"Son, hurry up; Dad's waiting for you."
"Be there, Mom."
A boy with black hair and red eyes said as he jumped down the stairs and started tying his shoelaces. His mother was at the kitchen counter, packing a lunchbox in a silly green cloth with the emblem of a lion.
"Do what father says and don't run off at first. You know what happens if you-"
"I know, the druid of the forest will eat my soul away."
The boy cut off his mom, took the lunchbox, and left the house.
Mom shook her head,
"That boy, he is becoming more like his father. And here I thought he would be gentle like me since he resembles me a lot."
The boy re-entered his house and gave his mom a confused look.
"You aren't gentle, mom. A tiger is a saint compared to you."
"I thought you left."
"Not without saying a proper goodbye."
The boy hugged his mom, and his mother gently caressed his head.
The boy immediately ran off after a heartwarming exchange. As he exited the house, he could see his father with an axe in his hand. He glanced at the lunchbox and asked,
"Hmmm…Did you forget to bring mine?"
The boy shook his head and looked out the window of their house, where they could see his mother cooking.
"Mom's still angry about what you did."
"It was just a prank."
The dad said as he remembered what he did. Made cookies out of chilli seeds and hand-fed them to his wife. That was a pain in the ass for his wife. He did apologize, but it wasn't enough to lessen the flames she burst on the toilet.
"I should buy her some souvenirs. Any idea?"
The dad asked his son as both started walking into the woods.
Both stopped at a certain tree, and the dad started sticking the wood.
"She lost her favourite hairpin."
The dad took notes as both of them stopped once they reached a certain area in the forest. Since their family lived in the woods, far from any other town or village, they needed to hunt and gather on their own. But none of them disliked it. The husband and wife wanted this, and their only son had grown up in such an environment.
The father touched the tree and closed his eyes. The son did the same but without knowing what the father was actually doing.
The dad nodded and asked his son to stay a few meters away. Gathering mana in his feet, he literally walked up the wall, without any sight of slipping.
"Don't I look cool doing this?"
"I mean, it is cool, but maybe because of how silly you are, I am not that impressed."
The dad sighed and whispered to himself,
"You are exactly like your mom."
Once he reached the woods, he started cutting down the branches carefully. The boy also took his small axe and would climb, taking the fallen branches, and cutting them into smaller pieces. After doing this for a while, he would open up the beautifully wrapped lunchbox.
Even though it was a single lunch box, it was filled with portions of more than enough for the boy with two spoons and the portions had also been separated.
"Maybe mom isn't that angry with you."
"Yeah."
Dad said taking a bite of the cookies, feeling the heat.
"No, she is angry."
After finishing their lunch they would again start gathering wood. While doing this, the father was curious about something,
"Did you like the duke's mansion?"
The boy remembered seeing a castle 1000 times larger than his house. Those mesmerizing
walls, decoration, the garden, everything seemed perfect, but too much for his liking.
"Yeah, it was exciting, but I wouldn't want to stay there. Even though it was big, it somewhat felt empty on the inside."
The dad nodded in agreement. And now it was the son's turn to ask,
"How do you even know the duke?"
Dad scratched his head and let out a prideful chuckle,
"I and your mom too worked for him before you were born. We were and still are good friends, but once I moved, we didn't have the chance to meet with each other, and he isn't an easy man to meet as well. However, once he was free, he wanted to meet us, especially you."
"Why me?"
The boy asked confused.
"His daughter and you were born in the same month only ten days apart. But we had already moved before both of you were born. That is why the duke wanted to catch up on things and meet you. He also was kind of hoping you to be friends with his daughter. Did you meet and talk to her?"
The boy remembered the encounter which was kind of odd. He never had the chance to meet many people of his age to know if someone was normal, but he didn't even need to know what was normal when meeting the duke's daughter.
"I did meet her; one of the fancy butlers guided me to a training room, and there she was training with fire and swords non-stop, without even acknowledging me. I tapped on her shoulder and greeted her, but she just did something out of the blue?"
The dad was even more curious, knowing his friendship legacy could be carried on.
"What did she do, and why haven't you told me this before?"
