While talking with the Guardian, Aiu made a new revelation. She learned that meat can be preserved by other means besides salting it, it could be dried or smoked, which was a lot cheaper. She will have to try this sometime later, currently, she was too busy working in the forest.

She worked hard that day wanted to have some rest as all of her muscles were hurting from the strain. She was an active person but having to walk, crawl and bend nonstop for the whole day exhausted her. Carrying a backpack which only got heavier as time went by did not help.

Her hard labour was not wasted. She felt more proficient at invoking her basic skills and it was easier to do that now, but she tried not to overdo it as it stained her mind.

Also, If she found edible roots or weeds she would pick them. The tried to gather food for herself. The backpack she was wearing was getting very heavy.

“Why are you picking them? Are you planning to store food for your future self? If so don’t bother, just take what you need for today; I can always bring plenty of meat.”

“I was planning to get enough of it for the next time you are hungry.” All of this was not just for her

“Don’t waste your time on that!” she was getting scolded by him.

She put her head down and started to fiddle with her fingers. She planned to make a stew for him and had been shouted at for it. He saw her being sad and made an attempt to fix that.

“If you want to get good food for me, gather some nuts when you can. I need a lot of vegetables to feel full, nuts are the second best after the meat.”

“You don’t like vegetables?”

“I do. They taste good and accompany the meat well. They are inefficient that’s all.”

“I will pick only a few then.”

“Suit yourself, as long as you do not forget that we are here for herbs.”

Getting some forest foods was good but he was not here for that, it was the herbs he wanted. They carried harvesting the forest’s bounty.

Aiu was using Harvest to get a bundle of plant leaves and petals. It failed and she found holding shredded leaves in her hand. Skill failed too many times. It would be better to do it manually, so she started to cut them with her sickle.

“No. Keep using the skill. It will get better the more you practise it.”

“But I am ruining the precious herbs. We will make little money tomorrow.” half of her harvest failed.

“Humans are so short-sighted. Think about the benefits in a distant future not just now or tomorrow. The skill will get better and you will be able to harvest herbs quicker than just by hand.”

“Why are you concerned about the money?” he asked.

“The pot.”

“So typical of your kind, so impatient.”

‘He is talking smack about humans again.’

“Do you dislike humans?” she asked genuinely concerned.

“Contrary. I have said already that they are very interesting. Less talking more working”. He said as he uprooted a stump digging a bundle of strange looking plants which were stuck under it. Not an easy achievement for a normal person, but he was not a mere human or beastman.

She kept working diligently, but she was getting lightheaded from the skill use and her muscles were cramping up. She was eating sweet berries she found now and then for energy, but it did little to ease her tiredness.

She crouched to pick some prickly weeds she needed, lost balance and fell. Her legs gave up. This was not the first time she did that in the past hour.

“What is up with you?” He asked noticing her odd behaviour.

“I am very tired and all of my body hurts.” She admitted begrudgingly, she thought she failed as an apprentice.

“Weak.”

“I am sorry.” she knew she was a week. She did her best and still failed.

Tears started to flow as she was still laying on a patch of fluffy moss.

“I did not mean to hurt you. It was just an observation.” He decided to be more careful with his words next time. He wanted to be on her good side. People who like you are easier to boss around.

“You can go back home and rest I will finish it.”

“No, I still can…” She really couldn’t do work anymore.

“I don’t mind at all just go. Can you find your way back?” He cut her sentence.

“Yes.”

She stood up, shook her dress twice and dragged herself and today's haul back to the hut. She unrolled her makeshift bed and fell asleep promptly. The nap lasted for a good amount of time until she was woken up by heavy steps outside. She felt better now and went outside to check it.

She looked up, it was late afternoon. Then she looked at her guardian who was carrying two dead wolves under each side of his arms. His sack was full of herbs too.

She thought they would gather less today, because of her. It was the opposite and he finished early.

“How did you finish so quickly?”

There was a moment of silence as he carefully chose what to say.

