Alvin hurriedly ran inside the room. Inside, a woman was lying on a straw bed, coughing violently, with blood at the corner of her mouth. Though she looked pale, she forced herself to smile when Alvin entered the room.
"Alve, you came..." halfway through her sentence, she noticed bruises on Alvin's face and suddenly became anxious. "Alve, what happened? Why are you bruised?" She tried to stand up from bed, but her weak body couldn't muster up the strength to do so.
Alvin hurriedly ran over and stopped her from standing up. "Mom, I slipped when I was running home. It's not something serious." The woman's name is Elena Rosewood; she is Alvin's mom. Alvin only has distinct memories of his father. Whenever he talked about his father, Elena would become sad, so eventually, he stopped bothering about him.
Elena silently looked at her son; she knew he was bullied but... what could she do? Even her staying alive is a burden on her son's shoulders. Ever since her husband left them, Alvin was the one who kept the mom and daughter alive. He worked as a tea boy, did small chores, and even begged to barely gather money for their daily meals.
Elena slowly closed her eyes; she knew as a mother she was a complete failure. But she also didn't want to leave her two little ones alone in this world as orphans; otherwise, she would have already ended her own life long ago.
"Mom, don't worry; I will gather a few copper coins to buy you medicine tomorrow," Alvin clenched his fist tightly.
Elena smiled, looking at her son. "Alve, don't worry about Mom; I will be alright." Elena was suffering from an unknown disease ever since Alve was seven years old. They have some savings, so Alvin took her to many hospitals, but nobody could cure her completely. Alvin could only use expensive medicines to maintain her health in check. Eventually, Elena's condition became worse and worse, and she couldn't even stand up from bed if she didn't take medicine for a couple of days.
"Oh yeah, I completed copying the fire magic basics book. Take it to Auntie Rui; she will give you some copper coins," Elena reminded Alvin. Elena started to do the job of copying books to earn some coins since her health was not good. Alvin also didn't stop her since it was not so stressful for her.
"Okay, Mom, I will... wait, what fire magic? Isn't the book I bought from Auntie Rui to copy some sort of cooking manual? How did it become fire magic?" Alvin looked at his mother as though she was telling a joke.
"What cooking manual? It's a low-tier fire magic manual. You even dare to make fun of your mom," Elena said to Alvin as though she was saying something completely normal.
Alvin stared at her speechlessly. Then he walked over to her and placed his palm over her head, saying, "Mom, I think you've got a fever. Just close your eyes and sleep for some time; you will be alright." After saying this, he left the room, mumbling to himself, "Looks like Mom is having a serious fever; she even started to talk rubbish about some magic and crap..."
Elena looked at Alvin, who was walking out, speechlessly. "I can hear you, idiot."
"Oh... oh... sleep well, Mom. I am going out," he said sheepishly and ran away from the room.
When he walked out of the room, Alvin saw little Mia trying to take plates from the kitchen rack. Since she couldn't reach the level of the kitchen rack, she was standing on a stool to reach the plates.
Alvin walked toward her, picked her up from the chair, and made her stand on the floor.
"You, short little monkey, didn't I tell you not to climb over the chair? What will you do if you fall?" Alvin looked at Mia, who was puffing her cheeks in anger teasingly.
"You are the shorter monkey; I will become taller than you when I am your age. Hmph!" Mia said angrily.
"Well, until you reach my age, my age will also increase, and I will become taller," Alvin said, pretending to be serious. "So, the great fortune teller Alve is predicting that Mia will always be the shorter monkey. Hahahaha..." Alvin laughed, looking at Mia, who was on the verge of exploding from anger.
"You bad brother! Take Little Mia's special attack: Mia Pinch!" Mia ran over to Alvin and started pinching him.
"Ouch... ouch... I am sorry... stop it, Mia, it hurts!" Alvin cried out in pain.
"Hmph," Mia gave him a throat-cutting motion and sat on the chair as though she taught Alvin a lesson. Alvin looked at her speechlessly, and then he took three plates from the rack along with the sweet buns he brought, then he walked to Elena's room. Mia also ran behind him like a little puppy, which sniffed delicious food.
"Mom, time to eat," Alvin called out to Elena. Then he gave a plate of sweet bun to Mia, then he placed one before Elena and helped her to sit up.
"Cough... cough... Little Mia, didn't I tell you not to quarrel with your brother?" Elena looked at Mia, who started to eat the bun without even looking up, as though someone will steal her food.
"Mom, it's brother who called Mia a short monkey," Mia argued.
"Mom, we were just playing," Alvin also spoke up, afraid that Elena would scold her.
Elena just shook her head and said to Mia, "Mia, you should know how hard your brother is working for both of us. Mom is useless, so study hard and support your brother."
"Mom..." Alvin called out. He didn't like Elena blaming herself.
"Mom, don't worry, Mia will study hard and become the best mage. I will go to the forest and hunt pig's for brother and mother," Mia said, raising her chin high. She looked at Alvin and said, "You bad brother, treat Mia well now, so Mia the pig hunter will give you some more meat in the future. Mwahaha... Mwahaha..." Mia laughed, sounding like a villain.
Elena shook her head. "Other people dream of becoming dragon hunters; you will be the only one who wants to become a pig hunter."
Alvin looked at the two of them as though they were idiots. 'What pig... what mage... am I the one who's become crazy or has everyone around me gone crazy?'