021 ┃ Spud's overanalysis

The pheasant pecked at the ground in search of seeds. A noise caused it to raise its head, alert. A few seconds of silence passed. Suddenly, an arrow cleanly pierced the bird's head.

"Did I hit it? Really?" asked Spud excitedly, rising to get a better view of his prey.

"You bet. A perfect shot," Dawn affirmed, smiling at his side.

Spud dropped his bow to the ground and raised his arms in a triumphant expression.

"Yes! I did it!" he exclaimed, unable to contain his joy.

"That's great!" the girl congratulated, caught up in the boy's euphoria. She seemed almost more excited than he was.

In a moment of joy, Spud hugged his companion and lifted her off the ground, taking her by surprise. When he realized what he had just done, he let her go immediately and stepped back uncomfortably.

"Ah?! I'm so sorry! I got carried away," he apologized, feeling himself start to blush.

Dawn seemed a bit taken aback and struggled to respond.

"Don't worry... It's okay," she replied, a bit nervous. Her usual exuberant confidence had disappeared in an instant. Was she imagining things or was she blushing?

Aware of the discomfort he had caused, Spud emerged from his hiding place and walked toward his prey.

"I'm going to check it out properly. Maybe I need to finish it off," he justified.

The girl followed him, and they both walked to the dead bird. The arrow had pierced its eye, killing it instantly.

"I can't believe you've improved so much in such a short time," the girl commented, impressed. "You could probably take on a stalker now."

"Oh, not at all. Even if I hit it with an arrow, it wouldn't be enough to kill it. Besides, I still have a lot to learn with the sword," the boy admitted, touching the weapon that hung from his belt.

In the past three weeks, he had been practicing daily with the bow. Since the incident they had in the forest, Dawn had been more than willing to teach him everything he wanted to know. He had even started with the sword a few days ago.

"Don't worry. With how quickly you learn, you'll master it soon," the girl assured with a radiant smile.

"Thanks for your optimism," Spud said in a good mood while removing the arrow from the pheasant.

Dawn bent down to get a better look.

"I think it's the biggest one I've seen so far. It must be delicious..." the girl fantasized in a contemplative tone. "By the way, have you learned any new recipes?"

"Now that you mention it, yes. There's a book in which..." he started to say, but then his face lit up. "I just remembered! I stayed up late researching yesterday, and I want to show you my progress."

Spud got up and ran towards the cabin.

"Let's go!" the boy called. Dawn followed, somewhat puzzled.

After leaving the pheasant in the kitchen, they went to Spud's room. There were dozens and dozens of books stacked on the floor, on the desk, and even on the bed. It was hard to move without accidentally hitting one.

"This place is worse than I thought," the girl joked as she looked around.

Spud ignored her and searched through the books on his desk. After a few seconds of searching, he finally found them. They were the two volumes he had borrowed from the temple.

"Here they are," Spud announced excitedly. He turned to his companion and gestured for her to sit down.

"Well?" the girl asked after sitting on the bed. She was about to crack a joke, but seeing Spud so excited, she decided to keep quiet. His goofy smile was too infectious.

"Okay, I don't know where to start. This..." he began, scratching his head. "I'd like to make it more dramatic, but I'm not very good at explanations, so I'll just say it. I've read a lot of books in the past few weeks. Well, technically, I've only looked at the illustrations because I still can't read the language. Although I've already learned about twenty words, so I think I'm closer to..."

Dawn cleared her throat, drawing her companion's attention.

"Oh, I'm rambling again. Sorry. The thing is, I was able to draw two significant conclusions from analyzing different books. Although they're still hypotheses, I'm pretty convinced they're true. Or at least the first one. And those conclusions are... Dramatic pause..." he fell silent for a few seconds, looking expectantly at his companion.

"I'm going hunting," Dawn informed, pretending to get up. Spud stretched out to grab her hand.

"Wait! It was a joke. Don't leave, please," the boy requested, with a nervous laugh.

Dawn sighed and sat back down on the bed.

"Conclusion number one: the inhabitants of this island could use magic," reported Spud, proudly.

"Magic? Did they do card tricks or something?" Dawn asked, incredulously.

"Very funny. No. I mean more fantastic magic, like throwing fire, summoning lightning, or causing earthquakes. At least those are the examples I've found, though there are a few more…"

"Wait, are you serious?" the girl interrupted, surprised.

"Absolutely. I know you'll think I'm crazy, but look at this," Spud picked up the books on religious myths and flipped through them until he found the illustration of princes fighting with magic.

"That could just be a children's tale, Spud. It doesn't mean that..." Dawn reasoned, but the boy interrupted her.

"I know. It's not just this. The concept of magic comes up in many different books, not just this one. Could they all be children's tales? Possibly. I thought so at first too. But look at this," Spud closed the book he had and rummaged on the floor among the various covers. "I would say I left it around here…"

When he finally found it, he lifted the tome triumphantly and quickly opened it to show Dawn. In it were various drawings, schemes, and explanations that he didn't understand. Spud watched her expectantly with a sly smile.

"What is this supposed to be?" the girl asked, skeptical.

"This, my friend, is a magic manual. If you look, it outlines the procedures for performing different spells; it's very illustrative. I tried to do one myself, but I wasn't successful. Maybe there's some incantation or something to say," Spud theorized. Seeing the confusion on his companion's face, he added: "If they were just stories, why would this manual exist? I believe it's because magic was common in this place and that's why it appears in so many books."

Dawn twisted her head with a skeptical look.

"I don't know, Spud. I find it hard to believe that something like this exists," the girl commented.

"Don't worry, I know it's strange. The concept of magic sounds like fantasy to me too. If both of us find it so strange, that means where we come from, such a thing doesn't exist. But then, why would it exist here? This is where the second conclusion comes in. If the first one seemed odd to you, brace yourself for this one," Spud warned excitedly.

Dawn skeptically watched as he picked up the two books from the temple again.

"Okay, do you remember the myth I told you about by the lake?" Spud asked with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Vaguely."

"I'll give you a quick summary. As far as I could understand, it's about three princely brothers who dispute the throne's succession. To help them decide, a god gives them a girl, telling them that whoever wins her over will be the rightful king. The two older brothers try to impress her with displays of strength and intelligence but end up fighting each other to decide who will have her. Meanwhile, the youngest brother decides to spend time with the girl and genuinely get to know her, and he ends up truly winning her over. When they find out, the two older brothers try to attack them, but in the end, the younger one awakens his great magical power to defeat them and establish himself as the king," Spud recounted quickly. At the end of the story, he was out of breath.

"What a typical story," Dawn scoffed, lying down on the bed while listening to Spud.

"I found this book in the temple. It has gold engravings and was under the lectern, so I think it's an important book. And the best part? There was another book next to this one," Spud showed her the other tome.

"Another story?" guessed Dawn, trying to show a little interest.

"Exactly. And luckily it was also illustrated. Do you want me to explain it? Alright, I'm going to explain it anyway so I can tell you my second conclusion," Spud said excitedly.

Seeing her companion so focused, Dawn sat back down and looked at him intently.

"Okay, I'm ready."

Thrilled that Dawn showed interest in his discovery, he leaned forward with a wide smile and began to explain the story.