Episode 02 Giant Jasmine

When they saw this, they hurried to ask for a turtle from the sister who was there.

- Sister! Can I ask for one? 😁

- I'll ask for one too.

- Yes, take it.

The sister who was holding the container gave each of them a baby turtle and a magic brush to write on.

- Thank you, sister. ☺️

- Thank you, beautiful sister. 😍

Ree-Ah wrote something in the most mysterious way, then raised it to pray, while Ika didn't know what to write, so he decided to draw the two kids holding hands and walking around, then raising it to pray before releasing them both into the sea.

After letting it go, Ika turned to ask:

- What did you write?

- I pray I could grow up faster and help ease my mother's burden! What about you?

- I don't write anything; I just draw pictures for fun and let it go.

- Ugh, what did you draw?

- I won't tell you; I heard that, a year later, two weeks before the moon festival, they will come back to lay their eggs on the beach. If you are lucky, you will definitely meet them.

- You don't tell me, no care. Do you think I really want to know? 😏😏

Ree-Ah made an angry face at Ika and turned back from him, then smiled a little. Even though he didn't tell her, she knew what he was drawing, because when he was busy drawing, he didn't know she was watching him.

Ika knew that Ree-Ah was angry and quickly comforted her.

- Hey Eee-Ah! Do you want to see my magic?

- What magic?

Ree-Ah looked a little surprised and frowned, wondering because he had just told her when they were walking on the mountain together that they couldn’t use magic. When she turned to look at what he was showing, she was stunned by the beautiful light in the sea.

- Wow, what is that? It’s so beautiful!

- This is my magic! It’s called the Plankton Martial Arts!

Ika slapped his chest and boasted loudly and then took his hand to play with the seawater.

- Oh, that’s what they call Plankton, right?

Ree-Ah just kept following him and tried to put her hand in the water to play.

- Oh, that’s amazing; it’s so beautiful! Since I was born, I never knew there were such strange and beautiful things in the sea.

- There are still many things you don’t know. If there are any beautiful things, I’ll call you to come and see them.

- Really?

- Um!

- You wait and see!

Ika said and ran along the beach, creating a long line of plankton lights. Seeing this, Ree-Ah also ran behind him to create the longest other Plankton line.

While running happily, they had to stop because there were many people carrying things that were bigger than the boat and throwing them into the water.

- Hey Ika, look, what's that?

- A giant lantern (a figure decorated with lights on a boat). Let's go and see!

The adults began to light the fire and inject magic into the lantern to make it have lights so that they would shine brightly. On the lantern lights, there were beautiful carvings and letters, all of which were prayers for blessings and happiness.

The head of the seaside village (Sea Glass Village) began to shout and announce:

- The lantern floating ceremony has begun…!!!

- Oh, it's just begun? Everyone is floating! Haha

- Haha

Ika and Ree-Ah, along with the others, laughed because only the village chief was the last to arrive, but he came to announce that the ceremony had just begun.

He doesn't want to embarrass, so he used magic to help push and speed up his three lanterns. They were behind them, but now they were floating ahead, overtaking them, and were accompanied by many small lanterns, which filled the sea.

After a while, they disappeared one by one; some were sunk by the waves, some were extinguished by the wind, and some were too far away to be seen.

Ree-Ah stood there, her eyes wide open, wondering what next or if there was something to watch. She turned to ask Ika:

- Is the event over?

Ika looked left and right and motioned for her to look at the villagers on the beach.

- I thought it wasn't over yet. Look, they're ready to release the turtles.

- OMG, we released them a long time ago. T.T

- That's it. 🫠

- 🥹

The head of the mountain village (Glass Waterfall Village) shouted:

- The turtle release ceremony has begun...!!!

Upon receiving this permission, everyone who had a turtle lifted it up, prayed, and quickly put it into the water.

After the people had released all of them, the head of the village lowered his hand to signal about 20 fishing boats to open their doors to release more. After they had gone a little distance, he lowered his hand again, and the five Ark opened their doors and released a large flock of turtles.

This point of view created a brilliant light that reflected brilliantly on the ocean floor.

At that moment, the turtle king named "Sutra" left the palace to receive his entourage of descendants, which numbered in the tens of thousands.

The sky, once veiled in darkness, seemed to vanish entirely. The clouds parted, but no moonlight followed—only an eerie, endless void. The sea, glassy and still, reflected a monstrous shadow beneath the surface. Slowly, it emerged—a colossal turtle, its shell as vast as an island. Each movement sent towering waves, hundreds of meters high, crashing toward the shore. The air thickened with the scent of salt and ancient mystery. The ground trembled beneath their feet. Nature held its breath. And then, the beast surfaced.

