Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 1149 - 261 Old Field’s Farewell

"Indeed, it’s time for me to leave. I’ve lingered in this world for too long." Old Field nodded, looking around the camp with a semblance of longing and sighed as he spoke, "My old friends have been waiting for me below for so long, haha, it’s time I joined them. Child, while I saw your memories, I also left you some information. Everything you want to know is in there; you just have to recall it. Of course, that’s only as far as I can remember. After all, being troubled by Twisted Souls for so many years, there are some things even I can’t remember clearly."

"Grandpa!" The knight girl lost her composure in front of her grandfather for the first time and called out eagerly, "Do you, do you, do you really have to leave? Can’t you stay with us? Just like Annie."

"That’s impossible, child. I’m different from that little banshee; she’s Undead, while I’m just an ordinary soul. The fact that you can see me now is just a coincidence; I don’t have the ability to remain in this world." The old Mage shook his head and said, "Moreover, despite the collision forcibly restoring me from a twisted state to normal, the years of being twisted have left my soul incomplete and without any possibility of remaining in this world. So, my departure has been destined since the moment I was twisted."

"But we’ve only just met." Catherine said like a child watching a loved one prepare to leave on a long journey, filled with reluctance, "You haven’t met with Grandpa Snape yet, you haven’t visited the modern mansion, you haven’t seen the outside world again."

"Haha, you can do all that for me, Catherine." The old man stroked his beard and smiled, "Don’t grieve for me, child. Being able to depart like a normal soul, I’m already very happy. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. Oh, and when you see that old fellow again, tell him I’m sorry. I didn’t know I would die in this forest, so I didn’t tell him in advance; it wasn’t deliberate deception."

"Of course, I’ll remember that." Catherine nodded with her lips pursed, "Actually, Grandpa Snape had already understood that you didn’t mean to hide it from him."

"I know. I saw it just now, but still, it’s more sincere to explain in person." The old Mage stood there for a moment, his expression suddenly turned serious, "Right, there’s one more very important thing. In the library at home, on the second row of shelves, the bottom layer on the right, the third book with a red cover has five Mithril foils inside. Make sure you don’t accidentally sell it along with the book; those are worth at least a thousand gold coins."

"Yes, Grandpa." Catherine stood up straight at once, like a general accepting an important mission, and said proudly and firmly, "After I get back, I’ll find them right away. I won’t let you down."

"Very good, such an obedient child." The old man’s smile was one of great satisfaction, as if he had resolved an important wish, and with a relaxed demeanor, he said, "Now, I can leave with peace of mind. Thank you for being willing to chat with me and talk in my last moments, goodbye, children."

The girls noticed that as the old Mage expressed his thanks, his faintly glowing ethereal body became increasingly transparent, increasingly vague, as though it would dissipate at any moment. Catherine took a deep breath, hiding the unwillingness and sorrow on her face, and with her right fist she beat her left chest’s scale armor, loudly proclaiming, "Grandfather, rest assured, I will live well, be a truly upright person, and will not bring shame to the Field family name."

Old Field’s smile grew more content, and his figure even more indistinct, but the girls’ expressions quickly turned peculiar, as the body of the Mage in front of them, despite fading to a certain extent, had not changed any further, as if time had stopped for him. A few seconds later, even his expression became puzzled, and he murmured in confusion, unable to understand what was happening.

"That’s why I said, who told you to not wait for me to finish speaking." Dillie’s muffled voice complained, "I was just about to say, it’s not so easy for you to return to eternal rest. Don’t forget, your situation, being twisted and then restored, has no precedent in history, it’s entirely different from the normal slumber of a soul."

"Uh, my apologies, Mr. Dillie." Old Field’s soul awkwardly said, "May I ask what exactly is the situation with me right now?"

"How would I know? I’ve already said there’s no precedent." Dillie flicked his tail, speaking lazily, "While some have speculated that a soul like you, because it loses quite a bit during the twisted phase—no one knows what exactly you’ve lost, the secrets of a soul are unclear to anyone—but in general, you are now an incomplete soul, not whole enough to smoothly return to the rest of the Undead, to rest you must first refill your own soul, and the way to do that is by sleeping. During your sleep, the environment around you will slowly mend the gaps in your soul until you wake up again. Strictly speaking, there’s not much difference between the two; one is an eternal rest, the other is you might wake up halfway."

"How long will that take?" Old Field asked with a wry smile, "When can I dissipate from the world and return to my eternal rest?"

