The Book

"Hahahahahaha!" Lili couldn't hold herself and started laughing at Alexander.

"Hey, it's not really nice to laugh at someone trying to help"

"Haha..ha..." She took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Sorry, it's just the first time you acted like that, and for such a reason as well"

"What do you mean by such a reason?"

Alexander almost left her alone to deal with her problems on her own when Lili grabbed his hand and placed it on her head again.

"I didn't say I didn't like it... Thank you, it means a lot to me"

"...You're welcome"

Lili's body and mind had been stuck at eleven years old while she was trapped inside the room. She didn't age and her body stayed the same for thousands of years.

But in the few months she spent outside, the huge amount of memories together with Alexander's almost death made her mature almost too fast.

Lili suddenly had an idea and ran off somewhere in the house.

When she came back, she brought a book with her.

"Again?"

"Please~ I want to celebrate this occasion"

"Are you making fun of me?"

"I'm not, I promise~. I think I like the book even more actually"

*Sigh*

He picked up the book and sat on the comfy couch they bought. She quickly sat right beside him and laid on his chest. Then she picked up his hand and placed it on her head again.

"I can't pass the pages like this"

"Don't worry, I'll pass them for you"

"Do you need to get so close?"

"Yes, and you better get used to it. It might become a habit"

He sighed again and started to read the book out loud.

Alexander didn't really feel much about the book but Lili loved it. It was something he bought for her when she was sad about a discussion she had with her mother the other day.

It wasn't anything serious, Alexander only knew that it involved Lili bringing pets into the castle.

The book was simple, almost too simple. The characters are plain, the history is previsible and everything was about how the protagonist was cool and handsome.

But Lili said that was what made the book so fun to read. Inside the book, there was no tension, no problems, no complicated stuff, no anxiety. Everything because she knew exactly how it was gonna play out.

While reading the book, she could relax, forget everything and imagine herself inside such a beautiful world.

Alexander almost felt jealous. He simply couldn't see the book as something real. He couldn't separate it from reality as she did.

He looked at the book and everything he could see were flaws and how everything inside was simply impossible.

When Alexander closed the book, Lili was already asleep on top of him.

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The next day, Alexander went to meet the commander whose name he found recently to be Ren.

For the first time, he met all the members of the division. There were four more people beside him and Ren.

They introduced themselves as Leny, Mark, Vicky, and Anna. Lili created a fake name for Alexander, she called him Alan.

"Why are we bringing a child with us?" Mark wasn't happy to have more people to protect.

"I don't want as well, but since he's in the division, it's mandatory for him to go or it will count as a defection from the army" Ren didn't have anything against Alexander but he couldn't see a child being of any use in a fight.

Alexander didn't mind it, it was normal to think a child can't fight. At least, it was what Lili told him.

He didn't talk much as they walked through the city gathering supplies, mainly blood. Vampires used blood often as something to boost their healing, they were all trained as a child to resist the urge to drink it.

"Where is all this blood coming from?" Alexander said while pointing at the huge gallons of blood inside the stores.

"We don't know, and it's a crime to talk about it so don't ask again" Mark warned him.

Alexander was still curious about where the huge amount of blood was coming from and he thought about asking Lili later. But he quickly forgot about it after they left the city

"What are the orders this time?" Leny asked.

"Scouting around west inside the forest..." Ren gave the details to Leny.

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Alexander was carrying the supplies as the group moved in the bottom of a valley. They already finished the scouting mission which was actually meaningless.

The army had to give every division at least one order a month no matter how useless it was.

They killed level 1 and level 2 beasts along the way back to the city. That was when Vicky approached Alexander.

"So... How did you enter the army?"

"...I just needed money"

"We are the same then. I'm poor and I can barely afford food. I tried to work everywhere but only here I could gain something even if it's a little dangerous. Fortunately, because it's the weakest, we only receive easy useless missions"

"Doesn't the other divisions receive more money?"

"Yea but I would probably die if I went there. I heard there is a really strict training you have to go through to enter..."

"Can you two stop talking? I'm trying to keep us alive here"

"Stop being such an asshole Mark"

"Now I am the asshole? I'm trying to get your ass back home in one piece bitch. What will you do if a flock of beasts comes because you are too loud? I will not save you if that happens"

"Agh! Maybe if you did your job right and stop picking on me, my sist..."

"Stop! That's enough fighting for today. If you two want to keep your little discussion, do it at home" Ren stopped the argument from escalating more.

Alexander was confused, he didn't know why they would suddenly start fighting for no reason. Monsters would not come because of something like that and Mark was doing okay at killing every monster Ren and Leny let pass.

He looked behind them and saw Anna.

Anna didn't do much, she was a healer and since no one got injured she just stood in silence at the back.