Chapter 22: A Village Filled With Light

The streets of Lunaris buzzed with life.

A warm breeze drifted through the narrow lanes, stirring the colorful flower boxes beneath the windows.

The scent of freshly baked bread lingered in the air.

Children raced laughing across the village square.

And right in the middle of it all...

...Lyra suddenly sprinted off.

"Don't move!"

Rowan blinked.

"...What?"

Several meters away, Lyra dropped onto a small wooden crate and immediately opened her diary.

Her pen flew across the page.

Again and again, her eyes darted between the houses...

...the villagers...

...and the marketplace.

Rowan let out a long sigh.

Then he followed after her.

"Little lady..."

No response.

Only the steady scratching of her pen.

When he finally caught up, he gently rested a hand on her shoulder.

"If you wander off like this..."

"...we're going to lose you."

Lyra finally looked up.

"You weren't supposed to move."

For a moment, Rowan simply stared at her.

Then he shook his head with an amused smile.

"You're unbelievably exhausting."

"Thank you."

Without another word, Rowan lightly guided her back toward the others while she continued writing as though nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Kaien walked quietly beside Yun Yun.

Almost without thinking...

...his hand drifted toward hers.

Before he could reach it...

...Yun Yun had already taken it.

Kaien blinked.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

She didn't seem to notice.

Or perhaps...

...she simply pretended not to.

Her crimson eyes sparkled beneath the morning sun as she looked around Lunaris with childlike wonder.

Everything fascinated her.

The houses.

The people.

The tiny shops.

The laughter echoing through the streets.

Kaien found himself watching her for a moment.

Then...

...his gaze slowly wandered to the village around them.

He wasn't just seeing shapes.

He noticed the details.

A little boy struggling to carry a wooden crate while his father smiled patiently beside him.

An elderly woman humming softly as she watered the flowers outside her home.

Two merchants passionately arguing over the price of apples.

Ordinary life.

Something that still felt strangely unfamiliar.

Before long, Rowan returned with Lyra.

She was still writing.

Of course she was.

Rowan folded his arms.

"So..."

His eyes moved from one child to the next.

"Do any of you know what you want to do from here?"

Yun Yun blinked.

Lyra continued writing without even looking up.

Kaien remained silent, thinking.

Rowan smiled faintly.

"And more importantly..."

His gaze settled on Kaien.

"What can you actually do?"

Kaien hesitated.

Then he answered honestly.

"...Not much."

His gaze drifted downward.

"I've only practiced with a wooden sword."

Rowan gave a small nod.

"And sometimes with a dagger."

A broad grin spread across Rowan's face.

"Then you're in luck."

Kaien looked up.

Rowan tapped the sword at his hip.

"Swordsmanship happens to be my specialty."

Real interest appeared in Kaien's eyes.

Not sorrow.

Not emptiness.

Curiosity.

Rowan noticed immediately.

His smile widened ever so slightly.

Then he turned to Yun Yun.

"Little lady."

She immediately looked up.

"Even if I think you'd make a far better mage..."

He folded his arms.

"...I can still teach you and your sister how to defend yourselves."

Yun Yun's face brightened at once.

She gave him a deep bow.

"Thank you very much!"

Lyra never even looked up from her diary.

"No, thank you."

Rowan blinked.

"...No?"

"I'd rather write than fight."

For a moment, Rowan simply stared at her.

Then he shook his head with an amused smile.

"You're one of a kind."

Lyra continued writing as though the conversation had never happened.

"Probably."

Together, the four wandered through Lunaris.

As they walked, Rowan showed them around the village.

He pointed out the bustling marketplace...

...the workshops where the local craftsmen lived and worked...

...the inns where travelers usually stayed...

...and the roads leading toward the surrounding forests.

Everywhere they went, villagers greeted Rowan with warm smiles and friendly waves.

And each time...

...the children found themselves a little more surprised.

A butcher waved enthusiastically from across the street.

"ROWAN!"

An elderly florist looked up from her flowers and smiled.

"And you still owe me three silver coins!"

Rowan placed a hand over his heart.

"I prefer to think of it as a long-term investment."

The old woman shook her head, laughing.

Even a group of children came running over to greet him.

Lyra quietly watched the scene unfold.

After a while, she finally spoke.

"You're surprisingly popular."

Rowan scratched the back of his neck.

"Well..."

He looked faintly embarrassed.

"A few weeks ago, we had a pickpocket causing trouble."

Yun Yun immediately looked interested.

"He kept stealing from people at the market."

Kaien tilted his head slightly.

"So you caught him?"

Rowan couldn't hide a satisfied grin.

"I pulled him right off the rooftops."

Without missing a beat, Lyra opened her diary.

Scratch... Scratch...

Rowan chased a pickpocket across the rooftops of Lunaris.

Rowan glanced at the page and let out a quiet chuckle.

"At this rate..."

"...you're going to know my entire life story."

"Probably."

Rowan only smiled.

Then his gaze drifted toward an elderly woman struggling with two heavy baskets.

"I help out around the village whenever I can."

He nodded toward her.

"Lunaris isn't a very big place."

"When you help people..."

"...they remember."

Yun Yun slowly looked around.

Children laughing.

Neighbors chatting.

People greeting one another by name.

Her smile gradually faded.

"...We never had anything like this in Asterveil."

Kaien noticed the sadness in her voice.

Without saying a word...

...he gently squeezed her hand.

Yun Yun looked at him in surprise.

He never looked away from the street.

He didn't need to.

A small smile quietly returned to Yun Yun's face.

As the sun slowly dipped toward the horizon...

...golden light washed over the streets of Lunaris.

Before long, the four of them returned to the inn.

Later that evening...

...Kaien, Yun Yun, and Lyra settled once more into their small room.

The window stood slightly open.

Outside, crickets sang softly in the evening air.

Yun Yun lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.

Lyra was, as always, writing in her diary.

Kaien sat quietly beside the window.

The silence between them remained.

But it had changed.

It no longer felt heavy.

Or cold.

Only quiet.

After a while, Yun Yun turned her head toward Lyra.

"Do you really write down everything?"

Without looking up, Lyra answered,

"Of course."

"...Why?"

Lyra's pen stopped moving.

Silence.

Several long seconds passed.

Then she answered quietly.

"...Because I'm afraid of forgetting."

No one spoke.

Kaien slowly turned away from the window.

Lyra lowered her eyes to the page once more.

"If I write things down..."

"...then even if I lose them someday..."

"...a part of them will still exist."

Silence settled over the room once again.

Yun Yun couldn't think of a single reply.

Kaien understood.

More than he wished he did.

Outside, the evening breeze stirred the curtains.

The crickets kept singing.

And as Lunaris slowly drifted to sleep...

...the three children fell asleep believing...

...that perhaps...

...they truly had a future ahead of them.