“Emilia! Where are you?”

Damian shouted as he ran through the woods. Emilia was still out gathering the animals and fruits so she was somewhere within the trees. The sun was still fairly high above the skyline but was barely visible due to the blocking trees. Damian wanted to locate Emilia as soon as possible so that everything would be ready by nightfall. Therefore, he continued to call out to the girl as he ran, occasionally stopping to catch his breath, even though there was really no hurry.

“Emilia!”

“Jeez, stop shouting. I’m right here.”

Damian spun around to the direction of the voice. An annoyed Emilia greeted him with crossed arms. Tucked in her arms were two grass baskets, weaved using her Blessing of Plant Manipulation. The basket on the right was filled with an assortment of fruits while the one on her left had a few forest critters carcasses. Damian could tell right away that Emilia was not happy to see him. She was partially facing away from him as if to indicate she didn’t want to look at him, her eyebrows were furrowed, and she was pouting. They were all familiar signs that Damian would notice whenever they had a small argument over something.

“Why are you mad? Did I do something?”

“No, I’m not mad. After all, all you did was ditch me here while you went to Jackson town. It’s not like I also wanted to go.”

[Ah, sarcasm.]

“You’re upset about that? Look, I’m sorry I left you back here but issuing a quest was something I could easily do on my own. There was no need to bring you along. I didn’t even end up issuing a quest anyways.”

“You didn’t?” Emilia raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Things got complicated and now we have to do with what we have. And about that, I need your help. I need you to make a larger version of the snare traps that you use for hunting.”

“A large snare trap? Why?”

“We’re planning to use it on the beast when it shows up.”

“Seriously? Are you sure a snare trap will work on a beast?”

“I mean, it’s still an animal right?”

“You’re not wrong…but I’m still not done checking all the traps for animals.”

“You can do that later. This is more important.”

“Do it later?” Emilia frowned. “Weren’t you the one that told me not to procrastinate?”

“I did.” Damian shrugged. “But that was then and this is now.”

“Of course, you’d say that.” She sighed.

Emilia pushed the baskets she was carrying into Damian’s hands.

“Look, I’ll make the bigger trap but while I’m doing that you have to finish up the rest of the woods.”

“...Fair enough.”

“Come over to my house when you’re done.” Emilia said as she left.

Alone in the woods with two baskets and a task Damian prepared to set out.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.”

As he took his first step his eyes widened with a sudden realization.

“Wait...where has she already checked? Aww man, I forgot to ask!” He groaned as he smacked his forehead.

[I’m just gonna have to check all the traps then. If I hurry this won't be too long, hopefully.]

Without delay, Damian darted over to check the first trap on his imaginary list.

******

After about two hours of scrambling through the forest and harvesting carcesses that were caught in traps, an exhausted Damian finally made it back to the village. As he trudged along the path to Emilia’s house, carrying two grass baskets filled with carcasses and fruits, he had the great idea to just get the food to Frank directly.

[I can just deliver this stuff and collect her pay for her. That way, Emilia won’t have to go there later.]

Frank’s house was at the very back of the village. At a glance, you could tell it was different from the other houses. Not from its design, but rather its position. While the other houses in the village were on the flat ground, Frank’s house was hoisted up by a slight hill, making it appear to be dominant over the rest. Damian had always thought that it definitely looked like it belonged to the chief of the village.

At the front door, Damian knocked on the wooden entrance. From inside, light and hasty footsteps could be heard approaching the other side of the door.

“Hi Big Bro Damian!” The miniature Emilia gleefully welcomed.

“Yo, Mary! Is your dad here?”

“Yeah he is. Come in.” She gestured for Damian to enter.

Damian accepted the offer and went in, closing the door behind him. Mary ran ahead to the living room, continuing to color the drawing she made on the table. She had drawn a picture of three people holding hands in front of a house. The middle person was a child and the other two were adults. It was crudely drawn, as expected of a seven year old, so Damian guessed that the people in her drawing were her, Annie, and Frank. It seemed Annie was home at the moment.

“Father is in his room.” Mary stated, not looking up to focus on coloring.

