Kenji walked out of the forest with Bob in his arms. "Are you sure you don't need help?"

Alf was pulling a dead deer, making it slide on the ground, while walking backwards. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You look like you're struggling," Kenji said.

Alf smiled in between deep breaths; the deer was heavier than he expected. "I'm fine."

Kenji kept walking, and they arrived at the camp where Naru and Tera were waiting for them.

"Looks like you caught something big," Naru said.

"Kenji was so cool!" Alf said. "He threw the knife in its chest!"

Kenji smiled. "It was nothing."

Naru nodded. "Yes, that's a very simple—"

Tera slapped his arm. "Sounds indeed cool."

Kenji put Bob on the ground and helped Alf lift the deer up. They put it on a table, and Naru carved it. Alf quickly noticed that Bob was crawling away, and he caught her.

"Where do you think you're going?" Alf asked.

Bob pointed at the woods.

"You want to go back to the woods?"

Bob nodded, and Alf shook his head.

"You're going with Alia, are you sure?" Naru asked. "It's a dangerous trip."

"I will be okay," Kenji said with a bright smile. "Alia will practice for a few weeks. By then, she will protect me."

"What does she practice?" Alf asked.

"Using her magic."

"I remember when I learned how to use magic," Naru said. "I was a very talented young man."

"Of course," Tera said with a roll of her eyes.

"What about me?" Alf said. "That's unfair."

"I thought you want to become a cook."

Alf, still with Bob in his arms, turned around and ran into the forest.

"Wait, Alf!" Kenji shouted, but Alf was gone.

Kenji sighed. "This is going to be hard."

"Good luck," Tera said. "Children are a pain in your ass."

"I agree with that," Naru said. "They're annoying and make you do things that make little sense."

Kenji smiled. "Do you have any children?"

Naru's gaze fell to Kenji, but he said no word. "The gods didn't want us to have children," Tera said. "They probably knew that we had enough work already."

"You can have these three."

"They would run," Naru said.

"Why? You guys are nice so far."

"There's no loyalty like a child's loyalty," Tera said.

"They lost their parents?" Naru asked.

"Yes, they lost their mother."

"A child can't be without a parent," Tera said. "They will search for one everywhere they look."

"I don't want or should be their parent."

"What's your plan?" Naru asked. "Why do you have them with you?"

"They didn't want to leave me."

"Do you want them to leave?" Tera asked.

Kenji looked at Tera, wanting to open his mouth but didn't for a moment. "Of course."

"Why?"

"It's too dangerous for them, and they can't fight," Kenji said.

"In this age of monsters, the entire world is too dangerous for anyone," Naru said.

"Monster hunters run into the danger," Kenji said.

"If you truly want them to stay behind," Naru said. "We will hold them back when you leave."

Kenji nodded. "Thank you. I will take Alia with me tomorrow, and hopefully, she will learn that being a monster hunter is nothing to wish for."

"Hopefully," Tera said.

***

Alf sat against a tree with Bob in his arms; tears came out of his eyes. "I'm nice to Kenji," he said. "I think he's the coolest."

Bob looked at him, tilting her head.

"Do you think he likes me?"

Bob shrugged.

Alf shook his head. "It's so unfair! Alia always gets special treatment because she's so old. But I want to go, too!"

Bob patted Alf's arm.

"I want to practice magic, too," Alf said. "I'm not stupid."

"Are you okay?"

Alf turned around and saw Alia standing there. "Where's Kenji?"

"He's with the old couple, and I was bored," Alia said. "What happened to you? Did Bob pee you in your eyes?"

"Shut up!" Alf yelled.

Alia frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Kenji doesn't like me," Alf said.

Alia smiled. "Can you blame him?"

"You're so mean," Alf said with a shaking voice and more tears. "We lost our mother and you're like nothing happened."

Alia kneeled in front of Alf. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do. I'm not good at this kind of thing."

"You don't even like me," Alf said. "Kenji doesn't like me either. I lost the only person who liked me, it's not fair."

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Alia took a deep breath and exhaled it before putting her hand on Alf's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so mean to you. And I know that you're going through a lot right now, but I lost my mother, too. Our mother. I'm trying to keep it in for you."

"Really?" Alf asked.

Alia nodded. "Yeah. It's difficult."

Alf put Bob down and hugged Alia. "I'm sorry."

Alia hugged him back. "It's okay."

"Will you help me practice?" Alf asked.

"What do you want to practice?"

"Magic!" Alf said with excitement.

"Of course," she said with a smile. "What else is a big sister good for?"

