jumped into the palm of his hand.
"Could it be for sale... oh, forget I asked." The young man slapped his forehead: "I don’t think you seem like someone short on money, so sorry, I just thought such a little creature would be very popular as a gift."
"Indeed, now I’m its second-choice keeper," Faye said with a smile, sitting down next to Malin: "Gao Gen, how’s your cousin doing?"
"What else could he be doing? Of course, he’s gone west. I heard that some brainless Sea Clan members violated the covenant and came ashore, harming the villagers’ livestock, so our people went to hunt them down. With the Sea Clan breaking the covenant first, even if we wiped out those brainless folks, the Sea Clan wouldn’t have any ground to argue."