The woman was still sitting on the wooden chair. She was an elderly woman, so it was quite normal to address her as "aunt." The woman slowly raised her head and looked toward Carlos, who had just called out to her.

  In the evening darkness, under the faint light of the gas lamp, as far as could be seen, the woman was wearing a long-sleeved dress that extended from her neck down to the very bottom of her feet, with the lower parts decorated with white semicircles. The woman's exposed parts were her hands and face. Her skin tone was olive-colored, and her skin had wrinkled due to old age. She had a pale face. The color of her eyes wasn't entirely distinct, but they were brown like Carlos's, though a bit darker in tone. Her hair had turned gray and white from age, and she didn't have much hair anyway—just enough to cover around her head.

  The woman's name was Catalina, as Carlos had said, and he was probably calling her "Aunt" due to her age. There didn't seem to be any biological connection.

  Catalina raised her head and slightly squinted her eyes. Due to her old age, her eyes probably didn't see well, and she had to squint to confirm who the arrivals were. Wetting her dry lips, she began to speak slowly.

  “Is it you Carlos, right?”

  “Yea, it's me, Aunt Catalina. You can see me, right?”

  “Mm-hm”

  It was commendable; despite her age and poor eyesight, she had recognized the person in front of her as Carlos even in this pitch darkness and confirmed it.

  “Is there any news from Asaf?”

  Who was this Asaf they mentioned? Kaelis, standing behind Carlos there, thought about it and searched his memory. Indeed, when he first met Carlos, the child he was looking for was named Asaf. What had happened to this child called Asaf, and why were they asking? With the hope of getting answers to these questions, he began to listen to the conversation with full attention.

  “Unfortunately, I haven't found him yet.”

  “Where does that tiny child sleep in all these days, what does he eat or drink? Who knows, oh my poor sweetie.”

  “Sunday, I'll go to the other side again and search. For now, the best thing is not to lose hope, Aunt.”

  Catalina was speaking to Carlos with a sad expression on her face. She had gotten the answer to her first curious question; now she would ask the other question on her mind. To ask the question, she slowly turned her head toward Kaelis.

  “Who is this young boy, my dear?”

  Carlos, pointing to Kaelis standing in the direction Catalina was looking.

  “Ah, this? I met him while searching for Asaf on the other side of the city.”

  “So that's how it is. Hmm so now you're not just talking to poor kids.”

  “Ah, you're saying that because of his appearance, I suppose.”

  “———”

  “At first, I thought the same, but he doesn't have a single penny. Besides, he's already proven to me that he's one of us.”

  “If you say so, then let it be that way, my dear.”

  Even though she was looking toward Kaelis while speaking, throughout the conversation, she had maintained eye contact with Carlos again. Now, she had turned her head toward Kaelis once more.

  “My dear, what's your name, who are you?”

  “My name is Kaelis Varn— you can just call me Kaelis or however you like.”

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  “Kaelis, mm. In my more than 75 years of age, I haven't heard such a name before, my dear. Where are you from?”

  Kaelis had been directly asked where he came from. In previous instances, Carlos would offer options, and denying them was enough; now it was presented directly. This woman over 75 years old could be an old wolf, so he didn't want to lie, but telling everything as it was would be complete nonsense. Therefore, with a slightly happy and surprised expression on his face.

  “I was living in a place outside of Naucratis and came here to find a new job. Then here, I faced hunger and shelter problems. The last time I woke up, I was in an alley, and Carlos was beside me.”

  He had staked everything on this long fabricated story; it had to work, or he would be kicked out as a liar.

  The woman squinted her eyes even more and looked toward Kaelis. Every second the woman looked, Kaelis's heart felt like it would jump out of his chest. He had even started sweating. The woman's gaze was quite sharp, and with all her years of life experience, Kaelis was afraid she might learn that the story wasn't real.

  The woman made a motion as if swallowing something. Then she leaned back fully and relaxed herself. She was looking at the sky as if thinking about something. Then her thinking ended, and she looked toward Carlos and Kaelis again.

  “I can't remember now what place is outside of Naucratis, my dear.”

  “Hmm, it doesn't come to my mind either; what was the name of that place?”

  The two of them were coming at Kaelis too much without realizing it. Kaelis tilted his head a bit and started thinking. What he was thinking about wasn't the city name but what to say next. This kind of behavior was something Kaelis was quite good at in his earlier years, even if not in his last ones. Making up another excuse for every day he didn't come or homework he didn't do to skip checks—he needed to do the same now, but the problem was this: One wrong word or move, and he could end up in a very troublesome situation.

  Kaelis brought his hand to the back of his neck, scratching the hair there with his palm as he began to speak.

