I felt well rested after waking up the next morning—the sun still hung low in the horizon.
The plans for today had already been made.
I should let her sleep a bit more, she should be well-rested... I thought, looking at Mim who snored in the bed next to me.
She still sleeps a lot, but I don't think it has worsened anymore...
And I need to find a way to stop the curse on her, from spreading further... she has around five years left, so I've got a bit more time—I hope he knows more about this...
Even when I stayed in bed, sleep didn't take me in any longer, forcing me to get up, and get some breakfast, before I went back to my room again.
As I opened the door Mim lay with her eyes open, staring at the roof, waiting for me.
"Brother where did you go?" She sat straight up after hearing the creaking of the door.
"Uh... I went to eat breakfast?" I shifted my eyes away from her.
Her mouth fell open as she lifted her finger, and pointed it at me,
"Why did you not wake me up!? You normally would!"
"You were still asleep... and you don't like it when I wake you up—right?"
"Uhm... maybe" Her finger started to lower.
"And I have plans for later, so I wanted you well-rested of course!" I smiled, lifting my thumbs up.
"Oh thank you... What are we going to do~!?" A smile had taken her face over now.
"The man from yesterday wanted to talk about something..." I sat next to her, and twisted my head towards her,
"I should hear you out first."
"Huh? About what?" She tilted her head, while meeting my eyes.
I twisted my entire body open to her, leaning on my right hand,
"Okay, do you remember the man from yesterday?"
"Yes, the nice man that paid for our food?"
"Exactly, that guy—he wanted to talk about something with me. It was something important, to us especially." I had to take a deep breath, swallowing before I could get the next words out,
"He wants to take us in—he'll take care of us and everything that comes with it—as if we're his own children..." My eyes trembled as I kept them locked onto Mim.
"W-why?" Her eyes narrowed.
I bit on my lip, and said,
"He wants me to go to a knight's academy in his name, representing his house."
"Is that the only reason why?"
"Yes, it is." I had closed my eyes after I said it.
I couldn't see Mim's face as she said,
"So they will be our new parents?..."
"That's great, right?!"
Why is she this calm... she still remembers our parents—did she just forget their death?
No... otherwise she wouldn't take someone else being our parents this easy. I felt the light taste of iron as I passed my tongue across my lower lip.
"Yes, it really is—they will even send you to school if you want to!"
"School? What is that?"
"A place where you learn stuff, like reading, and uhh... everything else!" I didn't know anyone who had ever gone to school.
"Will you come with me?" Her lips started to curl, while looking at me with her big eyes.
"...No, sorry I don't think I can." I shifted my eyes to the side.
"Then I'm not going! I want to stay with you!!" She crossed her arms, while full on pouting.
"Okay... it's your choice." I just smiled at her.
I need to help her...
I caught a glimpse of the sun already passing over our heads,
"I think we need to leave now, do you want to come with me?"
"Yes! I am coming~!"
"Okay, okay—eat something, and then we'll go!"
We are leaving later than I had hoped...
I looked at the note he gave me, it seemed to be a minuscule map of the city, showing just the roads we had to take reaching him along the city's edge, near the southern gate.
It was quite far, at least an hour walk. I looked down to my left as we walked down the streets.
"Mim, if you're tired you should just say so, okay?"
"Okayy, but I won't get tired, I'm really strong—just like you!" She hit me with her light fist.
After we walked past the halfway mark, I noticed that our pace had collapsed.
She couldn't keep up with the pace I was pulling her along with.
"Mim, can I lift you?"
"No, no. You don't... have t-o." She huffed with each step, sinking into the road.
I followed her pace while holding my chin,
"I know how strong you are, but I want to lift you."
She stood still, smiling as she met my eyes,
"...Okayy~! Because you want to!" She showed me her thumb.
As I lifted her onto my shoulders, I could hear some soft giggling from above.
Let's not say anything...
I continued to walk with Mim tapping my head with each step we took, until a big iron held us back. The place Edward wanted to meet at was behind this place.
I looked around us, and between the fences,
Where are we? How can we reach Edward?
Two guards stood in front of the decorated gate on our right, I walked over to them,
"Good afternoon guards, would it be possible to enter?"
"No, you should leave," they said, while looking down at me.
"But I need to meet up with someone." I showed them the note I held.
"There is no one for you to meet here." They looked past the note
"No really look..." I waved the note in front of their gazes.
"Sorry kid, it was probably a joke—this is someone's residence."
He didn't seem like the guy to joke around.
"No really—it couldn't have been a joke."
"You need to leave. We don't want to, but if you continue we might need to be a bit more forceful." They tapped the spears they held against the ground.
"..."
"But it was Edw—"
"Sorry guards, they are the lord's visitors." A man appeared who wore a white shirt underneath his black coat.
"Sir!" The guards stood upright as the man appeared, holding their hands sideways against their foreheads.
"Tjer and Mim right? My name is Albert, nice to meet you kids."
"Please follow me inside, the master is waiting for you."
"Nice to meet you, Albert."
Master? Is that Edward?
I looked up at Mim who stuck her tongue out at the guards, their jaws trembled while keeping a straight face.
I followed Albert inside, lowering Mim as we walked towards the building that stood between the trees and yard in front of it.
It was a big building, a building big enough to fit thousands of rooms inside.
The entire walkway had been empty of people, with the only people here being the guards, and the man that led us.
We had walked over the unending walkway, and entered the building.
We were met by bright white space, with white floors bright enough to reflect our faces on them.
In front of us there were two stairs leading to the same floor, and a vase that held flowers in the middle of them.
We followed Albert, and we entered the room on our left.
As soon as we entered we were met by a man sitting on the couch in front of us, seeing his side view was enough.
"Good afternoon, Edward." I lowered my head as I greeted him.
Mim's who stared at me moved her head towards Edward,
"Good afternoon, Edward."
"Ahem..." Albert had taken his fist to his mouth, coughing after hearing her.
"Hahaha, good afternoon as well—Tjer, and Mim." He waved his hands to us before he continued,
"You have taken the offer—am I right in my assumption?"
"Yes you are—please take us in with care, sir." I bowed down, and glanced over to Mim.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of both of you like my own children." He smiled while glancing into both of our eyes.
"And I'm not alone of course. My wife has baked some cookies for the two of you, so wait for a little while longer."
"Cookies?" My head tilted.
He looked up after I asked him,
"Uhm... I guess you are unfamiliar with them. They are sweets from the country that we live in." He looked over at the both of us, and pointed in front of him,
"Please both of you sit down on the couch."
While both of us walked to the couch opposite of him, I saw Albert still standing behind Edward—on the same spot.
"You don't live here then?" Mim and I looked around the room as we plopped onto the couch.
He smiled as he moved forward,
"No, we come from humanity's most important country—humanity's heart."
"The central kingdom, Kardiotza"
"Humanity's heart?" Both Mim and I tilted our heads to our left simultaneously.
"Exactly as it sounds."
"The heart, the one in the midst of mankind."