The Arrival of the Grandfather
Lua was still somewhat irritated as she stirred the fire she had lit with a stick. She was convinced the players would return soon, hungry, so she decided to get ahead of them. She tried peeling some vegetables, but after completely ruining them in the attempt, she focused on something simpler: making a good fire.
She surrounded it with stones and, after searching among the demolished houses of the village, found a large pot barely standing. Without handles, dented and rusty, it would still serve for cooking. The kitchens of those houses, made of stone and mud, had been worn down by time, and most of the pots and utensils were destroyed or unusable.
She remembered trying once to cook fish from the nearby lake... a disastrous experience. Although not poisonous like the meat of the demon beasts, the common fish of that world were tough, with a texture like wet leather and a salty, almost sandy taste.
While keeping the flame alive, a blue light flickered a few meters ahead of her. It was the signal of a player's arrival. Lua looked up with some hope... then frowned. She did not recognize him.
A male fairy appeared amid flashes. His hair was deep blue, styled elegantly. His gray eyes had a piercing, analytical gaze, and his posture was straight, almost military. Despite his apparent youth — "no older than twenty" — he emitted an aura of wisdom and serenity unusual even among fairies.
The newcomer opened his eyes with surprise. He looked down slowly... and his legs trembled slightly as he moved them. He took a step, then another, cautiously but firmly. A pure expression of amazement spread across his face. Immediately, he brought a hand to his back and touched something soft and moving. He turned around, curious, and discovered four translucent wings sprouting. He was silent for a few seconds, taking a deep breath.
"I see…" he murmured. There was something resigned yet hopeful in his voice.
With confident steps, he approached Lua.
"Excuse me, young lady. Have you seen three children around here? A boy and two girls," he asked politely.
Lua barely raised her eyes and read the name floating above his head:
Ganfall - Lvl 1
"They haven't arrived yet," she replied without changing expression, turning her gaze back to the fire.
Ganfall scanned the area with his eyes. They stopped at the scattered vegetables to one side.
"I haven't seen vegetables in a long time… Though these don't look like those from my time," he commented, picking up a bluish potato and a reddish cabbage.
"When they have mana, their colors change. They're more nutritious that way… but harder to cook. Technically, they're parts of demon-plant beasts, although I wouldn't know exactly which parts. They're used to lure prey."
"Wow… sounds like a pretty aggressive nature," the old man said with a slight smile.
Three more flickers of light illuminated the space behind Ganfall. Lua couldn't help but show a faint spark of joy in her eyes, though she quickly returned to her neutral expression.
"Grandpa?" Loli said, amazed. Seeing him like this, so young, so tall, so… handsome, was disconcerting. Not even Bert, whom many considered attractive, could compare.
Ganfall turned at the sound of her voice. His gaze softened.
"Well, hello… are you butterflies too?"
"We're not butterflies, grandpa! I'm a fairy… well, whatever now. What do you think? Isn't it incredible?" Loli asked, smiling broadly.
"Wait… why is he a fairy too? You said only a few were lucky with that race, and now you and grandpa…" Sig said with a mix of awe and envy.
"Then he was lucky," Lua answered with her characteristic calm.
"After all, he's my grandfather," Loli said proudly. Ganfall barely smiled sideways, elegantly.
"Come, grandpa. You arrived just in time, we were about to prepare something delicious," Loli said, looking at Lua seated by the fire. She approached her respectfully.
"Thank you for lighting the fire, Miss Lua. You saved us an important step."
"Hm," was Lua's curt reply, not taking her eyes off the flames.
"Well, Bert, go fetch water from the well. Sig, help me peel the vegetables. And grandpa… you can take a walk if you want, explore a bit while I cook."
"Sure," Ganfall replied in a still calm tone. But as he walked away, his steps were firm, cheerful… as if walking for the first time in decades.
He ventured through the ruined streets of the village. His hands brushed the eroded stone walls, and the wind caressed his face like an old forgotten friend. He smiled seeing trees sprouting among the rubble, sunlight filtering through broken roofs, echoes of the past resonating among living ruins.
For the first time in years, he felt the weight of the world lighten. No cane, no chair, no pain. Just his body, strong, young… free.
…
"Hey," Bert said, approaching with a half-broken bucket full of water. "What if we get grandpa to help us?"
"Help us?" Loli asked, cutting meat precisely on a stone. Her fingers didn't tremble, but her focus was absolute. A badly cut piece had already been discarded. This dish was more complex than a simple grilled rabbit.
"Yes. Knowing him, he might want to leave after a while, even if now he can walk. But… he has that farmer's recipe, remember? We could tell him about the mana vials. And that we need help here to gather better, produce more, and survive."
Loli pondered, while Lua's pointed ears moved subtly upon hearing "plant caretaker" and "delicious food."
"Do you think he'll agree? You know how tough he can be," Loli said, more serious now.
