Riko rushes at his siblings, holding them in one tight embrace.
"Are you guys all right?"
"We should be asking you the same thing, Riko!" Said Nela, the second oldest sibling.
"Big bro, welcome back!"
"Welcome back, brother!"
"Welcome back..."
"Robert, Nilo, Rona, I'm back."
As the group reunites with their relatives, the crowd begins to cheer up from behind.
"They've returned!"
"They managed to escape from the Guardian Snake!"
"Amazing!"
Amidst the cheerful clamoring of the crowd, Nela faces his older brother and asks, "Riko, where's Father?"
In that instant, Riko's bright expression turns dim before his sister's eyes. The others who heard Nela's question grew despondent.
"Big brother... Where is Ama?"
Rona, the youngest little sister asked, but Riko could not bring himself to say it. His eyes are trembling and his mouth is shaking as he tries to suppress his emotions from leaking out.
"Sorry..." Riko recollected himself as he tries to carry Rona. "Father is gone..."
'That must have hurt to say it.' Lyrica mumbled to herself as she witnessed the startled expression form on Riko's sibling's faces.
"Gone? What do you mean, big brother?"
Rona's innocence puts a crack on Riko's strong will. Eventually, his eyes started tearing up. And like a ripple effect, Nela, Robert, and Nilo start tearing up as well.
"Big brother? What's wrong? Why are you all crying?" Rona tries to wipe off the tear out of Riko's eyes with her tiny hands. "Don't cry, please!"
Riko hugs Rona so tight, trying to give the warmth his father could give to his daughter.
"I swear from the bottom of my heart, I will never leave you all behind." He vowed to his siblings. "I will protect you with everything I got."
Watching this scene made the crowd's liveliness disappear into thin air.
"So, not everyone survived, huh?"
"Well, we're talking about the ruler of the forest here. It's a miracle that most of them got out of the forest alive."
"It's unfortunate that we lost two people. Though I guess it's better than having no survivors, at all."
"Two people, huh? So it's Riko's father and Mila's..."
"Ama!"
Right then, a hurried voice of a girl calling for her father resonates amongst the crowd.
"Ama!"
Seconds later, a girl that looked the same age as Lyrica squeezed out of the mob of people.
"That girl..."
Lyrica already got a good hunch of who that girl was looking for.
The girl's eyes wandered around rapidly, looking for the person she called father. However, instead of finding her father, she sees Riko who seems to have frozen on the spot.
"Riko!"
The girl with long hair went to the young knight almost immediately.
"Are you all right."
She asked Riko who's blankly staring at her.
"Are you injured? Where's my Ama? Where's Karlo?"
'I knew it. It's that Karlo's daughter.'
Lyrica thought to herself as Karlo's death replayed inside her head. She witnessed it all right as she was trying to get the right angle and timing before launching a surprise attack on the Guardian Snake.
"Hey, Riko, I'm asking you!" Said the girl in a frantic voice. "Where's my Ama!"
Realizing that she won't get answers from the young knight, she turned her attention to the others—Magdalo and Marlo.
"Uncle Magdalo, uncle Marlo, where's Karlo? Why aren't you all answering my question!"
Marlo looks down, while Magdalo simply looks away without saying a word. It's all because the answer is already obvious. And in truth, even she knows it as well. She's simply just being in denial of the reality—that her father is already dead.
The other reason why they aren't answering the girl despite her fervent pleading is that they knew they are not the right person to say it.
'It's got to be him.' Lyrica said in her thoughts as she looks at Riko in silence. 'Because he's the one that witnessed Karlo's death, and he's the very cause of it.'
"I'm begging all of you, someone please answer me! Where's Karlo!"
"He's dead!"
"Huh...?"
Karlo's daughter turns around, facing Riko. She looks into his eyes that are filled with guilt and despair.
"Mila, Karlo is dead." Riko grabs Mila's shoulders tight as tears start dripping on his face. "I saw him get eaten by the Guardian Snake. Karlo's got himself killed for trying to save me."
Mila shook her head while making a forced smile.
"You're lying, right...?" Mila grabs Riko's wrists with her hands. "You're lying! No way he's dead! He's still alive, and probably you guys just left him behind!"
Magdalo and others wouldn't wish for that scenario to happen, just as much as they wish to get out of the Forest of No Return without losing anyone.
"There's still time," Mila told Riko and the others. "We've got horses! We can still make it! We can still make it back to the forest and rescue my fath—!"
Smack!
The loud sound of Riko slapping Mila's face left the crowd and even Lyrica speechless.
"Wake up!"
If that was done on Earth, people would be criticizing Riko for hitting a girl. Or maybe even cancel him out.
'I guess he's one of those people who believe in gender equality.' Lyrica whispered to herself.
However, the crowd realizes that the young knight's actions are just appropriate in that situation. They knew it was the only way to help Mila snap back into reality.
"Riko...?"
Riko went and gave Mila a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry."
The young knight's apology brought tears into Mila's eyes.
"I'm sorry!"
Mila buried her face into Riko's chest. And just like that, she started bawling. It went for as long as Lyrica's music duration lasts. During that time, the only thing that could be heard right on the gate entrance of Takkot is Mila's cry as she calls for her father.
Right after that, the crowd dispersed, returning to their homes as the land grows dimmer.
"Let's go home, Marlo."
"Yeah."
Marlo tries to get everyone's attention, letting them know he's retiring for the night along with his family.
Following his lead, Cardo sets out with his mother towards home. After that, Roberto and his own family went on their way.
On the other hand, Magdalo approaches the young knight who's wrapped around by Mila's arms.
He then pats Riko's shoulder using his right hand.
"Stay strong, Riko."
Soon after that, Magdalo, along with his family, makes their way to the gate entrance.
"Riko, it's getting dark."
"Monsters will become more active in the dark, we have to get inside."
Nikolo and Nico urged the remaining ones—Riko, Mila, Lyrica, and the young knight's siblings.
Moments later, the two knight guards close the wooden gate behind Lyrica and the others.
"Nela," Riko called his younger sister. "Can you do me a favor and take everyone along with her back home?"
Nela took a glance at Lyrica before looking back at his elder brother.
"Are you staying at Mila's place for tonight?"
"Yeah," Riko replied without looking at Nela. "I'll come back tomorrow morning."
"All right, I'll let Lola know."
"Thank you."
With that, Nela calls out to her younger siblings.
"Robert, Nilo, Rona, we're going back home."
Right as she said that, Nela asked Robert and Nilo to help Lyrica to which she responded by shaking her head.
"It's all right, I can walk. Thank you."
Nela takes Lyrica up on her words as she leads her and her siblings back to their home.