The Pathway Of Wisdom-Chapter 54: Trample or Be Trampled. Part-4.

Once the tea was finished, Paul finally stopped crying; the rain also slowed down quite a bit.

"It seems you have been under a lot of burden lately, Old Man... But I am glad you were able to let it all out..."

"Rain is good; under the heavy rain, others can’t notice whether you are crying or not... especially if you are a man and not allowed to cry in front of others..."

The age-old saying that ’Men don’t cry’ also existed in this world too.

Most knights and soldiers follow this code, and those who cry are not qualified to become warriors according to the code of warriors of this world.

Luckily for Paul, he was not a warrior; he was just a peasant, an ordinary farmer, and there was no one watching him, so he could cry as much as he wanted.

Moreover, rain was excellent at hiding it all.

"I... I am sorry that I bothered you... I-I just..."

Paul could not find words to speak; he felt ashamed when looking into the eyes of the young man.

The young man had pure white skin, his silver hair was shining in the dark, and his golden pupils seemed to be capable of seeing right through a person’s mind and soul!

The young man was short and looked weak, but Paul could feel that he was no ordinary person.

Not only was the unknown young man extremely handsome, but Paul could also feel that the young man’s golden eyes were seeing right through him! Making him afraid to meet eyes with him.

"No need to apologize; I also got stuck in rain and couldn’t return on time and thus found this place to sit..."

"The owner of this house is very kind; he even lent me his tea set to drink tea and pass time to wait for the rain..."

"You looked lost; you had the expression that you had nowhere to go, so I called out to you..."

The young man’s voice was extremely gentle and very soothing to hear; it was almost as if the young man was surrounded by a holy light and seemed very bright in this dark night.

The young man seemed completely out of place; unlike the damp, dark area, he was shining with an extraordinary aura.

Just staying close to him, Paul felt as if all his tension and stress were disappearing with the wind.

"I am indeed lost..."

Paul took a deep breath and said those words out loud.

He was hesitant to tell the truth, but for some reason, when being looked at by those golden eyes, he felt that there was no need to hide anything.

He felt compelled to share everything with this unknown person for some reason.

"I have lost my everything... I lost my family, I lost my work, and I lost my land... I have nowhere to go, nowhere to stay and no destination in life..."

"I am indeed lost... I don’t know what to do next... I just want to fade away in this darkness like I never existed before..."

Paul was broken, hopeless, and tired; he could not muster the energy to do anything anymore and thus felt lost.

He felt that darkness was taking hold of him with each passing second, but before it could truly consume him, the young man’s voice jolted him out of that state of self-rejection and self-blame.

"Who do you think is responsible for all of this?"

That question made Paul feel startled.

As a poor farmer and a peasant, Paul had always spent his life working hard and never questioning his circumstances.

Thus, he never asked himself who was responsible for all the suffering in his life.

"Th-this..."

Thinking about that question, Paul could not find a concrete answer in his heart.

If he said that those corrupt officers were responsible, it would still be incorrect because partially, it was his mistake that he trusted those people and never inquired what water and food his family was drinking.

He never questioned if the food and water they had was dangerous or infected, and he never questioned his own social standing either.

He was so hardwired to stay at the bottom of the food chain that he never even thought about questioning anything around him at all.

"I see, so you realized... Yes, the ’Path’ you chose in your life was responsible for it all..."

Paul chose to live a life of struggle; he chose the ’Path’ that led him to an ordinary life filled with suffering and struggle.

Even when he tried to improve, he had already walked so far on his ’Path’ of ’Eternal Struggles’ that all of his life was eventually destroyed.

Usually, a poor person would dream of a happy, peaceful life with no more difficulties in their life.

But Paul did one major thing wrong, his greatest dream and ambition got replaced by the constant sadness and struggles that he had become accustomed to!

Paul had become so accustomed to his struggles and sadness-filled days that he started thinking that he was always going to live this way forever.

That was a big mistake.

In a world where a person’s dream and ambition dictate their future and their ’Path’ in life, Paul dreamed of living a constant life of struggles while trying to work hard for his family.

He messed up his ’Path’ in life.

"I am actually surprised that you realized it so fast... you aren’t a total airhead at the very least; that’s a good start..."

The young man got up from his seat and opened an umbrella before looking at Paul with a smile and saying,

"A person is only ’Lost’ when they end up losing sight of their original ’Path’ in life..."

"And if you want to find your original ’Path’ back... you can always do so if you look hard enough everywhere..."

"A warrior is not defeated until he himself acknowledges the defeat from the bottom of his heart..."

The young man placed the teacup in his hand down on the bench before saying,

"Everyone makes mistakes in life but you can always correct them..."

The young man stretched out his palm, and a half-broken avanti coin was resting on it.

"If you want to find your lost path... if you want to bring justice to put your loved one’s spirit to rest... take it and aim for the giant clock tower in the morning before any knights catch you..."

"If you can’t make it to the clock tower and the knights catch you, then you were never meant for anything more than what you are now..."

The young man handed the half-broken avanti coin to Paul and then walked away, but before walking away, he looked into Paul’s eyes and said one last sentence.

"Remember the simple rule of the world... In this world, either you trample others, or you get trampled by others..."

The young man disappeared in the darkness of the night after leaving those words behind.

His words and his image burned themselves in Paul’s heart, and he felt that he must not let this final ray of light abandon him.

The final ray of hope that was lighting his dark path was showing him a new possibility; if he let go of it, there would be nothing left in his life.

A newfound look of determination appeared on Paul’s face as he clenched the broken avanti coin in his hand tightly.

’Trample or Be Trampled?... I hate this reality... but I have no other choice...’