Beginning Beyond The Horizon

The warm morning sunlight blinded Hajime's eyes, and he approached the tree where the white goat was. The first sound he heard was the lowing of cattle in the distance. Hajime saw a road and started dragging the white goat along the dirt road towards the city. Hajime continued walking until the dirt road he was on merged into a larger road. At this moment, Hajime saw many people walking on the same road and knew that he was on the right path.

Hajime noticed that many of the people walking towards the city were travelers in groups of ten or seven. Seeing seven people sitting and resting on the roadside, Hajime decided to approach this group of people.

"Good morning, dear sirs," Hajime said with a warm smile.

The men looked up at Hajime and were all shocked at Hajime's white complexion.

"Young man, how can we help you," one of the men said.

Hajime pointed at the city and asked, "Is that Zans City?"

The man nodded and said, "Yes, that's Zans City." He looked around and found Hajime alone. "Where are your teammates?"

"Teammates?" Hajime looked at the men in confusion. "Sorry, I don't understand what you mean."

The man said, "At this time every three months, people who go to Zans City are all here to participate in the competition to enter Eternal Library."

Hajime said, "Oh, I have never been to Zans City, so I don't know about this. I just came for sightseeing."

The man said, "Tomorrow is the first day of registration. One hundred teams will be selected for a comprehensive fighting competition by the head librarian. The winning team will have the opportunity to enter Eternal Library."

Standing and listening to the men talk about the competition, Hajime knew that Yul and the others would most likely participate in this competition because they wanted to collect all the information, they could about Huoyang.

"Are you heading there?" Hajime asked.

The man stood up along with the others. "We're going there and hopefully the librarian will choose us."

Hajime asked, "Do you mind if I follow? This is my first time coming to Zans City, and I want to experience this competition."

"Of course," the man said.

Hajime dragged the white goat and walked beside everyone towards the city gate. Hajime looked at the leader of the team traveling with him and asked, "Brother, you said tomorrow is the day when the head of the librarian will select the participating teams, why do you still go today?"

The man said, "Oh, it's because the line is long. If we arrive too late and the hundred teams have already been selected, we will have to wait another three months."

"Oh, I see," Hajime said. "First come, first served."

The man said, "Yeah, that's basically it. Little brother, I'm very curious." He looked at Hajime and then the goat. "Why are you dragging this goat? Is there a secret to this?"

Hajime smiled and said, "It's no secret. I have to drag this goat everywhere I go because she is my son's milk source."

The man looked at Hajime, laughed and joked, "You are joking heh... You are so young, and you already have a son?" He looked at the goat, and then looked at Hajime. "Where is your son?"

Hajime pointed to the basket and said, "He is in that basket."

An old woman walking in the crowd complained loudly, "Aiya! How can you cover the child with a quilt like this... This poor child will be overheat... Take the blanket away..." She didn't wait long for any comments. Humanly speaking, she quickly moved her heavy body towards the basket and unfolded the blanket. "Look at him, his cheeks are red, and his head is sweating profusely." She took out her handkerchief and began to wipe the sweat on Meiji's face. "Such a good boy, hold on a little longer, grandmother will wipe your sweat."

Hajime walked up to the old woman and said, "Thank you."

"As a father, you should learn these things. Every mistake you make is a lesson for your next child," she said with a smile. "When my son and daughter-in-law gave birth to their first child, they were just like you, haha... They don't even know when to breastfeed their children, but after giving birth to six children, they become experts."

Hajime scratched his head and said dumbly, "I was afraid that he would fall out of the basket, so I wrapped him up."

The elder woman said, "He is such a good boy. At this age, they can't jump yet. All they can do is grab the edge of the basket and try to stand up on their feet."

Hajime and the old woman continued walking while talking, and the old woman continued to teach Hajime the secrets of parenting until they reached the city gate. Hajime thanked the old woman for her kind advices and walked away. Hajime continued to follow the seven people to the coliseum.

"Well, the coliseum is over there, we will go over there to register," the man said. "Then which way do you want to go?"

