Durin's Diary

Chapter 804 Farewell
Royce Haze seemed to sit up. The young man looked at the mirror in the cabinet. The young man in the mirror had a young face.

As the shouts from the playground were heard, Royce rubbed his forehead. He seemed to have had a very long dream.

He could no longer remember the content of the dream, which made him very regretful. As he stood up, the first ray of sunlight in the morning filtered into the room through the gauze curtains, reflecting the light at the angled corners of the standing mirror cabinet, adding a lot of brightness to this small room.

This floor-to-ceiling walnut mirror cabinet is cleverly embedded behind the door. The young man in the mirror takes off his shirt from the chair and puts it on, followed by his army green trousers.

The brass buckle belt is a military surplus and stands out for its sturdiness.

He went to the window, where there was a desk with a brass lamp, some books, and a single-action revolver in a leather holster.

Hanging the holster around his waist and putting the laundry and sheets into the wicker storage basket, young Royce carried it out of the room and placed it on the shelf at the end of the corridor. The edge of the indigo tie-dyed cover on the shelf still had an area that had been starched and discolored, as Royce knew.

The wooden floor of the corridor was a bit old and always creaked when walking on it. When Royce came to the stairs, he looked at his companions downstairs. Some of them were sitting on the sofa drinking water, some were playing chess in front of the chessboard, and some were standing in groups of three or five chatting.

A young man noticed him and waved to him: "Royce, you're awake, come down quickly."

The brown-haired young man had a pair of bright blue eyes. Royce smiled and nodded. He walked down the steps and high-fived his old friend as usual.

Hector Godwin… I’ll never forget you, leaning against the wall at the alley entrance, bloodied and covered in blood, with a gaping wound in your left eye socket, everything inside it melted to molten flesh, a fatal wound left by the scorching rays.

We haven't spoken in almost forty-seven years.

"Royce, I heard you're going on a field trip today. I really envy you. Only someone with real talent can do field work in their first year at Sulem Forest Farm." A red-haired colleague approached, smiling and extending his hand. "That's impressive! I'm already in my third year, and I've never done field work before."

Phil Cohen, old friend, your shooting skills are really bad, but I will remember for the rest of my life the fearless look on your face as you rolled down the hill with the safety ring of a grenade pulled, intending to assassinate the old director.

He patted his old friend on the shoulder and smiled.

"Hey, Royce, when you come back, we'll take you out for some fun." The halfling sitting by the windowsill said this, and he and the dwarf sitting next to him laughed out loud. The latter nudged the halfling teasingly, "He's a big hit in the eyes of the director. We can't let him get away with it."

Royce smiled and looked at Katie Ernst and Robin Big Toe in front of him. He was filled with emotion. It had been a long time since he had seen the two of them.

Well, about forty years.

During the operation to protect a special target in the sewer channel, they chose to blow up the underground water network in order to cover their retreat. The entire sewer channel where they were located was flooded. Afterwards, the Sulem Forest Farm searched for their bodies in the nearby area and water network for several years but could not find them.

"What's wrong? You look a little listless, my Royce." An elf came over and handed the drink in the cup in his left hand to him with a smile: "As usual, who's going to drink this?"

"Let me drink it." Royce took the cup and drank it all.

Dores Thornton, a mixed-race man, the second son of Count Varela, entered the Sulem Forest Farm five years earlier. He... was a very elegant nobleman. Although he was a nobleman, he never looked down on anyone.

It's a pity that in Sulem Forest Farm, your kindness will only hurt yourself.

Eleven years later, Royce found him on the street, drained of all his blood, ambushed by Chaos Cultists disguised as old women. He sat in a pool of his own blood, leaning against a wall, his golden eyes lifeless. Royce clearly remembered everything that had happened in his dream.

Everyone here died in his dream. Some died to create a way for their friends to survive, some died to complete their mission, some died due to unnecessary kindness, and some lost their lives unknowingly. If his friends hadn't told him, he wouldn't even know.

Fate never shows mercy to anyone.

So, Royce opened his eyes again.

He heard the crying and felt the warmth of the tears dripping on the back of his hand. He smiled and reached out to stroke the girl's head beside the bed.

Silly girl, your father entrusted you to me, and I have fulfilled his trust.

Royce struggled to sit up and looked at Du Lin standing at the foot of the bed. He smiled and nodded, "I'm really sorry to have made you come all this way. I guess you grassland elves haven't even finished your New Year yet."

"Yes, but I heard you were in trouble, so I had to come and see you." At this point, Master Du Lin of the Elsh family sighed and said, "You should know your current situation, right?"

"I knew it! From the moment I pushed that young man away, I knew he was holding the automatic rifle you made. I was hit by nine bullets. If it weren't for my bulletproof vest blocking the three most lethal bullets, I wouldn't be alive today." Royce said, "Damn it! I said automatic rifles shouldn't be sold to the civilian market, but they didn't believe me."

"I will get to the bottom of the gun incident and give you an explanation." Du Lin replied expressionlessly.

This answer satisfied Reus very much - when the young man Dulin was smiling, it meant he didn't take things seriously, but once he agreed to something with such a blank expression, someone would be in trouble.

Thinking of this, Royce looked at Ross, and the young man's eyes were wide open.

"It's okay, Ross. When I was young, it was my colleagues of the older generation who guided me all the way. After I got old, I have always guided young people. You are the last one I will guide." After saying that, he smiled and reached out to pat Ross on the head.

"I'm the one who hurt you. I shouldn't have rushed out." Ross grabbed old Royce's hand.

"No, someone should have rushed out at that time, but it wasn't you. It was me. I went out to attract the other party's gun, and then my colleagues on the other side would have the opportunity to shoot the gunman." As he said this, Royce's breathing gradually became rapid.

"Dulin." He looked at the child: "I have always heard that the staff is in your hand."

He nodded, then walked to the head of the bed, reached out with a short cane in hand, and held Royce's dry hand.

"I... joined the Sulem Forest Farm at the age of twenty, and joined Northernism at the age of twenty-two through the recommendation of a professor at the academy. Fifty-five years have passed since then... This is the first time I have seen this legendary staff, and it is in your hands. You found it in the north... It's great..." Royce's head gradually lowered, and his breathing gradually became inaudible.

Finally, the room disappeared, and young Royce Haze got out of bed. He smiled and hugged Melissa, then said goodbye to Ross. Finally, he knelt in front of Dulin and kissed the gem on the short staff.

Then he stood up and walked towards the depths of the wilderness, where countless men in black stood, each of them applauding.

(End of this chapter)