Nina's Talent

Era of Order, Year 1137.

Aina had left, though no one knew exactly when.

Simon had wanted to take his grandson to pay his respects and get familiar with the VIP, but according to the maid who returned to report, she was nowhere to be found. Only neatly folded sheets and bedding remained on the bed in her room.

As expected of an important figure, coming and going without a trace. It was completely impossible to figure out what she was thinking.

Even now, he still didn't know what Aina's purpose for coming here was.

Simon just muttered to himself inwardly and stopped dwelling on the matter.

Joli and Yorid stayed for a few days before taking Sera back with them.

Mo Lini and Lian Na breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the days spent here had been quite tough to endure... Although the living conditions of a large family were excellent, there were also many rules to follow. Afraid of causing trouble, they hadn't dared to wander around and spent all day idle in their room... The two of them were truly not used to such a lifestyle.

Mo Lini even began to miss the days of adventuring outside. She felt that perhaps she could be considered an adventurer too... if only she had some ability to protect herself.

Simon reluctantly saw off his grandson and daughter, telling them to come back and visit often—say, every ten or twenty years—if they had the time.

The elves' concept of time is truly quite terrifying... Mo Lini thought silently. She herself had only lived about that long in total.

Their lives stepped back onto their respective tracks.

Stepping onto solid ground once again, a sense of long-lost familiarity surprisingly welled up in Mo Lini's heart.

Returning to the wooden cabin felt even more like coming home.

Home?

The little red beast pursed her lips.

It seemed she hadn't had the concept of a home for a very long time.

"An adventurer never stops moving forward, just like a wild dog doesn't need a tombstone—just keep running wildly until you rot!" Liyana's past words suddenly echoed in Mo Lini's mind.

"Aina, wherever you are is my home." Xia Lun had also said something like this.

Mo Lini nodded thoughtfully.

They were all adventurers, so her own mindset should also shift in their direction.

She hadn't had a home for a long time.

But she had other precious things, like freedom!

Wait... was she really free? It seemed that aside from being by her companions' side, she couldn't go anywhere. If her whereabouts were exposed, the Apostles of Dusk would probably come knocking immediately.

Mo Lini shuddered, as if suddenly realizing something.

Which meant, she seemed to have absolutely nothing!

Isn't that a bit too pathetic!

However, she did live quite happily every day.

Mo Lini slowly relaxed again. After all, she slept early, woke up early, and ate with a hearty appetite. There was nothing bad about days like these.

Weak, pitiful, helpless, but able to eat... Perhaps this was the meaning of a mascot's existence.

...

"Whoosh—"

Yorid stared blankly at Lian Na, who had just hit the bullseye fifty meters away.

"Is... is this right, Mr. Yorid?" Lian Na asked cautiously, seemingly a bit afraid that Yorid would reprimand her for her question.

It had been three days since Yorid started teaching Lian Na archery. Perhaps spurred by the previous assassination attempt by the killers, Lian Na practiced exceptionally hard... The fingers she used to draw the bowstring and the webbing of her hand holding the bow had been chafed raw several times. They were now wrapped in bandages, containing a dark green herbal paste prepared by Yorid to ensure no scars would be left behind.

"Ah, yes." Yorid snapped back to his senses and couldn't help but praise, "Lian Na, you are talented... very talented."

"Really?" Receiving the compliment, Lian Na seemed very happy.

"Of course it's true. You are already better than Joli."

Nearby, Joli, who was working in the field, paused his movements.

Although his talent was terrible, he had still learned archery from his father for several years. Lian Na had only been learning for three days...

Was the gap between elves really this massive?

"Lian Na, you are indeed amazing!" Mo Lini also nodded quite seriously.

Mo Lini hadn't been idle either; she had also learned alongside Lian Na.

And then... there was no then. Mo Lini gave up on the very first day. Learning a skill could never be easy, and Mo Lini felt that it clashed somewhat with her aura.

Mo Lini found a very good excuse for giving up.

As a mascot, one must have self-awareness... The team already had an archer in Liyana. No matter how much she practiced, she could never surpass her anyway, so learning archery was completely meaningless for her.

If she practiced poorly, she would also have to worry about the safety of her teammates.

Lian Na revealed a shy, bashful smile, not noticing that the look Yorid gave her could already be considered one of sheer amazement.

Yorid felt that Lian Na's talent in archery might already be comparable to Liyana's... At the very least, his own talent in the past had never reached such a level.

For targets within fifty meters, Lian Na could already hit them with near-perfect accuracy... Even for moving targets, her hit rate was not low.

Originally, Yorid had merely wanted to teach Lian Na some archery for self-defense during his free time, but now, he was planning to officially take her as his disciple.

"Time to eat!"

Sera shouted from inside the house to the outside.

"Lian Na, Mo Lini, you two should stay and eat here too!"

Mo Lini's eyes instantly lit up.

Despite being the eldest miss of the Lais family, Sera's cooking skills were surprisingly quite good, and she knew how to make green dumplings.

Having married Yorid, she was quite virtuous, though apart from cooking, Yorid was responsible for most of the other household chores.

"Little Lian Na... it must be hard to clean such a big house normally, right? If you don't mind, just come eat at our house from now on," Sera suggested to Lian Na.

"How... how could I impose?" Lian Na repeatedly shook her head.

"What's there to feel bad about? Cooking takes a lot of effort. You have to clean and also learn archery from Yorid, where would you find the time?" Sera was very enthusiastic. "Besides, that boy Joli will be leaving in a few days. Coming over to eat together will make things livelier."

In the end, Lian Na couldn't refuse Sera's passionate invitation.

Mo Lini just buried her head and focused on eating.

Though she buried her head, she actually couldn't eat that much. Mo Lini was small in stature, so her appetite was naturally quite small, and she couldn't consume much food.

They would be leaving in a while...

Mo Lini murmured to herself, feeling a bit reluctant to part, yet also somewhat expectant.

Where would they go next?

They had already visited the Elven race's Forest of Libya. Would they go to the Dwarven race's underground kingdom next? Or the Giant race's plains?

As for dwarves, Mo Lini had actually seen a few, but giants were rarely seen in human territories.

After all, it was indeed inconvenient for giants to live among humans.

Mo Lini shook her head, stopping herself from thinking about these things.

Before starting the next round of adventures... they still had to wait for Xia Lun, Liyana, and the others to return.