The Pathway Of Wisdom-Chapter 69: There are plenty of fishes in the sea!
Antonio felt relieved that the monster finally died; he calmed down his trembling body as he looked at Ethan standing not too far away with a look of awe.
With this smooth victory, Ethan had proved that he was truly an exceptional paladin and was fully capable of completing difficult missions easily!
*Step!* *Step!*
Just when Antonio was admiring Ethan’s bravery, footsteps rang out from behind, and he hurriedly turned back to see who was coming.
"No wonder they all sing tales of his bravery; the god of wisdom church might only have one paladin but he alone is quite strong..."
A middle-aged man walked inside the wooden boundary of the old mill while holding a large bow in his left hand and a thick cigar in his right hand.
He was wearing a hunter’s robe, and a brownish hat rested on his head.
"You... are you the archer who was helping us? Thanks for saving my life! I am really grateful!"
The middle-aged man waved his hand as he hung his bow behind his back.
"No worries, dude, I am actually happy that I got to see Sir Ethan at work with my own eyes!"
While smiling at Antonio, the man brought out a rope, and with great swiftness, he tied Antonio’s hands together before Antonio could even react!
"Wha-wha-what!? What are you doing!?"
The archer ignored Antonio’s words, tied his arms and legs forcefully, and then placed him above his shoulders like a sandbag.
"No hard feelings, man, I am just following orders... question your Sir Paladin if you want to..."
Hearing the archer’s words, Antonio looked at Ethan, who was walking over to their side with a look of confusion and questioning.
"S-sir Ethan, wha-what’s the meaning of this?"
Hearing Antonio’s words, Ethan scratched the back of his neck and replied,
"Err... well, I also don’t know the details but Lord Saint gave me the order... ’Deal with the situation with the old mill and Bring Back Antonio tied up’..."
"Don’t worry Sir Antonio, the organization will definitely not treat you badly..."
With that said, Ethan took out a cloth and stuffed it in Antonio’s mouth to prevent him from screaming.
The middle-aged archer gave Ethan a wry look and spoke.
"Your lord Saint seems like quite a cunning and dangerous person... you sure you should be working for him..."
"If it was me, I would just run away the next day, you know..."
Ethan shook his head at the man’s words and replied with his usual gentle voice,
"I am a Paladin of the god of wisdom; I will never abandon my faith just because of mere shift in feeling and emotions..."
"I have devoted my life to this cause..."
The middle-aged Archer was a hired thug; obviously his loyalty to Zeil was limited, and he wasn’t dedicated enough to give his life for the mission, and as a person who valued money and his own life more, he couldn’t understand Ethan’s motives.
"Well, everyone’s ’Path’ is different in life; who am I to question... Let’s just get going; I still have an appointment with a pretty lady to tend to in the lovely evening..."
With that said, the man took wide strides and started running straight towards the main door of the city of Ilma!
Ethan didn’t want to be left behind; seeing that the other party was quite fast, he shook his head and hurriedly caught up to the other party.
Although Ethan was wearing heavy armor, and the other party was carrying Antonio, a fully grown man, they both were very fast and didn’t seem to feel tired at all.
In fact, they were still able to do casual chat while running at such a fast speed!
"With your age, I thought you would be a married person Sir Vincent... I am surprised you are still fixing dates with women at such an advanced age..."
Hearing Ethan’s word, Vincent almost tripped and kissed the ground as he was taken aback!
"Advanced Age!? I am only 38, you know!! I am still in my prime! I still have a lot of time to play around and enjoy my youth, you know!"
At Vincent’s reply, Ethan scratched the back of his neck and asked with an innocent smile,
"Haha, you must be joking, Sir Vincent. No way you are saying that the age of 38 is still your prime, right?..."
"By that age, some people’s kids become adult at that age you know..."
In these medieval times, where the normal life expectancy of people was barely 50-60 at most, people tended to marry early, and a person was already considered a fully grown adult at the age of 16!
Most people don’t even make it to their adulthood due to diseases and how dangerous this world actually is.
Just a random walk to the woods can result in an encounter with an eldritch horror capable of killing veteran knights, let alone ordinary people.
Low life expectancy is one of the major reasons as to why people marry early in this world and have lots of children so that at least one or two of them will survive until their later years.
The ’Pathwalkers’ are completely different, though.
They are above ordinary people in terms of life hierarchy and have powerful vitality.
Even a Phase-1 Pathwalker has a life expectancy of 100-120 years, and just like their body, their immune system is exceptionally strong!
Diseases don’t affect them mostly unless those diseases are being spread by some kind of powerful monstrosity or something like that.
But overall, they have a more robust body and a long life expectancy.
Ethan, who had married at the age of 21, was already criticized by many for marrying quite late; thus, in his opinion, it was very odd that Vincent was still unmarried even though he was already reaching close to 40!
Even Ethan’s son, Jake, is already 16 and is considered an adult by now!
"Cough! Cough! I-I am surely not that old, Sir Ethan!"
"Also, you must keep in mind that I am a Pathwalker! We Pathwalkers have a long-life span, so obviously I still have a long time left..."
Vincent smirked at Ethan and continued,
"There’s no fun in being tied to a single woman all your life; as a Pathwalker with a long life span, tying yourself to one partner will only cause you loneliness and depression in your later years of life, you know!"
Although it sounded rude, Vincent’s words were not entirely false either.
Pathwalkers have a long lifespan, and stronger Pathwalkers can live for long times, due to which their partners end up getting old and dying much earlier than them.
Watching your loved ones die one by one in front of you is a very painful experience.
Ethan was also aware of this dilemma; he himself is a Pathwalker, but his wife is an ordinary person, and she will likely get old and end up dying much earlier than him.
He will have to live the rest of his life in loneliness and depression if that happens.
This is also the main reason why many Pathwalkers teach their children and disciples not to marry ordinary people, as losing them might affect your own ’Path’ to ascension in the future.
The most famous quote about this matter was once given by a famous scholar of this world,
{The further you walk on a ’Path,’ the lonelier and more difficult it becomes!}
The stronger you get, the longer your lifespan, and the more loved ones you see departing from the world while you remain stuck in this material world.
Over time, you become accustomed to this loneliness, and you become accustomed to walking alone on this lonely ’Path’ of ascension!
This is the ’price’ of strength many have to pay.
"Still... I believe that the person I love is the only one for me... I will leave worrying about depression to the future version of me..."
Ethan’s thinking was simple, his son was a talented person; as long as he becomes a Pathwalker, at least he will be there to accompany Ethan in his old age.
In Ethan’s opinion, meeting his wife was a great blessing from the gods themselves; letting go of it was not a possibility.
"No wonder you are a ’Paladin,’ Sir Ethan... you have an admirable personality and big heart..."
"I hope you and your wife a long happy life... but I personally prefer staying alone and enjoying all kinds of fruits in this world..."
"There are plenty of fish in the sea! Waiting to be tasted!"
Ethan sighed and nodded his head at those words.
"I guess it differs from person to person... as you said before, everyone has a ’Path’ in life; who am I to question it..."
Ethan and Vincent chatted enthusiastically with each other, while Antonio’s existence was completely ignored by both of them.
He was carried like a sandbag and couldn’t even resist at all!
Antonio had no idea why he was tied down like that and what they were going to do to him, but he had no other choice and let them have their way with him!
He was too weak to protest against these powerful people!
