CHAPTER 17

Amir and Hanan shouted in surprise and hurriedly followed the child in the distance. He ran so fast that Amir, who was with Hirayon, couldn't catch up. Even Hanan was surprised at how fast Hirayon could run.

They all thought that he would jump in the water, but then he stopped at the edge. Crouching down and looking at something.

Hirayon stared at the creature with wide eyes. The snake-like Auveast was still playing and circling the vehicle without any care in its surrounding. Its tail and fin flapped smoothly, making his movements look like he was dancing in the sea.

When it finally noticed Hirayon, it stopped and hissed at the child. Clearly upset and wary at Hirayon, who was beaming a smile.

Hirayon felt great as he finally found the connection he had been looking for earlier. He doesn't know how to explain what it is, but something about the Auveast makes him happy and content.

The creature was a small snake with an iridescent body. Its blue skin color changes into violet, pink, and green every time it moves together with its long flowy fin at its back that seems like hair. Its eyes were shining black and round but turned into slits when alarmed.

"Hello, can you be my pet?" Hirayon asked and reached out to the water, trying to reach the snake.

However, the Auveast was alarmed and did what he could to defend himself from the unknown child, so he bit. He sunk his sharp fangs into Hirayon's hand that immediately bled.

When Hanan, who had just arrived, saw his son's hand, he stilled and glared at the snake. He was ready to kill the creature who dared to injure Hirayon when his son pulled his hand with the snake still biting and hugged the Auveast.

"It's fine. It doesn't hurt," Hirayon said, caressing the snake's smooth iridescent body.

"Hirayon, let go of that thing and let's heal your wound," Hanan said with gritted teeth. He wanted to slice the snake into pieces but didn't want to let Hirayon see his brutality.

"He is scared, Dad," Hirayon said as he looked at the confused snake still biting into his hand.

"I don't care. Bring it down," Hanan said.

Hirayon shook his head. "No, you're gonna hurt him," Hirayon whined. He knew that even though Hanan showed him a lot of care and kindness, Hanan could be cruel and uncaring to others.

"He bit you," Hanan stated, not buying Hirayon's whining.

"Because I surprised him," Hirayon reasoned.

"That doesn't change the fact that he hurt you. That thing can't be a pet," Hanan said, his patience growing thin.

When Hirayon heard that, he pouted and hugged the snake tighter. His eyes were watery from thinking that the snake won't be his pet.

"Are you crying?" Hanan asked in bewilderment. He couldn't understand why Hirayon would defend something that inflicted him harm to the point of crying.

"Because you said he can't be my pet," Hirayon said with tears flowing down his face. Normally the child wouldn't cry for something like this, but because of the connection he felt, he was feeling more hurt and emotional.

"But..." Hanan trailed, speechless, and didn't know what to do. It was the first time he saw the Hirayon cry, and his mind stopped working. He couldn't think of anything to do or say.

When Zeno saw that, he immediately whispered to Hanan, "Chief, let Hirayon have that for his pet."

Even though Zeno is also mad at the Auveast for harming the child, he could see that Hirayon would be extremely upset if they didn't allow him to have the snake.

"But that thing bit him," Hanan said in a low annoyed voice.

"Yes, but you need to understand the young master's feelings. It looked like he felt a great connection to the Auveast. We could train the snake so it won't harm him in the future," he said, trying to convince his chief.

Hanan contemplated as he really didn't like the Auveast, but when he saw how devastated Hirayon looked with its hand still bleeding, he decided to follow what Zeno said.

"That thing will be trained," Hanan said, approaching the crying child. The snake was no longer biting Hirayon and instead was looking at the child with its wide eyes, observing Hirayon, who was holding him softly in his embrace.

"Let me see your hand," Hanan said, gently taking his son's hand to see how deep the wound was. When he realized it wasn't too deep, he let out a breath and called for Amir, who had the ability to heal.

While Amir was treating Hirayon's wound, the small snake crawled and settled on the child's head. He coiled its body and then decided to sleep.

