14th September, 3026 B.E.

In a lush green forest which was a paradise for wildlife, a rabbit was standing near a tree eating a small fruit, its large ears standing up and trying to detect any signs of danger.

Suddenly, an arrow came with a whoosh and missed its small head by mere inches. The rabbit broke into a full sprint immediately after that and ran into one of its burrows.

Jacob was standing just a few meters away from the initial spot of the rabbit a few trees away. He had a bow in his hands and was making a disappointed expression. He was also wearing a quiver.

"Don't worry about it. It is just the beginning. You will become more proficient with time." An elderly voice came from behind him and he turned his body towards it.

The elder was standing behind him and was smiling at him. Jacob smiled back at him. He has become used to his usual smile all the time. He was aware that the elder's usual smile faded when it was time to work or he was about to say something important.

The elder was in the same white robes that he was in when he had rescued Jacob from certain death. He was carrying a bow on his back with a makeshift quiver. The crudely made quiver had nearly a dozen handmade arrows in it. The crude arrowheads were made up of iron.

It had been six months since Jacob's grand escape. He had grown up a bit in that time. His muscles were also more developed than before. After arriving at the house of the elder near Agoross, he had nothing else to do except woodcutting.

Neither he nor his employer went to the city in the last six months. According to the elder, they were wanted in the cities. As a result, they had to wait for at least half a year before going into public.

Jacob had not remained idle in his free time and invested much of it in various exercises and revising all of his training. This was how he had killed his time in the past six months.

Woodcutting was not that much difficult. You just had to chop with an axe. He found it fun at first. But as time passed, he became bored due to the monotonous routine daily but it was about to break.

Whenever he had exercised or trained, he noticed that the elder used to leave whatever he was doing and used to sit near him watching his every move, praising him here and then occasionally. It was as if he was supporting him. Jacob was thankful for his kind consideration.

As for what he had been eating for the past six months, it was dried beans and corn starch already stored in the house. In addition to that, he had also been eating fresh meat hunted by the elder.

He had noticed something extremely strange during their journey here. He had never seen the elder eating anything for even once. Neither did he see him go anywhere to answer his nature's call.

The elder had not slept for even one second during the entire journey at all. It was as if he had no human needs at all.

Jacob could not even think of any excuse at all. He hadn't left the elder's side even once during the journey. He was scared out of his wits at that time. It was too creepy and mysterious.

He had even offered a roasted leg to him once. But the only thing he got in return was a headshake. He had found it extremely awkward eating everything all by himself while the elder used to look at him with his usual smile during those meals.

After some days, he noticed the fourth strangest thing he had ever seen. The elder's robes did not get dirty at all, its white colour unstained by dust even after a week of constant travelling. That finding did not help his scared condition at all.

For the first half of the journey, Jacob was too scared to speak with him normally. It was the elder who was talking most of the time. Jacob was certain that the old man knew about his current state. But he remained nonchalant about it as if everything was normal.

During the second half, after noticing that by ignoring his strange quirks, he was like a normal good-natured old man next door, Jacob's fear slowly went away. He gradually started opening up with him. Everything then became normal as it was when the journey had begun.

Even after that, Jacob held himself back from asking the elder about his strange nature for a few days. He thought that that must be a sensitive topic for the elder and was a too personal question.

Alas, during the last week of their journey, due to his curious nature, Jacob could not hold back one day and let it out, "Why don't you eat?".

He immediately shut his curious mouth after that, nervous at what would happen now, thinking how would that amicable elder react. Nothing happened.

All he got was a smile wider than usual. He didn't even reply to his question. That was Jacob's cue. He was not allowed to ask such questions from now on otherwise there was a high risk the elder would become irritated.

Their journey took almost three weeks due to their slow and guarded pace. They had to duck into the forest many times in order to not to be seen by any passerby.

They also had to hunt for fresh meat every day. Jacob could not eat only flour every day. Well, the elder hunted with his makeshift bow and arrows. Jacob just accompanied him during his hunts.

He had never seen such a hunter in his life. Well, he had not seen any hunter before this but looking at the elder's skilful archery, he doubted that he was wrong.

