The coachman noticed the child in the middle of the road , however , even if he tried to stop the raging horses , the boy was too close , he would be hit anyway .
The coachman didn't do anything , his orders were clear "do not stop no matter what ". He threw a pitiful glance at the unfortunate child before lowering his head .
Two meters, one meters ,….as the coachman was prepared for the impact , nothing happened , no sound , no shaking ,nothing . The carriage crossed the road without any incident .
Curious , the coachman turned to look . The boy was laying on the ground at the safe side of the road .
'Did someone push him ?' That was what the man thought , but he was wrong ,just as the carriage were about to hit the boy , the latter jumped, throwing himself at the side to avoid the deathly hit .
The mother rushed toward her son , and gently helped him up from the ground , then gave him a big hug , her tears have been flowing endlessly , she almost lost her only child today, what a terrible feeling !
Some citizen gathered to comfort her , some were astonished , others said that the child was really lucky , even the boy was confused, his body moved on his own , someone else was controlling it . He tried to explain what really happened to his mother and the others , but no one truly believed him , they thought that it was the instinct . In great danger, one can make movements instinctively .
Perhaps if they had seen the small purple magic circle on the boy's chest , they would have trusted him , unfortunately they didn't , it disappeared the moment the boy jumped .
"That was so frightened"
"This boy is really lucky , regaining his strength at the last second to avoid death , he must be blessed by gods"
"Yeah , fortunately , nothing happened or else those nobles would get furious once again"
The passerby started chatting and discussing, they all sighed in relief , even Jane who after seeing that everything ended well let go of Ellaria .
The little girl was confused , when she saw the gathered people , she hid behind Jane while looking curiously at the crying pair of mother and son , she acted like a curious little girl of her age but in reality she was nervous and agitated , she was the one who casted the purple magic circle .
When she saw the child picking up the toy , she used her mana without much thinking. That was the first time she displayed her magic in public , she usually trains in her space, additionally her profession was supposed to have disappeared years ago , and that make her quite nervous that someone may get suspicions .
Fortunately , no one noticed, but when she used her magic ,she felt someone's else mana around the boy , it seemed that another person wanted to save the child, but the stranger immediately retreated when he detected Ellaria's mana .
In other words , someone in the crowd knew what really happened , thus , she acted like a normal ignorant child , letting the task to find that individual to her second pair of eyes , Fluffy .
[Did you find him?]
[He is on the other side of the road, at the left] Ellaria's remembered the direction that unfamiliar mana came from .
Fluffy looked on the left side of the road, beside the agitated people, no one acted suspiciously, his gaze slowly landed on a dark small alley between two buildings , a person has been leaning quietly at the edge of the wall , the hood covered half of his face , making him impossible to identify .
[How come you are so sure it's that person ?]
[Do you think he had already figured out?!]
<….. If it's really him ,His abilities are not to be underestimated, he may have already found us the moment he detected your mana ,however, a one year old little girl using magic , no one would believe that , perhaps he thinks it was Jane the magic caster >
[Well , at least the boy is safe, let ignore him , if troubles follow, we will act like if we don't know anything]
Ellaria didn't respond, she still felt unsettled , but her emotion didn't show up on her face or actions , she still appears the curious one year old girl she should be .
After bidding farewell to Tania and Uncle Roy, the group had made a stop at some other shops , each time to buy some simple things , at the same time Ellaria would meet new people and visit the city .
The mysterious person from the incident didn't follow them and that made Ellaria relax a bit and fully enjoy the trip .
A whole day passed in town, it was only at sunset that they returned to the orphanage. Curiously, all the light in the house were turned off and no one was outside , it was a complete silent .
'It wasn't time for dinner yet , even less the time to go to bed , so where are all the children ?'
Ellaria noticed that abnormality , but Jane and Sol acted like if everything was expected.
