Episode 4: Back to Yumin (6)

"Huh? Damian, what's wrong?" Orelia tilted her head in worry as she noticed Damian's strange behaviour right before he was about to explain the events that occurred.

"...we have to head to the forest, right now!" Without another thought on his mind, Damian hurriedly ran past Orelia as he made his way through the streets.

"Damian!" Orelia cried out as she followed behind him.

...

Outskirts of Yumin—Yumin Forest [8:26 PM].

Remaining unmoving on the dirt path of the forest, Fei sat there, with knees on the ground, she helplessly cried out

"You said you promised..." The tears in her eyes streamed down as she sorrowfully screamed into the night. "Just why... why?!"

Her voice rang out with no reply. However, even then, there seemed to be a reply, though it wasn't what she was expecting.

"...?" Her eyes glanced towards the rustling bushes by the roadside. Soon after, she noticed the eyes of predators peering at her and, without any time to react, a silver wolf leapt out of the bushes, quickly attacking her.

With only just her night pyjamas on her, Fei could only let out a cry "...ahh...!" Fei helplessly closed her eyes as she waited for the inevitable. However, even after seconds of waiting, she wasn't hurt at all.

"...huh?" Slightly opening her eyes, she saw that there was a figure of what seemed to be a man in front of her effortlessly holding the wolf down.

"Grr..." The wolf growled in anger.

"Stay down." Unsheathing his sword, the hooded man quietly slashed at the wolf at his front, quickly turning it into great ash.

"GRR!" Moments after he had slashed at the wolf, more of its kind leapt out of the bush in anger.

"A-Ah...! Watch out!" Fei shouted out.

From behind the hooded man, one of the silver wolves quickly lunged at him and, unable to react in time, the man was slightly pushed back as his hood fell off, in turn revealing his messy white hair hidden beneath it.

"Tch..." Clicking his tongue, the white-haired man wasted no time as he held his sword tightly. Soon after, white light enveloped his blade and, in a blink of an eye; As he swung his sword in a circle, endless whirls of arcs spun around him, attacking all the monsters and turning them into ashes.

Fei, who watched helplessly, murmured out in shock. "Who...?"

"..." In reply, the man kept silent.

"FEI!" Suddenly, a male's voice rang through the forest.

"...!" Turning towards the direction of the voice, she saw that Roy was rushing over towards him. "...R-Roy?"

"What happened?" Reaching Fei in a hurry, Roy immediately noticed the surrounding area, noting the still prevalent grey ash that was floating around in it, as well as the mana crystals on the grounds. "Did you do all this?"

"No... I didn't," Fei helplessly shook her head. "It was-" Just as she was about to point over towards the direction of where the white-haired man stood, she saw that he was nowhere to be seen. "-huh?"

"So, you didn't do this..." Roy nodded his head as he calmly bent down, quickly inspecting the fallen Fei for any wounds or injuries. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No... I'm fine," she said in a tired breath.

"Right, I see." Confirming the situation, Roy hurriedly helped Fei up as he slowly took her towards town. "I have no idea of the circumstance, however—Don't do that ever again. Especially without your equipment."

"I'm sorry..." she murmured in a sorrowful tone as Roy aided her to walk.

"..." While he did so, Roy cautiously turned towards the depths of the forest. "...this aura again..." Murmuring out, he swiftly shook his head of the thought as he continued walking down the dirt path along with Fei.

...

Within the Depths of Yumin Forest [8:37 PM].

Footsteps rang through the grassy fields of the forest, as a white-haired man was seen walking through it. However, he stopped in his footsteps.

"My, my, my... I didn't expect that you'd go out of your way to save her!" Hearing the voice from behind him, the man turned around to see a hooded person.

"Tch, you followed me all the way here?" he clicked his tongue.

"See, here's the thing. It isn't my fault that we were heading the same way!" The person chuckled.

"Hmph. What do you want?"

"Well, you know me~ Just curious!" The person said cheerfully.

"So you did decide to follow me, how annoying." The man scoffed as he turned around.

