One day passed.

The situation did not appear to have improved or devolved in the past few days.

The day next to that one, at dawn, the moment the sun rose at a level high enough to enlighten the forest, but not high enough for me to stop pretending I was sleeping, she attempted to run away, and I let her do so, for I knew she would immediately get back if she wasn’t some sort of suicidal idiot, or unless she had the power to fend herself, which I’m assuming she doesn’t.

She was good at aina. I got to see that the moment she woke up, but not good enough to survive these woods on her own.

To be honest, she doesn't seem to have proper survival skills, even by human standards; it took me a while to notice it, but even running seemed difficult for her at first; I don't mean that she lacked the stamina to run or anything, but rather that she appeared to be someone who hadn't run in a long time; no, I felt that it was worse than that; I took notice of this when she tried to flee in the forest.

Since yesterday, little to no words have been exchanged between us. She gave me her name, but that was all. Except that, it's just a weird and creeping gaze that I receive from time to time. It was awkward, but it was far preferable to having her cursed for her father's death.

I didn’t have to be a genius to guess the possible link between that man and her. She was probably that man’s daughter.

The reason behind their presence here in the middle of this forest remains a mystery, but the fact remains that when I was transported within that barrier, he was there, clearly guarding that egg-shaped structure we found her in.

With the other remnants, it didn't take me long to abandon the idea of looking for the reason for their presence here in the Iharana Great Forest, knowing that the questions I was asking myself would go unanswered due to a lack of relevant data.

The two first remnants, and most likely their undead army, were looking for the one they called "Pere" and "mère." I have a concrete reason to believe that the ones they were looking for were the second pair of remnants we stumbled upon. The first thing that made me believe this was the similarity between the second pair and the siblings; their magic, their physical traits, but also how the old woman from that day reacted to the sword and how the sword itself reacted to that woman. All of that led me to believe that these four were linked filially.

Based on the distance between the sibling and the pair, I could only come up with two theories: one, they ventured into these woods together but were separated for some reason; or two, they ventured into these woods at different timeframes, the pair first, then the siblings.

For obvious reasons, I was more inclined to believe the latter than the former.

Even if I settle the reason for the siblings' presence in these woods as being that they are searching for their parents, the reason for their parents' presence even deeper into these woods still remains a mystery.

Were they also there in search of their parents? Despite how ridiculous that question was, the same question remains: "What would anyone's parents do in a place like this?"

There had to be a reason for their presence in these woods. I'm sure they were after something, or else I don't see why anyone would come to this place. It could’ve been something to do with Nia and that man we fought; it could’ve also been someone that they were looking for in these woods.

I was also particularly curious about the nature of the barrier conjured back then. Is this man related to the church? After all, it was the church that was in charge of keeping the barrier fully operational.

I had so many questions about them left unanswered, which is why I took the decision to completely ignore them, until now.

But here, things were different. I had a living clue that could explain all of these people’s presence within this forest.

But there was one problem, well, three to be exact.

First, my living clue, that could have the answers to all those questions I was currently asking myself, was this girl, Nia.

She seems slightly confused, but I think I should be able to squeeze the answer out of her.

Okay, that sounded quite creepy now that I think of it.

But I still had to elicit as many clues as possible from her, but there was a problem, or rather three.

First, was that, no matter how I looked at it, I was the one who killed the one who I believe was her father, who was guarding that egg-shaped thing we found her in, whatever it was.

This leads me to the second problem. She seems to be aware of what I’ve done, killing her father, but for some reason, isn’t spitting it at me in the face as I expected. At least for me, she makes the whole situation a little bit suffocating. We were the victims, but we did what we did, and I was not afraid of judgment. In fact, it was the lack of judgment that was so... unsettling.

The third and final issue I've had with her is something I've noticed with every remnant I've encountered thus far: we don't speak the same language. Because there were a few words that sounded quite familiar, their language appears to resemble an ancient language from which ours evolved over a very long time.

There were words that I had the impression of understanding, but I had no way of confirming it.

