Later that day, they found with the help of Lucifer a grotto not far from some sandy shores. Logs of wood were fetched for warmth and preparations were made to make the den a suitable home during the coldest season of the year.

“About that raft…”, William said as he maintained his sword, “Since we’re going to stay here for the winter, why not find a village that we can get some necessary tools from? Like an axe? And some furs that we can insulate our clothes with?”.

The man who was covered in ‘furs’, turned around and looked at the other person as if they were blind, “Furs? I have plenty of that... And what is an axe?”.

William couldn’t hide his disgust at Thalgar’s drapes of skin. If they had been rinsed and shaved clean of muscles, then his clothes wouldn’t have bothered William at all… But sadly they weren’t… If his eyes didn’t fool him, then William even got a glimpse of a stain that was starting to rot the other day… He sat silently, wondering if he should just set fire to Thalgar’s outfit, when Lucifer came prancing in. This time dragging behind it a dead seal.

William got up in a hurry and praised Lucifer for its achievement, “Ah, my little rascal! Look at you, so brave! Yes, you are~”.

Lucifer lifted its head and showed off the seal’s beautiful pelt. Then it haughtily went on a tour around the campfire, displaying its kill with such pride that Thalgar almost felt challenged. Boros also kept its gaze on the little critter, secretly dissing how Lucifer sometimes let the seal get caught on some corners.

With a straight back, William exclaimed, “Look at it! This is exactly what we need. Although I don’t know how to process pelts, we can exchange this seal for many things. Including some pieces of fine fur… And don’t give me that look, Thalgar! You’ll come to need it and when you do. You’ll be glad that I made the preparations!... And as for the axe… We’ll need one of those to fell trees for the raft”.

Not impressed, Thalgar went out to do his nightly ritual, leaving with the words, “Trees can be felled with my hands… But if you need all of those things to stay alive, then go get them… And do not forget your training… Without it, you might as well give up”.

****

As soon as the first snow had fallen, Thalgar went out to dump a huge pile of it on top of his irritated scalp to freeze the lice and lessen the itch. William saw this and immediately understood its meaning. He went closer to the person and remarked, “Honestly, you should just shave it all off at this point…”.

Thalgar subconsciously moved his hands down to the nape of his neck as he replied, “Never… There will never come a day that I remove my hair… It is rather simple really... The benefits from having it far outweigh the minor inconveniences it creates… Such as the itchy ones…”.

William kept silent, thinking to himself: Well I never said that you weren’t allowed to grow it back…

After that stiff moment, William went inside to craft the pelts he had gotten from a ‘nearby’ village onto his clothes.

As the winter dragged on they began to run out of food, because whether or not they liked it, the animals and veggies they could gather were beginning to dwindle in numbers. Thus they ended up staying mostly inside, sleeping to the sound of their rumbling stomachs. But even though it was fricking cold, Thalgar still went out to hunt sometimes with bare feet and a half-assed attitude toward the weather. Making William wonder if Thalgar really was a human being...

The moment spring arrived they made their first raft, unfortunately, it quickly sank...

Both Thalgar and William gaped at the sight of their little titanic getting eaten alive. Seeing as their first attempt had failed, William suggested, “Maybe there is a difference in which trees can float well and which can’t?”. Thalgar regained his composure as well and agreed, “Perhaps…”.

Trees of all sorts were pulled from their roots and then flung into the ocean to see which stayed afloat the longest. To their surprise, it was the log of a dead tree that came out victorious. Alas, their struggle didn’t end there. Prototype after prototype they came to improve the raft into its perfect form: A solid surface that didn’t shift nor sink. It could carry Boros in its full glory, and with its sheer size, it should be able to hold on to their humongous foe.

During all this trial and error, William was bestowed the curse of womanhood. It was red and mostly nonexistent; puzzling him to no end as he had imagined it to be extremely cruel and bothersome. Yet, every time it came it was just as quickly gone?... Having heard the worrying tales of aunt red’s terror from his past female friends, he had dreaded the day it should come, but this? It was nothing!

When raft number 15 was fully ready to sail the seas it was already nearing winter again. Since they had spent so much time on making the primitive boat, their hopes for success couldn’t get any higher since defeat would mean they had wasted a whole year on doing nothing. Well, almost nothing.

William and Thalgar kept up their hunting until he finally grasped how to correctly handle his energy. And amidst the days of hard work, they also took the time to practice their swimming skills and ability to hold their breaths…

The morning they set out to kill the giant was misty and fresh. Thalgar settled a giant pile of harpoons in the middle of the raft before he glanced back at William, reluctantly telling him that, “Since this will be the end... I think you should know that... Only last night did I sense the beast return to its old lair…”.

For a few seconds William didn’t get what Thalgar was talking about, but once he did his face flared up, “You must be kidding me!... What do you mean: It only returned last night!? Since when did it leave!?”.

Without batting an eyelash, Thalgar calmly replied, “Since spring arrived… I figured it went on a mating journey and that it would soon return… And so it did…”.

“Oh? How convenient. But what if it hadn’t? Huh!? Then all of this would have been for nothing!”, William almost screamed at Thalgar.

A pile of spears was thrown on the raft by the furious girl who continued to spout, “For god’s sake, Thalgar! We spent a whole year on this damn thing!... How could you leave me in the dark like this?... I thought that-...”.

William paused so that he could stop his voice from reaching the heavens. Then he quickly coughed and said in a deeper tone, “I thought that you were more sensible than this... Just know this… If we fail to kill it today, then you must give it up!... You will forget all about hunting that impossible creature and instead travel with me down south to find another energy! No buts!”.

“...”, Thalgar responded with silence, because to him there was no such thing as giving up on a hunt…