Chapter 145: Chapter 145
Gale Territory.
Well, not precisely Gale Territory, but on the outskirts of Gale stood a man wearing a straw hat with a cape on his back. Beside him stood a familiar-looking girl, equipped with travelling gear as they stared at their inn with complicated emotion on their face. “You sure you want to leave, father?” the girl asked, raising her head to look at her father. The father nodded, “My mind is made up”, he said, lifting his arm with a letter in his hand, “If I didn’t leave now, I would’ve regretted it for the rest of my life.”
Then, the father cast a loving gaze on his daughter, “How about you? Are you sure you wanted to leave with me, Mei?” he asked. Mei, the daughter of the inn’s master, nodded with a smile, “Of course. After all, I also have a score to settle.” Mei’s father gently pat her on the head, “Are you sure? What about the young man you promised before?” Mei shook her head, “He had his path; I have mine. If fate permits us to meet again, which I’m sure we will, then I’ll figure it out from there”, she grinned.
Mei’s father smirked, “As you wish”, he said, then he went silent. After waiting for a while, Mei confusingly looked at her father, “Um, dad, what are we waiting for?” Mei’s father crossed his arms, “We’re waiting for some old friends”, he said. Before long, three silhouettes appeared. “Took you long enough”, the innkeeper said, his lips slightly curled up into a smile.
“Yo, brother Han Jue, long time no see!” a familiar raven-haired man appeared from the shadows, revealing himself to Han Jue and Han Mei, greeting them with a cheeky smile. Han Mei had a bewilderment expression on her face when she saw the raven-haired man. ‘Eru?’ Mei exclaimed in her head, ‘No, he felt different from Eru.’. Then, Han Jue, the innkeeper, father of Han Mei, cusped his hands together, “Thank you for answering my call, brother Rudy”, he bowed slightly. “No worries”, the raven-haired man waved his hand, then the other two silhouettes showed themselves.
The blond-haired bombshell, along with a man with elegant clothes and monocle, appeared from the shadows. “Sister Anna, brother Barlog”, Han Jue bowed, “Long time no see.” Anna flashed a smile while Barlog nodded, “So, when do we depart?” Barlog asked, looking at the sky that was now dark since the sun had already set earlier. “Right now”, Han Jue said. Then, Han Jue led his daughter, Han Mei, Rudy, Anna and Barlog away from the inn. As they travelled, Han Jue began to reminisce with his friends. Han Mei looked at the scene in front of her with unfamiliarity. She thought, ‘I never seen father this happy before. At least before that incident,’ Mei unknowingly let out a small smile.
“Oh, yeah, Han Jue. Have you met our son? If the information I received from this blockhead is true, he should be at Gale right now”, Rudy said. “Your son? You two have a son?” Han Jue frowned, “When? Why don’t you tell me?” Rudy shook his head while Anna giggled on the side, “You do know that we have three kids in total, right?” Rudy said. Han Jue’s eyes twitched, “Since when!? I know we haven’t met for a while but, to think that you already had three kids”, he muttered.
Meanwhile, Han Mei, who was listening on the side, was shocked, ‘I never knew this side of my father,’ she thought when watching the happy expression on her father’s face. Usually, the father that Han Mei knew was brooding and quiet all the time without showing many expressions on his face. Noticing Han Mei was staring at her father in amazement, Barlog smirked as he approached her, “Surprised?” Han Mei turned her head at Barlog and nodded, “Yes. I never knew my father could make these kinds of expressions.” Barlog grinned; he looked up to the sky, “You know before he became this cool and powerful person that you know, he used to be a cry baby.”
Han Mei’s expression brightened with interest in her eyes, “Really?” Barlog glanced at Han Jue, who was chatting with Rudy and Anna, before letting out a small smile, “You don’t believe me? If only you could see how he was when we first met each other”, Barlog rubbed his chin. Mei’s eyes sparkled when she heard Barlog’s words, “Can you tell me more?” she asked, curious. Barlog looked around for a second, then he slightly lowered his body, sneakily whispered, “It’s like this”, he said softly.
