263 Return Journey
The carriage stopped on the side of the road in the Central Square of Padesto City, at a time when it was still in the period of traveling from Padesto City to Pattington Island.
One after another, flatbed trucks loaded with supplies were being pushed into the Teleportation Portal by the Half-Elf.
Padesto City is the only place in the Pattington Plane that connects to the Elf Continent. Almost every so often, a large amount of resources are transported into the Elf Continent.
The Central Square is not far from the Tree of Life, and the treehouses around it are inhabited by Silver Moon Elf.
Although there are very few Silver Moon Elf Silver Moon Elf Padesto City, they still enjoy some special privileges. For example, when passing through the Teleportation Portal, they do not need to queue up with the Half-Elf.
Led by Instructor Nora, the Adventure Group members jumped off the train and arrived in front of the Teleportation Portal.
Instructor Eleanor took the Teleportation Certificate from Instructor Nora, walked silently to the Elven Guard, and handed the Teleportation Certificate to Elven Guard...
Seeing that more than half of the group were Silver Moon Elf, the Elven Guard barely glanced at the Teleportation Certificate before letting the group pass through the portal.
Roy stepped into the magical vortex again, only to find the vortex-shaped passage before him shrouded in thick fog, with arcs of Electric Arc crackling around him.
When it comes to traversing dimensions, some elves have a strong reaction when crossing spaces, while others feel no different from walking normally. Roy, for example, experienced some mild dizziness.
He stepped out of the Teleportation Portal, feeling somewhat dizzy, and needed to stand still for a while to recover.
The adventure map returned safely to Pattington Island, and everyone's faces finally relaxed.
This time, even Woods was brought back by Instructor Nora.
He could no longer stay in Padesto City.
Instructor Nora led everyone away from the central square of Pattington Town.
"Don't worry, I'll have people waiting in the Fountain Square until we see your elders."
Instructor Nora comforted Woods, and then she added:
"Woods, come back to Castleton City with us. Padesto City is completely rotten from top to bottom, and it's just as unsafe to live in Pattington Town."
Woods wasn't the stubborn type to ignore advice. He lowered his head and thought about it seriously for a while before readily agreeing.
"Oh, okay, I'll go with you to Castleton City for a while. You've really gone to a lot of trouble this time."
"You've helped us a lot too. We're friends, there's no need to be so polite!"
Instructor Nora patted Woods on the head and encouraged him.
The Adventure Group stayed on Pattington Island for one night before hurriedly returning to Castleton City.
Every other day, a sailboat sails from Pattington Island to Castleton.
Instructor Nora led everyone back to Castleton by boat, and the journey was uneventful.
As January arrived in Castleton City, the cold winds blowing from the Frozen Sea had completely disappeared, and the sea was calm and still...
It wasn't until the sailboat entered Castleton Harbour that Instructor Nora, standing on the deck, finally let out a long sigh of relief, her tense mind completely relaxing.
Roy knew that the Adventure Group ' encounter in Padesto City had put the instructors under immense pressure...
He and Woods stood at the bow of the boat, hands on the railing, pointing to the stranded ship below the Seaside Castle, and said to Woods:
"Look over there, that Great Sea Ship is mine."
"My God, Roy, you actually have such a big sailboat!"
Woods said with envy in his eyes.
By now, his eyes were already overwhelmed. This place was several times more bustling than Padesto City. The entire city was built on a hillside, with countless buildings stacked on top of each other, and a huge elven statue at the top of the mountain.
Everything here dazzled Woods.
When the sailboat is moored at the Deep Water Pier, passengers on the deck disembark first, and then the dock workers quickly board the ship to unload the supplies.
After disembarking, the Adventure Group disbanded on the spot.
Instructor Nora was originally going to take Woods away, but Roy said Woods could stay and live with him.
Woods readily agreed to Roy's proposal...
So Roy led Woods across the dock, and as they passed the Fish Market, many stall owners greeted Roy warmly.
Woods pinched his nose with one hand and whispered to Roy, "Roy, you know so many elves."
"Yes, my home is on that street."
After Roy finished speaking, he pointed to Brown Street at the end of the street.
Roy stopped at the entrance of the Goddess of Freedom Temple and saw that the guardhouse at the entrance was empty, and the temple itself seemed very quiet.
Roy felt a pang of guilt as he thought about how High Priest Reed had been presiding over the Wednesday gatherings alone in the temple during the two months he had been away from Castleton.
Roy pushed open the temple doors and led Woods into the forecourt of the Goddess of Freedom Temple.
