"We're hungry!"

Nem shouted while sitting on the living room couch.

The group had just gotten back and it was night time already.

"Should we go out and eat today?"

Janna suggested. Normally, she would be cooking but they had just gotten back and it had been an exhausting few days of travel.

"Janna...suggesting eating outside food?"

The suggestion from Janna shocked everyone in the room.

"What? Why's everyone looking at me like that?"

Janna didn't understand what they were doing. Thea and the kids hadn't eaten outside food one time since Janna came to the orphanage. Janna always prepared sufficient amount of food for them to eat. It was healthy, delicious and filling food.

So they didn't even think of eating outside food for the whole time.

"Are you angry at me?"

Nem walked up to Janna and pulled on her shirt.

"What? Why are you saying that?"

"I'm sorry, I did a bad thing..."

"No, I'm not angry. Thea! What are you teaching this kid?"

"Why are you asking me? Why are you angry at us?"

"When am I angry at you lot?"

"Then why did you suggest eating from outside?"

"What? I'm just saying there's no time."

It was late in the evening and Janna didn't have time to prepare food.

"She has no time for us."

Thea put on a shocked face.

"Stop making that face."

There was a bump on Thea's head afterwards. They followed Janna as they went out to eat.

They went to a restaurant called the Little Laguna. It was the most popular restaurant that popped up in the past months since people started coming here.

"Hello. How many people do you have?"

A person greeted the group at the front gate. She wore blue colored employee uniform.

"We have five people."

"Sorry? Are you counting the dog?"

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"Umm, sorry but we don't allow animals into the restaurant."

The employee answered.

"If you're worried about him spreading fur, then don't bother worrying."

"No, it's not that. Our policy is no animals allowed since it will disturb the other customers. We are terribly sorry."

"Well, can you make an exception? He won't do anything that will disturb the others."

"I'm really sorry, but I can't make any exceptions."

"Oh man. Let's go."

They turned around to leave and check at another place.

"Hey, let them in."

Someone from inside the shop shouted. The restaurant had an open structure. And Janna's words could be heard inside by the people close to the entrance

And one of the customers had shouted to let the group in.

"Sorry, but the restaurant's rule stay the same."

The employee was flustered. She had never encountered such a situation. She didn't know what to do.

"Don't you know who they are?"

Another customer stated.

"It doesn't matter who they are, no animals are allowed inside."

"That's Thea, the whole reason you can be here in the first place. Are you really gonna not let her through?"

"Thea?"

The other customers, who were further in, that hadn't paid any attention since earlier turned their heads. Their ears perked up at the mention of Thea's name.

"Thea's here?"

It seemed like everyone knew who Thea was. Some left their seats and came up to the entrance.

"What happened?"

"She said Thea's not allowed to come in because she's got a dog with her."

"Let her through."

One person shouted.

"Yeah, let her in."

The others joined. This prompted the manager to come in person. After the employee informed the manager of what had happened. The manager came up to Thea's group.

"We are very sorry to have inconvenienced you, Miss Thea."

The manager made a bow towards the group. It shocked even the employee from before.

"Miss Thea, you are always welcomed here. We do not mind if you bring along any animals. Please come in."

"There's no need to do this. We will follow the rules, same as everyone else."

"NO!"

The manager suddenly shouted. It shocked everyone here because up till now, the manage had showed a calm appearance. And now they shouted with a desperate tone. As if the manager's life depended on it.

"You have to let me repay you, Miss Thea."

The manager added some explanation. But it still did not explain anything.

"Repay you?"

Thea asked the manager.

"Do you remember...a few months back, you gave water to some people on the road when you were passing by?"

"Uuh, I don't remember such a thing. Sorry."

"Ah, that's fine..."

The manager looked dejected. A sad expression appeared on their face.

"We were a group of twenty people travelling on the road from the South. And we had run out of water for a few days. Miss Thea was walking in the same direction as us and you used magic to fill up our water source. It was only thanks to you..."

The manager appeared emotional.

"...that my daughter and the other children survived."

Stolen story; please report.

"Oh..."

Everyone around gasped and awed. They looked at Thea like she was a saint.

"So please! Let my restaurant serve you."

"If that's the case, then we won't reject your sincerity."

"Yes, thank you. Please come to the second floor."

The second floor was for people that were more important. Like merchants and minor nobles that were passing by. This restaurant was the best one in this region but it was a far cry from being suitable for famous merchants and nobles to enjoy a meal at. They would call it eating from a dog's plate.

"I thank you for your consideration. But there is one thing you people got wrong."

"Sorry?"

The manager didn't know what to say.

"Gwyn is not a dog. He is a white wolf, and he hates being called a dog."

