Time passed imperceptibly. Now, it had been exactly one year since Arthur was in the village.
That night, he lay calmly in the baby cradle being rocked slowly by Grandpa Jack. After a year of observation, Arthur began to notice a few strange things about his current location.
'Most people here use Chinese-style names, but there are also some who use Western names. Strangely, those who use Western names generally only use a single identifying word, like Grandpa Jack and Mama Mia. I haven't found anyone else who has a two-word family name like mine,' Arthur analyzed inwardly. 'Aside from the naming issue, the mysterious energy flowing in the air of this world...'
Arthur's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Grandpa Jack's hoarse voice.
"Ah-Long... aren't you sleepy yet? It's already late at night, why haven't you gone to sleep, child?" complained the old man while yawning widely, his eyes already half-closed from exhaustion.
Seeing that the old man taking care of him was extremely exhausted, Arthur's sympathy welled up. 'Oh, it seems Rou-dono is very sleepy. I'd better tell him to rest first, I can continue the rest tomorrow,' Arthur thought.
Unconsciously carrying over his speaking habits from his past life, Arthur opened his tiny mouth and spoke in a calm tone—a tone completely unfitting for a one-year-old baby.
"Go to sleep, Rou-dono."
In a half-conscious state due to the overwhelming drowsiness, Grandpa Jack only responded reflexively. "Alright, Grandpa will go to sleep. You should rest too, Ah-Long..." he muttered casually.
The old man slowly stood up from his chair and was just about to walk away. However, a second later, his steps froze stiffly. His consciousness instantly returned one hundred percent as if struck by lightning.
Grandpa Jack turned his body stiffly, staring at the baby cradle with wide, bulging eyes.
"E-eh... wait a minute. What did you just say?!"
Arthur slightly lifted his head from inside the cradle. He stared straight at Grandpa Jack with an innocent face, then repeated his sentence with extremely clear articulation.
"Go to sleep, Rou-dono."
"!!!" Grandpa Jack gasped heavily. He immediately jumped back toward the cradle, his drowsiness evaporating without a trace.
"You... you just spoke?! Oh my goodness, you said your first words!!" the old man shouted, hysterical with joy, his shrill voice successfully shattering the silence of Holy Spirit Village's night.
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'Why does it always end up like this again?' Arthur complained inwardly with a bit of annoyance.
This morning, the porch of Grandpa Jack's house was invaded once again. He was surrounded yet again by the villagers, especially the incredibly rowdy crowd of mothers.
"Is it true that Ah-Long can already speak?" asked one enthusiastic young mother.
"Yes! I heard it myself last night, Grandpa Jack screaming in joy until his voice could be heard from my house!" replied another.
"If so, Ah-Long... can you say my name?" coaxed Mei Qin, who was embracing Arthur with tenderness.
Arthur looked up slowly, staring at the woman's face, then pointed at her with his tiny finger. "Mei Qin," he said with extremely clear articulation and a tone entirely too calm for a baby.
Gasp! As if her chest had just been pierced by an invisible arrow of love, Mei Qin's face instantly flushed bright red. Her legs went weak and she almost fell backward if she hadn't been hurriedly supported by the other mothers.
Seeing that epic reaction, the other women immediately pushed forward, not wanting to lose out.
"Ah-Long, what about me? What's my name?" demanded another woman.
Arthur turned his head slowly and pointed at her again. "Ai An," he stated accurately.
Stab! The young mother named Ai An suddenly clutched her chest and collapsed weakly with a happy smile, suffering the exact same fate as Mei Qin.
"Me too, Ah-Long!"
"Me! Me!"
"Don't forget Auntie too, okay!"
They started pushing wildly, approaching Arthur. The King of Knights could only let out a long sigh seeing this barbaric enthusiasm. In order to calm them down, Arthur started pointing at them one by one and stating all their names without missing a single one.
Stab! Stab! Stab! Like a battlefield, one by one the village mothers collapsed, clutching their chests with blushing faces and intoxicated smiles.
"Stop it, all of you! You could make Ah-Long dizzy if you keep crowding him!" scolded Mama Mia, stepping forward and parting the crowd of women who were already sprawling weakly. The muscular woman stood right in front of Arthur, staring at him with her hands on her hips.
Arthur looked up, staring straight into Mama Mia's pair of eyes, then raised his tiny finger again. "Mama Mia," he called with a deadly innocent smile.
Thump. Mama Mia's muscular body suddenly froze solid. A faint red blush spread uncontrollably across her rough cheeks.
