"For real, though, anywhere we going in particular, Kiyomi?"

Vaughn was asking as I pulled him along; I hadn't really had a destination in mind for the time being, unfortunately. I didn't even expect to see him today, so I don't even have the baseball prototype on me. All that I had was the clothes on my back and my sword, considering I had no one to leave it with at home.

"I'm not sure... for now."

Slowing down, I realized my tail was still wrapped around Vaughn's wrist and released it. It left a strange feeling of awkwardness the longer I held it, so it was for the best.

"I just felt that things were tense between Lorn and your father... Actually, this was a surprise to me. I guess we could do stuff you want to do?"

I turned around and continued along the road as I walked backward, my arms folded behind my head as I did so.

"Wait, you weren't supposed to be here?"

Vaughn asked, strolling along at the same pace next to me.

"Mhmm, Miss Lorn told me to tell Mama I was studying the whole time. Miss Lorn's letting me play hooky."

"Hooky?"

Vaughn was confused with the slang, raising a brow.

"Eeeh, forget it. It just means to skip out on what you should be doing."

"So there's really no plan, huh?"

Vaughn asked, a smile creeping onto his face. Seemingly pleased that he had more sway in what would be pursued. I nodded in response.

"Well, Pa's meeting with Miss Lorn is supposed to take the rest of the day. Want to spend it with me? I can show you what I get up to most of the time."

Vaughn was definitely pleased with himself, considering his poor attempt at concealing his excitement.

"Are we gonna get Beryl? I imagine she'd like to spend some time with us too."

Vaughn's expression shifted slightly at mentioning her.

"She's learning magic with her mother's right now. Even if she was, I was kinda hoping for us two to spend time together."

Vaughn trailed off near the back end of his response, as if not wanting to say it where I could actually hear it.

"You act enough like a guy that I wanted to just hang out with you."

I was confused at Vaughn's words for just a moment before feeling strangely flustered.

Wait, does he just want attention? Does he just want to do stuff together? Calm down! Calme down, don't overthink it. You're one of only two people he can do stuff with. It's reasonable. Also, dude, don't call a girl 'one of the guys.' That's a quick way to ruin your chances at finding a girl!

"Haaah, I guess we can. So what is it you normally do?"

Vaughn smiled at my approval, appearing to hold in his reaction.

"Well, aside from helping Pa with his drafting, when you two aren't around, I explore the small wooded section just next to the wall. Where we played catch, remember it?"

"Hah? Yeah, I remember; why?"

I turned back around to walk alongside Vaughn; I could only maintain enough attention on the conversation and walk like I was.

"Well, the other day, I was walking and came across some old ruin."

"A ruin?"

I was confused by Vaughn's words some, as I'd been in those exact woods at least a handful of times, and I don't think I've ever seen any kind of structure in them. My brows were furrowing with his words, almost doubting him.

"Kiyomi, I'm not tryin to fool ya. Seriously, wanna come to look? It's a nice spot."

"Are you saying the only thing you do when we're not around is spelunk?"

I was still slightly confused with his choice of hobby. Though, I couldn't judge him much. There really wasn't much to do in his position other than sitting with his father or explore when Beryl and I are both busy.

"Well, like I said before. A lot of what I do is normally with Pa, and I don't want to turn training with Callum into a hobby exactly."

Vaughn looked dead inside as he discussed his possible alternatives. Understandably so, considering I witnessed the beatings Callum gave him.

"Still, I want you to come to see it. We can show Beryl too when she's free."

Vaughn pressed onward, insistent I join him to the 'ruins' he'd found.

"Fine, I guess. Seriously though, how'd you find this place?"

I was prodding for some kind of explanation.

"Well, there's this sinkhole good ways in. At the bottom, there's some kind of stone building with clay shingles and a small pond. There are a couple of rooms in the place, other than this larger one with some shrine at the end of it. The doors all work too, so if a monster somehow wanders by, we'll be fine."

