The 24th day of Summer, 256 (Flyraday) 

"Wake up, Zan!"

This was the sentence that woke up the boy from his dreams. When he opened his eyes, he could barely see in the dark as even the sun didn't appear yet in the sky. He was tired and sleepy, and could scarcely keep his eyes open. He was so excited about the journey that he couldn't fall asleep early as he planned yesterday, and now his bed felt too comfortable for him to get out of it.

Zan wanted to continue his dream, in which he defeated the Village Lord, and everyone was celebrating him as a hero. "It's still too early," he yawned. "Let me sleep a little more."

"We have to go now so that we can get there as soon as possible," Arilia said, then lifted up one side of his bed. Thanks to that, Zan rolled down from his sleeping furniture, just like a barrel would from a hill.

"All right, all right. I am awake now," he said after standing on two feet, then he slowly began to dress up for the trip.

In the kitchen, Arilia made a few sandwiches for her son, which he immediately started to eat. As she saw that the drowsiness didn't affect Zan's appetite, she said with a smiling face, "Eat now, because you will not have this sort of meal for a while."

Zan looked at his mother with confusion in his eyes as he didn't understand what she was saying. He clearly remembered that he put two jars of peach jam in his sack yesterday, but since he still felt drowsy, he didn't feel like asking.

Due to his mom's urging, Zan quickly finished his breakfast. He then picked up his sack, and after they locked their hut's door, they headed towards the forest.

"You got up early today, Zan," said a little girl who suddenly appeared in front of the pair in the street.

"Why are you here, Liria?" Zan asked with a surprised look on his face.

However, before Liria could answer the question, Arilia said, "I woke up my little daughter-in-law and called her here so that you two can say goodbye to each other. I will go ahead and leave you alone for a while." Then she headed toward the forest.

"You are going away?" Liria asked while her face became red, and tears started flowing down her cheeks.

"Yes, we are. But we will come back after some time, so you don't have to cry," Zan said while wiping her tears.

Liria's already ruddy face became even redder after his touch, but his words did calm her down. But only a little and soon she asked, "When will you come back?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe in a tenth, or maybe after half a year." Zan said uncertainly. "But we'll come back for sure."

Liria didn't like this answer at all. She felt as if a knife was stabbed into her heart. She didn't want to imagine her life without Zan. To her, half a year seemed too long, so she said in desperation, "Take me with you. I won't be in the way. I'm not going to be a nuisance."

"We can't. Where we are going, there will be many beasts, and we will have to fight for our lives every day. It's not safe for you," he said. Although, Zan exaggerated a little, however, he only did so because he didn't want Liria to come after them. He wouldn't forgive himself if something terrible happened to her in the forest.

"But it's not safe for you too... Don't go! Stay here. Let everything be as it was before," she begged.

"I can't do that. If I want to protect you, I have to become much stronger, and this is the only way to quickly progress," he said firmly.

"But who will protect you from the beasts?" she asked and hugged him tightly. "I don't care what will happen to me. I just want to be with you."

Perhaps half a year ago, even Zan couldn't get out of Liria's tight squeeze. But he changed since then. If he really wished to, he could easily pull himself out of the little beauty's grip. Yet he did the exact opposite of it and hugged her back.

This sudden embrace caught Liria off guard, and she froze in place. Up till this point, it never happened that Zan returned her feelings, but now this hug was as if he had finally accepted her love.

Time stopped for the two youngsters, and although they didn't say anything, yet both of them felt something.

"What a beautiful thing love is," Arilia said as she walked to them. "But we have to go now."

"All right," Zan nodded then got out of the little beauty's hug.

"But you might get hurt," Liria said and clung into his shirt.

"Rest assured, my little daughter-in-law, nothing bad will happen to your sweetheart. There are no strong beasts in this forest, but even if we meet with some of them, then I'll just chase them away," Arilia said with a smile on her face.

"I'll be back soon," Zan promised, and with his mother, they headed north to the Lemor Forest.

As they were walking towards the hill, he didn't dare to glance back, not even once, because he was sure that if he did, he wouldn't be able to follow his mom any further. He hurried his steps because he wanted to leave Lemor as soon as possible. It hurt him too much to hear Liria cry.