KNOCK! CLICK.

  After knocking once, Eric entered Bella Noll's office as usual.

  Bella Noll didn't even sigh at Eric's rude behavior; she had already gone numb from it.

  After striding in, Eric saw the same sight of the office, which had barely changed, except instead of two chairs on the guest’s side, it now had three.

  Two chairs on both sides were currently occupied by two of the tallest girls in the entire town.

  Both girls had become so beautiful and had started to develop feminine curves that Eric always felt his hormones were beating him up from the inside.

  Since both Lyria and Livy were above 6 ft, their figures were also much more mature than what mere 11-year-old kids should have. As girls, they had hit puberty long before Eric.

  Every day, Eric had to take cold showers three times and curse his hormones twenty-one times to calm them down.

  Eric's gaze then shifted toward the main seat, where Bella Noll sat with a smile.

  His expression didn’t change, but he always felt speechless watching her.

  Every year, Bella Noll seemed to age faster, almost as if one year equaled multiple years for her. Her age was speeding up rapidly, it was fairly obvious, and according to Livy and Lyria, she probably didn’t even have 10 years left...

  If Bella Noll agreed to get cured and live longer, then even he, who wasn’t planning to return to town, might be willing to revisit a few times. Not because of any dislike for the town—he just didn’t want to get too attached to any single place.

  Eric sighed internally. He walked up and sat on the empty chair between the two girls, giving them all a greeting smile.

  Lyria and Livy were the first to congratulate him: "Happy Birthday, Brother Eric!" Both were secretly happy. Every year, they turned older than Eric a few months before him, and it was awkward for all of them.

  Eric thanked them with a nod.

  "Next is me—Happy Birthday, Eric!" Bella Noll smiled happily. She was very satisfied with Eric, Lyria, and Livy’s growth.

  "Now that you three are here, I guess I’ll unveil your birthday gifts."

  Bella Noll hadn’t given any gifts to either Lyria or Livy, as she was waiting for Eric’s birthday so she could give them all at once.

  "I’ve thought it through, and to be honest, I don’t think I have anything to give to any of you. Physical materials in this town aren’t something amazing, and you children can easily obtain them if you wish. Previous birthday gifts were too boring, so I decided to spice things up and increase the difficulty of your training!"

  All three masochists’ eyes lit up. They cared about this the most! They had long been corrupted and loved corruption the most!

  Bella Noll nodded in satisfaction at their enthusiasm.

  She continued: "You’re all aware that so far, all the training has mostly focused on balance, strength, accuracy, and control. This training will continue, but it will move to the morning."

  "That’s right—I’ll teach during both morning and evening sessions!"

  All three abused children got even more excited. Morning exercises were basically self-guided. Sometimes they repeated the previous evening’s exercises, but often skipped them due to exhaustion—just like today. Other times, they dueled each other. But no matter what they tried, self-training always lacked the 'spice' of Bella Noll’s torture!

  In short, they had all turned into hardcore veteran masochists!

  "Alright, I know—by now, your heads have turned to muscle, and that’s not good. So, the evening training won’t be that hard. This time, I’ll properly teach you different ways to use weapons and skills. That includes basic battle-understanding, movement, bare-hand combat, and various skills I’ve picked up or discovered during my time as an adventurer."

  All three depraved souls immediately got depressed as those trainings wouldn’t push them to hell.

  Bella Noll laughed at their 'cute' expressions: "Don’t worry—body training will still be in the mornings. There are many areas to improve upon. Above all, balance, accuracy, and awareness training have no limit, even for a mortal. In fact, this training will yield far greater returns once you become Mana Wielder."

  Bella Noll paused, seeing the trio’s 'Is that all?' expressions. She smiled: "I don’t know what the future holds for you three, so starting tomorrow, I’ll teach you extra life skills I’ve learned over time. To be honest, I hope you children stay and live happily in this town, but none of you are docile. These teachings might not be immediately useful, but they could also be. I’ll hold this class every second afternoon in this room."

  Eric hesitated. He usually did his Mana Channeling training in the afternoons.

  Bella Noll glanced at his worried expression and smiled: "Don’t worry, I know you’re secretly doing Mana Sensing training, which you secretly learnt behind my back. Since evening training is less severe, you can do your Mana Sensing at night."

  Eric was embarrassed about getting caught, but he already expected that. He needed to heal his Mana Veins, which he still hadn’t told Bella Noll about but planned to eventually. Either way, what Bella Noll suggested was indeed not bad. He could do Mana Channeling during the night if the evening training wasn’t too tiring.

