Opal buried his head in Rector's chest for a long, long time, and Rector touched his head and said, "I'm sorry, Opal."
"No." Opal said: "Don't say that, teacher, I betrayed you."
"Don't blame yourself, Opal," said Rector.
Opal let go of him. At this moment, his mood towards Recht was still complicated. He didn't do what Recht gave him, and he didn't even choose his own position. His heart was still right. Coroline surrendered, it could even be said to be quite surrendered. He was ashamed of Rector and himself, but when he saw Rector again, he still rushed to hug him with impulse and instinct.
However, after the two separated, he suddenly thought of many things-their relationship was very awkward.
Perhaps it was because of this that Recht didn't want to meet him.
"How did you get here?" Rector opened the topic as if nothing had happened. He walked to the table, poured some fruit wine for Opal, and poured himself a glass of thorn wine.
Opal recovered briefly from Raymond's identity and said, "Come and investigate one thing, me and... I became an adventurer."
Lecter didn't seem to notice his nervousness and smiled: "I think adventurers are more suitable for you than mercenaries, Opal."
Opal said: "Oh no, the adventurer is too difficult and needs a lot of contacts. You see, without you, I wouldn't even be able to enter this banquet."
Rickett said: "The Big Astronautical Association likes to use a famous saying by Horius, solving problems should use brains, not fighting. I believe that even without me, you can successfully infiltrate."
Opal said: "Is Horius strong? How are others? Is he very cunning?"
Rector said: "He's short, as tall as you are now, but he's the star knight I admire the most besides Nolan. He's pretty smart, thoughtful, and patient, preparing for a long last-ditch effort. Winning, you will gradually get used to this mode. Horius himself does not like to fight alone. He rarely even activates the saber-toothed tiger. Most of the time, he relies on his mind to win the battle. From this point of view, Kolo Lin is a bit like him."
Opal suddenly thought of something, and he said, "Teacher, you are here because of him... Does he have any assassinations?"
Rector crossed his arms and said, "No, not because of him, but because of another student of mine."
Opal discovered another thing, the silver bracelet on Rector's wrist was gone.
Rector noticed that Opal was looking at his hand, and stretched out his left hand. On his wrist, he wore the artificial stone beads that Opal had given him a long time ago - a bracelet bought for 400 energy points on the B11 star. .
Opal smiled and said, "You still have it."
"I've been wearing it all the time." Rickett said, "It was interrupted once, and Jasmine helped me put it on."
Opal said, "Where's the dragon ray?"
Rickett said, "He's sleeping in the sanctuary of the stars. Do you want to see him?"
Opal said: "He... sleeps? Why don't you bring it, I mean..."
Rickett said: "Let's go over there, what do you want to eat?"
Opal followed Lecter away from the Moonlight Path and walked towards the green pine forest. Opal had too many questions to ask, and many troubles to solve. The most important thing was that Raymond was playing a clown in the luxurious hall. Do you know what will happen? !
"I knew that Coroline wanted to use assassination to solve the problem again." Rickett said casually: "Who is his target this time?"
Opal said: "I'm not sure, he did have this idea before, maybe the emperor..."
Opal hesitated, but Recht said, "He has also fulfilled his duty as a teacher to you. There is no personal grudge between me and him. The duel is because we want to use our lives to correct the mistakes we have made. I don't. Hate him, so you don't have to be too burdened, Opal."
Opal breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Really, I'm sorry, teacher, I tried my best, I sometimes think of what you taught me a long time ago, you said some things, you can't do it by faith, it's true, I There are many things that can’t be done. You punish me, I am willing to accept any punishment to express my apology to you in my heart, but there are many things, even if I do it again, I will still do it, I will still choose this way.”
Lecter stopped, stared at Opal, and said seriously: "I didn't intend to punish you, Opal, I put the dragon ray in the Sanctuary of the Stars, intending to live the life of an ordinary person, because I failed, So you can only reflect on yourself and accept failure. Now there is only your friend Rector, not your teacher, Rector who is a star knight."
