We reached a building that looked like a small complex. I somehow knocked on the door with Lenova still in my arms. A kid opened it.

"Can you call the head, please?"

The kid acknowledged my request and closed the door. Later, an old man opened the door. He first scanned me then Lenova.

"Give her to me then go to my office to have a talk with me later."

"And where's your office?" I asked him while I gave him Lenova

"Right, I forgot we are no longer in Green Wood… It is the door at the end of the hallway." He turned and carried Lenova to what I imagined to be her room without waiting for an answer.

I entered the building, closed the door behind me and followed his directions to his office. While walking I passed a common eating area and what seemed to be a classroom. I did not see any kids except the one who opened the door, that must mean that they were ready to sleep 'I think'.

I found the door and opened it. There was no one inside, the office was rather empty. Understandable, because it was recently built. There was a desk, a chair behind it and some empty bookshelves surrounding it.

I sat on the desk and just waited for the head. Couple minutes later he entered the office.

"Lenova told me she was learning how to grow gems from a Vanguard, but I did not expect that "Vanguard" to be you."

"I know right. Imagine my surprise when she asked me to help her to become strong for the sake of killing me later."

"There are many orphans here who have lost their families through unreasonable means. It is a cruel world, after all. They have the right to feel angry about it."

"But vengeance is another story."

"Are you talking from experience?"

"Personally, no. However, I have seen and heard stories of men seeking vengeance and dying for it."

"So those never got their revenge."

"Some did but they did not last long without their reason for living. Either they ended their own lives or they lived aimlessly."

"… And you decided to taught her in such a horrible fashion." He pointed at my chest, it had remains of my blood that I forgot to clean up 'Oops'.

"It is rude to look at a woman's chest."

He snorted "I've seen that chest when it wasn't there." 'He knew my character when it was a child…? Oh, yes, I remember. In character creation you have to choose a backstory and in mine I was an orphan.'

"Still rude, but yes I gave her a first handed experience on revenge."

"Couldn't you have found another way?"

"Words cannot express such feeling and it was either that or one of us dying in the future."

"That is a "what if" case scenario. Orphans here will forget those feelings while growing."

"Does that happen to all?"

"… No." he sighed "Let's leave that behind for now. What are you planning to do in the future?"

"In what way?"

"Lenova. You are not going to leave her like that, so I'm asking what will you do?"

"Am I that easy to read?" 'I'm pretty sure that I can control my expression to some level'

"Who do you think raised your lazy ass?"

"I'm not lazy. I just don't like doing bothersome things."

He rolled his eyes "Then, what's your answer?"

"I'll adopt her. I'll take responsibility for her. I probably have given her a pretty awful trauma."

He raised his brows "You… adopt her…? Will the sun rise from the west next day…?"

"That's rude!"

His expression turned serious "However, to adopt someone, you need to answer some criteria and one of them is to possess a long-term habitation in a town. Which I believe you don't have right now."

"By coincidence, I am working on it."

"Is that so… We can talk about the others criteria when you have one… Are you serious about adopting her?"

"It is mostly a whim but I'll make sure to grow her into a proper adult."

"Coming from you, that is very worrying."

"Rude!"

"I'm telling the truth." 'seriously, this guy is really rude'

I rolled my eyes at that. "Anyway, I will talk with the girl then I will see myself out."

"Her room is in the second floor, turn left on the stairs, third door on the right. Her door is not closed, so you can open it. More importantly, do not add more scars to the ones she already has."

"I know. Although, the girl is smart and has a strong hearth. She'll just put all this behind her without me doing anything."

"Even if that is the truth, do not do something unnecessary."

"Ok."

I walked out of the office and followed the head's instructions. I climbed the stairs, I turned left and stopped in front of the third door on the right. I knocked on it but received no response. I opened it and found Lenova hugging her legs on top of the bed. I closed the door, approached her, sat on the edge of the bed and flicked her in the head.

"Ow! Why!?"

"To take you from your depressing mood. Things happened, they're in the past, let's move on."

She ignored me and was going back into her depressed position but I flicked her once more.

"Ow!"

"Keep ignoring me and I'll keep flicking your head."

She put her hands in a protective position in front of her forehead.

"Are you listening now? I'll tell you now but you won't be able to escape being flicked by me even by putting your hands on your forehead."

She nodded.

"You remember what happened earlier, don't you?"

"…" She dropped her eyes.

"That was the feeling of revenge, what you felt at that time."

"…"

"You probably just felt that you were killing me, but that is basically it. Blood for blood revenge is, from one perspective, becoming the murderer. There were people who enjoyed that feeling but they were just bloodthirsty 'and probably messed up in the head'. The worst part of vengeance is that it never ends even after the first target is dead."