But it did not cause any danger to the people on the island because the king turtle stopped at a distance. By the time the wave reached where they lived, it was only 1 meter high.

The baby turtles began to swim around their king, creating a huge whirlpool for a long time. The king turtle opened its mouth wide and swallowed them into its mouth until they were all gone and then swam back to the bottom of the sea. Everyone saw that behind the king turtle there were many more turtles, some as big as boats, swimming after it.

Ika and Ree-Ah, who were going to see turtles in the little deepest part, were fully hit by the waves. With their legs aching and exhausted from trying to keep their balance so that they wouldn’t fall over, they decided to come and rest on a nearby wooden bridge, trembling like little birds because each of them was soaked with seawater.

While sitting on the bridge, Ree-Ah suddenly saw a strange light below, and she triggered Ika’s hand.

- Hey, Ika, what’s that white light below?

- Where is it?

- Over there, near the bridge pillar

- Oh, I see it. Wait here and wait for me to go and see it!

- Emm!

Ika jumped down and walked towards the light. When he got close, he lifted it up to see that it was just a snail, just a strange transparent color like glass, and when it was hit by the moonlight, it shone like a diamond.

Ika quickly took it for Ree-Ah to see.

- Look, what did I find? Open up your hand.

Ika dropped the snail on her hand.

- Oh, it's so beautiful.

- Oh, they call it a cowry (scientific name: Cypraea moneta), but it's a little strange because it's transparent like a glass turtle. Normally cowries have a color white, but it would be rare.

- Rare...!

Suddenly, a purple light flew into the bell of her bracelet and shook violently, accompanied by a woman's voice from afar.

- Ree-Ah!

- Mom!

Ree-Ah turned to her mother and waved goodbye to Ika.

- Bye, Ika. I'll come visit you tomorrow.

- Okay, see you tomorrow.

The little girl ran to his mother and quickly smiled and asked.

- Are you looking for me?

She frowned, holding the whip in his hand.

- If I don’t look for you, who should I be looking for?

- I already told you that the event ends, and I will go back.

- So now, do you still have any events?

Ree-Ah looked left and right and didn’t see anyone. It seemed like she was very busy playing and forgot to notice that the ceremony was over.

- I’m sorry, Mother. I just met a friend, then…

- then You were so busy playing that what made you forget the time? Look at your clothes; they’re so wet! I really want to hit you! Let’s go home and take a quick shower so you don’t catch a cold!

- Yes, Mom!

The mother hurriedly led her child home. Ree-Ah turned to smile at Ika and quickly walked to catch up with her mother. Ika looked at them from a distance with concern.

- I hope Ree-Ah doesn’t get hit by the whip when she gets home.

After saying that, he prepared to go back home also. As he walked, he thought about how he should apologize to his grandfather because he had been out late.

// Tree House //

Ika climbed up the stairs and walked very slowly, not to disturb the grandfather's sleep. He knew that if he woke up and saw him now, he would definitely be scolded by his grandfather.

- Where did you come from, Ika?

A voice suddenly sounded from behind him. He thought in his mind.

- I tried to walk carefully, but the grandfather still knew.

He scratched his head and quickly turned to ask the owner of the voice, who was holding crutches.

- Grandpa, why haven’t you gone to bed yet?

- Don't change the situation! Answer my questions first!

- Today I just met a new friend! I was so busy playing that I forgot about the time! Please forgive me, Grandfather!

- Friend? Girl or boy?

- Girlfriend!

- If so, bring her to visit us tomorrow!

- What???

Ika was very shocked after his grandfather said this because he thought he would come to ask his permission to bring her to visit, but how lucky he is that this grandfather allowed it.

- If what you said is true, bring her to meet me tomorrow! Now why don't you go to bed?

- Yes!

Ika answered quickly and quickly ran away. He thought in this mind.:

- Grandpa, why didn't you ask me what we've been through? How strange?

- Stop!

- Yes, Grandpa!

Ika quickly stopped walking and turned back quickly.

- What kind of water is this? Where are you going to go swimming in the middle of the night?

- Yes, I'm playing in the sea with Ree-Ah!

- After playing in the sea, you want to go to bed wet like this, right? Hurry up and take a shower and change your clothes!

- Yes, Grandpa! I'll go.

- Hmm, that's too bad.

// Grandpa Alfert's room //

The old man leaned back in the rocking chair by the fireplace and turned to the wall of paintings of himself and his grandson nearby, exclaiming softly.

- Finally, my grandson has a friend! Ree-Ah? Whose daughter? Like maybe...!

Grandpa Alfert tried to remember the origin of the Ree-Ah, but he couldn't remember it. Even though there were only about 10 thousand people left on the island, it seemed like too many to be stored in the memory of an old man like him, who could remember little and forget a lot.