"You know, If you hadn't swooped in, that guy, what's his name... Roy was it? He would have made it in time." The person calmly stated. "I had to stop him from meeting you, so be appreciative!"

"Whatever, just leave me alone." The man began to once again walk through the fields.

"Man, you're no fun!" The person pouted.

...

The Lakeside Town—Yumin, Outskirts [8:44 PM].

Walking on the dirt path of the forest, Fei and Roy neared the entrance of town safely without any disruption. As they continued on the pathway, Fei's tired eyes peeked at two figures standing idly by at the entrance.

"...?" As they walked closer and closer to the town, the figures of the two slowly became clear, however, before she could get a clear view, she heard a loud voice coming from in front of her.

"FEI!" A female's voice loudly cried out as hers and Fei's eyes met. Moments later, one of the figures ran towards her as a silver blue-haired woman came into the distance—Orelia.

"Orelia..." Fei muttered out as she was tightly hugged by Orelia who had rushed in without any notice.

"How could you run off like that?!" Orelia's voice trembled. "You had me worried!"

"...I'm sorry," Fei tirelessly said. "It's just... It's just..." she continued to murmur, however, a sentence could not be formed.

"You poor thing..." Orelia grievously looked at Fei as she wiped off the tears on her face. "It's okay... just cry it all out," she continued to hug the girl tightly.

"Fei..." Damian muttered out as he looked at Fei with what seemed to be guilt.

"..." Noticing the presence of Damian, her eyes turned away from him.

"...sigh." Seeing the sight of Fei's avoidance on him, Damian helplessly sighed to himself. "I guess it's useless to talk to her in this state..."

"Calm down, Damian." Roy calmly stated. "Now isn't the time. For the moment, we should take Fei back to the cottage."

"...no," Fei mumbled out. "I don't want to go back there..."

"Then, let's head over towards the guildhall. Are you fine with that?" Orelia asked.

"Mm..." she nodded her head in reply.

...

The Lakeside Town, Yumin—Guildhall [8:51 PM].

Heading into the guildhall, Fei and Damian stayed silent the entire time, creating a tense atmosphere around them. Orelia and Roy stood idly by helplessly watching the situation.

"You two..." Unable to bear the silence any longer, the moment the two siblings sat down at a distance from one another, Orelia began to inquire about the situation, in hopes of breaking the silence. "Could you please tell me what's going on?"

"..." However, even though Orelia had asked, the two stayed silent.

"Orelia, let's just put the questioning for later," Roy calmly stated. "It's been a long day for them and they must be tired."

"Right... then-" As Orelia was about to speak up, she was quickly interrupted.

"...it's just that 'he' left for what seemed to be an urgent job." Finally speaking up, Damian began to explain. "Fei's like this because of her concerns for the job."

"He... you must be referring to Kruz, huh?" Roy tilted his head as he noticed the odd behaviour of Damian.

"I wouldn't have these concerns if dad had spoken out properly!" Fei cried out in anger. "And you... you just let him leave without stopping him!"

"Well, we- I... I would have stopped him if I saw that he went off!" Damian frowned. "He just left the letter on the table and just like that, he went!"

"..." Fei kept her mouth shut.

"...is this what this is all about? Kruz leaving for a job?" Orelia tilted her head. "Then if so... what is there to worry? He leaves all the time!"

"No... this time, he left a letter that said that he'll be gone for a long while..." Fei muttered out. "He said he'll promise to tell me... but this promise..." Her hands gripped onto her chest. "This promise... with his wary look and worry... it means that he might not be back for years!"

"..." The room stayed quiet at Fei's trembling voice.

"I wouldn't be this worried if it was under normal circumstances..." Fei forcibly held back her tears. "But... with how things are... this worrisome feeling in my heart won't ever go away..."

"Fei..." Orelia hugged Fei once again. "I'm sure it'll all be okay. He loves you, Fei. He wouldn't be gone forever. He'll come back."

"B-But..." Fei's body shook. "This promise... he never promises! With this... it means bad things!"

