"I remembered something. A fun-loving girl suddenly said to me one day: Goodbye, I am going to chase my dream."
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When people are old, frail and bedridden in the twilight period, they will always unconsciously recall the uncertain time when they were young.
Today, my limbs have become paralyzed due to the disease, but my mind is still as clear as ever. But almost every day, I can only face the withered yellow ceiling, recall the past, taste the laughter and tears of the past again, chew the sourness and sweetness, and step into the arms of death little by little.
Among them, the short time I spent working in the Adventurer's Guild was the one that impressed me the most and left the deepest impression on me.
Because there, I met a special girl.
This busy and empty working life became brighter only because of her presence.
Because my memory has been washed away by the flow of time, I can't even remember her general appearance. Despite this, I can still remember one thing - she is beautiful, because girls with dreams are beautiful.
That was about sixty years ago in the Valentino era. I was still practicing at the time, so I temporarily settled in a peaceful town and got a job as a waiter from the local Adventurer's Guild. I don't know any magic, and I have never learned fighting skills, so I can't hunt monsters and get rewards like ordinary adventurers.
I began to integrate into the life of the union as a waiter. I am very busy at ordinary times and have almost no time to rest during the day; I am very free at night and have almost nothing to do.
I had the habit of keeping a diary since the beginning of my trip, but I had to give it up later because I lost my expensive pen. In order to pass the free time every day, I borrowed a pen from the union leader and started writing a diary again. I wrote down the things that were new to me, the people I met, and the experiences I experienced, etc. Sometimes, when I encounter a strange thing that cannot be described in words, I just draw it. So my journal looks like a doodle book. The habit I picked up again has made my life less boring.
Thanks to this job of communicating with people, I gradually became familiar with the people here. Among them, a little girl who often appeared in the union caught my attention.
Shang still remembers that she was not old enough to be a first-time adventurer at the time, but she loved to play, so she often mixed up with a group of young and girl adventurers and made trouble in the guild.
This group of children often occupied a small round table hidden in the corner of the union, and piled a lot of miscellaneous items on it. Because this round table is too small, no one usually uses it, and over time it becomes a place for them to play.
Occasionally I would go over curiously to see what games they were playing. And the girl is often among them.
I was surprised to find that girls could play chess. And it just so happened that there was such a complete wooden chessboard in the union. Most children don't understand this kind of advanced mental game, and adventurers are unlikely to waste time chatting and playing chess. It seems that she memorized the complex chess rules from the mouth of the elderly, but more often than not she plays according to the rules she created. Each chess piece is carved very delicately, which makes the children like the chess pieces more than playing chess.
They also imitate adults in playing poker and blackjack. The girl learned this very quickly, and her skills are not inferior to those of the adults. It's just that children never gamble with money. At most, they use small stones picked up on the road as chips.
The girl even learned some swordsmanship and was able to defeat some novice adventurers. She often secretly played with the wooden sword hanging on the wall, and performed decent sword skills in front of her companions.
I heard that she owns a real sword, a kind of sword only used by people called samurai.
Although girls often have fun in the union, they rarely disturb others. When the union is noisy, she becomes more active; when the union becomes quieter, she becomes more peaceful.
She was as unobtrusive as any other adventurer, and the guild was a mixed place, so no one paid extra attention to her.
Perhaps only I, a waiter who is so busy every day and mechanically repeats the action of serving tea and pouring water, would be interested in observing her daily life.
She is different from other children, but I can't put my finger on it.
It’s just that I envy her because she can play happily every day without worries or worries in life. But I had to work hard to make a living.
The opportunity for me to become familiar with the girl was when I accidentally left my diary on the union table.
She looked through the graffiti I had written on it and was full of interest and curiosity about the content.
She noticed me and gave me an apologetic smile.
"It's okay, it's not a secret." I wasn't angry, and at the same time I thought that it might be a good feeling if I could share what I saw and heard with another person.
It was late in the evening, and few people came in or out of the union, so we gradually started talking more and more. She has a meaningful name: Jielu. She said that the meaning of the name is taken from the "zero" in the number - the meaning of the beginning of everything.
The two people who had just met each other always had many topics to talk about, but they mainly revolved around the contents of the diary. The conversation was full of relaxation and joy, and time flew by. She forgot to go home, and I forgot about the fatigue accumulated throughout the day.
She still comes to the union to play every day. When I was busy, she and her companions would sit in the corner playing cards and chess; when I was free, she would come over to me and listen to me tell anecdotes about the world. My story-telling skills are not very good, but she still listened with interest.
She has a heart without any impurities and is purer than other peers. This is what makes her unique.
I told her about the extreme day and night that I had encountered, and tried my best to describe the magnificent splendor; I told her about the experience of riding an airship, the wonderful feeling of being in the sky, and the I shared the surging feeling of looking down at the earth; I also told about my experience of being kidnapped by thieves in a foreign land. Thanks to a mysterious white-haired knight, I was rescued from the clutches of the evildoer.
Since I got to know Jielu, I gradually no longer feel that life is monotonous. I told a girl about my experiences, sharing my joy and pain, mysteries and fears. It was she who dispelled my emptiness. I originally planned to leave here three months ago and find another place to stay, but I finally gave up the idea.
