The following Saturday, Patrick woke up early to make breakfast and prepared to go to work, as usual. Arielle and Ashley got up with the morning sun, washed up and joined their grandfather for breakfast. At 6:15 am, Arielle stood up from the dining table, intending to wake Nathan up as part of their morning routine.

  Grandpa said, "Why don't we let him sleep in today? You don't have botanical work anymore."

  Nathan had a slight fever on Sunday, but he still went to school on Monday and throughout the rest of the week without taking a break.

  Arielle nodded and said, "Sure," before sitting back down and continued eating.

  After breakfast, with Nathan still sleeping, Arielle and Ashley studied at home.

  "Thanks, Arielle," Ashley said, grateful for Arielle's patient guidance on the math problem.

  "You're welcome," Arielle said with a warm smile before going back to her own workbook. The sisters' desks were placed side by side in their bedroom.

  "You're working so hard today. What's behind the sudden change?" Ashley asked, her curiosity piqued.

  "I need to catch up to Nathan," Arielle said, her expression turning contemplative. "Otherwise, I feel like Nathan is going to leave us for somewhere far away."

  "Oh?" Ashley tilted her head and looked at Arielle in confusion.

  "Louis invited Nathan to his martial arts school," Arielle explained. "Additionally, his grade has been improving very quickly. If we don't catch up, he will be studying in Bluefield College, leaving us behind in the cram school."

  Ashley's eyes sparkled with determination as she exclaimed, "We can't let that happen!"

  Arielle's expression turned solemn, her brows knitting together in concern, as she added, "Also, even though we'll be going with Nathan tonight to find Louis, I'm worried that Louis won't take us in as his students; so far, the only one he has ever invited is Nathan."

  "Actually, Louis gave me several flyers, and I've kept them all. Let's take a look!" Ashley exclaimed.

  "Sure thing," Arielle said with a smile.

  "Yes, I've stored them in here," Ashley said as she pulled out the contents of her drawer, before adding. "Thomas is also collecting these flyers; let's go find him."

  "Okay!"

  Thomas regularly joined Nathan in downtown on Saturdays or Sundays to run errands for Maya. Ashley, on the other hand, would follow Nathan around when she felt like it. As Nathan consistently declined Louis's flyers, Thomas and Ashley would often take them instead. Ashley, finding the man humorous to talk with, collected all of his flyers for fun. Thomas also collected them due to each of the flyers being unique and hand-drawn, and not printed en masse. Evidently, Louis only had his eyes on recruiting Nathan, so he didn't print more copies.

  By 9:00 am, Thomas and Chana were already up and going about their day. Arielle and Ashley made their way next door via the backyard to meet up with their cousins.

  As the sisters entered, Thomas, immersed in his book, looked up from the living room couch and greeted them with a warm, "Good morning!"

  As she worked in the kitchen, Maya inquired, "Are you two here to play?"

  "Good morning, Aunt Maya! Good morning, Thomas!" the sisters said in unison.

  Ashley's gaze met Thomas's as she requested, "We want to take a look at Louis's flyers. Can you show us your collection?"

  "Sure!" Thomas answered, then went upstairs to retrieve his collection.

  Thomas and Ashley had collected eleven of Louis's flyers in total, with most of them belonging to Thomas.

  Seeing Thoma's collection, Arielle gazed upon Thomas with curiosity and asked, "Thomas, are you a collector of rare flyers, or is there something specific that draws you to Louis'?"

  "Only those that catch my eyes." As Thomas's fingers danced across the paper's surface, he explained, "Take Louis' flyers, for instance, which are hand-drawn on the finest, smooth paper. They are distinctively different to the touch and visible to the naked eye. Moreover, each of the flyers' designs is different."

  "He's also into manga and collecting their souvenirs," Chana added. "So, his room is full of stuff. Mom and I always need to clean up for him."

  "Stop throwing away my collections," Thomas retorted, his face darkening, his brows furrowing in irritation. "I always need to get them back from the trash."

  "Tidy up yourself then, I side with Mom. Bleh!" Chana stuck out her tongue to Thomas, teasing him.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Thomas shot Chana a discontented glance before shifting his attention to the task at hand. "Anyway, let's take a look at the flyers."