// Ika's room //

Ika took a shower and went to sleep in his room, which was on the mezzanine floor on the roof, which had been his mother's room before.

He moved around while sleeping on his bed because he did not understand what had happened before.

- It's strange; why didn't Grandpa ask today? Every time he asked a lot, "Where did you go?" "Who hit you?" Today, when I just say that I have a friend, he is quiet! Well, it's better to sleep and save my strength for running around!

// Grandpa Alfert's room //

Grandpa Alfert opened the desk drawer and took out a piece of leather to look at, which was an old and mysterious map.

He sighed and said softly.

- It's almost time!

Then he wrapped it up and put it back in its original place and went to open the closet and took out a large box. After using magic to collect all the dust that had been scattered, it also revealed a piece of black cloth wrapped in something.

- I hope that one day you can find a new owner! Then our villagers will not have a hard time leaving here to go on adventures in the dangerous lands of the outside world!

// In the morning //

Ika got up early to do housework and help the villagers as usual. Although he couldn’t use magic, he was dozens of times stronger than ordinary children (he had the strength equal to 10 elephants.), but he didn’t show it to anyone.

// Ko-ke-kok-ko-o! //

The sound of roosters crowing loudly echoed from a distance, from one place to another, from the seaside village to Glass Waterfall Village on the hillside where Ree-Ah lived.

After finishing planting, washing clothes, and cleaning the house, he hurried to meet his uncle and aunt at the market as usual.

- Uncle, aunt, do you have anything I can help you with?

An uncle saw him and smiled.

- Oh, Ika, you came just in time! I am in need of someone to help me carry things! Please help me; I will give you some money!

Ika raised his hand.

- No need for money, uncle, as long as you have cookies! Where is the luggage today?

- On the hillside above the village! Let's all get on the cart and go.

- Yes, Uncle!

Ika quickly jumped on the cart with a big smile. He thought in his mind.

- The village above! Ree-Ah's village! Maybe I will be able to meet her there!

/ Rattle…clunk…CRASH! /

The cart suddenly crashed into a large hole, completely breaking the feeling of Ika that it was fantasy. Uncle, the owner of the horse, tried to pull the horse up, but it still couldn't go.

- Whoa!

- Oh, what's wrong, Uncle?

- Our cart has fallen down, and the horse can't move it. We just have to get down and push it.

- It's okay, Uncle, wait for me; you get down and push it. Uncle, please control the horse to be good.

- Are you sure you can do it alone?

- Yes! You ask me to look like you never recognized me.

- Okay, if that's the case, please do it quickly. Don't let others see.

That's right, he is the second person after Grandpa Alfert who knows that Ika is stronger than normal people and always forbids them from showing themselves in public because it will make the locals think they are strange.

Only he doesn't have magic; it's already strange for the villagers on the coast. While the people on the mountain are ordinary people, they can use the magic; they learn it from their teachers, unlike the people on the coast, who are born with it and are even stronger.

After looking left and right and not seeing anyone, he can easily push it up with just a little force. After getting on the cart and sitting comfortably, he asked

- Uncle, what are we going to transport today? Potatoes or wood?

- No, today we are going to deliver flowers for the festival.

- Oh, and what flowers are we delivering?

- Jasmine!

- Okay!

// Jasmine Farm //

As soon as they arrived, Ika quickly got down and looked at the crowd of people who were picking jasmine flowers and putting them in piles, waiting for the delivery man, who could only see a shadow.

Ika exclaimed in amazement:

- Oh, my, the jasmine in this village is so big! It's bigger than the lotus leaves behind my house! It's so fragrant; it smells better than the jasmine in the sea far away.

Ika closed her eyes, taking in the scent, and quickly ran to Edward because he waved his hand to call him.

- Ika, come here!

- I'm coming.

Ika picked up the 2 baskets at the same time and ran away but was stopped by an aunt.

- Don't run, little boy! The flowers are all falling off now!

- Yes, I'm sorry, Aunt.

- Don't be too greedy; you're a little boy, so you can carry a little! Don't follow Edward; he is stronger, so he can take 4 or 5 at a time.

- Hehe, it's okay, aunt; I can take it.

After carrying it, he quickly ran to get a new basket. He suddenly noticed that everyone was working in the dark and asked.

- Why don't you use a torch or a magic ball to light it up? How can we see anything if we are working in the dark?

- No way, little boy! If this flower is exposed to the light of the magic ball, it will bloom. We have to dip it in magic water first! And if we use a torch to light it up or it's under the sunlight, it will turn red, so we have to carry it before sunrise and keep it out of the sunlight!

- Oh okay, I understand, aunt! So I'll go and carry the flowers first.

