I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha

Roland packed all his luggage into a large hiking backpack. Just before leaving, Roland suddenly remembered his treasured sword.

He went to the corner of the room and picked up a long sword.

This sword was the one Roland had pulled from under the bed last night when dealing with Anna; it had originally been wrapped in oilcloth.

In the past, Roland would practice swordsmanship with it every day, but after coming to his mentor, he hadn't touched it in a very, very long time.

Drawing the long sword, a cold light flashed on the blade. Roland sighed and said, "Baron Holler originally intended to give this sword to his future son-in-law, but in the third year of my service as his sword-bearing attendant, he gave it to me."

Although Roland's father had always served as the baron's steward, the baron never treated Roland's father as an ordinary steward, but as an important partner.

Roland, as the baron's sword-bearing attendant, held a much higher position than other attendants.

Some people even regarded Roland as the baron's illegitimate son, and the kind that had been accepted by the lord's wife.

Roland had also once suspected this, because the baron and his wife were very good to him, and when living in the castle, the baron's daughter, Alice, always called Roland 'brother'.

Even in front of others, she called Roland 'brother'.

Roland was certain that he was not the baron's illegitimate son, but the sword showed the attitude of the baron's family towards him.

Until Roland's cheap steward father went crazy and ran away, the baron had always treated Roland as if he were an adopted son.

'The Baroness has always been seriously ill, and she was very kind to me. It was because of her earnest pleas that the Baron gave me a chance and didn't send me directly to Mentor Catherine.'

Although Roland ultimately chose to follow Catherine, the Baroness had shown him kindness and favor.

'The Baron has been exploring the Brown Fern Forest for the sake of Baroness Julie's illness, alas.'

Roland sighed deeply. He lamented, "I'm sorry, Baron Holler, I'm sorry, Baroness. I can't go to the Brown Fern Forest to help the Baron heal you; I don't have the ability to return alive from there."

Although the 'Roland' inside Roland's body was no longer the Roland of the past.

But this was a parallel world, and the former Roland and the current Roland were actually the same person.

Therefore, he could deeply understand his past experiences and emotions. So, he felt a great sense of guilt towards the Baroness.

The Baroness's illness not only required the Holy Grail but also a type of tree found deep within the Fern Forest. According to the Baron's previous statement, he needed to transplant a branch back and have the Holy Grail continuously irrigate it like a fountain for the tree to grow a magic potion that could cure the Baroness's illness.

Roland could indeed use Polymorph, but even if he desperately consumed Mermaid Fruit to restore his magic power, he couldn't replace the Holy Grail's function.

So, unless he went to the Brown Fern Forest to retrieve the real Holy Grail, he was powerless to do anything about it.

Shaking his head, Roland put the matter aside. He fastened the long sword to his waist and walked out of the room.

The mentor was standing in the woods, flipping through a magic book.

The mentor didn't seem to be planning to pack her luggage, and Roland felt a little puzzled.

But he didn't ask much. He just asked about Anna's situation: "Mentor, isn't Anna coming with us? When you came back this morning, I saw her in the woods."

"Don't worry about her." The mentor said, looking at the magic book without raising her head. She seemed to be reviewing a certain spell.

With the mentor's personality, she would always take revenge on the spot and vent her anger immediately. She might let Roland off the hook for the time being because she couldn't find a reason to punish him, but she must have already dealt with Anna.

Roland looked at the spatial items the mentor was carrying and suspected that Anna might be hiding in one of them, covering her buttocks and crying.

At this moment, the mentor reached out her hand and chanted a spell towards the small house in the distance: "Alagatha... Patchi Kui!"

As Catherine chanted the spell, she made a paper-folding motion.

With just this fold, the small house dozens of meters away, along with the surrounding yard, was folded up like paper and held in her hand!

After playing with the folded paper in her hand for a while, Catherine put the small house into the small purse at her waist.

Roland, who witnessed all of this, showed a shocked expression, and then his face became very ugly.

This kind of method... Even ten of me couldn't beat her!

Roland was deeply shocked and thought to himself, "Is the difference in strength between a low-level apprentice and a high-level apprentice so great?"

He obviously had a serious misunderstanding of the strength of a normal high-level apprentice.

Catherine was indeed only at the level of a high-level apprentice, but this high-level apprentice... Not to mention her collection of rare and even precious items, even without any equipment, ordinary formal wizards were no match for her.

"Put your luggage in the bag." The mentor threw her small purse to Roland and then went down the mountain without looking back.

Roland hurriedly caught the purse thrown in mid-air and studied it suspiciously.

"How do I use this thing?" Roland stroked the purse and found that the surface was very smooth and delicate, like a layer of scales, like snakeskin.

At this moment, Roland suddenly saw the zipper of the purse slowly opening by itself, and then slowly opening towards Roland.

A palpitating feeling flashed through Roland's heart, and he subconsciously turned his head away.

In an instant, a strange and huge tongue protruded from the purse and stuck to the travel bag on Roland's back. Almost instantly, Roland felt the enormous force from the tongue pulling on the backpack on his back.

He was so frightened that he quickly put down the large backpack on his shoulders and then watched helplessly as the backpack was swallowed by the purse in his hand.

The mentor's voice came from the woods in front: "Forgot to say, don't stroke 'Little Jimmy's' scales in the opposite direction—also, remember to zip up its mouth."

Roland's face suddenly became very ugly.

This woman must have deliberately not reminded me!

He didn't dare to say much, hurriedly zipped up the purse, ran to the mentor's side, and returned the purse to her.

The mentor didn't seem to insist that Roland keep the purse. She smiled, took the purse, and gave Roland a meaningful look before leading the way.

Roland secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but after walking for a while, Roland inexplicably heard a "rustling" sound from his waist.

"Mentor, how did your purse get here?" Roland carefully picked up the purse at his waist, his face very ugly.

Mentor Catherine turned her head back, pretending to be surprised, and said, "Oh? Really? Oh... it really ran to you. It seems Little Jimmy likes you."

Roland looked at the mentor suspiciously, his eyes seemed to be saying—stop it, senior! I know you did it! Even if you didn't use magic, you made it follow me!

"Roland, your eyes lack the respect a mentor deserves." The mentor narrowed her eyes slightly. "With my status, do you think I would play such childish jokes with you?"

"Cough, no, it ran over by itself." Roland turned his head away, avoiding the mentor's gaze. "Little Jimmy likes me."

The mentor sneered, "Heh heh... It seems you don't believe my words—you can throw it away; perhaps as long as you run a hundred kilometers within thirty breaths, it won't come back to your side."

After saying that, the mentor twisted her waist and happily went down the mountain.

Roland's face became very ugly.

The mentor's words just now were very clear—Roland could not get rid of this purse.

No, this is not a purse, this is a shackle!

I just terminated the slave contract with her, and she gave me a pair of shackles to wear!

'Roland, ah, Roland, you are too young!' Roland regretted endlessly: 'She is so afraid of me leaving, there must be a reason. When you were in the house just now, you actually believed her and thought she was a good person!'

Roland followed the female mentor despondently.

Catherine walked ahead, twisting her hips. She was in a very good mood today and even began to hum the recently popular folk song "The Cat Wizard."

The ballad was about how an evil cat wizard lures people to his hut and then does strange things to the victims.

Roland was the victim—in the ballad woven by the townspeople, the victim's name was Roland.