That night Ben’s screams echoed throughout the wooden cabin. He had a restless and intermittent night’s sleep. He’d wake up mumbling from time to time, covered in cold sweat, only to fall asleep again due to sheer tiredness a few hours later. This cycle repeated itself until he was completely awake at dawn.

Watching his frail state and his bloodshot eyes, Liza sighed. She’d obviously heard his screams that night, it was hard not to. Even though she’d no idea what he was saying (Ben would take the ring out before going to bed), it wasn’t hard to guess.

[It will take time for him to get better, but there’s a way we can speed up the process,] she thought.

“Ben, I’ve got a task for you. Every morning I want you to take Eliot and go get us some water from the well in the village. Use that basin by the door. In the meantime, I’ll prepare our breakfast.”

Ben nodded and got up with difficulty. He grabbed the empty basin and Eliot’s arm, making for the village with faltering steps. He was feeling terrible in a way that was hard to describe. It was a mixture of tiredness, annoyance and self-hatred. It made the singing of the birds feel grating to his ears and made Eliot’s energetic steps feel like they were mocking him.

As soon as they got out of the grove, they could see the villagers busily scurrying by. They were surveying the fields, readying their tools and doing all sorts of preparations for a new day’s work. Whenever they spotted Ben and Eliot, they would wave at them with big smiles.

“Top of the morning to you, sirs!”

“Oh, it’s our saviours! How did you sleep? Do you need anything?”

“Ah, you’re here! Wait just a sec! Yesterday I baked something for you as a little thanks, I’ll go get it right away!”

Wherever they went they were greeted with warmth and respect. Even Ben’s grumpiness couldn’t resist such amount of favour and goodwill. By the time they were returning to the hunter’s cabin, Ben was carrying a bunch of foodstuffs he received as gifts and was feeling much better.

“Leave the basin on that log over there and wash your hands, breakfast is ready. We’ve got gruel and eggs, not bad if I say so myself. Though I’m sure Eliot and Boro will complain,” said Liza.

They sat at the table to eat their breakfast. It was a simple meal, but with all the other gifts Ben received from the villagers there was enough to satisfy even Boro and Eliot.

[Wow, this is good. I thought everything would taste bland, but I guess salt is not an issue here. Makes sense, otherwise there would be no way salted jerky was a part of the traveling rations,] thought Ben.

After the meal, Ben offered to clean up the dishes and Liza went about doing her training routine. She chose a tree as her target and began practicing her archery. Eliot stood at her side and imitated her with his arms extended, shooting with an imaginary bow.

His actions made Liza laugh, so the first few arrows missed their target. Thirty shots later, Liza’s arms were trembling and she couldn’t keep going. She rested for a few minutes, stretched her arms and shoulders, and did another round of thirty shots. That was her current limit. If she rested again for a bit and kept going, the shots would keep losing accuracy and strength, making continuing meaningless.

She recovered the arrows from the tree, strapped the bow to her back and started running to build her resistance and stamina. At this point Eliot lost his interest and went to explore the woods with Boro.

Left alone in the cabin, Ben sat on the bench in the porch and pondered about his future. It was the first time since he came to this world that he wasn’t in imminent danger and had the time to organize his thoughts without feeling pressured.

[All right, what now? Those bastards that summoned and imprisoned me said there’s no way for me to get back… could that be true? Am I stuck here forever? That shouldn’t be the case! If there’s a magic that can bring me here from Earth, there’s certainly a magic that can send me back! They must have been lying to make me lose hope and accept the situation! Yes, I’m sure of it!]

[I should keep laying low for now. Then, when things calm down, I can keep traveling with Liza and begin gathering information. I need to learn about magic, see if there’s a way I can become a wizard and research all kinds of spells. If that’s not possible, I need to make acquaintance with some trustworthy mages I can pin my hopes on.]

[Well, would you look at that… I’ve always complained that life was boring and meaningless and here I am, stuck in another world, thinking of how to become a wizard so I can go back home. I still can’t say much about life’s meaning, but I guess I can’t call it boring anymore.]

[But never mind that, focus! Later I can ask Liza to teach me the local language and see If I can keep following them. From there I can slowly start figuring out how to become a mage, collecting spells and all the other stuff. That’s the plan then! Searching for a way back while traveling around Flanac!]

Now that his future goals were clear, Ben felt like a heavy load was taken out of his chest. Coupled with the warmth he received from the villagers earlier, he’d completely put out of his mind the nightmare that was the day before, at least for the moment.

He waited in silence, admiring the nature around him and making a mental list of everything he needed to do in the future. About this time Liza returned. She was breathing roughly and sweating all over, her hair now in a ponytail that clung to her neck and shoulders. Ben couldn’t help but appreciate her beauty.

“AH!” cried Ben in surprise.

“What?! What happened?”

Liza drew her bow in a quick motion, readying an arrow as she spun around trying to find the cause of Ben’s alarm. No matter how she looked though, there was nothing out of ordinary. Everything was normal, the woods were serene.

“Your ears!” said Ben after recovering from his shock.

“What? Oh. You scared me for nothing you jerk!”

“You have pointy ears! Are you an elf? Can I touch them?” asked Ben, his eyes glowing with interest.

“What? No!”

“But I’ve never seen an elf before! Let me touch them just for a little bit, just so I can see if they’re real.”

