It was almost night.
Navi was leaning against the dead body of a strange creature. He held a sword covered in blood while staring at the red sky.
Someone nearby shouted,
"You're not gonna let that rot there, are you?"
Navi looked at him and replied,
"Yeah, yeah. I'll move it. Just give me a minute."
After a while, Navi stood up and lifted the heavy creature onto his back. He walked down the street toward the shop.
As he passed by, people looked at him with disgust.
Two high school girls walked past him.
"Ew… isn't that the grandson of that old freak?" one of them said.
Navi heard it. For a moment, he looked sad—but he quickly changed his expression and smiled.
"Hey, ladies! Can I get your numbers?" he joked.
The girls looked at him with disgust.
"Ew. Don't even talk to us."
They walked away.
Navi kept smiling until they were out of sight. Then his face softened a little.
"What a waste… man," he muttered to himself.
"I had a crush on her. I thought she was different from the others."
A small flash of memory crossed his mind—the girl once showing him a bit of simple kindness.
Navi shook the thought away and kept walking.
He finally reached the shop.
"I'm selling this for 10k," Navi said.
The butcher examined the creature carefully. The body had many wounds, and the core was badly damaged.
"Hmm…" the butcher muttered.
"The core is heavily damaged… and the skin is ruined. I can't even make leather out of this."
He looked back at Navi.
"I'll buy it for 1k."
"WHAT?!" Navi shouted.
"Do you know how hard it is to kill this thing?!"
The shop owner shrugged.
"I don't care. I told you not to damage the core. Either sell it… or bury it yourself. Deal or no deal."
Navi clenched his teeth in frustration but eventually walked out of the shop.
While walking through the streets, Navi saw a kid getting beaten up by three guys.
He immediately ran toward them.
"Hey! What the hell? That's a kid, man!"
One of the men turned toward him.
"Yeah, that kid stole from us. So you better fuck off before we beat you up too."
Navi sighed.
"Alright… how much does he owe you?"
"Five thousand," one of them said angrily.
"What? You gonna be his hero and pay for it?"
Navi checked his pocket.
"Uh… I've got 900 here. Just let the kid go, alright?"
The three men looked at each other… then laughed.
"Alright. I'll take it."
They grabbed the money.
Before leaving, one of them kicked the kid in the stomach.
"Hey!" Navi shouted. "That was unnecessary!"
The men just laughed and walked away.
Navi crouched down and gently shook the kid.
"Hey… hey! You okay?"
The kid slowly opened his eyes.
"Look, kid," Navi said. "I can't take you home, but here."
He handed him some money.
"Here's fifty. Go buy yourself some food."
A moment later, three kids came running.
They saw the boy lying on the ground and rushed to him.
"Hey! Why'd you do that?!" one of them cried while punching Navi's arm.
The injured kid spoke weakly.
"Hey… stop… he didn't do this. He actually helped me… and he gave me this 50."
The other kids froze.
Navi scratched his head awkwardly.
"Hey, kids. Just help your friend, alright?"
One of them nodded while crying.
"He's our brother… thank you for helping him."
They carried the weak boy and left.
After that, Navi went to a small local market.
He picked up some dog food.
"That's 150," the seller said.
Navi rubbed the back of his neck.
"Uh… can I pay later? I kinda… helped a kid getting beaten up earlier. I paid the guys so they'd let him go."
The seller stared at him.
"I ain't buying your story, Navi."
The girl sighed, scooped half a bag of dog food, and handed it to him.
"Here. Now leave my shop. You're just bringing bad luck."
Navi grabbed the bag and grinned.
"Thanks for this!"
He quickly ran off.
After a while, Navi reached his house near the forest.
His dog started barking excitedly.
"Hey, hey buddy!" Navi said happily.
"Look what I got for you!"
He poured the food out.
"Here you go."
The dog happily ate.
Navi lay down on his bed while the dog climbed on top of him.
He talked to the dog about his day until he slowly fell asleep.
The next morning, Navi woke up and prepared to head into the forest. He hoped to find a Likha he could kill and sell.
As he walked toward the door, he heard children talking outside.
He leaned closer and put his ear against the door.
"Just leave it here and let's go," a kid whispered.
"Yeah, Shiela's right," another voice said.
Navi opened the door.
Outside stood the kid he helped yesterday, holding a can of food.
"Oh—uh… hey," the kid said awkwardly.
"You're Navi, right?"
"Yeah."
"I just… uh… wanted to say thanks for helping me yesterday and—"
Navi cut him off.
"Hey, it's alright. Just eat that with your siblings."
He looked at the group.
"By the way, I never got your names."
The boy nodded.
"Oh! Right! This is my little sister Shiela… she's sick but she insisted to come and that's Gab… and that's Ulap." my little brothers
He pointed to himself.
"And I'm Jake."
He held out the can.
"Here… please take this."
Navi looked at them. They were skinny and dirty.
"Alright. I'll accept it," Navi said.
"But I've got one question."
Jake nodded.
"Okay… what is it?"
"Why did you owe those guys money?"
Jake scratched his head.
"Well… um… our mom left. Our dad drinks a lot and barely gives us food. My little sister is sick."
"So I tried working for those guys. I said I could cut the grass in their yard."
"They let me do it… but when I asked for my payment they said, 'We already paid you. What, you got amnesia or something?'"
Jake looked down.
"So… I got mad and punched the guy in the balls… then I took the money from his desk and ran."
He laughed nervously.
"Then yesterday they caught me… and beat me up."
Jake looked up.
