Crystal felt her head spinning as she woke from her sleep. And while there was no sharp pain, she felt her whole body aching. It was normal considering how she had overexerted herself while fighting the black-clothed men.

Thinking of the fight, she tried her best to sit up and take a look at her current situation.

She sat up after much effort while trying to ignore the pain and soreness in her muscles.

Crystal took a deep breath to calm her mind and looked around.

At first she was confused by her surroundings. It looked like a cave but the surface was… wooden?

She touched the wooden walls and realized she was inside a hollow tree.

She nodded. Well, checking the surroundings was done. Next was checking the condition of her body.

Crystal looked down at herself. She was surprised to find many black clothes wrapped around her body. They were covering all the places where she had suffered injuries.

She was startled as she quickly checked her clothes. She also checked the bandages wrapped around her injuries. As the injuries were treated without removing her clothes, she was feeling a bit uncomfortable due to the stickiness of the medicine that was applied on her wounds.

After looking closely, she realized that the strips of cloth she was wrapped in were made from the black cloak that she wore the day before.

After struggling for a bit, she finally stood up. Placing her hand on the wooden wall for support, she started walking towards the opening.

Her eyes squinted due to the sudden brightness as she put a hand before her face.

She looked around and saw the big hollow tree she slept inside, lying near a forest river.

There was a fire burning some distance away from her. Two fishes were being grilled and looked almost ready. Another bowl was hung over the fire. Something was boiling inside it. She couldn’t see it clearly from where she was standing. The bowl looked like it was made of wood but it still didn’t catch on fire. But she knew that it was the outer shell of a wild fruit easily found inside the forest. Although the fruit was not eatable, its shell was very tough. It was a popular material among craftsmen who used it in many crafts, the most popular being using it to make training helmets for the soldiers of the empire. But this was her first time she saw one this big and it was also being used as a cooking pot.

She started walking towards the fire and moved her sight along. She saw a young man dressed in black clothes sitting near the fire and preparing some fruit.

He looked up and gave her a glance before focusing back on his work.

Crystal observed him as he worked. His face was normal without any striking features that might make a lasting memory. His short hair moved freely with the morning breeze. The look in his eyes when he looked up at her was also normal. For a moment she even doubted if it was the same man who had saved her yesterday. The aura he gave was so… normal. If not for their chance encounter yesterday, she might not even remember his face again after seeing him once.

As she walked near, the smell of cooked fish entered her nose. There was also that pot, inside which was a fragrant soup being cooked. She felt hungry all of a sudden. Very hungry.

The man was using the other half of the large fruit shell as a seat. She got near him and picked up one of the leaves placed there.

She sat on the leaf and thought about yesterday. She tried to think of things she should say to the man who had helped her, but only managed to squeeze out two words…

“Thank you.”

As he heard her words, Anom looked at her and smiled, “Are you hungry?” he asked.

The girl bit her lips and gave a light nod.

Anom picked up two of the leaves and started arranging the breakfast. First, he placed the fruit slices. Then he took down the fish from above the fire and put them on the plates. Finally, he took out two smaller shells from his bag and poured the soup inside them.

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Only now did the girl realize that the leaves were meant to be used as plates. She felt embarrassed as she spoke, “Sorry. I didn’t know you were using them as plates.”

Anom just smiled, implying that he didn’t mind.

He placed one of the plates in front of the girl and said, “Try it. All the ingredients were picked freshly in the morning. Oh, some of the fruits are from my bag though. They might not taste the best, but they are very nutritious. You should eat them.”

The girl didn’t say anything as she nodded and started eating her portion. She was really famished. She didn’t know what she would have done if she had to look for food herself. Thankfully, the food was already prepared.

Crystal picked up the fish from her plate and took a bite. Then she took another bite and another and another and she kept going. When her mouth was too stuffed, to prevent herself from choking, she picked up the soup bowl and drank a mouthful.

After gulping it all down, she let out a satisfied breath and praised, “That was so good!” There was a sweet and happy smile on her face as she enjoyed her breakfast. This was her first time eating in a forest like this. She had feasted on many delicacies before, but none of them could compare to this. Eating this food filled her stomach while also satisfying her mentally. The fatigue and worries she felt due to yesterday’s events felt much lighter, making her feel calm.