"I'm less concerned with where now and more with how we'd need to avoid monsters, to begin with."

I chastised Vaughn slightly, considering the serious a monster suddenly being that close would be.

"It's fine, if anything, there's just some River crawlers. They're herbivores, though, so we should be fine with them."

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Are they? I guess if they aren't territorial, we should be fine.

Going along with Vaughn's plans for the day, we started to break away from the road and were now making our way along the edge of one of the farm fields. It was a decent shortcut considering we wouldn't have to weave through the traffic of all the merchants or adventurers at the main gates. With nothing but the grass and dirt road as our obstacles, the trip was faster than usual. The idle time we spent walking, Vaughn and I found ourselves talking about his interests. I didn't actually know much about him or Beryl, considering the length of time we were all spending together. Everything we ever knew about each other was thanks to the interaction we all had since we met.

"That table you were sitting at... that was a drafting table, wasn't it?"

"Huh?"

Vaughn showed sudden surprise at my question.

"Oh, yeah. How'd you know?"

Thinking back on Vaughn's question, it wouldn't have done well to tell him, 'I used to work with army engineers that used them.' Settling with a small lie, I just smiled and gave not so well thought out answer.

"I saw it in a book."

"They're really pushing your education, huh?"

Vaughn responded well enough, accepting my answer.

"They're trying their best. Mama wants me to have the best chance at succeeding, and she views that as education and training."

"It's fair enough, but you don't really have time to yourself, do you?"

Hmm? I guess not, but I never really want solitude. I like being around Mama and the others... or at least Mama and Callum. I haven't warmed up to Stanis or Chessa much. Besides, an idle mind tends to reminisce... I don't want to reminisce.

Choosing to brush the question off, I moved forward with my own. Pressing Vaughn's work with the drafting table.

"What is it your Father has you do with the table exactly?"

"Hm? Ah, well, I mostly make copies of plans for Pa. Now and then, though, he lets me design new ones with him. I actually designed our current house."

"Oh, that run-down shack?"

I teased Vaughn some as he gave his explanation, earning a flick to one of my horns.

"Ouch, hey!"

"I a whole night drawing until he approved my floor plan for that 'shack.' I'm really proud he picked it!"

Vaughn appeared aggravated for just a moment before calming down.

"It's not much... but someday, I hope to be able to design entire Keeps and bridges like Pa has."

"He's designed Keeps before?"

I was legitimately curious about it. The fact that Vaughn's father was a rather good engineer wasn't lost on me. It just wasn't something that was brought up much so far.

"He designed and directed the construction of a number of the newer Keeps in Va-ren mostly. He never did work in Morus... for obvious reasons. He hasn't designed anything like that in a couple of years, though. Not since we left home... "

Vaughn's face twisted for a moment as he struggled to hold something in.

Should I ask?..no...-no, don't press it. That would be wrong.

"So you said you wanted to do the same work your Father does?"

Trying to reign in the possible damper on Vaughn's mood, I diverted the conversation to his asperations. Thankfully, this seemed to help as Vaughn's expression calmed, replaced with a smile.

"Yeah, I wanna be a great Engineer someday, just like Pa. Maybe even design a Keep for some royalty or something someday, or a bridge... or wall... Something that will stand for me to be remembered by, you know? To see something you create be used... to help so many people by making at least the tiniest bit of their lives easier... I want to do that. I don't care if no one cares either... as long as it's useful."

As Vaughn explained, his eyes seemed to light up in a way I'd never seen someone do yet in this world.

This is his dream. His hope. Vaughn... I know plenty of people that would have wished they could have been like you.

Seeing Vaughn so hopeful over his future linked something within me. A feeling that I couldn't very well describe as anything else but admiration.

Vaughn wants to press forward regardless of what happened to him... I want to be like that.

Thinking about Vaughn's future with him, I couldn't help but smile. It was like seeing a friend at their best, hearing him go on about how he wanted to follow his father. It wasn't as if it were posturing either since he was actively putting the skills to practice. He was already on the road to his dream. He may not have seen it, but he'd taken the first steps long ago.

