A late return

It was late at night, well into the early hours, and the streets lay silent and deserted. Moonlight, unseen for so long, streamed through the gaps in the room and lit up the darkness. Several children sat huddled together. They should all have been fast asleep by then, but anxiety filled every face, and their eyes kept darting toward the door.

"Wah, I miss Big Sis so much!" A little girl suddenly burst into frightened tears.

"Me too! Big Sis has never come home this late! What if something happened to her?" The pink-haired boy beside her began sobbing too, his voice full of fear and worry.

"Xiao Cao, Xiao Shu, don't cry. Big Sis will be all right!" Axel comforted the two youngest children. "Rich and I will go out to look for her in a little while!"

Axel turned to Rich beside him.

Rich nodded firmly. He and Axel had gone out to gather wild vegetables that day, and their haul had been pretty good. They had not caught any fish, but they had ventured deeper into the forest and gathered plenty of vegetables and mushrooms.

They had hoped to make Big Sis happy when they returned, but it was now late at night, and her familiar figure still had not appeared. They were worried sick. If they had not needed to look after the younger children, they would have gone out searching long ago!

"Axel, Rich, why don't you eat something first? Yi Yong, Silver Flower, and I can help search. Shui Sha can stay behind to look after Xiao Cao, Xiao Shu, and the others. She's too frail to go out!" The girl was about seven or eight, with dry, yellowing hair full of split ends hanging loosely over her shoulders. Her ruby-like eyes watched Axel and Rich with concern.

"It's all right, Yui! Rich and I ate some wild fruit today. Let's save the food for Big Sis!" Axel stroked Yui's fluffy hair and gently declined.

"Yui, I want to go too!" the little girl with aqua-blue hair said stubbornly.

"No. You're too weak. Stay here and take good care of the little ones!" Yui looked sternly at Shui Sha, every inch a miniature adult.

Shui Sha pouted and pinched the hem of her ragged skirt. In the end, she swallowed the words on her lips and stared stubbornly at Yui with watery eyes.

"All right, stop arguing. Everyone, be good! We'll find Big Sis, so don't worry!" Axel said firmly.

At Axel's words, Yui's stern expression softened. She walked over and gently hugged Shui Sha. "I don't want anything to happen to you. You only just recovered from that terrible illness. What if you go out and get sick again? I don't want to lose you!"

"Shui Sha's useless. I can't even go out to look for Big Sis!" Shui Sha hugged Yui and sobbed softly.

Seeing the little children still sniffling, and Shui Sha stubbornly insisting on searching for their sister, Axel felt warmth well up in his heart. He walked slowly to the door, with Rich close behind. Pushing it open, he gazed into the night, which seemed draped in a luminous veil, and stared into the distance with worry written all over his face...

Suddenly, Axel's eyes widened. At the farthest edge of his vision, on the nighttime horizon, a blurry figure was slowly approaching. "B-Big Sis!" he cried excitedly, then raced toward her.

Hearing Axel's loud shout, the children swarmed out of the house, crying and calling through their tears, "Big Sis is back! Ria's back!"

Ria opened her arms as the little ones raced toward her and smiled happily. "I made you all worry!"

Without hesitation, Xiao Cao and Xiao Shu leaped into Ria's arms, chattering about how worried they had been. They rested their heads on her shoulders, one on each side, while the other smaller children clung to her legs and cried.

Ria gently stroked the two little ones' backs and soothed them. "It's all right now. It's all right!"

Behind Axel stood Rich, Fire Tree, Silver Flower, Yui, and Shui Sha, who was holding her frail body upright. All of them looked at Ria with concern.

"Big Sis, what happened today? Why did you come home so late?" Axel asked softly.

Ria looked gently at their worried faces and said, "So much happened today that I can't explain it all in a few words. Let's go inside, and I'll tell you everything!"

Only after she finally calmed everyone's fears did Ria recount the day's events to Axel and the others in detail.

When Axel, Rich, and the others heard how Green Skin had abused Ria, they wanted to rush out and tear those scumbags limb from limb. Every face burned with righteous fury!

"All right, all right, don't do anything rash! I've already dealt with them. Now I have something important to tell you!" Ria looked at everyone solemnly.

Seeing their big sister suddenly turn serious, everyone fell silent at once. They watched Ria with curious eyes, quietly waiting for her to speak.

"Today, I encountered the light. You can think of it as a god, a god filled with hope. Now I want all of you to believe in the Holy Light with me! Together, we'll change this world!" After speaking, Ria quietly looked around at her younger siblings.

"Ria, will believing in the Holy Light give us enough to eat?" The little boy nibbled his finger, his wide eyes full of hope as he gazed at the sister he loved best.

Ria smiled. "As long as we work hard, we'll all have enough food and warm clothes!" She said this because the Holy Light offered more than power. That great sphere of light held the endless knowledge of countless worlds! And that knowledge was enough to change this world and make it a better place!

"Then Enichi wants to believe in the Holy Light with you! Enichi wants enough to eat, and wants all his brothers and sisters to have enough too!" Enichi said with innocent earnestness. His eyes were serious, and trails of tears still glistened beside them.

Perhaps, for a child of four or five like him, having enough to eat was the most important thing in the world!