Thea's words reverberated throughout the crowd. The crowd turned to look at Gwyn. Gwyn was standing there on his four paws, with his tongue out and a happy expression on his face. His tail was wagging left and right.

Other than the fact that Gwyn was larger than a normal dog, there was nothing about him to suggest that he wasn't a dog. The crowd was confused by Thea's words.

"Why are you guys looking at him like that?"

Thea saw their looks at Gwyn.

"N-nothing. So he's a wolf. We understand."

The crowd collectively agreed to call Gwyn a wolf.

The manager brought Thea and the group upstairs.

"Wow."

The place was decorated like painting. The roof let in moonlight and gave the whole place a blue hue. In the center was a pond and waterfall that made the place have a cool feeling. They were going for a riverside restaurant feeling.

"It's a great day to come here today."

The manager said.

"Is that so?"

"Ah, do you perhaps not know?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really, Unnie? Even we know about it."

Leaf said that everyone knew. It seemed only Thea was unaware. This was normal because Thea was aloof most of the time and didn't pay attention to things much. Like how she helped the manager of the restaurant only a few months ago but had already forgotten it.

"Tonight's the night of the moon goddess, Selene!"

Leaf said.

"I've never heard of it."

Thea replied.

"The moon of Selene disappears for twenty three years and reappears for two year. They are many stories about it."

"It seems you're very excited about this moon? Are the stories that good?"

"Yes, the stories are amazing."

"Tell me about them then."

Leaf told Thea about the story of the moon goddess. One day, the sun god, Zatiax, the same god the Sol empire worships, stole away the beloved moon of the goddess. The goddess cried every day after that and the other moons felt her sadness. So the moons used their mystical moonlight to bless a single mother.

The boy was born with the blessings of the moons. The boy would have luck and strength in his life. Because of this blessing, he found many opportunities in life to help people and become even stronger. They called him the hero of the moon as a result.

And on the twenty third year since the disappearance of the moon, the hero would steal the moon back from the sun god and gift it to the moon goddess. The goddess was very happy and joyful so she asked the hero for a wish. The hero said that he didn't want anything in return and only wanted to see the moon high in the sky every night.

The goddess fell in love with the hero at that point so she used her power to make the moon be the center of attention during the night. Every night, the people of the world would look up and see the moon.

But it also blessed the people and the land. So the moon also brought luck to the people. It gave bountiful harvests to the farmers. Inspirations to writers. Mages' would experience faster growth. And warriors would be blessed with a stronger body.

But two years later, the hero would marry a woman and break the goddess' heart. She took the moon away and kept it hidden. But it's said the hero's child would look up at the moon when he's grown up and the goddess would look back. Reminded of the hero, she would put the moon back out for the people to see. And thus, the cycle of the moon disappearing and reappear began.

"Wow...that is so tragic. So the goddess is forever reminded of her love by her love's future generations? Even after the hero has passed away."

Thea came to this conclusion.

"No, no. The message is that anybody could be the hero and bless the world if they catch the attention of the moon goddess."

Janna told Thea what the original message of the story was.

"How am I supposed to understand that? And wasn't the hero a man in the story? How are little girls supposed to relate to that?"

"The goddess looks at the soul of the person..."

Janna shyly said.

"How is that not a leap of logic?"

"It's a story for children. So who cares if there's a few holes?"

"Ok, ok, Janna. Why are you getting mad?"

Janna's voice was getting annoyed at Thea's questions.

"Wait a second. Do you still believe that story?"

Thea came to a conclusion.

"S-so what if I do?"

"Haha, you still believe in a children's story. Do you want me to read it the next time you go to bed?"

Thea was hit in the head by the red-faced Janna.

"Please order some food."

The poor manager was still standing to their side and was waiting for them to order.

"Ah."

Coming to their senses, the group ordered some food.

The dishes came out pretty quickly. While they were eating the food, Janna found the food not good enough and was shouting at the manager to cook the food better the next time.

It was rude, of course. But the manager saw the insight of a great cook that Janna was giving and was writing down everything. There was even an audience of chefs around Janna. It was quite the scene.

"Ah, that was good."

"Are we getting dessert?"

"Sure, why not?"

As they planned to order some dessert, some people walked up to the group.

"What the hell is this?"

It was a group of six people. They had rugged appearances. All of them wore armor and had swords, shields or bows. On their belts were hanging badges. They were silver in color and there was a mark on them.

A group of D rank adventurers. The one standing at the front had big muscles and looked like a seasoned warrior.

"Why is a dog allowed up here? Do I have to eat with dogs now?"

The other people were silent. In this small town with a couple hundred people, D rank adventurers were the top bunch and everyone had to walk carefully around them.

Since this restaurant was the best one in the town, these adventurers came here to eat everyday. They were treated as VIPs of the restaurant. Today, they had come to eat as usual and saw that the place that they ate at had a dog from nowhere eating also. This made them angered.

