Chapter 381 - Eighteen Months

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One and half a year had passed since the incident with the Melvins family. At first, Zaos and Aleni had a hard time finding a spot to settle down since the region he had selected was pretty wild. The civilization was pretty simple since there were no mines close. In the end, Zaos decided to actually build a house at the base of a mountain and on the side of the river he had mentioned before.

He did for certain reasons. The first was the fact that such an area had many bears, so visitors wouldn't bother them for a few years even after he hunts all of the bears. The second was the fact that the area was pretty good for raising animals by themselves. Moving around to the nearby villages whenever they needed meat was a pain, so letting the animals that he bought grow and reproduce there was the best option.

"Look, daddy!" Milliendra said. "A fish!"

"Oops… I almost missed it," Zaos said and then fired his crossbow in the water and pierced the fish. "Good girl, Millie."

"Hehehe," Millie smiled bashfully when Zaos patted her head.

At first, Zaos felt really complicated feelings when he began to teach Milliendra how to talk. He was raising her, but he wasn't her real father, after all. Still, after a while, he got used to it, and it was more than rewarding to see such a cute kid to call him daddy like that with a smile on her face and while her eyes sparkled.

Milliendra was almost three years old, and she was pretty clever. She always watched Zaos when he was doing his research or studying, so he was learning a few things here and there. After catching a few more fish on the river with the magic crossbow he created, Zaos put Milliendra on his left shoulder and then began to head home. The result of his studies at Magitek had been proceeding quite well. Thanks to that, Zaos created a crossbow that fired powerful wind bolts that could even hit and kill fish twenty meters underwater. He was also developing a gauntlet that would help him move his left arm like before. That was right. Zaos' left arm grew so weak that he barely could move his fingers. He still could carry Milliendra using it because the effects were spreading from the extremities of his arm. Once he finished his prototype, Zaos was confident that he would be able to create something that would control Milliendra's ability to drain mana.

"Mommy! We are back!" Milliendra waved her hands when she saw Aleni sitting at the entrance of the house they built.

"Did you have fun?" Aleni asked with a small smile on her face.

"Lots!" Milliendra replied.

Zaos had quite the headache building the house. Cutting down trees was easy. The problem was the rest… still, he managed to solve the problem by using magic here and there, and after a single month, a pretty big and comfy house had been built. He could have saved a lot of time since they had enough money to buy a nice house, even in a big city, but Zaos felt like he needed the exercise.

Since they settled down in the region, Aleni made a lot of progress with her social skills. Whether she liked it or not, she had to be a motherly figure for Milliendra, and it seemed that she eventually accepted that and began to like it. Smiling whenever they talked and patting her head whenever she did something good or helped them. She also became more friendly with Zaos because he asked her to train with him. Evidently, he needed to get used to fighting with a single-arm, and Zaos was seriously lacking in experience in using one-handed swords, even though he managed to survive until now. In any case, after sparring daily together, their skills improved considerably. It was quite convenient that they didn't have much to do in that area.

After cleaning the fish and then chopping some vegetables, Zaos made dinner, and they ate together. Aleni was trying to learn the skills, but for the time being, she was the one responsible for looking after their livestock if something happened.

Zaos wondered if his life would have been like that if he had married when he had the chance. It wasn't a bad life by any means. However, the current relationship that he had with Aleni was just a lie for the sake of convenience. Some of the region knew them, but since they lived so far away, they managed to fool everyone, and Milliendra was too small to notice anything odd.

"Daddy, when are you going to let me play with the trossbow?" Milliendra asked. "I want to catch fish too."

"It is a crossbow and you need to grow and become as tall as me," Zaos said. "Besides, it isn't a toy."

Recently, Milliendra has been asking things like that. Kids obviously would try to imitate adults, so Zaos avoided using magic as much as possible. Eventually, he will have to teach her how to protect herself, but she was too young even for that.

After dinner, Zaos played with Milliendra for a while. The girl had too much energy, and the fact that she never got sick proved that. So, Zaos had to help her spend her energy. Otherwise, she would never fall asleep on time and give Zaos the chance to train his new fighting style and do his research that is related to magic. Speaking of research, Zaos learned that his sword could even drain focus amulets, and he gained their effects instantly. It was a pity that it was hard to find them in that kingdom… he tried to use his connections in the black market to get some, but he only got three, and they were three times more expensive… considering what he was going to face in the future, he would need those.. While they were created using the blood of the followers of the demon god, it was better to give them a use, than let their deaths being go to waste.

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