The group walked outside of the inn, under the heat.

"It's so hot."

Karteira was the first to make a remark.

"Yes, it's hot. But at least, there's a slight breeze isn't it?"

Amelia tried to cheer up her friend that hated the heat.

"Why don't you endure it? It is similar to what's under your armor isn't it? Build a stronger resistance to the heat, so that what's happening under your armor becomes more tolerable."

She blinked a few times at Orion.

'Sometimes, he can be so insensitive, it is kind of funny.'

"Orion, she's a girl too. Don't always speak about training with her."

He looked at Amelia with a surprised face.

"But I don't have anything else to talk about?"

If there was a sound that could define the emotion of anyone seeing this, it would be the facepalm everyone made.

Even Orianne and Reon shared this with the girls.

"Well, yes, I know, but still! Do something about it."

"Even if you say that to me..."

Amelia was in complete disbelief on how shameless about it Orion was.

They were walking on the port side of town. The sea was on their left, while the rest of the city was on their right.

The market was located about ten minutes of walking from the inn following the shoreline.

"You know that I only like a few things in my life."

Amelia nodded and began to enumerate them.

"You like training, because it helps in distracting you from your problems and it helps your body to stay in shape."

"You like reading, because you have an unquenchable need to learn more about our world."

"You like baths, because relaxing after a hard day is a must-do."

"You like kind and respectful people, because they remind you of your parents."

"Of course, you also like, dare I say love your parents, because they are your role models."

"And you love me too. That's what you said a few days ago."

Everything was spot on. He was even a little shaken by Amelia's precise description of what he liked.

Even Karteira felt embarrassment hearing all of this.

'I should never taunt Amelia. She reads people so easily that even my darkest secrets are not safe from her.'

But she instantly reminded herself.

'But I don't have any dark secrets...'

She began to laugh next to Amelia from her own realization.

"What's wrong Karteira, the heat finally took your mind away?"

Orion smiled at her, he always preferred it when his friends were in a good mood.

"Maybe."

"If you need to get hydrated, say it. I have a few water bottle with me."

Amelia looked at her with a tinge of worry.

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

Karteira was always honest with her feelings and the ones important to her. That's why she never tried to hide things from her mother.

When she was asked if she had a problem with going with Orion and Amelia, she smiled and explained that she liked them both, not for what they had done, but for how they treated her.

And here she was, happiest than ever before, with her friends, in a city a bit too hot for her taste.

'Life is full of surprise, isn't it?'

"Anyways, Orion, I have something to ask."

Amelia remembered this morning's conversation she had with Karteira.

"What could it be?"

He kept his gaze in front of him, waiting for her to speak.

"Karteira asked me if it was possible to help finding different hairstyles for her. I'm thinking of cutting her hair tonight, and I thought that having your opinion on it would be great."

He looked at her.

"I'm fine with it, but you know I don't possess the amount of knowledge you have on the subject of hairstyle, you know that?"

She nodded.

"It's fine, just be honest about how the result looks. That's enough."

He thought for a moment.

"Fine. We'll do that after ending our shopping. Since we will have to buy a lot of furniture, we will have to go on the other side, so let's do it at that moment."

Amelia nodded. She was in need to know if her house was still standing or not.

Karteira was silent on the side. Her simple request for a new hairstyle changed to a meeting around her to find the best ones.

'Better get ready. It's going to be a long day.'

She looked at the sky as if this was the last time she was going to see it.

"Alright, with that out of the way, I have another question for you."

This time, Orion felt that this question was going to be a pain to answer.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"What are you going to do about Dylan?"

And he was right. He knew that question was coming at some point.

"I don't know."

Amelia didn't let go of the subject.

"It's almost your birthday. Can't you at least send him a letter, explaining to him what has happened? He took such good care of you, shouldn't you do at least that for him?"

"..."

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

Orion stopped walking.

"I don't want to mix him in my fights now that he has a family."