"Ah, Sir Benoik. Please don't mind them. You can come sit and order from that table."

One of the employees walked up to the group's leader, the one at the front. He pointed towards another table.

"What did you just say?"

"I said you can order from-"

"You think I'm deaf?"

The man suddenly held the employee's neck and picked him up.

"Why the hell is there a dog where I eat my food?"

The man shouted.

"Throw it out, right now."

The man demanded.

"Hey."

The calm voice of Janna sounded out. But her face was anything but calm. It was annoyed and gave a chill to the people sitting in the restaurant.

"Put him down."

She said calmly. The man didn't put down the employee but walked in front of Janna.

"Who let you command me?"

"I'll say it one more time. Put. Him. Down."

Janna stood up. Her eyes were looking up at the man's eyes. It was like the eyes of a tiger. An angry tiger.

"What if I don't?"

"Then I'll have to beat you up."

"You..."

The man threw the employee away. He then threw a punch towards Janna. But before the punch could reach her, Janna jabbed the man's face with her own fist.

The man took a step back. He held on to his face. When he looked at his hand, there was blood from his nose bleeding.

"How dare YOU?!"

He shouted. He took of the sword that was hanging on his back.

"Kill her."

He commanded the other adventurers to attack together.

"Don't think about leaving here alive."

The man shouted and rushed at Janna. He wasn't really that fast in swinging the sword. There was power behind it but it was slow. Janna maneuvered just enough to avoid the sword and counter-attack by hitting the man's wrist.

The man's sword fell down to the ground. The other five attack but Janna easily avoided them. They were nothing like their leader. They were much weaker and slower than him.

"Pathetic. You guys are D rank adventurers?"

Janna had seen adventurers in her life, a lot of them actually. She used to be a gate guard to get some experience. She had seen quite a lot of D rank adventurers and could tell these guys were not at that level.

"Is the guild just handing out a badge to any worm that crawls by these days?"

"You....you'll regret this."

"Sure I will. Get the hell out of here, you worms."

The men dragged away their leader. They walked out looking miserable.

"Sorry, manager."

"It's fine. I just hope they don't come back to cause more trouble."

"You should file a complain with the guild. The threat of getting their badge taken away will keep them from causing trouble here."

"Yes, I plan to do that. You were going to order desserts, correct? What would you like?"

The group ordered dessert.

"What is that, Unnie?"

"It's called cherry cheesecake. You want to try some?"

Leaf ordered a chocolate cake piece for herself but was interested in what Thea ordered. Dessert was the reason the restaurant was popular. There was no other place here that could serve desserts like these.

"Yum!"

Thea gave Leaf a spoonful of the cherry cheesecake.

"You should order it next time."

"Yes!"

Though the price of the dessert was very high because of the difficulty in making them.

After enjoying the desserts, the group paid and left.

"Why was it so expensive..."

Thea was thinking about how much she just had to pay.

"I'm really gonna have to focus on those magic artifacts from now on."

Thea had a lot of magic artifact research to do. Like the mana to water conversion artifact that produced infinite water, that even ordinary people could use. Or the tool that emits fire. Or the magic axe tool that cuts down trees in one shop.

There were also ideas of combat artifacts. The craft of magic artifacts was not respected in this world. People found it very difficult to engrave magic circles on to the materials. So nobody really researched it. It was only Thea that was interested in this craft.

"Can you make one that can make me fly?"

Suddenly, Leaf asked Thea for a custom item.

"Well, I can make you fly already, you know?"

"Yes, but what if you're not around and I want to fly?"

"That's true. I'll try to make it."

"I also want other kids to experience flying."

"Oh, you don't want to keep all the fun to yourself, huh? That's so like you, Leaf."

Leaf felt happy to be praised by Thea.

"Ah, look!"

Janna pointed towards the sky suddenly and called out to the others. In the sky, something wonderful was happening.

It was like the sky was a painting. The usual sky was a lot more colorful as the stars shone with rainbow like colors. All the stars blurred a bit as the attention was drawn to something new in the sky.

A new moon, much bigger than the other moons, hung high in the sky. The clouds swirled under the moon as if they wanted everyone to see the moon in all it's glory.

It was a bright white silver colored moon. Closer to white. It was marvelous.

"Wow."

The group and everyone around awed at the sight. It felt like a wave of mysterious energy suddenly swept through the land and lifted everyone's spirits.

"It's so beautiful..."

Leaf said softly. She turned to look at Thea.

Thea had also witnessed the moon. She found it beautiful too. But after laying her eyes on it, she felt stabs in her body. She felt her consciousness fade away immediately afterwards. The last thing she saw was Leaf shouting her name and Janna rushing towards her.

And she felt something weird in her abdomen.