Sylphy was covered in mud, grass clippings clinging to her short emerald-green hair, her beautiful red eyes brimming with tears.
Cui Ciyou reined in the mischievous impulse that had risen within him and sighed inwardly.
I can't really let you go home looking this pitiful.
Since I just went and made that grand promise to look out for you from now on...
Then I ought to do a little more if I'm going to keep my word.
Cui Ciyou spoke again, his voice softening a little.
"Hey, where were you headed? And what are you carrying?"
The green-haired little girl seemed taken aback by Cui Ciyou's suddenly gentler tone.
She timidly raised her head and stole a quick glance at him.
Then she immediately lowered her head again.
Finally, she answered in a voice quieter than a mosquito's buzz.
"T-taking... lunch... to Daddy..."
As Sylphy spoke, she instinctively lifted the little basket in her arms, which she had kept well protected even when she fell.
"Lunch?"
In an instant, Cui Ciyou brought together the events he remembered from the original anime...
And everything Paul had told him a few days earlier while showing him around the village.
A name immediately surfaced in his mind-Rols Yeat.
A handsome, blond half-elf, the village hunter, and its second-strongest fighter after Paul.
He was a half-elf archer who used a bow, with strength roughly somewhere between an Intermediate Swordsman and an Advanced Swordsman.
As one of the village's stronger fighters, Rols also takes turns manning the Forest Watchtower. So is he on duty today?
"Is your father on duty at the watchtower outside the village right now?" Cui Ciyou asked.
Sylphy hesitated, then nodded.
"It wouldn't be very good to take your father lunch covered in mud like this."
Cui Ciyou looked at Sylphy's