Kaelis and Atlas had left the house after saying "May God protect you" to Carlos, who remained at home.

  The place they stepped out into was the front of Carlos's house, which Kaelis hadn't seen the night before due to the darkness. The weather was neither too hot nor too cold—just perfectly moderate—with the sun shining directly from above. The area around them was filled with mud-brick houses, making it seem like the ultimate example of haphazard urbanization.

  People had woken up; some were doing their chores outside their homes, while others sat inside. On the road, there were children. They were kicking up dust as they ran on the dirt ground. Smiles never left these children's faces, and they were playing games.

  Atlas, looking at the sun emitting bright yellow rays.

  “It looks like there's little time left for it to reach the peak, so right now it's around late morning.”

  Atlas was trying to estimate the time by looking at the sun. Kaelis looked the same way.

  “You're right.”

  After this time check, the duo had started walking slowly when one of the children came running toward them, kicking up a cloud of dust. The child had stirred up a storm of dust. The child's issue became clear as he began speaking without catching his breath.

  “Big brother Atlas, have you seen Tau? We were playing hide and seek, but he's hidden in such a good spot that we can't find him.”

  “No, Zola, we just left the house anyway. Besides, you should play games without cheating.”

  The child's concern was his friend he couldn't find in hide and seek. Kaelis thought to himself, "Hide and seek, huh? This must be the best game to play here—good choice." Moreover, seeing that Atlas was kind not only to him but also to the children around him, Kaelis inwardly noted that Atlas was a good person.

  “Okay, Big brother Atlas, I won't cheat!”

  The child's face had dropped at first, but then he composed himself, smiled as wide as his face would allow, and gave this response.

  “Well done. We have some work to do. May God protect you!”

  “May God protect you!”

  Zola moved away from there and set off to search for his friend Tau. Meanwhile, Atlas and Kaelis had resumed walking on the road.

  Everyone around them seemed to get along well with each other. People visiting one another, sharing their food, being kind and polite to each other—one could easily feel these emotions by looking around. Moreover, compared to the other side of Naucratis, human relationships were much more abundant here. As for race diversity, it couldn't be said there was much; most of the people he had seen so far were humans.

  Kaelis didn't know where they were going; he was just pondering Atlas's words about "needing to go because we have work." To get answers to his questions, he started talking to Atlas.

  “You said we have work earlier, but what exactly is it?”

  “As Carlos explained yesterday, I handle more of the tasks here he needs to do.”

  “What kind of tasks, for example?”

  “The needs of those around us—or rather, our siblings. People here who need help—or rather, those in very bad situations—go to Aunt Catalina. Aunt Catalina then wants us to visit them and assist with their problems. While Carlos deals more with external affairs, I take care of the internal ones.”

  “Like social aid?”

  “Hmm… I don't find it quite right to phrase it that way. When a sibling needs help, you should help them. What we do is just that.”

  “Got it.”

  Atlas and Kaelis had walked a bit further into the inner areas. Then they stopped in front of a house. The house looked worse from the outside than Carlos's house or most others. Its exterior was mud-brick, but in places where it fell short, it had been patched with a straw-mud structure.

  Atlas went up to the house's door and knocked on the unstable wooden door. The one who opened the wooden door was a woman in her 35s wearing a dirty long red dress like Catalina’s. The woman's skin was wheat-colored. She had short ginger hair and a beautiful face.

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  “Welcome”

  “Glad to be here, Mrs. Frona. Aunt Catalina sent us—how can we help?”

  “Please come in.”

  The woman's name was Frona. Kaelis and Atlas entered. The inside was as bad as it appeared from the outside. Inside, the woman began talking to explain her problem.

  “Firstly, thank you for taking my help request seriously.”

  “Your problem would be our problem, Mrs. Frona; since you shared your problems with us, we couldn't turn our backs on you.”

  “How polite you are, young gentleman. First, there's an issue with my roof. It was already damaged before, but after the last rain, it got much worse. I'm afraid the roof will collapse.”

  “Mhm, I'll patch your roof right now, and we'll fully repair it as soon as materials arrive.”

  As Atlas left the house to go patch the roof, he stopped and called out to Kaelis.

  “Hey Kaelis, could you please ask Mrs. Frona about any other needs while I handle the job?”

  “Oh— sure.”

  Atlas had left the house and gone to patch the roof, leaving Kaelis alone with the woman in the house. He was going to try to do the task Atlas had given him.

  He prepared himself to speak, cleared his throat once to check his voice, and just as he was about to start talking, a sound came from the roof. Kaelis was startled at first, but knowing Atlas would be climbing the roof, he relaxed. The sound must have been from Atlas working on the patch.

  “No need to worry, Mrs. Frona; it must be my friend Atlas.”

  “———”

  “How else can we help you?”

  “Also, if I could get a resupply of provisions soon, that would be good. The supplies in my house have dwindled quite a bit. I can manage, but I don't want to leave my children hungry.”

  It was clear that this lady named Frona had children, and as a mother with a maternal heart, she was worried about them and putting them before herself.

  “Of course, I'll pass that on.”

  After Kaelis listened to the woman's requests, a sound like jumping from the roof came. Then, Atlas appeared at the door, a bit dusty.

  “Is everything done, Kaelis?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  Kaelis and Atlas were at the front of the house's door. Frona had come to the door to see them off.