Orion remembered the face of pure joy he had when he came to visit Auro, saying that his friend, now wife, accepted his advances, and that he was going to have a baby soon.

'Even if I consider him like a father, in the end, he his not.'

"That's no reason for ignoring him isn't it?"

Amelia was calm about it. She knew how painful this was for Orion. He left Auro with only the bare minimum of goodbyes, and hasn't even left a letter for Dylan in Keith's care.

"You know him like I do. The moment I'll speak about the Apostle, he will try to find me."

"And? Don't you want to hear about his family? About that 'brother' you have?"

Orion reacted to her words.

'He kept saying that too. That he really wanted to bring them with him each time he visited.'

-

"If it wasn't that dangerous out there, I would have taken Eli and Nylon with me, but you know how it is."

"Being known as the 'Beastman Protector' is putting a target on their back."

-

He remembered his sad and tired face, speaking about the state of the continent at the time.

"..."

"Speak honestly, do you want to meet them?"

Orion looked at the sea, toward the horizon.

"I know you rarely listen to your own desires. But just this once, do it. It won't cost you anything."

Karteira watched silently as Amelia slowly made Orion bring his true self out.

'She knows how to deal with him to such an extent. She really only has eyes for him.'

While she thought this, Orion sighed.

"You're relentless, you know that?"

"Hehe."

She laughed lightly.

"That wasn't a compliment, but anyways."

"I already said it, bringing him into this side is not something I desire."

"But?"

He looked at her with slight frustration.

'She's a pain sometimes. How can she read my heart so well?'

He sighed again.

"Of course I would want to see him and his family."

'Yes! He finally said it! Saying it is the first part before acting.'

"So, are you going to send that letter? You're going to be twenty-three in a month. Just like me."

"And in two months, you'll be twenty-four."

"I'm getting older too..."

She sighed, being reminded that indeed, she was getting older.

"The time it takes for a letter to arrive to him is roughly three weeks from here right? Better preparing it shortly."

She ignored the previous point about getting older, and return to talk about Dylan.

"I get it. I'll do that, so can you stop teasing me already?"

He walked forward again.

"Ah! Wait for us! I'm sorry!"

Amelia ran after him after apologizing.

'I wonder if I'll find someone one day, someone like Orion, that treasure his friends and his family.'

Karteira looked at these two arguing for a second.

"Karteira, what are you waiting for? We have some shopping to do."

Orion was half-turned in her direction, waiting for her to join them.

"Hurry up!"

Amelia waved at her.

She closed her eyes and smiled.

"I'm coming."

'I'll think about that some other time.'

~

"There's so many people! Are we going to be fine?"

Amelia looked at the crown in front of her. There was not much space for them to walk through.

There was a lot of things in this place. It was called a market, but it was separated in two distinguishable areas.

The outside market, which was the place were fishermen and makers of many things were selling their products, and the stores, where most of the necessities for daily life were.

"It's going to be fine, only if you stay close to me."

Orion was tall, taller than everyone around him. He could easily see past most of the moving mass in front of him.

"Just to be sure, give me your hands."

He extended his hands to the girls at his sides.

Amelia took it gladly with a giggle, but Karteira hesitated for a moment.

"If you don't want to, you can grab my shirt instead."

Orion was thoughtful, he didn't want her to feel forced.

"No, it's fine."

She grabbed his hand, a red tinge of blush showing on her face.

"I'm just not used to this."

"I see that. Don't worry, I'll release you when we find our store."

She shyly nodded, under the careful gaze of Amelia.

Orion looked at Karteira, and immediately looked forward.

'I knew it!'

"She's cute, isn't she?"

"How di-"

*cough*

Orion stopped himself before speaking.

"You're uncontrollable today. What happened to you? Did the heat fry your brain?"

He gave her an embarrassed look.

"That's rude! Of course not, I'm just happy we're finally doing stuff together. I just asked if you thought she was cute."

"Amelia, stop that!"

Karteira tried to grab Amelia's back, but she was too far, and there was too many people around her for that.

