Bab 17: 17. The rental house three years ago
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Getting the team withdrawal certificate shouldn't be difficult.
Lin Da thought for a moment and then let go, that Lia wouldn't let him stay.
Deliberately holding him up was also unlikely.
According to the Empire's Adventurer's Law Article Thirty-Five: if Lia stalled him, he could apply to the Adventurer's Guild for a forced withdrawal.
Although it might drag on for a few days, just to be annoying, but based on Lin Da's understanding of Lia, she disdained such petty tricks.
Just like her Fire Series Battle Qi, she was as fiery and impetuous as flames.
He figured as soon as he went over, without needing to speak, she would throw the withdrawal certificate in his face.
"That's good, saves the hassle of arguing."
Lin Da, with hands in pockets, and Kafni headed towards their rental destination.
...
"Where's my grand villa, my big swimming pool? You're making me live in a place like this?"
In the middle of a decrepit old neighborhood, Kafni wailed.
What met the eyes was a row of tube buildings with yellowing walls, as old and shaky as an eighty-year-old man on his last legs in the wind.
Kafni learned from Lin Da and that old landlady's conversation that the apartment was only 50 square meters, without a private bathroom, communal, shared by the whole floor.
Bathing with others, no thanks!
Kafni still wanted to hide her big embarrassing bear.
She had never lived in such a rubbish place in her life.
Lin Da, however, didn't care at all and haggled with the landlady: "2 silver coins a month, I plan to stay long-term!"
"Oh dear, if it weren't for 'Eye of Wisdom' sir, I definitely wouldn't agree."
The gossipy rent-collecting landlady looked at Lin Da: "What happened to those girls? Back in the day, you were the only one who could make four girls willingly live in a place like this."
Three years ago, Lin Da was seen every day with four beautiful girls, and it was rumored they partied every day in the house.
Living in a rundown house but still managing to bewitch four girls left a deep impression on the landlady.
"Cough, cough, I came alone." Noticing that the landlady was peeking at Kafni and giving him a knowing smile, Lin Da quickly cleared his throat: "So is 8 silver coins enough? Let's get on with the check-in."
"For 'Eye of Wisdom's' sake, auntie will take one off, 6 coins."
"Really? Thank you so much!"
Lin Da quickly signed the rental contract and, with a dejected Kafni, went to the third floor, hearing her mutter 'don't want to live here', 'too shabby', 'how can a worthless hero treat a deity like this' and other complaints.
"That's enough, not sleeping on the streets is already pretty good; having a house in Sparrow District means you don't have to worry about safety. Look on the bright side, you won't be targeted by Black Uncle."
Lin Da tried to cheer Kafni up optimistically.
"Heh, someone else should have been the hero," Kafni retorted sarcastically.
Ignoring the sullen deity with golden hair, Lin Da took a key from his pocket. It had a worn sticker with unclear handwriting, barely making out '305'.
Huh?
Lin Da blinked in surprise.
Wasn't this the room he and the others lived in three years ago?
The Snow Goose Adventure Team was extremely poor in the early days, and although the girls like Lia came from distinguished backgrounds, each seemed to have their own difficulties. Together, they managed to scrape up a single gold coin.
Now, three years later, coming to rent again, it was the same room.
Coincidence, or was it the landlady's deliberate arrangement...?
Fighting alongside someone new at the place where he once battled might seem quite thrilling to that landlady.
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But the reality was not like that at all. In the early days of the Snow Goose Adventure Team, they spent all day fighting monsters, training, then coming back to eat before crashing into bed. Their minds were solely on the World Tree Secret Realm; there was no time for other activities.
Lin Da couldn't help but frown. Living in this kind of house would only remind him of the old Snow Goose Adventure Team, inevitably making him feel uncomfortable.
"What are you dazing out for? Hurry up and go in!"
Kafni, both tired and hungry, was already displeased, and with Lin Da stupidly daydreaming, she grabbed the key from him in frustration.
With a click, the door opened, and Kafni pushed her way in.
Apparently, the place had not been aired out for too long; a damp and musty smell assaulted their senses as they entered.
Kafni immediately pinched her nose, her face turning bitter.
As for Lin Da, the sight of the familiar old furniture in the small rental room was like overturning a jar of mixed emotions. Many scenes that had been sealed in the corners of his memory seemed to be unlocked by this rusty key, coming at him thick and fast.
"What's wrong with you?"
"It's nothing."
"Oh."
Kafni didn't bother with him anymore and started to look around the room.
One bedroom, one living room, with a separate bathroom.
When the light was turned on, its dim yellow glow made the narrow space feel even more constricting, almost suffocating.