Opal: "!!!"
Opal didn't know what to say for a moment, and Rickett motioned him to continue along the road.
Opal said, "Have you given up, teacher?"
Rickett said beside him: "No, I didn't give up, Opal, I've been thinking a lot these days, when you came over with the battery to charge the Dragon Ray on the first day I met you, I Just vaguely understood why my faith couldn't win against Coroline, you awakened the fire of my faith. But I was too impatient, I mistakenly thought it was a chance for me, because you made me feel it again The duty of teaching, thousands of years after Cororin left, once again realized the feeling of cultivating a person, so I gathered this belief and wanted to use this to fight Cororin again, but I still failed."
Opal listened silently, and Recht said: "After the second failure, I recalled our encounter, that time the fire of faith was briefly rekindled, not because of nurturing you, but because I met a worthy man. The friend I went to protect. I even feel a little regretful. I shouldn't have let you develop on your own, but should have taken you to the Church of the Stars. We all live together as each other's relatives, teach you everything I know, and feel together It's good to have someone to accompany. It's a pity I missed you."
"I am really too stubborn. These thousands of miles have simply fought against Coroline with my own cognition, but I have not had any idea of experiencing the feelings and life as a human being." Rickett said: "So I I can't tell what my beliefs are. In the thousands of years after his betrayal, I have no relatives, no friends, no strong attachment, no motivation to win. In the end, I even found that I even protected you. No, how to fight Cororin? So I figured it out, I plan to put down the idea of fighting him first and live an ordinary life."
Opal nodded and said, "I see, teacher."
Rickett laughed: "Our failure is due to my lost self in these long years."
"It's not too late to understand," Opal said.
Rickett nodded and said, "A person, as long as he understands what he really needs to do, it is never too late at any time."
Opal said: "Oh maybe what I need most now is money. I found that since I came to King's Wharf, my belief is to revolve around money..."
Rickett laughed, took a plate, served food to Opal, and said, "I think a lot of enjoyment is free. In this universe, there are often more free than charged."
Opal said: "Is it like these?"
Rickett said: "No, of course not. These are also money in essence. The imperial people always like to eat big food. This is one of the seven deadly sins, which is very bad."
Opal said: "But if you want to live like an ordinary person, it is necessary to live such a life. I think it is compared to the liquid food of the Republic... uh..."
Recht said: "The same is true of their gluttony in the virtual network. It is good to satisfy their desires properly. Once they are overdone, they are terrible. Come with me."
He took the food and went to the lawn with Opal. The green pine forest was noisy and lively. Opal chose a secluded place with few people and sat on the lawn with Lecter to eat.
"Maybe one day you will be for...for..." Opal held his fork and thought out of nowhere, "beat the old man for food... sorry, I still can't change my mouth."
Lecter really can't do anything about Opal, Opal said: "It's better to call him Teacher Black, how about calling you Teacher Bai."
Rector: "… "
Opal laughed: "Just kidding."
"Look at the sky," said Rector.
Opal looked up, and Recht said, "Opal, I remember that your favorite thing when you were a child was watching the stars. Have you lost this interest for a long time?"
"No." Opal murmured, "I still enjoy watching it now."
"That's good," Recht said: "The air is free, the starry sky is free, the sun is free, the rain is free, they are all gifts from the creator, and the Holy See of the Stars believes that the stars are the creators of the universe, and they emit light and heat. , so that all things grow, the water on the surface of the dead planet, the air circulates. And love, friendship and kinship are free, because they are priceless, so they can only be free."
Opal said: "No, teacher, some love is also charged... Only a small number of people's love does not charge."
Rickett frowned and said, "Are you starting to contradict the teacher?"
Opal looked at him with a smile. At this moment, he felt that Recht was no longer the Recht that he knew before. Although he was still very young, he noticed one thing - Recht treated him as an adult. .
