23. Childhood Friend

Back to Rei and Rossie who are in the forest.

When Rei heard that Rossie's friend's name was Tweyen, he fell silent. All that was in his mind was, 'Tweyen!? One of the 10 Eternals?? So this is her village? Why am I here?'

Rei looked surprised for a moment, but stopped when Rossie shook his body.

"Rei? Hey Rei, why are you so quiet?" Rossie asked Rei because when she mentioned her friend's name to Rei, He just suddenly fell silent.

"Ah... I'm sorry. Hearing your friend's name just reminded me of someone," Rei replied to Rossie while trying to ignore what he was thinking about at the moment.

Rossie didn't seem to believe what he was saying and stared at him suspiciously.

"Hmmm, I feel like you're hiding something... but never mind. It's getting late, so let's go back to the village."

Hearing that, Rei nodded, and finally, they both walked back to the village.

Rei was slightly hoping that he wouldn't meet Tweyen when he was in the village. He was afraid that Tweyen could sense the dark power within him, and then consider him a threat, and eventually kill him.

With his powers still not fully recovered, it was unlikely that he could fight an Eternal at this moment, especially if she already had a Revenant weapon.

Currently, Tweyen is listening to an explanation from her grandmother about a person she helped named Rei.

A blue-colored light? Then a person with white hair appeared unconscious, and how that person helped her grandmother and tried to befriend the other villagers.

And somehow that person managed to become close to almost all the people's in this village in just a few days, even though they were initially suspicious of him.

Hearing this made Tweyen curious about the person named Rei.

And from her grandmother's words, it seems that person lives with her grandmother, so she just has to wait for him to come home so she can meet him.

But as she was thinking, suddenly she could feel a dark aura approaching this place.

Tweyen immediately stood up from her chair quickly while looking towards the source of the aura.

"Tweyen? Why are you suddenly standing up like that?" her grandmother confused and asked about her granddaughter's behavior.

But before Tweyen could tell her grandmother what she was feeling, she heard the sound of the opening door.

"I'm home, grandma" followed by a male voice.

But when the man opened the door, Tweyen could feel the aura getting stronger, and she was sure he was the source.

She quickly took out her bow that she kept on her back.

As she took out her bow, it immediately expanded and wings sprouted from both ends of the bow.

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She pointed her bow in the direction where the man would come from, ready to shoot when he appeared.

"Tweyen, what are you doing? Why are you suddenly taking out your weapon like this?" Her grandmother also stood up in panic because her granddaughter was suddenly acting this way.

"Grandmother, this is serious, I can feel a dark aura approaching us! I don't know who it is, but it could be dangerous!"

Her grandmother was immediately confused about what she meant because from the sound she heard earlier, it was definitely Rei who was coming.

But before her grandmother could say that to Tweyen, Rei had already arrived in the living room, and Tweyen immediately spoke loudly to him.

"Stop! Don't come any closer!"

Upon hearing that, Rei, who had just arrived, immediately became confused and raised both of his hands.

"What!? What's happening?"

But when Rei saw who said that, he instantly recognized the face. 'Tweyen? Why did she suddenly appear here?'

He knew that sooner or later Tweyen would return to her house to meet her grandmother after hearing the story from Rossie. But he didn't expect that the event he had thought of would happen now.

"Um, miss... why are you pointing your bow at me?" Rei tried to speak to her.

"Tweyen! What are you trying to do!? That's just Rei, quickly lower your bow!" Tweyen's grandmother scolded Tweyen because she was afraid Rei would get hurt by her granddaughter.

Upon hearing that, Tweyen wanted to answer her grandmother, but when she saw the confused face of the man named Rei, she decided to stop first.

"I'm sorry... I thought there was an intruder coming because usually there's only my grandmother in this house." Tweyen lowered her bow, but she was still wary of Rei.

Upon hearing that, Rei felt relieved because at least he didn't have to fight Eternal for now.

"It's okay... besides, I have been helped a lot by your grandmother, so I'll stay here until I recover and then leave and not bother both of you anymore." Rei quickly spoke in a panic because he really didn't want to get involved with Eternal at the moment.

Even though he had told the two people in his dream that he would gather Eternal, he thought he gonna do that later when he could use all of his powers, not now when he was still weak and only had two wings.

"Hush, don't say that Rei! I always welcome you here, whether you want to stay here for a long time or not. Moreover, since you've been here, this house has become more lively, and I don't feel lonely here by myself," Tweyen's grandmother told Rei.

"And I'm sure many other people here also like having you here because you always help them and play with their children, allowing their parents to rest."

"Grandma..." Rei felt touched by Tweyen's grandmother's words.

Upon hearing that, Tweyen sighed and placed her bow behind her back again.

After that incident, a few moments passed before they started eating the meal prepared by Tweyen Grandma.

While chewing, Tweyen continued to staring at Rei with caution, while Rei, feeling Tweyen's gaze, could only sigh and wanted to leave soon.

After finishing the meal, Rei immediately left the house because he wanted to check if there were monsters too close to the village or not.

He usually did this with some other hunters, and he had done it several times, so he already knew the other hunters.

Meanwhile, Tweyen, sitting at home with her grandmother, stared at her seriously.

