[Dragon Age] Ring

The fact that Karen was the Templar who guarded the library each night seemed to please Emmel.Karen didn't expect that after she recognized her, instead of being angry, she looked very surprised.

But this kind of surprise didn't last long. A few days later, a sad atmosphere enveloped the dharma circle.

Fayela, the apprentice mage, failed the Ritual of Pain, turning into a demon, and the Templar responsible for killing her hesitated for a moment during the ritual, and was injured by it.It was Gregory the Knight-Major himself who killed her...it.Karen thought that such a message might make the apprentices who had not yet performed the painful ritual feel a sense of sadness.

Emily is no exception.

Karen knew that the relationship between the mage apprentice who turned into a demon and Amel was not good. He had heard Fayela speak ill of Amel behind his back, but no matter what the relationship between the apprentices was, they always lived together. Within the same Dharma circle, they grew up and studied together... It was normal for her to be sad.

Even if she didn't show the sadness.

When all the apprentices were in panic and sadness, Emily still appeared in the library with a calm expression. She even smiled at Karen as before, and then sat in the corner by the window.

But she didn't read, she held up the book, but her eyes were not on the pages.

She was looking out the window, beyond the Circle.

This made Karen a little nervous.

He has not been in the Ring of Law for a long time, at least not longer than Emily who has lived here since he was a child.It is very rare for a mage to leave the magic ring, and it is even less likely for an apprentice who is not a mage to get out of here.This means that since Emily stepped here, she has never gone out like a caged bird.

Usually, she doesn't seem to care about this matter. The apprentices will whisper a few legends or news outside the circle of law, but Emily has never participated in it. Karen always thinks that she likes the circle of law very much. She cherishes the current learning opportunity very much.

And tonight's Emily, ever since she sat by the window, has never moved her eyes away.

It's not a good thing for a mage who puts his eyes outside the circle of magic.Karen has heard many precedents of mages escaping the magic circle, and nine out of ten of those "precedents" end in death; but Karen knows that human beings who yearn for freedom are willing to give their lives for the only possibility.

One of the responsibilities of the Templars is to raise their swords against the mage who betrayed the ring.

"...I remember when I was a child, before I came to the French Circle, my father gave me a puppy as a birthday present."

When the soft voice that made Karen's heart beat in the past sounded, he could hardly breathe in pain.

Creator, please don't do this to me, please don't do this to her.

What Karen was afraid of was her thinking about life outside the circle.If Emily has fantasies about life outside the circle of law because of this, if she...if she tries to escape from the circle of law...

No, it's impossible.Emily understands the stakes, she knows that the ring is also a tool to protect the mage, she can understand.

But even though Karen comforted himself so deeply in his heart, he still couldn't control his blood from leaving his limbs.What if she had to leave, what if he had to draw his weapon at her?Karen didn't dare to think, he didn't dare to imagine the possibility of killing Emily himself.Looking at her profile, he almost begged her.

Beg her to look back, beg her to stop looking out the window, beg her to keep her eyes on the page as usual.Don't think about life outside the circle, don't expect freedom, and don't imagine the future that you can't have.

Karen knew it was cruel, but it wasn't a young man's possessiveness over a woman he adored, it was his responsibility, the Templar's.

Fear captured his heart, but Emily didn't know what Karen felt under the armor.Reluctantly, she retracted her gaze, and turned her head to stroke the pages of the book at hand.

"My mother asked me to name it and I named the puppy 'Dog'."

Thankfully, due to the failure of the painful ceremony, the apprentices tonight lost the spirit of studying, and there are only Emily and Karen in the entire library.At least in this way, no matter how much she smiles, she won't attract attention, won't she, Karen forced herself to comfort herself.

"Mother said, you can't name a dog 'Dog', I said that's fine, just call it Wang Wang." She said with a chuckle, "My father said that's really useless. It’s a creative name, but I like it very much. I’ve always thought that if I have a chance to raise a dog in the future, I’ll name it Wangwang.”

She raised her head and looked towards Karen with a sad face.When he met Emily's green eyes, Karen felt that the powerlessness surging from his heart was about to crush him to death.

"But I may not have a chance, right." Emily said softly.

"……Do not."

"Ok?"

Emily showed a little surprised expression, maybe he didn't expect to reply to her.But after the negative word blurted out, Karen got stuck again.He doesn't know what is worth "no" at all, Emmel is telling the truth, she may spend the rest of her life in the ring, and the chances of having another puppy are very slim, and the chance of freedom is the same .

He said no, just because he didn't want to see her sad expression, but he didn't know how to comfort Emily at all, this was not a problem of comfort at all.

So in the end, he just sighed through the helmet: "If you... well, if you are sad, you can... rest early."

She was silent for a moment, then glanced away.

"You didn't speak those official words." She brushed her hair casually, and said in a gentle voice, "The price for gaining power is losing your normal life."

"If these words are helpful to you, I will say them."

"No, I mean... thank you for not saying those things."

Karen was startled, and then saw Emily laughing, the sadness in her eyes was much less, but he couldn't be happy.

He knew she was just hiding those emotions.

"I'm sorry I made it hard for you," she said finally. "I'm not going to act on those unrealistic ideas. I know why I'm here. Don't worry, Karen."

In the end, she was comforting herself instead.The fear faded, and the frustration returned.She is always so considerate, even if she can't see her expression or feel her mood, she still thinks of her situation and her possible worries.

And when she was sad, right now... Karen didn't know what to do.

"I……"

Such thoughts made Karen feel a little angry with herself.The anger stuck in his throat made him temporarily forget his usual hesitation.

"I'm just worried about you, Emily." He didn't realize what he was talking about until the words blurted out, but it was too late, "If you have anything sad, you can tell me, even if I can't help you It should be better for you to solve it...to speak out."

It was too late to regret it, and it was rare for him to say a word that sounded so decent to her.

Blushing too many times, Karen felt that he had gradually mastered the method of thick-skinned in front of her.This time he didn't even stutter, at least it's an improvement, isn't it.

She was stunned, and Emily's eyes widened slightly, until Karen felt embarrassed again, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

The gentle and optimistic smile in the past crawled back to her face.

"Then you have to keep it a secret for me."

"Ah."

"Especially the matter of naming the puppy Wang Wang."

Karen couldn't help curling his lips secretly under the helmet.

"……Um."

The author has something to say: Then Emily named the war mastiff in the Gray Guard, which was bigger than a wolf, Wang Wang [.