"You never asked. Anyway, she passed a sword to me and started fixing my stance and then beating me. If the butler hadn't stepped in, I would have made her face redder than her hair. Now I know why she doesn't have friends; she is just not normal."
The boy said as he vowed to God to never fight against her ever again. He managed to witness death at an early stage of his life. The dad just laughed hearing his son's silly remarks. But he was glad at least he tried.
"Next time you meet her, try to become friends with her again."
"But Dad, she isn't like every other normal kid."
The dad jumped down from the tree and flicked the boy's forehead.
"Ouch-"
"Listen. The society is the one that decides what's normal or not, and most of the time it is true. Not normal people are most often the bad ones, but do you think she is bad?"
"No."
He pointed at the boy's heart.
"Open your heart and mind to everything. Remember, nobody is 'normal.' Maybe to her, practising with swords all day is normal. You see, friendship isn't about bending someone to your liking; it is to accept them for who they are. And if that person turns out to be bad, then just leave them. But if you put in your heart, and it matches with theirs, then remember, you have a bond for life."
The boy didn't understand most of the things his father said, but he felt that those words weren't something to forget.
The father packed the branches and grabbed his son's hand. "Let's go; I still need to pick a gift for your mom. Otherwise, no dinner for me."
******
"I must have drunk too much."
Levi said slowly getting out of his bubble bath. After dealing with the Majins, he returned to his hotel and took his one last bath and glass of wine but just by a single glass, he fell asleep, and that weird dream randomly came to his mind.
'Though I don't think that was a dream.'
Levi never had done those things nor imagined doing them. Living in the middle of the woods wasn't quite appealing to him, but he did have an idea where it came from.
Levi got dressed and started packing everything the hotel had in his bag. 'I am not being cheap. This is just good use of my money.'
He then got dressed and left the room with a suitcase and bag filled with wine.
Before exiting the hotel, he still had one thing to use that the hotel provided. At the counter, he asked the daughter of the owner who beamed a seductive smile, revealing her neck to Levi.
"What do you need me for, handsome boy? Anything that 'I' can do for you."
Levi also smiled back out of necessity.
"Do you have a mana communication ball that I can use?"
"Yeah, we have a dedicated room for it,"
She pointed at the map beside the counter.
"You can find it on the first floor opposite the restroom, but you have to pay a certain charge to use it."
Levi just nodded and left the counter. The girl was shocked her seduction didn't work and panicked.
"Who is the call for?"
"Oh that-"
Levi blushed and flashed and cute laugh,
"My girlfriend."
He then went to the first floor, leaving the woman heartbroken. Once he reached outside the room, he opened the door to be welcomed by a woman with a wide smile, hiding her boredom.
"Welcome, sir."
Levi just nodded and looked around the room. It looked like the cyber he used to go with his friends. They would be filled with computers everywhere, except here white balls were floating around above a stand. Each ball had its booth separated by wooden frames. Not only that, they had also engraved a sound barrier on top of it, in case someone decides to peek into others' business.
Levi asked the staff for the cost of using one and paid it. He could use it for five minutes.
Going to the nearest booth, he sat in the chair and poured his mana into the ball.
'Wait. I called, but that doesn't mean he will pick up. I don't even know where he is.'
But soon the colour of the ball glowed blue, and soon the face of Gabriel appeared on the screen.
Gabriel expected Levi to be the last person to call him at such a time.
"When did you get one of these?"
He knew how expensive they were even by his standards.
"And why did you call me?"
Gabriel was shocked to see the mana communication ball beside his shelves glow while he was doing his "business." The ball glowed, and in a panic, he immediately picked it up forgetting to hide some stuff.
"Are you at the academy?"
Levi asked.
"Yeah. why?"
"Just stay there, and I will get there in two hours. I have some plans. See you. Also-"
Levi pointed at Gabriel's hand and background.
"Throw away the tissue in your hand and hide that big tub of body lotion from there because I know your back is drier than a camel's ass....And that thing lives in the desert."
Levi said that and cut off the call.
Gabriel looked at his hand and threw that tissue paper in embarrassment. He was slightly angry at Levi at the same time,
"Son of a bit-"
He didn't complete the sentence.