This was his first time in the household of his student. The kitchen was quite big for just two people. There were huge counter-tops with enough space for deer or maybe even a cow, which he did not question for his own good.

“Oh? Are you leaving, mister Triston? What did father say to you?” She asked in worry as she chopped up the deer.

Her father did not want to waste her time with scholars of unknown origin. He became a restaurant owner on a side of the near town from one of his grandparent’s inheritances. He initially did not care much about it, but as he retired and his daughter came to life. The restaurant came as one of his passing joys in life. He had little experience with it previously, but as time passed, he had some staff who dealt with most problems, while he took care of the food supply and management it came with as an owner.

Since little, Sarey helped with running this restaurant. Zigmund was initially quite reluctant to give his daughter this kind of upbringing, but the job was a job. It was not too bad to learn something like this early on. But as time went on, nothing much changed with it, but his daughter began to be interested in other things. Education was something she wanted to experience as well as she discovered the world full of people at the restaurant were all kinds of folks and professions. As time went on, one time she got a hold of one scholar-looking person who occasionally came to Zigmund’s place at one point. Forcing him to be her teacher was just a matter of her tries.

She was surprised that he was willing to teach her some stuff, but the condition was some meals and some silver aside. She was going every other day while still taking care of the work her father made her do. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It depended on Triston’s attitude, as well as Zigmund’s.

That was one reason the kitchen was of very high quality. There were even ice rooms with shattered pieces of glaciers from Mount Glorious from the northern part of the continent, which provided freezing temperatures for storing meat all year round.

Saray, with a knife in her hand, glanced at the approaching Triston.

“Yes, I am. There is nothing much I can do. As I told you before, you would need to invoke a miracle to heal him completely.” He said with crossed arms.

“All I wanted was just a few tips and information. I know very well that it is near impossible.”

“Why would you try to save this boy? Did you know him from somewhere?” Triston asked in curiosity. He did not understand for her to take such a task to herself. He got a confirmation that Zigmund was against it as well.

“So what if I did? The world already betrayed him, and I did not want to be part of it. It is that simple.”

“Simple things are often very hard to accomplish. Like world peace, what a lot of scholars dream and write about. It sounds simple, but it is such an ordeal that no nation or kingdom will try to think about it. Although, there were, are, and will be people with these ideas in every age.”

“Thank you for your kind words. I will still stand by my decision.” She said in confidence as she chopped a piece of the leg with a cleaver.

“It is only your decision. Living with such a resolution could only lead to problems and misery.” He said meaningfully.

“I don’t think those words came from your mind, mister Triston.” Sarey joked around as she started the processing of the intestines. It was quite a sight to behold. Teenage girl to chopping up a deer.

“Of course, it did not. Hehehe.” He laughed.

“He will not be available for today and tomorrow, so come in 3 days. I hope you will be understanding.” Tristan said as he walked towards the main door.

“No problem. Give him my sincere thanks.” She waves with her cleaver towards leaving Tristan.

“By the way, what is that bloodied bag? Did you get injured as well?” Tristan pointed towards the half-opened bag on the ground.

“That? That’s remains from the deer hunt, I think. It’s father’s.” She found a quick excuse.

“Is that so? Alright then. See you later and let the light lead your heart.” Tristan said as he opened the main door and left.

“Yours too.“ Sarey muttered as she struggled with bloodied organs.

Triston shut the door and wondered about other things. He took a deep breath and left towards a forest road in the direction of the closest city.

Inside the home, Sarey sighed in relief as she did her best to not leak anything that shouldn’t be said.

But it did not stop her from looking at the content of the bag. There were piles of books, weapons, and some wasted remains of food. It made her think about where he found it. Maybe beneath that debris? She watched as her father uncovered the metals and incredible-looking things and she could only glance in shock. She has never seen anything like that in her life, especially the big clawed marked pillar-like materials. As for this bag, its content was nothing much what she could guess, apart from the possibility that it was the remains of stuff that Allan had.

She continued her butchering as usual after leaving the bag alone. Moving plates of meat in wooden boxes with bones and skin aside for other things on the sides of the table. Intestines and other stuff apart from the meat could be used for some sausages or some kind of food that does not look that appetizing.

As she was done, Zigmund walked around the corner.

“Are you done already?”

“Yea. It took me as usual. You were just lost in thoughts or something in the other room” Sarey said as she cleaned the table and herself.

“What are you trying to say? I just took a glance at mister Triston and that boy. I hope you did not tell him much.”

“I was careful and told him that we discovered him by a side of the road while hunting.”