"So your father chose the house design over his own?"

Vaughn nodded.

"Hm-hm. Personally-"

Vaughn blushed and looked away some, barely hiding a smile.

"My old man doesn't show praise much... personally, I think he chose my floorplan because he wanted to show his appreciation."

Vaughn breathed in for a moment before looking back at me.

"Either way, he chose it. And he would never have chosen a design he disapproved of."

Vaughn flashed a toothy grin, thinking of his father's choice in praise. I found myself taking a mental snapshot of that moment. In my head, it was the way I always wanted to see Vaughn. He was a friend, and with time, as any friend would, I wanted him to be happy and succeed. If I ever needed to help him get to his dream, that would be the face I'd remember.

"Vaughn, seeing you with your father... it's good to see you two get along better than you show."

Flashing Vaughn a smile of my own, I was about to ask my next question before he suddenly interrupted me.

"Oh, hey, we're at the woodline already?"

Looking ahead of us, Vaughn was right. Not even a hundred meters away, there was the woodline. Getting caught up in our conversation, we'd apparently closed the last of the distance to our destination.

"How far inside is the ruin?"

I never asked Vaughn about how far he had to travel into the woods to actually find the ruin. Looking to them, they seemed much thicker along this section.

Actually, this is kind of far out compared to where we played.

Looking along the woodline, I could see Beryl's home in the distance, just in the shadow of Brenton's wall. Going by distance, we were about a kilometer away.

"Vaughn, are you sure this is safe?"

Of all people, I was feeling off about it. I felt like I'd get in trouble going this far out.

"We're good, Kiyomi. Remember, there's just more of the town on the other side."

Vaughn rolled his eyes as he turned around, attempting to calm my nerves.

"Come on. It's maybe a hundred- Nah-two hundred meters in?"

"Okaaayyy... but don't go too far without me, okay? I'm terrible with directions."

"Sure thing, I'm pretty sure you could blow anything we'd see here away, though. All I saw last time were deer, boar, and a stray slime or two."

"Slime's?"

Vaughn nodded in response as he began to walk under the trees. I wasn't particularly afraid of slimes from Mother's descriptions. Especially since they were relatively easy to escape, even if one started swallowing you, you could simply walk through its membrane. The only reason they tended ever to be an issue, was that they'd corrode clothing, armor, and weapons if you left them unchecked after exposure to the slimes insides. I particularly didn't want to ruin the clothes Mother bought me, nor my sword.

As we entered the woods, however, my mind was taken off of the slimes. The woods seemed peaceful, the area we were walking was nearly barren of underbrush save for the barely ankle height grass that covered the ground. Mix that with the sound of wind passing through the tree's overhead and the sound of birds, mixed with the bellow of a mule-deer, and it was serene. We were possibly fifty meters in, and we could no longer hear anything from the town or the farms.

"Y'know, it is nice knowing there is a place like this that we could go... no town... and virtually no monsters to worry about. The walk alone is nice, Vaughn, thanks."

I tried expressing my thanks somehow, trying to compliment the setting.

"Don't thank me yet. I feel like you'll really like the ruin. It's baren, so we could all use it as our hideout pretty much. The pond is nice too. We're not far now."

Saying so, Vaughn pointed to a cluster of bushed that looked as if there was a clearing just beyond them.

"Just beyond the bushes. It's down in the sinkhole, and it's not steep, either. We can walk down it without an issue."

Just as Vaughn was describing it, I caught a glimpse of something peaking just over the bushes as we approached. As we got closer, the object became clearer in detail.

"Hey, Vaughn... is that a... bell tower?"

Just in sight, growing in detail as we approached, was a small belltower.

"Just wait till you see the whole thing! Come on!"

And with that, Vaughn started jogging to the ledge, a smile on his face.

Well, Vaughn, I will say... you bit me with the adventure bug. This could be fun.