Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

Chapter 721 His little lifeline

The reason I didn\'t talk with her, or saw her during my time in the academy was simply for her happiness.

I knew she would be sad if we talked and I told her all the fun things that happened to us over the communication device.

Others talked with her, certainly, and she got to know everything about me and all our cool friends, the housemates, as well as the amazing familiars that everyone had now.

She knew I was doing well, and that I missed her to no end… and even though she was the youngest among us, she understood me perfectly.

\'She understood emotions better than the others, she could see them and feel the things that could not be expressed with words, or expressions.\'

She knew the reason behind my actions… so even though it was difficult for her to stay without me, without any of us around, she acted like a grown up and continued with other fun things knowing we would come back one day, with the faith that we were taking care of ourselves.

[[ She is inside. Making a new friend for herself. ]]

[[ "I can tell she has already noticed something is weird today. She can tell everyone is hiding something from her." ]]

[[ Hehe, little Anna is smart. ]]

I was standing in Zoe\'s room, which was directly connected to Anna\'s room, right behind the door connected with her room.

Celes was watching her, and I was hiding my presence completely so she did not know I was here yet.

[[ The povpoi have grown a little, and Green lizardman uncle is wearing a skirt armour so he looks funny, hehe. ]]

She liked dressing everyone up so I know for a fact in their time here, all the students I have brought with me are going to attend one of her tea parties all dressed in pretty clothes along with their familiars.

And she is certainly going to have a blast playing with all those cool people.

[[ "Do one thing, Celes. Distract her and take her to the window." ]]

[[ Hmm? But master, everyone is still outside so and some of them are on this side of the garden so she might see them. ]]

[[ "Yes. Exactly." ]]

She had no idea we were coming back today. Or any idea of how we were bringing the friends she had only ever heard about with us.

\'She knows about our little secret so she will make sure to keep the fact that we are their captain Uriel and vice captain Lucifer a secret.\'

She is the best when it comes to keeping secrets actually. Better than even us. So we can always trust her with our precious secrets.

[[ Ohhh~. I understand what you mean master~! I will go do it~! I will give you a signal when she is at the window! ]]

There was no need to do that since I can sense her from here. She was only a few steps away from me anyway.

I can hear what she was saying to her little partners, how she was asking Zuroro\'s hopeless opinion on the doll she was making, asking her Mr. Rice for help with various tools and working with intense focus.

She was having fun, unaware of how fun today was going to become for her.

[[ Alright, I am leading her to the window. ]]

One of Celes\' clones always stayed with Anna, so she had her within her area of influence.

Celes had even created a chain of connections with her clones that went from here to all the way to the skyisland in our school so that she stays informed of anything that happens to her.

\'She was pretty skilled with handling her clones now, and since my origin awakening, she was trying out new things that she couldn\'t do before.\'

I can feel the curious Anna, influenced by the butterfly that is always with her, walking up the window of her pink room.

[[ She is there now~! ]]

I opened the door slightly and with very careful steps, I walked inside the room, my presence still hidden with Celes\' Skill, and… there she was. Standing in her cute outfit, looking out of her window with a curious look, her face as pretty as ever…

Her night like black hair, long but braided in shorter stripes like Rein does, her deep crystal like red eyes reflecting the greenery of the garden, her pretty face painted in her innocent curiosity.

There were more dolls in her room now. An entire new shelf was added on the left side that used to be empty the last time I was here. And the dools on these shelves… I can tell who they were.

\'She had been lonely…\'

Out of the 33 Povpoi, around twenty one were present here. Taika wasn\'t here since I heard she and dad had gone to a certain dungeon mission and would return around tomorrow or something, but Zuroro was here, sitting down with in that skirt armor.

Rice was doing well, helping her with whatever she needed as he was supposed to, and aside from them… there were also more books in her room now, a wooden sword in one corner of the room, and a desk with a photo of Rein, me, Carla, Alf, and her in a small frame resting on top of it.

\'She is doing well…\'

A while ago when we were visiting our outskirts house on the island, her body attempted awakening but the process was stopped midway since she was not ready for it yet.

She was older now, but her body was not strong enough to facilitate the kind of awakening she was going to go through.

And it wasn\'t like she was physically any weaker than any of us when we were at her age, that certainly was not the case.

\'She naturally was physically much stronger than the children her age, and her potential surpassed anything any of us could be capable of.\'

The kind of awakening she was going to have was just that dangerous. And if it does happen again when we aren\'t around, there would be complication.

But why am I thinking about all that right now…?

"Hmmm? Celes? Why did you go there? And who are those people…? Are we having guests?"

"Yes, miss Ruler of Heliox. You are having guests today."

She was looking out of the window, so, I just leaned beside her and said that, surprising the Povpoi and Zuroro how I appeared there out of nowhere.

"Hmmm? No one told me anything about that. Is this what they all been hiding?"

She didn\'t realise it was me and kept looking out, trying to figure out the identities of Deleon and Nova, who were looking at some of the other Povpoi who had been outside.

"Perhaps everyone wanted to surprise you, you know my little Anna?"

"Hmmmm. I think they are going to get hurt by Lala and Gelm-… wait. What did you just call me?"

I can tell she was worried about how Nova and Deleon were showing that kind of interest in two of the eldest Povpoi but, when I called her \'my\' little Anna, in a way she knows only I could call her, she looked back with surprised eyes.

"Big brother…?"

Her big crystal like pupils locked on me, her eyebrows twitching, she was looking at me like I was some kind of a ghost.

"Are you real?" She asked, still surprised, while touching my face.

"Yes, little love. I am real."

"Really?"

"Of course. Have I ever lied to you?\'

"Are you here, really? Are you back, like really back?"

She was just expressing her overwhelming feelings now. Which is cute.

"Yes, yes miss Anastasia. Your cruel brother is back."

Now, there were tears at the end of her eyes. And the Poipoi and Zuroro in her room had grasped the situation so, they were leaving this room through door I came from.

"Are you… are you really here, big brother?"

She was going to cry now.

"Surprise… though I never intended-"

"Big brother!"

She hugged me. And started crying.

"Whaaaaaa! You meanie! Whaaaaa! You are mean!"

She slapped my back with her now stronger hands, before clenching my clothes.

"There there. We don\'t cry when we meet someone after such a long time. We smile, and we greet each other. We say welcome back, and then we celebrate."

It has been a little less than two months since we went to the academy, however, it was a long time from her perspective.

Long nights, short days of practice. Moments that would pass lost in thoughts… she was still young but she was lonely even when having her other little friends and family members with her.

"Snifff…"

She was crying out her heart. The loneliness she must have felt while trying out various things to cope with the loneliness, this rush of emotions was something I understood very well.

"Welcome back… big brother."

She knew I was here now, that I was back, and also how we were going to stay together only for a short time before I go back again and she is lonely once again.

She knew the school was not over yet and that for the next few years, we were going to keep getting separated like this.

However, she understood how important this was for me, for all of us.

She had started learning from grandpa and others now, so she was starting to understand how we liked learning, playing, sparring and finding out more about our powers, this world, and everything within it.

Weapon arts and physique refinement, along with basic magic theory and theory on summoning, taming, and energy arts was not going to be easy for her either.

Her time will pass by doing all that, so I was a little less worried about her…

"It\'s good to see you as well, Anna."

A hug from her was enough to erase all the negative thoughts from the last two days.

Her smile brought me inner peace.

\'And, thanks to her, it was easier to breathe now…\'