There were many guards clad in white armor patrolling the square. They were well-organized and they were holding long spears in their hands.
In the center of the square, there was a bronze mermaid statue standing there quietly. The mermaid was covered with a large piece of silky cloth. It had the body of a woman and the tail of a fish. Clean water was coming out of the small vase in her hands. The water dropped to the pool under the statues and splashed slightly.
The square was surrounded by shops with bronze signs and dark brown curtains. There were many people entering and leaving those shops, most of them were mercenaries wearing green and black outfits.
Their genders varied, but all them had scars on their bodies. They were battlefield experts.
There were also some apprentices and wizards entering the square in their carriages.
On the opposite side of the main gate, Angele saw a tall, large building that looked like a library.
The walls of the building were painted in yellow and there were three towers on top of the building. On the tips of the towers, there were small statues of different animals: the eagle, the lion, and the scorpion.
In front of the building, there was a long staircase with almost one hundred stairs. Many people were walking up and down on the stairs.
"That’s the government’s city hall of the Mermaid’s Song. The animal statues on the top represent three different departments and schools. The eagle represents the Eagle Eye School, the lion represents the War School, and the scorpion represents the Scholar’s Tower or Spell Tower. These are the major stakeholders in the Mermaid’s Song and they have access to all the resources," Cruise explained.
"Where do we belong to then?" Angele was not interested.
"Of course we belong to the Scholar’s Tower… the symbol is a scorpion, doesn’t it remind you of something?" Cruise shook his head.
"The Scholar’s Tower is related to my mother?" Angele was a bit surprised.
"That’s correct. It’s not only related to your mother but also your mother’s teachers. We might be working here for the next several decades."
"That’s way too long…" Angele pursed his lips. The carriage stopped, and he opened the door and jumped off it quickly.
Cruise followed after him, they headed directly to the city hall on the side.
**************************
The life in the Mermaid’s Song was not what he expected.
He did not need to stay in the department all day. Angele went to the Mermaid’s Song to check all the documents at the beginning of the month but he did not meet a lot of people. He decided to return to the mansion and enter the Nightmare Realm to check the situation of the two kids after all the documents were completed.
The mansion was still attacked by different mutated creatures from time to time. Angele noticed the level of those creatures was increasing and he sometimes had to fight them himself. The defense system was still holding up and the mansion was not damaged.
The studying progress of the enchantment and magic circles was slow. The biochip could help him store the information and take care of the calculations, but he still needed to learn the theory by himself.
The difficulty of the subjects was on a whole different level, it was nothing like the knowledge he learned when he was still a rank 1 wizard.
He did not spend a lot of time with the Phoenix and the shadow mercenary. The bird was too weak and he was still having trouble controlling its behavior, so Angele would only summon it when he was in the Nightmare Realm. The shadow mercenary was locked inside a room of the mansion, he had not yet found a way to test its strength.
Angele spent most of his time studying in the mansion and he attended several parties held by his colleagues in the human resources department. He also communicated with Mincola, Reyline, Stigma, and Hikari using the communication rune and the signal obelisks.
Angele knew that rare resources would not help him progress after he reached rank 2. He needed to learn the magic circle engravings to progress. That was also the reason why the highest rank on the west coast was rank 2.
He tried to construct the required magic circles using the mentality every day but the progress was slow.
Angele spent all his time working in the mansion, the Nightmare Realm, and the Mermaid’s Song. It was a peaceful life and everything was going as planned. His goal was clear and he was patient with the progression.
Time flew, and ten years passed in the blink of an eye…
************************************
In the Nightmare Realm.
*Clank*
Fire sparks splashed between Frey and Freia.
The two took several steps back and looked at each other.
The golden sunlight of the early morning shined on their bodies.
Frey already looked like a grown man with a handsome face. Short black hair, tanned skin, and white armor, the young man looked like an experienced fighter with the silver greatsword in his hand.
*CHI CHI*
He swung the greatsword several times in the air and it looked like he could use the sword easily with just one hand.
"Alright, let’s stop here, Freia." He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The girl at the opposite side nodded slightly with a thin sword in her hand. She was wearing a ponytail and her skin was a bit translucent, the blue veins easily visible on her arms. The girl had a balanced body and a cute face, it looked like she was full of energy.
Freia was also wearing a female version of the white armor. The edges were decorated, the waist was a bit tight, and the chest area was loosened.
"You’re improving." Frey chuckled. He walked to the weapon shelf and inserted the greatsword into an empty slot. "Did Green teach you some special techniques?"
"No. I heard Green was trying to craft a unique potion. Do you remember the snakes that attacked our garden? Green made one into a potion and asked me to drink it. Now, I feel that I’m full of energy and that’s why I practice a lot more often recently. Also, that’s why you think I’m improving." Freia returned her weapon to the shelf as well. "Frey, when will you let me help you fight against the monsters around the garden? I think I can easily fight them off."
The girl clenched her fist tightly and looked at Frey. "I blocked all your attacks in the last twenty minutes." The two teenagers decided to call the mansion ‘garden’. They had been living in the shelter for more than ten years and the place was like a garden from the tales to them.
"I’m not the one who makes the decisions here. You need to ask Green. Why don’t you just stay in the garden and live a peaceful life?" Frey looked Freia in the eyes.
