Chapter Eighteen - Broken Dreams
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Nathanos rushed out of the palace, he was not lost, and he felt very direction when his head was blank. The guards saw him leaving in a hurry, thinking that he had contradicted some high-ranking official or had some precious carvings.
The boy ran all the way, 'What's so great about Rangers?' he shouted in his heart, his head full of anger, and then his sadness and loss crushed him. He just heard the girl's words in the library, and finally knew why Goodell slapped himself that day and why he burned the design of the Blood Wood Hunting Bow, because his persistence was futile and his dream would never be realized.
‘Elf are all arrogant, and rangers are also a kind of glory. Rangers cannot share the glory that should belong to their own tribe with other races.’
Nathanos rang out in the street. "Ah!" cried, but it wasn't him, Nathanos bumped into another child.
"It hurts so much." Leren said with a painful expression on his face.
"Nathanos?" Kasha stood aside and said in surprise. "Are you okay? Why are you here?"
"I, I..., sorry Leren." After calming down, Nathanos replied. He ran to Kana's chapel without realizing it, and it seemed that the class had just ended. If possible, Nathanos wanted to listen to Kathus' description of the ranger again. This time he hoped that Kathus could tell him that humans could become rangers, after all, an elf's view of the ranger would be more reliable. The chapel was right in front of him, Nathanos might be able to find Kathus, but he was suddenly weak, and the mental fatigue made him unable to take a step. In his mind, how Kathus, the fast-thinking thinker, would answer him, like or different from Goodell.
"What's wrong with you?" Lerain asked, Nathanos's eyes kept switching between the chapel and Lerain.
"I..." Nathanos held back his words and breathed hard, but he was not relieved. He still struggled to make a decision. If he didn't ask, he still had a trace of false hope in his heart, but the truth was cruel. Nathanos didn't have the courage to face it. He squeezed out a smile to Leren and Kasha, his face pale. The two children looked at each other, and they didn't understand what Nathanos was doing. They originally planned to go to the palace to find Nathanos together. Leren thought that the identity of "Natanos's friend" would be a good pass, and the soldiers would definitely let them in, but after walking a few steps, they saw Nathanos rushing towards here.
The atmosphere fell into silence for a moment, depressing and heavy. And a mocking voice broke all this.
"Look at this sparrow flying out of the palace, and came here to show his feathers. I guess he was scolded by Lord Uther." Grey walked over with his follower with a sinister smile. He was very angry when he saw Nathanos, especially after he became Uther's apprentice, and Kasha also stood beside Nathanos, which made him even more angry.
"I thought it was, wasn't this the clown who could wet his pants? You put on those pairs of pants again, and you washed it?" Leren countered.
Gray looked red, his face clenched, his fists stared at him and Nathanos with resentment.
Kasha noticed Gray's movements and stood in front of Nathanos: "What do you want to do, Gray? Isn't the lesson from the last time enough?"
"Kasha, the last time was an accident, I will prove it to you." Grey shouted, then pointed at Nathanos: "Coward, will you just hide behind the little girl? Do you dare to come out for a duel!"
Gray deliberately stimulated Nathanos, and he learned some magic. This time he believed that he could defeat Nathanos and win back his face. But Nathanos did not follow Gray's wish. He walked straight through Kasha and Gray one after another, walked towards the chapel, and Gray's sarcasm came from behind.
"Ha, look at this coward. Kasha, you must have been in the wrong position."
The little girl was angry when she heard this. She wanted to teach Gray a lesson and shouted to Nathanos: "Natanos." Kasha hoped that the boy would turn around and accept Gray's challenge, but he did not.
"Stop calling his name, he's been a coward all his life, a wild dog that ran out of the dirty farm."
"If you don't want your father to lose his job, shut up immediately!" Nathanos roared at him, shocking everyone present. Especially Gray, he was shocked when he heard this, and then thought Nathanos was bluffing, but he remembered that he was Uther's apprentice. If he reported to Uther, his father Garede would really be removed from office. Gray had a hint of fear in his heart. Nathanos's eyes told him that this was not a lie, it was a threat. He stopped talking, and the resentment in his heart became a little more.