  “I don't like talking about these topics much, but since you asked, I'll tell a bit of it. When I was a child, I was a male child of the Varn family. I was better than the others, so I was accused and thrown out of my home before I even knew how to read and write. Until now, I grew up inside the forests. Occasionally, I raided the supplies of merchants who came by or set up camp. This way, I sustained my life somehow; one merchant told me about Naucratis, so I set out toward here. You know the rest.”

  Kaelis, fabricating stories one after another, was like a real storyteller. In a very short time, he was creating high-consistency, realistic stories. All of them were fictional, yet the plotting was successful.

  Catalina and Carlos looked at each other, then nodded to each other.

  Carlos put his hand on Kaelis's shoulder. Kaelis was very uneasy, but he wasn't planning to suddenly show this uneasiness outwardly.

  “How poor, my dear. Believe me, there are many children here in similar situations to you. Try to get along well with them, your siblings.”

  “Buddy, I didn't know you were in such a situation. I'll support you by standing behind you.”

  Kaelis's uneasiness suddenly flew away, and he was very satisfied with the answers he received. He had won; the story he had staked everything on had worked. Or at least, it seemed that way.

  During their conversation, the evening had become darker; it was probably closer to nighttime hours now.

  Carlos looked toward Catalina and raised his hand.

  “Then I shouldn't be too late getting home, Aun”t.

  “You're right; it's already late by now, don't worry the folks at home, my dear.”

  “May God protect you!”

  “May God protect you!”

  After this conversation, they had left the side of that elderly woman. Now the destination was Carlos's house; they had set out toward there.

  They proceeded a bit further into the inner areas. Walking on the dirt ground in the night darkness was difficult, after all, Kaelis's feet were bare. Carlos stopped in front of a house. It was a house made of mud bricks on the outside, with a wooden door. There was likely something like a gas lamp inside. Light was leaking from the gaps in the door toward the road they were on.

  “This is my home—or rather, our home.”

  “———”

  Carlos opened the door. As he opened the door, all the accumulated light inside spilled out. Kaelis had been walking in the dark for so long; suddenly seeing this much bright light, he was a bit dazed and brought his hand to his eyes. He was limiting his vision with his hand; this way, he would adjust to the light.

  His vision had opened again; he was thinking of scanning inside to look in, but first, Carlos pushed him from behind and threw him right in front of the house.

  Don't be fooled by it being called a house; it was a structure consisting of a single room. Inside, there was a gas lamp hanging in the middle to illuminate the room. On the right side, there were kitchen cabinets and a kitchen—of course, it was too poor to be called a kitchen. When he looked to the left, he saw a wardrobe. There was a wardrobe made of average-height brown wood, but polished. They probably stored their clothes or other things there. In the middle part, there were two couches for sitting, and on the floor, there were floor beds for sleeping.

  Carlos had used the term "our home" here. The reason must be the three people inside—two girls and one boy. There were a total of five floor beds on the ground, but including Carlos next to him, they added up to four people in total. The fifth bed on the floor must belong to someone else.

  While Kaelis was pondering these thoughts in his mind, he realized that the answer to his question wasn't far away. It must be the bed where Asaf, whose name was mentioned earlier, slept, but he wasn't here now.

  Carlos entered the house like Kaelis, whom he had pushed. Then he slammed the door shut hard. It seemed the door only closed that way. The effect of this slam must have reached every part of the house, as the hanging gas lamp swayed. Kaelis thought for a moment that it would fall, but that didn't happen.

  Carlos then took off his wooden-soled clogs and placed them right next to the door. Touching Kaelis's shoulder again, he began to speak.

  “Aren't you going to say hello to the household?”

  Kaelis was still busy looking around his surroundings. On the couch directly opposite the door, there was a white-skinned boy with short blue hair. He was wearing a simple red fabric garment with long and loose sleeves, closed in a crossover style at the front. Below, he had a very wide and pleated black skirt-like pants extending from the waist to his ankles. These must be a kimono and hakama—or in the place Kaelis came from, they had names like that. This boy was around the same age as Carlos and seemed to be resting on the couch with his eyes closed.

  On the other couch, there was a girl with long yellow hair and wheat-colored skin like Carlos. The girl was wearing a black sleeveless turtleneck top, but her stomach was exposed and boldly displayed. She had a toned body, even though her height seemed average. Below, she had loose cargo pants in a khaki color. She was sitting on the couch, looking directly at the door with her pink-glowing eyes.

  The last one, the last girl, was under the blanket on her floor bed, just trying to wake up. That's why she was squirming a bit in the bed.

  “Uh— hello, household.”

  Kaelis had barely spoken, managing only these sentences. It was even doubtful if his voice had been heard by them.

  Since coming here, Kaelis had met people one by one. Actually, up until now, he had only met Carlos and Aunt Catalina. For the first time, he was introducing himself in front of a group. In a completely different world, he was going to spend the night only with people he had just met today.