"… What do you mean?"

"If you killed me, someone who had a close relationship to me may seek revenge against you. If you are killed someone you may have been close to you will seek revenge against that person and so on."

"Is it bad to want revenge…?"

"No. It's not bad to want or feel something that we call it bad or evil in some way, as long as you keep it to yourself, but it is bad to enact it. If you still want to seek revenge, that is fine, as long as you don't actually do it."

I took a moment to regain my breath.

"This is the reason why justice is enacted by the government. It is to keep people from seeking justice by their own hands and cause more damage to their surroundings. Did you understand what I just told you?"

"…"

"You are a pretty intelligent girl, so I am assuming you did. Have a nice night of sleep and come find me at the usual spot in the morning."

I got up from the bed and before leaving I flicked her head once more, she let her guard down and did not have her hands protecting it.

"Ow! Why!?"

"Because I wanted to do it~."

I closed the door without waiting a response and got back to the ground floor. The head was standing in front of the entrance door.

"So, did you break a girl's heart once again?" 'that is an odd way of saying it'

"Why is that the first thing you say when you saw me returning?"

He shrugged "Anyway, are you serious about adopting her?"

"Probably. I mean it is mostly a whim but somehow, I want to take care of that girl. She is smart and has a strong heart, but has a rather naïve mind, even for her age."

"Does that remind you of someone?"

"No. Who are you talking about?" 'I just met you tonight'

He just shrugged and switched the subject "We've received your donations but you should personally visit the orphanage when you can."

I rolled my eyes "Talking as if you are a lonely parent."

"I did raise you."

I rolled my eyes "If I am your daughter, does that mean that Lenova will soon become your grand-daughter?"

He thought about it for a second "I guess it does… Damn, I will become a grandfather and I did not even notice. Must be the age." He sighed 'he sounds rather happy though'

"In any case, you should not be lonely with all the kids you have to watch for and I know that there are others helping you. Therefore, you should not be either lonely or tired."

He slow-clapped "Great argument to say that you won't come back to visit us."

I rolled my eyes "I did not say that. I might come here when I am free and the thought cross my head."

"With how lazy you are, I don't believe it."

"I am not that lazy."

"Yes, you are. I remember the time when-"

"Ok. Bye."

I slipped by him and got outside and I kept walking. I had the feeling that once he started reminiscing, he would keep going on and on for hours and I did not want to hear him talking about my past "deeds".

I stopped for a moment and thought 'My past deeds… I meant my character past deeds. Furthermore, why did I know that he would keep rambling for hours…? Instinct?' I sighed 'At this point, I just feel like accepting that what comes, will come and I will not bother thinking about it that much. There is no point of losing my sanity over it.''

I restarted making my way to the forest to get to the tree where I sleep these days. The worst part of having a specialized sleeping bad is that you can only use it in specific environments.

.

.

A new day has come and I had resumed my work with growing the star gems in my usual spot. By this point, I had 6 stars completed and a whole lot more to go.

My [Surveillance Trap] broke informing me of the arrival of a person nearby 'now that think about it, I haven't seen any insects apart from those wasps at the beginning'. I looked at the direction from where it was broken and saw Lenova, tired by the look of the bags under her eyes.

"I did ask you to have a nice sleep, didn't I?"

"Who could sleep after that?" 'I think she tried to raise her voice, but she's too tired to do that. However, it is mind-blowing that she is already started to put the events from yesterday behind her. It is proof of her strong heart.'

I made a seat with earth energy and motioned at her to seat.

"Well, if you are that tired it will not be possible to for you to do anything so-" I grabbed her head and brought it to my lap "-today you will sleep."

She was tired and did not have to will to fight back and just relaxed herself. I started caressing her head.

"This is weird." She started

"What is?"

"Me being like this to you. I know you killed my parents. I should hate you, but I cannot. I like you."

"Oh, you're going to make me blush~."

"Even though you're so annoying." She said with a fed-up face

"Exactly as planned~."

She sighed "This is really weird."

"Well, it is weird for me too."

"To find out that you have killed my parents?"

"Yes, but at the same time no. I am not going to sugarcoat it. I have killed a lot more people than you think. It is expected that some had families that they left behind. No, what it is most unexpected is that one of them was a kid I got myself attached to and that same kid wanted to kill me."

"You got attached to me? We've met just two days ago."

"I guess that means that we have great compatibility. That's why I will adopt you later."

"What did you just say!?" 'that got her vigor back'

"Like I said, I will adopt you. Is there a problem?"