"Grandma, I know you can sense his aura too! But why are you acting like you don't know?" Tweyen said to her grandmother.

Upon hearing her granddaughter's words, she finally looked at Tweyen seriously, unlike what Rei usually saw.

"Tweyen! I know what you're saying, since I found him unconscious in the forest, I could sense his dark aura even though it was just a little before."

Although Tweyen's grandmother was old, she was a former hunter who was very strong, and she even trained Tweyen when Tweyen was little.

"But I could also sense that he is not a bad person, but I still have doubts because of his aura, but in the end, I helped him because I couldn't leave a wounded person like that."

Hearing this, Tweyen shook her head while thinking that her grandmother was too kind. What if the person she helped was actually evil, and then her grandmother and others got hurt.

Her grandmother then held Tweyen's hands while looking into her eyes softly.

"I know you are worried about us... but Rei is not the person you think he is, he is a good person who likes to help people here so you don't need to be cautious around him."

Hearing this, Tweyen bit her lip because she was still worried about them, and as a member of the Eternal who protected the sky realm, her intuition told her to kill that person.

But in the end, she chose to listen to her grandmother's words, but she said something before that.

"Okay, I will listen to your words, Grandma... but tomorrow I will ask the other villagers about his nature and try to test him."

Tweyen's grandmother sighed when she heard Tweyen's words, but at least her granddaughter would not harm or kill Rei.

At first, Tweyen returned to her house not only to visit her grandmother but also to meet her friend who lived there... she had always wanted to meet her, but she always avoided her.

But this time, she had a long enough break to find her friend and talk to her.

<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >

The next day, Tweyen began to ask many other residents about Rei. But almost everyone she asked always said the same thing, "a very nice young man."

Except for the women... because every time she asked them, all she heard was, "A very handsome man who looks like he fell from heaven," and they blushed with embarrassment.

Hearing this, Tweyen could only stare at them blankly while narrowing her eyes.

In truth, they were right because Rei's face was truly handsome with his white hair and sharp eyes.

Right now, Tweyen was walking aimlessly while thinking about what she would do. Unconsciously, she walked into the forest and towards the riverbank where she used to play with her childhood friend.

"Hahaha come on Rei, let me touch it," suddenly Tweyen heard the voice of a woman she recognized. She immediately stopped and turned towards the voice, carefully approaching it.

The closer she got to the source of the voice, the clearer it became, and eventually she could hear the voices of two people running. When Tweyen arrived at the source of the voice, she hid behind a tree and looked towards the riverbank.

She could see a woman sitting on top of the man with white hair that she recognized named Rei. They both seemed to be joking with each other, but Rei seemed to be overwhelmed by the woman's antics.

However, he let the woman continue to mess with his hair, even though it was clear he was stronger than her and can easily escape from her.

But after Tweyen looked closely at the woman on top of Rei, she realized that she was her childhood friend, the one she used to play with.

Seeing this, Tweyen immediately realized that this was her chance to talk to her, so she came out of hiding to meet her friend.

"Rossie..." Tweyen called out to both of them.

They both looked towards Tweyen when they heard her voice.

Tweyen could see the expression of her childhood friend change drastically from smiling and laughing to shocked and angry when she saw her.

Tweyen was getting ready to chase after her if Rossie ran away from her as usual...

Previously Tweyen always saw Rossie run away from her everytime they see each other, and Tweyen just stayed still when she saw Rossie running away from her because she didn't know what to say to Rossie.

But this time, she would immediately chase after her without hesitation if Rossie ran away again from her...

But contrary to what she thought, she could see Rossie standing up and approaching her quickly.

Tweyen was confused why her childhood friend was approaching her instead of running away as usual.

Tweyen kept thinking and became distracted until she didn't realize that a punch was coming towards her.

*BAAAAMMM* "Ughhhh...!?" Rossie immediately punched Tweyen hard until she fell down.

Rei, who saw Rossie punch Tweyen, immediately looked away from them and started playing with some fish on the riverbank.

Meanwhile, Rossie sat on top of Tweyen while holding both of her shoulders.

"You! How dare you speak to me!!! After leaving this village without telling me!!!"

"And now what do you want, huh!!! Why don't you just come back with your friend in the city!!!"

Rossie kept yelling angrily at Tweyen, while Tweyen, who heard her, was just silent because this was also her fault.

If she hadn't left the village suddenly and telling her close friend about her plans, this wouldn't have happened.

Rei could only sigh as he watched Rossie crying and Tweyen remaining silent, letting her friend express all the feelings she had kept hidden.

After a while of Rossie angrily screaming at Tweyen, she finally fell silent while continuing to shed tears.

"I'm sorry..." Rossie heard Tweyen's voice even though it was very faint.

Tweyen's eyes began to water as she apologized to her friend.

"Forgive me, Rossie...Forgive me...I... left just like that..." Tweyen tried to wipe away her tears that kept flowing.

"Even though you are my friend...but I easily left without thinking about how you would feel...I should have told you that I wanted to go to the city..."

"I truly apologize, Rossie..."

Hearing Tweyen's sincere apology made Rossie's tears flow even more, and finally, she hugged Tweyen.

They both cried while embracing each other, and Rei hoped that at least with this, their childhood friendship would be restored.