Orion pushed through the wave of people, and finally arrived at his destination after ignoring the two girls bickering about Karteira's cuteness.

Orion released the girls hands, and they all stared at the sign.

"Wood Working - Furnishing and Building."

"Yes, we need quite a lot of furniture. How many rooms do we have? Ten, without the corridors?"

Orion recalled how their house was built. Amelia nodded at his observation.

"We need stairs too. I'll take care of that, so just have a look and buy anything that catch your attention."

He took his wallet out, and removed half of the money inside. He separated this in half again, and gave that to both of them.

"Me too?"

Karteira was in shock. She had the right to buy what she wanted?

"What? You don't need anything in your room?"

"I do need some. Thank you."

"Good."

He smiled after seeing her warm smile, looking at the money in her hands.

She was especially glad to have received the same amount as Amelia.

Her and Amelia placed the money in their pockets.

"Alright, let's go find it."

"Ah! Wait!"

Amelia grabbed Karteira by the wrist, and they entered the building, Orion following behind.

They were immediately greeted by a man.

"Welcome!"

The girls greeted the man, and walked further inside.

"Can I help you with something, sir?"

"Yes, do you sell wood planks by any chance?"

Orion and the worker spoke about the many thing he needed after explaining that he recently built a house, and that there was only the wood parts that were missing.

The worker quickly helped him finding what he needed, and before long, he was done.

"Are you... taking all of this with you?"

The man looked at the lists the girls made, showing all the furniture they wanted. The worker walked around the store, noting the price of each, before returning to Orion.

"For this one, it will be-, and for this one-. Let me ask again, are you really taking everything with you?"

Orion nodded.

"Yes, I have a useful secret that let's me store my things away."

The man was shocked, he never heard anything about something this useful.

"If you say so. After you have paid, you can take everything with you."

Taking turns, the girls paid for their furniture. Once done, they gave the difference back to Orion.

But he refused.

"You keep that. If you want something, just buy it. There are still many things to buy right?"

They haven't even used a tenth of what Orion gave them each, but they both were love-struck by his generosity.

It was 'his' money, he had no reason to be this kind.

Even the worker looked at him with kind eyes.

Both girls nodded, and they happily walked near the entrance.

"Alright, let's take everything we bought."

He walked around, looking at the places the man stopped before, confirmed the product with the lists, and used his void magic on them to send them on the other side.

The worker was dealing with another customer, so he luckily never saw what Orion did. But when he turned around, half of his products had disappeared.

"Thank you very much for your purchase, have a nice day."

He said goodbye to the group, and Orion walked out of the building.

"There's a lot less people right now."

Orion looked around. He could see the pavement now, where before it was impossible.

'This might be a good time to go look around the market.'

"Let's go."

He grabbed the girls hands, surprising Karteira in the process, and walked toward the sea, where the market was.

They arrived a minute later, where many crafts were being sold. Jewelry, ceramic decorations, paintings, flowers. There was a lot of individuals selling personalized items.

"I'll you girls have a look around. If you find something, feel free to buy it. There seems to be many interesting decorations here and there."

"Thank you, Orion."

Amelia walked away with Karteira, and they began to look at the many products, talking with the person selling their wares.

'Alright, what do I do with myself now?'

He had no particular thing to buy, but since he was here, he had to look around right?

The many products around him didn't catch his attention. He was a simple man, who had no real interest in decorating his room to begin with. This was something Amelia always had to deal with.

He walked further inside, when something caught his attention at last. A young boy was sitting, looking at the sea.

Orion looked at the wares, they were all bracelets, earrings and pendants. There was a few hairclips too.

"Hello."

He approached the young boy, and spoke to him.

"OH! Hello sir! Are you looking for something?"

He smiled at the young boy, who seemed like a good person.

"Could I get this pendant, and this hairclip, please?"

Orion bought what he wanted, and returned to the girls.

But something happened. Something that made Orion angry.

'Who's that man?'

Someone was talking to Amelia and Karteira.