  As the cousins meticulously examined the flyers, Chana suddenly exclaimed, "Look, there are some tiny notes written in the right bottom corner."

  The tiny, handwritten note read, "Enrollment: one per flyer, 2/18"

  As the cousins took a closer look, it turned out that each of the flyers had the same note written on it, but was dated differently, yet always dated on a Saturday. The last flyer they got was from the week before the bandit attack.

  "But if Louis was only inviting Nathan, why did he write this on the flyers?" Arielle asked. "Perhaps..."

  Thomas then recalled his first encounter with Louis. He was walking out of the supermarket with Nathan, their hands full of grocery bags. As the household's remaining two males, given that Patrick and Harold were still working, this task had fallen to them.

  "Hello there! Would you be interested in joining my martial arts school? You have talent for it," Louis approached Nathan with an air of enthusiasm as he said. "I promise you won't regret it."

  Nathan's response was curt, "Sorry, not interested," as he picked up his pace, attempting to leave Louis behind.

  "Here is a flyer; please take a look," Louis said, handing a flyer to Nathan, but the boy refused to take it.

  Seeing no success in his attempt, Louis's gaze shifted to Thomas, and with a hint of curiosity in his voice, he inquired, "Are you with him?"

  Thomas's eyes widened slightly in surprise, and he responded with a cautious, "Yes...?" as he processed the suddenness of Louis's approach.

  With a warm, encouraging smile, Louis swiftly slipped the flyer into Thomas's pocket. "Take it; please take a look!" he said before blending into the crowd, leaving Thomas perplexed.

  Each of their subsequent encounters ended similarly. In hindsight, Thomas realized that Louis could have easily put the flyer into Nathan's pocket instead. Recalling Louis's smiles as he looked at him, Thomas said, "I think he was inviting me." Looking down at the flyer, he then added, "but only if I can notice the tiny words underneath the flyers, that is."

  Meanwhile, Maya finished putting the laundry into the washing machine and climbed back up from the basement to the living room. Noticing the children huddled around the flyers, she chimed in, "What's all this about?"

  "Flyers from Hawk's martial arts school," Arielle replied with a mischievous glint in her eye. "Why don't we scope out the school before Nathan gets the chance?"

  Maya's brow furrowed in concern as she wondered aloud, "For such a famous teacher, I do hope the tuition won't be exorbitant if all of you were to enroll."

  "Let's go ask!" Arielle exclaimed enthusiastically. "We can verify the Master Certification Number on these flyers with the Adventurer's Guild to learn more about the school."

  "Sure! Let's go!" the children chimed in unison.

  "I'll go with you, there is still time before the laundry is done." Maya smiled warmly as she said.

  "I also wonder if there is a flyer for last week," Thomas added as they departed. "I want to collect them all."

  Nathan woke up at 11:00 am today. The pleasure of waking up naturally was a luxury he hadn't enjoyed in a long time. Feeling a sudden, nostalgic surge of energy, he sprang out of bed, stretched, and then washed up.

  "Hello Nathan!" Ashley pulled open the backyard door and called out, "Lunch is ready. Come on over!" Since the two sides of the house were connected, Ashley heard Nathan walking down the stairs and ran over to get him.

  "Isn't it a bit early for lunch?" Nathan asked, tilting his head in confusion.

  "We grabbed takeout since we went out earlier," Ashley said, pulling Nathan through the backyard.

  "You seem happy, did anything happen?" Nathan asked with a warm smile, gazing dearly at Ashley.

  "Nothing!" Ashley said with a grin.

  As Nathan opened the door to Maya's place, the savory smell of french fries hit him, and his stomach growled. He thought to himself, "This must be why Ashley's so upbeat."

  After lunch, Nathan, Arielle, Ashley, and their cousins worked together to color the pages for the picture books, a gift they were preparing for the Adventurers who saved them. Once they finished, the afternoon sun had begun to set, and they headed out to meet up with the others to wrap it up.

  "We'll be going with you," Thomas said with a grin, with Chana behind him, to Nathan's surprise.

  Nathan nodded and said, "Sounds good."

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