The day was coming to an end, the sun was moving down the horizon still, the brightness of light orbs and noise from the carnival outside haven't calmed down,
only Ryu and Lina were sitting at the dining table,
"You should have gone with Jue, Ryu," Lina said as she put her chin on the table,
"I wanted to rest a bit..." Ryu said smiling as he also put his chin on the table, facing Lina. He could see that her face was showing a sign of sorrow still,
'She must be remembering that day' Ryu thought and suddenly his crimson eyes shined a bit as he got a topic to divert her mind,
"Mom, how is mage army?" Ryu asked with a curious tone, although it is referred to many times in Village chief stories, there wasn't much information.
"Are you interested in army Ryu?" Lina asked with a questioning gaze. She isn't very fond of the army as the mage army and mage circle were chasing her before she disappears from public and married Ralph.
"No mom, there was a recruiter in a carnival who tried recruiting me but I changed her direction" Ryu answered.
Lina sat back up straight and looked towards Ryu seriously she spoke,
"I don't think the army is for you Ryu, they do give stable income but they train mages to use group chants for spells and also limited types of chants and glyphs that will be useful in wars, at the same time this stops a mage from reaching their true potential," saying this she patted Ryu's head and said in a lowered concerned voice,
"I don't think the army is for Ryu," as she thought,
'If they figure out about his darkness, they will harm my baby!' and was relieved as Ryu said with a grin,
"I never plan to join in the first place… I am afraid I will be breaking more rules than they have in the army" and Lina giggled.
Time passes as they talked about various things, and suddenly the door was suddenly opened,
"Lina big sister!! Jue told me we will all go to the forest for seeing the brightest star! Geld and father chief are busy so they are not accompanying. Btw I never expected we will go again to Zerah forest on festival day!" Hina said with a nostalgic look,
'I never thought Lina sister will decide on this day for revealing to Ryu'
"Hina, remember the forest is not a playground when you reach there!?" Lina said with a terrified expression,
'Hope she is not remembering the time I took her to Hell's flame dungeon after her rapid request' Lina thought and sighed because back then Hina ran all over the place excited and nearly got them both killed,
The night was about to fall and everyone was ready to leave. Outside the home, everyone leaving Geld and the Village chief were going,
"Ryu, we got work, keep everyone safe!" Geld said and Ryu gave him a thumbs-up as he thought
'Mom is stronger than me… but I have more experience of Zerah forest!!'
Moving in a carriage through the Zerah forest.
"This isn't the way we entered back then. It was a dirt road, right?" Hina said as she peeked out of the window.
"We are going to Ryu's practice place," Lana answered as she pulled Hina's sleeve, and stared at her with a gaze that seemed to be shouting,
'Notice the environment, you idiot!!' but Hina herself was in conflict in her head as was thinking,
'Is it okay for Jue to know about that…'
Under the light of four stars that were moving towards each other, Ryu looked up at them. They were as serene as the past year soon they will join and become one and the sky will be filled with blue light,
But different from last year,
"Now I know why Ryu insists on coming here," Aiena said as she looked around the peaceful forest and a star-filled sky,
"It is really beautiful mom!!" Jue said as he pointed up and turning towards Hina he asked,
"Mom, is the story you used to tell me, the one about the Light goddess looking clearly at everyone when the brightest star appear is it true?"
Hina was about to answer, but Lina spoke before her.
"I will be telling a story and you will find the answer!! Come on everyone sit in the circle," Lina said.
Everyone sat in a circle under four stars that were coming together. Jue was looking toward Lina with an excited expression, and Ryu tried imitating his expression of excitement,
"Ryu, you never asked me about your dad, why?" Lina asked curiously.
"I did not ask because I did not want to trouble mom," Ryu said with a wry smile,
"You really are our best baby! I will answer all of your questions you never asked out of concern for mom" Lina said in an affectionate voice as she patted Ryu.
