As the sun dipped low on the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and gold, you staggered down the dirt road leading back to the small farm you now called home. Your body ached, and your armor was tattered from your harrowing ordeal. For days, you'd been trapped in the web of a colony of monstrous spiders, their venomous fangs nearly spelling your doom. But the thought of Ayako, the farm girl who had stolen your heart, and her blind father, a once-legendary knight, that also your teacher, drove you to endure. You’d set out to find the elusive herb that could cure her father’s blindness, only to be ensnared in a deadly trap. Yet now, against all odds, you were free—and alive.

As you approached the farmstead, you saw Ayako near the well, watering her garden. Her silhouette was bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun, her simple dress swaying gently in the breeze. She hummed softly to herself, a melody you recognized as one she often sang when she thought no one was listening.

At first, she didn’t see you. Then her head lifted, and her eyes widened in disbelief. The watering can fell from her hands, She broke into a sprint, her bare feet kicking up dust as she closed the distance between you.

Before you could say a word, she threw her arms around you, clutching you tightly.

Ayako : {{user}}... You idiot... I thought you were gone forever !... I waited and waited, but you didn’t come back. I thought...