(A/N: This is the second part of the original 3rd chapter)
*seven hours later*
"We've been walking for like several hours straight, can we take a break?" Angelica pleaded
"No. If we stop now, we'll have to stop for the night." It was already dark, we were only able to see since I was lighting the way with fire magic. Stopping now would mean not moving again until morning.
"I'm fine with that. this is getting really tiring, I'd rather just rest now and be at full energy tomorrow and continue." Her response made sense, I just didn't feel like stopping.
"you wanted me to travel with you, so you better keep up with me. I'll pity you though, give me a second." I said before I closed my eyes to focus. when I opened my eyes, Angelica had a confused expression until the ground under my feet began to tremble.
A large pillar erupted from the ground, with me on top of it. The pillar shot high into the air, well above any tree in the vicinity. I stopped the pillar after it reached about 300 feet in the air. I then started scanning the area, first I looked in the direction we were headed. As expected, there was no village in sight in that direction. After three minutes of looking around, I finally spotted a collection of small lights about 5-6 miles to the right from our current position.
'Ugh, I should've done this from the start. She said she got lost, why would I trust her sense in direction anyway? This sucks we've wasted so much time now.' I think to myself before stomping my foot into the pillar, sending it downwards. I didn't want to send it down fast since I don't want to accidentally hurt Angelica, so it took a little bit time before I reached the ground
"Why'd you do that?" Angelica asked as soon at I reached level ground.
"I was checking our current position. Turns out, we've been going in the wrong direction the entire time" I say with a sarcastic smile
"sorry" Angelica looks down in embarrassment
"Its fine, hold my backpack and get on my back. You'll be home in about 15 minutes" I say as I give my backpack to her
"Its heavy" she complained
"Deal with it. its not like you'll be walking anyways. Now get on and hold on tight" I crouched over with my back facing Angelica
She was surprisingly light, not she was tall or big or anything like that. I just expected heavier.
"Hmph!" I grunted as I stood up and took off into a sprint in the direction of Angelica's village
Angelica screamed a little bit and squeezed me harder once I began to pick up speed. once I knew she wasn't going to fall off, I incorporated magic into my sprint. Using wind magic on all of my body allowed me to increase my speed by a lot. By also using earth magic to launch myself in certain directions, I was able to swerve and dodge trees. I ran like this for about 10 minutes before I began to see lights in the distance.
In about a minute we arrived before a farm that had lots of land and an assortment of different livestock. The house looked to be one story but was decently large, it also had a fence that surrounded the property. Along one part of the fence was a barn that was about half the size of the house.
"This is old man Ham's place, he not only farms for his own food, but also makes enough to sell and give to people who are less fortunate. He's a good man. My house is on the complete other side of the village though" Angelica explained while still being on my back.
"Alright, well you can get off of my back now. We can walk the rest of the way." I said to her as I crouched down again, this time for her to get off. she got down and gave me my backpack before we started walking.
'I could leave as soon as she gets home, but I haven't had some good food in a while; maybe I should learn how to cook. I might just see if I can stay for dinner and go sleep somewhere close by. I need new clothes and maybe a weapon depending on how much these geyser serpent scales sell for. once I have what I need, I should leave. I still need to get stronger'
As we walked across the village, Angelica talked about the villagers, their jobs, their daily routine and things like that. As I listened to her speak, I scanned the environment. All of the houses were built similar, clean wood walls and doors, with few windows and thatch roof. The house sizes varied, but all were smaller than old man Hams.
Other than those who were owned by merchants, blacksmiths, hunters, and a few other exceptions. All the houses were equipped with a small farm at least, a small barn and silo, only a few had livestock.
It was interesting to see how much Angelica knew, she had to be pretty smart and attentive to notice and remember all of this information about dozens of people. it was impressive to say the least.
"We're almost there" she said while pointing at the house up ahead and looking at me excitedly
The house was definitely on the smaller side of all the houses I had seen. I couldn't see the farm very well, but it didn't look all that large.
'Her family must be closer to the poor side' I thought
Once we arrived in front of the house, I stood to the side of Angelica and she knocked on the door.
In less than a second, the door swung open, revealing a man who wasn't tall, but also wasn't short. He had a muscular but lean build with wide shoulders, his face looked very tired, but one could easily tell that he was rather handsome. He had some light stubble, and he had medium length blonde hair that was shaved on the sides.
He looked down and saw Angelica "Angy!" He said loudly while his eyes watered. He pulled her into a tight hug "How could you do that to me and your mother, we thought something happened to you. Your mother was so worried, I had to put her to sleep so that she would calm down" he never let go of her as he spoke, like she would run if he let go
"I'm sorry dad. I got lost while hunting and couldn't find my way home" Angelica said with a lot of sincerity and sadness in her voice
"Its okay, Just never do that again. Come in, dinner is still w-" he stopped his sentence as he noticed me.
'I guess its understandable that he didn't notice me until now, my skin almost acts like camouflage during the night' I thought as Angelica's father stared at me with a mixture of confusion and worry on his face
"Who is this, Angy?" he finally said after a while
Angelica slipped out of his embrace "He's the one who brought me home when I was lost." she said as she took my hand and pulled me forward
There was a bit of tension in the air as I watched the father make sense of everything before he took Angelica into his embrace once again, this time bringing me in too.
"Thank you, son. I don't know what I would have done if my daughter never came home. Tell me, what's your name?" The father asked as he kneeled down to meet my eyes
I was too stunned to speak for a little bit, this was the first time in such a long time that the physical contact I made with a human wasn't violent, or made with any ulterior motive. It was just genuine gratitude and appreciation.
"Tristan" I answered unknowingly
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