Not long after, a knock came from the front door. Yvette opened the door and poked her head in. Seeing the two people looking at her, she excitedly said, "I'm back. I also brought food! Let's eat, everyone!"
Amidst the clattering of spoons, forks, and bowls, Yvette munched her face into the empty bowl of food, occasionally glancing at Ark. Next to her, Ark was holding his companion's hand and awkwardly pointing. It seemed like he was showing the boy the basics of eating. In return, the boy could only stare at him blankly, then quickly do the operation before Ark helplessly slapped his forehead.
"So Ark, who is this boy?" she asked curiously.
"Ah, um, a companion?" Ark hesitantly answered her with a question.
"I know he's your companion. But, that hair color is exactly like Sylvie said in her letter... could it be, this is your child with your friend Alice—"
"Cough!" Ark choked, looking at her fearfully. He quickly denied Yvette, "No, no, no. I... met him on the way."
"Right? But does he have a name?" Yvette looked at him in confusion.
"Ali—? Al? His name is Al."
Seeing the young man in front of him awkwardly return to his food, Yvette didn't ask any further. During the meal, Yvette comfortably monologued with Ark, chatting about the changes in the village since he went on an adventure with Sylvie, shortening the distance between them after so many years apart. And that's how the meal ended.
After finishing cleaning, Ark said goodbye to Yvette and led the little rabbit back to his house - the house right next to Yvette's. Walking on the rocky village road, Ark pondered. He was now raising a child. No, more precisely, a humanoid rabbit.
While he was busy thinking, Ark did not notice the pair of red eyes staring intently at the face under his hat. His sleeve was tugged slightly, Al called out, "Ark".
Ark unconsciously looked at the small figure beside him. Al continued to speak, "Al" and pointed at himself. Perhaps the little boy had learned a few new words during the meal just now. The little boy continued to point at him, saying, "Ark".
"Yes, I am Ark. And you are Al." Ark patted the little boy's head.
Feeling praised, Al smiled with satisfaction.
Looking at the little boy who was happily skipping around, he forced a smile.
Pushing open the creaking wooden door, they walked down the stone path, past the ancient tree, and onto the road to the right. Ark opened the equally old door. Inside, he was greeted by the house he grew up in.
After finishing the temporary cleaning, hygiene and other things, it was already midnight. Looking at the little rabbit who had fallen asleep on the dining table after waiting, Ark lazily took out the items stored in the cupboard, made the bed and went into the dining room to pick up the little rabbit and put it on the bed. Al would sleep in the room while he would sleep on the sofa in the living room.
Sitting on the sofa, Ark turned his hand over and a medicine box in the air was summoned and fell down. He took a pill out of habit, not noticing that the medicine box was gradually empty. That night, Ark slept without noticing the presence of a strange light in the room. Standing before him, its red eyes glowed, it called out its name, "Archilleous".
The following days, Al was taken to the village school, and Ark began to do the people's commissions.
***
There are four main continents in Threa: the West, North, East and South continents, along with the central continent - which is isolated from the rest of the world, and is also where the God's Hill is located.
The West continent has a total of 8 countries. This place is known as a collection of rich lands and of course, open trade opportunities. Typical among the countries is Ambervale, a dominion country with three colonies including Arvea, the rest are countries: Innesall, Weinheim, Khu'bael...
Ambervale and the dominion countries are all ruled by the nobility, the head of a country is the king, and the kings of Ambervale are ruled by the King. However, due to the lack of a tight power structure, the political situation of Ambervale as well as the dominion countries became chaotic before and after the King was crowned three years ago. But, because of that situation, the Temple quickly took over the task. From then on, both the King and the religion received the trust of the people here.
Al put down his pen, tilted his head to look out the window. And as Ark said, the capital of Arvea where he was staying was Aleph city.
From the first day until now, he had been here for three months.
Al looked at his small hands carefully. In this short period of time, he seemed to have grown up quite quickly compared to his classmates, and was also able to absorb knowledge faster than others. His parents, everyone would often call him a prodigy. However, what he always wondered about was the person who had been living with him for the past few months.
Since "waking up", he had rarely seen that person's face. And now that he had successfully skipped a grade and was given an early summer break, he would always wake up every morning to a simple breakfast on the kitchen table, while the other person had long since left home. And when he returned home, the other person would rarely talk to Al. Every night, they would just sit in separate corners of the room doing their own things. And recently, Ark would lie on the sofa opposite him, poring over the book "Unexpected Father". Sometimes he would turn to look at him awkwardly, bowing and stammering, "You're a good rabbit-boy? I'm proud of you?"
Lately, the dream kept repeating in his mind like when he first woke up. In the dream, he was falling down forever. After a while, the images gradually became sharper. His pink hair fluttered in the wind. His hands were bigger, slender but rough with calluses, scars covered in mud.
He tried to reach a cliff above. But the more he tried, the further the distance became. However, on that place was the figure of a person wearing a cloak with a wide-brimmed, pointed hat looking down at him. In the dream, he saw Ark. And Ark looked at him.