The elder could hit a deer from more than a hundred meters in a lush forest full of trees and other obstacles. Jacob was amazed every time he saw the elder in action.

After reaching the house, he found out that the elder had a very large amount of food stored in the basement of the house. It was just like the previous house but it had a basement which the previous one lacked.

Jacob also found it very strange. Why did the elder need to store so much food in his house? Judging from its quantity, it could last them for a few years at least.

Could the old man have known that we would face such a situation one day? No. This cannot be. This is impossible. Probably, he was preparing for the worst. But he does not eat anything. Does he have some relatives? Hmmm... These were his thoughts on the first day at the house. After that, they started living there.

Nothing changed for the rest of the months but one week ago, the elder had suddenly told him that he would teach him how to hunt.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Jacob instantly became excited at that. Finally, the boring routine was about to break and he had something to learn new instead of wasting time.

After that, he had been slowly learning how to build simple traps and a bow for the past seven days. He did not have much difficulty making simple arrows with a sharpened tip using a sharp object. He was also learning some tricks on how to approach prey without making much noise and it was paying dividends.

For the last three days, they had been camping outside. They were very deep into the forest. During the daytime, they hunted and when it was night, Jacob trained before going to sleep.

"Let us go and find a new target. The day is far from over." The elder said as he started walking with silent steps.

"Got it." Jacob started trailing him trying to be as silent as possible.

Soon, they found another prey. It was a small deer this time. It was munching on the grass. They approached it as silently as possible. After stopping some distance away, Jacob nocked another arrow in the bow and stretched the elastic cord with some force. He aimed and let the arrow go.

The arrow hit the target this time but there was not much force behind it. It pierced the target a couple of inches before stopping. The deer ran immediately broke into a run with a loud painful screech instead of falling. They soon lost sight of it.

Jacob turned to the elder while looking down.

"I am sorry, senior. I made a mistake again." He said with a disappointed voice as he kept looking down.

"Haha. It is ok, little man. Mistakes teach us. Apply some more force while pulling the arrow next time. You have to judge how much force to apply with different prey. You will learn it with time." The elder brushed his dishevelled hair as he gave him some instructions.

Jacob looked up at him and nodded with a smile. After that, they searched for many more targets. They found few but Jacob suffered failures most of the time due to various mistakes he made. The mistakes were promptly corrected by the elder with patience.

But not every hunt was a failure. Jacob had successfully hunted a rabbit during those hunts and this one success made his day. They were going to eat that rabbit tonight.

Night came and they found a small clearing to make a camp. It took them some time to set it. It consisted of a tent and a campfire only. There was only one tent because only Jacob slept at night. The elder used to sit outside staring into the starry sky.

A rabbit was being roasted over the campfire. The elder was sitting near it and watching Jacob doing some physical exercises. Nothing could be guessed about his thoughts seeing his usually smiling face.

"Jacob." The elder suddenly called out to Jacob.

"Yes, master." Saying that Jacob stopped what he was doing and came to him. The elder was his teacher now. He was teaching him the art of hunting and archery. So he used to call him master or teacher sometimes.

"You have not told me about your father. Where is he?" The elder asked while looking at Jacob sitting near him.

"Oh that. I didn't tell you because he had passed away long ago. He was defending my mother and clan lord Rokas from the enemies. My mother had told me once that he was very kind and brave." Jacob replied to him with a longing expression.

"How does it feel to be without a father?"

This question took Jacob by surprise. He had never thought about it. Nobody had asked him such a question before. So, he kept standing there with a pondering expression.

He was trying to think about his feelings in the past few years when he had observed his friends playing with their fathers and the love their fathers showered on their children. The elder waited for him patiently.

"I have not thought about it much. My mother was everything to me. She never let me feel the absence of a father. But whenever I saw my friends with their fathers, I felt sad and lonely. Though I have never seen my father, I still missed him." Jacob became silent after saying it. He had a sad expression on his face and was staring into the burning campfire.

The elder did not reply. He kept sitting there looking at Jacob. It was as if he was waiting for something.

