The person's red flaming hair glowed under the sunlight and his amber-red eyes made him seem fierce. (only to people who don't know him)His body build was big and strong, which added to his frightening appearance.
Liam dropped his weapon on the ground as he looked at the person, he wasn't peeking anymore instead he walked out into plain sight. His appearance seemed shocked and soon switched into a smile as he dashed to the person.
It was Leo.
Thank goodness, it was Leo! Or else Liam might have to kill someone and would maybe regret it afterward.
Liam's arms were stretched wide open as he flung himself onto him. He embraced him in a tight hug which shocked Leo but soon his appearance relaxed and he returned his hug. The moment Leo returned his hug, Liam suddenly realized what he had done and immediately felt ashamed of it.
"Good to see you back too... but...can you let go of me now?"He asked, shyly as he patted his back.
"I thought you suddenly turned nice and caring..."Leo said as he let go of him while pretending to be upset.
"Huh? When did I say I do not care?"
"Oh, so you do care!"
Leo's sad expression immediately grew a smile, beaming and Liam suddenly realized what he was trying to do.
"Did you just fake it?!"Liam suspected his smile.
"Well, ya...Or how can I make you admit you care about me?"Leo smiled as he patiently waited for his reply.
"Who...Who says I care?! Do I look like someone who cares?!"Liam protested even though he really was worried about him but it was embarrassing to admit it. (At least for him, it is...)
Leo only gave a smile and looked around, he was wondering where the girl went. Before he was able to ask, Liam suddenly spoke.
"I...I really care about you, alright..."Liam unexpectedly admitted his feelings in a low voice as his cheeks turned slightly red.
"So, you really do care! I already expected that but I didn't expect you would admit it!"Leo giggled, happily.
Liam was stunned at first, then he felt his cheeks burning red.
"You...you were only just trying to tease me weren't you?!"Liam yelled, his cheeks were glowing red.
Leo didn't reply to him and continued laughing while Liam kept shouting at him about how he cheated his feelings.
"I'm not going to care about you anymore!"Liam yelled as he pouted his cheeks and looked away from him.
"Haha, come on. Don't be like that! I was just-"Leo was finally able to stop laughing and talk to him, normally but suddenly he saw a silhouette, just a few steps away from Liam.
He pulled out his sword immediately and Liam noticed his glare. He turned around and saw the girl, holding his bow and arrow and aiming it at them.
"Don't shoot!"He shouted, panickly.
The girl was startled by his shout and accidentally let go of the bow's string. The arrow flew away from his arrow, soaring through the sky as it aimed at Liam. Liam could see the arrow dashing toward him but he wasn't fast enough to stop it.
The arrow was only a few inches away from his right eye when he felt a pull from his back collar and was flung back by an immense strength. He was thrown to the ground and Leo stood in front of him and sliced the arrow in half.
It was a really cool scene to see even though he saw him do that before but seeing him do it again was as awesome as his first time. Right after that, Leo looked at the girl but...his glaze was terrifying.
"What were you thinking?!"He shouted as veins emerged from his head.
It was the first time, Liam saw him get mad during their whole trip together even though Liam kept making mistakes in their trip but Leo never raised his voice at him. (It was quite terrifying...)
"I'm sorry..."The girl apologized, her voice was trembling and she looked scared by Leo.
"You could have injured him, your savior and what if you aimed at his vital parts?! You could have killed him!"He didn't stop scolding her after she apologised as if he didn't hear her.
He stormed to her, giving off a terrifying aura as the girl took a few steps back, trembling. Liam couldn't stand there and do nothing, he dashed between both of them and raised his hand to Leo's face.
"Calm down!"He requested, both of their eyes met and Liam felt a chill run up his spine as he stared directly at his cold gaze."I...I...Please calm down, she was just scared, she didn't mean to do it..."
"But she almost killed you! How can you say that was just self-defense when she already knew you were there?! She could have killed you right on the spot!"
Liam couldn't think of a combat to that and went silent but even so, he still stood in the middle defending the girl. Silence filled the air, then, suddenly followed by a sigh.
Leo sighed as he placed his hand on his forehead, he rubbed his forehead using his fingers and soon turned away from both of them.
"Forget it..."He said as he pulled out his map."Let's continue where we left off. Come on, it's time to go, Liam."
He was about to take a step forward when the girl suddenly flung herself onto him. She grabbed his arm and looked at him with pitiful puppy doll eyes.
"Can I join both of you on your journey?"She asked, bluntly, even after what happened."I don't think it would be safe for me to go alone now..."
"No, "Leo answered, immediately without a second thought."You are safe here, I already deal with all of them."
"But-but..."The girl muttered, uneasily, then suddenly switched her helpless gaze to Liam.
"Don't you think you're being unreasonable right now?"Liam said, directly to Leo."Do you don't accept her because of what happened just now? You know she was just trying to protect herself..."
"It got nothing to do with this..."
"Then, what?! Do you want a single, young girl to be in danger?!"
Leo went silent like he was embarrassed by his attitude to her just now. Then, he replied.
