018 Tawny Fern Grove, Apprentice Trial

The carriage drove straight through the small town, and when the townspeople saw the “terrifying troll” among the procession, they scattered in fear. Fortunately, knights cleared the way; otherwise, a riot might have broken out.

In reality, Baron Hall had repeatedly declared that the missing persons had nothing to do with the wizard’s troll companion. The true culprit was a “Cyclops” that had wandered down from the north.

That very morning, the castle gates still displayed the giant head of the Cyclops. The soldiers guarding it told the onlookers that the troll had personally slain the creature and delivered its head to the castle.

Yet this incident only heightened the residents’ fear of the troll. The logic was clear—if the troll could defeat the Cyclops, then it must be even more terrifying! And if it was scarier than the Cyclops, it must be a man-eater! Therefore, the ballads about the “Cat Wizard” had to be true.

Neither Catherine nor the troll paid any mind to these rumors. She had only asked the troll to deal with the giant because she needed its blood to brew a potion.

The townsfolk hid indoors, peering through the cracks of windows at the carriage. Many recognized Roland and whispered about the poor boy’s fate, feeling great pity.

The mentor withdrew her gaze from the window and lazily propped her chin on her hand, looking at the student who was still diligently practicing magic. “People seem very worried about you—this should be the place where you grew up, Roland?”

Catherine asked with some curiosity, “You don’t seem the least bit attached to this place... Once you leave this time, you might never come back.”

“Never come back?” Roland looked out at the familiar yet strange town. “If I don’t come back, then I don’t. There’s no one left here I care about.”

He looked toward the crossroads at the town center, gazing northward at the castle perched on the hill. That was indeed where he grew up, but he felt no sense of home there.

He couldn’t help but ask himself—was this really his hometown? Did the past of his parallel self still count as his own past? Which world did he truly belong to?

The carriage left the town under the fearful eyes of the residents, and Roland withdrew his gaze. Suddenly, a youthful shout came from afar.

A white horse galloped swiftly down the hill where the castle stood—a young girl rode it, racing toward the town.

She shouted at the carriage:

“Brother Roland~~~ I see you, Brother Roland!~~~ You must stay alive!~~ Don’t let the Cat Wizard eat you!~~”

These cries seemed to awaken fragments of memory within Roland. He couldn’t help but look out the window.

The girl ultimately failed to catch up with the carriage, for her horse was far less courageous. The animal, terrified by the looming figure of the troll, collapsed to the ground, throwing its rider.

The girl scraped her hands and knees on the earth and began crying loudly: “Waaah... Brother Roland... you must stay alive, waaah!”

Roland watched the girl crying on the hillside and smiled faintly.

“I will, Alice,” he whispered. “I will live well.”

He drew the curtain shut.

“Well, now?” the mentor looked at Roland with amusement. “Mr. Roland, so cool and indifferent to his hometown?”

“Hmm...” Roland hesitated for a moment. “I do feel a bit like I’m leaving home.”

Once again, Roland pondered that question.

Is the ‘me’ in this parallel world still really me?

Are the memories from the parallel world truly mine?

Perhaps there was no need to wrestle with such questions anymore.

Like Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream, both the butterfly and the man are oneself.

He looked out the window, thinking quietly: “Farewell, Valeria. World, here I come.”

“The journey ahead will be thrilling but fraught with danger. I will steer clear of all peril and live well.”

“Ah... right, we might pass by that dreaded Golden Fern Forest later. I should remind the mentor not to let the carriage come near there.”

He paused, then looked at the mentor. “By the way, you’re not from around here, so maybe you don’t know the situation well. The area around Valeria isn’t as peaceful as it seems.”

The mentor quietly flipped through her magic book without responding.

Roland went on, “Actually, at the next crossroads, I recommend turning left. It’s a bit out of the way, but it avoids the ‘Golden Watchpost.’ If you go just a few kilometers east of the Watchpost, you’d reach the Golden Fern Forest, which is very eerie and dangerous.”

The mentor remained deeply engrossed in her book.

Roland scratched his head, assuming she understood. Though he didn’t know why he was so afraid of the Golden Fern Forest in the parallel world, his subconscious kept warning him to stay far away.

“Cough.” Roland asked cautiously, “By the way, mentor, I haven’t asked yet. Where are we meeting up with the other group heading back to the academy?”

The female mentor turned a page, responding calmly: “The Golden Fern Forest.”

Roland’s face turned ashen.

The carriage cheerfully turned toward the Golden Fern Forest at the next crossroads.

…

Beneath a towering ancient tree at the entrance to the Golden Fern Forest, a man in a muted black robe, about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, chatted pleasantly with Baron Hall.

This man was Leonard, an instructor at the Black Abyss Academy, holding the rank of advanced apprentice.

Behind him stood three wizard apprentices clad in gray robes. The eldest, looking to be in his sixties or seventies, was named Wallace, a mid-level apprentice who worked as the academy’s groundskeeper.

The other two apprentices were very young, roughly the same age as Roland, both low-level apprentices.

These two youths were the new students Leonard had recruited for the academy on this trip.

Though Leonard was only an advanced apprentice, his connections in secular society were extensive.

To bring back several outstanding protégés, he had traveled far and wide. Lords and minor kings from various regions had recommended many excellent candidates to him.

From a thousand hopefuls, he had chosen ten, then from those ten, finally selected two. These two new students were truly one-in-a-thousand wizard prodigies.

Their backgrounds were also notable. Both came from pure-blood wizard families, minor nobility within the wizarding community.

From childhood, they had received excellent magical education. Before joining Leonard, they had already undergone ten years of magical training.

However, their families had declined financially and could not afford the potions required for apprenticeship advancement, so both had remained stuck at the trainee level.

A few months ago, their parents sent them to Leonard’s care. Leonard provided them with potions, and with that help, they successfully advanced to low-level apprentices.

Now, after following Leonard for five or six months, they had learned much under his careful guidance.