Chapter Ten: The Death of Dabo

  The excitement of becoming an intermediate archer didn't last long, as when I returned to the village with Uncle Rock, full of joy, I received some sad news - Dapo had died! That young man who was praised by Teacher Allen as the most likely to become a great swordsman, the one among us who had the most talent for learning swordsmanship, Serin's boyfriend, a new star that had yet to rise, had fallen!

  It was actually an accident that Dapo died. According to my father, Serene and Dapo went to play on the opposite mountain, and accidentally fell off a not-so-high cliff. It seemed that Dapo protected Serene at the moment of falling, and put himself under Serene's body, but unfortunately hit his head on a sharp stone and was gone.

  "Is Nathalie hurt?" I asked with some concern.

  The father slowly shook his head: "That child was unscathed, only spraining his foot when he ran back to the village to call for help. He had some scratches on his hands and feet and face. When we rushed over, Dabo was still alive, but his head was smashed against a rock, with a hole in it, blood gushing out nonstop. We couldn't stop it no matter what, and he died soon after being carried back to the village. His mother cried herself half to death. Poor widow, her husband was the strongest swordsman in the Swordsmen Battalion, only rivalled by Allen, but unfortunately, he died in battle. Now she's lost such an excellent son... Alas..." The father let out a sigh and didn't speak again.

  Hearing Father's words, my heart slightly calmed down. Serene must be very sad now? She lost the one she loved, and that person died protecting her.

  Just as I was standing there, lost in thought, Allen's voice came from outside the yard: "Kuren, are you there?" Father opened the door and Allen walked in with a worried look on his face: "Seren is gone, her parents can't find her anywhere, now they're mobilizing everyone in the village to search for her, I'm really worried that she might do something stupid."

  Father immediately picked up a coat from the chair and walked out of the house. I followed him out and said, "I'll go too, maybe I know where she is, don't worry, Celine is very optimistic, she won't do anything stupid, I think she just wants to find a quiet place."

  My father gave me a meaningful look and said, "What are you waiting for? Go find her and keep her company. You two have been close since childhood." I suddenly blushed and told my father, "Don't worry, she's just my good friend, you're overthinking it." My father didn't even look at me, following Allen out the door, only leaving behind a sentence from afar: "If you're going to go, hurry up, are you thinking too much?"

  I found the sorrowful Serline on that little hill outside the village, sitting at the meeting place of her and Dapo. I walked up to her carefully and called out softly: "Serline? Why are you sitting here all alone? Your dad and mom are looking everywhere for you, they're worried about you, now the whole village is searching for you, listen, don't be sad anymore, come back with me."

  Cecilia didn't answer me, she just muttered to herself sorrowfully: "He wanted to help me pick that flower, if I had known earlier, I wouldn't have wanted that flower. No flower in the world is comparable to him. I want to pull him back, but no matter how hard I try, I couldn't hold on to him. He's always been so silly, afraid of making me unhappy, afraid of hurting me. Even if we fall together, he wants to protect me and leave the hope of living for me."

  As she spoke, Serene began to sob quietly. I didn't know how to comfort her, so I just sat beside her, gently patting her back with my hand, hoping she would calm down. But this seemed to have no effect, and Serene's crying grew louder and louder. Finally, she turned around and hugged me, burying her head in my chest and wailing loudly. I stroked her hair gently and tried to soothe her, but she continued to cry out loud, saying between sobs: "Dapo was so cruel, he just left like that, leaving me alone in this world, making me sad for him, making me miss him, making me suffer alone... why didn't I die instead..."

  Celine cried more and more violently, until she finally fainted from lack of breath. Her body went limp and she passed out. I was so frightened that my face turned pale, I hugged her and shook her, then reached under her nose to check, and found that she had only fainted from crying, which made me feel slightly better.

  When I carried the unconscious Serin back to the village, night had already fallen. I knocked on her family's door with Serin on my back, and it was her father, Uncle Muller, who came out. Seeing Serin on my back, his tightly furrowed brow relaxed slightly.

  "Ahrik, thanks to you for finding her, how is she?" Uncle Mueller asked.

  "She's fine, just too heartbroken, she fainted from crying. I found her on the hillside outside the village." I put down Serene and panted for a moment before speaking. This little girl, usually not seen as being very fat, didn't expect carrying her all the way to be so tiring.

  "Alas, I don't know how this happened either. Fortunately, you brought Serin back..." Uncle Muller sighed and said.

  "It's okay, uncle, it was just an accident, poor Dapo's mother..." I said in a low voice.

  "Ah, yes...... That's right, have you heard? Just now the villagers went to look for Serene and found that Dabo's grave had been dug up, his body was gone. Now everyone is looking for him." Uncle Muller told me a stunning piece of news.

  "What? Who would take Dapo away? What does anyone want his corpse for?" I was shocked to hear the news.

  "I don't know, Serline is back and I'll help find out too. It's already an unfortunate thing, who would be so vicious as to dig up Dabo's corpse and not let his soul rest in peace?" said Uncle Muller.

  "Hmm, I'll go look for it too, this matter is a bit suspicious..." I said as I stood up.

  Uncle Mueller nodded and stood up, walking with me towards the outside of the house. Just as we reached the door, I heard Serin's weak voice calling out from behind me: "Alyric, wait for me, I'm coming too."

  I turned my head and saw that Serene was already awake, struggling to get up. Uncle Muller growled in a low voice: "Nonsense, you just woke up and your body is weak, don't go anywhere, rest well!"

  "No, I have to go. Dapo died because of me and now his body is gone too. I must go find him back!" Serene said stubbornly, pushing away her mother's hands that were trying to stop her as she got out of bed.

  Seeing this, I said to Uncle Mueller on the side: "Uncle, just let her go. She was just overexcited and fainted, it's nothing serious. I'll accompany her, nothing will happen. If you don't let her go, she won't be at peace at home either."

  "Alas!" Uncle Muller cast a glance at Serene, let out a deep sigh and turned to leave without looking back.

  Celine pulled on my clothes, following behind me with her head down and not saying a word. I helplessly instructed Celine: "You must listen to me, follow closely behind me later, don't act alone, if you get lost, I won't know how to explain it to your father." Celine didn't speak, she just nodded vigorously.

  I took Serene out the door, outside was already dark and gloomy, the courtyard gate, like a huge monster's open mouth, waiting to swallow us into darkness.