So to resume things, I was stuck with a girl that clearly comes from another age, speaks another tongue, and who happens to be, or at least could potentially be, the daughter of the man that we killed because he himself tried to kill us first.

"Stinky situation, isn’t it?"

"Sure it is."

And here comes the creeping gaze.

Once again, I felt a strange stare coming at me from where she was, but I, at that point, got used to it and completely ignored it.

"Why don’t you simply just go break the ice?"

"You know, why wouldn’t you do it yourself?"

"Well, I intend to, but as for now, I have my own circumstances. I’m sure you’re very much aware of it. "

It was only one day, but the burns and grazes on my body healed with Heon’s care to a reasonable level, enough for us to get back to our journey to the south.

And truth be told, I really wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. In normal circumstances, I would already be on the way. I would somehow heal on the road. I don’t quite like tarnishing in a single place like this, but with her around, this stop was more than necessary.

Night soon came.

The season was getting more and more into winter; the weather was progressively getting colder and colder, so to keep the area warm, I had to continuously kindle the fire. Needless to say, it was not for me, for I had Heon, but rather for a certain person.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Suddenly, when adding wooden sticks to the fire, I remembered something. I immediately turned my attention to the giant wolf lying not so far away, but still quite a distance from Nia.

I am not sure why or how, but Heon was giving quite a lot of consideration to her, who was clearly a bit frightened by Heon’s unique appearance and was not getting too close.

"Hey Heon, the sword. Where did you put the sword? " I said, miming a sword.

During the fight, I had to sacrifice my sword to finally land a blow on that bastard, so, of course, the sword I was referring to was that person’s sword rather than mine.

"... "

A long silence took place before she opened her mouth. Of course, no words came out of it, only a not very welcoming smell and a growl coming from a bottomless cavern.

"You ate it?"

"Hey, Hon, it might not be the sword you’re looking for, but there is something stuck between her teeth.

"Hein?"

I crawled into her mouth and ventured through her teeth to find what the said thing was.

I came out of Heon’s mouth.

What was in Heon’s mouth was that man’s ring. I had completely forgotten about its existence up until now.

Thinking back, she also had one similar to this one.

"Yeah, and this could be an occasion to start a discussion, don’t you think? You’ve already figured out a way to communicate, so what are you waiting for? You guys aren’t planning to stay like this forever, right? "

"I guess you’re right."

Just as I got out of Heon's mouth, I heard something coming from Nia. It was like a silent song humming.

The lyrics were a mystery given that she was merely humming them, and even if she sang them, I doubt I would understand anything of their meaning. Still, I could make a certain sense of them.

It sounded like a counting rhyme, a bedtime song that a mother would sing to children to put them to sleep.

She’s trying to sleep, right? Maybe. "

I was still hesitant, but then I received a muzzle push from Heon, which sent me straight toward her, which caused her to immediately interrupt her humming.

She was still sitting in the shelter I made for her.

I still had the ring firmly hidden within the palm of my hand, so she had no idea of what I had retrieved from Heon’s mouth.

Having reached in front of her shelter, I once again received a strange stare.

"Am I that frightening?"

"Yes, you are."

I knew it was going to be a pain in the arse, but I couldn’t endlessly avoid it. I approached the entrance of her shelter, then, with a simple touch, I dispelled her shelter, leaving her sitting alone on the ground.

She was about to stand up, but I immediately stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait a minute. Sorry in advance for the creepiness, but we need to talk. "

And as if I wasn’t creepy enough still holding her shoulder and keeping her from standing up, I rearranged the ground to form a bench upon which I sat next to her.

Then, with my finger, I drew three figures on the ground, one representing Han, me, and Heon.

"This is Han, this is me, this is Heon," I said, pointing at the drawing rather than at us.

Then, to indicate what we were doing, I, with my hand, mimed someone walking.

"Do you understand? ... We were walking. "

She said nothing, but instead just nodded.

I couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

We may not speak the same tongue, but at least with drawings and mimings, my point can at least, somehow, come across.

I didn’t know where to start this story. After all, I couldn’t start with us and her father immediately trying to kill each other. No matter how I exposed it, it would’ve had her hating us.

