Old man

A few minutes passed, and Liam tried again.

"I took some of your vegetables. I wanted to thank you for it and ask if you would join us for dinner?" Liam tried his best to use a friendly tone.

He didn't mean any harm after all. Not many here could harm the man anyway.

Liam heard movement. He smiled internally.

"Cough!"

"I have not spoken to another human in ages," a gruff-sounding voice exited the tree trunk, but no sign of the man himself. "Say your purpose and leave!" He announced with a little bit stronger voice.

"I already did that. Thus, I want to thank you for the vegetables and invite you to dinner with us. Fortunately, I have no other purpose at the moment."

"At the moment, does that mean you are one of the Hunters?"

"Hunters? Who are they?"

'Interesting, some new information. If he decides to come along, I can ask more if he is willing to talk,' Liam thought as they spoke.

"The people who hunt us are relentless!"

"Is that why you have come to hide here?"

"Yes," the man was beginning to wonder why he was continuing this conversation for this long. But it had been so long since he had some human interaction.

"I assure you, I have no interest in your core. Will you come and have dinner with us?"

He scoffed, "You… You are relentless as well."

"Well, I do not mean to harm you, I just got some fish meat, and there is a lot of it. Would you eat it with us?"

"What? Fish? How?" fish was hard to catch. They were just too slippery, and anything they had come up with was just too weak.

"A friend of mine helped," he said without elaborating. "Will you come? I can escort you back if you so wish," he offered.

"Fine, wait a bit. It's going to be a little difficult for me to get out," he scoffed again, but it was relenting.

"Can I help?"

"If you can widen the three holes, then that would be perfect," the man scoffed sarcastically. But a moment later, he nearly bit his tongue off when the three-hole suddenly expanded, and he fell forward.

"Huh? What happened?" Surprisedly, he looked around, seeing that the tree hole had suddenly gotten wider. He could move relatively freely inside of it.

A moment later, he exited it.

Looking out, he saw a young man with white straight hair.

He gasped in fright.

"If I knew you were a Noble, I would have never come out!" So he said as he thought of climbing back inside, but thinking of some meat made his mouth water. He had eaten nothing but vegetables for years, and that could be seen in his complexion.

Liam got some new information seemingly from everything the man had said to him. It was a wonder how this man stayed hidden all this time. But, he needed to clear the air.

"I am not a Noble. I am not even from this place," Liam wasn't sure how much this world knew about their world, so that was the only way he could word that he was from another planet.

"That is just horseshit," he cursed at him.

"Suit yourself," Liam started to leave. There was nothing to do. If words don't convince a man, then actions will. He did nothing to the man. He did not force him or threaten him. He just walked away. There was a chance it wouldn't work, but that was the man's choice. But one look would tell that the man was craving human interaction more than anything.

The old man looked at the young man straight back and muttered to himself. In the end, he sighed and went after the boy.

"So, you decided to come. I must warn you, though. The company I keep is bizarrely mixed," he said and looked at the man walking beside him.

His expression didn't change.

"Well, the company I keep might be worse," he meant loneliness but didn't want to say it out loud.

Liam chuckled as he answered, "I doubt that!" he looked between the batches and saw Haru moving there. He was getting better and better at locating Haru, even when she hid purposefully.

An hour later, they were just about to reach the influence zone of the two giant beasts.

"Try your best to survive the next couple of minutes! Control your heart!" He said seriously.

The man was a bit taken aback. They had talked and joked the entire way. Now the boy was warning him that there would be terrible danger ahead.

Little did he know, that was true, especially to an old man like him.

He brushed the warning off and took a step forward.

He froze on the spot. His heart wanted to skip so many beats. Liam smirked at him and pushed some of his internal energy inside him to help calm his heart.

It took a few minutes, but the man could start functioning properly again. But, of course, he had to adjust to the pressure first.

After that, he felt the energy inside him had started to move better. To be more specific, the combination of pressure and energy circulating had strengthened his channels. In addition, the pressure had given him some unforeseen benefits.

"Huh!?"

"Huff, ...you weren't kidding around, huff." he was drenched in sweat as he looked at the young man station near him.

"The company you keep is stranger than mine," he had to agree with his previous words. There was no doubt in that.

"Yes, it is. Are you able to move now?" Liam brushed it off like it was nothing.

"Yes, it'll be difficult, but I'll manage," he got up from the ground and whipped some of his sweat away from his face with a sleeve in rags.

Five minutes later, they reached the clearing. The old man could see the large snake and the black fluff ball. He didn't know what they were, but he knew he shouldn't mess with them.

"Si-Liam, you finally got back! We got the fire burning," the old man could see a young boy running toward the boy. 'A young boy?' his mind went blank for a moment.

"Yes, yes, I can see that. You seem to have been very good indeed. Can you go and make Grandpa here some room beside the fire?" He acknowledged their efforts and praised them.

After saying that, the boy looked behind him and saw the dirty old man.

"Grandpa, hah!" He grabbed the old man's hand and started pulling him toward the fire. "Come, come," he sounded very enthusiastic.

Happiness, the kind he thought he would never feel, enveloped him. A smile formed on his old and cracked face. A tear or two fell to his cheek.

He hadn't felt something like this in a long time.

He wasn't sure at first, but now that he had managed to come with the boy and see it, he was sure. That this had been the right decision, he still wasn't sure what to do next but knew he could die happy now. He wouldn't even care if he died this night.

Liam watched the old man for a moment before Karu entered his line of sight.

"Sir, did you find anything?"

"Sure did. The old man was growing vegetables in the woods. That was why I called him for dinner. Go wash these," he handed him the pouch filled with the vegetables.

The boy ran off. It seemed that the water wasn't as scary as they had thought, especially with the unknown creature staying close by. Karu was replaced with Jin after a moment, who looked at him shyly.

"Let's see what we can do with the meat; what do you think?"

"Can I use a knife?" he asked a bit eagerly.

"That depends. Have you used a knife before?"

"Only to harvest some plants." the boy seemed to be a shy one. He barely ever looked up.

"How much did you cut yourself?"

"A lot," his voice was quiet, but Liam heard every tiny word he uttered.

"Okay, let's see what we can do," Liam was enthusiastic that the boy had come to him this time.

They made their way to the meat and cut it into bitesize pieces. Karu returned with the vegetables and scrunched his nose upon seeing the onions and garlic.

Liam laughed at that and put them on the side. He made Karu peal a few carrots and potatoes, later chopping them. Liam sliced some onion.

Liam had decided to make soup. But unfortunately, he didn't have many ingredients and even less seasoning. He didn't know why he had glossed over seasoning when he was in Maple City. It was late for that now.

The soup-like substance was ready in a short half an hour. The fire had been burning for some time, and the flames were hot. Making everything cook a little too fast.

Either way, everyone relished the soup and emptied the pot in no time.