"Furthermore, I have seen my mother many times thinking about something with a sad and longing expression. I am sure she had been thinking about my father. I also felt sad at those times. She missed him much more than I did. I am sure of that."

"Ok. How about I become your father from now on?"

The elder's smile widened as he finished his question.

"Huh? What??" Jacob's mind went blank at the sudden question. He was dumbfounded beyond belief, his face a mask of confusion. This was all too sudden. He did not have much time to prepare for listening to such a seemingly ridiculous request.

"I said that I want to become your father. What do you say about it?" The elder replied to him patiently.

"But....but how can you become my father now? This is impossible. My mother died almost one year ago. Didn't I tell you that? You cannot be with her in order to become my father now because she is dead." Jacob put forward all his confusion and doubts after stuttering for a second in the beginning.

The elder's face contorted badly as he was listening to Jacob's doubts. It was as if he was trying to hold back his laugh badly. As Jacob finished his last sentence, the elder guffawed loudly.

It was the longest laugh Jacob had seen in his entire life. His face turned red in embarrassment. He knew that he had said something silly here. I should not have trusted them at all. I should have asked the mother directly for clarification. It is too late now. Damn.

The elder kept laughing for almost half a minute seconds before barely calming down.

"Hahaha. Silly kid. Who told you that? Haha. Come here and tell me." The elder motioned to the ground near him. He was telling him to sit near him.

Jacob obeyed him and came to sit near him.

"It was my friends who told me that. Did I say something wrong?" He wanted to clarify this thing immediately in order to save himself from further embarrassment in the future.

"Haha. Silly child. You are half right. What they were talking about was a biological father. But that is not the only father out there. Others can also become someone's father without marrying his mother. For example, the father of a person's wife is also his father. What I am talking about here is the non-biological father here. Got it?"

"Oh, yes. I got it now. Thank you for your kind guidance."

"So tell me about it. Do you want to be my son?"

The elder asked him again while smiling brightly.

It gave Jacob a pause. He broke his eye contact with him and started staring into the dancing flames of the campfire. He started remembering his past 6 months with this kind old man.

The elder was always there for him. He had never let him feel sad or lonely after that fateful day. He had always kept him happy with his little humour and loud laughs. His usual smile was mesmerising and hypnotic.

And the sacrifices that he gave for him, Jacob would never forget for the rest of his life. He carried him and walked for almost five hours without a single pause.

He left his precious home for him and had stayed with him in the forest for almost six months. He was literally raining free money upon him. Jacob was sure that his employment was just a ruse used by the old man to help him financially.

Even his friends did not get that much pocket money from their fathers in a week compared to the money he was getting for the elder every day.

He was giving him food and shelter for free. Jacob had a slight inkling that he had bought and stored all that food for him but was unwilling to believe in it due to how ridiculous that thought was.

The elder was also teaching him hunting and archery for free. He was investing all of his time in him, guiding each and every step. Another thing that Jacob had noticed long ago, was the love he felt in the eyes of that elder. It never faded since the first day.

They were the same loving eyes that his mother used to look at him sometimes. But the elder's love for him never faded from his eyes. It was much more intense than his mother's and undying. It never faded even once.

He was always looking at him with those same loving eyes that his mother used to look at him with sometimes.

Jacob did not want to accept it initially but it was reality. The elder loved him much more than his late mother. And he proved that with his selfless actions.

To Jacob, he was like a perfect father. Nobody could be more perfect and loving than him in the entire world.

It took him barely a minute to think about it and come to a decision. He then made eye contact with the still smiling elder.

The elder was still smiling brightly, his bright smile never fading even a little. It was as if he could not feel any fatigue at all maintaining an otherwise taxing expression.

"Sooo, can I call you father from now on?" Jacob asked with some hesitation.

"Hahahaha. Of course. You are my son from now on. You can call me father whenever you want."

The elder said with a short laugh and stood up.

"Come. Give a big hug to your father." The elder opened his arms wide and beckoned him over.

The confusion originating from seeing the elder standing up all of a sudden cleared from Jacob's face and he smiled. He stood up and ran into the elder's wide opened arms with a wide smile. He had a father from now on.