It was nighttime.

We were in the middle of a very large empty wasteland.

It was sudden, I know, but a breath attack was flying at us.

"Han."

"Ayo!"

I was barre-handed, so I merely confronted the beam with my back hand. The beam was, thanks to Hanti-magic, deconstructed into a floating particle of light.

Having nullified the attack, I immediately leapt onto my opponent. It tried to bite into me with its enormous mouth wide open, so I punched it with my fist.

Its face was blown to the side, but it was immediately followed by a counter attack by pivoting its body on itself at a full 90°.

Its fluffy, yet tough and durable, tail slammed heavily into me.

My body was blown backward several meters away, but instead of being clumsily blown away, I leapt back, and landed fully poised.

I counterattacked with another series of attacks that my opponent gave back, blow for blow.

This went on for several hours, until exhaustion kicked in.

Falling my butt off to the ground, I declared, "This will be enough for tonight, Heon. I’m beat. "

The blows were real, but this was no serious life-or-death battle; it was just friendly training between Heon and us.

Without displaying any resistance, he left her, lifting my body from the ground and tossing me onto her back.

She grabbed me from the ground and tossed me onto her back.

"Time to go home, I guess."

Five years have passed since I defeated the DeathSeeker.

Four years since we confronted the siblings, and I was healed by the girl, Amelia.

Three years, since we stumbled upon Heon, battled Aurora, and started journeying together.

Two years have passed since we defeated Solomon but lost to him, and two years since Nia and I began traveling together.

"That was a long journey, wasn’t it?"

"Yeah, indeed it was."

I was now 15, an adult by noble and commoner standards, so I still didn’t feel like one.

" … I can’t believe we are so close to finishing it. "

"Not to finish it, but to open a new chapter of it. It will still be a journey, though this one will be different. "

That’s it. We were about to enter a new chapter of this journey we started five years ago.

Time has come for it.

It was for that, that Heon and I were training as we did earlier. We were in the finishing straight.

This training earlier is, I believe, the last I will take before the final battle.

I have been committed to improving myself for the past two years, but lately, there is little I think I could improve upon.

I have reached a bottleneck.

Heon, too, has greatly improved. No, to be honest, I am not sure if she really did improve or not. There was something that I noticed during those three years together. She was ruthless against monsters, easily one-shooting some that would be easily qualified as strong ones, yet when facing humans she was somewhat more gentle, or at very least less violent. If not, we would be dead the moment we fought her back then.

This makes me wonder if she had a history with humans in the past, as this behavior was a part of her before we traveled together.

I have no idea what kind of history it is exactly, but I'm sure there was something that happened.

All I could do was speculate, maybe something like an encounter with a human in the past, or maybe someone who knew an interaction or another that left her with a strong impression of the human race in general.

She did attack us, but overall, Heon has always been very friendly in her own way. It was just that the idea was very difficult for us to digest back then.

Thinking back, what kind of monster was she exactly? I had no idea.

I never read anything about a race of wolf-like monsters turning white upon using light magic, It has been 3 years, and we’ve never encountered a single one of their brethren.

Just like us, she was a loner.

Which is most likely why she easily accepted our invitation to join us on this journey.

Still lost in thought, with me still stuck in her back, Heon took a big leap that allowed her to skip the lake and reach the peninsula-like plot of land where the giant tree was.

Soon, we arrived at the place where a giant tree stood proud. This place was the place we, for the past year, called home.

It was already late in the night, so Heon, upon approaching the place, began to walk silently so as to not wake Nia, who was supposedly already asleep.

Not so far away, a dragon was lying asleep on the ground. Snoring, obvious to any external danger, like a newborn calf, oblivious to our arrival.

"Thanks for today, Heon. Goodnight. "

Giving her a pat, I got down from Heon’s back and made my way to my bed.

The moment I reached where my bed was, something caught my attention.

"How come you aren’t sleeping? Did we wake you up upon arrival? " I asked the one in the chamber just above mine.

Her head hovering above my "chamber", she shook her head, "No, … I was somehow half-awake when you arrived. So was it, your training? "

"As usual. It seems I’m in a stalemate. I know this must not be the end of our growth, but I can’t find anything I could improve upon. So there wasn’t much difference between today and yesterday."

"I see... So you’ll be going too, tomorrow? "

"No."

"Huh?"

"I think it is time for me to take a well-earned rest. At this point, forcing myself is useless and a complete waste of time. So tomorrow, I’ll be around."

"I see… It has been a while since you last didn't go for it. "

She was right. For the past three months, I spent less and less time with her. There was a time when I also dedicated time to helping her with her magic, and her aina-mastery, but lately, we, each trained ourselves on our corner, and the only time of the day we met would often be here, at night.

Sigh.

Please not again.

"Sorry for this…"

"Huh? What are you apologizing for? "

"You know, I did convince you to stay around, and here I go disappearing all day. I know how boring it must be when no one is left alone. "

She left her "chamber" for mine, she was now at the entrance step.

"No, it isn't... At least it isn’t boring, just a little bit silent. "

Speaking of silence, a long silence took place between us after she was done speaking.

Holy hell, it’s happening once again.

Before I could even attempt to break the awkward silence, she hurriedly retreated back to her "chamber".

Not knowing how to react, I simply blurted out the first thing I could think of.

"Sorry."

"As I said, what are you apologizing for?" She mumbled.

Just as another silence was about to take place, she commented, in a very low voice, that it was almost inaudible.

"You smell horrible."

It came out of nowhere, and I was at a loss as to what to say for a moment.

"For this one, I sincerely apologize," Wasting no time, I left the "chamber." I, too, think, I do really need a bath."

I was making my way toward the lake, when she stopped.

"Wait."

"Hum?"

"You said you would be free tomorrow?"

"Yes, what of it."

"Then if you’re free, there is a place that I would like to show you."

"A place?"

"Yes."

Feeling that she had no intent on revealing any further details about the said place, I didn’t inquire any further.

"Okay, tomorrow then?"

"Yes."

With those words, I left for the lake.

It has been some time now.

Besides the excuse of training myself on my own, I won’t deny it, I’ve been trying to avoid Nia.

Not that there was anything wrong going on between us or that we don’t get along anymore, but because lately I’m starting to behave weirdly.

Okay, maybe not me, but my body, and also my mind. Okay, it’s with me as a whole, that there is a problem.

My heart won’t stop racing around her. I’m even stuttering while I speak to her.

The truth is that I would like to act normal, but that is easier said than done.

It’s not awkward, it’s just embarrassing to have her around.

Just her presence makes me lose brain cells.

I have no freaking idea of what is wrong with me.

Well, maybe I do.

And it is exactly because of that that I think there is something going wrong with me.

The unique circumstance we were in isn’t for something like that to happen.

That’s it. I’m deluding myself.

Being on my own in these woods has finally dampened my mind.

"Do you think I'm going crazy, Han?"

"Haha, I’m the one you’re asking that? I’m sorry, Pal, but I can’t help you with this matter. The best I can do is wish you luck. "

"Thanks, I guess."

"But just know that running away won’t solve anything."

These words got me thinking for quite a while, not just about what was going on with me, but also about a lot of stuff in general.