The fire crackled by the edge of the cave. The flat rock on top of it sizzled while they fried the eggs of the Rock Quail they found. Stefan watched the eggs cook patiently. The other two, however, watched it like the hawks that preyed on these eggs with bread in their hands. Meanwhile, he silently read his book while Miu sipped at the moisture near the mouth of the cave. The chill winds brushed against his bare hands while he read. It gave him bumps and chills along his back. He grabbed his cloak and pulled it tightly. Only his feet felt warm while the rest of his body was not touched by the fire's warmth.

In a few hours, they would brave the depths of the cavern while the bats were out on the prowl. For now, they need to rest. By rest, Stefan meant nap for an hour or two after a light meal. He didn't mind it. In fact, he wanted to use the free time to eat some of the salty pork in his bag that they made from that boar. He tasted boar before, many times actually, but not like the one in his bag. It was very salty, but scratch the outer surface away and it was like eating a dry yet delicious piece of meat on the move. His stomach grumbled loudly at the thought. His cheeks reddened when they turned their sights towards him.

"You can have my share, Sirius. I still have some salted pork on me."

Stefan said as he picked up the egg with a stick and placed it on his flatbread.

"Riel won't share her food with her with anyone and Semilia here didn't wash her hands."

"Thank you..."

Sirius nodded as he took the flatbread with both of his hands. Semilia scoffed and pulled out her pouch.

"Here. Put some fuckin' herbs on that since Stefan here can't even fuckin' cook an egg properly."

Semilia said as she placed the pouch of wild herbs beside her.

"Hey. I can cook a fucking egg properly."

"Burnt edges, no taste. Everyone knows to at least put a little bit of salt or any herb on Rock Quail eggs since they taste pretty strong."

"Could've said that earlier when I was cooking it."

"Well, you don't fucking listen when you're cooking!"

Semilia growled as she stabbed the egg and messily slid it into her flatbread from the hot stone. She grabbed a handful of herbs and sprinkled it on top of her egg while he did the same in imitation of the pointy-eared girl.

"Tch. Riel here doesn't complain about my cooking! She just stuffs it in her mouth!"

"She eats slowly when she enjoys the fucking dish! We've travelled for years now and you still haven't noticed that?!"

"To be fair, we should not waste food no matter the taste. Although, Stefan's cooking is either bland or overly seasoned in my opinion."

"Wha?! Gods, that hurts to hear..."

Stefan faked a frown as he gave Riel the last egg.

"I was never a good cook, to be honest. I was pretty fucking horrible even back in the day since I never had to cook for my old party."

Stefan smiled as he took off the flat rock and the stones that held it over the fire with a stick.

"The one who cooked for us is our party's Druid and Dwarf Warrior. The Druid prepared the wild fruits and herbs for us while the Dwarf made even the gamiest of beasts taste like high-grade meat."

"Must be a Skill."

"Heh. Maybe. All I know is that those two get along when it comes to most things, like women, but would kill each other when it comes to touching each other's cooking."

Sirius peeked at the Swordsman from behind the pages of the book in his hand. The Human had a smile on his face. A different kind of smile that he had never seen from him.

"You never really talked 'bout your old party. What's up with that?"

"Well, that's because..."

Stefan threw the stick he had been using into the fire as he turned towards Semilia.

"It's rude to talk about it with a new party."

He clasped his hands together and shut the topic close.

"I have beer and ale on me to wash those down and clean water for Sirius and Riel. I'll be keeping watch by the cave so no need to wait for me. You guys go and catch some shut-eye and I'll wake you up when it's time to go."

His crimson eyes watched Stefan closely while he stood up and stretched his arms. He nodded at them while he left the bottles of liquor he had in his bag and the large, leather canteen filled with cold spring water. Where he went, his crimson orbs followed even in the darkness beyond the fire's light. Stefan didn't sit by the cave. Instead, he walked off somewhere just beyond his sight but close enough that his ears could pick up the sounds of leaves being rustled as he sat somewhere.

Bread and egg intermingled in his mouth as the rocks in his mind beat together to form a coherent thought about the strange Swordsman. But no matter how hard he tried to do so, his mind wandered off towards the taste of the egg. Or more specifically, the taste of the herbs he put on them. It had a cool sensation that wrapped around the mouth, a sweetness to it, and savoury spice that refreshed the tongue. There was also a nuttiness to the egg and a strong, "yolky", taste to it. He glanced at the two with him.

"Delicious, ain't it?"

Semilia grinned as she dipped the bread into what little runny yolk that's left on her egg. He nodded in reply.

"Riel puts it on cheese, which is pretty fuckin' weird but who am I to judge? It goes well with soup and roasted meats."