She flapped her mouth wanting to say something but couldn't find the words, so in the end she just sighed, releasing complex emotions within and relaxed back into her position.

"This is weird." She repeated

"If you don't like the idea, I can just not do it."

"No! No, that… I'm happy, but I shouldn't...I-" I put my hand on her mouth, not letting her continuing

"Well, if you like it then just do it. Sometimes things are just too complicated to think that you can only follow your heart. So, what does your heart say?"

I released my hand from her mouth to let her speak. She did not say anything for a while, mulling on her thoughts before finally whispering "… Yes." I was really, really happy with her answer.

'The time she had spent on thinking about her answer almost killed me with suspense. Now that I am a mother, what should I do~? First, I need to know her better, then… I do not know, but I should start there. Seriously, I am mother and Lenova is my daughter. Just the thought brings me happiness~. Why? I do not know and I don't care. If I am happy and she's happy too, that is all that matters.'

I parted her hair from her forehead, I hunched and brought her head close to mine before kissing her in the forehead. I kissed her for five full seconds, after that parted with it and said with a full-blown smile on my face "I guess with that, we are mother and daughter."

She was blushing, but nonetheless nodded "Hm." Before turning her head 'My new daughter is so cute~'

"We're not officially mother and daughter yet, since I still need to do some stuff first before finally signing the papers. So, you'll need to wait a little. Is that okay with you?"

"It's fine."

While we were talking, I was multitasking. I completed another two gems, therefore I decided to take a break. I continued caressing Lenova's hair, it felt a dirty.

"Is there still no water in the town to take a bath?" I asked

"I don't think so…"

"I think the river should no longer be dirty and since you're here, shall we take a bath?"

"I don't think I can walk that far… I'm too tired."

"Then, should I carry you?"

"…" she was thinking about it

I clapped my hands "I know! I'll make it a memorable experience."

"How?" That got her curiosity

I put her back into seating position and I got up from mine. I put back my inscription gear into the inventory and I started searching it for my outfit 'ah, there it is'. I activated the buffs [Feather Fall], [Body Strengthening] and [Mind Sharpening].

"I have never done this in front of anybody, so you'll be the first to witness firsthand."

I used the switch function of the inventory to switch into another outfit. This one was a dark tight armored bodysuit, but what was more eye catching about it were the two pairs of wings in the backside. They were made of dark grey leather with rough feather's patterns.

I picked up Lenova, who was frozen in shock, and closed her mouth.

"You should not let your mouth hanging open like that, you might bite your tongue later."

I jumped, opened my wings and activated the inscriptions in it, making a gust of air surge through them and propelling us higher and higher with each wing beat. The whole outfit purpose was to connect my body onto the wings and let me have a comfortable position while using them. The wings moved with mechanical movements that transitioned in a loop from four positions by feeding the soul energy into them, although it is possible to manipulate them with more detail. There were air inscriptions on each wing that propelled my body, while one wing beat the other was spread letting me glide in the air. 'Normally, I wouldn't do this in front of anybody because of the troubles it might cause, but since it is Lenova, I cannot help but want to show off a little.'

I got us high enough to have a good view of the surroundings, so I went into a gliding position and tapped on Lenova's head to bring her attention to me. She was completely glued to me for fear of falling off 'although I would never let her fall and if for some reason she does, I would protect her so that no harm comes to her', however when she felt my fingers tapping on her head she opened her eyes and looked at me. I pointed forward and she followed my hand with her gaze before widening at the view.

That must have been the first time that she was completely taken back by something. We were high up, so everything looked small and meshed together from our position. The clouds were so close, there was a sea of green bellow us and there were many mountains as far as the eye can see. It was a breathtaking view 'for a first timer, I myself used these wings many times for fun so I got used to fly around'.

I noticed that we were already closing in to the river, so I started slowly descending. I decided to fly to more downstream the river than I did before. When I found a good location to land, I pulled Lenova's head into my chest and swopped down as gently as I could before finally touching the earth.

I gently put Lenova down "Was that memorable enough for you?"

She was going to say something but I put her down, she fell down to a sitting position. She seemed to be making an effort to get up but she couldn't, tears were filling her eyes.

"Oh, my~. Looks like someone got hit by a sense of vertigo~." I said with my condescending voice

The effect was immediate as she started glaring me with her tear-filled eyes.

"In any case, you do not need to move from there." I patted her head and started building the bath for us.

When I was done, I glanced at the girl and saw that she was already up and was watching my work. I motioned at her to enter the bath.

She did so and she said "It is dark in here."