"Xiao Cao wants to as well!"

"Mm-hmm, Xiao Shu wants to too!"

"You don't need to say any more, Big Sis. Whatever you believe in, we'll believe in too!" Axel said. The boys and girls behind him all nodded together.

Seeing the resolve in her younger siblings' eyes, Ria was deeply moved, and tears filled her eyes.

"Thank you. I'm so glad I have you!"

Axel chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, while the other children smiled too.

"Shame, shame! Big Sis is crying!" With that, Xiao Cao buried herself in Ria's arms.

"I am not! Some sand just blew into my eyes!" Ria suddenly grew flustered. "You little rascal, talking nonsense!" She reached both hands under the little girl's arms and tickled her. "Hahaha... stop, Big Sis! Xiao Cao was wrong! I won't say you're crying again!" Their laughter rang out now and then across the moonlit land.

That night, exhausted after all their wild playing, everyone fell fast asleep. A great sphere of light quietly rose out of Ria's body and drifted into the air.

Looking at the children sprawled every which way, Li Ming's light rippled slightly. "They're all good children!" Like a loving old father, he brushed each of their bodies with his radiance, treating their lingering ailments.

The sleeping children felt their bodies grow light and relaxed. Their tense muscles slowly loosened, as though they were having a lovely dream.

"Believe in the Holy Light and you get enough to eat... so many white steamed buns!" Little Enichi smacked his lips, mumbling indistinctly in his sleep.

Li Ming watched with amusement as the little boy nibbled his finger even in his sleep, then slowly sank back into Ria's body.

Dawn lifted the gauzy veil of night and released the first rays of morning light, welcoming a new day.

The early risers were all discussing the pillar of light that had appeared the night before, along with the strange weather that morning!

Indeed, in the Land of Rain, a day without rain-and with sunshine instead-was very strange!

Woken by the morning light outside the window, Ria rubbed her sleepy eyes and gently roused her younger siblings.

The children looked at Ria after waking, waiting for her to assign their work.

Looking at her still-drowsy siblings, Ria announced loudly, "Today, you're all coming with me to eat something delicious! I earned a lot of money yesterday, enough to last us a long time. Everyone gets to eat their fill today!"

"Oh, yay!"

The children burst into cheers!

Like a general returning victorious, Ria led the children out with her head held high and her chest puffed out. She carried herself with the air of someone destined for far more than a humble life!

"Twenty white steamed buns with pickles!" The breakfast stall owner frowned at the noisy crowd of beggar-like children. Weren't they getting in the way of his business? He was just about to lose his temper and chase them off.

"That'll be two hundred ryo!" Ria slapped the money onto the table. The stall owner saw twenty coins gleaming in the sunlight, their shine dazzling his eyes!

"Of course! Please wait a moment!" The vendor hurried about in a flurry. "Here you are, your white steamed buns and pickles!"

Ria handed out the wrapped buns one by one. Swallowing eagerly, the children hurriedly opened their packages and wolfed down the food, along with the rain falling from the sky.

Watching the half-grown children eat as though they had been starved for ages, Li Ming remembered how children their age in his previous life would have been learning to read in warm classrooms. Then he looked at the passersby, dressed in clothes that barely covered them, all skin and bones, with vacant eyes and not a trace of hope!

"War really is a cruel thing!" Li Ming sighed deeply.

After breakfast, everyone returned home and lay comfortably on the floor to rest, their faces glowing with happiness!

Ria sat in the doorway with her eyes closed for a while. Then, as though she had made up her mind, she turned and said, "Everyone, does having a full belly feel good?"

The children sat up, looked at their big sister, and shouted together, "Yes!"

"Then do you want to have enough to eat every day?"

"Yes!"

"But having enough to eat every day is so hard! Before the Holy Light blessed us, we worked so hard every day and struggled desperately to survive. But what did we get? Bellies that were never full, clothes that couldn't keep us warm, and a house that couldn't keep out the rain. Even then, Green Skin robbed us of our hard-earned money, and even our lives weren't safe!"

At this, the children's eyes reddened!

"But why was it like this?"

"I'll tell you right now! Because of war, and because of ninjas! War took our parents from us. And because ninjas exist, we're the weak ones, no different from wild grass and flowers by the roadside, bullied and killed at anyone's whim!"

"I've had enough of living like this. If I had never seen the light, I could have endured it! But the Holy Light came. He gave me not only power, but endless knowledge too! So now I want to ask you: are you willing to keep living as helplessly as weeds?"

"No, Big Sis! We're not!" the children roared angrily.

"Then believe in the Holy Light without wavering! Become warriors of the Holy Light, fight for hope, and fight for a better tomorrow!" With those impassioned words, Ria held out her hand, and ten seeds shimmering with sacred radiance floated toward the children!

The children felt the world spin, and the scenery before them suddenly changed. A gigantic sphere of light floated in the void.

"Welcome, children! I am the Holy Light! I am also your hope. Please grasp the points of light before you. Whether you become a priest, a knight, or take up a noncombat profession will depend on what you desire most in your hearts. Whatever darkness and fear you encounter on the road ahead, never let go of the light in your hands!" The voice gradually grew quieter until it faded away...