Some Happy Things

"A guarantee—" Professor Armitage thought for a moment, "Yes, I will indeed write a guarantee for you. It's not difficult, and it's what I should do."

The professor took the children's perfume from Paul, Paul had just agreed to Professor Armitage's proposal.

But after putting the children's perfume back in his pocket, Professor Armitage took out something new and handed it to Hope.

Hope saw that it was a brownish-brown object, and when he touched it, he felt that it had a rough texture.

It was a flat, wood-like object, shaved into an irregular hexagon, with strange patterns engraved on it.

The pattern resembles a tree branch, with three branches on one side and only two on the other. The branches vary in length, thickness, and shape, but there seems to be no discernible pattern.

This thing looks familiar----

It resembles Elizabeth's Wooden Amulet —but with some differences.

Hope also remembered that the Wooden Amulet was shaped like a strange star.

Hmm---- Elizabeth said that the Wooden Amulet was a gift from Professor Armitage.

Hope initially thought it was made by Professor Armitage, but later Professor Armitage himself said that he was no match for the Transparent Monster, so Hope became doubtful again.

"This isn't a reward or compensation for you," Professor Armitage said. "It's just a personal gift."

"If it were a gift, it would be too precious," Hope said.

Professor Armitage shook his head. "Not particularly valuable. It was a gift from an old friend of mine more than ten years ago. He said I could do with it as I pleased. There are four in total."

As the old man spoke, he showed Hope another one, the pattern of which still seemed different. "That old friend never told me what it was specifically for, only that they were called Elder Sign," so I actually only regarded them as more powerful amulets.

About a year ago, because of something I can't say, I gave one of them to Elizabeth, and then on the way, I lent another one to Jack. The third one I gave to you was simply because I thought you should have one.

"A good horse needs a good saddle, and a hero needs good wine. Isn't that what we always say? Some special things are prepared for special people."

"But, however—" Hope instinctively tried to decline, but Professor Armitage's words that he was a special person pleased him greatly, and he couldn't help but laugh.

However, this smile looked more like that of a clumsy bear than a hero, so he quickly stopped.

Professor Armitage also smiled, not mockingly. Rather, it was a smile of understanding and acceptance, as the old man looked at the young man and the young man looked at the child.

"A hero deserves a celebration after his triumphant return; otherwise, who would want to be a hero?" Professor Armitage said. "The situation in Dunwich was somewhat urgent, and we all neglected it a bit, but since we have some free time now, I can celebrate for you privately first."

As the professor spoke, he took out several small packages of candy and gave two to each of Hope and Paul.

They are fruit-flavored gummies. Hope's are apple and banana flavored, while Paul's are grape and strawberry flavored. However, Hope doesn't like banana flavor, so she swapped with Paul for strawberry flavor.

"Actually, I don't like banana flavor either," Paul said, popping a gummy into his mouth. "But you're the hero, aren't you? If it were possible, I should buy you a drink."

"But I don't drink," Hope said.

"I know," Paul replied, "But celebrations always involve drinking, and you can watch me drink."

Know?

How did he know?

Hope paused for a moment, then remembered the possible reason.

It's probably because Number One Hope, doesn't drink either.

The thought that Paul still regarded him as Number One Hope Hope somewhat lost.

But the next moment, perhaps because of the mention of drinking, Paul lost his head.

He actually started shouting like he was drunk, "Hope is a hero! He single-handedly took down the devil of Dunwich!"

In his surprise, Hope forgot his disappointment and tried to cover Paul's mouth, but Paul easily dodged it.

The sound undoubtedly reached the ears of Dr. Morgan and Professor Rice, who were far away, and the two were taken aback.

Then, Dr. Morgan echoed in an even louder voice than Paul: "A lone hero!"

Then came Professor Rice, a balding, burly man who whistled. "If it were according to the plot of the novel, Professor Larry and I should both have offered ourselves to each other!"

Hope was initially embarrassed by Paul and Dr. Morgan, but he suddenly burst out laughing in anger after hearing Professor Rice's frivolous remarks.

He picked up a small stone and threw it in Professor Rice's direction. The stone went far off course and landed far away from Professor Rice.

"It feels great," Professor Armitage asked.

Hope nodded. "It's really good."

"That's right. What I used to love most was having a celebration party with my friends and family after I accomplished something great. It was fascinating to feel like I was the center of the world."

Professor Armitage ate his candy, waited a moment, and said, "Don't blame Jack for being mean."

"I didn't," Hope said. "He's absolutely right."

But Professor Armitage continued, "Jack is a truly disciplined investigator, though sometimes he speaks strangely. We tend to forgive his words because he should have rested long ago."

"I think his intention wasn't to oppress or force you. He probably just wanted to use his harsh words to let you know in advance that doing good deeds doesn't always bring good rewards."

Good deeds go unrewarded—what an annoying statement.

Hope nodded absentmindedly. "I know."

But Professor Armitage didn't stop. "Jack is actually on vacation right now. He volunteered to take care of the patient. If he didn't want to get involved in Dunwich, no one could say anything. His vacation is one of the few forms of compensation he gets."

Hope looked over curiously, while Professor Armitage sighed, "In Jack's last mission, Jack had two companions. They were brave and fearless, heroes who saved many people, just like you. But in the end, only Jack survived. One of those companions was Jack's sister."

Hope licked her lips.

After a while, he asked, "Did they save a lot of people?"

"Yes."

"Then shouldn't their Federation give them appropriate rewards? A memorial service, a pension, and the like."

Professor Armitage shook his head. "You misunderstand. The Night Hawk Union are not a charity organization. The mission the Federation gave Jack and his team did not include rescuing the surrounding residents; that's one of the areas the Federation's higher-ups were planning to abandon."

Hope bit her nail. "I don't want to hear this story anymore. I don't like it."

"It's not a story," Professor Armitage said earnestly. "It's true. None of the people they rescued later attended the deceased's funeral."