Chapter 14

"Mom, I'm home, Chana."

"Welcome back, Hakim."

"Welcome back, big brother."

Hakim's house is in the lowest district of the capital city.

It has been six years since his father left to sell water and never returned. They could only afford to live in this district with their earnings. They don't know if he left on his own or was involved in an incident. With no savings, his mother and he had to work to eat. His younger sister, who has been bedridden due to illness for a long time, seems to be in much better condition recently.

"Chana, look what I have. Here."

"Big brother, what is this?"

"It's hawthorn candy. The lady coated the hawthorns from the orchard in sugar."

Neither he nor his sister had ever tasted hawthorn candy before. Even their mother had never heard of it. Chana had never seen it. The three of them picked up a piece each with their fingertips and put it in their mouths.

"Wow! Big brother, the candy is crunchy!"

"The sweet and sour hawthorn with the sweet candy is delicious. I've never had coated candy before."

"It's really good."

Even though it was before dinner, the three of them enjoyed the sweet and sour hawthorn candy for a long time.

When they left Alesia's house, they were given a flatbread made from wheat flour mixed with water, a slightly spicy stew of beans and chicken, and a boiled egg. The lady said, "Use it as a side dish," but for Hakim's family, this was a luxurious main dish.

While looking at the boiled egg, he always thought, "The day we eat the eggs from that orchard, I feel like my fatigue is really gone." He thought it might be his imagination.

"That's so kind. Hakim really got a good job."

"Yeah, I think so too. Thanks to this, we can buy Chana's medicine with peace of mind."

He served the side dishes from the metal container onto plates and poured the water from the orchard into wooden cups.

"Come on, eat. I've already eaten."

His mother, who had been cleaning all day, and his sister, who was often sick and bedridden, ate with relish. Hakim felt a sense of fulfillment as if he had become the head of the family.

"Big brother, this water is really delicious."

"I still can't believe that rainwater is better than fresh spring water."

"It's not just rainwater. It's really delicious."

Hakim explained the filter he had seen at the orchard.

"It becomes clean and tasty when it passes through barrels filled with sand and charcoal."

"You know, I haven't had a fever since I started drinking this water and eating the food you bring back. It's like magic water and magic food."

"Ha ha ha. That's an exaggeration. Still, the people at that orchard are really kind."

The orchard apparently gets rain at night, and the soil is always moist. To be honest, it was a mystery to Hakim, who had walked around selling water. It seemed impossible for that area to get rain so often. If it really did rain, it would mean that rain was falling without any clouds.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I'll just work hard for those kind people."

"That's right. Mom prays to God and the people at the orchard every day."

"Me too!"

That night, as he lay on the simple bed, Hakim remembered his sister's words. She said she hadn't had a fever since she started drinking the orchard's water and eating their food. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't bought fever medicine in a while. Watching her eat just now, he noticed her appetite was much better than before.

The water, which tasted so smooth and sweet, might really be magic water.

"No, that's impossible."

He had heard that there were no more magicians in the country before his mother was born. His father had said that even before that, magicians were born only once every twenty or thirty years. If that was true, there couldn't be a magician in that orchard on the outskirts of the capital. If there were, they would be living in the palace.

"Still, it's a wonderful orchard, like magic."

He said it aloud, and his sister, who was sleeping by the window in the same room, spoke to him.

"Big brother, tell me about the people at the orchard."

His sister, who only saw the ceiling, walls, and outside the window of the house every day, made him feel sorry for her. Hakim decided to tell her about them.

"The owner is Mr. Serio and his wife, Ilda. Their nine-year-old daughter is Alesia. Next door are Mr. Nathan and Mrs. Benita, and their son, Ethan, is seven, I think."

"What's Alesia like?"

"She seems very smart, kind, and hardworking."

Chana seemed a bit dissatisfied with the answer.

"No, I mean, what does she look like?"

"What... She has wavy chestnut hair that reaches her shoulders, and her eyes are a bit unusual. They're a deep blue, but if you look closely, they have golden specks like stars."

"Wow. She must be beautiful."

Hakim chuckled. His sister was quite precocious. Chana, who was the same age as Alesia, looked much younger in comparison. Her physical growth had been delayed due to her illness... Yes, Alesia seemed more mature, or rather, she sometimes spoke and acted like an adult.

"Big brother?"

"Ah, sorry. I was thinking. Alesia is beautiful. More elegant than cute."

"Wow."

He felt like her response had some hidden meaning, but his sister just giggled and fell asleep.

"Tomorrow is the orchard again. I should go to sleep."

Hakim smiled a little at the change in his own attitude, thinking, "Tomorrow is another day of work. I'll do my best!" He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.