"It’s getting boring… I want to explore the world and see the changes myself… just like you…" Freia had stayed in the mansion for so long that she forgot how dangerous this world was.
"Anyway, why Green doesn’t age at all? He looks exactly like the day we first met… It’s a bit strange, don’t you think?" she lowered her voice and asked.
Frey shook his head. "I don’t know… Maybe he has a special potion or something…" he was also curious.
"Let’s go to the reading room. He should be back by now." Freia dragged her brother to the main building.
They walked down the hallway, entered the living room, and went upstairs.
Freia knocked on the door carefully.
*Knock Knock Knock*
"Green, are you there?"
"Yeah, come in, you two." Angele’s voice came from the reading room.
*Crack*
The door started opening by itself.
Freia pushed the door open and dragged her brother inside.
A young man with long brown hair was sitting at a table between shelves full of heavy books. There was a gentle smile on the man’s face.
"What happened? You want something?" Angele put down the quill and put a small silver scorpion on the leather scroll.
"Green, I want to help eliminate the monsters around the garden, can I go with my brother?" Freia walked to Angele and grabbed his right arm. There was a cute smile on her face.
Angele scrunched his brow.
He understood that Freia was just bored. She had stayed in the same place for ten years and most of the time she was just waiting for his brother to come back.
Angele tried to spend more time with the girl when he asked Frey to eliminate the weaker monsters.
He treated the two children like his own during all those years. Freia was a cute girl and he told her many things about the realm.
They lived as a family of three in the last ten years and Angele felt relaxed when the two kids were around him. He was the only person in this world the two kids would rely on. He could feel the warmth in his mind just by looking at them. The two kids trusted him so much that they would not question any of his decisions.
"Come here, girl." Angele patted Freia’s head and dragged her to him. "This world is dangerous. Your brother is much stronger than you. I’ll let you help eliminate the monsters if you can win Frey in a sword fight, what do you think?" Angele smiled and rubbed Freia’s cheeks.
"What?! No way… I can never win my brother in a sword fight…" Freia rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "Hmm… Green, can you give me something that will protect me from those monsters?"
Green was a mysterious person in Frey and Freia’s eyes. The man knew everything and he did not age at all. He also told them so many things about the world that they had never heard of. He would pat their heads every time he saw them.
The man’s hand was warm and gentle, Freia enjoyed every moment she spent with Green.
"There’ll be nothing I can do for you if you can’t win the fight against your brother." Angele shrugged and chuckled. "Remember those seeds I asked you to plant in the… real garden?"
"Of course." Freia nodded several times. She stared at Angele in the eyes, it seemed like she still had hope.
"I’ll let you leave the mansion when the flowers blossom." Angele nodded slightly.
"Promise?"
"Yeah." Angele rubbed her cheeks again. "Alright, go play with Phoenix. I still have some research to finish."
"Sure." Freia nodded and ran to a bookshelf on the left. She quickly dragged a red bird with a long tail out of the shadow. The bird struggled several times and tried to escape but Freia quickly grabbed its neck.
"Phoenix, don’t even try to hide from me!" Freia dragged Phoenix out of the reading room. Phoenix left a trail of glowing red dots on the floor.
Frey sighed and closed the door after his sister left.
"Green, are you really going to left Freia leave?" he looked worried.
"Maybe…" Angele did not answer the question directly, "If the flower actually blossoms…" It was a sunflower that would not blossom in at least one thousand years...
"You’re talented, Frey. Your father would be proud of you. The training started several years ago and you’re almost at the same level as your father." Angele stood up and looked at Frey.
Ten years ago, Frey was short and thin, he could barely reach Angele’s shoulders. However, he had become an experienced hunter after all the hard training he went through.
"Do you want to explore the world?" Angele knew what Frey was thinking.
"I want to find the people who survived the unfortunate event. We’d be dead if we didn’t meet you. I can’t be so selfish. I believe there are people in the cities or forests. They are waiting for someone to help them." Angele could see the dedication in the boy’s eyes.
Angele knew that Frey was serious. There was something dancing in the boy’s eyes, it looked like a bright flame of hope.
"I should be the one to save them!" Frey spoke his wish out loudly. He kept the plan in mind for years.
The two remained silent after Frey finished his words.
Several minutes later.
"Alright, I understand." Angele closed his eyes. "But, your sister…"
"Green, please take care of my sister!" Frey took two steps back.
*PA*
He suddenly kneeled.
*BAM BAM BAM*
He hit the floor with the right fist hard for three times. It was his way to show respect.
"I’ll be back," Frey raised his head and spoke in a serious tone.
Angele looked at him quietly. The boy looked exactly like the Todd he met years ago.
Frey stood up, bowed to Angele deeply, and left the room.
Angele watched Frey leave. He knew that it was not an easy decision for the boy to make, but it might be a decision that would change his life forever.
Todd was a hunter from the church. The Colin hunters represented the spirit of the Iicolin church. The Colin hunters were brave and unselfish, Frey probably learned that spirit from his father a long time ago.
Angele was a wizard and he would do anything to accomplish his goals.
He sat down again.
Angele thought for a while and grabbed the quill.
"Well, it’s not easy to be a father…" he sighed with mixed emotions. Angele leaned against the window and peeked outside. Phoenix was watching Freia watering the thousand-year sunflower seed.
The bright sunlight illuminated Freia’s white armor, creating a colorful glint.