"Just a moment." I switched back to the clothes I was wearing before and entered the bath as well. As she had mentioned, it was dark inside so I created many [Candlelight] flames and spread them in the air.

I created hooks from the walls and told Lenova "Take off your clothes and hang them here." I did the same, then I heated the water and got inside. Lenova was shyer with entering the water.

"Will I be able to do all this when I will become an adult?" she asked

"Maybe. You do have to train for it though."

"For the sake of taking a bath when I want, I will do it." She said seriously with some strange conviction 'I understand it perfectly'. Then she relaxed in the hot water.

I motioned to come near me and she did so. I turned her so that her back was facing me.

"Don't move."

"What are you going to do?"

"Something that will feel really good~." I said with a playful voice that only made her shudder 'no trust in me, huh'

I manipulated the water to clean her hair while making it massage her scalp. Her demeanor went from untrustworthiness to completely relaxed. She closed her eyes, focusing on the feeling of the water weaving through her hair.

Lenova's hair is dark like mine but hers is glossier. She had a bob cut hairstyle only parted twice by her scarlet-black horns on her forehead. She has white skin color. She is only twelve, but somehow, she already had two rather big swells growing on her chest 'will they be as big as mine?'.

"That should be enough for the hair. Now your whole body."

"What?"

"Take a deep breath."

She did not understand what was going to happen but did as she was told. I enveloped her in a ball of water that was constantly churning to scrape of the dirt and grime that she may have accumulated these days. One moment she was comfortably in the water, the next she started squirming while holding her hands on her mouth making me stop immediately and let her out.

"Are you okay!?" I was genuinely worried that I did something bad to her

"…" she did not respond. She had a faraway look on her eyes

"Lenova, are you okay?" I asked once more but this time more softly to not scare her

She looked at me with that faraway look, then she said "… Yes… I… I'm fine… just… maybe…" and she passed out

"… Lenova?" I put my ear in front of her mouth and listened to her breath. There was nothing wrong. Then to her chest for the heartbeat but there was also nothing wrong. She was just asleep, making sigh in relief. 'What happened? I made sure that the strength of the water would just massage her body, not hurt her.'

Not knowing what happened, I decided to do the same to me to verify it. I washed my hair by manipulating the water but that only relaxed me. Then I enveloped myself in water making it constantly churning to wash my body, of course while using less strength in the more sensitive parts 'Hang on, did I apply less strength when it was Lenova?... I didn't, didn't I...'

Problem solved, I grabbed my head and declared firmly "I am really stupid, aren't I." I glanced at her and now noticed that her cheeks were rather rosy to be only from the heat… and the other bodily reactions… 'I so want to punch the myself! I won't do it because it will hurt.'

I spent the next minutes agonizing with myself.

.

.

'Now that I think about it, nothing really happened. Right, nothing happened' I looked at my daughter who fell asleep, tired for not having slept this night and because of the emotional roller-coaster she went through.

I washed Lenova again, with the head out of the water and this time more softly. Used life energy to heal her "tired" body. Then, I switched the old water for new one that I quickly heated and just relaxed with Lenova on top of my lap.

Accident aside, Lenova did deserve some rest, a lot has happened, so I just let her stay like that. I absentmindedly watched the fire sprites moving around while listening to the soft sleeping sounds of Lenova.

I do not know if this kind of peace will persist. Obsidian taught players that conflicts are never ending and will drag even innocent people. Me, being one of the more powerful from Obsidian, will most likely be dragged too. At that time, I may not be able to protect those I care for, my daughter included. Therefore, the second step with my daughter is to make her someone who will thrive without my help. It may take years, but that is the task that all parents have and I will fulfill it as best as possible.

"Lenova, wake up." I softly called

"…" she stirred but did not wake up

"Lenova, you should not sleep that much in a bath." I started shaking her lightly

"… 5 … more minutes…"

"Lenova… no, Nova, wake up." 'I decided to make a pet name for her~.'

"…" she ignored me and dived further into my chest 'those are not pillows you know'

I sighed and decided to get more physical. I picked her up, put my lips to her cheek and blew air into it.

The effect was immediate as she tried to get away from me, but couldn't because I was holding her.

"Stop that!" she said while holding her cheek

"Rise and shine!"

She ignored it and rubbed her face as if I dirtied it in some way 'there might be some saliva in there, but that is no reason to have such a reaction.'. When she felt it was good enough, she leaned on me and tilted her head.

"When did I fell asleep?"

"While you were taking a bath. Don't you remember?"

"Not really, no." 'Hell, yes!'

"Is that so? No matter. How do you feel now?"

