Chapter 165: Friends

[Out of respect for your ideas, Father Enrique and Mother Teresa did not force you to continue to develop your artistic talent. Instead, they prepared to expose you to more things. Therefore, they used their connections a little bit and planned to let you receive a better education or see the world.]

[Well... of course, before that, you can still have a good time. After all, you have a lot of friends here, and it will be fun to play together~]

[Although other children can see that Father Enrique and Mother Teresa favor you to some extent, you have a good relationship with the children, so no one complains or is jealous of you. After all, you are very popular among them. That confident smile can often infect other children and make them laugh happily. Even if they encounter sad things, you can comfort them very skillfully.]

[Yeah, it's indeed a very pleasant life~]

[But next, you will separate]

[With the help of Father Enrique and Mother Teresa, people from the church came and planned to take the children of school age to school. If the children are gifted, they will make additional arrangements... For example, your friend, Light, is like this.]

[But for you, there are other arrangements... It seems that Father Enrique intends to take you somewhere else.]

[Next, you followed Father Enrique and left, while Sister Teresa stayed to take care of the church until the church sent new people to take over... Although leaving this short and warm "home" made you quite sad, it doesn't matter, you will always come back]

[After that, you followed Father Enrique to many cities and met many people with him... You can see that Father Enrique is very popular. Most of the people he met respect him and are willing to do some small "tests" on you for his sake.]

[And surprisingly, almost everyone's comments on you are - "This kid is pretty good, very talented, feels a lot like me when I was young/in the past... If you train him well, maybe he can be better than me?"]

[Someone even half-jokingly said, "It feels like I'm looking into a mirror that makes me look younger... but I can also clearly feel that this child is different from me. It's really interesting."]

[You don't quite understand at this moment, but judging from everyone's behavior, you should be very popular.]

[However, although your talents in various aspects have been praised, they are not as good as your talents in art or music. Almost everyone is persuading you not to waste your talent in music. They all believe that you will definitely leave a distinct mark in the art world in the future.]

[Although after you stated that you did not want to develop in this area, and Father Enrique expressed respect and support for your choice, others stopped trying to persuade you, but... new problems arose.]

[What should you learn?]

[It's like standing at a fork in life, facing the road where "you can choose either one", you yourself feel a little confused]

[Because you seem to have talents in everything, it seems that you can take any path... but you don't really know which path to choose]

[You just don't want to pursue a career in art. You just feel that you should learn something else.]

[So...which one should I choose?]

[Do you want it all?]

[You are lost in thought]

[Others naturally saw your expression and burst into laughter... A little kid seriously considering his future path feels like a "child imitating a mature adult". It's a little funny, but also very cute.]

[Therefore, everyone patted your head and told you that you are still young and you still have more time to think about what you should do in the future... But before that, they can teach you some more basic things]

[So along the way you learned all kinds of messy knowledge from all kinds of people... Although you still don't quite understand it at this time, everyone tried their best to use simple and easy-to-understand words or methods to make you remember it.]

[There are a few that left a deep impression on you... For example, a theologian taught you how to meditate, saying it can help you focus your mind, and it can also help you calm down when you feel irritated. There are also various other "functions"]

[However, after learning "meditation", you always feel that you can vaguely see some wonderful things, such as a horn surrounded by flowing water, or a sword of fire, or even a cane with snakes wrapped around it... But they all have one thing in common, that is, they all have six wings.]

[You didn't quite understand, so you told your discovery to the person who taught you. After a brief moment of surprise, he fell into ecstasy, grabbed your hand in an almost crazy manner, and begged you in a fanatical tone to stay and learn with him... No, he even said that he wanted to "admire" you]

[His crazy look scared you, but fortunately, after Father Enrique talked with him, he seemed to understand something and returned to his previous polite appearance. He apologized to you and said that he would bless you on your next journey.]

[But you can still see the fanatical emotion in his eyes... This feeling makes you feel a little disgusted for no reason, and you always feel that this will lead to extremely bad consequences.]

[Then, you told Father Enrique about your discovery, but Father Enrique was only slightly surprised. He then looked at you with eyes full of pity, gently touched your head, and said - "You have suffered, child"]

[You don't quite understand, but you can feel that Father Enrique cares about you, so you can't let him worry too much... You hummed a happy tune softly, trying to make Father Enrique happy, and Father Enrique seemed to realize your thoughts and smiled gently]

['Hmm, music is really useful. I should learn more about it in the future…it might be good to make it a hobby or something?' —You think so.]

[But there is one thing you didn't realize… At the end of your "meditation", in addition to the three "existences", there is actually… another "existence" that you haven't discovered]

[It was a "butterfly" that was pierced and bound]

[But... that's all for later]

[Now you are still following Father Enrique and learning some random knowledge from others]

[Besides the theologian who suddenly became a bit fanatical and crazy, there are two other people who left a particularly deep impression on you.]

[One of them is a rather elegant gentleman. I heard that his ancestor was a noble. Even now, his family still has noble titles and territories... It is a bit surprising that Father Enrique actually knows such a person.]

[In fact, after testing you, this gentleman also found that there was nothing he could teach you... On the one hand, he himself had learned a lot of things. After all, he would take over the family business in the future, so he had to learn a lot of things. On the other hand... I don't know if it was his instinct at work, or if it was just the atmosphere in their family. Although his words were elegant and polite, they were quite long and cumbersome, which made people feel dizzy. Even if he used simple words, he couldn't change this subconscious behavior.]