Most of the year passed like this.
One day, Jielu asked me curiously: "Now, what is a dream?"
This was a sudden problem for me. I thought for a while and replied seriously:
"That is a signpost, the ultimate signpost on the journey of life, people's purest yearning and desire for their future."
I didn't know if she understood, so I continued to explain: "A dream is something that makes you feel very motivated as soon as you think about it."
She nodded in understanding. Then she took my hand and asked me to tell her a story. But since then, she has become very strange. She rarely contacts her companions and is thinking about something alone. When listening to me telling anecdotes, she is often absent-minded, not as focused as before, and her personal thoughts seem to be wandering. It's the same as outside the Valentino continent.
One day half a month later, she suddenly said to me: "I'm going to say goodbye to you in advance - goodbye, I'm going to chase my dream."
The girl who usually only loves to play suddenly told me that she was going to realize her dream. Just when I was wondering if she was joking,
"My dream is to travel around the world." She said to me solemnly, with a shy smile.
At first, I was a little surprised. However, I still decided to support and encourage her.
"Why do you want to travel around the world?" I asked.
When she talked about the reason, she seemed very nervous and explained intermittently.
She wants to see this world that is so vast that she doesn’t know where it ends, explore those mysterious and unknown foreign regions in depth, and get to know explorers she has never met before. She has a strong interest in unknown knowledge and experiences, as well as endless expectations. Jielu also said something that made me very happy. She wanted to look for the footsteps I had walked on and surpass my footsteps. As for why I felt happy, maybe it was because I met someone who could continue my journey at this time. At this time, my wandering heart gradually settled and I was used to a stable life. My journey will also come to an end in this small town, and I decided to settle down here permanently.
Regarding this huge dream, Jielu was still very confused at first. When the adults heard that the little girl said she wanted to travel around the world, they immediately showed a look of disbelief and accused her of being unrealistic. Perhaps only a wandering person like me who has embarked on a journey will understand the meaning of Jielu's dream.
However, she said she still lacked relevant knowledge, so she wanted to read more books and notes about global adventures before leaving. Jielu also told me that I was the first person to support her, and she didn’t know when she would leave, so she said goodbye to me in advance.
"Really... Then, please come back when you are tired."
She gave me a sweet smile full of gratitude.
Jielu also promised me that she would come back to this town at the age of sixteen, when she is old enough to qualify as an adventurer.
From this day on, she began reading formal books about adventure. And the anecdotes I could tell her gradually became fewer and fewer. She will definitely not be satisfied with my own knowledge. Only what Jielu has experienced personally is her own most precious treasure.
Jielu still worked hard to read for her own journey, so focused that she ignored the existence around her. At this time, I would quietly pour a glass of water for her and put it next to her.
Sometimes she would fall asleep on the table because she was tired. At this time, I would carefully put her coat on.
A few more months passed like this. She began to stop touching the books and regained her usual playful personality. And she never chatted with me about her dream again.
I wondered if she had given up. That's right, although it can be seen that she is very interested in new things in foreign lands, traveling around the world is still too early for Jielu, an underage girl.
I thought this way until one day, very suddenly, the gel disappeared from my eyes.
She left without any hesitation, because she had said goodbye to me before.
She was not like me, who hesitated at the starting point for a few days before taking the first step on the journey.
The seaport located to the west of the town and connected to the Valentino Strait is the place where travelers' dreams set sail. It should be the starting point of Jielu.
The starting point of the dream has such images - a broad clear sky, a flock of soaring seagulls, a flag fluttering in the wind, and a bell ringing the hour... all of which contain good wishes for travelers like Jielu.
The girl took the sailing boat with the goal of exploring the end of the world and traveled to distant places to describe her ideals and chase her dreams.
Along the way to pursue dreams, no matter whose soul it is, they will face devilish temptations and purgatory-like hardships. Please don't be afraid then, because I think if it were you, you wouldn't be confused.
There is an old saying passed down by Valentino: "The countercurrent on the River Iver can refine the purer essence (Reflux_i
_Evil_Rive
_baptizes_out_a_lucide
_hea
t.). "
I was not able to see her leave with my own eyes. I could only imagine saying goodbye to her on the dock in my mind.
When my thoughts returned to the present, there was only a withered yellow ceiling in front of me.
Unfortunately, I never saw her again after that. Perhaps in the past sixty years, we have met countless times. Maybe it's because neither of them has the courage to go up and say hello, and they are hesitating and afraid in their hearts whether the other party has already forgotten them, so...
Getting to know each other, having great conversations, saying goodbye... everything has left me with the torrent of time, like a passing cloud, but it has left me with the most precious memories and unforgettable thoughts.
To this day, I still can’t remember what the cleansing lotion looked like. However, I still remember her perseverance, because girls who know how to grow up are perseverant; she is beautiful, because girls who know how to chase their dreams are all beautiful.
(Author's postscript: This short story is meant for someone, the person who is determined and ready to set sail. The ending of this story is a Bad_E
d, however I hope you can change this ending, so that I can write one more T
ue_E
d. )
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