Chapter 15 -- A father's past, part 2

"Father and I decided to keep the beast corpse a secret from your Grand Mother and we knew she almost never went into the shed so there were no chances that she could find it."

"Turns out we were very wrong as she went into the shed the next day" Owen chuckled as he continued his story.

"After calming her down and explaining what happened we decided to think of how to sell the corpse before anyone else found it."

"Although we didn't know it at the time, the lion was a level 3 mana beast. An intact corpse of that level would sell for around 300 gold. Although we didn't know the value of the beast we knew we could get some money off it so i suggested to Father that we call the hunters guild and get our money"

"Father however denied the idea as the guild would obviously recognize the beast as one of their targets, and they wouldn't believe that two farmers could kill a level 3 mana beast."

"We could have told them that we found it dead in the forest but then they would have asked questions and father doubted that they would even pay us that way. So he used his friend who was also a low ranking hunter to sell it" 

"Father's friend came and took the corpse to the guild. However a week passed and we heard nothing from him. Father decided one day to pay him a visit but when he didn't return until the sun got down i got worried"

"Mother was angry as she thought father had taken the money to the local tavern to drink rum. I then promised to go and bring him back, and left for father's favorite tavern."

"However when i got to the tavern he wasn't there and no one claimed to have seen him. I then asked around and found out where his hunter friend lived and went to his house to check for father"

"I got to the hunter's house and knocked on the front door, but i didn't receive an answer even after a couple of minutes. The sun was setting so i decided to go home and check maybe father had returned."

Owen took a deep breath which turned into a yawn, it seemed that the next part was emotional for him. Or it could be because Zane woke him up before the sun could even think of rising so he was still half asleep.

"I decided to take a shortcut through the forest because i had to get home before it got dark. When i was halfway there I saw something on the ground in the middle of the path."

"I immediately got a bad feeling and ran to realize that my fears where true. What i saw was the dead body of father, his neck was slit with a clean cut consistent with a sword. My father had been murdered."

"I carried his body back home only to find the house burning. I won't talk about any of my feelings at that moment. Long story short, I was alone and homeless."

Zane flicked his wrist towards his father, he couldn't help it, he wanted to see his emotions.

<(- 10 mana)>

<Name : Zane>

<Exst realm : None>

<Mana 15 :>

When Owen saw Zane move his hand he immediately covered his face. However he was not fast enough, Zane could see the outline of tears flowing down his father's eyes. He was clearly still hurting.

"I still had the lion's tongue in my pocket so i just dumped my father's body in the fire and ran away" Owen's voice was breaking in between words.

"I went to hunting school and exchanged the tongue for hunting lessons. By that time I had awakened my earth element. However when it came time for the practical lessons before the exam it was found out that my body was extremely slow in regenerating mana"

"It would take me at least a month to fill up my mana core, so i couldn't get my hunter certificate. However I couldn't give up. I needed to get my revenge, especially after I found out that the hunter who had obviously killed my father had left the village and became a lesser noble in a nearby city"

"Since I couldn't use magic to get my revenge I started training using weapons. My favorite weapon was the bow and arrow but I also used a long sword. For five years I trained alone in the jungle fighting magical beasts and hunting for food."

"On the fifth year anniversary of my parent's murder I traveled to the next city. I was going to kill that hunter and get my revenge that day no matter what!. Due to my skills with the bow and the fact that the hunter was a Lesser noble, i was able to kill all the guards surrounding the mansion from afar"

"I then ran to the mansion after all the guards had been killed, it didn't take me long to find the hunter as he was waiting for me at the gate. I took out my bow and started firing arrows at him. However all of my arrows got burnt to ash before they could even touch him." 

"Seeing that my bow was useless, I threw it away and charged at him with my sword, but he was way stronger than me. I never even touched him once as he easily evaded all my swings."

"After two minutes of him playing around with me, he caught my sword and easily snapped it with his bare hand. Then he used that half of my sword to cut at my face. He used force and I was blasted about 20 meters away and passed out from the pain."

"After some time i woke up to find myself inside an unknown house being taken care of by a middle aged woman. That woman was your mother's mother, your Grand Mother."

"Turns out that the hunter had left after he thought he had killed me and your mother had found me and took me to her home. I'm sure if she hadn't I would have died."

"We then got married and moved back to my home village to start our new life. This house was actually built on the exact same spot where my mother was burnt to death."

"Though even today I have regrets that if only I was stronger I could have avenged my parents, I have made peace with it." Owen concluded his story.

"I could sense your resolve when you said you wanted to grow stronger. It was the same resolve i had when went out to get revenge and i know i won't be able to force you to become a farmer or stop you from practicing magic" Owen revealed 

"Is he still alive ?" Zane asked with his fist clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.

Owen knew that Zane was talking about the hunter.

"Yes he is alive, but as I said, I have made peace with the situation, I no longer want revenge" he said.

"I understand you have made peace with it father. However, I have not"