Time flew by quickly, and soon it began to darken. Liria and Zan quickly packed up their belongings and headed home. They traveled comfortably beside each other, but none of them said any words along the road. Soon, however, Liria clung to Zan's arm and held onto him so firmly that he could only free himself if he hurt the little beauty. Of course, he didn't want that, so he let Liria have her wish and didn't say anything.

'Fine, I will let you have what you want; after all, you brought me lunch,' Zan thought to himself. To him today almost felt like Liria was his sweetheart. If this continued, then in the future, she would be the one who would wait for him at home and the one who would warm his bed.

Suddenly he shook his head and, with a blushed face, looked at the little beauty beside him, who was happily holding his arm. When Liria noticed that he was watching her and their gaze fell upon each other, both of them immediately turned their head away and with reddened face continued on their road.

"Well, aren't they adorable?" said a mocking voice.

"Of course they are. It would be such a shame if someone would disturb this lovely moment, big brother," ridiculed another one.

The youngsters immediately stopped and looked behind them, only to see two smiling fellows. It was easy to see that these two young men were brothers because both of them had shaggy brown hair, black eyes, bushy eyebrows, and jug ears. Even their clothing looked similarly dirty and tattered. The only difference between the two of them was that the older brother was about a half head taller, and had some stubble on his face.

"What do you want?" asked Zan while stepping in front of Liria. He was well aware that she was still scared of the Smith boys since their last encounter.

"We've come to finish what we started before," said Zolar, then looked at his brother. "Telar, you take Liria, while I beat this shorty to the ground."

The younger Smith boy didn't need to be told twice, and he immediately headed towards the girl. However, Telar barely took three steps, when Zan punched him in the stomach with such strength and such speed that he didn't even have time to react. He immediately fell to his knees, and shortly, he saw his lunch in front of him on the ground.

Although Zan didn't manage to awaken, however, his body strength almost doubled since his last encounter with the Smith boys. It was all thanks to his mother, who made him do those many pushups, pull-ups, squats, and runs, that he became this strong.

This one punch knock-out surprised the broad-shouldered Zolar so much that, for a moment, he even forgot how to breathe. He couldn't believe his eyes, and even in his wildest dreams, he wouldn't dare to imagine that Zan would grow so much in such a short amount of time. Not too long ago, it was easy for him to beat up Zan, and if Arilia didn't show up at that time, he would have already taken the little beauty for himself.

Though it was true that Liria was only 14 years old, however, in Zolar's eyes, she was the prettiest girl in the village. She was just as adorable and beautiful as the young ladies from the noble families. Zolar wasn't able to understand why she would rather be with a shorty than with him, who was the son of a smith and even an awakened one. He was full of possibilities and fated for a great future.

Zolar was sure that he could change Liria's mind if he could get Zan out of his way, but since Arilia always protected her son, he had to give up on pursuing the little beauty. Today, however, a huge opportunity presented itself to him as his brother told him that Zan's mother left the village. Zolar immediately left his job, which his father asked him to do, and went to find Liria. But no matter where he searched, he couldn't find her anywhere, which made him so angry that he started cursing at the world. He could only calm down after his brother told him that Liria was having lunch under the Giant Tree with Zan. Hearing this, he was wild with joy and rushed to the old oak to find Liria and to beat up the boy.

Zolar was sure that once Zan would see him, the boy would run away with his tails behind his legs. However, that didn't happen, and as he saw Zan knock his brother down, he was stunned and even felt a little fear in his heart. He only managed to get himself together after his brother opened his mouth, "What are you waiting for? Give this shorty a beating already. He attacked me when I wasn't expecting it and was lucky enough to punch me."