Demon Hunter: I have a red gourd

Chapter 6 Life experience
When the first ray of morning sunlight shone into the room, Ivan opened his dark golden eyes.

Everything that happened last night seemed like a dream. He looked down at Tomila, who was still sleeping soundly in his arms. She was so passionate last night, it was unbelievable.

He couldn't help but reach out his hand and gently brushed aside the emerald green hair in front of her forehead, feeling her quiet and warm breath.

Tomila moved slightly in his arms, then slowly opened her eyes.

Her eyes met Ivan's dark golden eyes, which were a little blurry.

"Awake?" Ivan asked in a low voice.

Tomila nodded slightly, leaned lazily against his chest, and closed her eyes again.

"Now that you're leaving here, what are your plans next?"

"I plan to improve my strength first and find a griffin to complete the trial mission of the Griffin School." Ivan gently stroked her smooth back.

"What's next?"

"What's next? I'm going to go home and take a look at my home before I became a witcher."

"Your home before you became a witcher?" Upon hearing this, Tomila straightened up, and the whiteness of the scene made Ivan almost unable to open his eyes.

"You've never told me anything about your family. I thought that becoming a witcher meant abandoning one's family."

"Demon hunters don't have this rule, but the apprentices that the instructors of each school recruit are mostly abandoned babies, homeless beggars, and so on. Naturally, there is no such thing as a family."

"My situation is rather special. I am a 'child of destiny'."

"Child of Destiny?" Tomila's eyes were full of curiosity.

"Yes, have you heard of the 'Law of Surprise'?"

Tomila shook her head.

"The Law of Surprise is a customary law, perhaps as old as the history of mankind itself. It states that if a person in danger swears an oath, willing to pay any price for help, then the person who saves their life can demand payment from the person they saved, according to the Law of Surprise."

"The reward is: the first thing the rescued person sees when he returns home, or something that the rescued person doesn't know about but already has."

"But, in this case, if the first thing the rescued person sees when he returns home is a useless stone or a pile of freshly harvested grain, then wouldn't the person who rescued him be at a loss?" Tomila blinked.

"Yes, but this is fate." Ivan nodded.

"My father was out hunting when he was besieged by monsters and fell into danger. He vowed to be rescued at any cost. My mentor, Cohen, happened to be passing by and rescued him. He then demanded a reward from him according to the 'Law of Accidental'."

"My father agreed without a second thought, and when he returned home, his wife, my mother, told him that she was pregnant."

"And that unborn child is something the rescued person doesn't know about, but already possesses. That's me. Such a child is called the 'Child of Destiny'."

"What are your family conditions like? Would your parents be willing to hand their child over to a stranger?" Tomila couldn't help but get nervous after hearing Ivan's story.

"Of course not. On the contrary, they love me very much."

"Every witcher takes a new name when they leave the academy's castle to venture out, signifying the beginning of a new life."

"Ivan is the new name my teacher and I chose together." "My original name was Christine."

"My father's name is Evel, and he is the king of Verden. My mother's name is Eliza, and she is the queen of Verden."

"What?!" Tomila widened her eyes and screamed in disbelief.

"Weiden? Are you talking about the Kingdom of Weiden north of Cintra? I didn't expect you to be a prince?"

"Yes, but that's all in the past." Ivan smiled. "I'm a demon hunter now. Princes and the like have nothing to do with me anymore."

"Your parents just let the future heir of their country be taken away by a stranger?" Tomila put her face in front of Ivan, her eyes burning with gossip, like a little girl following a TV series.

"No, my father has a very bad temper. When he heard that the reward was his own son, he immediately decided to go back on his word."

"As for my mentor, Cohen, he's actually quite reckless and has no intention of recruiting new apprentices for the school. The Griffin School's headquarters, Kael Siren Castle, was attacked many years ago, and the inheritance was almost cut off. The success rate of the Green Grass Trial is extremely low, and he doesn't want to send other children to their deaths."

"He subconsciously coined the term 'the law of surprise' when he heard my father willingly sacrifice everything for his reward. After all, this is a custom among demon hunters. His teacher had told him about it so many times that it became a conditioned reflex."

"Then why did you become a demon hunter in the end? Something unexpected must have happened along the way, right?"

"Yes. My mentor, Cohen, understands that the 'Law of Surprise', in addition to its legal effects as a contract, also contains the power of fate. If it is forcibly violated, the person whose fate is tied to it is likely to suffer, and it may even affect those around them."

"So, he refused my father's reward. He told my parents that he didn't have to take me to the witcher's castle, but he would come to check on me every few years."

"My parents weren't such stubborn people. After listening to my mentor explain the pros and cons of the 'Law of Accidents,' they were afraid that something might happen to my growth, so they kept the news of my birth a secret. Aside from a few close confidants and ministers, no one else knew they had given birth to a child."

"I grew up smoothly and healthily until I was ten years old. But as expected, an accident happened."

"When I was ten years old, even though my parents protected me well, I still contracted smallpox from somewhere."

"You're a doctor, too. You should know that smallpox is almost incurable. My parents have consulted many doctors, but none of them have been able to help them."

"Just then, my mentor arrived. He told my parents that while there was no potion that could cure a disease like smallpox, the witcher's mutation could."

"As long as I take the herbs, mushrooms, and mosses grown in the Demon Hunter's laboratory, my body will undergo a preliminary mutation. This mutation will give the human body stronger immunity, thereby resisting the invasion of smallpox."

"Although the mortality rate of consuming these things is also very high, I am the 'Child of Destiny' and destined to become a demon hunter, so I will definitely be able to survive these trials. This is fate's arrangement."

"When my father agreed to use the 'Law of Accident' to pay my mentor, a fateful bond was formed between us."

"So, my mentor took me back to the Castle of Caer Sirens to undergo the witcher trials. After six years of study, I finally graduated and left to train on my own. This is my entire story."

"You must have suffered a lot over the years." Tomila stroked Ivan's temples with heartache.

But then, she seemed to think of something and her cheeks turned red.

"Wait, are you saying you're only 16? I thought you were in your twenties?"

"Oh my God, what have I done to a child who is so much younger than me?"

(End of this chapter)