The two girls entered the house with Sol following behind . Ellaria looked strangely at him ,she glanced at the carriage still outside then at Sol with an expression that clearly said 'What's up? Why didn't you unload the carriage ? Did your bladder act up again? Aren't you afraid of being robbed?' the young man just smiled back at her without a word .
They walked silently in the dark corridor , when they arrived before the kitchen , a sweet smell invaded their noises , Jane directly turned on the light , and all the children and adults jumped from their hidden spots , shooting at the same time .
"Happy Birthday~!"
A table full of dishes , one candle lit up on a cake , handmade decoration covered the walls .
They all worked together to make this small party , Granny prepared the dinner , Uncle Dan went early before sun rise to Auntie Tania's bakery to get the cake , the children cut the paper in different forms and shapes to decorate the walls and Jane distracted Ellaria's attention ; a real team work .
Ellaria was at lost of words , as long as she remembered , no one had prepared a birthday party for her before , not even her parent . When she was no more older than ten years old , she believed that any of her birthday wishes would become a reality, thus, she would some times buy a small cake and lit up candles , but as years passed she has started to view that day as any other day of the year , and out of habit, she disregarded it in this new life , however , although they were poor and just came out from a very difficult period , the people in the orphanage didn't ignore it.
Ellaria was happy , a warm feeling overwhelmed her, what she wasn't able to get in her previous life was now just before her eyes, a loving family, friends and a birthday party.
This day would be graved in her memory forever .
The little girl took off her red cap, lifted her small head to face the members of her new family , and smiled sincerely . A beautiful smile that came from the bottom of her heart , her sparkled watery eyes made it even more enchanting, then with her childish voice she said happily "Thanks everyone"
"....."
The room turned silent, all the stares were glued on the little girl face, some seconds passed , and no one said a word, Ellaria started to feel a little awkward in this situation .
"No , no , no" Uncle Dan frowned while shaking his head "That's won't do" with a serious expression ,he approached Ellaria and put both his hands on her shoulders "Ellaria , you definitely mustn't smile like this in public or else disasters would follow"
Everyone present nodded in agreement .
"What nonsense are you talking about ? Ellaria will misunderstand you " Granny took the cake and approached it to the little girl "It's just that our little Ella is so pretty that some people would want to hug her instantly . Now , make a wish , my dear "
Ellaria took some seconds to think then blew on the candle . She has everything that she wanted , family , friends , she enjoyed this simple and humble life, she hoped that it lasts forever.
The party resumed, they talked , joked , laughed , danced, and ate the delicious feast and sweet cake , Ellaria also received a birthday gift .
Before Sol entered the bakery he went to buy the gift, it was a book about the history of the kingdom . Strange gift for a one years old girl , but that was what Ellaria wanted the most and Jane knew it . A book would make her even more happier than receiving a doll .
Ellaria was moved ,she knew that books are not common and mostly sold at high prices , but they still bought it for her . It clearly shows how much they care about her .
Time passed quickly ,it was late , the children must go to sleep . The party ended. While Jane and the others stayed to clean , Granny took care of the kids. There is not enough beds , two must share one , Ellaria sleeps with Tess .
Just after Granny turned off the light and left , Tess stood up , she squatted down to take something underneath the bed .
"What wrong ?" Ellaria looked at Tess confusedly .
"I have something for you " Tess took out a small paper bag and handed it over to Ellaria "Open it , that's my gift "
Inside the bag , there were a necklace , a thin string with sparkled small pearls in the middle , ones were red others pitch black.
"I have made it myself" said Tess pridefully "the black pearls refer to my hair color , the red to yours ,and ....."
Tess took out her necklace from under her clothe and happily showed it to Ellaria "I have the same .... I know that some day we will have to leave the orphanage and be separated, thus, I made those necklaces" Tess took Ellaria's hands then smiled at her "Wherever we are or who we will become in the future , we will always be friends , whenever you feel sad or scared, the necklace is here to remind you that you 're not alone , even if we're not in the same place ,I'm and will always be beside you, and one day I make sure that we will meet again, that's my promise ".