With the arrival of the dry season, the fountain in the courtyard has only a third of its water left, and the Goddess of Freedom Statue also looks somewhat cracked.
After bypassing the fountain, Roy arrived at the entrance of the Main Hall, just in time to see High Priest Reed walking out.
"Teacher!"
Roy quickly bowed to High Priest Reed.
High Priest Reed, however, turned his gaze to Woods.
"Your friend?"
Roy recounted Woods's ordeal, and spoke of the arrogant Slave Traders and the despicable Elven Guard in Padesto City...
High Priest Reed sighed and muttered to himself, "I never imagined the Elven World would become so corrupt."
He then explained to Roy: In fact, there are instances of suppression against Half-Elf in various places. Although the mastermind behind it is the Silver Moon Elf, it is not the Silver Moon Elf who is doing these things most of the time.
Instead, some Half-Elf attacked their own kind in order to gain the approval of the Silver Moon Elf.
press,
cheat,
harm,
They were so shameless that they even sold the bone marrow oil extracted from those lowly Half-Elf...
"This kind of thing happens everywhere," High Priest Reed said with a hint of helplessness.
He led Roy and Woods into the Study Room, where the three sat around a round table and chatted.
"So what should we do?" Roy asked, somewhat unwillingly.
High Priest Reed thought for a moment before saying, "We must keep in mind: courage, justice, mercy, and kindness."
"Courage, justice, compassion, kindness... I think I can do it." Woods listened attentively.
Seeing his honest and simple appearance, High Priest Reed actually took the initiative to say to Roy, "Roy, if your friend hasn't found a place to stay yet, he can stay at the Goddess of Freedom Temple for the time being."
"Okay, teacher." This was exactly what Roy had been waiting for. Now Woods finally had a place to stay.
It wasn't that he didn't want to bring Woods home, but his house only had two bedrooms, and he couldn't very well let Woods sleep in the living room or on the terrace.
"Teacher, have you received any news from the Gorfito Headquarters?" Roy wanted to inquire about the current situation at the Goddess of Freedom Temple.
High Priest Reed casually remarked, "The second Expeditionary Force has already entered the Dark Land, and the third Expeditionary Force is beginning to assemble. The Castle Town Goddess of Freedom Temple is probably last in line and hasn't received its orders yet."
This is probably one of the few things that troubles High Priest Reed.
So, not wanting to talk any further, he changed the subject to Roy and asked him:
"Roy, what did you gain from this trip to the Pattington Plane?"
Roy seemed quite energetic when the topic came up.
"Teacher, I am now a seventh-level Novice Priest. Also, I found this." As he spoke, he took out the leather pouch hanging on his back.
He took a potted plant out of his bag and placed it on the round table.
High Priest Reed examined it carefully for a long time before asking uncertainly, "Withered Light Flower?"
Roy nodded quickly, then explained:
"Woods said that although the Light Flower died, the seeds were already mature and were currently in a dormant period. To make them germinate quickly, they needed to be forced to grow. The Light Flower helped me a bit while I was praying, so I plan to try planting some."
Woods, sitting to the side, said, "These sun-loving plants are very delicate. They need sunlight, but they can't be exposed to direct sunlight. They need to be carefully cared for."
The three chatted for a while longer, and only after High Priest Reed left did Roy begin to settle Woods into his lodgings.
Almost all the rooms in the backyard of the temple were empty. Roy chose a cleaner room, Woods stayed there for the time being.
Woods was very satisfied with the environment of the Goddess of Freedom Temple and happily moved into the dormitory.
Roy then left the Goddess of Freedom Temple alone and headed home...
When she got home, she found the lights on the second floor were on, and Ms. Belinda was actually inside...
As I entered the living room, Ms. Belinda from upstairs ran out of her studio.
Her leather apron was covered in powder dust, and the first thing she did as she rushed downstairs was to give Roy a big hug.
Ms. Belinda, as always, placed her hands on Roy's shoulders and began to chatter on:
"Roy, you've grown quite a bit taller..."
"Roy, what do you eat every day over there?"
"Roy, are magical beasts everywhere in the Pattington Plane?"
Roy then pulled Ms. Belinda to sit on the sofa in the living room and briefly recounted the trip. He knew Ms. Belinda would definitely want to hear it, so he didn't even bother to take a shower before starting to tell Ms. Belinda about his travel experiences: hunting Wind Fox, hunting dire wolves, hunting griffins...
Roy had prepared several very interesting stories, which made Ms. Belinda's eyes light up. She said excitedly:
"After all these years, I had no idea that the Pattington Plane was so interesting. I must go and explore it sometime..."