"Allen...Allen... Why don't you get up quickly..."
A gentle voice echoed in the boy's ears.
"You little lazy bitch, the sun is shining on your butt..."
Twelve-year-old Allen turned over and muttered, "Mom, let me sleep a little longer..."
"Oh! There's really nothing I can do about you. If you love sleeping in so much, no girl will like you in the future."
"Yeah... I know... Mom, just for a little while..." The young man fell asleep again in a daze.
He didn't know how long it took, but he felt his mother gently caressing his body and said in a slightly stern tone, "You have to get up this time!"
Allen had no choice but to bid farewell to the dreamland reluctantly. After opening his eyes, he saw his mother's hands on her hips with a slightly angry expression.
He got up from the bed, covered his mouth with his right hand, and yawned, "Ah-".
"I know, I know, I'll get up right now."
He reluctantly began to dress slowly.
The mother sighed and complained, "Really, look at Little Tom next door. He gets up at dawn to help his mother cook. How can he sleep in so much like you... Wait a minute, what's wrong with you?"
Allen suddenly woke up and said hurriedly, "There is nothing wrong with me... ah, I accidentally fell."
But the mother couldn't help but grab the boy's arm and roll up his underwear. Several bruises appeared on his body.
The mother's face instantly changed to a look of distress, and she asked anxiously, "What's going on... How did you do this?"
The boy tried his best to use a nonchalant tone and said, "It's really nothing, Mom. I accidentally tripped and fell when I was walking downhill yesterday. I rolled down all the way. These bruises were caused by that time."
But the mother could tell if her son was lying. She looked into his eyes and asked seriously, "Did you fight with someone else again?"
"I didn't..." the boy retorted hastily, but when he met his mother's eyes, his voice instantly became inaudible.
He lowered his head and admitted in a low voice. "I'm sorry... Mom, I will never do it again."
The mother looked at Allen with deep sadness in her eyes, and did not continue to ask why her son was fighting. She knew the reason.
Allen is not only warm-hearted and kind-hearted, but also tolerant beyond his age, and will not easily get into arguments with others.
So far, there is only one thing that can anger this child to the point of taking action - his only relative whom someone is making fun of, which is the mother in front of him.
When her mother was still pregnant with Allen, her husband died early. Allen never saw his father in his life and became a posthumous child.
The mother did not choose to remarry. She worked hard to bring her son up to this age. As a young widow, no matter how cautious she was, there would inevitably be rumors in the village.
The adults were concerned about their neighborliness and would only whisper a few words behind their backs, but would not say that kind of thing in front of Allen's mother.
But children have no scruples when playing together. They often share the "secrets" they overheard from adults.
Not only when sharing secrets, when children occasionally don't deal with each other, they will give each other various nicknames. When this happens to Allen, nicknames such as "bastard" are considered good.
These became the triggers that ignited the youth's anger.
"Didn't you promise me that if you encounter this kind of thing in the future, you will turn a deaf ear and don't let yourself get hurt again." The mother's eyes became moist, and she begged her son again.
With a weak nature, she would never let Allen solve the problem with her fists. Her son was now her only relative, and anything that might cause her son to be harmed must be avoided.
His mother's tears made Allen feel heartbroken. He wiped the corners of his mother's eyes with his sleeve and said, "Mom, I promise you, I promise this is the last time."
"Alas... you always say it's the last time."
"It was all that guy Paine who was talking nonsense based on rumors I heard from nowhere. I was so angry that I beat him up. We have reconciled now. Yesterday you saw us taking the opportunity to go home together."
The worry on the mother's face weakened slightly. She hugged her son tightly and warned, "If others talk nonsense, just ignore them. Don't do anything again in the future."
"Okay, okay, mom, I promise you everything."
"I don't know if you heard it or not... forget it, let's go wash up and eat first."
The young man washed up briefly, then came to the dining table to eat the breakfast made by his mother. Although it was simple food, he didn't know why, but he felt that this breakfast was particularly delicious.
The mother also came to the table, and the mother and son talked. They talked about the family's source of livelihood - boiling salt.
My mother said with some worry, "There have been fewer salt merchants coming to our village recently."
"The salt merchant from Alarda Territory next door hasn't been here for a long time, and there aren't as many salt merchants from Bairdin as before."
"The money I earned suddenly dropped a lot."
Allen guessed. "I heard some rumors in the blacksmith shop. It seems that Arda has built a new salt farm that can make a lot of salt at once."
He changed the topic and said, "Mom, don't worry. I will soon become the official apprentice of the blacksmith in the village, and the blacksmith praises me for my good work. I will be able to receive a salary by then. Although the apprentice's salary is not much, it is no problem to supplement the family income."
The mother smiled and touched her son's head. The child was always so sensible and very considerate of her hard work.
"Blacksmithing is not easy, you have to learn from the master blacksmith."
After breakfast, my mother cleared away the tableware and came to the table again.
Allen It's a little strange. Normally, my mother would start lighting a fire early to prepare for boiling salt. Why is she so free today?
He said, "Mom, if there is nothing else, I will go to the blacksmith shop to help."
The boy stood up and was about to leave, but his mother grabbed him.
"Allen." His mother gently called his name.
"Besides not fighting, don't forget my other instructions."
Why did he suddenly say this? Allen was a little confused, but he still agreed.
But I heard my mother continue to ask, "Tell me what I have told you in daily life?"
The young man felt a little helpless and began to list them one by one. "Chew carefully and slowly when eating."
"Cover your body with quilt when sleeping."
"Don't fight with people."
"Uh, and get up early."
After the list was completed, my mother nodded and said, "After I leave, you must keep these instructions in mind."
Allen was shocked. "Leave? Mom, where are you going?"
What happened next made him horrified and inexplicable. His mother's body became increasingly unreal, until it turned into a transparent shadow.
He reached out to grab his mother's hand, but missed it.
"Allen, I'm sorry, mom can't go on with you anymore. You must take good care of yourself in the future."
After leaving such a sentence, the mother's shadow finally disappeared.
Allen stood beside the table blankly, tears flowing down uncontrollably.
"No-"
The boy suddenly opened his eyes, but this time he really woke up from his dream.
Sorry, the latest update is not stable due to work reasons. I will try my best to keep updating every day, although it may be updated in the early morning like now. Please don't worry about this book being too late, I will keep writing.
I haven't thought about the details of the naval battle yet, so I wrote some other aspects first. This chapter may not be very good. I was already yawning while typing.