The reality was that she was slowing him down. Her short legs would not be able to keep up with his normal pace, so he walked much slower than usual. Also, she was unskilled and took ages to find and gather the plants. Often he would have to wait for her till she finished her patch. He also slowly walked with her around the forest while she tried to spot the herbs using her skills.

“I am just that good.” He tried to lie.

She picked up on the truth that he was being dishonest. She spent her days in the streets and knew how to read people, especially when someone was trying to trick her. This was an essential skill to survive the rough life as an orphan.

“It is because you didn’t have me to burden you. Isn’t it?”

The truth saddened her. She wanted, no needed to be helpful and not the other way round. If she failed him there would be plenty of people who would gladly take her place. She knew that she was having it good now and feared to lose it.

“Yes, I am a lot more efficient alone.” He admitted the truth. Sour truth sometimes was better than sweet lies. He should not have attempted to lie in the first place.

‘Knew it!’ it hurt to hear that. She wanted to cry again.

“But, it matters not. I know what I am doing, and adopted you for a reason. It is more important for me that you learn how to do it properly.”

“I am slow to learn. No one ever taught me anything like this.”

“If it is slow and takes time so what? I am not in a rush. My goal is to raise you. Learning a craft takes a lot of time and effort, yes. But skilled people are very valuable. I want you to be skilled, and you will with time. Work hard.”

“I will.” She was working hard, she has never worked this hard before. She was giving all of her strength to do this.

“Now skin these two just like I showed you before.”

It was time for Aiu to show her skills, to demonstrate what she had learned. He hung the two wolves on a branch. One was for him and one for her. The problem was that she was too short to properly do it. She was trying to reach the top part of the wolf but couldn’t. He looked at her trying desperately and chuckled.

‘This is embarrassing. I am too short for this.’

He went closer and picked her up. It was sudden and she yelped in surprise dropping her knife. He laughed again making her very self-conscious. She was put down back on the solid ground she so much liked. She has never been picked up like that before.

Aiu bent over reaching for the knife, this exposed her lover half of the body. The dress was not perfect and would reveal parts of her body if she moved too much, intimate parts too. She realised what had just happened. She probably has done it many times already. Those times were when she was bending over or crouching to harvest the herbs. She did not think about it before, but now she realised it. ‘I must have looked like a shameless person’

Her face got bright red and she quickly kneeled cowering her ass and picking the knife up. He was looking at her but his look was as the same as always, nothing unusual or carnal could be seen in his eyes.

“Did you see?” She had to ask.

“See what?”

“You know.”

“No. You picked up the knife. Well done, is that it?”

‘Is he pretending or is he just not interested in that stuff.’ She was supposed to be able to tell a lie from a truth, but this time she simply couldn’t.

He picked her up again. She started to cut and skin the animal while he corrected her giving her clear instructions to follow. Mostly she had to put more strength, the strength she did not have. After making proper cuts, the pelt could just be pulled off like a sleeve; that was if one was strong enough.

“Not too bad. Cut the next one.”

She did a better job this time and left the pelt to be pulled by him as she could not do it properly.

“Half of the job done and you already are exerted?” he was talking about her physical appearance and sweating.

“I am not tired, I have just rested.”

“Yet you are bright red. You are hot from exertion.”

‘It is called blushing and is because of completely different reasons’ she wanted to correct him but was too shy to admit the real reason behind all of this.

“You will have a chance to cool off, once we are done.”

“So what is next?” the sooner they finished the better. She needed some space to cool off.

He showed how to extract useful alchemical ingredients from two carcases. The process was bloody and involved a lot of goring. This put her curly thoughts and mind at ease, she did not need to cool off anymore.

“How about the bear you did in today?”

“It’s organs have little use in alchemy. See these two are direwolves and that bear is just a simple bear. Direwolves have traces of magic in them which can be extracted.”

She thought they were wolves, but she was wrong. She should have realised sooner as they were way too big for a common wolf.