Kafni continued to complain.
Lin Da, as if he hadn't heard, wandered through the dust-covered living room.
He looked at the mahogany round table, which had lost much of its paint and was pocked with dents, and felt a tinge of emotion.
Those dents were made by Klrona, who used an iron ladle to serve food.
With no toys to play with while waiting for dinner, she would bang the spoon on the table. Each time Klrona did that, she'd puff out her little chest with an excuse, "It's because our team is so poor we can't even afford toys, so I have to play with this!"
Across from the door, where the round table faced, was Lia's seat. Lin Da sat opposite, with Lin Xi right next to him, and Aiko and Klrona to each side.
Seeing the objects brought back a flood of memories, vividly coming to life in Lin Da's mind.
He sat down in his own seat.
That moment, it was as if something had come alive. In a daze, he seemed to return to the scene from three years ago, stored in his memory.
"What are you looking at? Aren't we toasting?"
The voice that sounded like an illusion echoed in his ears. Lin Da looked up incredulously.
Across the round table, a girl with fiery red hair and a fresh, youthful face was holding a large oak cup, tilting her head and looking at him oddly.
"Eh? Lin Da, are you tired already? You're such small fry!"
Klrona held the cup with both hands, her snow-white feet stretched out under the table, swinging back and forth like a swing, laughing mischievously.
"Shall I cook next time?" Aiko's tone was a bit worried, as if she felt bad that Lin Da always had to cook.
"Brother?" Lin Xi, a delicate girl with soft black hair, was also looking at him with concern.
Lin Da's gaze lingered on her for a long time.
But the protagonist today was not Lin Xi.
Lin Da thought for a moment about what had happened at that time...
If he remembered correctly, today was the day they failed on the second layer of the World Tree. Luck was terrible; they were randomly sent to a Mystic Realm that was highly incompatible with the Snow Goose Adventure Team. Someone didn't follow orders and broke away from the group, rushing into the midst of the magical creatures. If not for a Town Portal Scroll, the Snow Goose Adventure Team would have been wiped out.
It was from this painful lesson of the second layer that Lin Da started the habit of collecting Magic Potions.
Under his adamant request, from then on the team had to exceed the level recommended by the Adventurer's Guild for the corresponding layer, be skilled in the boss strategies of every random map, capable of a hundred percent success rate before agreeing to attempt a strategy.
```
Bab 18: Request of Lia
Watching the expressions of the young girls in his memory, some worried, some laughing, Lin Da felt a warm current flow through his heart.
This was the Snow Goose Adventure Team he was willing to stay with.
The gentle and considerate Aiko, the quirky Klrona who also called him brother.
Biting her lip as if she was preparing to apologize for rashly entering the heartland of the Magical Creatures, it was Lia.
His own sister, Lin Xi, was still there as well.
The members of the adventure team really felt like family.
Back then, Lin Da deeply believed that establishing the Snow Goose Adventure Team was the right choice.
If only the team hadn't become famous, it would have been fine for it to remain ordinary.
This thought flashed through Lin Da's mind.
Suddenly, 'Lia' across the round table stood up.
With pursed lips, head slightly bowed, and fists clenched tight, it seemed she was ready to say something.
Everyone looked over in surprise.
Lin Da's expression hardened; it was here that Lia entrusted herself to him.
"Today's failure was my fault. I shouldn't have risked going into the Giant Water Serpent's heartland. Because everyone tried to save me, it nearly led to our team's annihilation!"
Aiko hugged the trembling Lia and whispered softly, "Captain, don't blame yourself, we are teammates, and we still need you to lead us to overcome higher levels."
"But, but!"
"Sister Lia, neither brother nor I will blame you, okay?"
"No, I know you're all just trying to comfort me!"
Lia wiped her swollen eyes and looked at the silent Lin Da sitting across the round table. She bit her lip and said, "If we had just listened to Lin Da and retreated, it wouldn't have..."
"Take this as a lesson. From now on, be more cautious. Only venture into the World Tree when certain of victory."
Hearing Lin Da say this, the self-reproach on Lia's face visibly lessened.
But she didn't sit down and suddenly bowed deeply.
Her voice was loud as she earnestly requested, "Lin Da, please help the Snow Goose Adventure Team take everyone, without a single person left behind, through the World Tree Secret Realm!"
Lin Da remembered clearly, from that day onward, the level of detail in his strategy planning had multiplied many times, and so had the time spent.
He envisioned all sorts of scenarios in defeating Magical Creatures, and as long as the adventurers met the level requirements and adhered strictly to the strategy, they could pass without injury.