Hajime thought about it and found that Meiji had not been fed since leaving the temple this morning, so he decided to find a good place between the registration office and the coliseum to rest and feed Meiji. Because there are still too many people queuing up to register, if Yul and the others decide to show up, whether they go to register area or go to the coliseum, he has a higher chance of seeing them.

Hajime smiled and said, "Thank you, brother. I think I will find a place to rest first and feed my son. Then I will go to the registration gate to have a look. If we don't see each other again, I really hope that your team get picked. Best of luck."

The man smiled and patted Hajime lightly on the shoulder, "Take care of your boy. See you around."

Hajime watched the group of seven people walking to his right, where there were many people lined up. Hajime walked around again, but there was no place to sit between the register area and the coliseum. Hajime looked around and saw people coming and going everywhere, and there are vendor stalls on both sides of the street. He found a tree behind the hawker stall, so he dragged the white goat towards the tree. 

Hajime rested under the tree shade and took out the small teapot he had prepared before leaving the temple, which was filled with goat's milk. Hajime placed the teapot's sprout into Meiji's mouth and slowly fed goat milk to Meiji. He smiled at Meiji, who drank the goat's milk obediently without making a fuss.

"You are such a great baby and easy to take care of. I bet your grandfather will like you very much," Hajime said with a smile. He slowly stroked Meiji's black hair. "As a descendant of the Great Grand General, grandson of the grand general, and son of grand palace guard, endurance is something you must have." He smiled. "You're doing a great job so far." He wiped Meiji's mouth, and when he saw Meiji's innocent eyes staring at him warmly, although he had reconciled with himself, he still felt his heart ached. "May you always behave this good, so everyone will always love you." 

After Hajime finished feeding Meiji, Hajime stood up and found that the stall in front of him was selling fried donuts. He put Meiji back into the basket, and then dragged the white goat to the stall.

"Buy some freshly fried donuts, young man," said the middle-aged female hawker.

Hajime said, "I'll buy ten. Oh, and two bags of hot soymilk." He reached for his pouch when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. He was stunned for a moment, but when the familiar smell crawled up his nostrils, he relaxed a little. "Yul?"

"Hajime..." Yul held Hajime in his arms and whispered. "Hajime..."

Hajime turned around, put his arms around Yul's waist, and buried his face in Yul's chest. Yul put his left arm around Hajime's upper back and his right hand on the back of Hajime's head. He lowered his head and gently kissed Hajime's right temple.

"I knew I would see you here no matter what," Hajime whispered into Yul's chest.

Yul said softly, "I'm glad you're safe. I'm glad you're safe." He tightened his arms around Hajime's waist, and he realized that he was able to wrap his arms nicely around Hajime. He pulled Hajime away from his chest and looked down at Hajime's abdomen, only to find that Hajime was no longer pregnant. "What happened to your belly? Did you..."

Hajime wiped his tears and walked to the other side of the goat. He picked up Meiji from the basket and walked back to Yul. "Yul... this is our little Meiji," Hajime said with a smile. "Master Budi said he has no trace of dark energy within him and his completely normal just like..."

Yul walked towards Hajime with excitement. He was very happy that the little life in Hajime's arms was created by him. He looked at Meiji, who looked nothing like Hajime. One look at Meiji and he knew that the child in Hajime's arms was his. 

"He looks... he looks," Yul said, his voice shaking.

Hajime smiled and said, "He looks a lot like you." Hajime handed Meiji to Yul. "Do you want to hold your son?"

Yul stretched out his hand nervously and gently held Meiji into his arms. "He's so tiny," Yul said.

"When he was first born, Kaizen said he was smaller, but I wasn't able to hold him until today. This morning to be exact," Hajime said.

Yul said, "Let's go meet the others."

Hajime said, "You go ahead. I have to pay for the fried donuts and the soymilk." 

Yul held Meiji in his arms and started walking towards the others. Hajime quickly paid the hawker and followed Yul with the white goat walking towards Eternal Library. When Hajime saw the man standing at the door with a white stone hanging around his neck, Hajime knew that his time had come. He sighed and bravely walked towards the others.