Ellaria smiled back at her "Thank you, Tess, I also promise that I will come to visit you, wherever you would be "
She put on the necklace then looked at the string "Mmh..... Isn't it a little too long?"
Tess' smile twitched "That's expected ,…. I-I wanted it to be long ,so we would be able to put it even if we grow up"
She tried to find an available justification , she wasn't going to admit that she messed up the length, was she ?
When she saw Ellaria nodding in understanding, Tess secretly sighed in relief.
"Let's sleep now, it was a tiring day"
Both girls laid down on the bed and closed their eyes to sleep .
Ellaria entered her space , Fluffy was there waiting for her excitedly.
"Really ? The wait is finally over"
When she said that, Fluffy felt a bit guilty
"I know" Ellaria patted gently his head "I 'm not blaming you , discovering it on my own would be more exited than directly asking you , let see what we have"
Ellaria pushed the first door , it was a normal round shaped room . Beside the several dolls leaning everywhere, there were a desk in the middle of the room , different tools and doll's limbs were placed on it ,and there were various boxes on the ground , she opened one of the boxes near the entrance , a human sized doll was inside it .
The room was filled with different shaped dolls, some have multiple arms , other have blades instead of hands, flexible tails with sharp ends , there were even animals; big cats, snakes, spiders of different size . One would feel like if he entered a dolls' museum .
The second room was filled with bookshelves , Ellaria took a book randomly and looked at the title 'The secret of Archery'.
He tried his best to hide it but a gleam of sadness flashed in his purple eyes . Fluffy wished to see the puppeteer profession being reborn and openly displayed in front of the world, but it was too dangerous , hiding was their only option .
Ellaria didn't know how to comfort him , thus, she just acted like usual and replied calmly" I'll take the swordsmanship "
"I'll do as I can, then I will try to find a teacher in the future" Ellaria was determinated , for her , swordsmen are the coolest .
The next room is a weaponry. Armor, daggers, swords, arrows and bows were hanging on the walls , at the back there were a big sword preserved behind a glass beside it a bow adorned with different patterns ,and on the left side was a long spear . Those are the previous puppeteers personal weapons which never left their sides, they gave off mighty vibes , not everyone is worthy to wield them .
The last room was the treasury . The generous seniors stored some gold , gems and other material , the problem of money was resolved .
Fluffy entered the room and hurriedly opened various boxes , when he found what he was looking for he returned beside Ellaria . He brought an apple sized shiny red crystal .
"What is it ?"
"Is this that simple?I just have to bought mana cores and absorb them ?" Ellaria was startled . In a world where mana is all, having a larger mana pool gave you a great advantage . In fights , it's like a life saving asset .
(The money used in this world is the coin . The copper used by most commoners , the silver and gold used by merchant and nobles . One thousand copper is equivalent to one silver coin , One thousand silver is equivalent to one gold coin . There is also the bank papers ,to avoid bringing several heavy bags of coins, each time they go shopping , nobles leave their coins in a bank which gave them a bank paper of the same value that they deposed , they would go in the bank to retrieve their money whenever they wanted . More efficient and less troublesome)
< Although the process is quite painful , nobles would jump at any red core that appear on the market , they would do anything to increase their descendants power>
"Why is it painful?"
< To absorb it , one must use his own mana to pierce the core shell , then absorb the escaping mana which will rapidly and madly gather in his mana pool ,thus, forcibly enlarging it , that's the painful part >
Ellaria looked at the core in her hands, if Fluffy didn't explain its importance to her, beside its shiny aspect, she would have regarded it as a normal decorative stone .
Fluffy went in the second room and brought out five books then started introducing each book .
Fluffy took another book
Then came the turn of a large book
Fluffy put the last book on the pile
Ellaria didn't mind it , she was used of being overcharged with work in the hospital , in fact, she loves keeping herself busy and doing researches , it give her the feeling of being useful in something .
The little girl took a book with the title 'Swordsmanship first step' and smiled slightly .
"Then , let's begin"