[Although you understand most of the language, extracting useful information from it... well, it's still a bit of a headache]

[In the end, he seemed to realize this and simply gave up on continuing this troublesome "teaching" and instead taught you how to stay elegant and some etiquette, and told you that it is always necessary to stay polite at all times.]

[The same is true for smiling. After all, "you shouldn't hit someone who smiles at you." A smile that's as gentle as a spring breeze can make people happy and more willing to talk to you.]

[At the end, he even made a joke - 'all of the above methods are based on your outstanding appearance. If you lose this prerequisite... then you will probably have to spend twice as much time and effort, or use other methods to get people to talk to you properly, haha... but kid, you don't have to worry about this.']

[Hmm... you don't think it's easy to comment on this sentence, but you still remember what this gentleman gave you.]

[Then... the next person will instill another idea in you]

["Etiquette is necessary, but in many cases, it will only be seen as weakness and retreat...Only violence can be more acceptable to people, and only pain can be remembered. Only when those people know the pain and remember the pain, will they put on a hypocritical etiquette to talk to you" - this is what he said]

[He does not reject etiquette, and advocates courtesy before force, but he said that most people in the world are "fools" who will only learn their lesson after being subjected to violence and harm, so he taught you some physical exercise methods and some simple punches and kicks, as well as some... uh... "obscene words"]

[And in the process of learning boxing and kicking, he also said that you are particularly talented... Not only do you learn quickly, but many times your attacks will subconsciously go towards the fatal points of others, and when you are attacked, you will instinctively dodge, as if it is instinct.]

[This made him very happy, and he wanted to let you stay so that he could concentrate on training you, but in the end, under your wishes and Father Enrique's opposition, he reluctantly gave up.]

[Oh, by the way, he is actually the leader of a gang, and he has a son who is older than you - Li]

[Hmm... Honestly, it's hard to imagine how Father Enrique knew these people]

[Father Enrique did not object to the things he taught you and was even quite supportive. He said that a healthy and strong body is the beginning of everything, and necessary punches and kicks are also a means of self-protection... But there is no need to use those "obscene words," which are too insulting.]

[You seem to understand, but you really want to follow Father Enrique's advice and forget those "obscene words," but... as the saying goes, "It's not easy to learn good things, but it's easy to learn bad things," so you still remember those insulting words.]

[It's just that with the etiquette you learned earlier and Father Enrique's teachings, you will hardly use these "obscene words."]

[Next, you followed Father Enrique to visit a few friends and barely got to know them. Then, under the arrangement of the church, you stopped in a certain city. Father Enrique also took over a church here, and you lived here with him.]

[Logically speaking, the church would not arrange for Father Enrique to take over a specific church. After all, Father Enrique still has a "mission" and needs to travel all year round. But now... Father Enrique has stated that his "mission" has been completed and the person he was looking for has been found. Therefore, the church also arranged for him to take over the church here.]

[Father Enrique did not object to this. After all, you are old enough to go to school and receive a more orthodox education. It would be better to change to a more stable environment.]

[And in this new "home," you also rely on your identity as a child and a little bit of cleverness and cuteness to successfully win the unanimous love of others.]

[Then, maybe because of Father Enrique's reputation, after you came here, many people came to visit, wanting to get to know Father Enrique, and by the way, get to know you, the "little tail" that Father Enrique always brings around.]

[Among them, there is a couple that left a deep impression on you...or rather, you were quite impressed by their children.]

[You still remember that when you first met, they probably wanted to visit Father Enrique and let their children get in touch with you and make friends with you... Unfortunately, their children seemed to be very introverted, hiding behind their mothers the whole time and not wanting to come out, but they would stick their heads out because of their uncontrollable curiosity and cast curious glances at you and Father Enrique.]

[But when you approach her and want to talk to her, she will timidly take a half step back. Even if she reluctantly greets you with the encouragement of her parents, her voice is too quiet, so soft that you can't even hear it if you don't listen carefully.]

[It can be said that her appearance is the opposite of your confident and lively appearance.]

[In the end, her parents had no choice but to apologize to you softly with some helplessness.]

[However, you didn't mind it very much, and took the initiative to greet her and said that you wanted to be her friend.]

[Well, after all, having one more friend is always good, isn't it? Not to mention that after some inquiries, you will become her classmate~ You will see each other often in the future, so it won't hurt to get to know her a little, right?]

[So you reached out your hand to her.]

[She looked at her parents and saw their encouraging eyes before she slowly reached out her hand and shook yours.]

["Hello~ My name is Nozomi. We are classmates and friends from now on, okay? Oh, by the way… although my name is pronounced like this, it is actually different from Nozomi, okay? Don't get it wrong~" You greeted her like this.]

["Nozomi… hope… pfft… I know," she whispered your name softly and was obviously aware of the homophonic pun in it. She smiled subconsciously and then quickly covered her mouth to hide her smile.]

["Sorry…" She seems to be worried that her actions will cause your dissatisfaction.]

["It's okay. I'm actually quite happy that you can laugh at my name… Not to mention, my name is actually quite nice, isn't it?" You've gotten used to it and are even quite happy about it. After all, anyone who is aware of this pun will laugh at it, which is quite good.]

["Well… yes, hope… is a good word." She nodded, and the tension in her words relaxed a little. Soon, she also laughed, as if she had temporarily put down a burden in her heart.]

["Hello, my name is Vill-V. From now on… um, we are friends… right?" She introduced herself like this.]

["Yes, friend!" you nodded.]

["Is that so… Yeah, friend!" She nodded, and her hair, which was in two contrasting colors of brown and dark green, swayed slightly.]

[She seems very happy.]