  "During this afternoon class, what I will mainly be teaching will be management, accounting, and other desk work from my experience," Bella Noll specified, as it seemed neither of the three understood her previous words.

  Both Eric and Livy were shocked and trembled. Their expressions turned devastated, almost as if they saw the end of the world. But Lyria was quite interested.

  In truth, the person who was best in mathematics and calculation among the three was Livy! Yes, even she didn’t understand how, but whenever she focused, she got everything right in the blink of an eye.

  Even Lyria, who was behind Livy, always tried her best to beat her but always got trampled. Despite this, Lyria enjoyed mathematics and management-related things the most, while Livy followed Eric’s honorable example and didn’t like doing them.

  Both Lyria and Livy were filled with contradictions. For example, Lyria loved to fight bare-fisted but especially adored weapons and metals—not to use, but just to admire.

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  Livy spoke with a shaky voice, "B-but why... I don’t wish to sit behind a desk like you, Grandma!" She also loved to learn things that were interesting but not desk work!

  Lyria glared at Livy with annoyance. Just when would she learn not to be so direct?!

  Eric was also devastated, as he was terrible at mathematics.

  He still remembered, during his younger days in his past life, when his teacher asked him: If a warehouse filled with grains was emptied by 45%, then how much would remain?

  Eric answered without hesitation—50%!

  Who cared about the extra 5%? If people were so logical, then all adventure in life would be gone!

  And, unsurprisingly, Eric was beaten and kicked out of the classroom.

  Bella Noll laughed. Of course, she didn’t mind Livy’s direct disdain for desk work. She replied in her gentle tone, "As I mentioned in the past, no learning is wasted, especially when it comes to skills. You never know when you’ll need to apply them. And even if you don’t, just learning them will give you confidence in life."

  "These studies aren’t something your children can’t handle or are too difficult. I just wish to teach Hannah these things, and you all should take this chance to learn while it’s available. You don’t need to pass—just understanding the process will help you in dealing with various matters in life."

  Lyria completely agreed. She was very interested in learning all that.

  Eric understood that Bella Noll was already training Hannah to be her successor at the orphanage. It made sense, as Hannah was practically the oldest and almost the permanent worker, and she also helped with Bella Noll’s other shops. Even when Hannah was pregnant and after delivery, she brought her son to the orphanage and took care of him there—despite some people’s protests, as it sounded quite ominous.

  "That’s all. Now go downstairs—Hannah’s couple wishes to take your children shopping. It might rain this morning or afternoon, so you all should hurry." She paused briefly and added, "Eric, stay behind. I wish to speak with you privately for a moment."

  The three of them nodded. Lyria and Livy didn’t think much of it and left the office.

  Eric stayed. He was quite curious about what Bella Noll wanted to say to him specifically.

  Bella Noll turned to observe the darkening skies outside her window and stayed silent for a few moments.

  She then turned back and smiled. "Eric, I’ve thought it through and decided to tell you how you arrived at this orphanage. Perhaps it might give you some clues—if you ever wish to seek out your past in the future."

  Eric was surprised, though he didn’t really care all that much. But listening wouldn’t bother him, so he nodded.

  Bella Noll began, nine years ago, on the night of this very day.

  ---

  It was late at night, and Bella Noll was finishing some work in her office.

  A few candles burned, providing necessary light. The window was closed, as it was raining heavily outside.

  Out of nowhere, with a loud crash, the window was forcefully pushed open from outside, and an old man in a black suit barged in, fell onto the floor, and began coughing.

  Bella Noll was shocked and swiftly jumped out of her seat.

  She prepared herself to fight, but after a moment, nothing happened. The intruder remained on his knees, cradling something tightly in his arms.

  Bella Noll observed the intruder and quickly understood that this man wasn’t an assassin or thief.

  He was heavily injured, his clothes torn in various places, and seemed to be carrying a child, possibly a boy, mostly covered and protected.

  Even though it was raining heavily outside, not a single drop of water was on the intruder’s body, only bloodstains.

  When the man stood up, Bella Noll was horrified.

  There was a massive gaping hole in the middle of his chest—his heart, surrounding organs, and even his spine were completely obliterated. She could see a portion of the night sky and rain through it.

  Bella Noll was truly shocked. She had seen enough gory and gruesome sights, but all those people were already dead with such injuries.

  This only showed the man in front of her was an expert beyond her understanding.

  The man's presence was completely suppressed, so Bella Noll could not judge his Rank, but just the blood, which refused to land on the floor, completely terrorized her internally for some unknown reason.