“Thanks, Mary.”

Damian left Mary to her art and approached Frank’s room. As he stared at the door, a shiver flew down his spine. In a past timeline Emilia, Mary, and Annie were crushed under a tree in the very same room. Even though he knew he wouldn’t be greeted with the same scene, the memories of the undone time still paralyzed him for just a moment. Damian took in a deep breath and exhaled to calm his nerves.

Knock Knock Knock

Frank answered the knocks, opening the door to his room. His long vest was laying on a chair so he only wore the beige shirt that was usually unseen with the vest on. His eyes darted down to Damian’s hands, which were occupied with baskets, and he knew what he was here for.

“You can put those at the table there.” Frank pointed to the table in his room.

Damian complied and set the baskets on the wooden table.

“Where’s Emilia?” Frank asked as he searched for his wallet.

“She’s at her house. I had her do something for me so I’m here alone.”

“Ah, here it is.”

Frank rummaged through a drawer and pulled out his wallet. He took out a ten and five dollar bill and handed them to Damian, which he accepted.

“How did issuing that quest go?”

“Oh, about that…” Damian faltered as he filled Frank in on the situation.

“So you didn’t issue a quest because of a gut feeling? Well it doesn’t matter. That elf is lying anyways, so we saved money if anything.”

Frank’s last comment ticked Damian off. The beast was going to kill everyone and the only reason they were in this situation was because of Frank’s refusal to evacuate the village. If they had that option, they could just run away. It was a tactic much more effective and easier than fighting the buff ape with a ridiculous healing ability. But Damian couldn’t fault Frank either because of the trauma he had acquired when a gang of elves raided the village and killed his parents. Damian had to do something about that trauma to reveal to Frank that not all elves were evil. It was unfair to Rose and other elves that have good intentions.

“‘That elf’ has a name. It’s Rose.” Damian remarked.

“Who cares what her name is. All I care about is that she stays away from the village. You can’t trust Elves, Damian. I made that mistake a long time ago and it cost me dearly.”

“What do you mean?”

Frank sighed as he took a seat on his bed.

“Nineteen years ago, I met a group of elves while playing in the woods. They were wounded so I let them into the village and pleaded for my parents to help them. They agreed and the elves were allowed to stay until their wounds were healed. I got close to them and I even considered them to be friends. But then one day, they set fire to the village after murdering my parents. I witnessed everything. They were stabbed to death right in front of me. It took us months to rebuild our village. Those times were the hardest times we had to go through. And it all happened because I decided to help those elves. They used our kindness and betrayed us when they were done.”

“I’m...sorry. I didn’t know.”

Damian knew about the elf’s attack but he didn’t know about the specifics. The elves had cruelly betrayed the village after accepting their help. What was even worse was that Frank thought of them as friends and was the one who let them in.

[The guilt of being indirectly responsible for that tragedy must be heavy on Frank’s conscience. He had to live everyday with that burden. But even so…]

“What happened back then was terrible. Now I get why you are so distrustful towards elves. But Rose isn’t like that. She really is trying to help us. Not all elves are bad Frank. You need to realize that.”

“How would you know what she’s really like. You’ve only met her today.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but I’m gonna believe in her anyways.”

“Unbelievable. You're too naive. That way of thinking will get you killed one day.”

“Oh, the irony.”

“What?”

“Nevermind. Say, Frank, let’s make a bet. If it turns out that Rose is lying and the beast never shows up, I’ll never question you ever again.”

“I like the sound of that.” Frank grinned.

“But, if the beast really shows up and we manage to defeat it, you have to apologize to Rose and admit that not all elves are bad.”

After hearing that, Frank’s grin turned upside down while Damian confidently smiled.

“So, what’ll it be?”

After a few seconds of hesitation, Frank answered:

“Fine. I’ll play your little game. But you’ll see that I’m right.”

“Yeah, yeah. I gotta get going now. I have to prepare for when the beast shows up, you know.”

Damian took his leave and closed the door behind him, leaving the deep in thought, slumped over Frank on his bed.