At the end of the forest path there was a large log building.

Though it was one story tall, it could easily encompass two single story homes.

It had five large logs making up the longer sides and four making up the shorter sides.

Its roof was strangely enough, made out of green tile.

This grand, almost unnecessary display of architecture was owned by the flashy merchant Kei.

He was a slender, energetic man who had the aura of a barrucuda that wanted all your money.

His shop was also protected by two tough looking guards outside and two more inside.

One recognized Ander as he walked up to the shop and welcomed him inside.

“Ander!! Nice to see you” Kei said as Ander stepped in to his shop.

“Hey” Ander curtly responded and went to browse the store.

The merchandise at Kei’s were more expensive since they came from the cities, but their quality was higher too.

There were all sorts of things imaginable in this shop.

Weapons, armor, clothes, food and even specialty items that you could order.

“I heard you were in town again? Thought I was all that you needed. You’ll break my heart”

A small laugh broke out of Ander as he heard those words.

“You know I can’t afford your delivery fees”

“Come on, it’s got to be better than having that unreliable bum deliver? Even though I did employ him at some point. . .

anyways what do you want?”

“I need a bow I can borrow, I couldn’t carry mine today. Also, a quiver and arrows are a given too”

“Hmm, you know I don’t rent weapons!”

“I’ve been coming here for years, how about something for a loyal customer?”

“Ok, well for a “loyal customer”, I’ll sell it to you on credit even though you’re nearly piss poor. Take it or leave it”

“. . .”

Though he didn’t want debt from this scheming merchant, Ander didn’t really want to walk back to get his bow.

“Well. . . I guess I could use a new one. But how about that one”

Ander motioned at the display case in the corner of the weapons section of the store.

This particular bow had the trait of having an odd greenish hew to it, almost like moss.

“!!!” From Kei’s shocked eyes, Ander knew he could force him lower on this one.

“Come on, that things been here since the first time I stepped foot in here”

“Hahahaha, I didn’t know you were so bold even after I’ve told you its origins”

“Yea, yea it’s from a “dryad” tree that killed some people or something”

“Cursed weapons are no joke, the last guy who returned it said it started leaking blood.

And he was one of the ones who came back alive.

I had customers who died because of it and their friends came back to me talking about the curse”

“Look, will you give it to me or not? I know you’re just trying to get me to buy an expensive one”

“Your funeral, just sign here then”

Ander signed his name on the contract and was happy to leave with such a good deal, to him at least.

He left Kei’s and started to go to his usual hunting grounds.

His spot was usually far from town where the other hunters didn’t go.

This way he could avoid any unwanted individuals from the town.

The place that Ander arrived at after an hour was a meadow, surrounded by tall trees on all sides.

He climbed them and used the height of the trees to scope out his prey.

Though he was use to using a bow now, it was actually his most hated weapon.

He used to have a small hobby of making traps to catch the deer, but the town wanted him to stop.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Now Ander had to use a bow and he could hit people just fine with it but animals were a different matter.

Their organs were located on their undersides and their agility was usually much higher than humans.

But the animals that Ander shot were deer most of the time.

And as luck would have it, a male with large antlers started walking in to the meadow to graze.

The wind as well as blowing from the deer to his direction.

Ander took a deep breath and started to nock an arrow.

Then he pulled back the string and waited for the moment.

Since he was unlucky with hitting the heart, he waited until the deer rose its head up.

In the moment that it was doing this action, its head could only go to one place.

So, Ander fired the arrow and . . .

It struck at the base of its brain stem stayed plunged in the deer’s neck.

‘Wow this bow packs a punch’ Ander thought as he climbing down.

Then all of a sudden, his head started swimming and he dropped everything to lay on a branch that could support his

weight.

After a few minutes, Ander managed to get some strength back and continued to climb down.

When he got to a third left, he jumped and rolled to mitigate the fall.

‘What the hell? Is it this bow after all?’

Still a little bit slow, he decided to just cut his losses and return to Kei after skinning this one deer with his hunting knife.

While Ander did this though, he left the green bow on a tree far away from where he was.

When he examined the impact point though, he saw a green residue left on the neck.

Slightly concerned, Ander cut the section of neck that had been hit by the arrow out and threw it away.

After he carefully wrapped the meat that he could carry, the head was also taken off with some effort.

Ander grabbed the bow and started the long trek back.

But he had to take breathers several times until finally, Kei’s was in sight.

“Welcome back, wow you look like shit” Kei remarked with an amused look on his face.

“Shut it, I only got a buck before I had to come back. So, I got all of this from it, even the less wanted parts are here. Just

put only a small part towards the debt”

“Of course. How’s the bow treating you by the way?”

“It’s a good one, but . . . maybe there is something wrong with it”

“Well you still owe me 13 silver then”

Ander finished trading with Kei and went back to town.

