Night Discussion

"Hey hold on," She yelled out and ran after him.

Landria heard the fast footsteps behind and paused before turning around.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Tch so uptight," She voiced out after arriving in front of Landria.

"I just wanted to show you something," She said with a slightly shy expression.

Landria was intrigued after hearing this so he waited.

She stretched her palm out and concentrated on it.

Sshrrrhhh~

A small breeze gathered above her palm and then turned into swirling snowflakes.

"You can use magic," Landria stated.

She nodded in response.

"Everyone in town knows you're a true magic caster so I was wondering if I could learn something from you so I can be of assistance when the Usurpers come back," She said.

"You could have just approached me directly to ask. Why be creepy about it?" Landria asked with a tone of confusion.

"Well, that's because..." Before she could complete her sentence a yell was heard from the house beside them.

"Lyra!"

Both of them turned to face the house as they heard the name.

"I have to go," She voiced out and turned around to leave.

Landria squinted his eyes as he saw her move into the house.

He noted the location of the house before proceeding to turn around and leave.

-

Back at the house, everyone welcomed him as he arrived. There was already a warm meal waiting and Landria wasted no time in digging into it.

It was already late at night at this point and the kids were about to go to bed.

"Big brother Landria, tell us a story," Mira voiced out with an excited expression as they sat on the floor.

The others too had gazes of longing as their faces shone that they wanted this as well.

"Hmm, only one okay? Afterward you four must go to bed," Landria stated.

They all nodded in response.

"Okay so I will tell you about one time I went hunting with my good friend Phastus," Landria began narrating.

Laura watched from the side with a smile as she saw Landria demonstrate some of the scenes using magic.

Snowy figures danced around in mid-air, displaying a battle in the middle of a forest. This made the tale even more interesting as he narrated these scenes with moving imagery.

Laura realized Landria was even more skilled in magic than she thought which made her even more suspicious than before.

"...He was about to get stabbed by the horn of the Red beast when I pushed him out of the way and activated a strength spell..."

The snowy figures showed a bear-like creature with two horns charging forward with its upper body lowered. It was about to stab through one of the human figures when another human figure jumped in the way and grabbed hold of the horn.

"...I held the creature back with my strength and the rest of my teammates attacked it while it was trapped in an inescapable brawl with me..."

The snowy figures showed the creature falling after getting attacked repeatedly and the story ended.

"Wow, big brother Landria is truly awesome,"

"He put himself in harm's way and saved his friend,"

The kids praised Landria after hearing the story.

'Too bad he couldn't return the favor,' Landria was smiling out in the open but his heart was in pieces.

Even before he became Phastus bodyguard, he had saved him in several situations. His mind was torn in between two thoughts,

'Why didn't he try to save me?' and 'Was he held back? Did they stop him from trying to help?'

He didn't know which one it was but he couldn't help but feel betrayed because it remained a fact that Phastus was the crown prince.

He swore to himself that he would find the answer to all the questions he had and make everyone who was to blame pay for his misfortunes. If Phastus was amongst them, then he too would receive the brunt of his hidden fury.

"Now off to bed," Landria said after a few seconds of completing the story.

"One more one more," Mira said with an expectant gaze.

"No, we agreed you all were going to bed after this one. Now off to bed you go or no stories tomorrow," Landria stated.

"Aww," Mira pouted as she heard that.

Landria patted her head and promised her that tomorrow's story would be better.

She jumped up happily and hugged him. The kids went to bed after this and now it was just Laura and Landria in the living room.

"Laura I wanted to speak to you about something," Landria stated after they were left alone.

"Hmm? what is it?" Laura asked with an intrigued expression.

"I have regained consciousness for close to a month now and even before that you have been feeding me and taking care of me while I was unconscious..." Landria paused for a bit before he continued.

"I have only been taking without giving anything back in return and I know it's harder for you to feed everyone since I came around so..." Before Landria could complete this sentence Laura interrupted.

"Stop, I know where this is going. Landria I am not asking for you to give anything back in return, okay? I can manage by myself," She disagreed before he could even bring up any proposal.

"As much as I appreciate this, I cannot just remain useless around here when I know I am capable enough to help out. I have decided, starting from tomorrow I will begin hunting some wild beasts and sell their body parts in the town square. I will bring home some meat as well," Landria said with a decisive tone.

"You don't have to..." Laura stated while shaking her head.

"I want to do something for you too... Also this way I will be able to continue training myself since I will need to get stronger before I can leave this town in the future," Landria added.

Laura wanted to say something again but couldn't find the words so her mouth just hung slightly open.

"Don't worry about me, I've been hunting since I was six years old. I can take care of myself," Landria said with a smile.

Landria did look pretty capable. Although he wasn't so buff, his well-toned muscles and posture depicted he had been undergoing some form of training.

"Hmm okay then," Laura said with a smile as she finally gave in.

"Looks like we might be having another hunter in the house," She muttered underneath her breath while staring at the beast's head on the side of the wall.

Landria seemed to have heard her even though her voice was low.

"There used to be a hunter in this house didn't there?" Landria asked causing Laura to pause in her tracks.

She had a reminiscing expression on her face as she stood in place for a while without saying a word.

Landria did not need to get a response before he understood that he was correct.

"I heard a name from Viktor and the others during the visit of the Usurpers... Uncle Jack... They said they didn't want to lose you as they lost him," Landria stated with a solemn tone.

Laura smiled as she tried to mask the pain on her face after hearing that.

"Those kids..." She muttered as a bittersweet feeling welled up within her while memories popped up in her mind.

"Yes, Jack was my significant other and we took in the kids together and catered for them," Laura began explaining.

"He lead a hunting group while I sold wares in the town square. He looked like a mean grizzly bear but he was the sweetest person I have ever met," She paused at this point and breathed in for a few seconds to calm her emotions.

"Was it the Usurpers?" Landria tried putting two and two together.

"...Yes," After a brief pause she responded.

"He tried taking them on when they increased their demands since it started affecting the livelihood of the town folks... unfortunately it didn't end well, quite the opposite of your case," Laura gave a brief narration.

"Those bastards," Landria could not help but curse. He was getting angry on behalf of Laura feeling she didn't deserve such a predicament.

"Did you ever try to get revenge?" Landria asked.

"I thought of that every day for a whole two years after his death but I never did try to implement it," Laura stated.

"Why?" Landria inquired.

"What would be the point if I try to get revenge and end up losing my life in the process? First, it wouldn't change anything since Jack won't come back to life, Second, there would be no one to cater for the kids Jack left in my care," Laura stated with a dismissive tone.

"Some things just have to be overlooked. Revenge is not the answer to everything. If I was dead by now, no one might have found you until it was too late," She added.

"Then, do you want me to get revenge for you?" Landria asked with a confident tone.