Japhy heaves for a second and then stands up straight before speaking. 

"Alright, time to clean up this mess. Here, I'll carve out the fragments of their cores and drag the bodies into their unfinished hole. You gather up some kindling."

"Hmm."

I stare at the arrows on the corpses, each arrow is dead on for where the cores were located. 

"What is it? Relwing, come on I don't want to stay here all day. I kind of wanted to go fishing with Wendall."

"Give me a second, you didn't notice how perfect all these hits were? They're not off by a single hair or anything."

"Yeah, it's pretty impressive, I guess."

"Come on, even you know that's not how it usually goes."

"You are pretty good with the bow... Oh! Right, yeah I guess it is a sign about at least one of the neuros you have. Your dad has a similar one, I think it's called Rapid Shot. Let's him practically empty out the quiver in a second and perfectly aimed too."

Well that does explain how the arrows showed up in my hand and the lack of fatigue from pulling the string back so fast. The only other thing that was new was how easy it was to get into the dual minds, normally it takes at least a couple seconds of concentration. Easier to use it to go to sleep, but in actual combat. High stress, and the general unease that comes from being in a fight for your life, it isn't easy to use the dual minds technique like that on the fly.

I stop contemplating to gather the wood and dry grass needed to start a small fire, then I wipe off the monster blood from my arms and axe using a rag in the quiver's satchel. After that I take out the fire stone and ignite the rag on top of the wood. It's curious but I never really thought about magic too seriously, mostly 'cause dad warned against it. He wanted me to wait, at least until I get my neuros. 

Monster blood is super flammable, so after grabbing a twig from the fire I made and tossing it into the pile Japhy gathered instantly gets it blazing. It doesn't take long for the fire to die down, and the nest to fully vanish into a pile of ash along with the corpses. The fog begins to descend into the clearing again. 

"Guess it's time to head back now."

"Yep. Hey, Relwing?"

As we start walking back to the marker and out of the forest Japhy grabs my attention.

"What's up?"

"You planning on becoming an adventurer now?"

"I don't really know. Why do you ask?"

"You've got neurograms now and that rare insignia is sure to net you a sponsorship and a decent starting rank. I just wanted to train a little more before dipping my toes into it too. Technically I've already had my G-rank plate. But I haven't taken any quests."

"Is that your way of asking to partner up?"

I look at Japhy with a smug smile. He isn't taking it too kindly.

"No, I was just asking is all, if you need advice or something you should ask Seth. He's already C-rank."

I sigh, the people I was raised alongside include those two siblings, this guy, and another friend of ours who's been missing for the past three months. Seth, Clara, Japhy, and Otis. They're the people closest to me outside of my father, and Seth and Clara's mother. There was a fifth, but he taught me the most valuable lesson I ever learned as a hunter, people will die.

"Yeah, I'm aware, Clara is too. Hey where do you think Otis is now?"

"Meh, who knows, I can't stand him anyway, he always does this shit. Disappears and then says 'Sorry guys, I was on vault streak. Forgot how long it's been.' Drives me insane the fact he doesn't care that we worry."

"I'm sure he cares otherwise he wouldn't show up for way longer, since he'd only do it when he needed to."

"Yeah, you're probably right. But that's his own fault too, having seven kids already. I plan on staying at just the four until I start taking quests."

It didn't hit me earlier, but strangely enough people in this world get together really soon and have crazy amounts of kids. It's not strictly out of choice, if you have a daughter, you're actually having daughters, but with a son it's mostly only ever one out of a dozen kids. Clara was a twin too, but she was a rare case, she would've had a brother.

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

Japhy interrupts my somber thinking.

"When are you getting some kids?"

"I-I, uh, don't know, heh. I guess as soon as I get married. Eheh."

Thoughts of the many times Clara gave her confession to me fill my head. I guess I thought I didn't deserve her, or maybe I thought it was too soon. Regardless if she says that shit again, I don't think the new me could resist at all. I remember the lewd words she whispered to me the day before.

"You're a late bloomer for sure, neuros at eighteen, kids at nineteen I bet. Then again at least you ain't like Seth, he straight up says he'll do it when the time is right. Fucker could just say he doesn't want them."

"Sometimes I get the feeling you think we're all messing with you Japhy. But I think you just care too much."

"Oh shut up. I just can't stand Otis being the only one I can talk about kids with. It's the little things you know like little Alei learned how to paint."

"You've got two babes, to talk all day about your kids with."

Japhy himself was a bit of a playboy when we were younger, he ended up with two of the village triplets. Dia and Mia, I never really spoke with them but occasionally when Japhy invites me over I greet them.

"Trust me we don't talk about them, taking care of them takes all the wind out of having any kind of talk, but at night..."

"Come on man, I don't wanna hear about that."

"Hehe, you've always been a bit squeamish about that. Relwing can chop up a monster and cut open its skull but as soon as it's pussy, ass, or tits you can't bear the thought of tearing that up."

"It's just not something I'm comfortable talking about."

Dying a virgin and still being a virgin, it's kind of comical, if it wasn't my life we're talking about.

"Sorry, I get it, it's like a bit more personal to you. Not that it isn't for me, it's just not as sacred I guess. I don't know I'm just theorizing. I figure you'll end up with a single lady and put all your time into just her."

"Who says I don't want one on each arm and another around my neck?"

Shit, I said that out loud without thinking. That's nowhere close to how I normally act. Though part of me wants to say it was a joke, the other part of me is being completely serious. Japhy stares at me wide-eyed at the response I gave.

"Heh! Yeah, I thought that way too, but I don't know if it was okay for me to get after Charlotte too. Might be getting to be too much like my old man. Fuck him though, wherever he is."

On the other side of families, specifically when it comes to relationships as in moms and dads. It's fairly common for a man to have children with various different women, and still more common for the fathers not to stick around. I want to think my Dad is different, but I already know he's only here because mom isn't.