"What even is that thing?" Hanan asked, still mad at the snake.

"It's a type of fighting snake, chief. They are usually aggressive and live far away from other creatures. I don't know where this little one came from, but it looked like it was just born," Lev said while examining the snake.

"They like shiny things. He might've seen your car and followed it here," he added.

"Can that be a pet?" Hanan asked with a frown, still reluctant to let the snake near his son.

"Yes, but rarely. As they are aggressive, it is quite difficult to train. They are also free-spirited and do whatever they want," Lev explained. When Hanan's frown deepened, he cleared his throat and added, "But they are powerful and could use up to two elements. I heard an oddity before using a fighting snake as his guard."

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"I don't care if it's strong. What I want to know is can that thing be trained," Hanan said sternly.

Cold sweat ran down Lev's back as Hanan stared at him contemptuously. The poor man became the receiver of Hanan's frustration toward the snake. "I can't promise anything, but I will try my best," Lev said.

After Hirayon's hand healed, he quickly touched his head and carefully grabbed the Auveast. Unlike earlier, that the snake was alarmed and wary, it was more comfortable now and even snuggled into Hirayon's hand, enjoying its warmth.

"I'm Hirayon. You don't have a name yet, right?" Hirayon said, talking to the snake, who just tilted his head.

"Can that be really trained? It looked stupid," Hanan commented snarkily as he watched the creature and his son bond.

"It's just a baby, chief. It will learn..." Zeno said, earning a glare from Hanan, "...if it's not really stupid," he added and looked elsewhere.

"I think he will make a great pet," Amir suddenly said, garnering everyone's gaze.

When he felt Hanan's questioning eyes, he explained. "As Head Lev said, fighting snakes is aggressive, really aggressive. I met one before when I was hunting, and they're ruthless. Although what I met was already an adult, I think that snake is gentler and already fond of the young master."

Zeno nodded. "Yeah, and Hirayon felt connected to it. A connection can't be made alone. I'm sure that the snake could feel it too and might eventually become the young masters' protector," he added.

When Hanan looked at his son again, Hirayon was smiling and happy again. He doesn't really care about what people are saying about Auveasts as a protector, but what matters to him is Hirayon's happiness and safety.

Now that he couldn't take the snake away, he will try his best to protect Hirayon in all possible ways.

"Train that thing hard. Make it learn not to harm Hirayon," Hanan said to Lev and approached Hirayon, who was playing with the snake's fin.

"Let's go now," he said and helped the child get up from sitting on the floor.

"Leave that," he said, which made Hirayon look at him in surprise. His eyes were expectant and still slightly red from crying.

"That thing needs to be trained," he added to avoid making the child sad.

"How long will it take?" Hirayon asked, feeling sullen that he had to be away from the Auveast, but he understood that it needed the training to stay by his side.

"A month."

"A month?!" Lev reacted loudly, but Hanan acted like he heard nothing.

The time his chief gave him was really short. It usually takes half a year to train a regular Auveast, what more for an aggressive and free-spirited one. He was basically given an impossible task.

He didn't know if the chief never planned to make the Auveast the young master's pet in the first place and was just making an excuse to get rid of the pet, but training a pet for a month is obviously unthinkable. He still won't have enough time even if he forgoes his sleep.

"If that thing can't learn to act as a harmless pet in a month, you'll have to look for another pet. Do you understand?" Hanan asked, not letting Hirayon refute at all. Contrary to his belief that Hirayon would complain, he only nodded and bid farewell to the snake.

"I'll see you in a month, so train well so I can bring you into the mansion," he said as if the snake could understand him.

When they were in the car on their way back, Zeno decided to ask Hirayon. "Do you think he will behave after training in a month?"

Hirayon nodded, really confident. "Yes."

"Why is that?" Zeno curiously asked.

"Because he is smart."

"You could tell that it is smart?" Zeno asked with amusement.

"Yes, he told me himself," Hirayon admitted.

Zeno chuckled, "The snake told you that? What else did he say?" He asked, not believing what Hirayon was saying as he thought it was just a child's wild imagination.