“Good. I hope he won’t be too curious.”

“It is going to be fine. I promise, father.”

“What do you plan to do with him anyway? It seems he won’t die after all.”

“I will see when he wakes up.”

“What? Do you plan to marry him if he wakes up? Wake up yourself.” Zigmund barked at her. He did not want to get involved with this much longer. His small bottle of patience is about to spill out.

Glancing at the side, he has seen the bag from before half-open. “Did you take a glance? I don’t think what that boy got involved in is anything but dangerous. I swear if he will mean danger to you, I will kill him myself.”

Sarey looked visibly shocked by his father’s words. She does not understand what he meant.

“Why be so extreme?” She asked in worry.

“From the state of the things that were in his bag. I can safely say that he was on a road for months upon months, perhaps even a year.”

“How are you so sure it was his?” Sarey asked. It was hard to speculate about such things.

“Ah. I am... not.” He muttered.

“Then let us wait. You already cleaned the evidence, and perhaps even took some things for yourself. What else do you want?”

“Nothing. I am being cautious. It… is a scary world beyond ours.”

Sarey looked at her father with concern. She was unaware of a lot of things that her father had experienced in his military service.

“I am sorry to make you worry. Are you sure this could be something beyond our world?”

“I am, and I don’t want to admit it myself. That stuff was definitely out of this world.”

“Then deal with it as usual. Ignore it until it will be solved by itself.” Sarey took a last glance at her father, who stood by a kitchen table, before undressing from her butcher apron, gloves, and taking her hat off. Wavy golden hair spread around her back. Light gloved from the hair threads. It was rather beautiful and striking to see.

Zigmund could only watch in silence as his daughter left for her room or bathroom to clean up herself. He was thinking about the words she said. Perhaps has been too focused on his past. He never forgets about his service and the things he has seen.

Zigmund reluctantly left the kitchen and moved to his office and sat in a cushy chair. Glancing at the wall, which was littered with books and pictures in cabinets. On one particular, was a group photo of a military man in a tight-fitting uniform. The armored chest plate and silver gloves with helmets between their hands in front of their chest. The soldier looked quite intimidating and shined with valor. It was one of the few pictures left of his squad. Most of them already passed away. Be it in combat or natural way.

He sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned on the chair. After his mind flooded with unknown thoughts, he suddenly jumped up.

“How could I forget it? Who else could determine this mess than him? I swear to the world, the more years pass, the more stupid I become.” Zigmund stood up and walked to the cabinets. On a side was a small chest of random objects. Emblems, tokens, coins, and other things were there. He took a seemingly ordinary-looking emblem with 3 headed lions on it and took it into his pocket.

Just as he was preparing to do what he remembered. Zigmund recalled his responsibilities. He already made appointments for his restaurants and couldn’t cancel them. It was not a question of life and death, so he decided to postpone his sudden recollection.
He walked towards another room on the far left of the house. “Hey, Sarey, I will be going to town. I won’t force you this time, so just deal with the house and our napping guest.”

“Sure.” The audible answer sounded from beneath the door.

Zigmund was sure that his daughter was probably angry at him, so he found it much more fitting to be cautious and not anger her further.

“Well, it is not the first time, nor the last time.” He mumbled to himself as he left the home. Telling a lie to her about leaving for work was no problem for him, even though Sarey would care less about what went on.

Of course, she didn't. Inside her room, Sarey was sitting by a table, glancing at the book about astrology that Triston bought for her a long time ago. She already read it all, but she liked to glance at the illustration and magical world beyond the sky. Her hair was still scattered behind her back. Her father prohibited her from showing it to anyone. There was a catastrophe in the past when she was very little. At a passing moment in town, someone kidnapped her by the watch of her father and mother.

It was later revealed that the kidnapper was a member of a rather famous black market and she would fetch a tremendous fortune. A beautiful little girl was an easy target for quite a fortune with the right buyers. With her fascinating gold hair, it made quite a stir in Zigmund's heart and he eventually saved her with not much notice from the officials who were in charge of the citizens from evil forces.

After that, he never allowed his daughter to expose herself too much in the public. Wearing hats, cloaks or hoods was the bare minimum that he allowed. For some reason, he or his wife never cared to just shave it or use some dye flower coloring to mask her hair.

Not like Sarey cared too much, as the trauma from the kidnapping happened at quite a young age. She remembered very little from that time and she loved her hair and never wanted to get rid of it. This all was just a minor inconvenience and founding a piece of clothes to fit the headwear was something she enjoyed as well with the passing years.