'I already knew what happened!! what will happen if I cannot react accordingly, it is like hearing spoilers for anime I already watched!!' Ryu was worried that what if he couldn't show proper enthusiasm or sadness or how he was supposed to react,
"Your father's name was Ralph… you were born..." Lina began telling the tale Jue was surprised to know that we came from so far and his mom was a maid, he was constantly looking at Hina and Lina as he was hearing the story, Lina finished narrating the part till the day of the festival and every second she narrated it her face was full of bliss remembering the happy times in mansion with Ralph,
"We were happy there, right?" Ryu asked. He was trying to hold his tears back, he remembered how he wished those days would continue forever,
'Father Ralph... I miss him... why did he have to die!?... I cannot cry right now, just a bit more' Ryu thought as he held back his tears,
"We were happy, right Hina? Lana?" Lina answered as she asked Hina and Lana for confirmation,
"I am happy that I met Geld and now have Jue… but I still wish we could meet differently and those incidents never happen… I wanted to show Geld to Lord Viscount, take his permission as our family head… wanted Lord Viscount to play with Jue as he did with Ryu… I can't help but imagine how much Jue would've gotten along with Lord Viscount… I still wonder how Helena auntie is doing"
"I miss Helena auntie too… she taught me various stuff," Aiena said.
Lana patted Aiena as she said,
"I am sure Helena auntie will be fine… she was so smart that we called her elder, remember" and winked and Hina, Aiena, and Lana laughed with an internal understanding,
"Now I will tell you how we ended up in Zerah," Lina said and everyone fell quiet as they knew what was coming next. Even Jue felt silent feeling the atmosphere,
"We head to church for getting you named and blessed…. Holy knight… father helped with the plan… felt his affection after many years…. Your father stayed back in order to stop anyone from following us… the goddess saved fallen Hina and Aiena… we formed a story… village chief" Lina told everything that happened that night except Goddess telling them that Ryu will play an important part in world's future,
Jue was hugging Hina's arm as the contents of the story were very sad.
'I cannot cry, big brother must be sadder than me but…' Jue tried to hold back but ended up crying,
"Ryu, you are not a child without a family name… your family name is Rivera, you are Ryu Rivera," Lina said as she patted Ryu's shoulder a teardrop fell down her eyes, and she thought,
'Even though I tried holding it back'
'Mom suffered so much… for what… what was our fault!?' Ryu thought as his mind was in mess, even though the contents of the story were the same but hearing his mom's perspective and feeling her sadness enraged Ryu again,
'I hope you are smiling right now, you bastard of Holy knight!! The more you smile right now… the more pathetic you will feel when I'll kill you,' Ryu hoped as he stood up.
"I know soon you'll end up leaving on adventure Ryu and I cannot hide this stuff from you anymore… the manifest already makes you susceptible to people who would want to take advantage of you… then a holy knight calling you an evil… if I am, to be honest, I would never want my child to leave my sight… but I do not want to be like my father," Lina said in a troubled voice, Ryu nodded as he listened to her mom,
The monster all over Zerah was shaking in fear due to the effect of Ryu's title [Dominator of Zerah forest] taking place due to him being enraged,
"Give your mother two promises Ryu," Lina asked as she stood up and went near Ryu.
"only use Rivera name when you believe you can handle it… a noble name will bring malice and attention and if you ever get into a life-threatening situation, you will put priority on saving yourself," Lina said in a voice filled with concern and hope,
Ryu nodded and turned towards them as the brightest star finally began to form. Under the brightness of the blue star and its streak of light in the sky, Ryu's oceanic blue hair looked lighter, and he began speaking,
"Mom I will make sure to get strong enough that we can proudly call ourselves heck we will be able to even shout that we are Rivera again, and if something comes between our family happiness again, I will cut it down to shreds before it can even touch us," then he summoned his twin swords and stabbing both of them in front of him he said,
"And this I swear on the name of Rivera's as Ryu Rivera" Ryu's voice resounded in Lina's ears and overlapped with one she heard before,
'this I swear on the name of Rivera's as Ralph Rivera' a distant memory she remembered long ago when Ralph said the same thing, under the light of the brightest star Ryu's hair looked similar color as Ralph and even their atmosphere was similar,
'Ralph would be so proud seeing Ryu right now… he would've probably said 'see I told you baby looks more like his father after all'… you were right Ralph" Lina smiled thinking that, now she can rest assured about sending Ryu off,