After we defeated the "Giant Wolf," we were extremely tired. That was the first time I had ever felt so exhausted. The master had magical potions, but he didn't give us a single one right after the battle—only after some time had passed. That old man is truly cruel.
The sun was starting to set and we needed to take shelter, but before doing that, he took me to hunt animals so that we could have dinner. I don't know if it was because night was almost falling, but the forest looked even more eerie. The trees looked bigger and taller. After I finished hunting some animals for dinner, we set up a tent and lit a campfire.
Then we began to cook them. As the smoke rose into the night sky, the old man told us that there are times when one must not start a fire like this, because the smoke could reveal your location if you are fleeing from enemies. He knew this because he was a knight and had been in many wars before. While the meat was cooking, he began telling us stories of the battles he had fought. He was very excited, and asked why I was making that face if this wasn't even a story about mages.
I told him that had nothing to do with it. After that fight with the monster, I had started to get curious about battles even if they didn't involve mages. And so he continued talking until everything was done cooking. We ate, and then entered the tent and slept.
The next morning, the songs of the forest's various birds could be heard. It was a beautiful yet annoying sound if you didn't wake up in a good mood. I could feel that morning breeze I never felt in the palace, and I was very happy. But also a little sad, because at this hour my sister or mother would already be greeting me and talking to me.
"Good morning, Aito. How are you?"
Yes, that's right—I'm not alone in this forest.
"Hello Lilia. I'm fine. And you?"
"I'm doing well."
"Finally awake, brat. Let's get moving already."
"Alright."
After that, we left the forest. We were on a hill, not too high but not too low, and from there we could see the entire landscape, which was beautiful as the sun was rising. And that's when I realized it was still early.
"Well kids, here we go."
And we went down and continued talking along the way. We didn't encounter any beasts on the road, and eventually we arrived at a village. The people of that village were looking at us, and I heard something.
"Look, that old man is with two beautiful girls. Are they his granddaughters?"
But what are they talking about? I'm a boy. Maybe it's because my hair is long, or maybe there aren't many boys around here with long hair like mine. After that, we headed to a place where rooms were rented for the night and rented one. But before that, some people there were staring at us. I don't know why, but I didn't like the way they were looking at us.
After a while, we left our belongings and went outside. The village wasn't like the city I saw when I left the palace for the first time. It didn't have buildings like that place. But I didn't care, because it still didn't bother me.
It had a different atmosphere from the forest. Maybe because there weren't many trees.
But we'll see what happens next in this village…