Saying Hello

"Woohoo! Minos is the best!"

"Thanks Mister Minos."

"I'm going to wear my nicest shirt!"

Seeing their happy moods, Minos smiled, focusing back on his breakfast. With everything finished, he washed his plate clean, before heading out.

He still had a few people to say hello to, so this was a good opportunity to go check on them and see how they're doing.

Heading straight to the Weapon Refining Union, Minos's first destination was naturally Okrum, wanting to see how the old man was doing.

Walking inside the building, Minos headed down the familiar hallway before coming up across Okrum's office, knocking twice.

"The doors open, come in." Okrum said from the other side.

"Hey old man, I'm back." Minos said.

"Minos! I honestly never thought you'd come back to this little city." Okrum said with surprise, as he looked up from his paperwork.

"I still have lots of family and friends here, so how could I just leave forever?"

"That's true. Anyways boy, seeing how much your cultivation has improved, I assume everything went well?" Okrum said, after giving Minos's body a quick scan.

"Naturally. By the way, have you seen Zatiana recently?" Minos asked.

"Zatiana? That little girl you asked me to take care of after you left? She's doing fine, in fact, surprisingly, she's made the most progress among any of the new recruits. May only take a few years for her to successfully refine her first Two-Moon grade weapon."

"Really? That's good to hear." Minos said relieved, glad that Zatiana seemed to have recovered from their previous 'incident.'

"So old man, how are you doing?" Minos continued.

"Boy, you know damn well there's nothing to do here. My days have been boring as usual. Thank heavens I have Minda here to keep me sane." The old man said, slightly exasperated.

"Don't worry, with my talent, I'll have you back at the top in no time." Minos said with a laugh.

"Good, I'm counting on you." The old man said with a smile, confident of Minos's abilities.

"Well I still have to check in on Zatiana, so I won't bother you anymore. Take care old man."

Seeing Minos leave the room, the old man let out a long sigh, praying that Minos's journey would continue to be smooth sailing.

He knew that cultivation was one big game of luck, where everyday was a gamble, and a single loss could spell the end of everything.

He could only hope that Minos would keep winning, not even for his sake, but because he truly liked Minos, and wanted the best for him.

…

Meanwhile, back in the hall, Minos asked around a bit before he found out that Zatiana was currently in the library.

Heading inside, he couldn't help but take in a deep breath, intoxicated by the smell of ink and paper.

Looking around for a bit, he found a familiar back seated at a desk as she read a book with full concentration, occasionally taking notes on the side.

Minos didn't bother her, instead just taking a seat across from her before pulling a book at random and reading.

Zatiana was so concentrated, that she didn't even notice the person across from her, just busy scribbling away at her notebook.

The next few hours passed by quickly in this way, and Minos got through dozens of books in the time.

His weapon refining expertise was pretty much all hands-on, whereas his theoretical knowledge was a bit lacking, so this was a good opportunity to strengthen his foundation.

With his split souls, Minos could quickly memorize a few books before running through each memory with an individual soul, properly absorbing and understanding the information.

With this method, Minos could thoroughly comprehend five books at the same time, boosting his learning speed astronomically.

As he was shutting his eyes and running through another book, he heard the sound of a pen being placed on the table.

Opening his eyes, he realized that Zatiana was finally finished, and at the same time, Zatiana also looked ahead.

"M-Minos!" Zatiana said, completely shocked, never having expected that she would suddenly see Minos when she opened her eyes.

"I must be dreaming because I missed you too much." She said, as she shook her head heavily, as if attempting to remove the illusion.

"Haha, it's no dream, I'm really here." Minos said with a laugh, as he firmly grabbed Zatiana's shaking head, keeping her in place.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd never come back!" Zatiana responded, her eyes slightly red.

"You thought wrong." Minos said, smiling gently.

"Do you know how much I missed you? How could you just leave without saying goodbye?" Zatiana cried, as she firmly hugged Minos.

Minos felt a little awkward at the sudden hug, but seeing how distraught Zatiana looked, he decided to just give her this moment.

"To be honest, I felt really bad after our problem, and I really didn't have the courage to see you. However, I realize now that I can't just run away from my problems, so Zatiana, is it okay if we just stayed friends?" Minos asked.

"Yes, it's fine, in fact it's all I ever wanted since you left!" Zatiana said, despite her heart still not being quite satisfied with such an arrangement.

But by now, she knew what kind of person Minos was. He was someone who was loyal to his core, so if she really pushed, he would likely just give up on her.

With him gone this past year, Zatiana realized just how empty she felt, and she decided that even if she couldn't have that kind of relationship with Minos, it would be good to just be friends.

"That's good to hear. Since we're friends now, how about you come and have lunch with me and the others." Minos responded, feeling a weight lifted from his heart.

"Great! Let me just put away my stuff." Zatiana said, having not seen the others since Minos left.

After Zatiana finished, the two headed back home together, arriving just in time to find the children all done with their daily cultivation.

"Everyone ready?" Minos shouted.

"Ready!" They all responded.

"Master, let's go to that one restaurant with the seafood! Wait no, the one with the grilled meat, no wait, uh…" Rubella said with excitement, as she constantly bounced around Minos.

"Have you guys forgotten something?" Minos said, a little embarrassed at their behavior.

"No, I made sure to bring my favorite toy!" One little boy said with pride, as he pulled an oddly shaped rock from his pocket.

"That's not what I meant. What do you say to our guest?" Minos said, slightly rubbing his forehead.

"Oh yeah! hi Miss!"

"Hello weapon girl."

"Her name is Zatiana." Minos said, thinking he should probably put these kids in etiquette classes as well.

"Oh! Hello Miss Zatiana!"

"Hi Miss Zatiana."

"Good to see you again, Miss Zatiana."

"It's nice to see you kids again as well." Zatiana said with a giggle, clearly not minding their erratic behavior.

With the greeting finally done after so much pain, the group headed off to the restaurant that had received the majority of votes, much to Rubella's disappointment.

This was the same restaurant that the group had come to the first time, and coincidentally, it was still the same waiter at the front door.

Seeing the group, his eyes were a little confused at first, before a sudden light went off and a wide smile appeared on his face.

"Ahh, if it isn't my favorite guests! Come in, I've got a nice table waiting for you all!" The waiter said enthusiastically, a completely different attitude compared to the first time they had come.

Minos was naturally happy to avoid a fight, so with a quick nod, he led the group towards the largest table at the back of the room.

The children all took their menus with glittering eyes as they flipped through the pages, selecting dishes at random.

Watching the scene, Zatiana couldn't help but feel her heart warm. While she had a family, it was only her father and mother, so she'd rarely experienced such big group events.

Seeing Minos dealing with the kids with a smile on his face, Zatiana couldn't help but blush slightly before sighing, pushing her unrealistic thoughts to the back of her mind.