"Avina?" Falti was astonished that Athelei decided on such a thing.
Normally, one would expect someone to take the young kid under their wing, but Mist Pine had practically been annihilated, with a staggering percentage of its population sent to the afterlife. The survivors had lost everything and whatever they had now had been salvaged from the ruins.
Taking care of a child would be difficult, and it was something that they felt the knights would have done.
But for some reason, the knights hadn't taken the boy in as a squire or a recruit.
Athelei felt the same confusion at first. He knew how ill-informed he was and how easy it would be for him to be exposed to danger. He even tried to think of what would happen if he was truly a regular human child:
Going to Avina by his lonesome would most likely lead to a tragic end.
He could die at the hands of other humans.
He could die at the hands of nature.
Or he could be slain by monsters on his way.
Athelei knew he had nought a single ability to keep himself alive in the face of danger... at least until he factored in his Nightwalker ability and most especially, the scroll that Thallium Yan had given him.
'She thinks I'm somehow blessed.' Athelei thought to himself when he read through the contents of the scroll, 'But am I really?'
It was hard to tell.
After all, he was being left alone due to the judgement of a human's perception. And Athelei was not truly a natural human. His actions would be different from that of the regular child.
It was difficult to do as children do without the guidance of an adult, and thus, Athelei had to abandon such luxuries. He was alone, and thus he had to 'mature.' Meaning, he was going to be weighing his decisions himself from now on.
'Perhaps other orphaned children would have to adopt a similar behaviour whether they would like it or not.' Athelei made a conjecture, 'It makes sense, given how they've lost their pillars. It's either they find another pillar to be dependent on, or figure out something on their own.'
'And because of the way Thallium Yan sees me, I am put on the path of the independent. Whether I walk down that path is up to me, and with this gift of hers, my Nightwalker status, and the fact that I have an inhuman consciousness, it should be much easier for me to do so when compared to other children my age.'
Athelei recalled what he had learned when he skimmed through the scroll he was gifted:
It informed him of the basics of the Mystical. From it, he swiftly connected such phenomena to the abilities of the priests. After all, they were pretty famous for what they could do by simply drawing symbols in the air.
It turned out that those symbols were officially dubbed, Mystical Patterns.
And the scroll had supplied Athelei with three of those Mystical Patterns for him to learn and study:
The first was called, Hunter, and it was derived from Sagittarius' Zodiac sign. The Mystic Pattern for it vaguely looked to be a bow and knife making an X against each other. It was a combat-stimulating ability from what Athelei first noticed. Speed and strength were its bread and butter.
The second was called, Guide. It was a Mystic Pattern from the Church of Libra, and it was used in decision making. It would weigh one's options and aid in leading the caster to what they desired most at the point of their casting. It was akin to a certain pirate captain's compass.
And the third was called, Sway. It was a Mystic Pattern from Virgo's Monasteries and was basically a charming ability. This ability was the simplest of the three, with the symbol vaguely being a four-petalled flower. Its effects drew its strength in conversation. It basically helped the speaker, speak. As for its more intricate effects? It varied from caster to caster.
These three Mystic Patterns were simple yet versatile. It boosted Athelei's confidence and aided him in minimizing his weaknesses as a human child.
And so, he replied to Falti with that same boosted confidence.
"Yep. I'm going to Avina. I already talked about it with sir knight and they prepared help for me!" Athelei made a pose that exemplified his trust in himself and grinned, "Plus, Avina is still a long way off, right? I want to learn as much as I can while we travel. My sister once told me that information and knowledge is a human's best weapon!"
Falti definitely saw how sure Athelei was of his decision but he couldn't help but glance at the other survivors who were older than him. They simply smiled and shrugged, as one of them said,
"We all went through the same hardships, and even if he's the youngest of us, he made it through too. Libra has blessed the boy and the knight captain surely noticed this as well." Clearly, the adults had seen a similar thing before, "Hadn't your parents told you about the stories of The Blessed?"
Hearing this, Falti realised what the survivor meant.
Across the Holy Nation of Illyas, there had been several occasions where children were asked to decide on something crucial. Despite how sketchy it had seemed at the time, it had always worked out as if fate dictated their success.
At first, it was attributed to the insanity of those letting children decide for them, and then at some point, it was given to luck. But after a while, people settled on the idea of it being so, because those children were blessed by the Gods.
It had taken a few years, but when those children who were asked to make important decisions had grown up, they were all madly successful. They carved their own heroic stories at times or solved many problems no one could. Thus, it was easy to see that they were different.
They had an affinity for the Mystic. In short, they were truly blessed.
As such, Falti gave Athelei a few pats on the head, "If that's what ye wanna do then do it well ya hear?" He then secretly took out a gold coin from god knows where and placed it in Athelei's pocket.
"Here's a gift from yer big bro. Use it sparingly and don't let people take it from ya!"
Athelei blinked as he felt the weight of that single coin of gold and thought, 'I should've tried salvaging too. Falti is rich!'
Athelei recalled the coin system as he once more took another look at Falti's mismatched yet expensive clothes.
It went, Copper -> Silver -> Gold -> Platinum. With every tier having a regular coin and a large coin variant. Ten regular coins equal a large coin. Ten large coins equal a single regular coin of the next higher tier.
What Falti had given him was a single, regular-sized gold coin. Commoners like himself and his parents could usually survive with a dozen or so large copper coins per month. Any luxury items start at silver coins, while gold coins are usually used when going to different places as it makes your purses less bulky. As for platinum coins? Those are used in the dealings of a country.
Essentially, his single gold coin of his was equivalent to a hundred-thousand coppers! Athelei drooled.
This was the largest amount of money he had been able to carry in all four-going-five years of his life!