  “Thank you two again for coming.”

  “Anytime, madam. May God protect you!”

  “May God protect you!”

  Kaelis and Atlas had visited the place they needed to. Kaelis looked up at the sky; the sun still hadn't reached its peak, so it wasn't noon yet. Then Atlas began speaking.

  “So, any other requests?”

  “Ah, yes—she wants a resupply of provisions soon.”

  “Hmm, alright.”

  “Atlas, can I ask something if you don't mind?”

  “Ask away!”

  “Why do you say "May God protect you" after saying goodbye to each person?”

  “It's a habit that's taken shape here. Everyone conveys their good wishes to each other this way.”

  “I see, so there's no issue with me saying it too?”

  “Not saying it would be a mistake.”

  After this answer, Kaelis thought for a bit. The meaning of the phrase for them had been clear from the start. He didn't know why he hadn't asked this question earlier.

  “Alright, where are we going now?”

  “To a friend's place.”

  After this response, Kaelis didn't pry further and nodded, continuing to follow Atlas.

  After walking for a while, they encountered someone at a low, small round stool outside, surrounded by upright cut logs.

  The man had fair skin and long, pointed ears. He was wearing green three-quarter pants below and a sleeveless short black vest on top. His body was muscular and athletic, and he displayed it boldly. His hair was short and, like Mrs. Frona's earlier, ginger in color.

  This person, who spotted the approaching duo from afar, had black eyes. He was sitting alone at the table, doing nothing apparent—probably just watching the surroundings. Then Atlas raised his hand and waved.

  “Hey Eduardo, what's up?”

  “Oh— look at that. You haven't stopped by in a long time—what wind brought you here?”

  “I just had some free time today, thought I'd drop by.”

  “Quite unusual.”

  Eduardo and Atlas greeted each other with smiles and a friendly tone. Then Kaelis and Atlas sat on the logs around Eduardo's table. Atlas sat on the log closer to Eduardo, while Kaelis sat on the one opposite Eduardo. Eduardo then tried to start the conversation with his warm-blooded nature.

  “What an unfamiliar face!”

  “———”

  “How about introducing yourself?”

  “I'm Kaelis. Pleased to meet you.”

  “Kaelis—what kind of name is that? In my 23 years of life, I've never heard it before. How interesting, right? Atlas.”

  “I hadn't heard the name Kaelis before either, to be honest. I was suspicious at first, but now I know this: Kaelis is a good person.”

  “Your observations don't interest me much—to you, everyone is good.”

  “What if I say he's someone approved by Aunt Catalina?”

  The cheerful atmosphere around the table suddenly vanished, replaced by an argumentative one. After Atlas's last words, Eduardo didn't push further and settled with "Alright then."

  Eduardo tried to fix and lighten the mood by reopening the conversation.

  “I heard Asaf is missing—is that true?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “That little kid was always curious about the other side. It was a mistake for Carlos to take him along.”

  “What's done is done. We have nothing to do but find him, Eduardo.”

  “Damn it!”

  After saying this, Eduardo reached one hand into his sleeveless vest and pulled out a small flask from its pocket, placing it on the table while still gripping it with his hand. Atlas placed his hand on Eduardo's.

  “I remember that you're forbidden from drinking except in the evening.”

  “Are you my mom or dad?”

  “You must want me to break your hands again—but this time, I guarantee I won't let someone heal them.”

  “Tsk— Damn it!”

  Eduardo took the flask he had pulled out from the table and put it back into the inner pocket of his short-sleeved vest. Then he adopted a rather unhappy expression. After that, Kaelis asked one of the questions in his mind.

  ”Atlas, how do you handle meeting their needs?”

  “We get them from the Bazaar on the other side of the city or trade with merchants who come here.”

  “I see. Do you find enough to suffice for so many people?”

  “Not really—everyone lives with resources below the poverty line, but at least they're alive.”

  “You mentioned trading with merchants, but from what I've seen, there are no work stations here. What do you trade in return?”

  “In return for workforce. That's our main resource anyway.”

  Kaelis hadn't fully understood what was meant by workforce. Were they selling people as slaves? Would that really suit their behavior? He was left alone with the questions in his mind. It was too early to voice these thoughts outwardly.

  Kaelis, Atlas, and Eduardo were sitting at the same table. Eduardo had fallen silent due to Atlas's behavior and was still maintaining it. From the direction Kaelis and Atlas had come, the sound of running footsteps approached. Kaelis turned his head that way but entered the dust cloud created by the running person before he could see clearly. Kaelis immediately closed his eyes and coughed a few times, then the dust cloud slowly faded. In front of them was a small child about 8 years old. Despite running like that, the child seemed completely at ease.

  “Big brother Atlas, Big brother Atlas!”

  “Calm down, Tau—I'm here. What happened?”

  “Carlos—Big brother Carlos is calling you.”

  Atlas stood up from where he was, and at that moment, Kaelis, who had been listening, also tried to stand up quickly.

  “You stay here, Kaelis.”

  “But you might need my help—”

  “Didn't you hear him, bonehead? He's telling you to sit where you are.”

  Kaelis was worried about them, so he wanted to go with Atlas, but both Atlas had rejected his offer and Eduardo had opposed him, supporting Atlas. What could be happening? Why had Carlos called him so urgently? Kaelis thought these in his mind.