As they reached the house, Alex saw Susan and Eve by the riverside.
Susan was meditating, and Eve was playing around.
Alex poked Marc's side and signaled with his head toward the girls, then both of them started approaching.
Eve, seeing Alex return, rushed to greet him and ask him to play, but when she noticed Marc beside him, she suddenly stopped and hid behind Susan's back—the same way she had when they first met.
Susan, feeling her daughter hide behind her, opened her eyes to see what was happening.
She saw Alex accompanied by a man and immediately understood why Eve reacted that way.
"Oh, hello Alex. And who might this gentleman be?" Susan asked.
"Hi Susan, hi Eve. This is Marc, the best friend I told you about."
"H-hi…" said Eve from behind Susan.
"Hmm… the way you talked about him gave me the impression he was your age…" Susan said, tilting her head slightly.
"And he is. Marc's just a few months older than me," Alex replied.
"…What?" Susan had a myriad of questions but held them back.
"Yes, he's fourteen years old, even though he doesn't look like a teen at all," Alex clarified.
Marc took that as his cue. He stepped forward and introduced himself.
"Hello, ma'am. I'm Marc. I grew up with Alex at the orphanage. I'd like to thank you for adopting him. He might not look like it, but he's a softie—and he'll probably bottle things up until you poke him enough, or until he actually decides to tell you on his own. He's also a bit of a troublemaker, but still, he has a kind heart—well… most of the time."
Marc started yapping incessantly about Alex's personality, which made Alex elbow him in the side.
"Also—Agh!" Marc grimaced in pain.
"Shut up," said Alex, smiling—but not really smiling.
"Fufufu… You and I will get along just fine, Marc. We'll talk more about that later," Susan said, amused and intrigued. She wanted to learn more about Alex, but she couldn't just ask him directly—As Marc said, Alex was the type to keep things to himself.
"Ugh… You really don't need to," Alex muttered, not wanting Susan and Marc gossiping about him. Who knew what kind of stories Marc would tell?
"Ah, but now I want to talk to him more, Alex. You know how I am—trying to stop me will only make me more curious," Susan teased.
"So… how about you play with Eve for a while, and I take Marc for a cup of tea, hmm?" Susan said, squinting playfully.
"Actually, I brought him here because—" Alex tried to refuse, but—
"It can wait until later, Alex. There's no rush, right?" Marc cut him off.
"He's right, Alex. There's no haste," Susan added with a laugh.
"Just know that if you tell her something embarrassing about me, I'll tell her something double embarrassing about you," Alex warned.
"I'll take my chances," said Marc with a grin.
Alex was left alone with Eve. He bent down to her level and said, "Eve, you can't be like your mom. You have to be better, okay?"
Eve nodded seriously.
"Good. Now, what do you want to play?" Alex asked, satisfied. He started playing with her—despite her change in diet, Eve still had plenty of energy left even after school.
After a while, Eve finally tired out. Alex used water magic to wash her face and carried her back home.
As he approached the house, he heard laughter coming from inside.
"Fufu, so that's how it is…" he heard Susan say.
He knocked on the door, and Marc opened it.
"Oh! Hello, Alex. Hello, Eve," Marc said, a mischievous smile on his lips.
Alex's mouth twitched, but he resisted the urge to kick Marc—it would set a bad example for Eve.
After putting Eve to bed, Alex returned to the living room.
"Ah, Alex," Marc began. "I was just telling Susan about that time you learned to lockpick a door from a book at eight so you could steal cookies from the pantry. And to erase suspicion, you left one cookie at every kid's bed—though you forgot that Mary had seen you picking the lock. Ah! I can still picture your face when Mary told you she knew—it still makes me laugh."
"Fufu, you were such a naughty kid… well, you still are," Susan added.
"Sure, sure. Anyway, Marc, I really need to talk to you. Come to my room," Alex said, his tone serious.
Marc knew that look—it didn't matter how casual Alex sounded, he knew what was coming. So, preparing himself, he stood and turned to Susan.
"Thanks, Susan, the tea was delicious. Now, I'll face my destiny."
"You're welcome, Marc. We'll have to do this again sometime," she said.
As the two boys walked to Alex's room and closed the door, Susan soon heard Marc's screams of pain from the other side.
"Fufufufu…" she chuckled, finding her household much livelier with Marc's addition.
Inside the room, after giving Marc a healthy dose of "affection," they both sat on the bed.
Marc was still rubbing his side—the main target of Alex's love.
"Tomorrow afternoon, I'll start working at the alchemy shop. Lately, I've been thinking… I want to go to a magic academy since I've already started down the mage path. I want to grow—to earn money for my family and have the strength to protect them," Alex explained.
"I'm telling you this because I want to ask what you want to do now that we're finally free from Rilven and all that mess."
Marc looked at Alex with a satisfied smile.
"I'm glad you finally found something to live for, Alex. As for me, I already told you—I want to become a knight. And the academy happens to be where that starts. So yeah, I'm all in."
"Good. Then, let's go to the village. You'll sign up as a hunter while I head to the library to study a bit about elements. After you finish, meet me, and we'll select a second element for you at the magic shop," Alex said.
Marc agreed, and they both stood up.
After saying goodbye to Susan, they left the house and began working toward their next steps.