  Bella Noll doubted this man was even a Master Rank, perhaps beyond that. And such a powerhouse was so gravely injured?

  She started worrying.

  If the man was running away from his pursuers, then wouldn’t his attacker soon catch up?

  She could not deal with an opponent who could put such a large hole into a 'still-alive' person.

  She wasn’t worried for her own life, but for the people in the orphanage and the town as a whole, as these powerful people could easily wipe out a defenseless town like Ringwood with just a slap.

  She eventually calmed down, seeing the man was fairly calm, as if he was not worried about any pursuer. He was also strangely calm despite having such a big hole in his chest.

  Bella Noll suddenly felt weird.

  This man, with his outfit along with his diligent and stern expression, kind of made her feel he was probably a butler of some noble family…

  She was utterly speechless at her own guess.

  Such a strong person was just a servant? Just which family could even afford it? It was impossible!

  Bella Noll understood this man coming to this place was probably no coincidence. He was without a doubt a Master Rank or higher, and so he should have Spiritual Sense, and through that, he must have found the orphanage and come to her to pass the child to her?

  Her eyes invariably moved toward the sleeping boy on the man’s arm, whom the man seemed to be protecting more than his own life, as not even dust, blood, or rain was on the child, and he was sleeping peacefully even though his caretaker was so severely injured.

  The child wasn’t a newborn or infant and seemed to be a toddler.

  The man didn’t speak and just raised his hands a little, and the child flew and landed gently on Bella Noll’s office table.

  He then pointed at the boy and said two words: "Zephyrion Nightglow." At the same time, he pulled out two rainbow-colored, palm-sized gold coins out of nowhere and threw them toward Bella Noll.

  Bella Noll caught the coins mid-air without hesitation.

  If the man wanted to harm her, she would anyway be helpless to resist. Even if the man was injured and about to die, even if he might not have any stamina or Mana remaining, he could still kill her easily, as his basic stats would be far too high for any lower Rank to resist in any way.

  As soon as Bella Noll caught the coins, the first thing she noticed was how lightweight they were.

  The two coins were also fairly big, almost covering her entire palm. They had strange patterns, symbols, or some unknown language drawn on them. Overall, the coins were very pretty, radiating a very subtle, unusual rainbow color. She couldn’t recognize the metal or the language.

  Nonetheless, both coins were without a doubt very expensive and priceless objects.

  Bella Noll just glanced at the coins for a split second, and when she looked up, the intruder-butler had disappeared.

  No trace of his existence remained—only the boy on the table, the wide-open window, and two strange coins in her hand.

  Bella Noll understood that the coins were payment for taking care of the boy. But the butler didn’t have to, as she would have done it anyway without payment, not to mention she had no idea where to sell the coins or what their price could be.

  She sighed ruefully.

  Another day in Celestia, another weird situation.

  She turned toward the child, who was sleeping peacefully on her table. She had no idea of his age, but he was definitely over one year and perhaps close to two.

  She gently lifted the child into her arms. But as soon as she lifted him up, he woke and opened his bright blue eyes.

  Suddenly, her heart shook violently.

  Out of nowhere, Bella Noll suddenly had a strong intuitive feeling that the boy in her arms might turn the world upside down and destroy all legends that ever existed in this world.

  It was a very weird sensation she had never experienced or felt before in her life, but for some unexplainable reason, she was almost certain of it.

  Or perhaps it was truly just her imagination.

  Bella Noll shook her head and chuckled softly. Maybe she was just too mentally tired.

  He might become a legend, but at this moment, he was just a toddler!

  Bella Noll closely observed the boy’s eyes and felt that she had never seen such pretty blue eyes—even within the dim light of the room, his eyes seemed to have a bright glow of their own.

  It made her wonder if the ‘Nightglow’ title was for this reason.

  The boy was staring at her with full concentration, almost as if he was trying his best to recognize her.

  Watching the boy’s extremely focused expression, she couldn’t help but start laughing. That expression was really cute on a baby.

  She thought a little and gently said, "From now on, your name shall be... Eric. Hmm, that’s good enough. And today will mark your second birthday!"

  Bella Noll had to change the boy’s name just in case whoever attacked the butler might try to seek him out in the future. Also, that name might bring the boy more trouble than benefit. So, it was better to change the name to something entirely different. As for the birthday, since he was still just a child, it was important to mark his birthday to take care of various things. Later, when he grew up, age or any specific date wouldn’t really matter.