- Yes!

- Ira, come here for a moment.

- Yes, I'm coming!

Ika hurriedly carried the goods to the cart so he could quickly rest. But when he looked back, he saw Uncle Edward sitting next to Aunt Ira, which made him shake his head.

After carrying the baskets near the horse-drawn carriage, he continued to help carry the other baskets that were far away. The sound of the cart gradually began to come, and some were going back to the sea village. Edward also carried the goods going back when Ika said that it was full.

When they reached the end near a mango tree, he was about to lift the basket when someone shouted to stop them.

- Please wait a little, boy.

- Ah, okay!

She filled his baskets with flowers that had come to her.

- Alright, you can go now!

- Yes!

- Ika?

- Ree-Ah?

Ika and Ree-Ah suddenly saw each other and were shocked because they didn't expect to meet here.

- Ree-Ah, what are you doing here?

- I'm here to help my mom cut flowers!

- A little kid comes to help adult work? Maybe your hand is hurt. This flower looks so strong.

- No, it's just as fragile as a lotus stem.

- Fragile as a lotus stem???

- Emm!

Ree-Ah grabbed a flower stem and cut it in two for him to see, then shrugged her shoulders at Ika. Seeing this, he took a flower from the basket and cut it several times.

// Pors! Pors! Pors! //

- Oh, it's really fragile!

Ree-Ah's mother, who had gathered the flowers and seen them play like this, shouted at them lightly.

- Why are you playing with them like that? Do you know how hard it is to grow these flowers?

They shrug their heads in response.

- I don't know!!

- They'll tell you about this in the third day's program! Don't play them again next time.

- Sorry, Mom. It's because of me that it was caused! Ika, he was worried that it would hurt my hand when I cut it, so you just showed him!

- Yes, Aunt, I'm sorry.

- It's okay!

After delivering the flowers, Ika also came to help Ree-Ah cut the flowers. Ika and Riya worked until sunrise, and then they came to rest on a hill to sit and watch the sunrise from the sea that touched the sky.

Ree-Ah pointed at the rising sun.

- Look, the sun has risen! Very beautiful.

- Oh, very beautiful! Today, looking from the mountain is more beautiful than looking from below! The sunrise is the same but different!

- That's right! From above, we can see far! We can see other things! Like an egret, fly out to find food!

Ika turned to ask:

- Do you like watching the sunrise?

- No! This is the first time! Every day I sleep until the sunrise shines on my buttocks; I never wake up early.

- Ugh, I thought you liked watching the sunrise because you said it like you had countless experiences.

- Haha, actually, I like the sunlight, but not the sunrise, but the sunset!

- Why? What's wrong with the sunrise?

- It's not bad, but at sunrise, the sun will become hotter and hotter, causing you to lose all excitement, but at sunset, it will give you a soft and cool feeling until the light is gone! Until at night, there are stars and a moon in the sky!

- You look like a child living in an old adult's body; you are very good at theory.

- You keep saying that.

- Kids, come and eat rice!

A soft voice from the mother while they are rumbling with hunger. Ika heard her mom calling her to eat rice and suddenly wanted to run because he had never eaten at another home.

Rika saw this and quickly stopped him.

- Where do you want to go?

- I'm going home.

- Let's eat rice first; Edward hasn't come yet.

- But…

- Don't be afraid, my mom, my mother is inviting you; don't keep her waiting.

- Okay, alright!

// Ria's mother's house //

As soon as they arrived in front of the house, they immediately smelled a strange smell, making both their stomachs rumble at the same time.

- Rooster!!!

Rika ran quickly towards the kitchen table without washing her hands.

- Oh, stop, You haven't washed your hands yet; where are you going in such a hurry?

Mrs. Rika grabbed her daughter's shoulder and turned her towards the nearby sink. Ika saw this and quickly washed his hands and wiped them with the white towel she had placed next to them.

- Eat quickly; it's getting cold now!

Mrs. Rika broke off a piece of chicken thigh for her daughter and then broke the other piece for Ika and began the interview.

- What is your name? Whose child are you?

- Thank you, aunt! My name's Ika; I'm the grandson of Grandpa Alfert!

- Oh, Grandpa Alfert lives in that seaside village, right?

- Yes! Do you know him?

- Yes!

Ree-Ah speaks in chorus:

- He is the top magician in the village, and if my mom doesn't know him, it's very strange!

She nodded and signaled for them to eat because they hadn't eaten yet because they waited for her to eat first, and they continued to randomly talk about this and that, flowing endlessly.

Please wait to see the next episode; thank you.

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The story is long and has a lot of characters, which led to a slow translation because some of the names were not the same as what I wrote in the national language.

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