Seeing that the sky was getting darker and darker, the rain seemed to be getting heavier again, and there was no intention of stopping.

Eren lit the magic lamp on the table, and his long, thin shadow was reflected on the ground.

He patted the old chime bird on the head, which was napping again, startled it, and quickly stood up straight, puffed up his chest, exposed the dial on his belly, and screamed three times, meaning that it was already six o'clock in the evening.

At first, there was no such thing as a clock on the continent, and people only divided the time period by the call of the chiming bird. In terms of the exact time, morning is from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., noon is from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and from 18 a.m. to 6 a.m. the next morning.

And the reason why chiming birds are called chiming birds is because they are simply born to exist to tell the time. They have small heads but big bellies, so big that they can't see where their claws are, they have small wings that they can't fly at all, no, they can't fly, they walk very slowly, they have something like a dial on their stomachs, and they make three short calls at six o'clock, nine o'clock, twelve o'clock, and fifteen o'clock, and one sound at seven and eight o'clock. The clock was invented by someone based on the dial on its belly.

However, the people of this land do not seem to be sensitive to the concept of time, their days are generally very leisurely, only some special occasions, such as schools, hospitals, security departments and other places will hang the clock, most people still like to divide the day into only four time periods: morning, noon, afternoon and evening.

In addition to this, another very interesting trait of the chiming bird is that it is very lazy.

How lazy are they? that they would rather starve to death than forage unless an insect crawls into their mouths, and they will only squint and sleep all day long. And if you catch it home, as long as you feed it some bugs every day, it will obediently stay in your house and not go anywhere.

Just remember to put a small box directly underneath it, because they're so lazy that they won't move even when they're pooping.

The one in Ellen's house was the one he and Riel had caught in the tree at the door. He still remembered that Riel had crept up the tree to try to catch it, and little by little he had crept closer to it, for fear of making some noise and scaring it away, but it was still asleep until he got it home.

"It's already six o'clock, so Ariel should be back soon, huh...... If not left behind by Mrs. Dalke. Alan thought to himself.

Sure enough, when he came back to his senses and looked out again, he noticed a familiar small black umbrella on the other side of the road, with two large letters "R.C" that Riel had branded on the umbrella with his own magic. These two letters are larger than the average person.

Yes, that's what everyone does, at least in this town, because everyone has umbrellas that look the same, and only then can you clearly tell which one is your own from a pile of umbrellas. At the same time, this brand is also like a lock, and it is difficult to hold it open without injecting a little magic that echoes it. And in this economically not very developed town, if you lose your umbrella, not to mention that you have to go home in the rain, you will definitely be scolded when you return home.

Alan watched as the little black umbrella got closer and closer, slowly spinning as he walked. Alan smiled slightly, thinking, "It seems that he is in a good mood today." ”

Probably only he could recognize it, but it was a unique personal habit of Rare. When everyone is in a rainy day, they basically put their hands in their pockets, keep their heads down, and want to hurry home to drink coffee or milk, and then have a beautiful meal, and no one has time to take a look at others. Only Riel seems to be in a good mood every day, and when there is nothing to discuss on the way out of school, he always likes to hum a tune that he can't hear at all while letting the umbrella turn slowly, although everyone is usually taught by Mrs. Dalk that magic is a very precious resource, and it is necessary to avoid unnecessary consumption of magic power as much as possible, and accumulate it, because the final final exam is to check the mana value reserve. But Riel doesn't pay attention to this, no matter what he does, he comes according to his mood, as long as he can make his mood better, what magic is not magical, it is a small problem.

In fact, sometimes even Alan feels a little confused, and it seems that nothing can affect Rare's mood?

Well...... It seems that this is indeed the case.

"Welcome home, Rare. "When the black umbrella reached the entrance of the fence wall, the ivy that grew luxuriantly around the fence wall opened.

"Good evening, Anna. Under the umbrella is a slightly green-looking face, with small eyes but a bright look, brown pupils, maybe they have lived together for a long time, and the eyebrows and eyes are somewhat similar to Allen. However, he has good eyesight, never wears glasses, has brown hair with bangs covering his forehead, slightly curly, and is much stronger than Alan.

"It seems that you still like rainy days, and the flowers are so energetic. He said with his fingers as he gently flicked off the water droplets on a small white flower.

"Hmm...... Okay, I just don't hate the rain too much. Anna said, glancing in the direction Riel had returned, and sighed as she continued, "But it's different for Lilith. ”

Riel followed Anna's line of sight, and there was a house about the size of their family only a dozen paces away, and no light was shining through it. Because of the weather and the rain, I can only see the outline of it clearly.

That's Allen's home and where Allen was born. And Lilith is the morning glory that grows on the fence wall outside that house.

"yes...... As I remember, Lilith hated rain the most, and it seemed like she hadn't bloomed in a long time. Riel said, looking over there.

"It's a good thing the soil here is very permeable, otherwise I think she might really be unbearable. ”

"Don't worry, she'll be happy just to see Alan. Riel turned her head and smiled, "When I passed by her door just now, she asked me worriedly why I didn't see Alan today, and I told her that Alan just twisted her foot and that she should be fine after two days of rest, so she was relieved." Anna also pieced together a smiling face from her small white flowers and helped Riel open the fence door.

Ariel's home is close to Alan's, both in the southernmost part of Bea, a short distance from the town.

Allen's physical condition is not very good, and when he is not usually at school, he likes to stay in the house and read, and occasionally he will lie on the roof and watch the clouds on sunny days. Riel is always energetic and likes to wander around town and come back to share anything interesting with Alan.

Then one day, he thinks it's a bit boring to go shopping alone, so he hard-pulls Alan with him, only to find something that Riele never noticed: unlike most families, it seems that only the two of them don't live in the town. And the house they live in is different from the style of the average person in the town. Most of the houses in the town are mud houses or log cabins, and some of the better ones are made of stone, but there are very few, all of them are low floors, and they look crowded next to each other. The two-story house is made of stone and surrounded by a fence wall full of greenery, and it looks much more imposing than the houses in the town.

Riel had asked his father about this, but the answer he received was "Because it makes us look better at the magic we use in our buildings!"

However, Alan no longer lives in his house, but with Rare and Connor. In fact, he had only spent three days in that so-called home, and before he could even open his eyes to see what the house was like, his parents entrusted him with the connors. He had only been in once in nearly fourteen years, and he had taken a quick look in the company of Mr. and Mrs. Connor, and for some reason, he felt his heart become heavy as soon as he entered, making him want to leave quickly. As for his father, Tim Paterner, and his mother, Marianne Paterner, Mr. Connor simply told him that they had to set out to find something very important. All Alan knew about them was limited to the description of them by the Connors.

Riel's father, Dean Connor, is 44 years old, a middle-aged man with a great affability and a sense of humor, who is clearly inherited from his brown hair.

He always had a smile on his face and was funny, but once when talking to Ellen about Tim, Mr. Connor had a rare serious face.

"Tim: The bravest man I have ever met," "the most admirable man," "the best magician," these are the words Alan heard Connor Sr. use to describe his father.

And about his mother, Marianne, "Your eyebrows and eyes are exactly the same as those of Marianne, and you look gentle and quiet. Mrs. Connor said.

Even though the Connor had been describing in as much detail as possible, Alan couldn't imagine what they were like, as they hadn't seen each other in a long time.

Alan couldn't figure out what it was that was so important that they could leave him behind three days after he was born, and he had not heard from him for fourteen years.

But what Alan can be sure of now is that he and the Connor family are getting along very well, they are like family, and the Connors are to him what they are to Rare.