“No way I’m letting you touch them! It’s just weird! They are real and I’m not an elf, I’m a half-elf!”

“But…”

“No buts! I’m going inside to wash up. You better behave or I’ll give you your very own pair of pointy ears!”

Liza marched into the cabin and shut the door with a bang. Ben remained in a daze for a while, looking at the closed door. He felt a sudden impulse to go inside and peek, but he wasn’t a kid anymore, nor was he a creep. In the end he just sighed an sat back on the bench. By the time Liza finished washing up, Eliot and Boro returned with a dead deer.

“Oh, good catch Eliot, Boro! Now we have meat!” exclaimed Liza.

“Isadora said the village doesn’t have a hunter for some time now, the woods are probably bustling with wildlife,” said Ben.

“You’re right! That’s good news for us. It’s a bit early for lunch, but we need to prepare the deer and that takes time. Come Ben, help me with skinning, deboning and all that.”

“I rather not… I’ve no idea how to do those things.”

“I’ll teach you! It’s also good to build your resistance to gore.”

“Why did need you to remind of that,” said Ben squeamishly.

They all sat at the edge of the porch and Liza began instructing Ben on how to prepare game. Eliot enthusiastically followed along. Almost an hour later they had the deer meat split in three piles. One with consistently and precisely cut pieces done by Liza, one with roughly cut chunks done by Ben and another one with completely butchered parts done by Eliot.

“Ok, we’ll keep half for lunch and dinner. You can bring the rest to Isadora and she’ll distribute it to the villagers.”

“Why don’t you go this time?”

“They don’t like me much, it’s better you go.”

[Plus, it’s part of your recovery treatment,] thought Liza.

Ben made his second trip to the village that day and was once again greeted warmly by everyone he met. The elder happily took the meat he presented her and gave a few herbs and condiments in return.

When he got back to the cabin, Ben found a rather idyllic scene. Liza was resting on a hammock, swinging lightly to and fro, and Eliot was sprawled on the floor with Boro atop of his belly, both looking bored. With the cabin in the woods as a backdrop, it would make for a good painting. It was a shame he didn’t have any of the necessary apparatus to paint at the moment.

He sat on the bench and stretched his legs lazily. The tranquil atmosphere made him sleepy. He yawned and almost gave in, but in the end decided now was not the time to take a nap. He wanted to broach the subject he was pondering previously.

“Hey, Liza, can I keep traveling with you guys in the future?”

“Sure, if you want to. I don’t have a fixed itinerary though, just so you know.”

“That’s perfect. Everything here is new for me, so I want to learn and see the most of Flanac I can while searching for a way to get back to my own world.”

“That’s fine then. I’m surprised though. I thought after our two close calls you would want to part ways now that things have settled down. Didn’t think you’d ask to stay of your own accord.”

“You guys are my saviours, there’s no way I’d depart to be on my own. I was just afraid you’d refuse because of my uselessness.”

“You’re not useless, your wits pulled us through twice already. Even if you were though, I wouldn’t mind bringing you along after learning about your situation. If I left someone naïve like you to fend for yourself in this world you’d be dead in a ditch somewhere before the end of the week.”

“Ouch, that’s harsh… and probably accurate. Just out of curiosity, why don’t you have a fixed itinerary? Are you exploring the world?”

“Nothing that grand. I’m searching for my father. I want to look that scum in the eye and ask him why he left. I’m not too sure what I’ll do afterwards.”

“Oh…”

Ben kept quiet because he remembered how upset Liza got yesterday when talking about it, but this time she seemed ok. Since she was fine, and he was curious, he decided to probe a little further.

“It must be hard to find a single person in this big world. How long have you been looking for him? Aren’t you afraid he might have already… you know…”

“Died? Nah. My mom always bragged about how strong he was and from what I can remember it wasn’t just bravado. Age also won’t be a problem, because he’s an elf.”

“Then, isn’t it better to just go directly to an elven city?”

“Puahahaha– hahahahahaha– haha.”

Ben watched flabbergasted as Liza almost fell down from the hammock because she was laughing so hard. Eventually she calmed down and dried her tears on her sleeve.

“That was a good one. Ah, it isn’t so simple I’m afraid. Different from dwarves, gnomes, halflings and other races that mingle with humans, elves are reclusive. They mostly stay inside their forests and hidden cities, rarely coming out. If you see an elf in a human city, there are usually two reasons. First, he’s a young one that’s traveling the world for gaining experience. Or second, he’s a renegade, someone that ran away from the old traditions and prefers the hustle and bustle of civilization than their hermit’s way.”

“Oh. Doesn’t that make him even harder to find?”

“Yep. That’s why my main hope is in the Adventurers’ Guild, though I still don’t have enough money nor rank to buy that kind of information. I travel around doing quests to pay for my food, save some coin and increase my guild rank all in one go. And who knows, maybe by wandering about I might bump into him someday.”

“I see,” said Ben.

Liza said why don’t you go directly to an elven city under her breath and chuckled a few more times. Ben blushed in embarrassment hearing her clear and melodious laugh that was mocking him.

[Heck, how could I know? But if something so obvious could resolve her problem, she wouldn’t be traveling around all this time… I guess I asked for it,] thought Ben shaking his head.