Night Journey

Chapter 22 Long Holiday
"what……"

After a long groan, Ciri groggily got out of bed.

The sound of rain pattering outside was quite noisy, yet it also felt peaceful, making one want to snuggle back into bed.

As soon as Cillian opened the bedroom door, he saw Ava sitting at the dining table, holding a cookbook, looking distressed.

"What's bothering you?"

Cillian stretched out his body and moved closer to Ava from behind.

Without turning her head, Ava said, "I'm researching a new dish, but many of the ingredients it requires are not available in White Cliff Town. I'm thinking of something to use as a substitute."

"Oh, is that so?"

In Baiya Town, everyone has their own things to do, and in their spare time, everyone has their own hobbies to pursue.

We are all living, breathing human beings, not slaves.

Ava's hobby is cooking, and she tries to make all sorts of new dishes whenever she has time, while Cillian is honored to be the taste tester.

So what kind of dish is it?

"Fried shrimp paste."

Ava held up the recipe book with a puzzled look, pointing to the fading illustrations on the pages. "Is this weird thing a shrimp? It looks so strange, can it really be eaten?"

"Haha."

Cillian was amused by Ava, but this was quickly followed by a sense of helplessness.

Ava has never left White Cliff Town since birth; in her world, all the water is pumped up from underground.

She had never seen a river, let alone understood what the sea was.

“There’s probably no substitute for this,” Cillian explained patiently. “Shrimp are aquatic animals.”

"Ava asked innocently."

"Can we pump them up from underground?"

"I'm afraid not."

"what a pity."

Ava reluctantly turned the page, then looked up at Cillian behind her.

"I remember you said that flowing water, when gathered together, becomes a river, but won't a river dry up in the sun?"

"As long as there is enough water, we won't be afraid of the sun," Cillian said gently.

Her eyes sparkled. "Then, when more rivers converge, they can form what we call a lake?"

"Yes, the lake is very big, extremely big, much bigger than Baiya Town."

"Wow."

Ava put down the recipe and looked toward the open doorway.

Baiya Town has weathered the sweltering summer and is now welcoming the chilly autumn. Several days of heavy rain have washed away the ashes from Baiya Town, leaving everything clean and pristine.

"Then, countless lakes come together to form what is called a sea."

Cillian was troubled. "How should I describe it to you?"

"The sea is vast, so vast that you can't see the end."

"Can't you get through this even if you spend your whole life trying?"

"That's not necessarily true, but for ordinary people, it would certainly be fraught with difficulties."

Cillian continued, "Moreover, the ocean is dark and mysterious, and no one knows exactly what's on the seabed."

"Wow……"

Ava was captivated.

Their relationship had been like this for a long time; Ava would ask about various things in the books, and Cillian would explain them to her vividly.

Even if Cillian described it in great detail, and the illustrations in the book were exquisite, Ava still found it difficult to imagine what the sea actually looked like.

With so much water, it must be so crowded.

A sense of loss enveloped Ava, and she murmured, "I want to see what the ocean is like."

“You will see,” Cillian promised. “Besides the sea, there are many other magnificent sights in the world that we will all see.”

“Hehe, before, when you said that, I just thought you were trying to coax me,” Ava chuckled slyly, “but now, I believe you, Cillian.”

As an ordinary person, Cirion's words were mere daydreaming, but as the Torchbearer, Cirion's promises of all this were destined to become a reality.

Cillian confidently affirmed, "Of course, I am a very responsible person and never break my word."

Ava closed the cookbook. "As a reward, you decide what to eat tonight."

“I can’t make a decision by myself, I’ll go ask them.”

Cillian pointed to the ceiling and went up the stairs to the second floor.

Both Mick and Tim's doors were slightly ajar, indicating that there was no need to knock, but Cillian still deliberately made loud footsteps and came to Mick's room first.

The bedroom was clean and tidy, with paintings hanging on the walls, but upon closer inspection, one would find that they were actually jigsaw puzzles.

Mick's hobby is jigsaw puzzles. He enjoys spending a lot of time piecing together broken pieces, and even the most anxious heart finds peace in the process.

It is said that Mick used this method to get through the difficult time when he felt the immense grief of losing his parents.

"Yo, Mick."

Cillian greeted him, came to his side, and glanced at the puzzle. "Did you make this new one?"

