Chapter 47: The Hobby is Mechanisms!

A few days later, with Sai'er fully healed, he packed his luggage and prepared to leave Luokelake.

The sole purpose of his trip to this desert city was to participate in the Feast of the Great Desert and witness the majesty of the "Lord of the Desert."

Now that his goal had been achieved, there was naturally no need to linger here any longer.

As teammates who had trained together for weeks and fought side by side to repel the Peak Mountain Dragon, Aolang and Asa had arrived early at the Airship Platform to see him off.

"Alright, don't make that face; it's not like we won't see each other again," Sai'er said to the two with a smile. "For the next few years, I should be operating out of Guluombaomu as my base.

If you ever get the chance to go there, remember to find me at the Assembly Hall Tavern."

"Sure thing!" Asa agreed readily.

Aolang nodded lightly; he had heard of that forest city located on the eastern side of the Old Continent, built deep within the dense woods.

It was said that between the cities, on the streets, and even inside the buildings, green trees were everywhere, which was something difficult for him, born and raised in the desert, to imagine.

Sai'er boarded the Airship and departed.

The two waved goodbye to him, watching the Airship ascend into the high sky, and only after watching for quite a while did Aolang finally withdraw his gaze.

He turned around, just about to leave with Asa, when he suddenly noticed that Shaji, who had followed them over, was still standing in the same spot.

It stared at the departing Airship, dazed, not knowing what it was thinking.

Looking at the Airship, now just a tiny dot in the sky, and then glancing sideways at the dazed Shaji, Aolang formed some thoughts in his mind.

"You said you plan to leave Luokelake and travel?"

Seeing Aolang approach fully armed, Qiaoda, who subconsciously assumed the other person had come to claim another mission, looked up in surprise.

"Mm." Aolang nodded. "Of course, I won't leave immediately; I'm just telling you in advance that I will complete all work handovers according to regulations before setting out."

"That's not necessary." Qiaoda waved his hand. "You aren't responsible for patrols anyway; usually, you just come here to pick up missions, so there's nothing to hand over.

I'm just a bit curious; how did you suddenly get the idea to travel?"

Aolang fell silent for a few seconds before speaking: "Luokelake is the place where I grew up; I am familiar with every street here, and there are many people who take care of me.

If I fail at anything, someone will always step forward to help me and cover for me..."

"Is that not good?"

"Of course it's good; it's so good that one doesn't want to move, let alone leave." Aolang raised his head. "That is why I want to step out, to temporarily leave this warm and comfortable place that makes one sleepy, and to feel a harsher world."

"Alright then." Qiaoda pushed aside the official documents in front of him and sighed. "Every year there are a few rascals like you; I've gotten used to it.

You have already promoted to Two-Star; continuing to stay in the Citadel Guerrillas, aside from accumulating mission counts, seems to have no other meaning.

Going out on your own, experiencing some hardship, can also be considered a way to accelerate growth.

I approve it. Remember to prepare well before traveling. By the way, don't forget to say a proper goodbye to your friends."

"Mm." Aolang nodded, took off the Conical Hat on his head that symbolized his identity as a Citadel Guerrilla member, and placed it on Qiaoda's desk. "There is one more thing; I hope Boss Qiaoda you can allow it."

"What is it?"

"I want to invite Shaji to become my Hunting Partner and take it with me when I leave."

"Shaji?" Qiaoda looked at Aolang. "True, seeing how good your relationship is, and how you often act together.

I have no objection to this; Shaji doesn't really count as a member of the Citadel Guerrillas anyway; it can only be said to be a little Elu I picked up and took in.

As long as it agrees, you can take it with you whenever you leave."

A faint expression of awkwardness appeared on Aolang's face. "It's just... actually, I've asked it a few times, but it stated that the Citadel Guerrillas and Boss Qiaoda you have done it favors, so it cannot leave."

"So you want me to help persuade it?"

"Mm..."

Qiaoda glared at Aolang and said in a bad mood: "You want to leave yourself without saying so, then try to poach our Citadel Guerrillas' mascot, and after failing to poach, come find me, the person in charge of the Citadel Guerrillas, to help you poach?"

The awkward expression on Aolang's face became even more obvious.

"No, I won't help you with this." Qiaoda's expression turned serious. "You also know that Shaji regards me as its boss; my words carry a lot of weight with it.

As long as I speak up, it will definitely agree, even if it is not very willing in its heart.

You can only discuss this yourself; if you can persuade it, I won't stop you, but if it is unwilling, I won't persuade it for you."