"Oh! What in it?"

"You get some wild mint, grind it with some thyme, pepper, garlic, onion, and add a bit of fath'al seed."

"Fath'al seeds? We have the money to purchase such a spice?"

"It was fucking expensive, but I still have some money on me to burn."

"Hmm. Fath'al seed from Alfheim, huh? I'm surprised a..."

Riel glanced at Semilia carefully.

"You were able to acquire a handful."

"The merchant that sold me these seeds was a Human that lost most of his wares during the attack on Arenhein. Needed cash to get out of there to head south."

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Semilia leaned on her arms with the flatbread on her lap.

"But I'm pretty fucking sure that piece of shit scammed me out of a few gold coins. Can't be helped though. One of the fuckin' downsides of bein' a Low-Elf, I guess."

Semilia sighed as she ate the last of the eggs with the flatbread.

"Can't really blame them, to be honest. I'm surprised that the two of you even let me into your party."

"Heh, you should thank Stefan for that decision. I didn't notice you in the corner of the tavern but Stefan did and immediately, you know, approached you and asked you to tag along with my first quest."

Riel smiled while Semilia let out a snort of laughter.

"Direwolves. Fuckin' Direwolves. Your Bronze quest was to gutter some herbs for a Healer when we got fuckin' jumped on by Direwolves."

"Ahaha, yeah. The two of you covered for my failings that day. Thank you."

"Don't fuckin' mention it. You're the first party that didn't treat me like shit and actually paid me fairly. I should be thankin' you for giving me a chance back then."

"Hehe... Oh, Sirius here must be feeling left out! We were just talking about our first meeting."

"Don't mind. Want to listen more."

He smiled as he leaned against the soft, moss-covered wall of dirt and rock behind him.

"Interested in our stories? Hmm, our first meeting was pretty damn awkward if I do say so myself. Not really a good story by the fir- Oh! Remember our fifth quest?!"

"The one where we had to scare off a family of Hippogriffs from a farmer's barn? Of course I remember. The babies were so cute."

"Listen to this, Sirius. Hippogriffs aren't aggressive like Griffons, but they're noisy as fuck and they like to nest near farms to snack on small animals and harvests. To get rid of a family, ya' just have to chase them out of there and they won't return. Intelligent bastards. Don't do what Stefan did."

"Which is to grab the young to transport them."

"Ya, don't fucking do that. You rile them up like that and they'd end up giving you a beating with those powerful hind legs of theirs. Stefan got fucking beat up when he did that. Thankfully, Hippogriffs don't use their beaks for self-defence but it was my first time seeing a man get sent so fucking far with just a kick."

Riel chuckled at the memory.

"There was also that time, if I remember correctly, when we got in trouble with the Guild since Semilia here accidentally picked a fight with a rich merchant."

"Look, if a guy kept fucking asking "how much for the Low-Elf" even when Stefan said I'm not a fucking slave, you know that guy fucking deserves it! I'd beat his fucking ass again the next time I fuckin' see that piece of tree rot! Faehen ahn lin Ilfywn!"

Semilia spat on the ground after cursing in Elvish.

"Slave? Semilia no look like slave."

"Of course I don't look like a fucking slave! I don't have a mark or brandin' on me and I'm a fuckin' adventurer!"

"No. Look like boy also. Goblin only take women slave for sex. Men die or become... food."

"... I'm not sure whether to punch you or stay quiet."

Semilia muttered with a raised brow and a slightly surprised tone.

"Look, I'm not a slave and I'm not interested in Stefan. Stefan is younger than me by about 10, 12? 12 years, I think. Although he might look young for his age, he's already 40 and he has this creepy kind of magic around him, always."

"It's hard to detect, but I think it's a curse. A very powerful one at that."

"Mhm. And Riel here thinks it has somethin' to do with how he looks, how he can heal most wounds, and go days without sleeping."

The three of them looked at the spot where Stefan kept watch. The tree groaned and creaked and its leaves rustled with the wind but the man behind it did not stir.

"If you're curious about it, go ask him. Give him a bottle of whiskey, or something. He might loosen up and finally give all three of us a fucking peek into the man's past."

"I'll... I'll ask him on other day. What about you? You want to talk about... past?"

"We already are, aren't we?"

Riel tilted her head as she finished the last of her meal.

"Not past about adventure. Past about self, like where born and life"

"Sounds good. Want me to start first?"

Semilia jumped from her seat and pulled out some of the salted pork she had. She stuck it into the end of a sharp stick and placed it over the fire while she opened the ale beside her.

