Chapter 181: Capturing a Moment

Listening to everything from Joshua, Ed felt a slight sense of concern.

Under normal circumstances, normal residents could fight each other for eternity; he wouldn’t bother.

Though these residents were not normal by any means.

Ed, for the first time in a very long time, decided it was time to look around and investigate. He turned his head back and lowered his black glasses smugly.

He wanted to validate a few things, or maybe he felt obligated to do so.

He scratched his belly once. Maybe it was his gut feeling taking over again.

"You have a considerable number of ascenders in the kingdom," Ed said, startling Joshua, who wasn’t sure of what Ed was trying to do when he turned around.

Joshua wiped the beading sweat on his forehead. "Ah. Yes, Sir Edmond," he nodded. "Though the empire has more, according to what we know," he added.

"Your king is good, though looking needlessly too old," Ed said again. "Injury, I suppose, or something else?" he said before his gaze went beyond the walls.

"Sir Edmond’s gift of clairvoyance is astonishing." Joshua couldn’t help showing his admiration.

Ed pursed his lips, but he decided not to correct him.

It would always be better to misunderstand his casual sensory capacity for a gift of clairvoyance any day.

Instead, "I trained it hard for long years to be that good," he laughed lightly.

Joshua shook his head. "Sir doesn’t seem to be that old," he added with a smile.

Ed’s face turned heavy for a moment. "I guess the empire is holding off the preparations for some reason."

Joshua’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. "S-s-s-s-sir, you can see all the way there?" he asked, trying to gather the words before they broke apart in his throat.

"No big deal." Ed waved his hand dismissively. "They sure are stronger than the kingdom, both when it comes to the number of ascenders and the troops they have."

Ed pushed back the glasses all the way up his nose bridge again. He took a sip of his tea. "Right, Joshua, how old are you?" Ed said before adding, "You look too young to have a kid that old; how did you do it?" he said with a half-joking tone.

Exhaling sharply, Joshua looked both sweaty and confused, but he was also obligated to answer.

A dry laugh escaped his throat. "I’m 37 this year; I married my wife when I was 20," he spoke slowly.

Ed smiled. "Lucky bastard," he said jokingly. "Others would live alone for hundreds of years," Ed added, patting Joshua on the shoulder.

Joshua opened his mouth, but no words came.

"Relax and don’t overthink things while you still have the luxury of enjoying some peaceful time like now," Ed tried to assure Joshua.

It was natural for ordinary people like him to admire strong ascenders; it was also normal for strong ascenders to treat ordinary people like him like bugs who never deserved the air they breathed.

Ed realized Joshua wasn’t an idiot, nor was he clueless.

He understood Ed was one of the considerably strong ascenders, but he willingly took the risk so his son would enjoy his day to the fullest.

Joshua genuinely doubted the future, doubted how long he would live if a war broke out soon.

Yet, once Ed took a look at his king from where he was, Joshua began to doubt his own understanding of the situation.

Not only could he watch his king while enjoying his tea on a distant beach, his king also didn’t seem to react, nor was he aware of Ed’s actions.

But it didn’t stop there; Ed’s gaze even fell on the empire far into the distance.

As for the last line, living for a few hundred years.

Joshua was doubting his entire life, unsure if he’d gained a chance to meet a legend or brought himself and his son closer to death.

The ascenders in the kingdom couldn’t save them now if things went wrong.

Joshua’s body went tense; his hands started shaking while holding the cup of tea.

Seeing this, Ed chuckled softly. "See, that’s why I tried to ignore you at first," he said before adding, "After ascending, if you’re lucky enough to not be killed or forced into one of the factions, having some tea and a normal conversation with others becomes a luxury."

"Normal people would treat you like a monster or try to take advantage of you."

Ed let go of his shoulder so as not to scare him further. "Living for a needlessly long time, watching many things cease to exist entirely."

Listening to Ed’s words, Joshua took in a deep breath before bringing his teacup to his lips and chugging everything in it right away.

He extended his hands, still trembling. "May I have a second cup, Sir Edmond?" he asked with eyes full of determination.

Watching the sudden change, Ed chuckled. "Sure," he said, bringing the teapot up to pour him a second cup.

For the next few hours, Joshua and Ed spoke of many things that had nothing to do with ascension or the brewing war on the horizon.

They spoke about the difficulties of raising a teenage boy, managing their money, and cooking. The things men discuss under normal circumstances.

When they’re trying to live a good day and willing to watch better days that have yet to come.

Ed signalled for Moon and Kylo to return. He brought out a basket full of sandwiches and snacks for the two boys.

He invited Joshua to eat with them.

It was a rare day, one full of normalcy where Moon forgot for once about ascension, first-floor fights, his grudge with Samuel, and many other things that pressured him, even if he didn’t notice.

He played with Kylo like a normal kid for the first time in his life, as he remembered it.

Ed also enjoyed his time talking with Joshua; it was a rare occasion that solidified his belief. Maybe he only and truly needed someone to talk to.

Ed took out an item, very old, from his younger days, from his inventory. It had a button and a cursor around numbers.

A small black box-like object; he moved the cursor to aim at number 2.

He let the two kids talk while eating, before—

Snap~

Moon squinted at him. "What was that?" he asked; his eyes were no longer swollen now.

The black box produced two squarish pieces of paper. He gave one to Joshua. "Here," before he held the other and studied it for a second.

"Not bad, I guess." He nodded with a smile.

Moon stood to take a look at what Ed was doing while still eating.

"Ah, I look like shit," he said as soon as he saw it. "Why did you do that?" His face fell. It was the same object he’d seen in Ed’s room, holding the image of his younger self and his gang.

He’d never seen a camera before this day, only heard of the possibility of capturing a moment from Uon and the videos he showed him.

"Your eyes are no longer swollen, and you made a new friend," Ed said. "Isn’t that enough to remember?"

Moon squinted at the photo, nodding. "They’re not swollen, but—"

Sigh~

He sighed.

He returned back to sit down on the sand next to Kylo, finishing their food, before the two of them were knocked out.

After playing in the sea for hours, now that they ate, the two collapsed on the sand and slept peacefully.