Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Daddy! Daddy! What are you looking at?”
“Daddy, Daddy! It’s raining outside!”
“Daddy! I’m hungry.”
The voice of a child echoed throughout Lu Zhiyu’s house.
Tatata!
Rapid footsteps were heard, as the child ran up and down the stairs without the slightest break. The child had short, blond hair, which was quite messy and shorn to the ears. Because the child was so young, it was impossible to discern its gender with just a quick glance. If judging by the hairstyle alone, one would assume that the child had fairly delicate and feminine-like features.
The footsteps pattered to the study. After coming inside the room, the child jumped at Lu Zhiyu’s legs. Lu Zhiyu was sprawled over his desk, looking over complicated diagrams that were filled with maps and strange symbols.
Currently, within the entire Alen continent, the counting system went by a base of twenty. The three symbols used represented the numbers 0, 1, and 5, which could then be combined to form other larger numbers.
Only wizards knew the Arabic numeral counting system that utilized a counting system with a base of ten, which is the one that Lu Zhiyu also used. This was still unknown knowledge to the majority of those within Maria’s World, so no one would recognize Lu Zhiyu’s numbers, let alone his writings.
Lu Zhiyu put down the charcoal pencil in his hand and looked at the little child, Verthandi, who was now clinging to his leg like a baby sloth. She was wearing pants with white deerskin boots. Her top stretched all the way down to her knees, like a dress, and her tiny bum darted in and out of sight, hidden by the flare of the shirt.
Lu Zhiyu lifted his leg into the air as she dangled from his leg, hugging it tightly as she giggled, swinging her legs back and forth.
“What is it, you little troublemaker? Didn’t I tell you not to bother me when I’m working?”
Verthandi pouted. “But I’m hungry.”
Lu Zhiyu picked up a plate of snacks from the desk and brought it to Verthandi, who he had taken to his chest. Verthandi was three years old.
When Lu Zhiyu was choosing her name, he had taken inspiration from the Three Norns of Fate. Verthandi was the Goddess that ruled over the Present. Lu Zhiyu figured this was the best choice, because the past is gone and unobtainable, and the future is forever changing. Hence, only by controlling the present, can one control their own fate.
Likewise, Lu Zhiyu also hoped that Verthandi would seize her own present, and treasure all of the time and experiences that she has. Over the last two years, many people came to the Mobis Province seeking information.
Apparently, some men were sent from the Engido Kingdom, which was near the Ayers Mountains. Lu Zhiyu rarely let Verthandi go out. And when the two were in public, he “officially” had a son named Will, not a daughter called Verthandi. With the help of this ruse, no one suspected that Verthandi was partially mixed blood.
“Your Auntie Cassan will be here soon. She’ll make yummy food for you. I’ll teach you something right now. If you learn it, then I’ll give you these two pieces of cake.”
Lu Zhiyu held Verthandi as he picked up a copy of the Epic of Totle from a bookshelf. It was a selection by Totle, detailing the most complete history of the human race. The text also held all of the most widespread odes and poems, complete with countless wandering bards who were singing about ancient heroes, thus passing their fame onto future generations.
“Verse one is the verse about the Golden King Ahenaten. It is the legend about the human, Golden King Ahenaten, receiving a divine prophecy…”
Lu Zhiyu, who had been reading aloud to this point, now stopped, surprised. In his lap, Verthandi pretended to pay attention, but her eyes were glued to the snack tray on the desk.
Her hands crept towards the tray, but Lu Zhiyu smacked them away lightly. Verthandi pouted, but stayed sitting on Lu Zhiyu’s lap, listening to him read a few of the first verses until she happily got the cake as a reward!
Right then, the door downstairs opened. Verthandi instantly perked up. “Auntie Cassan’s here.”
Lu Zhiyu also stood up and put on a large coat, locking up the study before heading downstairs. There, a dog-woman orc stood by the entrance with a basket. She hugged Verthandi and kissed her cheek.
“Little Trouble, did you see the goodies I brought you?”
“My name isn’t Little Trouble, hmph! And, I just ate something yummy!”
Lu Zhiyu headed down the steps and spoke to the maid Cassan. “Cassan, please take care of Little Trouble. I am heading to the clinic. There are a few special patient consultations today. I’m afraid Tler and Paisy don’t have enough experience to handle them alone. Take care of the house, please.”
Cassan looked at Lu Zhiyu respectfully. “Don’t worry, I will take care of Little Trouble and the house. When will you be back?”
Lu Zhiyu nodded. “I’ll be back tonight. Don’t wait for me for lunch. You two can go ahead and eat first.”
Outside, the people on the road hurried along in the drizzling rain. Lu Zhiyu headed to the clinic.
In the bottom level of the clinic, two apprentice medics staffed the pharmacy. Quite a number of people were already there, lined up by the staircase. Some of the merchants from nearby stores chatted under the roof, while some patients with ordinary injuries and simple colds waited inside the pharmacy. Only patients with severe or unknown ailments would be treated upstairs.
“Hi Mr. Randhir. We didn’t know you’d be dropping by!” The owner of the bar greeted Lu Zhiyu. It was still morning, meaning the bar hadn’t opened yet, so he was completely free to shoot the breeze and socialize.
In the last few years, Ayer City had undergone a dramatic transformation. Lu Zhiyu had introduced a few human merchant teams to stimulate the economic development of the city. The specialties of the Ayers Mountains, medical supplies, pelts and the tonics from Lu Zhiyu’s pharmacy, all made for wildly popular merchandise.
The original clinic was also becoming a bit crowded. Many patients and merchants came from all over to buy the tinctures and tonics from the Randhir Clinic, due to its great reputation. All of the apprentices were busy enough to pass out at the end of every day, exhausted. So, the plan was to buy another storefront nearby in order to expand the clinic.
The once empty Western Shopping District had also become extremely popular, now boasting not one single empty storefront! It had even been expanded by the addition of an entire street!
Many ordinary orcs had also moved to Ayers City. In fact, the development of the entire city was improving by leaps and bounds, which brought good reviews for the prefectural capital of Elias. As the person who changed Elias and had saved countless patients, Lu Zhiyu was naturally one of the most popular people in all of Ayers City.
“Have you heard yet?” murmured a few those gathered around.
Lu Zhiyu saw a few people whispering secretively and asked them. “I saw that you all are discussing something. What has happened?”
The owner of the bar replied with care. “There might be a war!”
Lu Zhiyu stopped abruptly in his tracks. “Why?!”
A young person chimed in. “There is domestic unrest in the Crete Empire. The Church of Light of the humans has sent out its strongest fighters from the Knights of Light to investigate something. Apparently, many human nobles from the Crete Empire are heading here. The Church of Light and the Crete Imperial Army are moving by the Red River Plains. I just came back from there, and someone had encountered a scout from the Church of Light.”
Lu Zhiyu pushed for further information. “You are absolutely certain of this? What if it was a knight serving under an ordinary Crete Empire noble?”
The young person replied, “Of course not. They were in snowy white armor, and they had swords forged from humanity’s most expensive Ur steel. Those, along with the sigils of the sun were dead giveaways.”