"The inferior man who is fighting against the flames." Gray muttered, but Lerain heard it.
"Turning the flames and adversity? Aren't you? Why did I hear that you seemed to drive out all the members of the chapels of your 'good buddy' guild? Then you took the children of the rich and did such a thing for money. You still have the face to say that Nathanos, who was favored by Lord Uther by his own ability, and did not follow those people like a dog like you."
"Shut up." Gray cursed. Lerain's words made him lose all his face. He wanted to teach Lerain a lesson. He had thought before, but he found out that Lerain's father was a knight, his boss was a captain, and his relationship was very good, so he did not act rashly.
"Leiren, don't pay attention to this guy, let's go find Nathanos." Kasha said, and ran to the chapel with Leiren's hand.
Gray's clenched fists trembled slightly, and he vowed to teach Nathanos a lesson, sure.
On the other hand, after Nathanos left, he found Kesius in the chapel. The elf was checking a report. After seeing Nathanos, he said, "Mr. Kana has gone back." Kesius thought Nathanos was here to find Kana, after all, he had never had any interaction with Nathanos.
"I'm here to find you," Nathanos said with his head down.
Kesius looked at him strangely, Nathanos's face turned gloomy, as if he was here to seek punishment, but he seemed to have not messed with him.
"Then, tell me what you are going to do."
"Tell me." Nathanos said: "Tell me if humans are qualified to be rangers?"
Kesius's eyes widened. What was the problem. He didn't know what was important about this problem. He thought Nathanos was wasting his precious time.
"Child, your problem is worthless, you should do something meaningful."
Nathanos took out something and reached out to put his hand in front of Kesius.
"Is this?" Kesius took the blue bottle: "This is magical water, how could you have this? This is something that only a mage can have."
"Snatched from Gray's hand." Nathanos's eyes flashed with anger as he said this.
"What?"
"It was you who taught him magic, it was the magic water you gave him, and his fireball technique almost killed me!"
Kesius was shocked: "What did you say? He..." Nathanos stared at Kesius, making him feel the seriousness of the situation.
"Are you okay?"
"It's not dead yet." Nathanos answered immediately, his tone of coldness.
Kesius saw that Nathanos was here to seek guilt, so he quickly apologized: "I'll say sorry to you, Nathanos, good boy, I never thought that Gray would abuse magic to attack others like this. I... I taught magic to Gray just to repay his father's enthusiasm for me, and I will not guide him again in the future."
"You haven't answered my question yet, sir." Nathanos didn't care what would happen to Kesius in the future, he just wanted the answer.
"This..." Kesius thought for a while and finally said: "There is indeed no provision in the regulations of Quelselas that only elves can become rangers, but some facts do not require regulations. Once, King Terenas of Lordaeron made a suggestion to the Silver Moon Council, hoping to cultivate several human rangers. He promised that if the Silver Moon Council agrees to his suggestion, Lordaeron would reduce the tariffs on Quelselas' goods by half. However, the Silver Moon Council, His Majesty the King rejected it without thinking at all, and even the Ranger General Aurelia opposed the rank of Ranger to humans."
"Why do they do this?" Nathanos trembled after hearing the answer.
Kesius did not pay attention to the boy's reaction. He touched his carefully trimmed goatee and replied: "I asked a friend who served in the Ranger's army. He told me that because Ranger's cultivation is a long process, not a year or two, nor a ranger can be born in a few decades. This process takes hundreds of years. Humans do not have the lifespan of elves for thousands of years, children. Do you know that General Ranger has a sister named Wenleisa? She is almost four hundred years old now.
As for humans, she is already an elder in age, but she has not passed the Ranger's assessment. The Elf stipulates that she can only enter adulthood at the age of two hundred before she can receive training. Wenleza has been starting Ranger training for two centuries. In a few decades, she will become Ranger like her two sisters. This is nothing for the Elf, but for humans, Ranger is an identity that cannot be reached. This is not racial discrimination, this is the fact, Nathanos." After Kesius said, looking at the boy with a blank expression.
Nathanos's heart was extremely cold at this time.
"Thank you." The boy turned around and left, dragging his stiff body. Kesius felt that he had done something very wrong, but he just told the truth.
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Chapter completed!