High Above

   Chapter 335 Hometown, Friends and Future (33)

  When I was a child, my mother always placed the boy in the imperial capital’s home and was taken care of by my grandmother, while she followed her father to the front line and never returned for a long time.

  The boy didn’t know or understand what his father was doing, but every time he came back, he was covered in scars, and even seriously injured to the point of needing professional doctors and sublimators to treat him.

   And his mother will always be by his side, and sometimes she will be injured, and sometimes even hurt more than his father.

  The boy always couldn't understand when he was a child. He would cry and beg his father and mother not to abandon him. He didn't remember where the "hometown" his father always talked about was.

  All he knew was that every time his father tried to take back his homeland, he was about to die.

   will be close to a farewell.

"Ayers, my child... For you who were born in the imperial capital, the Grant Territory north of Shensha Harbor is an unfamiliar word, but for me and your mother, it was our childhood, it is The land where we were born, where our fortress and people once lived."

   "Your grandpa, great-grandpa, and more ancestors are buried there... We have failed and fled in embarrassment, but one failure does not mean every failure. We will succeed one day and regain our hometown!"

  Before leaving, the man left such words, he didn't expect his children to understand, he just repeated his determination to himself.

  Hometown, what is hometown?

  The young Ayers didn’t understand this term. He didn’t know what Grant Collar looked like, what the wind smelled like there, whether the water was sweet, whether the people’s songs were melodious and gentle, just like the tunes sung by grandma.

   There is not his hometown.

  What about the imperial capital? The city he was born in and is familiar with, he is familiar with every street, the smell of the air, and even has his own friends and memories.

   But that doesn't seem to be his hometown either.

Grandma is a strict old woman. Every time her parents leave for the front, she will strictly train the boy—she will not say anything about the glory of the nobility, nor will she ask the boy to always remember to take back his hometown. This old lady only has One requirement, and that is to make the boy as strong as possible.

"One day, we will all leave. At that time, you must have your wisdom, and your own friends and relatives. Ailes... Even if you don't take back what your parents want to take back, you just want to hold on With everything you have, you have to become stronger."

   "Human society has morality, interests, and rules—but human beings are also beasts, and beasts will compare their strengths, no matter what time they are."

So whenever there are festivals, whenever other noble families, and even commoner families in the imperial capital gather together with their parents to laugh and have fun, the boy can only be in the family's training ground, under the guidance of the old woman, day after day. to exercise.

  The boy's talent is not good, he is not a genius, he can't draw inferences from one instance, understand the essence of swordsmanship; nor can he mobilize the source quality smoothly, condense the source seed easily, and build the source quality cycle in the body.

   But he can do it, through hard work, through perseverance, through determination.

  When almost dizzy after hard training, grandma would hold the boy in her arms and sing a gentle song softly, which originated from the homeland of the Northland, a folk song on the border of the empire.

  A song about people traveling to foreign lands, colonizing territories, building homes, and marrying loved ones.

   It's just that the boy rarely listens to the whole song, because he always falls asleep halfway through.

  He thought that he could accept such a day. Such a day is already very happy. Although it is hard, he is also full of anticipation for the arrival of a new day.

   But that day finally came. The grandmother, who had entered the twilight years of her life, was too old to move alone and was bedridden. For this reason, the parents who had been fighting on the northern front line also rarely returned to the imperial capital early.

  Grandma left very calmly, but ordered her father to promise her that she would give the boy the right to choose.

  During the burial, the mother held the boy, and she shed more tears than the boy, but this does not mean that the boy was not sad.

  He was just thinking about a question.

  —In his future, will there be such a place, a person, or a thing that allows him to face death as calmly as grandma?

  —Or like fathers and mothers, even if they abandon their children and put themselves in danger, they will never waver and move forward?

  The parents did not leave the Imperial Capital immediately. They went through the procedures for the boy to enter the Imperial Capital Academy and were honored by Emperor Inaiga II. Although the front fortress has not been recaptured so far, their bravery and loyalty have been recognized.

   However, after the honor was awarded, the mother had a quarrel with the father. Their arguments were about 'giving up' and 'new goals', about 'sacrifice' and 'glory'.