"This kettle is broken, but it still works—really bails us out."
An incongruous voice suddenly emerged within the memory illusion.
The scenes around him shattered like glass, and Lin Da dumbly returned to the musty, cold rental space.
The round table was much shabbier than in his memories, and the straightforward, red-haired girl who had sat across from him had disappeared.
Lin Da looked at the person who had pulled him out of his memories, Kafni, who used an old kettle to boil water and placed it with a clatter on the table, "Want some?"
"Hmm."
Lin Da opened the cup he carried along with the Magic Potion and filled it with hot water.
He saw that Kafni was using a pink mug with a Fire Dragon pattern.
"This cup is still here, surprisingly not thrown out by the landlady."
Lin Da was a bit surprised; this was the cup Lia used to use when they lived here.
He walked over to the small washroom to check, in front of a mirror held together with tape was a wooden basket for washing items, and several differently colored cups were covered with a thick layer of dust.
Lin Da then turned towards the wall to the right of the mirror, where the crooked lettering was indeed still there.
Time had passed too long, the letters were yellowed, some too blurry to make out, looking like random scribbles.
'Become the number one adventure team in White Dove City.'
'Cure the legs and open a lingerie store in Imperial Capital.'
"Buy all the toys, order rabbit armor!"
"Stay with brother forever!"
And at the bottom, squeezed into the corner with gigantic fonts, was a line written in minuscule letters like a mosquito's buzz: "Hope to safely reach the top of the World Tree."
Seeing these words, Lin Da rubbed his brow and sighed.
Of the original five members who established the Snow Goose Adventure Team, two had already left, which inevitably brought a sense of change and loss.
Lia's dream hadn't changed at all, but she herself had changed too much.
Entering the living room, Lin Da sat on a couch with cotton showing through, staring blankly at the dark ceiling.
"What about dinner?" Kafni asked, clutching her belly and looking distressed.
"Let's just go to bed early and eat tomorrow," Lin Da said.
"Huh?" Kafni's face was full of astonishment.
Lin Da, however, had no appetite. Kafni had taken a silver coin from him and when she asked if he was going to eat while leaving, he declined.
His mind was in disarray; after recalling those memories, he felt a strange sense of anticipation about meeting Lia tomorrow.
How could the 'Bursting Flames' Lia from the game have turned into what she is now?
When Lin Da agreed to form the team, it wasn't solely because of a common purpose.
It was also because, at first glance at that red-haired girl, he recognized her.
She was a popular NPC from the Mystic Continent game, 'Bursting Flames' Lia!
In the version 1.1 Blood Moon event, Lia was level 40 and the leader of the Sunrise Level Adventure Group.
Mature and steady, with a strong sense of responsibility, her greatsword wrapped in flames had captured the hearts of many players.
But the Lia Lin Da met was completely different in character from the 'Bursting Flames' Lia of the game, despite their identical looks.
The latter was mature and steady, beloved by people.
The other was willful and petulant, only good at shifting the blame.
"Is it that reality differs from the game, or has my arrival caused a 'butterfly effect,' altering the story?"
Upon careful consideration, Lin Da realized that ever since he joined the Snow Goose Adventure Team, he had been assigned to cook, strategize for the Mystic Realm, prepare supplies, calculate the value of the spoils, distribute rewards—everything was done by him...
These tasks, which should have been mostly the responsibility of the team leader Lia, were taken on by Lin Da to let Lia focus on her training and leveling up, after accepting her request.
"Could it be...that I caused the mature and steady Lia from the game to disappear?"
Lin Da was stunned at his own thoughts.
Kafni had mentioned before that he was spoiling the members of the Snow Goose Adventure Team too much, and he hadn't taken it seriously. But now, he thought there might be some truth to it.
Lin Da could not help but sigh.
To think of remedying the situation now was pointless.
He had already become a hero, accompanied by a useless Goddess, and was destined to establish his own team.
So even if Lia truly reverted to her original personality, he couldn't possibly rejoin the Snow Goose Adventure Team.
With the moonlight shining through the window, Lin Da took out paper and ink and began drafting his resignation from the team at the table.
The room echoed with the sound of the quill scratching against the paper.
After a moment.
Lin Da set down his pen, tucking the completed document into his chest.
When he finished writing the resignation, the uncomfortable feeling that had faintly troubled him vanished, leaving him completely calm.
He took one last look back and truly had no regrets.
Although he hadn't yet registered his official departure with the Adventurer's Guild, Lin Da felt in his heart that he was already a 'free man,' unaffiliated with any team.
Hadiah
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