Maya slowly trailed behind Alz, occasionally sneaking peeks at him with eyes containing fear and admiration. This was a side of him that she had never seen before, one that had vastly changed her impression of him.

Through their interactions in the recent months, Maya thought that she had already gotten to know Alz well, but she realised now how wrong she had been in the past. His abnormal storytelling aside, this was already not the first time that she had been shocked by him.

It was hardly a secret that Alz visited the library often, as it wasn't something he particularly tried to hide. Maya had also learnt this easily from his tribe members after trying to find him at the field unsuccessfully, heading to the library angrily to find him then.

She still remembered thinking that it was stupid for him to be wasting time reading instead of training, planning to forcibly bring him to participate along with their training. Yet, these thoughts rapidly began to change when she arrived at the library.

Piles and piles of scrolls were stacked by his side as he tirelessly continued grabbing new ones from the shelves with a smile.

At first, she was just amazed by this sight, but the words she heard from the elderly librarian next caused a shock to run through her body.

"He's always like this." the elderly librarian noticed her looking at Alz then and told her with a bitter smile, shaking his head as he looked at Alz with concerned eyes.

"Ah, so that was it."

It was then that it hit her, feeling like she understood why the warriors from his tribe acknowledged him. Her thoughts of dragging him away naturally evaporated, choosing to leave quietly without interrupting.

When she left, she felt like her heart had lightened, finally understanding the meaning of the lectures she had always received.

For a long time, she had only been working towards get the others to recognise her, but Alz was different. He didn't seem to care about how others looked at him, reading for his own sake.

Inspired by this, Maya decided to set personal goals and train more frequently, hoping to improve herself one step at a time. She had thought that this the 'secret' behind his success, that this was everything, until just now.

Thinking back to earlier, Maya felt her cheeks burning up. Alz's figure was just like a hero from his stories, suddenly making an appearance and rescuing her in a time of need.

"Thank you." Maya said in a meek voice, remembering that she hadn't thanked him yet. She hastily lowered her head immediately after, with cheeks that bloomed in a rosy pink shade.

However, after lowering her heard, her eyes quickly met with the wooden fragments in her arms, what was left of her father's bow. Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she stared blankly at the fragments, as though she had lost a part of her soul.

This bow had always accompanied her since her father passed away, never leaving her side. Even after it was damaged previously, she had gone through great efforts to mend it to the best of her abilities.

Even though it remained unusable after her repairs, it was still her most treasured possession, but even this was going to be taken away from her.

"He was not pathetic... he was not a coward!" Maya's sobbed uncontrollably, her body quivering as she spoke.

"He was brave and strong... He was a great father." Maya hugged the wooden fragments tighter, soothing some of the pain she felt. The two elves continued to walk forward, with sobs coming from the elf at the back.

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A few moments later, Alz glanced back at Maya before returning his eyes forward while letting out a heavy sigh. It had been about ten minutes since they left the guardhouse and he had regained his calm, feeling some regret from his rashness earlier.

However, the regret didn't linger for too long before he came to terms with it, not willing to dwell on it too much. Besides, even if he was given another chance to choose, he was sure that he would have done the same thing so there wasn't much point in bashing himself over it.

It had been about 30 minutes since they left the guardhouse, but pained sobs could still be heard from the back occasionally. Alz glanced behind once more, his gaze sweeping through Maya's downcast expression and the fragments in her arms.

A look of hesitation appeared on his face when he returned his eyes forward, reflecting his wavering thoughts. After several minutes, the hesitation on his face began to clear, replaced by a helpless expression.

"Do you have anything after this?" Alz asked, finally speaking for the first time since the very beginning.

"N-No." Maya hastily replied, caught off guard by the sudden question.

She had planned on doing more training today, but she was no longer in the right state to do so. With everything that happened before, she was currently feeling lost and unsure of what to do, just aimlessly following behind Alz.

"Come over, I'll see if I can fix the bow." Alz said, having already made the decision.

Maya stopped in place and immediately lifted her head, her eyes bursting wide open. She stared at Alz with shining eyes filled with hope as she asked in an emotional voice, "You can fix it!?"

"I'll try, but no promises." Alz replied.

"Thank you." Maya thanked Alz again, with no less gratitude than before.

Hearing this, the hope that shined through Maya's eyes began to dim as she continued following behind Alz. She didn't hold much hope towards Alz being able to repair it, but she was grateful for the thought and she wanted to grab onto chance, however slim it was.

No other words were exchanged for the rest of the journey, but Maya was no longer sobbing at the very least. The walk lasted for over an hour before they arrived back at the golden field.

When they stepped out of the trees, Alz suddenly turned towards Maya and stared deeply into her eyes. Maya started to feel flustered, her heart beating faster than before. Her cheeks began to redden while she stood in place.

"Follow me." before she could ask anything, Alz turned his eyes away from her and walked in a straight line towards a direction, heading deeper into the trees.

A look of confusion appeared on her face when she saw Alz heading away from the hut, but Alz didn't give her a chance to ask so she hurriedly chased after him to avoid being left behind.

About five minutes later, the pair arrived before a table and chair in the midst of the trees. There was also a small wooden hut standing by the side, the small area contrasting greatly with the surrounding nature.

"Place the fragments down on the table." Alz said upon arrival while heading to the nearby shed to collect several other materials.

Maya spaced out briefly when she saw the furniture in the middle of nowhere before obediently laying the fragments on the only table present.

Alz soon returned with several pieces of wood in hand, gently laying them down on the table. He then took a seat on the chair and held onto a tool on the table, starting with the repairs.

Alz placed all his attention on the task before him, meticulously repairing the bow. The anticipation on her face began to grow as Maya watched by the side, her confidence in Alz rising as time went by.

Over the next hour, the bow slowly took shape once again, bringing Maya great excitement. Happiness was overflowing from her over regaining what she thought she had lost, but she continued to wait by the side silently, afraid of interrupting him.

About twenty more minutes went by before Alz's hands slowly came to a halt. He held the bow up to his eyes and observed every part of it closely before his lips curled up into a satisfied smile.

After all that time put in, he was finally done. However, saying that he repaired the bow would have been inaccurate, as it would have been more correct to say that it was reborn. After all, the bow was completely broken already and there was no real way to mend it.

Instead, he tried his best to use as much materials from the fragments, resulting in this bow that possessed a very different form from before, a brand-new crossbow.

The crossbow contained multiple shades of brown due to the mixture of wood used in its frame, but it was very much as sturdy as his other products and a work that Alz could be proud of.

"What's that?" Maya asked in an uncertain voice, noticing that Alz seemed to be done. This question had been floating in her head since a while ago, finally getting a chance to ask.