Hirayon contemplated for a moment, looking at Zeno with analyzing eyes. When Zeno gave him a smile, he answered. "He said that he already marked me so he could find me wherever I go."

Zeno's eyes widened slightly. He never expected Hirayon to say that. "Really? That snake could do that?"

"Yes, but he said that since he's still a baby, his ability is not strong yet, so he can't travel yet to my location," Hirayon said seriously, which made Zeno doubt for a moment if what the child was saying was real. But then he saw Amir look at them with an amused smile, making him realize that what he had heard was absurd. He only knew a little about Auveasts, but if they could do that, Amir would have said something. After all, Amir almost became the next head of the sanctuary only if Hirayon did not arrive.

"That's unfortunate. Maybe when it grew up, it could find you even if you were in a different territory," Zeno said, continuing the conversation about what he thinks was from Hirayon's creative imagination.

Hirayon shrugged. "Maybe, we will know once he grows up more. He said he will be an adult soon."

Zeno smirked, "That snake sounds like any other four-year-old who acts like a grown-up already."

Hirayon looked at Zeno with confusion. "But he's not four. He is ninety-six."

Zeno stilled for a moment, then shut his mouth to prevent himself from laughing. He can't believe how far Hirayon's imagination goes. He doesn't know about other children, but he is sure that his young master's imagination is wild.

'how could a ninety-six-year-old snake be a baby? That's a first,' he thought, laughing hard in his mind.

"But it's true," Hirayon said seriously when he saw Zeno's contorted face.

"How could you tell that he is not lying to you?" Zeno asked with a suppressed chuckle. He was still entertained by their conversation.

"He showed me his memories," Hirayon answered. No hint of lying could be seen in his eyes.

Zeno's thoughts stopped. He couldn't catch up to the absurdity of what Hirayon had said. "He what? And what was in his memories?"

Hirayon didn't speak for a moment, then he smirked. "You were in there. You were a kid, and you got slapped by a fish."

"Huh?!"

"Pfft."

Amir burst out in a huge fit of a laugh while Hanan tried to suppress his. He had been listening to the two since earlier, and he never imagined that it would reach the point where he would hear about Zeno being slapped by a fish.

"I was never slapped by a fish!" Zeno said defensively.

"You did. It's because you stole his food," Hirayon stated.

"I stole what?! Why would I even steal something a fish would eat?" He asked, feeling extremely wronged by the absurdity of Hirayon's claims.

"I don't know. Maybe you're hungry?" Hirayon said with annoyance which made Hanan laugh.

"He might be envious of the fish because Veno was taking care of it more," Hanan said with a chuckle. He could still remember how Zeno had whined to him when he was younger that his father didn't love him anymore because Veno didn't buy him the game console he wanted but bought their pet fish a new aquarium.

"I was not!" Zeno said and crossed his arms. He was the one feeling amused earlier, but now he has become the source of amusement.

"So what else did the snake say?" Amir asked with a smile.

"You mean his memories?" Hirayon confirmed.

"Yes. What else did he show you?"

Hirayon glanced at his father then answered, "He showed me from his memories how happy the clan residents are because Dad is their chief."

Hanan looked at Hirayon with surprise. "They are happy?"

Hirayon nodded. "Yes. They were all smiling."

Hanan stared at his son momentarily and then looked outside the car window. "Is that so."

Zeno and Amir exchanged delighted looks. Hanan didn't show it, but they could feel that he was relieved hearing that the residents were happy. Even if Hirayon only invented what he said, the two were glad to make their ever-stern chief feel his hard work acknowledged.

Being a chief is not an easy task. Even if an oddity was able to become a Prime, dealing with clan work and carrying that responsibility is different from beating monsters. With no help from the previous chief, Hanan rose to his position with perseverance and hard work. He might not show it to others, but all the residents of the clan knew what trouble he had gone through.

That is why no matter how cold and cruel he looked, they loved and respected Hanan because they knew their chief always had and would always protect, love, and care for the Water Clan.

R E H I L I Y A