“How about the meat can we sell it?”

“Possible, but hard. Humans and the like shun away from such meat, they like it plump and soft. Beastmen, however, are less picky. As I am now, it would take too much effort to be bothered with finding a buyer.”

“It is a waste to throw it away.”

“You can cut some if you want. Besides, I have other use for it. It will serve as a lure to attract something better.”

She did not want it, she had plenty of bear meat left and vegetables. All of this and more were stored at the hut for dinner.

“Like what?” she wondered what could be better, or worse for that matter, than a bear.

“Carcass Serpent. Extremely dangerous.”

It was a huge serpent who feasted on corpses as its name inclined. It had tough scales and caustic saliva, a good dose of it could easily kill a person. All of this was explained to Aiu as she did not know about such a monster.

“Why would you want a thing like that slithering around?”

“I have one good reason. It is extremely valuable.”

“You don’t need to risk your life for money. I will work hard and help you earn it the normal way.” She was afraid to lose him. The monster seemed very dangerous.

“It is not a risk if it is a calculated risk. You risk every day just by being alive, you never know what is coming. We will prepare for it properly; it will be fine.” He assured her.

‘He probably knows what he is doing.’

“We are done here. You can cool and wash in a stream.”

She was all covered in blood. She probably should have worn something different, her new dress was all dirty and reeked of blood.

“Ahhhh” she let a long sigh.

“What’s up?”

“It is just that… Why I am like that. It is clear that I will need to use ladders to properly do the skinning. And a different set of clothes for that. Getting these dirty like this is no good.”

“That is correct. I would not advise going deep in the forest while reeking of blood. Predators might think you are hurt and attack you.”

‘Why I am being so expensive.’ She was disappointed in herself. She knew she will need a new set of clothing and a ladder just for this task.

“I am costing you too much.”

He smiled. “Ladder can be made using some sticks and rope, there is plenty of that here.”

She did not think about that, he won’t need to buy a ladder.

“But you won’t need ladders and butcher apron to skin the animals once we are done with the serpent.”

“How come?”

“There is utility magic for that specific task. Skills, similar to the ones you already have. Skin and another variant of harvest, harvest animal. They are much more expensive as they are extremely convenient, only professionals would be able to afford those.”

“Why don’t you have them instead?”

“You should know there is a limited amount of magic skills one might possess and I have different plans for myself.”

She did not know that.

As they finished their talk they have reached the small stream.

She considered going further away to wash her clothes and body in private. However, it appeared that her guardian held no such considerations. He took his loincloth off prompting; his member swung loosely in all its glory as he crouched to draw some water.

Aiu refrained herself from making the noise, a shocked and surprised person would make. ‘Oh my god, why is it so big?.’ She could not pry her eyes from it as it was still swinging gently.

‘It is not even in its awoken form.’ She knew those things get bigger but yet she had to see it personally. ‘This is terrifying…’ she tried to imagine just how big it got.

Setting all foolish, girly and naughty thoughts aside it was proportionate to his body. He was huge in size so was his member. She clapped her cheeks to set her mind straight and tried not to stare. She did not want to get caught staring.

Then she did the same. She took off her dress and drew the cold water with her palms to wash her hands. There was no shame in being naked in front of family. He did not mind getting naked, so she thought that neither should she.

Aiu submerged her dress in water to get the blood out and rubbed the fabric. She would glance now and then to see if he was looking at her. He was not, it was clear that he was not interested in her body.

‘He is a normal person and treats me like family member, not like a…woman’ yet somewhere deep within in her heart she wanted to receive the attention a woman would. She knew that she was a stepdaughter to him and that her thoughts were somewhat inappropriate.

She was confused if she wanted to be just a daughter or something more. She wanted to call him father and yet she wanted to do more than a daughter should. She never felt like this before. She was confused.

‘Is it because a girl like me has never been loved? Has never felt affection and kindness before? Probably, yes.’ She concluded. She was spacing out deep in her thoughts still thinking what all of this means.