"Thank you," Alf said before standing up. "You're not that bad."

"That's all I need to know," Alia said.

Bob lifted her arms, asking for Alia to carry her.

Alia sighed. "I can't."

"Yes, you can," Alf said. "She likes you."

"She's a monster."

Bob gave Alia an angry look and turned around before crawling away.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Alia shouted, but Bob continued to crawl away from her. "That was really awkward."

Alf caught her and picked her up. "She will get over it later."

Alia shrugged. "Maybe. Come now."

They walked further into the forest.

***

Kenji came out of the woods with two dead deer in his hands. He was holding one by its antlers and another by its legs; both of them dragged on the ground.

When he passed the garden, he noticed Tera lingering above the potatoes; with her hand raised, and orange light illuminating out of it, the plants sprouted.

Tera noticed him and waved, then she returned to the work.

Kenji ran to Tera, dropping the deer, making her look confused at him. "Why didn't you tell me you could grow crops with magic?"

"Why is it important?"

"Because you can help me help you!"

"How?" Tera asked.

"I need more of my double-headed carrots." He grabbed one carrot and showed her. "You know, these."

Tera looked at him. "We have carrots already."

Kenji shook his head. "Not like this! They might be pretty worthless to most folks, except for growing double the carrots, but they help us from the Devour Clan."

"I'm not sure, Kenji," Tera said with a jerk of her head. "You know how hard life magic is."

"You seem to do fine."

"These are crops I know," Tera said. "The slightest change in something makes it hard to use magic on it. You know that."

"Actually," he said. "I'm not schooled in astral magic."

"They didn't teach you anything about other magic schools?"

"They want us to focus on our talents," Kenji said. "I have a natural talent for elemental magic."

"I see."

"Is it very hard?"

"Yes," Tera said. "Every species reacts differently to it and even a different breed has a different reaction. You must know how rare healers are, especially good ones."

"So you can't do it?"

Tera shook her head. "It's not impossible, just difficult. And it would take a lot of my mana, and I might waste all of your carrots."

"That's okay. I trust you."

Tera looked at him for a moment. "Are you sure?"

Kenji nodded. "Yes."

Tera took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll try."

Kenji grabbed a double-headed carrot and swiftly cut off the tops of both heads; he handed the carrot tops to Tera.

"What's the difference between this and normal carrots?" Tera asked.

"It's genetically mutated to have more nutrition and a nice byproduct is the doubled size."

Tera looked at the carrot tops, then she raised her hand and orange light shone on it. "Yeah, it feels different."

She put them on the ground before turning her head to Kenji. "Bring me a bucket with water."

Kenji looked around. "You want me to go near the kraken?"

"It's just a little kraken."

"It's a damn big kraken."

"Do you want your carrots or not?" Tera asked with her eyebrows raised.

Kenji sighed, grabbed a bucket, and walked towards the lake where the kraken was. "I'm not getting closer than I have to."

He stepped onto the shore and dipped the bucket into the water. The kraken's eye appeared next to the bucket, looking at it and Kenji.

Kenji quickly pushed the bucket into the water, filling it, and turned around, running for his dear life; the kraken's tentacle chased after him, but it was too slow.

Tera laughed as Kenji arrived at her, drenched in water, and held the bucket forward. "You were the one who told me to get close," Kenji said.

Tera took the bucket, poured a little of it on the ground, and raised her hand. Orange light appeared on it and circled around the watery earth until it spread throughout the garden before shrinking back to the carrots.

Kenji watched the magic with awe and excitement. "That was amazing!"

"Don't get so excited yet," Tera said. "Nothing has happened yet."

"How long does it take?"

"I'm not sure," Tera said. "I usually grow things in a few minutes, but I don't know how long this will take. And the outcome might not be good."

"So, what are you doing?"

"It's complicated," she answered. "I'm putting my mana in every minor part of them and then I'm creating more parts, making it grow. But this life magic is a single step away from death.

"Imagine the carrot being on a path and there are many turns. The carrot has a path it will follow, and what I'm doing with life magic is moving it along quicker. But if the carrot takes the wrong turn, it's unnatural and will fall into death."

"That's how you die?"

"Not always," Tera said. "There are many outcomes, and which one comes depends on the target and the path it went down."

"You must be pretty good at this if you can just talk during it."

Tera smiled but her gaze didn't leave the carrots alone; they slowly grew beneath and above the soil. "I'm quite good at this, and luckily, your carrots' paths aren't too different from normal carrots."

