Hollow Knight: Hallownest

"Quiruo, you must be exhausted during this period."

Monomon sat on a stool in the laboratory, stretched out a tentacle to rub his brow, and looked at Quirrell not far away with a smile.

"Compared to the workload of teachers, my workload is nothing."

Quirrel waved his hand. It is true that he had supervised Wum for a period of time before, but the stability of the experiment was already very high at that time. In other words, anyone with a little strength could do his job.

Of course, the premise is that you cannot take the initiative to provoke Wum.

"Alas, teacher knows that keeping you in the archives for this period of time will make you feel uncomfortable, but there is nothing we can do..."

"Teacher, you are teasing me with this again."

Quirrel looked helplessly at Monomon, who was covering his mouth and laughing. He felt that the teacher's childlike innocence had been awakened a little during this period of time.

"Okay, okay, I called you here this time because I have something serious to tell you. Come over to me."

Monomon waved to Quirrel, then extended another tentacle to his mask and removed it.

Quiro paused, his eyes suddenly widened. Monomon had been wearing such a mask since he could remember, and he had never taken it off over the years. Anyway, he had never seen it.

He just stared at the tentacles of Monomon taking off the mask, sliding down little by little, finally!

Quirrell gave up.

"Teacher, how many layers of masks do you wear..."

Monomon sat on the chair and shook the mask in his hand, smiling and shaking his head, with an expression of "I won't tell you".

"Okay, come to me quickly."

Quirrell curled his lips and walked obediently to the side of Monomon. Then he felt a gentle caress on his head. Quirrell looked up and saw that Monomon's tentacles were pulling off the ribbons on her robe and using them to wrap the mask around his head. After finishing, she tied a bow inside and nodded to herself with a satisfied look.

"Come on, come on, let's see how it goes."

The tentacles arched Quiro's back and pushed him to a tank storing acid. Quiro looked at the reflection above the tank. Although the mask was a little big and didn't fit the tank well, when he thought that it was his teacher's mask, the corners of Quiro's mouth curled up unconsciously and he gave a thumbs up.

"nice!"

"Right, teacher, my aesthetic taste is unique, I guarantee you will praise me."

Monomon winked playfully, but Quirrell was puzzled at this time. He took off the mask and held it in his palm. He looked at Monomon in the reflection with a puzzled look and said:

"But teacher, why did you suddenly give me your mask?"

"What? You just said it was beautiful, but now you regret it?"

"No, no, no, I'm just curious. There's nothing wrong with my face."

Monomon looked at Quirrell in the reflection, his eyes filled with kindness, and he answered his question after two or three breaths.

"Quirro."

"Ok?"

“Do you remember what your dream is?”

"Of course, become an explorer who travels the world, a knight!"

Quiruo answered without any hesitation. He had been influenced by the books in the archives since he was a child. The more he knew, the more curious he became about the outside world. This was a seed planted in his heart since his childhood.

Monomon didn't say anything more, and Quirrel reacted at this time, his eyes full of excitement, looking at his teacher in disbelief, and spoke after a while.

"Teacher, do you agree to let me go exploring outside?!"

"Well, you have grown up. I cannot let the archives become a prison to restrict you, nor should I bury your dreams forever in this land. This mask has the power to protect you."

Monomon turned Quirrel around to face him, his expression changing from before to one of seriousness.

"Qui Ruo, you must remember what the teacher said. No matter what happens outside, you must put your own safety first. Do you understand?"

After a few words, Quiro realized that something was wrong, so he looked straight into Monomon's eyes and asked:

"Teacher, why do you sound like you're saying goodbye to me? Are you thinking..."

Hearing Quiro's words, Monomon thought the truth had been revealed and became panicked for a moment, constantly thinking of what excuse he could use to dispel Quiro's suspicion.

"Don't think too much, I..."

"You don't want to sever the master-disciple relationship with me, do you? Sure enough, you still can't bear to part with me, so you want to use this to threaten me to stay in the archives for the rest of my life?"

Quirrel covered his eyes with his hands and pretended to cry. Monomon paused, then breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to explain, he saw Quirrel's slightly raised mouth corners, so he knocked Quirrel's forehead with his tentacles rudely, pretending to be angry.

"You are so bold that you dare to joke with the teacher about this. You have no conscience."

"Oh, it's even, it's even. I was just saying it casually. If you asked me to, I would definitely leave it in the archives. Nothing in the world is as important as you."

Monomon was stunned when he heard this, then he knocked Quiro again, covered his mouth and chuckled, "Who did you learn this slick way of speaking from? I never saw you using this to please the teacher before."

Quiro scratched his head, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed when he thought of what he had just said. Monomon didn't say anything more, but took him all the way out of the laboratory and sent him to the entrance of the Teachers' Archives.

"Teacher, are you so anxious to send me away?"

"You little brat, you're still teasing the teacher. Come back with me. I'll let you out when I'm in a better mood."

Monomon was about to pull Quirrell back, and seeing this, the latter quickly admitted his mistake:

"I'm wrong, teacher. I'm really wrong. How about you hit me twice more?"

Quirrel raised his neck and offered his forehead to him. Monomon released his tentacles and glanced at Quirrel. He couldn't help laughing at his appearance.

"Okay, I'm just talking. Go ahead. If you feel tired, come back and take a rest. The door of the archives is always open for you."

"But don't act like you've disappeared from the world of insects. Send a letter back from time to time. Don't let the teacher worry, okay?"

Hearing this, Quiro looked embarrassed. He had never seen insects in the kingdom delivering mail. He was about to raise his head and say something when Monomon saw through him and waved his tentacles.

"Don't tell me there's no way. If there's no way, then find a way yourself, or I'll go out and catch you back myself."

"...I know, teacher. You are still so domineering."

"Hey! I think you're itching for trouble again!"

Monomon pretended to fight, but Quirrel had already hidden a few steps away, smiling and waving at her.

"Goodbye, teacher! I will come back to see you often!"

Watching Quirrel waving as he ran towards the dense forest, Monomon smiled and raised her tentacles in the air to wave goodbye to him. She watched Quirrel leave like this until his lively and excited back completely disappeared in the greenery. Only then did the long-accumulated tears flow down her face.

"Quiruo, my child, the world is so big, we will meet again."

The mask, wrapped in her power, would inadvertently guide Quirrell, guiding him away from this land, away from this kingdom covered by white power.

Maybe, forever.