"Oh, you're awake." He greets me with a smile, and I get to with a sleepy groan. "Yeah. What are you packing?" I ask while stretching before rubbing my eyes a bit as I yawn, slowly coming to my senses after a good night's sleep.

"My stuff. I was called back to Silvailia." He ties something to his belt, giving me a calm answer. However, he's avoiding looking at me for some reason.

"Huh? Why?" I get up in surprise at his words. 'Who will lead me if not him? I don't know my way around as well as he does...' 

"Well... To put it simply, I have a certain position in the village that refrains me from exiting it fully without permission. When I was in Lafiel, I had permission from the Elder, but now I don't."

He explains while getting his horse ready, and I stare at him. 'I wonder what sort of position he holds that doesn't allow him to leave the village whenever he wants. Sounds kinda inconvenient.' 

"I see. But how am I supposed to get to the village without getting hurt?" I raise an eyebrow a bit as I look at him, awaiting his response. 

"You'll get more skilled as time passes, you know. More experience, Alaire. Keep in mind that it changes things," he answers with a wink before getting his horse.

Then, he turns to me one last time. "I hope that we'll meet again in the future. It was an honour for me to help you start your journey. And to be completely honest, you grew on me while we spent our time together. Farewell, then. And take care."

And with that, he gives me a small bow with his head and nudges his horse to get moving. It's not long before I see him disappear from my field of vision.

"Just great..." I mutter in slight annoyance, although there's a hint of sadness in my tone at his departure. But he's right. I can't rely on him forever, and I also need to gain experience and skills on my own.

However, there's a thing that bothers me. Why does he have to leave so suddenly? What sort of position does he hold in Silvailia?

With a sigh, I come to a realisation that I might never get an answer from him. Who knows if we'll meet again. 'I should've asked him before he left. Damn it...' 

Meanwhile, Merle rides back to Silvailia, looking at the road in front of him as his horse gallops through the forest as Merle grumbles to himself.

"Man, I hope that he'll survive. Poor kid. I didn't want to leave him like that, but Elder called. Agh! Why do I have to be a guardian and informant?! I really shouldn't have taken that position back then..." 'Stupid past me!'

As I stand there, trying to figure out what now, my horse looks at me and then grazes on some more grass, seemingly not phased by the situation at all. He's a stallion, after all, not a person... Although some compassion would've been nice.

Just then, a rabbit runs by, and I hear my stomach growl. "Well... Time to try and hunt my breakfast, I guess." I grab my bow and quiver, drawing an arrow.

This will be my first time shooting at a real, moving target... I'm kinda nervous! I also feel bad for killing such a defenceless animal, but I don't have a choice here. I'm hungry.

I steady my breathing and start hunting my food, preparing myself mentally to actually kill an animal like that. 

But I'm not even sure if I'll be able to actually shoot the rabbit... I can only try and see if my stomach and mental fortitude are built for this.

When humans are desperate, they'll do anything. That's just how we are. Some may overcome the desperation, but hunger is something everyone has and struggles with.

Honestly, I know that I'm no different from anyone else. If I'm hungry, I'll go eat food. If I'm thirsty, I drink. If I have any other need, I satisfy it. That's just how it works.

Sometimes, though, there's nothing you can do about that need. And once it's not satisfied, it grows. And grows... and grows... It turns into some sort of desperation for the needed thing. Just like how a starving person is desperate for water because the hunger gets bigger with each passing moment...

And right now, I'm hungry. Not starving or extremely famished, but just hungry. If I won't eat food for some more hours, it'll be fine. But this is exactly one need that I just want to satisfy. The road ahead is long and may be treacherous. I need to prepare for the worst.

Over the following days, I get the hang of how to survive in the wilderness all by myself and how to hunt my own food without getting killed by some wild beasts.

Not only has my accuracy in archery improved, but also my stealth skills as I often tend to sneak past some monsters or big wild animals that I know are too ferocious and dangerous for me to take on.

Now, following the path that supposedly leads to another civilisation based on the map, I find someone walking by.

I click my tongue and pull the reins to stop my horse as I hop off, looking at the person, noting their lack of weapon.

"Uhm... Excuse me? May I ask where I am?" The young boy only looks at me with his big, curious, dark blue eyes. 

"I'm a tad lost, you see." As I explain, my eyes trail down to his fardel full of vegetables that seem to be freshly harvested. It's around mid-August right now, which makes sense for the carrots to get harvested if he sown them in early June. 

I feel myself salivating just at the sight. 'Never have I ever thought that I'd ever miss the feeling of chewing on a fresh carrot... or any vegetable, in fact!' 

"Uh... Would you mind if I sto- I mean, begged for one of your delicious-looking marks?" My eyes are focused solely on the fardel full of those fresh, juicy looking vegetables as I plead for one of those.

The boy looks at me with a sympathetic look before he freezes up slightly. "Ah..." His soft and quiet voice breaks the momentary silence, making me look up at him.

"Is there a chance that you're an elf, mister?" He asks while tightening his grip on the stuffed fardel a bit, anticipating my answer.

"Huh? No. Why do you ask?" I'm most definitely not an elf. What's up with people asking me this question? First, it was Merle, now, it's this boy.

"Well... you used an Elven expression just now, mister." The boy's words come across as a small shock to me. 'What does that mean? An Elven word?' 

"Merk. It's an Elven term. Other humans and some races use simply carrots." He explains, although his wide eyes betray the emotions brewing inside of him. He's curious. But there's a glint of confusion as well.

"Ah, right. Stupid me. How could I forget?" I try to play it off before I look at the slightly younger, almost white-haired boy. 

"And how do you know that?" I quickly change the topic, narrowing my eyes a bit. It's most likely that I used an Elven word subconsciously as I've been living with elves for a while in Silvailia...

The boy's eyes widen, and his expression is now full of guilt and something between nervousness and fear, it seems. Looks like I hit the nail based on his reaction.

"Oh! Uh..." He stutters, struggling to form a sentence since he's caught off-guard. His gaze lifts up from the ground, our eyes meeting as he seems to study me for a split moment.

"Elves keep this a secret, but Elvish and Elaris differ a bit in certain parts..." He nervously stammers out the words, now avoiding eye contact.

For a moment, I only look at the young boy, putting the pieces together. 'So... this boy is related to elves!' A smirk slowly forms on my face as I look at him once more.

"So I take it that you're an elf?" 'Let's test him a bit.' A wave of excitement and thrill runs through my body once I see the boy's reaction.

"N-no! Not really..." The poor boy now seems to be seriously distressed at my assertive gaze. 'He's trembling so much... Now I feel kinda bad.' 

But despite that, his reply piques my interest, and my smirk only widens at that. He really looks like he's about to cry...

"Then what are you? A normal human wouldn't know this, would they? After all, humans, who use Elaris, don't understand some words that elves, who speak Elvish, use. Your own words."