Sodlan was silent for a long while.
A mountain of words accumulated in his heart, but when they reached his lips, only a short sentence remained.
“No matter what you, my daughter, want to do, your father will support you.”
As he said this, his eyes noticeably dimmed.
‘It seems that in the end, I’m the only one left to watch over the house. Being alone is the norm.’
‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have had such high expectations. I should just accept reality.’
“Don’t worry, Dad. I will definitely come back safely. You don’t need to worry about me, really.”
Zhu Qiu looked at Sodlan with firm eyes.
“I believe you will be safe, but… how long will this trip take?”
‘Last time it was two months. This time shouldn’t be two months too, right?’
‘The days of being alone are truly lonely. The youngest son, Sote, has things to do on the human side, so it’s unlikely he’ll come here, let alone Soran’s mother. I don’t even know if she’s dead or alive now.’
Although Sodlan is an adult, loneliness is engraved in his bones.
He just hates it.
“It might take some time. About three or four months?”
Zhu Qiu guessed, giving an approximate time she thought.
“Three or four months… ah…”
Sodlan lowered his head and sighed.
“Go ahead without worry. I’ll take care of things at home. It’s fine.”
He raised his head, forcing calmness.
Before, Zhu Qiu didn’t want to worry him.
Now it was his turn not to want Zhu Qiu to worry about him.
“Dad, you seem a bit unhappy.”
“Not at all.”
Sodlan shook his head vigorously.
“I’m perfectly fine. Don’t you worry about me. I’m your father. Can’t I take care of myself?”
“I see. Okay then, Dad.”
Zhu Qiu revealed a bright smile, like a beam of sunlight illuminating Sodlan’s heart.
But remembering that they wouldn’t see each other for three or four months, the window to his heart closed.
“Alright, Dad. Breakfast is over. Even though things have turned out this way, I still have my own things to do. I’ll go now.”
Sodlan watched Zhu Qiu leave.
The next second, his eyes lost their luster, as if his soul had been drained from his body.
He was silent for a while, then asked himself and answered.
“Xing, tell me, in this life, what is the meaning of living?”
“Love will eventually part. From full expectation to desolation, from passionate pursuit to silent compromise, in the end, it’s all futile.”
“In the end, we toil all our lives, seeking but rarely finding fulfillment. In this journey through the world, we come crying, live bitterly, and leave quietly. So-called meaning is nothing but self-deceiving comfort, ultimately empty nothingness.”
This was Sodlan’s true psychological insight over these years.
It was very realistic, so realistic that across all parallel universes, these things almost always hold true, only affecting different numbers of people.
But he was unwilling. No reason, just unwilling.
Sodlan went to his room, found his treasured photo, and stroked it as usual.
“Xing, I will come find you. No matter how far, I will find you and bring you home. I… have nothing left. If I die along the way, at least I can be buried with you in the same world. We will bathe in the sun together and look at the bright moon in the sky.”
When Sodlan said these words, he had already prepared for the worst.
Because his family needed him, this matter had been delayed for so many years.
But now, he could let go. Everyone was doing well, except for me, right?
With a goal in mind, Sodlan pulled himself together and packed the necessities for departure.
A long-dusty old map, food, tent…
No transportation, so he would walk.
He took all his shoes, refusing to believe they would all wear out.
As for where the old map came from…
Who doesn’t have a hobby of collecting old things?
He spread the map on the table and drew a huge red X on the location of the Human City.
As for human territory, he had sent people to search long ago, but found no clues.
That meant Xing was not in human territory but had gone to another country.
Next, the place he would go was here.
Sodlan drew a circle on the world map at the location marked as demi-human territory.
This was directly east of human territory and directly south of Dragon Kingdom territory, closest to his own location, so starting here was most suitable.
Because his daughter would be away for four months, Sodlan initially wanted to limit his search time in demi-human territory to within four months.
But after careful thought, four months was far from enough.
Just traveling would take over half the time, leaving very little.
For this, he wrote a note on the table and pinned it down with a nail to prevent it from falling under the table and not being seen when his daughter came.
Note content:
“Daughter, if you see this note, I should have been away from home for four months. To make up for past regrets, your father has decided to go find your mother. You don’t need to worry about where I am, and don’t look for me. I will come back when I find her. Your loving old father — Sodlan.”
So it was decided.
The decision was made in the morning, the note was written in the forenoon, things were packed at noon, and the person left in the afternoon.
Departure! To the land of the demi-humans!
At the Dragon Race Imperial Palace, Zhu Qiu had returned after finishing her conversation with Sodlan.
“Mother! I’ve already talked to my father. All preparations are complete!”
“That’s great. While you were down there, I submitted the enrollment application. Now we just wait for the news. Since there’s still time, go have some fun. Time like this will be precious in the future.”
“Yay! Fun!”
Zhu Qiu got excited for a moment, but the next second, her mood immediately deflated.
“But… what is there to do?”
Just then, Zhu Xiaxia suddenly mentioned, “Oh, I forgot to tell you. The school requires students to be able to read and write. Can you, daughter?”
“Write? That’s as easy as having hands.”
Zhu Qiu patted her chest in assurance.
“Come on, back in the day, I was first in Chinese class in school! Not to say my writing is great, but at least it’s not ugly.”
She was very confident in this aspect and wasn’t flustered at all.
“But, dear daughter, this is the Dragon Kingdom. Teaching is done in Dragon script.”
“What?!”
Upon hearing this news, Zhu Qiu was stunned for a moment before she reacted.
‘I should have known. The magic books Zhu Xiaxia gave me were all in Dragon script, let alone going to school. The textbooks would definitely be in Dragon script too.’
‘In that case, it seems there’s no time to play. I have to fully master Dragon script before school starts, or it’ll be a joke to be called illiterate.’
“So, Zhu Xiaxia, isn’t there any way to avoid the script? Like, not using textbooks or something?”
“That’s definitely not possible. It’s a school, how can you not use textbooks? And isn’t this good? You have something to do, which solves your boredom problem.”