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The vast sea allows fish to leap, the high sky lets birds fly.
This was the perfect depiction of Gaven's mood at the moment.
There was sorrow in parting, but it was diluted by the feeling of freedom.
It wasn't Zalanda who restricted Gaven, but himself.
Caring too much about Zalanda's opinions not only hindered him, but Zalanda's presence was also overwhelmingly dominant. Even though they were in the territory of the Nort Family, it felt entirely like her home ground. Many halos were stolen by her spotlight.
Most importantly, Gaven had believed from the start that his strengths did not lie here, never intending to settle down. His approach was naturally like duckweed, drifting with the currents, content to be Zalanda's supporting leaf, to embellish and highlight her accomplishments, smoothing her path forward, traveling further, and someday, using their relationship to come back and pluck the peaches.
"If you've followed me all this way, then come on over!" Fiddling with the fire in front of him, Gaven called out to the shadow in the distance.
Following the sound of horseshoes, a lone rider approached slowly. The figure on the horse was as thin and small as a seven or eight-year-old child, but when the face became visible, no one would think so anymore. The ears were long and pointed, surpassing those of elves, and a large nose took up a third of the face, flat and curved like an eagle's beak. A pair of blood-red eyes in the night seemed to convey a sense of malice. It was the Goblin Sorcerer that Gaven had let go earlier.
The Goblin Sorcerer hopped off his horse nimbly and sat down by the fire, coincidentally or intentionally five steps away from Gaven.
Gaven looked at the Goblin Sorcerer with an unmistakable curiosity that he couldn't hide: "Why do you dare to follow me? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you to silence you?"
This time, it was not Gaven who sought out the Goblin Sorcerer, but the other way around.
Shortly after leaving camp, the Goblin Sorcerer had shaken off his pursuers, thanks to his natural advantage in weight. As long as he wasn't caught squarely, human cavalry could not catch up with him.
Once Gaven was sure of this, he did not continue the chase. Instead, he changed course, ready to embark on his grand plan. Unexpectedly, just as dawn broke, the Goblin Sorcerer caught up with him from behind and followed him all day long.
"If you wanted to silence me by killing me, you would have done it already, not waited until now," the Goblin Sorcerer replied with drooping head, using a phrase that sounded very familiar to Gaven.
Gaven was momentarily at a loss for words, making a slightly ferocious face: "What if I suddenly changed my mind?"
"You won't."
"Why are you so sure?"
"You are a good person."
The Goblin Sorcerer's last answer left Gaven silent. He did not expect that after his rebirth, the first 'good guy card' he'd receive would come from a goblin.
"If you called me a bad person who retains a last shred of goodness, I'd accept that. But if you say I'm a good person, haha... you must have mistaken me for someone else," Gaven replied, unable to hide the self-derision in his words.
The Goblin Sorcerer remained silent.
Gaven asked curiously, "How did you know I would take this road?"
"There's only this main road around here," the Goblin Sorcerer's answer was very simple, "The wilderness is too dangerous, the main road is the safest way to travel."
"Alright! That was a stupid question I asked," Gaven, fast becoming the reincarnation of a curious baby, said, "You're free now, why don't you return to your tribe?"
There was a silent pause again, but the expression of the Goblin Sorcerer said it all.
Gaven realized he had asked another foolish question. If he had been enslaved, then his tribe couldn't have escaped either. The goblin cannon fodder outside Nort Castle could very well be his kin or, perhaps, his kin had long been used up as cannon fodder.
"Are you sure you really want to come with me?" Gaven asked solemnly, "The path I am about to take is an unusual one, fraught with danger. One misstep and we could be doomed forever. Once you know more secrets, there will be no safe way out, except for death, permanent death."
"You are a good master," the Goblin Sorcerer answered without any expression, or perhaps Gaven had not yet learned to discern the subtle expressions of goblins.
Gaven responded with a tone of tough love, "You sound addicted to being a slave. Don't you have your own dreams?"
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The answer he received remained a deathly, heavy silence.
This situation made Gaven think of a possibility, "You're not a born slave, are you? Have you lived among that Hobgoblin warband since you were little?"
The Goblin Sorcerer nodded.
If that was the case, it would explain why the Goblin Sorcerer's servility was so pronounced.
Because his parents were Goblin slaves, raised like dogs from birth, following their master as an instinct.
In his past life, Gaven had witnessed such slaves who, when they regained their freedom, were at a loss and, at least for a short time, couldn't find a purpose in life. Many, like the Goblin Sorcerer, would actively seek a new master for themselves.
Out of a sense of shared misfortune, Gaven's earlier compassion had unexpectedly won the Goblin Sorcerer's recognition, looking at him as a new master, which was completely beyond his expectations.
Tsk.
Did that prove the saying, 'Good deeds bring good rewards'?
When Gaven first captured the Goblin Sorcerer, he hadn't completely dismissed the thought of taking him on the road, but considering the risks far outweighed the practicality, he had abandoned the idea, thinking of him only as expendable.
Unexpectedly, things had come full circle and his dream had come true.
Having roughly figured out the Goblin Sorcerer's background, Gaven was no longer polite, and proceeded with a bout of intensive questioning and probing.
He could almost be certain, the Goblin Sorcerer's story was eighty percent true; otherwise, he must be an expert liar, having perfected every lie along with physiological and psychological reactions, to deceive Gaven's eyes.
The Goblin Sorcerer's previous name, upon hearing it, Gaven immediately told him not to use it anymore, as it was clearly not a name but a derogatory term in Goblin, translating in the common tongue to 'Little Trash'.
Gaven directly renamed him Vick, which translated to Goblin means 'New Life'.
Upon hearing this name, a flicker of brightness passed through the lifeless eyes of the Goblin Sorcerer, showing that he preferred it over his original one.
When Gaven asked to see Vick's professional template, Vick had no hesitation, tuning into the Magic Network and allowing Gaven access.
What Gaven focused on were Vick's six attributes and selected Magician spells.
Professional Level: 6th level Magician
Life Dice: 24
Strength 8, Constitution 10, Dexterity 14, Intelligence 10, Perception 8, Charisma 16
0-level cantrips: Detect Magic, Read Magic, Dancing Lights, Detect Poison, Minor Illusion, Mending, Daze.
1st-level spells: Grease Spell, Identify, Hypnotism, Magic Missile, Enlarge.
2nd-level spells: Web Technique, See Invisibility, Alter Self, Rope Trick.
3rd-level spells: Fireball Technique, Leomund's Tiny Hut.
Apart from his Charisma, which was fairly outstanding and key to casting spells as a Magician (used when tuning into the Magic Network; the higher the value, the easier it is to tune and thus to cast magic), Vick's other attributes were quite ordinary, especially when compared to Gaven's own.
The selection of Vick's spells also subtly hinted at his birth as a house-bred slave.
All of his spells were inclined towards support, attack, and serving his tribe, a choice one would only make when pushed to desperation.
Any Magician with a bit of autonomy wouldn't abandon the 2nd-level Mirror Image or the 3rd-level Flying Spell; both spells are life-saving techniques for casting professions.