"Is this like a luck thing? You choose one path and you hope you're right."

"Some luck is necessary, but not always. You can take a few steps on a path and turn around; if you're good, you will see it's the wrong path."

Kenji nodded. "I understand."

Tera frowned, and her hand trembled. "But it's taking a lot longer than usual."

"Maybe because of the double-headedness."

"Yeah," Tera said with a chuckle. "This isn't difficult, but it takes longer."

"Thank you for doing this," Kenji said. "This means a lot to me."

"It's okay," Tera said. "You're helping us too."

Kenji smiled. "How about you grow double-headed carrots from now on?"

"Why?"

"More nutrition, double the size, and they taste better," Kenji said. "Also, you can make two carrots out of every carrot."

"We can try that."

"Just be careful."

"I know what I'm doing," Tera said. "Now shut up and let me focus."

"Yes, ma'am."

Tera rolled her eyes. "You can be annoying, do you know that?"

"I heard that before."

They waited in silence for the carrots to finish growing; after fifteen minutes, they were done.

"These are beautiful," Tera said as she looked at the double-headed carrots.

"You did it," Kenji said. "Thank you so much!"

Tera smiled. "No problem."

"Can you also heal people?"

Tera shook her head. "No, I don't heal humans."

"Why?"

Tera looked at him with sad eyes. "I don't want to talk about it."

Kenji nodded. "I see. Sorry."

"It's okay," Tera said. "Don't worry about it."

"I should look after Alf."

Tera nodded. "Yeah, you should."

Kenji waved good bye and walked into the woods. Tera looked at the dead deer and sighed before picking them up.

***

Alf sat on the dirty ground with Alia in front of him and Bob in-between; he had his eyes closed and concentrated.

"It can be hard at the start," Alia said. "You just have to feel something pumping from your heart."

"I feel it," Alf said with excitement.

"Focus on it and try to make it faster."

Alf took a deep breath and exhaled it. He felt his heart beating fast and then slow, and then he felt something pumping out of it.

"I did it!" Alf said, his eyes opened with excitement.

"Good," Alia said. "Now stand up."

Alf jumped up. "What do I do now?"

"One trick I found out without Kenji is to pump your legs and jump higher."

"Cool!" Alf said as he ran away from them, jumped, and flew high in the air before landing back on his feet. "This is fun!"

"Don't get yourself hurt!"

"I'm not," Alf said as he jumped high again. "This is amazing!"

"I think you're ready for the next step," Alia said. "Now, run fast."

Alf ran around in circles until his speed increased and he became a blur.

"You're doing good," Alia said.

Bob clapped her hands with excitement.

"I'm getting tired," Alf said, as he stopped.

"Already?" Alia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, already!" Alf yelled. "I'm eight."

Alia laughed. "Alright, alright. Calm down."

"Can I see what else you can do?"

"What else I can do?" Alia asked.

"Yes, like the way you fight and stuff."

"You could throw a knife, but that's dangerous," Alia said. "How about you just watch me?"

"Okay," Alf said with excitement.

"I'm going to lift this rock," Alia said, pointing at the ground. "And then I'll throw it at a tree."

Alf nodded.

Alia moved towards the rock and concentrated for a moment before lifting it. She then threw the rock at a tree, hitting it, and making the trunk shatter.

"Wow," Alf said. "You're amazing!"

"Thank you."

"How did you do that?"

"Concentration," Alia said. "Then you pump from you heart, over your arm, into the thing you're holding."

"What about flying?" Alf asked.

"What?"

"Can you fly?" Alf asked again.

Alia shook her head. "No. Just try to throw a stone."

Alf nodded. He walked towards a stone, lifted it, and threw it at a tree; it drilled into the trunk, making a small hole.

"I did it!" Alf said excitedly.

"Good job," Alia said. "You'll learn it more."

Alf smiled before yawning. "Thank you so much."

"No problem," Alia said. "Let's go back."

She turned around and stopped. Her body shook as she tried to move away, but her feet remained on the ground.

"Alia?" Alf asked.

"Alf," she said, trying to control her voice. "Get out of here."

Alf took a step back. "Why?" But before she could reply, Alf turned around and noticed the enormous wolf behind him.

Alf took a step back, but the wolf growled at him, and he stood still.

"Alia," Alf said. "Help."

Alia tried to move her legs, but she couldn't. She concentrated and felt the source of the magic. A bigger wolf was standing behind her, its teeth only inches from her face.

Alf moved slowly towards Alia. "Kenji," Alia whispered. She wanted to scream, but she was scared to.