"W-wow... you, Little Brat..." muttered Mama Mia, flustered. She immediately took over Arthur from Mei Qin's embrace and lifted him high up. "You are truly a great charmer, Boy! When you grow up, you have to be very careful when acting around women. Otherwise, who knows how many girls will have their hearts broken because of you!" she warned in a half-joking tone.
"That's right! Ah-Long, you better watch your behavior when you grow up. If the standards you set are too high, this world could be filled with old maids!" chimed in another mother.
In the air, Arthur blinked innocently. 'Hmm... in my past life, I was also often warned about things like this by the Knights of the Round Table. Is the effect really that bad? Even though I was just trying to be friendly and remember the names of my people...' Arthur thought, completely oblivious.
"But, it's really amazing, Ah-Long can memorize all our names this fast. He must be a very genius baby!" praised a mother, changing the subject.
"True. He also never fusses at all when left alone, isn't a crybaby, and is very good. Even the older children really love and obey him," added another mother in an amazed tone.
"Even though he's only been in this village for one year, his presence has truly brought changes for all of us, hasn't it."
"Yes," Mei Qin nodded in agreement, staring at Arthur with a gentle gaze. "For some reason, his presence seems to unite us. Even though in the past we rarely gathered and were this cohesive. This baby... it's like he has an innate charisma that makes people naturally want to gather by his side."
"Wow, could it be... this sweet Ah-Long is actually the reincarnation of an incredibly handsome Great King from the past~" quipped a 'young mother'.
Thump! Arthur instantly jolted in surprise in Mama Mia's embrace. His emerald eyes widened slightly hearing that random yet one hundred percent accurate guess, but that wasn't the only thing that shocked him; he recognized that voice. He immediately turned his head back to look for the source of the voice, but didn't find the person he was looking for.
"Hahahaha! Oh my, your imagination has gone too far!" The village mothers instantly laughed crisply in response to the joke, completely unaware of Arthur's shock earlier.
"Shh, alright, alright! Well then, now it's time for our 'Great King' to take a nap," Mama Mia chuckled.
She then brought Arthur into the house and laid him down carefully in his baby crib. That comfortable wooden crib was a voluntary gift from one of Grandpa Jack's neighbors. Because the villagers loved Ah-Long so much, they gave him several baby supplies for free without being asked.
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Three years had passed since Arthur's arrival in Holy Spirit Village.
His toddler body had now grown stronger; he could already run nimbly and lift light objects without difficulty. Currently, Arthur was sitting leaning under a shady tree, surrounded by an expanse of Blue Silver Grass swaying gently in the wind. On his lap, there was a children's reading and writing guidebook that he got from Grandpa Jack.
However, in the middle of his reading activity, Arthur's movements stopped. His emerald gaze suddenly sharpened.
"It happened again," he muttered softly.
He slowly clenched and unclenched his tiny palms, feeling the warm sensation that had just flowed within his blood vessels. 'Ever since I started being able to feel the energy in this world clearly a year ago, I feel my body constantly growing stronger. And this energy...' he thought.
'This energy has a slight resemblance to Mana, but there is a fundamental difference,' Arthur analyzed inwardly.
'The energy in this world feels very... alive. They resonate like living creatures themselves, and their amount in the air is incredibly abundant. Its density is almost comparable to the Earth's atmosphere during the Age of Gods.'
Arthur's brow furrowed deeply, thinking of various conceptual theories. "Is this place a Singularity? A Parallel World? Or perhaps..." He swallowed hard. "...a Lostbelt?"
Arthur hurriedly shook his head vigorously, brushing that worst possibility far away. "I hope it's not the last one. My duty is to protect, not to erase a world," he muttered in a slightly gloomy tone.
Letting out a long sigh to chase away those negative thoughts, Arthur looked back down at the book on his lap.
"For now, my main focus is to master the writing style of this place first. Alaya is truly being weird this time; it didn't provide me with any knowledge at all about this world, let alone its writing system," complained Arthur in a flat tone. "But, well... fortunately I could automatically understand their spoken language from the start."
He turned the page of the book and observed the rows of letters inside it carefully.
"Besides that, the language structure and written characters in this place have many similarities with ancient Chinese script," Arthur continued with a glimmer of relief.
"In the past, Alaya once implanted basic knowledge about the Chinese language and writing into my brain when I was summoned as its agent. Thanks to that, my learning process here will be much easier."
With a renewed determination to understand the mysterious place where he was stranded, the little King of Knights immersed himself once again in his reading lesson, accompanied by the cool breeze and the rustling of the Blue Silver Grass around him.