   "It was you who talked about your hometown, and you who gave up your hometown; you were the one who fought desperately, and you are the one who is afraid of death and cowardly now—Harrison, what are you thinking?!"

   "There are priorities. There will be no possibility of retaking our hometown in the next thirty years. The center of gravity of the empire is not in the north. With our own strength alone, it is impossible to return to our hometown... But His Majesty gave us a chance.

  As long as we can open up a South China Sea port in Nanling and build an exploration base, then in the future, when His Majesty wipes out the north of Shensha Port, we will have credit for it and can return home with honor. "

  Ailes didn't understand the parents' conversation.

   All he knew was that his parents were leaving again to go to a new battlefield.

   "Don't hate me, kid."

  The father's scarred face, rough hands and stinging stubble make people hate it, and the mother's gentle embrace makes the boy unable to express that emotion.

   Until now, Viscount Grant has never hated his parents even once—even if they almost never spent his childhood with him, even if they died one by one without leaving him any time to prepare.

  Even if they die, they are just losers who cause trouble to others.

   But it doesn't matter.

  Because he already understood.

  Because he has found it.

   Found that place, those people.

  The kind of things and purposes that allow him to face death calmly and not waver in the face of danger.

  He has found his hometown, has his own lover and children, has his own ambition and expected future.

   Right here in Port Harrison.

  —And what about you, Patrick, my friend?

   Many years later, the boy has grown up and is even about to become a father.

  The expressionless middle-aged nobleman entered the inscription secret language that only he and his best friend knew, and they agreed upon when they were young.

  He opened the small box in front of him.

  The box was sent out after his death, as if he knew his end a long time ago, Patrick, who obviously didn't say anything, insisted on leaving an explanation to his friend at the last moment.

   "Let me see what you want to say to me."

——Let me see, you, a guy who clearly has the chance to live in peace and security that I envy, and I pursue the fame and wealth that I will never get in my life, what is it for you to lose your own in this rural place? life.

   Talking softly to himself, Ayers Grant read the dense letter paper.

[My friend Ayers Grant, when you can read this letter, I will be dead, maybe you killed me with your own hands, but it doesn’t matter, I’m already dead anyway, so many things I don’t know no scruples]

  【It's just that I worry about you, my friend. I never thought of involving you in this vortex from the very beginning, so I didn't ask you to join hands with me to carry out my plan, but accidents happened one after another. Since you can receive this letter, it means that my hunch is correct , I may die because of a soft heart, underestimating my opponent, or encountering a strong enemy, such as you]

  【These are details, in short, I have to tell you something you should know】

  【This time, my target is my nephew, Isengard Ellen, a child I regard as my own. He is really a good boy with empathy and real courage that our group lacks, but for some royal reasons, he has to die]

  【The specific reason is as dangerous as seizing the heir. This is decided by me and the eldest brother. You must not go deep, just treat it as seizing the heirloom】

[Just maybe, as long as its potential is cut off, it is also a solution to let him be the first energy level all his life. To be honest, this idea is quite stinky. When I wrote this, I thought of the thing of traceability , there is a whole bottle at Aphrina's place, and she can save Yisen from going the wrong way ten times. This idea is impossible to succeed, he still has to die]

  【That’s right, but the appraiser under you is somewhat outrageous. Where do you find such geniuses? That is the masterpiece of Master Bawar! You can't control him, let him go early, delay you, delay him, and get in my way]

【I will try to kill him this time. I don’t know if I can succeed. It can be regarded as cutting off a future threat for you. The sense of danger he gives me is even higher than that of my brother back then. I still have a very good appraisal of this kind of genius In terms of vision, he is definitely not a level that someone like you can handle—don’t say I underestimate you, if you are really that good, you will already be at the third level]

  【Maybe you don’t want to, so let me say sorry first】

  【Ayers, I know you will be wondering, why should I get involved in this kind of thing? I don't even bother to compete with the head of the family back then, let alone such a troublesome matter involving the royal family? It's ridiculous to say, I didn't plan to get involved in the beginning, but everything has a price]

  【Klare Ellen, you must be familiar with this name, he is the child of Brother Wilde and Ellie, and the eldest son of the family】

  【He is my child】

   There is no mention of this chapter recently, and it will be restored after the 5th!

  (end of this chapter)