Hero meets Tracy

Right now, Hero was wearing a linen trouser with a silk shirt tucked in. Though he was clean, Hero felt awkward in these clothes. He was used to wearing denim and oversized outfits which were mostly worn by his age mates from the slums, but now, everything had changed just like that, this change came too abrupt in that it caught him unprepared.

"Hahaha! Look at you! Now, you look like a civilised person. Tracy has been bothering us after we told her about you. She wants to meet you very much." Old man Hutchinson laughed when he saw the smart look of Hero, he turned to the five year old girl who was still crawling on the old woman and said with a smile,

"Tracy, meet Hero, he will be your new play thing from today. Stop bothering your grandma." Hutchinson patted Tracy's little legs to attract her attention and the moment Tracy saw Hero, she let the old woman be and jumped from the leather sofas and onto the ground.

"Tracy, easy. Don't hurt yourself." The old woman said with a terrified expression. She smiled and stared at Hero and said to him.

"Tracy is rambunctious and stubborn but you will get used to her as time goes by."

'So, she is the other one whom the old woman said that they were stubborn?' Hero nodded internally after coming to a realisation.

Even though Hero was usually unfriendly and untalkative, he still had a special heart for little girls. He had wished to have a sister so much and since he was five, he had kept bothering his father with that issue but his father would always scold him from time to time telling him that Hero was a mistake that he made and he wouldn't dare to make another mistake. To his father, having children was something that would get in his way, he wouldn't have the freedom of changing women openly and it would distract him from his party life.

Hero sat opposite old man Hutchinson and the old woman while Tracy sat beside him. She was staring at him curiously while punching him from time to time.

"Sorry for asking, but can I have a taste of it?" After much consideration, Hero decided to be direct and ask to have a taste of the red liquid from the cauldron.

The old woman and Hutchinson exchanged a look. They were silent for a moment before they smiled to each other.

"Of course, feel free to have a taste but don't drink much of it. Just a glass is enough for you." The old woman said with a smile.

Clearly, Hero came to find out that the red liquid was ale. This finding really surprised him. He enjoyed the glass that he was given and he couldn't believe that he was also a person who loved liquor just like his father.

Days went by and Hero found himself liking old man Hutchinson and the old woman even though Tracy was always clinging on him, not allowing him to escape from her sight.

While spending his time in the mansion, Hutchinson, showed Hero a switch that would set forth a protection barrier once it was activated. This switch was installed in the mansion to protect them in case a beast attack showed up. 

Moreover, the switch would also notify the nearest guard outpost of the incident so that they could appear in time to save them.

Hero spent his days tending to the horses, working on the farm, driving tractors and most importantly, he spent his time playing with Tracy.

While he enjoyed his life in the outer city while doing these boring errands, Hero came to forget his father and even he could not remember how his father looked like even if he tried so much to remember his father's face. The only thing that Hero could remember was his father's broad shoulders, and a complicated dragon tattoo on his shoulder. It was as if his father had become unknown to him and Hero feared that it would come a time that all the memories that he had of his father would be completely erased from his mind. He didn't knew why or what was influencing this but Hero knew that something had to be at play. It was just that he had yet to figure it out because it was too strange for a person to forget the face of the most important person that they had been living with them for sixteen years.