“Um….”

“Scatter it around.”

The short old woman had a friendly smile, but she was also very firm. Jade grasped a large handful of something yellow. It was grainy.

“Yes… By the way, do you know the way out of the forest?”

“I don’t know. No, you need to scatter it more finely! If you throw the feed in clumps, they’ll fight over it.”

Scattering the feed wasn’t as easy as she thought. Chickens followed wherever she scattered, and when she got startled by their aggressive rush and threw the feed far away, she got scolded.

“What if a beast takes the chickens! Just scatter it nearby!”

“Ah, right. Then is there anyone nearby who knows the way out?”

“If you’re done feeding, fill this water jug. My back’s been hurting lately.”

It seemed like one task per answer.

“Where’s the water?”

Fortunately, the old woman didn’t kick away even this clueless question.

While Jade went to fetch water from a nearby spring, she learned that there weren’t even five people living in this area.

“Why don’t you live together? It would reduce dangers and you could share necessary items.”

Her question was reasonable. There were reasons why people formed communities. But the rules for those who entered the Athanase Forest were different.

“Why would people who came here tired of others want to live together? They gave up those benefits, preferring the hardship of living alone.”

“What was Ollie tired of?”

The old woman chuckled and changed the subject.

“Anyway, waiting for a merchant would be the fastest.”

“But I’m in a real hurry. I don’t have months to wait. What about the people living across the lake?”

“Young magician, you’re actually very lucky.”

While Jade carefully poured water into the jug, the old woman herded the chickens into the yard fence.

“Axel may be bothersome and cold, but he’s not a bad guy. But there are strange folks living in the Athanase Forest too. You’re not in such a hurry that you’d gamble your life, right? No matter how urgent, if it were me, I’d settle down here for a bit. Life needs times like these too.”

Just letting time pass by.

Despite the old woman’s gentle voice, Jade couldn’t feel at ease and just let out a deep sigh.

She wanted to do that too.

But emptying her mind wasn’t familiar at all. She had always lived a life that needed to be passionately filled.

No, she had to live that way.

The numerous things flashing through her mind. Things to solve and things to worry about.

‘Lady Jade. Please rest now.’

‘That’s right. You’re still young, so you might grow taller. You need to eat well and sleep well, I tell you.’

‘There’s no time for that. This really needs to be put out of uncle’s reach. The capital mansion management documents should be entrusted to someone above uncle. Who would be good? It needs to be someone with the backbone not to weigh me against uncle.’

‘I’ll take care of it! I’ll organize the list and report to you by tomorrow. So please, just go to sleep!’

Every day was like that, so there was no time to relax or grow taller.

“Anyway, thanks for coming to the spring with me. Here, two eggs.”

Jade, who had been lost in thoughts of the past, received the warm eggs and opened her eyes wide.

“What, not enough? Then take this too.”

Some tree fruits were added.

“Really?”

“Of course. You worked, so you should be compensated.”

Carefully rolling the round objects in her hand, Jade somehow felt good and smiled brightly without realizing it.

“Thank you.”

“Yes, yes. Go back safely. Next time you come, let’s go pick fruits together. It’s good to pick them and make jam before winter. Though we don’t have much sugar.”

Jade came back to Axel’s house without taking her eyes off the eggs, afraid they might fall. The fruits and eggs rolled a bit when placed on the table but soon stopped.

“Wow.”

For some reason, the eggs and fruits looked rounder and more colorful today.

This is from my work. Though it wasn’t much.

I worked outside every day too, but this feels more rewarding. I don’t know why though.

Jade lay on the table with a grin and yawned. The sunlight coming through the window was very warm. She blinked her drowsy eyes and slowly closed them.

Bang!

She woke up startled to find the sunlight that had been shining at her head was now reaching far away near the chair.

When she turned her head, Axel had come in and was taking off his gloves. But something looked different on his perfect face without a single flaw.

“Bl-blood!”

When she pointed and shouted, Axel wiped his cheek with an indifferent face.

“Where?”

“Ch-cheek!”

“Is this your first time seeing blood?”

Come to think of it, it wasn’t. She had seen a lot.

Jade blinked and sat back down quietly. Axel roughly wiped a few times, then gave up when he noticed it had dried.

“Are you hurt?”

“No. Animal blood.”

“What did you catch?”

“Something edible and good for storage.”