"How do I feel? I feel… I don't know… relaxed?"

"Then the bath made some wonders." 'Yes, the bath and only the bath'

"I guess…" she leaned more into my chest 'really now, those aren't pillows.'

Then suddenly, as if a switch was lightened, she turned around and started feeling my chest. 'Is this revenge!? She actually remembers!'

I stopped my silly thoughts when I saw her expression of seriousness mixed with worry and regret. She kept feeling my chest in a specific spot.

"If you're looking for the wound, it is not there anymore."

"How?"

"Healing spells are pretty good."

"There is no scar."

"That is a blessing for women like me, or else our bodies would be filled with scars on top of more scars."

Although there is some relief in her eyes, the regret did not vanish. I hugged her close to me and started patting her head.

"There is no need to be feeling bad about it. I did kind of threatened you to do it."

"How can you say that? You almost died…" I could not see her expression from my position but I could hear the sadness in her voice.

"But that is where you are wrong. I wouldn't die."

Her head started turning some gears "… Are you immortal?"

I laughed at that "No. Where did get such idea?" 'At least not anymore, since respawn does not exist anymore'

"But you flied in the sky!"

"Dear, I am not the only one who can do it."

That seemed to shock her deeply.

I gently turned Nova's head to be facing me and told her seriously "Nova, listen to me. There is always someone better than you. Keep that in mind for your entire life, okay. Can you promise me that?"

She looked confused, but nodded nonetheless.

"You might not understand it yet. But those words may save your life one day."

"… Does that mean that I can fly one day?"

I chuckled "Yes, you might, but as I've said multiple times: You have to train diligently to be able to do it. That brings another important question: What do you want to do in the future?"

"What? Me?... I don't know…" She looked embarrassed

"You don't have to look embarrassed you know. When I was your age, all I wanted to do was to have fun and I still follow that motto."

"Is that why you want to adopt me? To have fun." She looked angry

"Yes. Because, I feel that having you as a daughter will be a lot of fun for the years to come."

She pouted and turned her head away from me.

I continued "Although I will not have fun if you don't so I ask of you that when you do or don't like something please tell me. I would like that we both have a fun life."

"I don’t like your teasing."

"Well, you'll have to deal with it because I'm not changing~."

She continued to pout it. 'That looks like a bubble. Can I pop it?'

I pocked her cheek but it did not pop, so I did it again and again and again-

"Stop that!"

"Oops, sorry~."

"You aren't sorry." She said tiredly

"Anyway, if you don't have anything you want to do for now, I will teach you."

"Teach me what?"

"Like you asked me once before, I will teach how to become strong among other stuff."

"But I no longer want vengeance… I do not want to hurt you once again…"

"That makes me happy, but I will not teach you so that you can hurt others but so that you can protect yourself."

"…" she did not seem to understand me 'time for the bait that cannot be shaken off'

"If you learn what I teach you, you will be able to make a bath whenever you want and you might even be able to fly-"

"Ok, I'll do it!" 'Exactly as planned~.'

"Then let's start right away."

"Already?"

"We'll just discuss it for now. It will also help to kill time while we are here."

"Ok."

"Then, is there any particular path you would like to take? I don't know, like sword combined with fire spells, or blade fists combined with kinetic spells? Anything really."

"I want to use a bow and lighting spells."

"You already said that yesterday. Is there a particular reason?"

"… It's because it was my late parents' weapons."

"I see. Then it is declined."

"Why!?"

"It is not because I don't like your parents or anything like that. It is because it might not be your preferred weapon."

"My preferred weapon?"

"Yes. Take me as an example: I don't like getting hit but I like to hit hard and fast, so I move as fast as I can and do heavy attacks as much as possible. I know someone who does not flinch while taking hits so he made himself as tough as possible and walks around in the battlefield unhindered."

"Then why did you ask me that question?"

"Because you might have something on your mind that you always wanted to try for yourself. A preferred weapon is one that matches your personality. Following in the footsteps of someone else is the same as matching the personality to that someone." I looked her in the eyes

"… I understand."

"If you don't know yet, that is fine. We'll just try a bunch of stuff until you find something you can call your own."

"Ok." She answered with conviction

"Talk done. Let's just enjoy the bath for now."

"Yes~."

.

.

"By the way?"

"Yes."

"My body has been feeling weird for some reason. I don't it's bad but it is weird."

"Oh, that… Perhaps I used too much strength with the water while cleaning you that you are feeling weak in some parts."

"Is that so?"

"Maybe. Next time I'll be more careful."

"Ok." 'dodged a bullet there…'