“Are you about done? I am heading back.”

He stood next to her. She raised her head and was slightly disappointed to see him clothed.

“Yes, I am; almost.” She took her dress and tried to squeeze the water out.

“Need assistance?”

She handed the dress to him and he wriggled all of the water out effortlessly, twisting and turning it until it was like a rope. The material was tough and course, it was fine to handle it like that because it was made to last. He wriggled it back straight and handed it to the girl.

She was unsure if she should to put it or not; it was still damp and it was getting cold. She stood up, her hands instinctively moved to cover her lady bits. Yet she stopped mid-motion.

‘He did not mind being nude in front of me, neither should I. It is not the first time he saw me anyway.’

Aiu followed him back to the hut, staring at his broad spiky back and a muscular tail.

Once back home, she set some bear meat to be grilled on a stick while they processed the herbs they have gathered. It was nice to be able to eat meat. She did not understand why humans would shun bear or wolf flesh, it was perfectly fine if cooked properly.

While her food cooked she was shown how to use the scales. She had to use it to weight the amount of powder and herbs she had so that the recipe would turn out right.

She put some of the herbs they have gathered inside the barrel full of water. Gave it a good stir, spooned the correct amount of powder and sealed it shut. Then she made some different salves and set them to stand inside small wooden boxes; the ones they have bought before.

Organs from the direwolves were wrapped in special leaves, to prevent them from going off too quickly, and were put aside to be sold tomorrow. She also made a paste from weird pod seed. It smelled odd very odd. She did not know what she was doing, she was just following his instructions

“Try to identify it.” He encouraged.

“Nothing.” The skill failed.

“A hint then. Think about the smell. How would it help in a forest?”

She tried a couple more times. Concentrating on the paste and its smell.

“Got it!”

“And?”

“It helps to ward off predators. Was it me or magic? I did not know that. It just came to my head.”

“Correct. It is both, magic assists the mind and guides it.”

“This is amazing.”

She tried to identify other things around the house with varying degree of success. The barrel had an incomplete stamina potion. The salves she made were healing salves, she knew that already.

Also, she could learn what a potion or a salve did using Identify skill. If she knew what ingredients were put in, as she did since she made them, she would be able to identify the properties of the herbs she was mixing to begin with.

Beginners identify gave only the name of the plant. But if she did that this way, that is if she tried to figure it out where the herbs could be used, the properties of each plant would be unlocked to her mind eventually. It was like a shortcut to knowledge.

It was extremely helpful if you mixed a bunch of herbs together for one recipe without knowing what each of the separately did, and how they reacted together. Identify helped to solve that. One could invent new things this way as well. However, she was still limited to simple herbs and potions. She was not skilled enough.

It was getting late and she started to feel sleepy, she munched on overcooked bear meat she slightly burned and laid down to sleep next to the fire.

“One more thing before you go to bed.”

“Yes?” she thought she was done for the day.

“The bear fat. Melt it to tallow stirring it occasionally.”

He cut a good amount of bear fat from the meat and handed for her to cut into smaller pieces.

“What is it for?”

“Did you not notice? Salves use it; there are many other uses as well, like candles.”

The big candle which was now illuminating the room was a homemade one. He did it quite a while ago, even before moving into the hut. He did not have to use it as he could see in the darkness.

He needed the light only when sorting the herbs; he needed to see the shades of colours to do the sorting quickly.

She let it slowly melt inside a pot and laid back to bed. The melting fat did not smell good but it was not too bad; there were plenty of airways in a hut. It had many holes in its wall, the window shutters were broken too.

Aiu felt slightly cold so she woke up later in the night. She put her dress on and checked the tallow, it was still melting. She gave it a good stir. Looking around she could not see her guardian. Nature probably called him and he had to go relieve himself. She went back to sleep without thinking much of it.

Her guardian was not doing that at all. He was sneaking in the town, clocked by the darkness. One thing was on his mind. The big pot.