Chapter Thirty-Eight: Leaving Home

"Freyja, your leg is healed?"
Ye Ran returned home to find that the cast on Freyja's calf had been removed, and couldn't help but feel delighted.
Sitting on the small bed, Freyja nodded, stretched out her leg, and wrote on her drawing board, "A Ran, did you win?"
"Yes, I won, but wasn't admitted," Ye Ran replied, squatting beside her and gently squeezing her calf. He failed to notice the fleeting joy and sadness in her eyes.
Ye Ran smiled as he pressed her ankle and knee, "It's really all better now. I'll take you out for walks often from now on. Oh, we still have twenty gold coins—quite a 'fortune,' really. I'll keep them for you, and when next year's unified enrollment comes, I'll use them for your tuition. You're at an age where you should meet more peers."
Freyja shook her head and wrote, "Freyja is mute, can't go to school," on her drawing board.
Ye Ran said, "So what if you're mute? Why shouldn't mute people go to school? Besides, you're still young; you might speak in the future."
"You're the best to Freyja," she wrote.
"Freyja will help you fulfill your wish," she added.
Ye Ran smiled, and as he turned his head, he caught sight of a picture book on her desk: "Temple Atlas, Sixth Edition."
Sixth Edition—that must be the area near Violent Stream City. He didn't pay it much mind.
After preparing Yunmeng's books and notes in his room, he fell into a deep sleep. His injuries were severe, so he slept heavily and didn't wake until noon the next day.
Breakfast was laid out on the table—bought for him by Freyja.
But the room was quiet, lacking the sound of Freyja's pencil scratching. He sat at the table, picked up a red bean bun, and in the corner of his eye saw a small note pinned under the milk carton.
Pulling it out, he realized it was left by Freyja.
"A Ran, Freyja will be gone for a few days, will be back soon. Wait for me to bring you good news."
Ye Ran put down the note, suddenly sensing something amiss.
A few days?
What was she going to do for those days? Where could she go alone?
Anxiety surged and wouldn't fade. He hurried to Freyja's room; everything was intact except for her 'artifact' and the map book.
The map book—he suddenly remembered the sixth edition Temple Atlas, and grew desperate, hastily dressing and rushing out the door.
Outside, Wang Li and Lin Yuan were about to knock when Ye Ran abruptly opened the door, the door striking Lin Yuan's forehead with a loud thud.

"Uh... sorry..."
Ye Ran was about to apologize, but looking up, he recognized the two from Red Leaf Academy, recalling yesterday's martial exam and feeling his anger rise.
"Heh, it's you two,"
He glanced at them, slammed the door, and strode off.
"Brother Ye, please wait..."
Wang Li called after him, but Ye Ran was already far away.
Lin Yuan, rubbing her bruised forehead, muttered resentfully, "That rude bastard..."
She hadn't finished when Ye Ran returned.
He hesitated, then said, "Would you two help me? I'm looking for someone."
At dusk, a carriage sped out of Violent Stream City.
Violent Stream City, home to three million people, was vast. Freyja had left before dawn to hail a carriage, only reaching the city outskirts when the sky was overcast.
The coachman rarely encountered such a customer—a mute girl traveling alone beyond the city.
"We're here, little lady,"
From inside the carriage came a knocking sound; Freyja tapped the side to show she heard. She lifted the curtain, jumped down, took two silver coins from her pocket and handed them to the coachman, then struggled to pull out her tiny tricycle.
The coachman's eyelid twitched at the sight—the baby-sized tricycle was less than a meter long, axles round, spokes gleaming, its body shimmering with strange light.
He watched as the pink-cheeked girl waved at him, then waited as her tricycle squeaked its way into the forest.
Yes, the forest.
Damn, the forest. The coachman suddenly realized, shouting, "Hey, little girl, that's the forest, the forest..."
Freyja heard him, of course, but she knew the terrain; the road outside Violent Stream City, called the Four Directions Avenue, had taken three years to build.
The Four Directions Avenue branched everywhere, and the northern route led straight into the forest.
She'd checked the map beforehand—the forest wasn't large and could be crossed in less than half a day. Beyond it, the sixth deity's temple would soon be reached.
That was the temple of Athena, goddess of wisdom and war.

Once inside the forest, Freyja quickly became smudged and dirty. The night was eerie and frightening; her small hands and feet trembled, yet she kept pedaling. When the path grew rough, she pushed the tricycle; two small ditches even caused her to fall, but she pressed on relentlessly.
Fortunately, her tricycle was an artifact she was born with, descending with her from the heavens.
Even Ye Ran didn't know she had it. Though its seal, like the one on her drawing board, had not been fully broken, the faint power leaking from it was enough for now.
By late night, she finally wheeled her tricycle out of the forest, using its blue glow to check the map stored on the back.
Athena and Poseidon were in the same direction—after Athena's sixth temple, less than a hundred miles ahead lay Poseidon's domain.
The sixth temple was set behind Mount Mang, before the Bosch Sea. Within it were three halls: the Bronze Hall, the Silver Warrior Palace, and the Gold Warrior Palace, arranged in sequence. The Bronze Hall was lowest, Silver next, Gold highest, with six divine columns attached—a mark of the sixth temple.
Newly arrived chosen ones were assigned by divine attendants to study in the Bronze Hall, which served as the temple's gateway.
At dawn, the chosen in the Bronze Hall rose early to read, do homework, and begin their day. The main doors faced the mountain path outside.
Then they heard the squeaking sound.
Turning, they saw the glowing tricycle on the path, and every mouth fell open like a duck egg.
Dirty from the forest, looking like a mud doll, Freyja arrived at the sixth deity's temple in a manner that startled gods and spirits alike, pedaling her tricycle into the Bronze Hall.
She jumped off, panting, surveyed the stunned crowd, and wrote on her drawing board hung from her neck, "Is Athena here?"
"Yes... yes..."
A youth pointed dazedly toward the direction of the Sky Temple above the Gold Warrior Palace.
Freyja nodded and pedaled toward the Sky Temple.
"Uh... who is she?"
"No idea... never seen her..."
"Why did we let her in?"
"Ah..."
The youth slapped his forehead and ran after her.