The black bear-like monster leaned closer to Lily with drool coming out of its mouth.

"Did you call for m-"

Ain walked over to Lily, who previously called out to her in a small voice. However, once she was there, Ain dropped the herbs she collected when she also saw the monster.

And now, both girls were shaking in fear.

"W-w-why is it here...?" Ain stuttered with tears in her eyes.

From her experience, the monsters residing in the forest would never appear on the edges of the forest. Only if one would go deep into the forest they would encounter those monsters.

"!"

Suddenly, the monster let out a deafening roar, making the girls more panicked.

"R-run!" Ain yelled.

But the moment they tried to get away, the monster slapped the ground.

"Kyaa!"

Ain and Lily got split up by the impact of its hand hitting the ground beneath them.

"Lily!"

Because of the dust, Lily had to close her eyes but once the dust slowly dispersed, she noticed a tall silhouette right in front of her.

"H-huh...?"

She could not even muster up the strength to stand up.

Her eyes were glued to the monster, who stepped outside the forest and stared at Lily.

It reached its hand slowly to Lily, who was starting to hyperventilate.

"G-get away from her...!"

The monster turned around to the scared Ain, who threw a small stone at the monster.

She signaled Lily with her eyes to make use of this distraction and get away from there.

Shaking all over her body, she first started crawling away and soon managed to get on her feet, albeit barely, and ran away.

However, the monster noticed that and ignored Ain’s further provocations. Instead, it went after Lily, who entered the forest in the hope of hiding from it.

"..."

Ain, in turn, fell on her knees as if she had lost all her energy.

The only thing she could do to help Lily was to stall for time but that was it. She neither had the strength nor the courage to do more.

After all, she was a child as well. In the face of a monster, she was helpless.

"I-I need to get some help...!" she muttered anxiously as she glanced over in the direction of the village.

In the meantime, Lily was still running.

"Hngh!"

She stumbled on her feet and fell face-first on the dirty soil. But she had no time to care about the scratches she received from that fall as she clearly heard the footsteps of the monster, who was still chasing after her.

Gritting her teeth, she kept going with tears flowing out.

It let out another roar.

"Mommy...! Daddy...! Help me please...!" she pleaded as she closed her ears with her hands.

Lily only wanted to explore the village and have some fun with Ain so how could it turn out like that? Why would the monster not let her be?

Her vision blurred and her legs were about to give up.

"This is just a nightmare... Once I wake up, everything will be fine..." she muttered softly as her eyes were about to close.

She rolled down a small slide and crashed into some bushes. And yet, she did not utter any noises nor did she panic.

It was as if she had given up completely.

"..."

The monster was still heading towards her and unbeknownst to her, she was already deep inside the forest.

She started to perceive the footsteps of other creatures similar to that bear. And not only that but she also sensed the gazes of beings from high up, who created noise with apparently bird-like wings.

"Help..." she whispered to herself apathetically while she balled herself up.

The monsters around her did not see her directly but they knew that she was hiding in those bushes, thus, they began to approach her.

It was cramped. It was stinging. It was burning. It was cold and dark.

But in that darkness, she perceived light.

"This is indeed troublesome."

It was the voice of a young boy.

With an indifferent look in his white eyes, whose white pupils were shaped like a cross, the blonde and long-haired boy casually stepped into the center of attention and also headed towards Lily.

"As a token of my respect and as you have now fulfilled the requirements, I shall handle this moment from now on."

His words sounded too mature to be those of a child and it felt like the boy was not directing those words at Lily.

She peeked at the boy with drowsy eyes.

"What’s that above his head...?" she wondered.

"Hmm... Currently, his body can only endure this state for just another minute. I suppose I will have to hurry then."

He turned his back on Lily.

"Now, come at me." the boy stated firmly.

Then, the agitated monsters charged wildly at the boy from all angles. However, the boy, who wielded a golden sword with a pure-white blade, which was clearly too big for him.

"Die."

Following that, the dark and thick forest was penetrated from straight above with light, which engulfed the monsters.

The monsters were at first confused by the light but their confusion quickly turned into agony as they shrieked once the light turned brighter.

These were light pillars, which disintegrated any enemy engulfed in its light.

"..."

Despite their death screams, Lily felt safe and closed her eyes.

And in an instant, the forest was quiet again with no monsters in sight.

Only one monster was left. And that monster was the one, who was searching for Lily.

It jumped out of the woods behind Lily and spread its claws, attempting to fight the boy.

Unfazed, the boy retracted his arm effortlessly despite the big sword.

The monster roared as it was in midair. But its roar was cut off by the boy as its body was also cut in halves.

"That was the last one."

The boy swung his sword at the ground, shaking off the blood on the white blade.

Then, the sword disappeared.

He suddenly frowned and let out a painful cough.

"I have not much time left...!" he stated as he looked at his bloody hand, which he used to cover his mouth a few moments ago.

He pulled the unconscious Lily out of the bushes and carried her on his back before he picked up his pace and rushed out of the forest.

The next day.

Lily finally woke up at the house, where she was staying with her family.

Her parents were at first glad that she was now safe despite being covered in bandages at some spots. Especially, Lena was worried as she shed tears for Lily.

But after the family calmed down, Lena and Louis scolded her for entering the forest without telling them or any adults from the village.

Simultaneously, Lily heard loud noises from downstairs, which were due to Ain also being scolded by her parents for taking Lily to the forest.

"Please, don’t make us worry like that again, okay...?" Lena begged as she hugged Lily tightly.

"Just get some rest for now. We will postpone our departure for a little longer." Louis stated with a relieved sigh.

"Ehm..."

Lily opened her mouth.

Earlier, she let out the details about how she got saved but now she wanted to ask her parents about that boy, who had an appearance akin to the angels from fairy tales.

But her parents had no clue what she was talking about. They only said that they would ask the other adults about that boy but Louis was seen wearing a confused and skeptical expression as he left the room with Lena.

"..."

Lily stared out of the window.

It was the middle of the day.

"I’m sorry...!" she muttered in guilt.

She proceeded to sneak out of the house, while her parents were in another room and ran in the direction of the forest.

However, she was stopped before she could even leave the village.

"Where are you going looking like that?"

"?"

She turned her head over to the bored-sounding boy, who called her out.

It was a black-haired boy her age with sunflower-like eyes.

He was sitting on the fence and shifted his eyes from his friend, who was apparently training with a staff, to Lily.

"Aren’t you injured? Shouldn’t you get some rest?" he asked.

"E-excuse me, but have you seen..."

Completely ignoring his remark, she asked him about the boy she saw yesterday.

"..."

The boy stared at her for a moment after she was finished with her description.

"You must have been hallucinating. There’s no one like that in the forest." he replied, turning his face back to his friend.

"I see..."

She was in low spirits as she was about to walk away.

"Don’t even think about searching in the forest. I’ve told you, didn’t I? He doesn’t exist."

Lily halted her movements.

"W-why are you so stubborn about saying that he doesn’t exist...?!" she slightly raised her voice.

"And why are you so stubborn about his existence? Maybe you have read one fairy tale too much yesterday." the boy retorted.

Tears began to appear in her eyes as she pouted.

"Lily!"

"!"

From afar, her parents shouted her name. And based on their tone, they were not happy.

Thus, she ran to them without saying a word to the boy.

[Could you not be nicer to her?]

"Shut up..." the shy-sounding boy, Mika, muttered.