"I don’t know, this is just speculation. Who can say for sure about the timing? But looking at past cases of fragmented souls caused by other reasons, it doesn’t seem to take particularly long, maybe five years, maybe ten. After your soul is fully restored, you’ll wake up again." The scorpion-tailed lion seemed to take pleasure in the misfortune of others as it leisurely spoke, "So, you should just find a place to sleep. When you wake up again, you’ll find, hmm, you’ve turned into an Undead, hehehe, it’s inevitable. At that time, you can decide whether to rest eternally or stay."

"Is there really no other way?" Old Field’s soul felt increasingly embarrassed—there seemed to be nothing more awkward than saying countless farewells and then discovering you can’t leave. He asked helplessly, "Isn’t there a faster method? There should be one."

"There is." Dillie extended a paw and pointed at Lina, "Asking her to purify you is the fastest method. As long as you have the heart to let her purify you, and she has the heart to truly do it."

"Mr. Dillie." Lina looked at the scorpion-tailed lion with some confusion and said, "Why do I feel like the way you just spoke has been contaminated by Pannis?"

"That’s your misperception," Dillie replied, taken aback, and then settled back onto its front paws to change the subject, "That’s the situation. Anyway, I don’t know of any other methods."

"Grandfather," Catherine’s expression clearly brightened as she persuaded, "Why don’t you take a long sleep for now? After I complete my mission, I will take you home. When you wake up, you can see the changes in our home, meet Grandpa Snape, and then decide. I think knowing he has a chance to see you again, Grandpa Snape will hold on until that day before he leaves."

"It seems I have no other choice. No wonder I’ve felt increasingly exhausted since I woke up; it seems what you said does make sense, Mr. Dillie." The old Mage laughed at himself, shook his head with a sigh, and approached Catherine, shrinking smaller and smaller until he vanished beside her, his voice emanating from the young girl’s waist, "This Mithril Coin is nice; I’ll just attach myself to it and sleep. It seems I’ll get a good rest this time."

"Grandfather, don’t do this," the knightly young woman frantically rummaged through the coin pouch at her waist and finally pulled out the only Mithril Coin she had, holding it in her hands with an apologetic smile, "Grandpa, the Mithril Coin is so small, it’s not suitable for you to live in. Look, this copper coin next to it is quite good, a bit larger, so it’ll be more spacious for you, right? Why don’t you move house again? Just think, knowing you could have a larger house to live in will also put us, the younger generation, more at ease."

"Don’t even think about it. I would never live in a copper coin. I’m just going to stay here." The voice of the old grandfather was unyielding, "Only here can I be at peace. Hmm, it would be even better if it were a Magicsteel Coin but forget it, I’ll deign to live here. I’m getting sleepier and sleepier, it seems I’ll really sleep for a long time. Good night, children. I hope everything goes well for you."

"It’s a good thing I don’t have any Magicsteel Coins," Catherine’s face showed despair mixed with a touch of relief. Realizing she had accidentally voiced her inner thoughts, she quickly tried to rectify her statement, "No no no, what I meant is, it’s such a pity I didn’t bring any Magicsteel Coins with me. Grandfather, Grandpa, are you still there? It seems he’s fallen asleep, hmm, it really is lucky that I don’t have any Magicsteel Coins."

"Big sister, think of your image," Lina said with a sidelong glance at her sister, her expression a mix of amusement and exasperation, "Don’t you always keep three or four Mithril Coins hidden at home? Just think of this one as one of them."

"How could it be the same? The others I can imagine as shiny gold coins, but looking at this one, all I can imagine is my grandfather. Plus, I know I could spend the others at any time, but this one, I can never use. No no no, that’s wrong, how could I possibly hide Mithril Coins at home, haha, such a foolish and childish thing, I would never do that." Catherine came to her senses just in time, but realized her defense was pitifully weak. After carefully segregating her grandfather’s coin, she stiffly changed the subject, "We were interrupted by grandfather just now. Can someone tell me what happened to make your reactions so odd just now?"

Reminded by Catherine, the girls realized that because of Old Field’s appearance, they had unconsciously moved past the recent fear of losing Catherine. Even now, bringing it up again did not bring the same heart-wrenching pain and despair as before. Whether this was a result of the old man’s tender wisdom or just a coincidence, no one knew.

But Lina didn’t care to ponder these things. Holding Catherine’s hand, she and Vivian sat close to her, one on each side, and whispered, "Here’s what happened."