"If he had to leave like that, then... that means it would concern the two of you, right?" Orelia consulted. "He wouldn't do anything rash. Trust him."

"Out of concern for me..." she sighed. "If the only dad actually told me what this was all about, then maybe I would be this worried..."

"I'm sure that job must have been really important, which was why he was unable to disclose the details no matter what," Orelia said. "So just have faith."

"Mm..." Hearing her words, Fei slightly calmed down.

"There, there," Orelia patted Fei's back. "Now, you must be tired from all that crying and all the hectic events that went on today, right?"

"Mhm..."

"Since there are no vacant rooms in the guildhall ever since Roy came here," Orelia calmly said. "Then, you can sleep in my room!"

"W-What about you?" Fei worryingly asked.

"I'll just crash in Roy's, he's fine with it!" Orelia chuckled.

"Huh?" Roy blinked at her statement as he quickly sighed. "Just don't make a mess of things, then."

"Oh..." Hearing Roy's green light, Fei nodded her head. "Then... I'll go and sleep in Orelia's room."

"Go now, you're able to head there yourself right?" Orelia asked.

"Yes..." Tiredly standing up, Fei hurriedly headed up to the second floor of the guildhall.

Confirming that she had gone up, Orelia turned to Damian. "Now what about you?"

"I... I don't know..." Damian mumbled out as he avoided eye contact.

"Look, Damian, it's not your fault," Orelia placed her hand onto Damian's shoulder. "So don't blame yourself over this."

"..." Finally making eye contact with Orelia, he said. "But.... this guilt... if I was able to stop him then..."

"Sure, something else might have happened if you had stopped Kruz, but..." Orelia smiled softly. "-even then, you shouldn't let these chains tie you up. Break free from them and, look upon a new day!"

"..."

"Don't worry about the past and just look towards the future. Nothing is set in stone, so, you can always change it."

"R-Right..."

"Mhm good! Now then, why don't you head back? I'm sure you must have left the house unattended."

"...!" Upon realizing the fact, Damian hurriedly stood up.

"Hehe, don't worry about Fei. I and Roy will take good care of her for the time being!" she chuckled. "Come by tomorrow morning."

"T-Thank you, Orelia..." he bowed his head to Orelia as he soon made his way outside of the guildhall.

"...phew." Seeing Damian had walked out of the building, Orelia let out a tired sigh. "Today is such a tiring day..."

"Even then, you still have to tend to the guildhall until ten," Roy helplessly said.

"Ah... can you just take my place? I'm tired..." she pouted.

"Hmm... well, I guess so," he shrugged. "Just go rest, I'll take over."

"Really?!" Orelia's eyes lit up. "Mhm~ As a thank you, I'll be sure not to mess up your room."

"...Orelia," Roy helplessly shook his head.

...

Within Orelia's room, Fei tirelessly lied on the bed as she sniffled still trying to hold back the tears in her eyes.

"..." Her hands tightly gripped onto the pillow as she tried to fall asleep, however, she was unable to. Thus, she took out the envelope that she had kept in her pocket.

"Dad..." she murmured in a sad tone as she stared at the envelope. Reluctantly, she took a deep breath as she opened it up. Moments later, without a slight hesitation, she began to read through it.

[ 'To Fei' ]

Dear Fei, if you're reading this, well... that means I've already gone for the job. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that I was leaving tonight, or even the details. But... it was all for the greater good for the two of you. I'm sure you're worried about me, but I'll be fine on my own, so don't worry!

So, please put on a smile on your face right now. I'm sure you're saddened that I left, but as you know, I won't be coming back for a while. Even then, don't let it break you down. Please stand strong and work your way up to becoming an S-Ranker as you've always dreamed to become!

-Love, Kruz.

...

"Dad..." Droplets of waters began to fall onto the letter as her hands gripped onto it tightly. Without being able to stop, the tears within her eyes streamed down like never before. As she continued on, she slowly began to exhaust herself, finally able to fall into sleep; with a great grievance on her heart.