“Must have been hard to catch.”

“Not really.”

It was a fairly diligent answer for being grumpy. Meanwhile, he turned his gloves inside out and placed them on the windowsill, then rubbed his shoes with a cloth several times. Jade carefully hung the outer clothes he had carelessly put down on a chair.

It was fortunate that she grew up being very considerate. Because she could use it at times like this! Haha!

Axel changed into light shoes and grabbed the doorknob again.

“Don’t come out.”

“Why?”

He now looked like he was really sick of question marks.

Jade was embarrassed but decided to go out shamelessly. She was probably already like a parasite in his heart anyway, so what’s the difference between a parasite with many questions and one without?

“…I need to cut and trim it. It might not be an easy sight to bear.”

“It’s okay. In ancient times, when knights hunted, magicians prayed for them. To thank the life for the last time.”

“I’m not a knight.”

“Really? But I’m a magician, so I can pray.”

Axel frowned as he watched Jade shrug nonchalantly. He nodded after a long while, and Jade followed him, pitter-pattering along.

The fairly large deer was already dead. Jade prayed briefly beside it.

“Cutting the windpipe right away is best.”

“Does that hurt less?”

“Probably.”

Axel prayed briefly too. Then he began to butcher the deer. The process was quite complex and indeed not easy. Even with the man’s strong hands and firm arms, it didn’t end quickly.

“…I’ll reduce how much I eat from today.”

“Do as you like.”

After concentrating on butchering with a knife for a while, Axel noticed Jade holding back her question marks and smiled slightly. Then he added a brief explanation.

“Since we’re not eating it right away, we need to remove the parts that will rot.”

“The entrails?”

“Yeah. You know well.”

“Right? I told you I’ve been around a lot outside. Really. Why are you looking at me like that?”

Axel snorted and said that after butchering, he would smoke or dry it and put it in storage, as he kept his hands busy.

“The antler has only one branch.”

“There are many trees here, so if the antlers had many branches, it would be hard to escape getting caught in tree branches.”

“That’s true. But did you have a bow?”

“Why a bow.”

Jade tilted her head.

“How did you catch it without arrows? The deer wouldn’t have not noticed until a person approached.”

No matter how quietly Axel moved, his height and build were very large, so the movement of his shadow would have been clearly visible. If it didn’t notice that, this deer would have failed as a herbivore.

But Axel answered indifferently.

“Just, well. Somehow.”

He seemed to be holding something back. Noticing this, Jade decided not to ask any more and just quietly watch his hands move.

The large hands were gripping the knife firmly enough for tendons to rise, but the movements were as smooth as gliding. It was amazing how there seemed to be no resistance at all. Of course, that would mean Axel’s strength was that great.

Jade resolved once again. From now on, I’ll eat two spoonfuls less.

“Is it hard to raise livestock?”

“It’s difficult because there are days when I’m away from home.”

“Because it’s hard to feed them?”

“Yeah. And if wild beasts take them while I’m gone, there’s no gain.”

“You could just not leave home. Why do you leave?”

“Stop asking questions.”

“Okay….”

I really don’t know what’s allowed and what’s not. He answers some things on his own but gets annoyed when I ask about others.

Jade grumbled inwardly and looked far away, then suddenly stood up.

“Ah, no way. That’s a Balansi tree!”

Axel focused on his own work, leaving Jade running off noisily. Magicians are just like that.

But contrary to his expectation that she would fall, Jade surprisingly climbed the tree skillfully. Then she shook the dry fruits hanging on the high branches, making them fall plop plop.

“This is especially effective for people who often have stomachaches. It’s really precious! This forest is truly a treasure trove, I tell you?”

Well, she did climb a tree last time too.

With that sound in the background, Axel completed the butchering.

It was a peaceful afternoon.

Felix Broen stroked around his chin. The stubble he hadn’t properly shaved to play the role of a sad uncle for his niece’s disappearance was prickly.

“Father.”

At that moment, Asela walked in. His only daughter and failure.

Felix asked without even looking at his daughter.

“Asela. What brings you here?”

But she wasn’t a complete failure yet. She was quite pretty, so if she just married a rich man, there could be benefits rolling in later.

Of course, a proper marriage required a large dowry, but with the disappearance of his niece, Jade Broen, possibilities were emerging. If he played his cards right, he could pocket a lot of money under the table.