The Human Giant

The stench from the paste reeked worse than being on a farm filled with manure, yet Yoze knew it would be an excellent medicine in the future. He also knew that once complete, the paste would have a hidden pleasant smell that only he and Leah could smell. 

Even though he had promised back then that he was going to let go of Leah after making it to New Swampscott City but with his father still on the brink of death when they arrived and his desire to find out the secrets of how to make this special paste he stalled it till now. Finally, after so long, he had figured out how to make this special paste on his own, and his grandfather was no longer in mortal danger, so he planned to keep his promise.

After making up his mind, Yoze walked over to Leah, who was in complete focus on making his famous medical paste, and lightly tapped his head to draw his attention. Feeling the tap on his furry head, Leah snapped out of his focused state and looked at Yoze with curiosity in his blood-red eyes that held beautiful sparkles.

"Come with me for a second," Yoze said with a smile as he asked Leah to follow him upstairs.

Even though Leah was cautious that Yoze was trying to drag him on another dangerous adventure, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that they were only going upstairs, so he followed along. Once they made it to the same room Yoze was completing his immortal cultivation, he closed the door and looked at Leah earnestly.

"Leah, how long have you been by my side since we first met?" Yoze asked.

"I don\'t know, about two to three years. It\'s been some time. Why are you asking?" Leah said slowly as he did the mental calculations about how long they had been together.

"It\'s because it\'s time for me to fulfill my promise to you back then. I will no longer hold you back and allow you to leave whenever you want."

"To make it up to you, I can also send you anywhere you would like to go. So, for example, if you want to go back to the Jade region and live in your old home, I will do my best to send you back even if I have to halt some of my plans for the future temporarily." Yoze said with a smile. 

"Really!? You will let me go. There is no catch like giving you the recipe for all my medications or curing your father." Leah asked with caution.

Leah didn\'t have a lot of trust in Yoze, to begin with, and it had never recovered ever since he had been kidnapped from his home. So even though it could be said that he had greatly benefited from being kidnapped by Yoze since he was able to eat demon meat very frequently as well as practice creating his medicines pastes almost as much as he wanted, Leah still felt that it was too dangerous to stay with Yoze himself.

From his perspective, whenever he traveled with Yoze, he would always get in trouble or some danger. He was still traumatized by the people in Emerald Town who had died horrible deaths and couldn\'t rest peacefully in the afterlife as their bodies were forcefully turned into zombies.

The disgusting stench of death was so concentrated that he could barely see each person\'s appearance behind the black death. Simply recalling the events he had experienced sent a chill down his spine as he felt his knees become weak.

"You\'re making it sound like I\'m some kind of unreasonable villain holding you hostage or something. I just wanted to learn from a master back then and learn my craft. Still, as you know, some unexpected things came up one after another that forced me to temporarily not fulfill my promise."

"Luckily, through both your hard work and mine, we were able to save my father\'s life and hopefully keep it that way. But with my discovery that demon meat can extend his lifespan, I don\'t think it\'s right for me to keep you here against your will." Yoze sighed as he didn\'t think that Leah\'s opinion of him still didn\'t get better after so many years.

But he could understand his situation and knew that even with so many benefits, these could not be worth the cost of freedom in Leah\'s eyes. He might be a much more powerful goat with improved skills and a leisurely lifestyle. However, he still wanted to live a life of helping anyone he happened to cross.

Even if that came with the cost of losing everything he had with Yoze and his family, it was all worth it for him. So Yoze didn\'t blame Leah at all for his poor opinion of him or the thought that staying with him was incredibly dangerous since it was possible that one of his powerful enemies would burst through his door and threaten his family\'s lives.

"In that case, I would like you to take me to the Branch Forest. I heard that it is a magical place that holds all sorts of different creatures."

"Not only that, it is attached to the Endless Forest and is known to hold all sorts of creatures, so my addition wouldn\'t surprise anyone. I might even find another animal like myself that can talk." Leah\'s eyes sparkled with hope as they were filled with his hopes and dreams.

Even though Leah could talk to Yoze whenever he was around, he still felt that it was too restraining to silence himself whenever anyone else was around. Having lived with Yoze\'s family for two to three years, he still hadn\'t spoken a single word to anyone else but Yoze since he was afraid that their opinions of him would change after discovering that he could talk and had human levels of intelligence.

Though he liked Yoze\'s father, who was kind to him and treated him to fantastic meals, he didn\'t want to be disappointed if he ever found out that Yoze\'s father would treat him worse if he ever found out he could talk. So his desire to make a close friend he could talk to about anything became stronger over the years, making him want to find another goat or animal that could speak.

Hearing Leah mention the Branch Forest slightly surprised Yoze since he expected that Leah would have wanted to go back home. He even was calculating how long he would have to run to travel from New Swamp Town back to Jade City. 

To find out that Leah wanted to go live in the Branch Forest, where he had just had a battle to the death with an immortal and even was the testing ground for the third trial for the Immortal Palace Sect immortals, was a bit surprising to hear. But after thinking about it more, he felt it made sense since there wasn\'t much for Leah to go back to in the forest he previously lived in.

"I can do that for you, but I recommend choosing another place since that location is temporarily occupied by immortals and New Swamp Town\'s army of soldiers. But, of course, if you insist, I\'ll keep my promise and take you over there without another word." Yoze kindly suggested to Leah.

"Immortals and the army are there!? What the hell is going on in the Branch Forest? I thought that it was relatively peaceful." Leah said with shock in his voice as he didn\'t expect the first location he would pick would become so dangerous all of a sudden.

"If that is the case, there is a large forest called the Flower Forest that I would like to go to instead. I heard Jewel mention before that the people that live near that forest are pacifists and don\'t eat meat, so I don\'t have to worry about being eaten if I am caught." Leah said after reconsidering his options.

"That is fine with me. We can leave whenever you are ready. After which, I will ask Jewel for the direction to Flower Forest and take you there." Before Yoze could walk outside the door to ask Jewel for directions, he heard Leah make his intentions clear.

"We can leave right now. I don\'t want to have any second thoughts before we leave," Leah looked at Yoze directly in his eyes and said with determination in his eyes and voice.

"Okay, stay here, and I\'ll be back in a few minutes, and we can head out." Yoze nodded his head in understanding as he walked outside the room.

A few minutes later, Leah\'s head snapped towards the door as he heard the door open to reveal Yoze. Seeing that it was only Yoze, Leah sighed with relief as he felt that if he saw anyone else, his resolve might not have held firm.

"I have gotten the directions to Flower Forest and estimated how long it will take us to arrive there. From what Jewel told me, Flower Forest was on the other side of the region, so even with me going at full speed, it would take us at least a few days to get there."