So I started from the beginning of this journey, from the moment we started venturing south as Hon and Han.

Skipping through the unnecessary gory details, I narrated our encounter with the giant turtle, our fight against the siblings, and then our encounter with Heon.

It seems that I went too far the moment I mimicked Heon’s howl. I was snarled at by Heon, who was most likely creeped out by what I did.

It was clumsy, I know, but for the first time I extracted a laugh from her, no-maybe it was too much to call it a laugh. To be exact, it was less than a laugh but more than a simple smile.

Of course, making her laugh wasn’t my intent. In fact, my intent was to make us seem sympathetic, but this wasn’t half bad.

It was strange narrating this story like this to someone, and to be honest, it wasn’t bad. In fact, I kind of liked it.

This is how people should be.

To shut up and make an effort to listen to the other perspective, instead of straight up being hostile.

So I went with my story, how I fought more and more monsters. After half a day narrating our journey, I reached the part where we stumbled upon her father’s barrier.

I made a point of explaining that we had no choice but to face him, and that in the end, it was only through Han's sacrifice that we managed to defeat him.

An awkward silence accompanied by sobbing took place when I was done explaining how we finally managed to take him down and what his last words were.

I was sitting next to her, making sketches on the ground. Knowing that it was the best opportunity, I retrieved the ring and handed it to her.

And to be honest, from here, I didn’t know what to do, for on the other hand, I had someone crying. I knew it would happen, but I somehow thought that I would be able to deal with it when I was there, but I was wrong.

How am I supposed to react? What am I supposed to do here?

She was tearing up, mourning her father. Normally I would offer kind words even if they weren’t really coming from an honest heart, but whatever I do, I will come across as a hypocrite.

And personally, even if I didn't participate in the killing of her father, I still wouldn’t know what to tell her. After all, we were complete strangers to each other.

"Oh, wise Han, any recommendations?"

"I’m sorry, Little Hon, none. If there was one, it would be to shut up and wait for something to happen. Besides, we have no connection with that man. Besides killing him, it’s up to her, his daughter alone, to mourn and cry for him. Let her do it her way. This is not our problem. Pretending it is not would be the definition of hypocrisy given our very unique, short exchange with her. "

Despite how blunt and crude that advice sounded, it was pretty much decent advice, as there wasn't much I could do right now. I didn’t know what to say, and I couldn’t simply walk away.

"That’s it. Sometimes all you need is, well, you know, I was about to say something wise, but I think this one fits better. Sometimes you have someone present, silent but present. It’s better than nothing, don’t you think? It’s up to you to do what you can with what you have. Isn’t it? "

"Ahaha... I guess yes."

So I remained there, silent, waiting for her to say something, but in the end, even when she was done crying, she said nothing. Instead, when I was focusing on, well, staying incredibly still so my presence wouldn't be noticed, her head fell on my shoulder.

She fell asleep.

I couldn’t really blame her after all. It took me several hours to explain everything, but still,

"It is very reckless to fall asleep next to someone who has just admitted killing their father."

"Well, she held well these past few days. Now, having heard your version, I suppose she can at least afford to sleep soundly. "

Sleeping soundly, huh?

"I guess you’re right."

"So what did you decide?"

"What did I decide? What do you mean? "

"What do we do with her? You’re envisaging continuing our journey in no time, aren’t you? But so far you’ve ignored her as if she wasn’t part of the equation. So, what did you decide to do with her? "

He was right. I have been avoiding the subject. To be honest, I wasn’t prepared for this. This whole thing has been so sudden.

"That’s how paternity is, boy. It’s sudden. You are only left with two choices: to assume or to run. So what will it be? "

"Hahaha, what do you know about paternity?"

"A lot more than what you expect. I did my fair share of babysitting, you know. "

"Is that so... To get back to our current topic, I believe it is up to her to respond to your question. Don’t you think so? "

"If the answer is "up to her," doesn't that imply you've already made up your mind?"

"Maybe."

""Maybe", my ass, I can read your mind. Just assume it already. "

"Hahaha, yeah, yeah."