The Black Forest really lived up to its name—it was as black as a void in no time flat. The clearing around our cabin could enjoy the sunset for a bit longer because there weren’t any trees around, but any area with dense foliage turned pitch-black the moment the sun went down.
“All right! Hiyah!” Maribel said, waving her hands.
At once, all our torches were ablaze. Bright light and heat immediately filled the gloomy Black Forest.
“Whoa, awesome,” I muttered.
“Isn’t it?” Maribel exclaimed proudly.
She stood tall and confident as I petted her head with my free hand. The fire had appeared out of nowhere, but Krul, Lucy, and Hayate didn’t seem at all surprised. I wasn’t sure if they just assumed that torches magically lit themselves, but regardless, I was grateful that they were so intelligent—they didn’t stick their faces or feet close to the fire.
“Let’s get a move on,” Rike said from the coachman’s seat up front.
Everyone, including my daughters, agreed. The light of the torches cut through the darkness and lit up the forest as Krul pulled the cart along. A bird resembling an owl began to hoot, signaling the early nightfall.
“Ultimately,” Helen muttered, “we need to remain vigilant and alert, huh?”
“Afraid so,” I replied with a nod.
The whole fake knife debacle would simmer down sooner or later, and while we still had some time before the duke’s faction came after us, we couldn’t hold them off forever. More likely than not, they’d try to attack us one day. I wasn’t sure if they’d try something in a month or a year, but I was certain it would happen sometime in the future.
“We don’t really wander around the forest by ourselves anyway, and we’ve got a terrain advantage,” I said. “We prepared well too. Plus...”
“Plus?” Helen asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I think Marius and his allies can ‘resolve’ everything before the duke’s faction tries to lay their hands on us. It’s a possibility.”
Helen grinned; Diana looked a touch troubled. I felt like I’d proven my worth to the kingdom. And as long as the kingdom wasn’t planning to get too aggressive with the duke’s faction, they had no need to drag a mere blacksmith’s wares into the farce—nor would they need to enlist the help of the empire. Though I can’t deny that I trust Marius because he’s my friend.
“We can’t live the rest of our lives on edge,” I said. “We’ll have to put an end to this ordeal one day, but now’s not the time.”
I looked up at the sky—the twinkling stars winked at us through the gaps in the canopy.
“If you want to leave the cabin, now’s your chance,” I muttered.
The words just tumbled out of my mouth—I felt like I’d said the same line many times before. I knew that there was a part of me that acted spoiled when I was around my family. Still, I couldn’t deny that leaving this cabin was the safest choice right now.
“You wish,” Samya replied with a grin. “It might make sense for me to take off when we reach the cabin, but if anyone else had wanted to leave, they would’ve done it before we entered the forest.”
Everyone else nodded earnestly.
“I see.”
That was all I said as I gazed into the distance. For a moment, my vision blurred, but surely my eyes were playing tricks on me. As we discussed what we could do tomorrow and how we didn’t need to jump back into work, we reached the clearing.
We’re finally home.
“Feels like we were gone for ages,” I said as I unloaded the cart.
We didn’t have anything to carry to storage, so we just untied Krul from the cart, then lined up in front of Forge Eizo.
“Are we ready?” Diana asked.
We all nodded. There was no need to explain what we were about to do. One of us took a deep breath, and we all followed suit.
Samya was the only one who didn’t take a deep breath. Instead, she said, “One, two...”
And together, as a family, we shouted, “We’re home!”