Chapter 467: The Remaining Truth (Ⅱ)

"Both Martin and I were born in a rural place called 'Bucks Town' in the west of Alfheim. My father opened a tavern in the town, and the business is doing well. He is considered a relatively wealthy family in the town."

"Martin's mother is my father's cousin, and Martin and I are cousins."

"Martin's father is a blacksmith in the town. His character and craftsmanship are good. The only shortcoming is that he is addicted to alcohol. Especially after getting married and having children, his alcoholism has become more and more serious. He spends most of the day in binge drinking. Not only did he waste his work, but he also beat his wife and young Martin like crazy when he was drunk."

"As you can imagine, Mr. Vader, poor Martin was born and raised in such a family. The hardships and beatings from childhood are simply too numerous to count. Such a childhood is far from being happy."

Joan nodded slightly, deeply sympathizing with Martin's childhood experience.

In contrast, although I am an orphan, at least I have my grandfather to take care of me, and my childhood was much happier than Martin's.

"This miserable life continued until Martin was ten years old, and his drunken father drowned in a pond after drinking heavily. This was a relief for Martin and his mother."

"After that, the orphan and widow came to work in my family's tavern, his mother helped in the back kitchen, and Martin worked as a waiter."

"Martin is a smart, hard-working kid with great ambition. He is busy from morning to night every day. After work, other guys go to drink and gamble. Only he came to me and begged me to teach him to read and write. He said he wanted to be a decent boy. A scholar, rather than a lifelong waiter."

"I am three years older than Martin, and I can barely be considered the same age. I wish I had a partner to study and play with me, so I happily accepted his request."

"I soon discovered that Martin is very smart and can learn new knowledge much faster than me. Within two years, I would not be able to teach him anything, so I simply gave him the key to my study. What books did he want to read? Just pick it yourself."

"One day Martin came to me excitedly, saying that he found a parchment scroll in a pile of old books. The strange symbols on it were elven characters, and the description was probably a magic."

"Some of the old books in my family are accumulated from my grandfather's generation, and most of them are outdated newspapers, cookbooks, almanacs and other boring booklets bought at the grocery store. There was also a scroll of spells mixed in, and he didn't take Martin's words seriously, but just threw him a "Quenya Dictionary", thinking that it might be helpful for him to decipher that ancient scroll."

"After about half a year like this, one day, Martin came to me excitedly, claiming that he had learned the tricks recorded in the scroll, and he was full of confidence to demonstrate it to me."

"I half-believed and asked him to perform. He first took out a half-dead firefly, held it in his palm, and then chanted a long series of elven mantras that I didn't quite understand. Then a miracle really happened—in the hands of Martin. A bright ball of light actually rose up, like an oil lamp!"

"0 ring light technique." Joan murmured softly.

Mr. Fitzgerald nodded approvingly, and continued: "I was very surprised at the time! I immediately dragged Martin to find his mother and my parents, and declared that my cousin had become a great mage."

"When the news spread, the whole town became a sensation! Before Martin, this rural town had never produced a native mage."

"Since then, Martin has become a young genius in the eyes of the villagers. Everyone expects him to become a great mage and use his magic power to help the villagers and neighbors solve their difficulties."

"I guess Martin also had the same ambition at that time, and he made a perfect plan to realize his ideal. The most critical step is to pass the Leiden College Austrian law major."

Joan was in a mixed mood.

Martin's mentality at that time was actually almost the same as when he decided to apply for Leiden Academy a year ago.

"In order to raise tuition fees, Martin's mother sold the blacksmith shop and borrowed some money from my father. In the spring of that year, Martin left his hometown with the welcome of the whole town and went to Port Leiden to pursue his dream."

"At that time, I was walking with Martin, just an inconspicuous follower by his side. It was natural. After all, I was not as smart as Martin, and I couldn't learn the spells recorded on the sheepskin scroll anyway. I could only dispel the hope of becoming a wizard. With extravagant hopes, I decided to apply for the business major of Leiden College."

"As you can imagine, Mr. Vida, in the eyes of my neighbors and even my parents, a mediocre person like me will just work as a small clerk in a colonial company or a certain business firm after graduation. How promising is he? Martin is different, a young genius mage, the future is limitless!"

Fitzgerald put his hands in his coat pockets, heaved a long sigh, and continued his memory.

"Later we went to Leiden College and each took the entrance exam. I didn't have high expectations for myself. I felt satisfied after passing the exam, but Martin seemed to have been hit hard. After I asked him repeatedly, he admitted that his exam results were not as good as expected."

"He came to the city with the halo of a genius. He thought that he could still excel, but his test results threw a bucket of cold water on him. He was shocked to find that he was not a genius. Compared with those classmates who were born in the city, His level of intelligence and ability to cast spells appear mediocre."

"Although he was hit on the first day of school, Martin still had good illusions about the future. After being forced to admit that he was not a genius, he did not lose confidence, because he felt that he could make up for the differences with those who were smarter by working hard. gap between students."

"'Stupid birds fly first' is a proverb that we have believed in since we were young, but fate was too cruel to Martin. In the following eight years, Martin has been studying hard and his achievements are not bad. Unfortunately, he met a A diabolical teacher."

"Walter Lee, this 'Old Owl' who is psychologically twisted and almost perverted, has been torturing Martin physically and mentally for eight years. I can hardly tell you about all kinds of abuses."

The expression of Fitzgerald's gnashing of teeth and hatred made Joann unable to help but think of the rumors about Walter Lee's special sexual fetishes at school.

"I can't bear to say more about the inhuman torture Martin has suffered in the past eight years. You must have heard about it. As for myself, although my talent is not outstanding, I graduated smoothly and worked as an assistant cashier in the colonial company for two years. Later, I was in charge of managing the issuance of student loans, and my career wasn’t very successful, but it wasn’t too bad.”

"Recalling the time when Martin and I left our hometown to study in the city together eight years ago, I have to feel that fate is impermanent, and life's fate is really unpredictable."

"Yeah, fate is unpredictable." Qiao Anxin felt the same way.

"Martin has never returned to his hometown in the past eight years, Mr. Vida, can you understand his mentality?"

"I can understand, Mr. Fitzgerald. My background is similar to that of Senior Martin. My grandfather sold the most valuable black oak tree in the family to barely cover my tuition fees, just like Martin's mother sold the blacksmith shop."

"When I left my hometown, I also shouldered the expectations of countless relatives and friends. They all counted on me to fight for the villagers, just like the relatives and friends in Martin's hometown."

"If my studies were bad and I couldn't graduate, I would have no face to go home and see my relatives and friends again. I couldn't face the cruel reality of living up to the expectations of my relatives and friends. I would rather die outside in obscurity."

Joan said with deep feeling.