Four Split Personalities

"Sure thing, woof~"

Ya Ya nodded excitedly and then, a bit slow on the uptake, shook its tail and asked, "Woof? Jadka, aren’t you coming with us?"

"I..."

Jadka’s gaze flickered, his mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just lowered his head and said in a low voice, "Yeah, I guess I won’t be joining you."

Ya Ya looked a bit confused and tried to say something but was covered by Motan’s hand, muffling the sounds into a string of squeaky woofing gibberish.

"I’m going to rest first."

Jadka stood up wearily, turned, and walked towards the door, his voice revealing for the first time the age-appropriate weariness: "Call me if you need anything."

Then he quickly left.

"Heh, kind of like those little boys in movies who are all distraught over love problems,"

Ji Xiaoge commented, arms crossed, in a remarkably on-point observation.

Motan/Dabus: "..."

Ya Ya/Anthony: ???

"I don’t think Mr. Diesel is the kind of person who’s afraid of danger."

Dabus scratched his chin (Anthony simultaneously controlled the other hand to scratch his butt), making an even more insightful comment, "Otherwise, he would’ve thrown that staff away a long time ago."

This time Ya Ya understood and nodded vigorously.

Motan stared at the door thoughtfully and said, "Maybe I can guess a bit of the reason."

Ji Xiaoge fluttered her wings and flew next to him, sitting with her knees hugged: "What reason?"

"From what I know, the Caselo Prairie, known for its warhorses, is home to several major families."

Motan recalled the information he had found in the Salamuen Library, and took a worn gold-covered book from his bag to glance at, "Among them, the largest and most historic family is called the Diesel Family, with a history of over 17,000 years. They are deeply rooted and have produced countless powerful knights, especially the clan leaders who are at least at Lord Level in strength..."

Both Ji Xiaoge and Dabus were taken aback.

Ya Ya didn’t falter, just very earnestly followed up, "What does that have to do with Jadka?"

"Of course, it’s related."

Motan sighed and said slowly, "His full name is Jadka Diesel."

"Jadka is actually a Knight?!"

Ya Ya was startled, then said with sudden realization, "No wonder Jadka is so strong."

Motan shook his head with a wry smile, "No, I think..."

"No, that’s not the main point!"

Ji Xiaoge, who had somehow turned herself into a shuttlecock, looked sternly at Ya Ya, stating seriously, "It’s quite obvious that Jadka is part of the Diesel family, he must have grown up on those prairies."

Motan and Dabus nodded in agreement.

The winged beauty continued her analysis, "And he, in pursuit of his Mage dreams, left the Caselo Prairie and the Diesel Family at a young age."

Motan and Dabus kept nodding.

"And he might have had a childhood sweetheart back home."

Ji Xiaoge’s lovely eyes widened as she whispered, "Perhaps they had agreed to get married after turning of age, but Jadka, wanting to take the path of Magic, decided to leave Caselo the day before his coming-of-age ceremony, to free himself from the ties of his family. The girl, deeply in love with him, decided to leave her hometown and elope with him, knowing his determination. Unfortunately, while they were fleeing, they were discovered by the guards. The girl, not as strong as Jadka, was caught by her family, tearfully told her love to escape in the confusion. Jadka was heartbroken, swearing out loud to return on a rainbow cloud as a God of Law and marry her properly once he achieved his goal. However, life is unpredictable, and it’s already been three... four or five... seven or eight decades... anyway, a long time, and Jadka the ’apprentice-level’ adventurer has never returned to his homeland, while that girl might have long since become a mother... or breastfeed, and now that we are headed to the Caselo Prairie, Jadka is reminded of his beloved girl and the promise he made to become the God of Law and marry her. So, he’s scared, scared that the girl is still waiting for him, and scared that she’s not waiting anymore. In the end, he chooses to escape from reality, keeping that sealed love stored away, oh my, how touching!!!"

Ya Ya listened with tears welling up, murmuring choked up, "Jadka is so pitiful, woof!"

Anthony, who had just woken up, glanced at Ya Ya and asked slowly, "Is Jadka... hungry?"

Dabus suddenly realized something and asked Motan in a stiff voice, "Isn’t this girl a writer with broken wings?"

"Uh, seems like there’s a possibility."

Equally drenched in sweat, Motan tugged at the corner of his mouth and said in the same low voice, "Actually, I always thought she was a chef with broken wings."

"So a beauty who doesn’t want to be a chef isn’t a good writer?"

"Makes sense, makes sense..."

They chatted awkwardly for a bit, then both sighed deeply at the same time.

Lost in her fantasies, Ji Xiaoge also sheepishly stuck out her tongue, "It can’t possibly unfold like that, can it?"

"Anyway, it must have something to do with the fear of returning to familiar places."

Dabus suddenly stood up, bumped his head on the ceiling because of that and crouched for half a minute holding his head, then said in a deep voice, "I think I should talk to him, you guys wait a moment."

After saying this, he walked out of the room, stooping low.

"Wait."

Ji Xiaoge suddenly called out to him, a bit worried, "If Jadka really has some unspeakable secret..."

"If there really is an unspeakable secret, it’s all just old sesame seeds and rotten grain, people need to learn to look forward."

Dabus shook his head, shrugged and said, "I just can’t believe old Mister Diesel doesn’t miss home, this time is just the right opportunity. You guys relax, the second best thing I do is provide counselling for students, the master is the teacher, his attitude is not right."

"Hmm, makes sense."

Ji Xiaoge blinked and then curiously asked the ’master’ in front of her, "By the way, what’s the number one thing you’re good at?"

"Dragging out lectures."

Dabus smiled proudly and then left the room to look for Jadka.

Ji Xiaoge looked dazedly and adorably at Motan, "Is dragging out lectures even a skill?"

"He’s joking~"

Motan smiled and while looking at the ceiling indented by Dabus’ knock, he sighed, "Actually, I had the same idea as Dabus, just not his kind of initiative."

"Haha, after going around such a huge circle, we ended up at the same point."

As Ji Xiaoge scratched the ears of teary-eyed Ya Ya, she playfully made a face at Motan, "What did we even go through all this trouble for these past few days."

"Yeah, my fault."

Motan readily admitted his mistake, then walked to the window and surveyed the small plaza outside, quickly spotting a few inconspicuous black carriages, he asked in a low voice, "Are those slaves just being kept there all the time?"

Ji Xiaoge nodded slightly, frowning she said, "Yeah, someone sent some food over to them in between, there seem to be four slave traders, and whenever they stop, one stays in the front carriage while the rest go eat and rest. They switch every few hours, and as for the slaves, they haven’t left the back carriages from beginning to end. They are given food and water, and it’s a very small amount... I’ve tried approaching a few times but never heard any noise or resistance. Others shouldn’t have noticed either. According to what I heard last time, they should be staying here until nightfall today and then set off overnight."

"It’s been hard on you, doing all this by yourself."

"No worries, it’s just doing what’s right~"

"You really have a strong sense of justice..."

"Hehe, I think so too."

Since they knew the target wouldn’t leave too soon, the two of them chatted leisurely for a while. Ya Ya, who lay on Ji Xiaoge’s lap, soon fell asleep and began to snore lightly.

One hour later

Dabus and a sheepish-looking Jadka entered the room. The latter’s first words directly stunned Motan and Ji Xiaoge.

"I swore to someone that I would return to Caselo in splendor..."

Chapter 473: The End