“Back in the day, it was just the four of us”, Barlog said, “It was me, the raven-haired playboy over there, the blond-haired beauty by his side and another woman that can make the best cooking in the world.” Han Mei listened attentively to Barlog, “And then?” Barlog cleared his throat by slightly coughing, “And then, one day when we were on our adventures, vanquishing evil and helping the innocent, we found a snotty little kid begging for food in the streets of Tailwind Village”, Barlog snickered.
“Really? My father was begging on the streets?” Han Mei said slightly louder, nearly yelling. “Shh, shh, shh”, Barlog hurriedly closed up Han Mei’s mouth, “Not so loud, or that crybaby will hear it”, Barlog said, panic-stricken. Unbeknownst to Barlog, Rudy, Anna, and Han Jue heard what Han Mei had said earlier. When they approached Barlog and Han Mei, Han Jue happened to overheard Han Mei saying him begging on the streets, and Barlog said that he was a crybaby. Han Jue’s eyes twitched as he could guess what Barlog had told his daughter.
“So, I’m a crybaby that was begging on the streets, huh?” Han Jue stood behind Barlog, cracking his knuckles. “Uh-uh”, Barlog slowly turned his head, finding a pissed off Han Jue readying his fists for him, “H-hello, Han Jue”, Barlog waved his hand.
*Bang*
With a bang, Han Jue knocked on Barlog’s head, causing the latter to clutch his head. “Why hit me so hard, you freaking crybaby?” Barlog complained. Han Jue began to feel even more pissed as it was not only his eyes that were twitching; Han Jue’s entire face was twitching. “What did you say to me, you neat freak!?” Han Jue yelled as he began to chase the fleeing Barlog. Meanwhile, Han Mei stood dumbfounded, looking at her father’s antics, “Is this even my father?” she pondered. Han Mei had never seen her father act like this before.
“Haha, those two never change”, Anna exclaimed while standing right beside Han Mei. “Yeah. Glad to see that after all these years, there was something familiar that remained,” Rudy added. After that, the five of them, Rudy, Anna, Barlog, Han Jue, along with his daughter, Han Mei, set up a camp as the day began to darken. Barlog hunted a massive monster boar then Han Jue prepared the monster boar meat for dinner today. They all set around a campfire eating the monster boar meat Han Jue prepared earlier.
“By the way, Mei”, Barlog said, “Do you want to hear the continuation of the story before?” Barlog used the fancy words he would use as a bartender to ask Han Mei. The latter glanced at her father before lowering her head. Noticing this, Han Jue sighed; he shook his head, glaring fiercely at Barlog before opening his mouth, “Let Mei hear it”, he said, “But, you’re not allowed to speak, you neat-freak! Big sister Anna, please take over.” Anna that was sitting beside her husband, Rudy, chuckled, “Alright, where do we start?”
“Oh, I know, let us start on where we first met” Anna nodded. Han Mei put down the bowl in her hands as she tried to attentively listen to the stories of her father’s past. “That time, me, my would-be husband, Barlog and another party member of ours were travelling the kingdom, doing the Adventurers Pilgrimage together. After we finished getting our letter of recommendation from Aeolus Great City, we went to Gale” Anna narrated, “Back then, Gale was not as stable as it is now, with civil war all over Gale. Gale was just assimilated into the Silvan Empire’s territory when we were still travelling.”
“The Silvan Empire wanted quick stability at the time. Because of that, the Silvan Empire used the local powers that surrendered as the temporary governmental body, the Sun Clan, the Liu Clan, and the Cao Clan”, Anna explained. “The three powers did not get along at all. They were locked into power struggles that made the innocent people suffer. That’s where the adventurers came in. The Adventurers helped many people in the midst of war, and amongst the adventurers were us four.”
“At that time, we were just arriving in Tailwind City when we met your father”, Anna reminisced while looking up into the starry sky. “He was still a snot-nosed brat back then”, Barlog interjected, only to be hit by Han Jue’s aura fist. “Continue please, big sister Anna”, Han Jue said. Anna sighed, “Back then, the meeting between your father and us was not smooth at all. In fact, it was more than that; it was hostile.”
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