Hearing this, Aolang fell silent for a moment, bowed lightly to Qiaoda, and said: "I apologize; this was something I considered too lightly. I should have paid more attention to Shaji's own thoughts rather than thinking about how to succeed more easily."

"Mm, it's good that you understand this point." Qiaoda nodded heavily, then shifted the topic. "However, I can offer you some advice.

That child, Shaji, likes machines and things like Mechanisms; basically, all the rewards from missions are spent on buying those messy little gadgets."

After saying this, he spoke no more and continued to handle official business.

Aolang blinked; actually, he had also noticed what Qiaoda said, he just hadn't considered it from this angle.

"Thank you very much!"

Qiaoda waved his hand as if shooing away a fly, signaling that he could leave.

Aolang walked quickly all the way back to the dormitory; Shaji happened to be there too, sitting at a small low table, tinkering with something.

Aolang squatted behind it, leaned in to look, and it seemed to be a wind-up toy; Shaji had taken it apart and was trying to put it back together.

"Very skilled."

"Meow!" Shaji, whose attention was entirely focused on the object in front of it, was so startled that its fur stood on end all over its body; it subconsciously wanted to hide those things.

"What is there to hide?"

Shaji paused its movements and mumbled, "Asa saw it last time and said I'm still a child after all, Meow, and that I play with toys every day, Meow."

A twitch appeared at the corner of Aolang's eye. "He is the childish one; next time I'll beat him up."

"Beat him up, Meow." Shaji happily echoed.

Aolang squatted beside Shaji like this, watching it piece that toy back together bit by bit.

It was a crude tin toy frog; after Shaji wound up the spring, the toy frog began to hop up and down.

"Success, Meow!"

Shaji excitedly raised its paws high, and Aolang also smiled, extending his palm to high-five it.

Shaji finally came to his senses then. "Sorry meow, waited so long meow, Aolang came to find us, what's the matter meow?"

"Mm." Aolang sat cross-legged before Shaji. "I have already submitted my resignation application to Boss Qiaoda. I plan to leave Luokelake and travel outside."

Hearing this, Shaji stiffened for an instant, nodded his small head, and said, "So that's how it is meow, be safe meow."

Aolang noticed that Shaji's originally sharp, upright ears had drooped a bit, so he reached out and rubbed the top of his head.

"Won't you come with me? Go see what the world outside the Desert is like?" Aolang said softly. "On the day Sai'er left, you stared at that Airship for a long time, right?

The outside world, new things, Mechanisms and machines you've never seen, you also long for those, don't you?"

Shaji fell silent for quite a while before speaking. "You're right meow, but I must stay with the Guerrilla to repay everyone's kindness meow."

"If you want to go, just come along. Repay a basket's kindness?"

Another voice sounded. Asa poked his head out from his bunk. "Who wants your little Elu to repay kindness?"

"Meow!" Shaji was so startled he nearly jumped up.

Aolang also turned his head in surprise. He hadn't noticed there was another person in the room before. Does this guy have such low presence when he doesn't speak?

"How are you here?"

"I've always been here. Yesterday I was dragged out on patrol and didn't return until the middle of the night, so I'm catching up on sleep here."

"Then why didn't you make a sound?"

"Heard you talking bad about me behind my back, so I listened in a bit longer." Asa grinned and flipped down from the bed.

He walked over to Shaji, glanced at that tin-plate frog, then reached out and tugged at the tip of Shaji's ear. "Before, I thought you had nowhere to go, so I stayed with the Guerrilla along with everyone else.

Turns out you were holding onto the idea of repaying kindness?"

Shaji, both ashamed and flustered, wriggled free from Asa's grip. "What's wrong meow! Not allowed meow?!"

Asa grabbed Shaji under the armpits, ignoring his struggles, lifted him up, walked outside the dormitory door, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Someone come! Is anyone here!"

"Shut up, Asa!"

"Your mom's catching up on sleep right now, what's all the noise!"

From within the Citadel Guerrillas' barracks came a chorus of curses, mostly from Guerrilla members returning from night patrol to catch up on sleep.

Asa raised his voice a few more octaves, drowning out everyone else's curses. "Aolang invited little Shaji to travel outside, little Shaji said he wants to go but can't, because he needs to repay everyone's kindness. What do you all think?!"

"What? What?"

"Is that true?"

Reisha, wearing only his underclothes, along with many others, ran out from their respective barracks and gathered around Asa.

Held over Asa's head, Shaji turned completely gray and white.

Aolang couldn't bear it and covered his face. He had intended to gently reason and persuade little by little, but with Asa publicly executing him like this, Shaji wouldn't be able to stay in the Citadel Guerrillas anymore.