The ensuing situation made Lin Gui even more certain—there was definitely something wrong with this companion of his who was "bound to him in life and death."
Upon opening, the post office was visited by almost every resident of Avalon who had nothing better to do.
They crowded into the small hall, asking about everything under the sun, their hearts filled with curiosity.
Lin Gui, Theia, and Eve stood behind the counter receiving them, answering their questions one by one.
Amidst the clamor, Lin Gui keenly sensed something.
The frequency with which Theia stole peeks at him was startlingly high.
Moreover, her gaze always unconsciously... drifted downward.
She seemed to be staring at his neck.
Taking advantage of a gap between guests, Lin Gui reached up to touch his neck.
His skin was smooth; there was nothing stuck to it, and he felt no discomfort.
While he was still puzzled, one resident seemed to hesitate for a long time.
Finally, he pushed through the crowd of onlookers in front of him and slowly walked up to the counter.
The destination of this letter-sender was somewhat special.
Flowerwood City.
To pick up more commissions for the return journey, Lin Gui had specifically written a notice at the entrance of the post office:
Letters didn't necessarily have to be sent only to the city-states marked on the map.
If someone had needs for other destinations, they could submit a request, and the messenger (Lin Gui) would consider whether it was on the way at his discretion.
And this "Flowerwood City"...
Lin Gui remembered it was supposed to be near Caran City.
It was a relatively isolated free city-state that had never joined the City-State Alliance.
Lin Gui looked up at the person who had made the request.
Then, he froze for a moment.
The other party... was a half-demon.
He was a male of medium build with a human face, but small, curving black horns grew from his temples.
His eyes were dark red, and his skin was pale, marked with demon markings.
Lin Gui asked with some surprise:
"Who... are you sending it to?"
The half-demon remained silent for a moment before answering in a very soft voice:
"To... a woman who once took me in."
He paused, seemingly organizing his thoughts, and began to recount in a low, slow voice:
"Back then, I had just awakened my demon markings and was kicked out of my hometown to wander everywhere."
"When I was on the verge of starving to death, I collapsed by the roadside outside Flowerwood City."
"Aunt Martha was the one who found me... Her eyes were bad, and she was almost blind."
"She had lost her own child and thought I was... so she dragged me back to her home."
"She gave me food, gave me a place to stay, and called me 'Little Kyle'..."
"The people in the city discriminated against me, threw stones at me, and called me a monster."
"She would hold a broom and stand in front of me, shouting back in the direction of the voices."
"She said..."
The half-demon's voice choked up for a moment.
"She said, 'This is my child.'"
The surrounding clamor had fallen completely silent at some point.
The residents stopped talking and listened quietly.
Kyle took a deep breath and continued:
"I lived with her for two years."
"Later... the patrol unit hunting half-demons was about to search that district."
"I couldn't involve her anymore."
"I had no choice but to leave secretly one night."
"Afterward, I met Miss Hannah on the road and other half-demon companions hiding in Flowerwood."
"Finally, I followed Miss Hannah to Avalon."
His story stopped there, with no more to be said.
But everyone understood the unvoiced gratitude and longing.
After a brief silence, the half-demons from Flowerwood seemed to be touched by something.
They began to add their own low voices, one after another:
"Aunt Martha... did she always love wearing a gray checkered apron?"
"There was a crooked-neck apple tree in front of her yard, right?"
"Kyle even helped her fix the roof back then; he fell from the tree and was lame for half a month..."
"When that group of bastard patrolmen came, it was Old John who ran over ahead of time to bring the news..."
What they shared were all trivial details.
Yet, they pieced together a real and warm past.
The half-demon called Kyle listened quietly, his eyes turning slightly red.
Finally, a beastkin uncle patted him on the shoulder and looked at Lin Gui, his voice rough yet sincere:
"Mr. Lin Gui."
"If you can... please help him."
"We will all chip in for the delivery fee."
As soon as he spoke, a chorus of agreement rose from the surroundings.
"Yes, we'll pay!"
"Count me in!"
"And me!"
Hearing this, Lin Gui snarked with a bit of a laugh, "It's only seven copper coins; do you really need to pool your money? A pair of straw sandals costs twenty."
That said, he still reached out to take the slightly old but well-preserved letter from Kyle's hand.
"Don't worry," he smiled at Kyle, "I will definitely deliver the letter."
However, he knew in his heart that the situation behind this promise was not optimistic.
It wasn't that the journey was difficult—going to Flowerwood City wasn't too much of a detour for him.
It was because ten-odd years had passed.
An elderly woman with impaired vision and no children, struggling to survive at the bottom of the City-State Era...
Lin Gui almost didn't dare to think carefully about her current situation.
Perhaps she had already...
Forget it.
He shook his head inwardly.
He would see for himself when the time came.
Kyle fumbled a silver coin out of his chest and handed it over.
Eve took it from the side and nimbly counted out three copper coins to give back as change.
Kyle rubbed the returned coins, hesitated for a moment, and spoke again in a low voice:
"Um... if, if she is still alive..."
"If possible, could you give these... to her as well?"
He gently pushed a somewhat heavy small cloth bag toward Lin Gui.
"I know this doesn't fit the rules," Kyle's voice grew even lower, "but..."
Lin Gui silently untied the opening of the bag.
Inside were some worn silver coins and two or three dull-colored gold coins.
As someone who had once struggled at the bottom of Flowerwood City, Kyle was likely clearer than Lin Gui about the very concerns he had.
"Hey! How is that little bit of money enough for an old woman to live a good life?"
The beastkin uncle's booming voice rang out again.
With a "clink," he slammed two brand-new gold coins onto the counter.
"Count me in!"
This action was like a pebble dropped into water.
The ripples spread rapidly.
"I'll come too!"
"Me too!"
"Wait, I'm going home to get some!"
The crowd grew restless.
The residents—whether humans, beastkin, gnomes, or other races—crowded forward one after another.
Coins were placed gently onto the counter one by one.
Gold coins, silver coins, and even neat stacks of copper coins.
The clinking sounds were incessant.
Perhaps in Avalon, coins had long since lost the circulation meaning they held in the outside world.
Or perhaps the people here were simply like this.
In a short while, the surface of the originally empty wooden counter was almost covered with various coins.
Under Eve's quick organizing and counting, they had actually pooled a total of three hundred gold coins.
By the way, one hundred of those gold coins were Theia's "friendly contribution."
She moved extremely quickly, quietly mixing a heavy small bag into the pile of money while the crowd was congested.
Kyle's back was to her, so he didn't notice.
But Lin Gui saw it.
Theia met his gaze and gave him a mischievous wink.
Lin Gui could only offer a helpless smile.
Then, he reached into the inner pocket of his mage robes and fumbled around for a moment.
Ultimately, he only produced a lone gold coin.
He placed it gently on the edge of that shining mountain of money.
There was nothing to be done.
That really was all he had left on him.
The reward the Demon Hunter Cass had given him back then.
It hadn't been used for bidding on the "guide."
Almost all of it had been exchanged for various supplies by Lin Gui.
And those supplies were mostly not prepared for himself.
They were for Theia.
Rate on N.U.
