Aegis closed the shop early that day before bringing Ning and Ely to his home.
He lived in a small plot of land with a 2 story house with a relatively big backyard.
"Shaana! Shaana! Look who's here!" he excitedly walked into his house and called for his wife.
"Honey? Why are you home early?" a voice came from the other side as a blonde-haired lady walked out of a room.
"Look!" Aegis spoke up again.
The young woman saw the two humans and her eyes went wide. "Is that you, mistress?" she asked with a look of surprise and walked out.
"Hey, Shaana. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Ely said.
"It sure has, mistress," the woman said.
"Shaana, how come you're not greeting my master, and only the mistress?" Aegis asked.
"Master?" the woman finally looked at Ning and realized who he was. "Ah! My apologies, master. Please forgive this fool for not recognizing you."
"No, no, it's fine. You don't have to recognize me. You probably haven't seen me that many times, have you? Also, don't call me master. I keep telling Aegis the same, but he doesn't listen to me," Ning said.
"Please do not take away my pleasure to call you master. That's the highest achievement I can think of for someone like me," the young woman said.
Ning couldn't help but smile. "You're of the same species as Aegis, aren't you? You were back in that beast's realm, right?" he asked.
"I am, master," Shaana said.
"I'm happy my Aegis managed to find someone like you. Thank you for taking care of him when I was gone," Ning said.
"Master, come. There are more here you should meet," Aegis said before bringing him to the back of the house.
"Haana, Raelis, gather up," Aegis called out the moment he reached outside.
"What is it, father?"
"Father? You're home early."
Two voices came from the back of the house. Ning walked out to see two young Golden Shelled beetles walking away from the flower field.
"Are these… your children?" Ning asked with a surprised look on his face.
"Yes, master," Aegis said. He turned around towards his children and said, "Look who came to visit us. This is Ning, my master that I've told you about so many times."
"Oh!" one of them exclaimed.
"Father's… master? The one that saved your planet?" the other one asked.
"No, I was not the one who saved the planet," Ning said. "It was someone else."
"Where are your manners? Greet the guest first," Aegis told his children.
"Greetings, seniors," both of them said at the same time.
"It's nice to meet you two," Ning said.
"They're quite cute," Ely said from the side. "How old are they?"
"The older one, Haana is nearly 100 years old, and the younger one Raelis is only 70 years old," Aegis said.
"Oh, they're very young," Ely said.
Ning had to shake his head to throw off any confusion he was feeling from hearing the number and had to remember that this was an immortal world, where a person that was a few thousand years old would still be considered young.
"I see they've reached the Nascent soul realm. It won't be much longer before they can take a human form too," Ning said.
"We are waiting for just that, master," Aegis said. "The immortal world accepts beasts in their society, but it still feels awkward to send them out into the world when everyone else looks like humans."
"That's why I've instead let them grow flowers for the shop while they wait to get a human form."
"Not bad," Ning said as he looked at the two kids. He walked up to the two and rubbed their head before bringing out a book from his storage.
"Read this and practice it. You will be able to get a human form very quickly," Ning said.
"Really?" Haana was surprised and quickly took the book. She started reading it right there without letting her little brother see it.
"Master, what is that?" Aegis asked.
"You should read it too when you have the time," he said. "For now, let's leave the children to it. Come, I want to talk to you about your life here."
They left the children and went into the house to talk some more.
Aegis told him about what he had been doing after he reached the Immortal world. Since there wasn't much he could do with his slowed-down progress, he had to find a way to support himself and his wife he had brought along.
Fortunately, he had read Anya's books and knew how to grow special plants. As such, he could start a flower shop using the flowers in his own garden.
Ever since then, his life had been slow with nothing much to do. It was only after his financial status was stable that he decided to have some kids with his partner.
Ning told his half of the story and how he had come looking for them. Aegis felt warmhearted to realize that he was the 2nd person Ning had sought out, right after his own partner.
"What about Night and Blue, master? Do you know where they are?" Aegis asked.
"I do," Ning said. "But they're not in this world. They are in two separate worlds that are quite far away from here."
'I see, so… does that mean it will take time before you go to them?" Aegis asked.
"Haha, no. I can go there right now if I wanted to," Ning said. "But I have something else I want to do before I go there. They have waited for so long, I'm sure they can wait a few more years."
"They can," Aegis nodded. He trusted his two brothers more than anyone else. "But what is it that you want to do, master?"
"I'm planning on creating a place, a safe haven for everyone from Kumia so that they will no longer be separated when they ascend to immortality."