"Fine...you can come along..."He looked to the girl with a gentle and apologetic expression."Sorry...I didn't mean to get all angry about it...I overreacted even though I knew you were trying to protect yourself...I hope you can forgive me..."
The girl's widened eyes looked into Leo's like she had fallen in love with him. (Did she forget how fierce he was to her just now?)
"No, no...you don't have to apologize it was my fault after all! I accidentally let go of the bowstring and almost hurt your pal! It is only normal for you to be mad..."
Leo gave a heartwarming smile at her like how he always was and nodded.
"Thank you for understanding."
The anger and fear of both sides finally vanished and Liam felt himself being left out.
"Hey! So can we all go now?!"Liam interrupted their friendly moment."We already wasted enough time!"
"Ya, don't be so feisty...we can't reach there today anyway. It's too late to catch up where we left off. We might as well head to a nearby village for a night."
"Huh? But wouldn't that mean we need two days to reach there now?"
"Well...It can't be helped..."Leo shrugged as he replied and then continued."Unless we wake up early and set off...maybe we will reach there with just a day?"
"Why are you looking at me like that?!"Liam yelled, seeing Leo's facial expression.
Leo was looking at him with a doubtful expression as if he was saying 'I know you can't wake up that early so I don't expect that to happen.'Liam glared at him, then, looked away from him with pouted cheeks.
Unexpectedly, a soft chuckle appeared and both of them stopped their playfulness and switched to the laughter. The girl was giggling at their childish acts, which made Liam's face glow bright red.
One, he saw a gorgeous girl laughing in front of him, which he found her laugh very cute. Two, he was embarrassed, showing such a childish side to such a pretty girl, instead of a good impression.
Seeing the girl's soft giggle, Leo followed and let out a chuckle while Liam continued to blush as he thought of wanting to hide away from these two. As he couldn't tolerate the embarrassment anymore, he was about to run but was caught on the shoulder by Leo.
"Don't shy away now! We won't laugh at you anymore!"Leo said but that made Liam only doubt him more."Let's go to a place to stay, I know just the place for us!"
As always Leo led while Liam followed but this time there were two followers. They were walking back to where they ran away from, which required some time.
"...So..."Liam looked at the girl and the girl responded and was now looking at him."What is your name? I couldn't ask you about it since we kept getting interrupted..."
"Oh, my name is..."The girl replied, which made Liam's heart beat in excitement. (Leo was looking at both of them too)"Fiona..."
'That's a pretty name!' Liam thought but suddenly the girl said.
"Thank you!"
Liam confusedly stared at her, his mind couldn't proceed, what she was thanking him for. He was in a daze before coming to the last conclusion. He said his thoughts aloud!
His face burned red again...(what can I say, he's a really shy and easily gets embarrassed person)
"I didn't know you could openly voice out what you thought. And my name's Leo by the way and this shy boy over here is Liam."Leo teased before switching to the girl and Liam growled at him.
"Shut up!"He yelled and Leo laughed.
The girl stood in the middle of both of them and smiled, awkwardly as she thought.
Are these two lovers or what? They keep teasing and laughing at each other like most couples would do...
"Umm...Nice to meet you two too...Sorry to break your conversation...but can we leave now?"The girl voiced out her thoughts and both of them switched their attention to her.
"Sure!"Leo as always replied and Liam nodded.
All of them continued their way through the forest and soon arrived in a small village.
"This is the place I mentioned. I found it when I won the thugs and threw them to the guards here...They were famous criminals here, there were a lot of wanted posters about them. Look, there's one over there!"Leo pointed to a wooden barn.
There was a ragged, old flyer stuck, next to the barn door. It had a picture, a drawing of the thug's leader and below the picture there was a huge word, stated in red ink.'WANTED!'
Right after they took a glimpse of it, an old man came out from the door and tore off the wanted poster. He then turned to look at them, he must have noticed their stares. His eyes widened when he saw them.
"You!... Aren't you the one who defeated the hooligans?!"The old man asked, shouting at them, his finger pointing at Leo.
"Umm...Are you referring to me?"Leo asked as he pointed his hand to himself.
"Yes! Who else is there?! I heard everyone say that a young man with red hair and a buff build came into the village and handed those hooligans over to the guards! You're the one who most fits the description!"
"Well...that's me alright...But I'm only doing something that everyone else would do so there's nothing special about what I did..."
"Did you say you were the guy?!"The old man didn't seem to hear him as he asked again with his hand on his ears and moving a little closer to him.
"Yes..."
"What?!"
"I said yes!"
"Everyone, our hero has returned!"The man yelled, gleefully while holding the poster high up in the air.
"Hero?"Leo whispered while asking Liam and Fiona.
Fiona opened her mouth and was about to say something.
"Well-"The moment she muttered this single word, all the town folks came rushing towards Leo and buried him in questions.
While Leo was being surrounded by people, Liam and Fiona were left out.
"What do they mean by hero?"Liam asked her because he noticed she was about to answer Leo's question but didn't manage to.
"Well...I was about to say that..."