Mick wasn't quite satisfied with the puzzle. "Hmm, it took me a while, but the difficulty still doesn't feel right."

Baiya Town has limited resources, so there aren't many hobbies that can be satisfied.

Although Cillian's bedroom is filled with books, he has already read them countless times. Similarly, most of Mick's jigsaw puzzles are made by himself.

He would find wooden planks, draw pictures on them, cut them into rough pieces, and then put them back together.

Cillian sometimes admired Mick's self-amusement, and at other times felt a strange sadness from his behavior.

"When you reassemble a pattern you drew yourself, you'll definitely feel a sense of familiarity, so the difficulty will naturally be very low."

Cillian reminded him, "When you have time, I'll draw one for you, and then you can put it together."

As the youngest of the Soflowai brothers, he was well taken care of by everyone.

Cillian and others would often use their poor drawing skills to leave scribbled patterns on wooden boards, then cut them into pieces for Mick to slowly piece together.

He always had a lot of fun.

Cillian ruffled his hair vigorously and asked, "What are you planning to eat tonight?"

Mick replied without hesitation, "Mushroom soup, I'd like it sweeter."

"it is good."

Cillian turned and headed toward Tim's room.

If Cillian's room is filled with an atmosphere of knowledge, and Mick's room has the innocence of a child, then Tim's room is a barbarian's lair.

There was no bed in the bedroom, only a mattress in the corner. A horizontal iron pipe served as a clothes rack, with clothes hanging haphazardly on it, piled high.

Besides that, the bedroom is filled with all sorts of homemade fitness equipment.

As soon as he entered the room, Cillian saw Tim doing weighted squats, his muscles bulging with blood and veins popping out.

Compared to others, Tim's hobby was simple and crude; he only thought about honing his body, heading in the direction of becoming a humanoid giant bear with no return.

But Cillian knew that Tim wasn't a muscle-bound guy; for him, this hobby was more like an obsession.

“You haven’t seen Tim when he was little. He was even thinner than Mick is now.”

During a casual conversation, Mayor Paul once said this to Cillian.

"But then something happened that caused such a big change in him."

At this point, Mayor Paul's face revealed an unconcealable sadness.

"At that time, Tim was the youngest child in Sofrova. The failed cult triggered a widespread invasion of chaos. He and the other children were hiding in the house when the demons screamed and pounded on the door."

It took him a long time to muster the courage to speak up about what happened next.

"Tim was too young and too weak at that time. He couldn't hold the door open. The demons broke in and killed everyone."

Tim survived being crushed by the collapsing gate, but ever since then, he has always wondered if things would have turned out differently if he had been stronger.

Mayor Paul recounted the tragic ending.

"Later on, he became the person you are familiar with."

……

Upon seeing Cillian arrive, Tim stopped exercising, wiped the sweat from his brow, and sat down in a corner to rest.

"Tim, sometimes you need to pay attention not only to your personal image, but also to the style of your bedroom."

Cillian quipped at the opportune moment, "If you bring other girls in, they'll just be terrified."

"If they are terrified of me or even hate me for this reason, it just shows that they are nothing special."

Tim grinned and handed him a heavy dumbbell.

"Try lifting it up."

Cillian calmly raised it above his head.

Tim asked curiously, "How does it feel?"

“It’s a bit heavy, but still within a manageable range,” Cillian remarked. “The physical abilities of superhumans are far superior to those of ordinary people.”

Tim said with delight, "That's something to look forward to."

“What are you planning to eat?” Cillian got back to the point. “Ava is waiting.”

"Let's have some pancakes," Tim said, rubbing his stomach. "The more the merrier, I've got a big appetite."

"Then we'll have to trouble Ava."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

The heavy rain fell from morning till night, seemingly without end, as if time had frozen at this moment.

Mick took a nap on the sofa on the first floor. It was his turn to patrol tonight, so he wanted to rest as much as possible.

Tim had just finished showering, rinsing off the sweat, and was staring blankly at the heavy rain outside the door with a towel over his head.

Ava busied herself at the stove, preparing different dinners according to everyone's requests. At the same time, she would occasionally fantasize about what fried shrimp paste would taste like.

Normally, Cillian would pick up a book and read while waiting for dinner to begin, but this time he simply sat quietly on the stairs.

The sound of the pattering rain is peaceful and beautiful.

(End of this chapter)