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"Alright, now do you understand everything, Ah-Long? About the Spirit Hall (Wuhun Dian), Hún Shī (Spirit Master), and the concept of Spirit Power?" asked Grandpa Jack to make sure.
Arthur nodded slowly. "Yes, I have understood everything. Thank you, Grandpa Jack, for taking the time to teach me all of this."
"Hahaha, no need to thank me. What I'm teaching is only common knowledge. Sooner or later, you will also understand it yourself," Grandpa Jack laughed crisply.
However, his laughter slowly faded, replaced by a worried expression as his eyes glanced at the pile of thick books towering behind Arthur.
"But, by the way... are you really okay? You are only five years old, but you have finished reading all the books I gave you. Aren't you pushing yourself too hard, child?"
"I'm fine, Grandpa. My body is very fit. You know for yourself how strong I am," Arthur replied, trying to convince the old man.
Grandpa Jack let out a long sigh and shook his head slowly. "Your physique is indeed incredibly strong, Ah-Long. But what Grandpa is worried about is what's in here," said the old man while pointing at Arthur's chest and head alternately. "You are still a child, but your behavior and way of thinking are not like a child's at all. Now tell me honestly, how many people have you helped with their chores today?"
Hearing that piercing question, Arthur's body tensed slightly. He turned his face away awkwardly, staring straight at the window displaying the night sky to avoid eye contact.
"Only... two people," he answered softly, trying to lie. Of course, as a King of Knights bound by an oath of honor, lying was a skill he completely lacked. His face looked very unconvincing.
Bang!
Suddenly, the room door was opened roughly.
"He's lying, Grandpa Jack!" exclaimed Mei Qin, stepping inside with an annoyed expression while resting her hands on her hips. "He has helped people ten times today! All of them were heavy physical labor, and all for different people!"
Beside Mei Qin, Mama Mia also stepped in while carrying a package. The muscular woman could only sigh in resignation and shake her head, staring at the golden-haired boy who now looked extremely guilty.
Arthur immediately turned his head in shock. "Lady Qin! Mama Mia! How did you know?!"
"Ah-Long... you really are too good of a boy," Mama Mia sighed. She threw the paper package onto the table right in front of Arthur. A clinking sound was heard as several Spirit Coins rolled out of their bindings.
"What is the meaning of this, Mama Mia?" asked Grandpa Jack in confusion.
"That is the pay from the people Ah-Long helped this month," answered Mama Mia.
"More precisely, we forced them to pay for Ah-Long's services," Mei Qin cut in while glaring sharply at the golden-haired boy.
"Ah-Long, you are too kind for your own good. You can help people, but you have to remember your limits! Don't you realize that all this time you've been thoroughly taken advantage of because of your kindness?!"
Arthur stared at Mei Qin for a moment, then awkwardly turned his face away again. He was just about to open his mouth to defend himself, but Mama Mia immediately interrupted.
"He must be aware, but he just let it happen!" Mama Mia snorted in annoyance. "There is no way a boy as smart as him wouldn't realize that he was being used as free labor by cunning merchants or outsiders who happened to pass by this village. We had to hunt them all down! With the help of all the villagers, we collected and forced them to pay for the sweat you've poured out!" she stated firmly while pointing at the pile of coins.
Arthur's shoulders trembled slightly hearing that. His mouth was tightly locked, completely unable to refute their words because all of it was indeed true.
Grandpa Jack let out a very heavy sigh. This time, his wrinkled face did not show a usual scolding, but rather profound sadness and worry.
"Ah-Long... how many times have I warned you not to overdo it?" Grandpa Jack said softly. "Do you realize, almost all the villagers came to me expressing the exact same complaint about this habit of yours? They all asked me to stop your actions. This is not because they hate you, child... quite the opposite. It's because they love you very much."
The old man walked closer, then placed his rough hands on Arthur's tiny shoulders.
"This world is very cruel, Ah-Long. The law that applies here is that the strong will prey on the weak. Because of your selfless kindness, you will only end up being an easy prey for those with rotten hearts," continued Grandpa Jack hoarsely. He then raised one finger, pointing slowly toward Arthur's forehead.
"You are indeed very strong. You are also incredibly smart, even surpassing the adults in this village. But... you are also very weak, not in strength or intelligence, but in your heart," Grandpa Jack said, holding back the tremor in his voice. "You possess absolutely no cunning traits, you are not selfish, and you have no greed. Your soul is too holy and pure for this rotten world, child."