He felt extremely groggy when he got past the gates.

Ander saw Reimi with Mila on a bench laughing and walked towards them.

“Welcome back” Reimi said as Ander approached.

“Hey. . can we go eat another time? I’m feeling terrible right now”

Reimi saw Ander’s tired face and understood, so she decided to see them off at the gate.

“. . here another picture” Mila happily gave Ander the picture she painted that day.

“Huh? What’s this supposed to be?”

“A knight see? And he’s fighting the hidora from the lake”

“A hydra? Well I guess this explains all the heads, is he saving someone?”

“No, the hidora wants to eat him”

“Hahaha well, did you have fun today?”

“Yes, Remi took me to . . .”

By the time the two-arrived home, the sun was starting to set.

Ander left Mila to her books as he prepared for dinner.

But before that, he decided to wrap up the green bow tightly and placed it in a trunk under the patio.

‘Emilia . . . I hope . . just please come back’

Ander thought as he prepared venison stew.

As much as he could do, Ander was worried that he wasn’t enough to raise Mila on his own.

Especially now that Emilia had remembered, though he did as well, Ander resolved to forget the past.

All the things he did, he did it for a future and this one didn’t seem that bad to him.

But it wouldn’t the same without her, as they both agreed to pursue it, together.

A little while later . . .

Just as he finished making food, Mila alerted him to something.

“Daddy, someone’s coming!”

“Hmm?”

When he went to the front door, Ander was greeted by the sight of a woman making her way to the house.

By it was dark outside and the clouds were out, but Ander recognized it to be the figure of Emilia.

She slowly approached the door and had her head hung low.

The oddest part to Ander was the fact that she was wearing a pitch-black robe that covered her entire body.

When she entered, she walked right past Ander and Emilia to sit on the patio in the backyard.

“Umm, Mila why don’t you start eating without us”

“. .Ok” Mila responded with a hint of worry in her voice.

Ander smiled at her and set her bowl in front of her.

Then he went to sit next to Emilia outback.

“. . . .”

“. . Hey. . . so you came back”

“. . . . yea” Emilia responded with a coarse voice.

“Do you have your answer now?”

“Not yet”

“Well anyways it’s good to have you back. You can have some of my food, Guy finally delivered the water barrels. So, I’ll

prepare the bath for you”

Emilia nodded and slowly made her way to sit at the table.

Ander went to the front yard and started rolling the water barrel slowly towards their bathroom.

He stopped the barrel on the wall outside the bathroom and started to pour it carefully through a small trench leading

inside.

Then he lit the fire wood under the giant urn he used heat up the bathwater.

When it was nice and hot, he poured it in the space in their bathroom that was the “tub”.

After that, Ander went back inside to find a shocking scene.

Mila was crying over two spilt bowls on the floor, and Emilia was facing away from her.

“Mila what’s wrong?” Ander asked, confused at this scene.

Instead, Emilia responded

“. . Nothing, I got . . a little angry when she asked too many questions. She’ll get over it”

“What!?”

Though he didn’t like Emilia’s answer, she had just returned to them.

Ander wrote it off as her frustration, since she was probably not use to this family yet.

He cleaned up the spill and decided to get Mila to the bathroom.

After she was done bathing, she still had teary eyes.

“Daddy, don’t . . . I don’t want to be alone”

Mila said while pulling on Ander’s leg.

“Ok, here sit outside, I’ll try to be quick then”

“Mmm”

After he finished bathing, Ander heard an unlikely request from Mila.

“I want to sleep on the bed today”

“You want some space from your mom huh?”

“. . . . . .”

“It’s ok, I’ll---“

“AND DADDY TOO, I don’t want to sleep alone”

“Huh? Ok then”

Ander went to the living room and found Emilia sitting quietly, still with her head hung low and her hair covering her face.

“Bath’s ready, better go quick before it gets cold”

“. . .Thanks”

Emilia got up and walked past Ander but then suddenly stopped and hugged him tightly.

“Eh?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to do this once”

She rubbed her face in to his shoulder and they stayed like this for a while.

Emilia slowly broke off and walked through the courtyard to the bathroom.

Ander read some stories to Mila on the bed in an effort to get her to sleep.

When she finally started getting sleepy, he tucked her in.

Then he went to go see Emilia, but he didn’t see her in the living room.

So, he went to the bathroom but all he found was her black robe, neatly folded in the clothes basket.

‘What the? Damn it Em what are you thinking?’

Perplexed, Ander decided to ignore this until the morning.

He was extremely tired and as soon as he got next to Mila, he fell asleep.

----------------------------------------

Usually, there would be a lot of noises out in the forest at night.

But tonight, when the clouds were covering the moon, it was unusually quiet.

And a single figure walked through the forest.

She took one last look at the house and with a smile on her face, went on her way.