Not being careful, the pen Al was holding in his hand fell to the ground. He bent down to pick up the pen. After placing the pen on the beak, he frowned. Perhaps the truth was more complicated than he thought.
From the first day until now, he still hadn't told him that he had regained a piece of his first memory. That day, he saw his shadow in his dream, his real name: "Archilleous". And the person Alice saw before she died was Ark. And Ark didn't do anything to try to pull her back.
While watching Ark sleep, he whispered the name of someone named Sylvie in his nightmares. And coincidentally, every time Yvette visited Ark, she would occasionally mention Sylvie.
But why didn't this "Sylvie" appear with Ark? Couldn't Ark revive Sylvie? And why didn't Ark do anything when Alice died?
He should be careful. Someone who could be indifferent to death, and easily revive them, was clearly very powerful.
Maybe he should go see Yvette and ask about it. Even if they weren't the same person, at least Yvette would know something about Ark, or even Alice.
***
The same morning.
The city of Aleph was still bustling with trade going in and out of the city like any other day. The city gate from afar appeared like a solid stone fortress, massive with tight security. Although majestic, it was no less warm, welcoming everyone with colorful flags and banners. The city was always bustling with the laughter and trading of the people.
To enter the city, there were two main roads, one side was the road that crossed the vast forest connecting to the villages on the outskirts of Arvea, the other side stretched to Innesall, passing through a rushing stream with a wooden bridge across.
It was currently the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. Under the change of seasons of warm sunshine and cool air, lines of merchants, students and people slowly walked to the road leading to the city. Before reaching the wooden bridge, they encountered a crowd waiting in line. It turned out that yesterday's heavy rain had caused the flood to break the bridge leading to the city. Standing in front of the still-flowing stream, a few dozen people looked at each other and thought: If we take a detour, it will take another day or two, but waiting for the guards to repair the bridge has already taken more than a day. So what should we do with the goods?
In the crowd, three black tips of junior mage hats rustled, whispering:
"It seems like the bridge has collapsed, huh?" a senior with short blond hair spoke up.
"It seems like the bridge has really collapsed, bro," the red-haired boy with freckles on his face replied.
"Should we help them?" The red-haired girl with pigtails on both sides snapped her fingers, as if she had just thought of a good plan.
Seeing the two people's hesitant eyes, knowing that they would definitely refuse, the girl quickly pulled them to the front of the line, explaining as she walked, "Goods, especially fresh goods, can't be sold in just one day. I have to think about those poor merchants. Besides, can't I do this too?"
"No way, Issa, what if we mess up?" Finnian tried to hold on to his cap that was being dragged away, screaming in pain.
"Yeah, yeah, just because we passed Control a few months ago doesn't mean we can do anything with these things in real life," Ryan advised. He scratched his face, looking unconvinced.
"And I got the highest score with the highest accuracy in the grade. Even the teacher let us build a complete treehouse," Isabelle tried to convince them both. Sensing their hesitation, she waved her hand. "Fine, if you guys don't do it, I'll do it myself! And I'll help the guards fix it while doing it, at least it'll be better than waiting for half a day."
Interrupting, she immediately ran forward and shouted for everyone to contact the guards to bring wood and helpers. Knowing her personality, Finnian and Ryan looked at each other, then shrugged, anyway, if they helped Issa, wouldn't they be able to reach Aleph sooner?
When the wood was brought, it floated according to the spells and followed the instructions of the three magicians' wands. A carpenter in the line then went to the position where the wooden boards were placed to hammer in the nails.
After becoming tired from the exhaustion of his mana, Finnian waved to Isabelle that he would sit down and rest for a few minutes under the shade of a large tree nearby.
There was already someone sitting at the base of that tree, but since there was no other place to rest, Finnian had to sit down next to that person. The man looked like a traveler but wore a Wisdom hat, Finnian thought they might be a witch or a wizard like himself. He wore a thick, tattered cloak along with a pair of old, knee-high boots. Next to him was a large basket filled with medicinal leaves that Finnian often changed at his grandmother's house, which seemed to have been recently picked. Seeing the man sitting with his arms crossed, Finnian could only ask permission to sit next to him.
Curiously, he looked over at the man. His features were covered by his hat, his curly black hair was hidden. He blurted out, "Are you a wizard too?"
Seeing the silence, Finian thought to himself that the other party was probably sleeping. Feeling like he had just asked at the wrong time, Finnian felt guilty and went back to rest.
Then, a calm, low voice rang out.
"No… I didn't go to school," the other person said.
"Ah."
In the awkward atmosphere, Finnian continued to speak, "Actually, I'm worried that the bridge won't be completed."
"Why?"
"Because we only have a few months to practice. My friend insisted on helping everyone, so I wanted to help too. Besides, my mana is almost depleted. No one brought a mana potion when they just came back from summer vacation, right?"
"Yes."
"I just hope I don't disappoint everyone. But I really don't know if I can do it," he hesitated, scratching his head.
Isabelle was waiting for him in the distance, the break time was over. He thanked him and ran back to his friends.