"Teacher." Opal said suddenly: "Raymond is resurrected, can you accept him? I beg you to accept him for me, or try to understand him."
Recht asked in a deep voice, "Opal, if the teacher doesn't accept Raymond, what will you do?"
Opal said: "I will protect him from your harm. I can only fight with you when necessary, but I still love you the same, teacher."
Rickett looked into Opal's eyes and said, "As long as you think so, the teacher can't do anything about you, Opal."
Opal: "No no..."
Rickett said: "Your belief in this is purer than mine, so if we fight, the teacher will not be your opponent."
Opal said: "But you have dragon rays."
Rickett said: "There is no difference in essence. If you are forced to the end, the power of your belief may be able to smash the dragon ray."
Opal frowned, "Really?"
Rickett couldn't help laughing and crying: "Do you still want to try?"
Opal said, "I don't want to... don't want to fight you, teacher, I really don't want to, but I can't lose Raymond."
Recht said: "Then I will try hard. In fact, because of the Ledgerson incident, I have often reflected on myself over the years. Besides, you have tried your best to avoid the deterioration of the situation, when you have to face a dilemma. When making a choice, I think it may still need to be accommodated.”
Opal finally put down a big stone in his heart. This is what he is most afraid of. Since Rickett did not express his explicit opposition, it is already the greatest gift from God to him.
Lecter doesn't seem to want to discuss this topic, and Opal also knows that he will not be able to reverse his previous impression for a while. The existence of replicators has violated Rector's bottom line, let alone a replica of Corolin
"He didn't ask us to do anything bad," Opal still couldn't help saying.
"I said it before, Opal." Rickett said: "I don't hate him, I just have to correct the mistakes we each made. Duplicants are very dangerous..."
Opal said: "But he doesn't have the consciousness of being a clone. He feels that he is a human from the beginning to the end. He doesn't want to avenge the clones, nor does he want to establish a clone army or something."
Rickett said: "Then you can pretend that I am just an ordinary person, the consultant of the Galaxy Atomic Pool Club, Rickett, not a star knight."
Opal nodded, truly relieved.
"By the way, speaking of this." Opal said: "Teacher, do you participate in the kind of club where the opponent wins a game and you take off a piece of clothes?"
Rector: "… "
"Why do you think so?!" Rickett angrily said, "You usually play that kind of game?!"
Opal immediately made a gesture of surrender, inadvertently exposing his behavior of playing pornographic games, he thought about it, and immediately changed the subject, saying: "Why do you know that Buck, Barna..."
"Baroque," said Rector. "Prince of the Empire, he is my student."
Opal immediately sensed something was wrong and said, "Are you accepting students again?"
Rickett said: "The Empire has an embassy in the galaxy. The ambassador knew me and liked to play atomic pool, so he introduced me to Baroque. He has studied my pool skills for a year and now invites me to dinner. ."
"Oh." Opal still said a little sourly: "When I asked you what an atomic pool was before, let me think about how you answered..."
Rickett smiled, he lay down on the lawn, and Opal followed his example and said, "My technique is too bad."
"If you want to learn, I can teach you in a few days, but you have to promise me that you won't be bullying people or taking off other people's clothes by teaching you how to play pool," Recht said.
Opal rolled on the lawn with laughter and said, "No problem."
The sound of music in the distance was getting quieter, another wave of meteor showers passed from the zenith, and the splendid night sky that never stopped was filled with countless silver-white lights, which made Opal dazzled. , he felt really comfortable like this, everything was so quiet and beautiful.
Until footsteps sounded beside them.
Opal heard Rector's voice in his dream.
"He fell asleep."
A man sat down on his left, and Opal woke up instantly, but he didn't open his eyes, knowing that it was Raymond who had found them.
Rector was on his left and Ramon was on his right.
"What should I call you?" Raymond said.
Rickett replied, "Whatever."