Chapter 65: Alvis Roswell
"He's been doing this for some time now?" asked Reeve.
"Of course, every time I pass by the market, he's always being chased. I thought he would have been caught by now."
"Is that so? Hmm …" Reeve said, as he appeared to be thinking about something. This young man reminded him of Merezeka, the young man from before. Especially the clothes he was wearing.
"Shall we get moving?" asked Alvis.
"Of course, please lead the way", replied Reeve, trying to sound as polite as he could.
The journey resumed, and they passed by many areas which caught Reeve's attention. Besides the market, there was also a huge temple. There were many people coming from the temple, and they were all wearing brown robes. These were different from those worn by students and professors at Artemine, as these had hoodies.
"That's the temple of Prudentia, the goddess of wisdom. Many people come here to worship her during this time of the day", explained Alvis, as they passed through.
Reeve looked past the white building with interest. He had never been a religious person, even back in his past life. However, his interest had been piqued by Taoism once, even though he ended up giving up after a brief research. He had never believed in gods and deities, until he died and met that deity who introduced himself as the one who controlled reincarnation. When he resurrected, his beliefs had been turned upside down.
"Goddess of wisdom, eh? How many gods are they?" he asked.
"Eh? You don't know how many gods there are?" instead of replying, Alvis asked his own question. He hadn't really looked at Reeve before. Even when he replied to questions, he was absent-minded. Now that he looked at Reeve properly, he ended up gasping loudly. He finally saw the stitches on Reeve's face, and his unkempt brown hair. His pale face made him look like a vampire … eh … if such things existed and had pale faces.
Reeve nudged Riza, who was still looking somber.
"What?" she asked, with a glare.
"Umm … never mind", he responded, when he realized he might not get the answer he was looking for.
"The Sacred Texts speak of the seven gods. However, I can't tell you more information while we're walking. You see, there are open hostilities between the followers of the gods. One wrong word and the entire temple will come after you and your family" as Alvis said this, he had a frown on his face.
"Seems like wherever you go, religious fanatics will always be the cause of calamity…" Reeve sighed as he said this.
The continued to walk, until they arrived at some apartments. These apartments didn't look modern at all. Reeve had seen better apartments, so he wasn't awed by the simple apartment in front of him. In fact, no one flinched, except Eskaria of course, who had never seen anything like it. She had grown up in the Southern Water tribe, and they didn't have houses like these. Well, even back in Sky City, she hadn't had the opportunity to tour the place.
"This is where I live. Come on in", invited Alvis.
When they got inside, they had to go up the stairs in order to get into the apartment.
"I'm home", Alvis said, as he put the books which he was carrying on the table.
"Welcome back. How was work?" asked a lady who came in. She had pale blonde hair which was stunningly long. Her clothes were simple, and she was wearing a yellow apron with an apricot flower on the chest. As she came in, she kissed Alvis.
She continued, "Oh, we have visitors?"
"Honey, remember my old acquaintance from Artemine College, Emeth Wolfe? I just met his younger sister when I was coming back from work", Alvis explained.
"My name is Rizaneth Wolfe, and these are my friends."
Reeve almost threw up. What kind of introduction was this? Had she forgotten their names? Or was she doing this on purpose?
After an awkward cough, Reeve introduced himself, "My name is Reeve, this is Soren and Eskaria."
"Nice to meet you … Reeve, Soren and Eskaria", replied the lady. She continued, "My name is Miranda. Welcome to our humble house. I'm still cooking, you see. Let me get back to cooking."
As she said this, she was already leaving the room. This left Alvis, Soren, Reeve, Riza and Eskaria in the room. Alvis motioned everyone to sit on the table which was right in front of them. Reeve started looking around the room, and to his surprise, there were some portraits of Alvis, his wife and there was even a certificate of sorts put in a frame.
"Right, can you tell me what happened to Emeth?" asked Alvis.
All eyes turned to Riza; whose eyes watered up the moment she heard that name.
"A long time ago, after he returned from Harazade, he decided to pack up all his belongings to leave Sky City. My father was against the idea, since he felt that he wasn't ready for the real world. Of course, Emeth was stubborn. After a brief shouting contest, he left the house.
"However, before he even got far, there was an urgent draft notice to all the graduates from Artemine. He ended up getting drafted along with the Severins' eldest daughter. The reason for the draft notice was the crypt that had been discovered under the waterfall at the edge of Sky City", Riza paused.
Reeve's head was now spinning. There were some suspicious points which he had, but never got a chance to ask. What he didn't expect was this kind of back story. He had been at the Wolfe mansion before, but he had never been given a sign that there was an older brother. In fact, he thought Riza was the eldest sibling of the two.
Completely oblivious to Reeve's suspicions, Riza continued, "The sudden discovery of the crypt was suspicious to my father, but before he could confirm it, Emeth had already been drafted. The draftees went forward with the expedition, along with some of the soldiers sent by the governor. They managed to reach the crypt, but after they entered, only one person managed to return alive!"
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