"We have to try. If with a single chicken leg we got good results, imagine what we could do with complex dishes. Getting good quality mana vials without risking our lives would be huge. We're sure the vials I left for grandpa ran out long ago, and you used your own mana to keep him alive."
"I'm fine," Loli said with a soft smile. "Remember, I was born with more mana than most. I didn't sacrifice my life, only energy."
"If we don't use gatherers, life expectancy could regenerate with ambient mana," Bert murmured, convinced.
"I know. But first… we have to convince grandpa."
They both looked around. Lua was no longer sitting. She had disappeared, as she often did, perhaps hiding in one of the half-collapsed houses. They didn't give it much thought.
…
Ganfall continued walking calmly through the ruined village, observing every detail around him with care. He noticed there were many houses, although most only had their foundations left. His steps led him to the wall, where the moonlight bathed the surroundings in a silvery glow.
From there, he could see that the place was much larger than he had imagined: the village barely covered about 5% of the entire plain that stretched out to the nearby forest.
On one side, a small lake gleamed under the moonlight. Although not very large, it seemed almost as extensive as the village itself. The clear, crystalline water reflected the moon like a perfect mirror. Beyond that, the plain extended all the way to the beach and the sea.
The village was settled on a high area, atop a cliff that seemed to serve as a natural defense against any threat coming from the ocean. In that spot, the village sat on a corner to the right, while the vast green plain stretched to the left until reaching the shoreline. In front, the dark forest blocked the path, and behind, the waves crashed forcefully against the rocks, their constant roar echoing through the night.
Loli and the others had never paid attention to that part because they always appeared through the village entrance that led to the forest, so they focused on exploring only that sector.
If they had looked up, they would have noticed a dreamlike landscape: the plain covered in intense green, flowers gently swaying in the breeze, and the beach far away, lit by the moon.
"It seems your grandchildren worry a lot about you," said a voice behind Ganfall.
He turned calmly, without losing his composure, before looking back at the moon's reflection on the lake and the landscape.
"Yes, maybe more than they should," Ganfall replied with a calm smile on his lips. "Sometimes I wish they were like those grandchildren who leave their grandparents in a nursing home and visit only when they remember. That way, when they die, they don't suffer the pain of losing someone dear," he added softly. "Sometimes, living is so painful..."
Lua watched him without changing her expression, steady and emotionless.
"Do you want to die?" she asked bluntly.
"No," he answered automatically. "If I die, those kids will be very sad. Just thinking about it breaks my heart. But continuing to live as a burden for them is painful too," sadness crept into his voice. "The elders who used to be my companions, friends, or just acquaintances—all died. They were drained for not having enough mana to pay for their lives. But I'm still here. My own granddaughter has to lose her mana so that I can stay here. Although she has help from that brat Sistina, I only consume oxygen, I don't produce, I'm useless," the old man confessed with a slight shadow of depression.
Lua looked at him with the same unshakable calm that characterized her.
"Then you can help them in this world," she said firmly.
Ganfall looked at her for a moment, intrigued.
"In a game?" he asked, a little incredulous. "I grew up in a technological era. I also had moments when my friends and I played virtual games. They didn't have the advanced technology this has, but I understand it quite well."
Lua nodded and calmly drew a rune in the air before them. The red light began to glow, burning softly as if it were made of real fire.
"This is not a game, at least not for me. And maybe not for you either," Lua said calmly. "This rune means fire. It is made of four lines. You have to believe that this rune is the fire itself, in your mind and in your heart. I don't know how magic works in your world, whether it's through mediums or channels, but try this rune. Then you'll know if this world is useful for you or not."
With that, Lua stepped back, leaving the rune floating and glowing in the air.
Ganfall frowned and stared at the rune intently, as if trying to imprint every stroke, every dot, every vibration of energy in his mind. He studied it for several minutes before slowly disappearing, disconnecting from the game.
...
"Hey, Lua, what about our agreement? They had to learn on their own," Sia said with a slightly annoyed voice.
"He's learning on his own," Lua replied serenely. "I didn't teach him to use magic, I only showed him a rune. If he understands it just from that, it means he learned on his own. Besides, he didn't form a magic circle, so he didn't learn to activate the rune's spell," she added.
"Yeah, right," Sia said quickly, dropping the subject.
Lua then walked over to where Loli was stirring the pot with incredible concentration, while Sig rested sitting on a log they had brought to use as a chair, supporting her face with her hands and watching silently.
Bert, meanwhile, kept trying to write runes on the skin with his mana brush, but the skin was damaged every time he failed. After all, the professions that generate more power are also the hardest to master.
Cooking might be an easy profession at first, but over time getting quality ingredients became more and more complicated.
If they had Ganfall tending the crops, that could change. They only needed to find a rancher or beast tamer to get meat without the constant need to go hunting. But, with so many demon beasts in the area, getting meat wasn't such a big problem.