"But… thanks for saving me, Kuya Navi."
Navi scratched his head awkwardly.
"Yeah… it's fine, kid. Just take the food back. I've got plenty here."
"Go eat with your little siblings, alright?"
After talking for a bit longer, the kids left.
Later, Navi entered the forest.
He walked for a while but didn't see anything.
Eventually he sat down.
That's when he noticed something on the ground.
A footprint.
A Likha footprint.
He followed the trail until he saw the creature eating a monkey.
Navi slowly approached and drew his sword.
The Likha suddenly noticed him and lunged forward.
It slashed Navi's hand, causing him to drop his sword.
The creature pinned him down and tried to bite his head.
Navi pushed it away and rolled aside.
He tried to grab his sword—but the Likha bit into his foot.
The muscles tore open.
Navi gritted his teeth in pain.
He reached for his sword and almost started stabbing the creature repeatedly like he usually did.
But he remembered something.
If he damaged the body too much, the shop wouldn't buy it.
So instead, he waited for the right moment—
Then sliced the creature's head clean off.
Navi was bleeding heavily.
He tore a piece of cloth from his shirt and wrapped it around his torn foot, pushing the hanging muscle back into place before tying it tightly.
Then he lifted the creature and walked toward the shop.
What he didn't notice was that his wound was slowly healing.
When he arrived, the butcher looked shocked.
"Good job! Good job, kid!"
"I'll buy this for 30k."
Navi's eyes widened.
"WHAT?! Really?!"
"Thanks!!"
Before heading home, Navi decided to check on Jake. He asked a few people around town where the kid lived until someone finally pointed him toward a small place near the edge of the road.
When Navi arrived, the house looked worse than he expected.
It was just a small kubo, barely standing. Trash was scattered everywhere around the yard. Their father was passed out on the ground outside, an empty bottle still in his hand.
Navi slowly walked closer and crouched down.
"Hey… hey, man," he muttered, lightly shaking the man's shoulder. "Yo, wake up."
The man didn't move at all. He was completely drunk.
Navi sighed and stood up.
"Yeah… figures. Great parenting, man. Ten out of ten."
He shook his head and knocked softly on the door.
After a moment, the door slowly creaked open. Ulap peeked outside. His face looked weak, and there were bruises on his arms.
But when he saw Navi, his eyes lit up.
"Oh! You're the guy who helped my brother, right?!"
Then Ulap quickly shushed himself when he noticed their father shift slightly outside.
"Shhh… sorry," he whispered. "Uh… we're not allowed to let strangers inside the house. And if you're looking for Kuya Jake… he's probably outside trying to find a job."
Navi blinked.
A job?
He glanced back at the drunk father lying in the dirt.
Jake looks like he's twelve or something… and this guy just drinks all day?
Navi stopped himself before saying anything.
Instead, he pulled some money from his pocket and handed it to Ulap.
"Hey… here," Navi said casually. "Your sister's sick, right? Use this to buy medicine. And grab some food for you guys too, alright?"
Ulap looked down at the money in disbelief.
"But—"
"I'm injured anyway," Navi added with a small shrug. "So I'm heading home. Just take it."
Ulap suddenly burst into tears and hugged Navi tightly.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"Hey, hey… chill," Navi said, awkwardly patting his head. "You're gonna make it look like I'm rich or something."
Ulap sniffed but nodded.
"Thank you… really."
"Yeah, yeah," Navi said with a small wave. "Just take care of your sister, okay?"
After a moment, Navi waved goodbye and finally headed home.
When he got back, he dropped onto the old sofa and looked down at his injured foot.
"Man… that bite was nasty."
He started removing the cloth he wrapped around it earlier so he could clean the wound.
But when the cloth came off, Navi froze.
"…Huh?"
His leg was completely fine.
The wound was gone.
An hour ago the muscles in his foot were literally hanging out. Now there wasn't even a scar.
Navi stared at it for a moment.
"…Okay, that's weird."
He poked the skin with his finger.
"…Did my body just fix itself?"
He paused, staring at his leg.
"Cool… but also kinda creepy."
After a few seconds he just shrugged.
"Eh. I'll think about it later."
He stood up and went to take a quick shower.
Not long after he finished, someone knocked on the door.
Knock. Knock.
Navi walked over and opened it.
"Yeah, who is—"
He paused.
"Oh. Cameron. What's up?" Navi said with an awkward laugh. "Heh… didn't expect you here."
Cameron smiled politely.
"May we come in?"
"Yeah, sure."
They stepped inside and sat down.
Cameron slowly looked around the small house.
"Nothing has changed here since your grandfather died," he said calmly. "My condolences, by the way."
Navi scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.
"Yeah… thanks. So, uh… what did you come here for?"
Cameron straightened his posture slightly.
"I've been thinking about reopening the deal your grandfather and I once discussed," he said. "I'm interested in purchasing the swords in your basement."
Navi's expression immediately changed.
Cameron continued.
"I'll offer one hundred thousand for each sword."
Navi blinked.
"Wow," he said. "That's… actually a lot of money."
Cameron remained silent, watching him.
Navi leaned back slightly.
"…Still not selling them though."
Cameron raised an eyebrow slightly.
"I'm not planning to sell them," Navi added. "Sorry."
Cameron nodded calmly.
"I understand."
He stood up and adjusted his coat.
"But if you ever change your mind," Cameron said, "you're welcome to visit my house."
After a short moment of silence, Cameron and the others left.
Navi stood by the door watching them go.
"…Yeah," he muttered quietly. "Not happening."
Then he closed the door.