"I was born in the forests in the northwestern region of the Illyrican Empire called Magna Drysia. Others call it the Black Arda, but its original name is Arvaorheim. I was born in one of the many Low-Elf villages that dot the outer edge of the forests. It's a peaceful village, and the Empire don't bother us as much as the other villages and the ones that live in the interior of the forest."

Semilia said with a tone of nostalgia.

"You go far enough west, you'll reach the sea. I've seen it once, fucking beautiful I tell ya'. It's not famous, but we should visit it someday. But the problem with Arvaorheim is that there's a lot of monsters there, 'specially Orcs and Goblins. It's a shitty situation for the people there. The Empire uses those monsters as fuckin' excuses to go and fuck up a village or three on their monster extermination missions. Anyway, I grew up there and raised my levels there by killin' monsters and I got appraised as a Hunter on my first Appraisal Ceremony."

He chewed on his bread while he watched Semilia puff out her chest in pride.

"I guess my days of hunting down monsters in the forest led to this job, I guess. I didn't really have that interesting childhood most adventurers have. Just a wild one."

"Did you have a wild romance back then, I wonder..."

"Ahahaha! Never got the chance. My brothers made sure of that and my father is considered scary since he was an ex-slave and beast hunter. Not really lookin' for now as well. How about you, Riel? You liked anyone back then?"

Riel paused. She closed her eyes and thought long and hard. It was clear that the girl before them racked her vast mind for memories buried deep within that impressive brain of hers.

"Well, there was this boy I grew up with. He was the son of our village's Healer and unlike his parents, he was more of a gardener than a Healer and potion maker. I... I've forgotten his name but he was a kind person. We would always play by the riverside and search for flowers near the fields and his family owned many of the books in our village."

Riel smiled at her own words.

"But he was not that great of a reader. Though it was his family that owned the books, it was I who thought and read it to him."

"What happen?"

Riel opened her mouth, but said nothing. After a short pause, she took a deep breath and looked away from him.

"He died when our village was attacked. He and his family were slaughtered in their house, by goblins."

"Oh. I'm... I'm sorry."

Riel looked at him with a mix of regret, disgust, and deep sadness. She sighed and wrapped her robes around her tightly.

"I-I'll tell you the rest of the story on another day. It's already getting late and I'm gonna go ahead and sleep."

Riel yawned and curled into a ball on the rock she sat on while he and Semilia glanced at one another.

"... I think you should sleep as well, Sirius. And don't... Don't beat yourself up too much for shit kicked up by other goblins."

He said nothing. Semilia's words were kind, but it just left him with a bitter taste in his mouth and a sinking feeling in his stomach.

He stood up without a word and left the two. His crimson eyes could glimpse Semilia's sad stare but that did not stop him. The light of the fire faded behind him as he walked off into the darkness of the night. His crimson eyes saw clear the ground and the rocks before him. A few paces forward led him to a spot where a certain someone stared up at the two moons above them. He hummed a melody that could be described as slow and calming. A somber smile formed on his face as he patted the empty spot beside him with his hand.

"If you're not gonna sleep, at least join me for a drink."

"What about you? You should sleep."

Stefan chuckled as he groaned and adjusted himself. He sat down beside him while the man offered him a bottle of ale. He sighed while the man beside him continued to hum that pleasant yet unfamiliar song.

"I don't sleep if I'm not sure the place is safe, Sirius. Don't worry about me, get some sleep."

The man patted him on his head and continued to hum his lullaby. It was a tune that lulled him to sleep, but he fought the sleepiness and forced his eyes to remain open. A tug on Stefan's shirt made him turn his gaze to him. The usual smell of alcohol was not present on his breath and he had a peaceful look in his eyes as he stared at him. It was the same stare as his father's, a kind stare full of warmth. He chuckled after a moment and leaned against the tree they sat under.

"My wife and I... We wanted a son. Actually, I wanted a son and she wanted another kid. Someone that will protect them when the time comes that I can no longer do it. But the Gods had other plans, it seems."

"What happened?"

"... Some other day. When we find a good place to eat, drink, and sleep, I'll tell you."

Stefan smiled and continued to hum the melody. The lullaby slowly but surely, forced his eyes to close even though he was scared to close them. In the open, he feared for the things that lurked in the shadows. He made sure never to get caught sleeping or resting out in the open, yet the man's spell worked its magic and forced him to slowly drift into sleep. The way he patted his head also put his heart at ease. It was a sense of calm he felt only a few times in his life, and he finally gave in to the sleep he had long lacked and long desired to experience once more. Stefan smiled and laid him down beside him.

"Good night."

Stefan said as he glimpsed Stefan drink from his silver flask and the single teardrop that ran down from the corner of his eye to his cheek.