Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 361 Fool
Shi Fei was silent for a moment, his gaze passing over Asa and looking towards the undulating sand dunes in the distance. "It was just a dream," his voice as calm as a windless desert, "Why take it so seriously?"

Asa paused for a moment, then smiled with relief. He wolfed down the last spoonful of stew and pushed the heavy armor in front of Shi Fei.

"These will be exchanged for ten days' worth of water and dry rations."

Even if it's just a dream, he will still search for a way out of the desert.

Seeing Asa, dressed lightly and carrying a hammer, walk out of the courtyard, Shi Fei didn't stop him. What one cannot teach by others, one can quickly learn through experience.

More than ten days later, the sound of dragging footsteps came from the sand.

Asa staggered and fell in front of the door, the hammer nowhere to be found, and his lips were split open with several bloody gashes.

"Water...water..." His throat felt like it was on fire, and he could barely speak.

Shi Fei didn't say anything, but simply handed him a can of yellow peaches.

Upon seeing the canned yellow peaches, Asa's eyes lit up. He didn't know where the strength came from, but he opened the can of yellow peaches in one go and stuffed it into his mouth.

As he swallowed the last drop of sugar water, Asa lay on his back on the ground, his chest heaving. "I almost," his voice still hoarse, "almost became a dried-up corpse in the desert."

Those who have never been to the desert have no idea how terrifying it is. The desert is not something that can be conquered by someone who only has enough food for ten days or so.

"Stay here and be good. Maybe one day you'll leave!" Shi Fei said, patting his thin shoulder.

Asa paused for a moment and did not speak.

A few days later, he slowly recovered his strength, but he still wanted to plan to leave this place.

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave here?" Shi Fei asked, holding a stone statue in his hand.

The stone statue is a woman.

He suddenly remembered that a long, long time ago, there was a woman who loved him.

“Because my people are on my mind, the citizens of Stratholme.” Asa’s voice suddenly lowered.

Before coming here, he faced a difficult choice.

"Oh?" Shi Fei said without even looking up, "Why don't you tell me?"

Asa looked at Shi Fei, then at the endless desert outside, and after a long silence, he said, "I am a prince. A prince of the Kingdom of Lordaeron."

"How many people are in your kingdom?" Shi Fei suddenly asked.

"What?" Asa didn't expect Shi Fei to ask this question.

Shi Fei asked, "How many people does your Kingdom of Lordaeron have?"

Asa hadn't expected Shi Fei to ask this question. He thought for a moment, recalling something his father had said long ago. After a hesitation, he said, "Probably over ten million? That was data from many years ago; there should be even more now."

For a kingdom, the population statistics aren't necessarily accurate. "Oh? It's about the same as one of our cities. In ancient times, it would be the population of several large counties. What prince? He's just the mayor's foolish son," Shi Fei said as he carved the stone statue.

"..." Asa wanted to argue that he wasn't stupid, but then he remembered that the person in front of him had saved his life. He thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and held back.

If someone who knows him well were to see his current temper, they would be greatly surprised.

“When I was born, the whole of Lordaeron was…” He was about to say something when Shi Fei interrupted him: “Let’s change the opening.”

"..." Asa wanted to say that this was not an opening, but rather the strange phenomenon in Lordaeron at the time of his birth!
He watched as Stonefly continued carving the statue and said, “From the time I can remember, my breath has been in sync with the bells of Lordaeron. My father’s scepter is the star hanging above my head, and Uther’s prayers are the ruler branded on my back.”

"When I was five, Uther taught me to kneel on the stone steps of the Church of the Holy Light, and the blood that seeped from my knees stained the Oath of the Silver Hand!"

"By candlelight at night, the parchment is forever piled high with the Code of Lordaeron and the Code of Paladins. The maids whisper among themselves, saying that the little prince even recites his coronation oath in his dreams!" He said with a dramatic intonation and special emphasis.

Shi Fei commented: "It's a backward education system, but there's not much you can do about it."

Asa ignored what Shi Fei was saying and continued, "But they don't understand. My dreams are already filled with the howls of wolves on the ice plains. There are no crowns there, only the cold wind of freedom."

“My father’s shadow is too long, so long that it obscures all the outlines of ‘Arthas’—he is the founder of the Alliance, the hero of the Troll Wars. And I am merely ‘the son of Terenas’.”

"A terrible plague has appeared in a corner of Lordaeron. All those who contract the plague turn into horrible zombies after death! And these zombies can infect the living!"

"When I first saw the rotting corpses of the calamity, my hand holding the hammer trembled! Not with fear, but with rage. Those farmers who had tossed me ears of wheat at the harvest festival were now staring at me with festering eyes: 'Your Highness, where is the protection you promised?'"

Shi Fei looked at Asa and said, "Your ego is too strong."

When you have too strong a sense of self, you'll feel that everything is your fault, that you didn't do anything right, and that's why everything turned out the way it did.

“When my father entrusted me with the heavy responsibility of fighting against the Scourge, I felt only honor and duty. The people of Lordaeron saw me as their hope, the paladins of the Silver Hand followed my warhammer, and Jaina’s eyes shone with trust!”

“But… but all of this began to collapse when the granaries of Andorhal collapsed… the contaminated grains slithered into the granaries of Stratholme like venomous snakes…” Asa’s voice was filled with pain.

"Malganis... that devil lurking in the shadows... has already sown the plague in every loaf of bread, in every drop of well water..."

"When I led my army into Stratholme, the streets were still filled with the laughter of children, and the citizens cheered for me, unaware that corrupt black blood was flowing in their veins."

“Only by killing them can this terrible plague be ended. Uther, my mentor, the embodiment of the Holy Light, has judged me with dogma in my darkest hour.”

"Slaughtering civilians is not the way of a paladin!" His roar echoed on the city walls, yet he offered no solution to save the city!

“And Jaina… her retreating gaze is sharper than Mal'Ganis’s claws! She refuses to share my sins.”

“They abandoned Lordaeron too! The paladins retreated with Uther, leaving only me and my troops in the entire Stratholme… I had no choice but to take up the sword.”

"Do you think I did the right thing?" He looked at Shi Fei with a hesitant gaze.

Shi Fei put down the stone statue he was carving and said, "I think you're like a fool. Everyone else runs away from dirty work, but you insist on doing it."

(End of this chapter)