Chapter 29 - A Pleasant First Confession
Darren galloped swiftly through the woods carrying the supplies he needed stopping on a high hill to see the capital city of Rhodes.
Seeing some smoke from the residents burning the fireplace, Darren walked down the high hill.
His first goal was to go to the shop where he bought Mana powder and fairies without hiding his true identity, entering the gateway to the streets around Rhodes.
Everyone stared at him, trying to ignore their words while riding the mighty black horse without losing track.
Since he was currently in a crowd, he could only drive slowly. From a distance, he could see a group of children playing.
They attacked a sizeable middle-aged man acting like a dragon. He was surrounded by children acting as Mana controllers and their descendants.
The wood was used as weapons with robes, triangular hats, wooden swords, and small sticks. Some even threw branches at them.
Seeing happy faces and fun, they were seen running around being chased by tall men there who pretended to be dragons catching them one by one.
Darren felt happy and touched, realizing their role as Mana Controllers protecting the safety and lives of the villagers.
He was intrigued by the game, intending to stop the journey for a moment and watch, amused by their actions.
Full of jokes and laughter, some even joined in playing their respective roles. Boys and girls alike enjoy the parts of the characters they like.
"I am a Mana Control Knight. I will slash your neck with this powerful sword," shouted a girl in the distance and then ran to him.
"Hiyaa...!" he shouted.
"Aaargh..." said the man pretending to be in pain.
The onlookers laughed too.
He ran to attack the other children and hung them over his shoulders.
One of them froze in the silence seeing his presence. His peers, close to him, suddenly stopped and hugged some of the surrounding children.
The adults were also whispering while looking at him. The big man who accompanied them to play took them down and then directed the children to make their way.
Darren felt uncomfortable with their gazes and decided to turn around and continue on his way without interrupting their preoccupation.
The man approached him and greeted him.
"Nice to meet you," said the man who was reluctant to chase him and shouted from behind.
Listening to the greeting, Darren finally decided not to move. He looked back, ensuring that the sentence was meant for him.
Their small round eyes were eager to get to know him up close, even though other children hid shyly behind.
Darren looked at them and smiled. Near to them was a large building like an orphanage. He got off his horse to greet them.
Holding the horse's rope so as not to attack those who will approach him, the man has his hand to shake hands for a moment. Darren looks at the hand. A friendly face is standing before him, then greeted by the outstretched hand without hesitation.
"My name is Zik, one of the caretakers of the orphanage here," he said, introducing himself.
"They are happy children who have each other," he added again while showing the little ones who were very sweet and cute for him to feel comfortable.
"Darren Moore," he answered.
Suddenly one of them ran towards them and fell, not noticing his tiny footsteps, seeing that Darren caught him before landing on the hard ground.
His friends were enthusiastic to see the incident, and their eyes glowed.
"Are you all right?" Darren asked worriedly and straightened his position to quickly stand back up.
He just nodded his head with a flushed face.
'He was the one who played the Knight's Mana Controller earlier.'
"You seem to have the same tough character as Duke Stuart," he said comfortingly, stroking his hair.
Because of his friendliness, those initially worried about approaching him now rushed to his figure.
"I'm Raphael." another said.
"Me, Niki." replied the boy who had fallen, introducing himself in a loud and confident voice.
One of the children is trying to point in another direction, where one is still hiding.
Darren saw a braided girl peeking through the crowd, green eyes similar to her family's Magical Mana and silver hair reminding her of the Noahs, not as pure as theirs.
"She really likes the role of controlling the Great Magic Mana because she has the same eye color," said Zik while introducing the girl, who was still shy.
Darren parted the crowd of children who surrounded him and approached the girl. While hiding her face, she also wanted to peek, then was greeted by a helping hand.
Women becoming her shadow gave him the impetus to immediately approach him.
His doubts were driven by people helping her to be confident, she came to Darren, and the children joined them. Then they continued the game that had been delayed happily.
"Sis Darren is so… so cool," replied Sasa, the child who had been hiding.
"Of course, I will always protect you," he whispered.
"Will uncle come here again?" Niki asked enthusiastically.
'Uncle?' he asked himself.
After listening to the words' uncle' for him, there was a feeling of irritation. However, it could still be tolerated because the one who called was a sweet and cute little boy.
"Of course," Darren replied with anger.
The people around found his response like that made them couldn't help but laugh.
Darren got up to go on his way and waved to everyone, got back on his horse, and left them. Darren's warm and friendly feeling is even more eager to protect the villagers.
'Right, here is their home,'
'I won't let anything bad happen to those kids again,' he said to himself.
After passing the houses around there, Darren stepped back into the shop. Nothing had changed. He tied his horse and then went inside.
He was warmly welcomed by the shop owner.
"Ho… ho… who is this? One of the great heroes who saved Rhodes from destruction," he said.
This man walked without paying attention to the praise that came out of his mouth.
"What are you looking for?" asked the shopkeeper, leaning on the broom. "Do you have any blackberries?" Darren asked, looking at the other displayed items, hoping something caught his attention.
"There seems to be. Wait, I'll check first." replied the shop owner a little doubtfully. He went to put the broom on one of the shop tables.
He knows that his family has everything in the tower. Sometimes the items needed are not available because getting them is sufficient or very difficult. He also does not want to fight with other magicians who are incidentally controlled by them, even though he is the next heir.
They prefer to work from home to make valuable discoveries. They still have to send shadow people to look for them to get the raw materials. However, it also takes a long time. The terrain is dangerous and competes with poachers.
The shop owner he visited was a member of an illegal trade union, so it was not uncommon for the items to be complete. This building only looks simple if the visitors who come are not careful.
To avoid the vast taxes on their merchandise, they also supply goods that enter Rhodes. Only a handful of people know of its existence.
Shop owners also compete with emissaries like Moore to hunt unique items. Shop owners to get them is very wide. In contrast to Moore's messengers, they work with people outside Rhodes, so their guise is sometimes slaughtered by the Dareen family even though the messengers are not much.