Anom appreciated the beauty who had a happy expression on her face. He felt happy after hearing her praise the food he made. After all, he had exerted quite some effort to prepare it.

He also started eating his breakfast. None of them said anything, as they enjoyed their breakfast in the tranquil morning.

Soon they finished eating. Anom stood up and started cleaning up the dishes. Well, the leaves were disposed of on the ground, but Anom found the small bowls useful, so he decided to keep them for now. He also arranged the remaining stuff like fruits, herbs etc. inside his bag.

The girl kept sitting in her place while looking at Anom arranging his things. Finally, he finished everything and came near her.

“Let’s go!” he said.

The girl nodded and stood up.

“Wait for a moment.” She suddenly remembered something as she ran towards the river. She squatted down and started to wash her face with the cold water. She was feeling uncomfortable due to the sticky medicine and all the dirt and sweat she got from yesterday’s chase. While it was not much, washing her face made her feel much better than before.

She stood up and turned around.

Anom watched her wet face in admiration. ‘She’s really beautiful!’ he thought. Just as he thought about offering some spare clothes for her to dry his face, the girl did something which made him widen his eyes in surprise.

There was a small pouch on her waist. Anom had seen it while treating her injuries but he thought it was empty considering its weight. But the girl in front of him put her slim hand in the little pouch and after fumbling around for a while, she took out a white towel from inside. It would still have been fine if that was the only thing she took out. But she inserted her hand inside the pouch again and pulled out two tinted-glass bottles. Anom was sure that even a single bottle was as big as her pouch.

Suddenly he gasped inwardly as he thought of a possibility.

The girl didn’t notice Anom’s weird expression as she opened the bottles one by one. Some round pills came tumbling out as soon as the bottles were tilted.

Crystal ate them as she asked Anom, “Do you need some? One of them is effective for internal injuries. The other one can make sure that no scars are left due to the external wounds.

Anom shook his head absentmindedly as he suddenly asked while pointing at her pouch, “I-Is that a Storage Pouch?”

Only now did she notice Anom’s strange behaviour. She became a bit wary at first as she realized that he might attack her due to this pouch. But she was a smart girl and knew that someone like that would have long taken advantage of her weak state to rob her.

She nodded and said, “That’s right. It’s a Storage Pouch. Why? You never saw one?”

‘Haha! Hail the Holy Novels! Now I can’t wait to see more of this world.’ Anom almost jumped at her reply.

Suddenly, he turned his head towards another direction as he asked the girl, “Can you fit that inside your pouch.” He was pointing at the big shell that he used as a pot to cook soup earlier.

The girl turned towards it then looked at Anom weirdly. But she still answered, “It will fit. But what do you need it for?”

“Well, we might need it later. I don’t know if we can find another one this big.” He replied with the best reason.

The girl shook her head and said, “Don’t worry. You said that you wanted to reach the nearby city, right? That is also the place where I live. I know the way back, and if we leave now, we can reach the city before night. You won’t need this anymore.”

Anom agreed with her reasoning, but now that he knew that they could bring this with them conveniently, he was reluctant to leave it there. How would the girl know about how Anom had to eat compressed and packaged food when he was on his missions in unpopulated areas? Something which could help in preparing a hot meal was no less than a sacred item for him. Plus, he really liked this smooth dark brown shell. It was the only one he found which was this large.

Crystal sighed as she walked forward and picked up the shell. Then in front of Anom’s happy grin, she put the shell pot inside her pouch.

Anom really liked seeing the items seemingly vanishing inside the pouch.

“Let’s go!”

Both of them started walking with Crystal giving the directions.

They had only walked a short distance when she suddenly asked, “What’s your name?”

Anom looked at her for a while. He replied with a smile, “I’m Anom! It was very interesting meeting you, Miss Crystal.”

Crystal blanked for a second before remembering that he must have heard her name yesterday from those black-robed men.

“I’m Crystal Safaira.”