Alz looked at her with a bitter smile, at a loss for words to respond with. Alz let out a heavy sigh and walked away, deciding not to bother himself with it anymore. What she wanted to do was her choice, and he didn't see any point in sticking his head into it.
"Hey, do you have any food? I'm hungry." Maya chased after Alz with quick steps, walking beside him.
"There's meat in the hut." Alz replied while continuing to move, stopping when he reached an empty area beside the field.
"What are you doing?" Maya asked curiously.
"Training." Alz returned a short reply.
"Training?" Maya's face visibly brightened as she asked.
"Physical training." Alz replied again. His irritation was starting to show in his voice, but he was still trying to rein it in after considering what she had been through earlier.
Perhaps sensing his rising irritation, Maya immediately moved away from him and retraced her steps back to the flowerbed before taking a seat.
Alz took a deep breath and started doing his usual warm-up stretches, but he found himself unable to focus each time he caught sight of her sitting in the corner of his eyes.
He wouldn't have felt this way if she was just sitting, but her eyes were locked tightly on him the entire time, observing his every movement. As expected, this made him feel slightly uncomfortable as time went on, especially so since he had gotten used to training alone.
"Didn't you say you were hungry?" Alz asked in resigned tone, realising that he was unable to concentrate properly on his exercises with her sitting there.
"Don't mind me, I can eat after this." Maya replied with an innocent smile, her gaze continuing to rest on him.
"Go to the fireplace, I'll get the food." Alz said while sighing inwardly, starting to head towards his hut.
"Why did you stop? Don't worry about me, just continue your training." Maya hurriedly stood up and moved ahead of him, blocking his path.
Alz quickly came to a stop, looking at her with a questioning gaze. He felt like her mood had returned to normal earlier, but her actions since then could only have been described as abnormal, unlike the Maya he knew of.
The wordless stare from Alz threw Maya's thoughts into disarray, her hands fidgeting around not knowing where to place them. His expression slowly turned more impatient, causing her to feel more frantic as she stood before him.
However, she suddenly gritted her teeth bowed deeply towards him, her eyes filled with determination as she asked, "I know this might be too much to ask, but... Please, can you teach me how to fight?"
Alz blanked out for a moment, not expecting her to do this. When he finally reacted, he immediately lowered his body and supported her body, pulling her upwards. Maya tried to struggle, but she couldn't win against him in strength, standing back up.
"Wait at the fireplace." Alz said, acting as though nothing happened as he walked past her towards the hut.
"I won't give up!"
Maya stared at Alz with an indignant expression, but soon after she bit her lip and started heading over to the fireplace, deciding to listen to him for now. She expected that it wouldn't be easy from the start, but she was determined to see it through now that she already brought it up.
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She couldn't forget the moment she opened her eyes and saw something far from what she expected. The image of the figure dragging Cruz's follower behind him, throwing that huge body at his companion and taking him out in an instant.
She had watched many fights and spars before, even participating in many of her own. However, she had never seen anyone who fought the way he did, taking out foes with such practical and efficient movements, burning deeply into her mind.
She was satisfied with the results of her shoot, but she didn't let it get into her head. After all, she had recognised the weapon held the most credit for it and not her.
The crossbow might have been able to compensate for her weaknesses in archery, but that was ultimately just it. She didn't just suddenly become stronger after the shoot, as her lack of strength still remained.
If this happened a few months earlier, she might have been blinded by the success and became overconfident, rushing back to the guardhouse to flaunt her results, but she knew better now.
Her previous goal of working solely for the acknowledgement of the others was misguided, something she realised during her visit to the library back then. She understood that it was more important to improve herself as everything else would follow naturally as he had said back then.
"If he helps me."
This belief only grew stronger with his display today, bringing the thought of learning under him to her mind. It felt as though she a path suddenly lit before her eyes, guiding her out of the darkness that surrounded her.
---
Alz left the hut with a slab of meat in his hands, heading towards the fireplace. When he looked over, he saw a bright orange flame gently flickering in the wind with Maya waiting by the side. Noticing his approach, she immediately raised her head and directed a dazzling smile at him.
Alz's movements stiffened for a moment when his eyes landed on her, sighing inwardly as he realised that she hadn't given up yet. He was honestly feeling troubled by her sudden request, at a loss on how to handle it well.
He would have considered helping if it was something simple, but this was not. Giving her a crossbow didn't require too much work from him and was a one-off thing, but agreeing to teach her would be a commitment, going beyond a simple favour.
Putting these thoughts aside, Alz laid the meat on the ground near the fireplace and drew his knife, slicing it into smaller pieces. Seeing this, Maya quickly stood up and walked to him, skewering several pieces of meat and roasting them over the fire.
After cooking each skewer, she placed it by the side and cooked new ones, constantly glancing towards Alz. Several minutes later, when she saw that Alz was about to be done with the chopping, she immediately grabbed several cooked skewers and heated them over the fire again.
"Here, eat it while it's hot.", Maya then offered them to Alz with an extremely eager expression, not having taken a single bite yet.
"Thanks." Alz looked to her with a bitter smile, feeling reluctant to accept them. However, he still ended up taking them in the end, not bearing to refuse her efforts. Maya's smile brightened when she Alz took the skewers from her, finally proceeding to eat herself.
The meal went by in silence, with Maya diligently offering food to Alz each time until he was full. Minutes passed by and the meal soon concluded with both elves eating their fill.
There were still some strips of meat left at the end which Alz brought back to the hut, keeping it for the smokehouse. He sliced the meat up for this in the beginning, having taken a slab of meat that would be more than enough to feed the both of them.
After a short rest, Alz ultimately decided to continue with his exercises in the end, trying his best not be bothered by her. Maya also didn't just watch this time, choosing to join him in his exercise routine instead now that she had already revealed her intentions.
Maya stuck closely to Alz until the end, when she suddenly disappeared without notice as Alz was carrying a pail of drinking water out from his hut.
"Did she go back?"
The thought only surfaced in his mind briefly before he denied the possibility. The surroundings were already very dark, and it made no sense for her to suddenly leave at this time.
The only consolation he felt was from the fact that there were no real dangers nearby, so he didn't have to be too worried about her safety. However, Alz slowly began to get restless as time passed, deciding to scout the surrounding area for her.
About 10 minutes later of searching, Alz suddenly heard a soft, continuous sound coming from the distance, deciding to proceed towards it. The sound got louder as he approached the source, but he couldn't seem to identify the sound from what he was used to hearing in the forest.
Alz briefly thought that the surroundings looked very familiar, but he didn't think too much about it as he had been to most nearby regions before.
However, he quickly realised why he found it familiar when he arrived at the source of the sound, feeling an urge to slam his head on the tree nearby for realising the reason sooner.