We make it back to town. We stop at the guild, where the receptionist, Arkida, takes one look at me and grimaces. God damn it, why can I never make it through a single quest on my own without winding up a slave? Is it that I'm just that suited for it? Bad luck? Fate?

Nevertheless, she hands me my pay. It's... just ten silver. I know I asked for anything, but this is barely enough to buy the travel rations Krulm gave me.

I shake my head emphatically. No, this is fine. It's enough to get me washed up, so I can actually get a job to make the money I need to pay off my debt, and then just... live.

However, Krulm tells me to follow him for now, and leads the group from the adventurer's guild, off through town. We just keep walking, making me realize again how large this city is. The buildings start growing larger and larger as we go, and I'm quickly feeling even more out of place than before, in my disgusting state.

Then we arrive at a building, massive and imposing. Just like the guild, it's tall and wide, with statues and effigies jutting off all over, showing adventurers of all sorts looking awesome and impressive. If anything, I'd say it looks even bigger than the guild hall we just came from.

Of course, the sign across the front reads 'Helia Academy.'

I follow the group through the front entrance, where I'm immediately called to stop by a man dressed in armor. He gives off a 'guard' feel. A town guard, or does the academy manage it's own security?

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” he asks, eyeing me, especially my collar.

“U-um...” I turn to look at the students, I don't think they noticed they lost me. “I'm with them,” pointing after the group. “I owe Krulm a debt.” I tap my collar to make my point, but wince when my crest reacts.

The guard considers me for a moment, before grabbing me by the arm. “Well, we'll find out about that. You're coming with me.”

Ugh, how did this happen? I grumble silently. What can I do? I turn to look after Krulm, his back disappearing down the long hall leading into the academy. But then, the guard starts to drag me in a different direction.

Wait, I thought he was taking me to ask Krulm! Panic spikes and I send a look back down the hall at the retreating backs of the kids. I realize I have three options. Go along, party Scan, or try to get Krulm's attention...

I glance at the guard, he's looking away as he pulls me along. He won't notice. So I quick cast a single pull spell, firing high and arcing it down the hall at an angle, past the class, so it lands on Krulm's shoulder. He shifts a little, clearly noticing something, and turns to look back. I wave my free hand frantically, trying to get his attention, and even at this distance, I see him straighten up when he spots my predicament.

With a hand raised to his class, he strides quickly back toward me, even as I dig in my heels to stop the guard trying to pull me through a side door.

“S-sir, wait,” I keep trying to delay him. “Look.”

He turns, mouth open to say something, just in time to see Krulm coming.

“Excuse me, you will unhand her,” he commands. “She is in my debt and I ordered her to follow me.”

“O-of course, Instructor Krulm.” The guard immediately releases me and bows deeply. “I'm merely doing my job.”

“Sure, sure, now get back to it.”

With a jerk of his head, he commands me to follow him again, and I scurry to stay at his side.

As soon as we're a respectable distance down the hall, he chops me on the head.

“Ack!” I gasp, holding my head and staggering side to side while walking. The best I can manage is not walking into anything.

“That's for not staying closer. That man is an absolute scumbag. You don't even want to imagine what he'd be doing with you right now if you hadn't gotten lucky and I looked back.”

That immediately raises alarms. What was that man about to do to me?!

“Y-yes, sir...” At least I know it wasn't luck...

We pass a few more guards as we go, but now I make sure to stay close at Krulm's side, despite the way he turns away and holds his nose.

Damn it I just want to wash myself up already...

We walk down hall after hall, mostly empty, with doors on either side. Wow, this really does resemble school... On one hand, it was where I could meet my friends, but everything else about it was awful, so I'm not sure if this brings back good memories or bad ones...

Eventually, we make it to a small courtyard. Krulm calls the class to order, and I stand off to the side, out of the way. He goes over the quest, gives comments, critique, and advice out liberally, then assigns them homework, to write up a paper about the quest, with a summary of how it went, what they learned, and so on.

Wow, this really reminds me of high school...

Once he's finished, he dismisses the class, and they quickly disperse. Then it's just us, and he finally turns back to me.

“Alright, now what to do with you...?” he wonders aloud.

“What do you mean?” I don't understand. “Shouldn't I just go make money until I can pay you back?”

“Well yes, but...” The way he says that while stepping forward makes me take a nervous, half-step back. “You're clearly in no state to do much of anything. Let's get you cleaned and fed at least.” I let out a breath, so glad that didn't go... wherever I was starting to get worried that would go...

He waves, and I follow him through the academy, until we reach a wing of the building, somewhere on the third floor, with fewer doors and narrower hallways. Even the wallpaper gives the impression of a living space rather than a school.

Arriving at one particular door, he draws out a key and opens it. Walking through, we arrive in...

Is this his room? That one immediately sets off more warning alarms, but it's not like I can just leave or anything... Looking around some, it's smaller than Master's flat was, but it does have a small kitchen.

“The bath is through there,” he points out a door on one wall. “Get yourself cleaned up.”

“Yes, sir...” I mumble. I hunch forward some, and follow his orders. Before I trudge through the door, he grabs something from his dresser and tosses it to me. It looks like a bathrobe.

Carrying it along, I head through the door into a small bathroom. I turn on the tap and slowly start to strip. Oh shit, they weren't kidding when they said they had to cut my armor off. My clothing is so caked with filth, it's practically melded to my skin...

“Ugh...” I groan, finally able to feel properly disgusted with myself. I don't even know if they're salvageable. Looking down at my boots, I realize that Krulm didn't tell me to take off my shoes in the doorway, so I probably tracked all sorts of awfulness across his floor.

I wonder if he'll make me clean that later?

No, that's the work of a real slave...

Trying not to think about that, I sit and work on unlacing my shoes. As soon as I start to pull them off, I realize just how wrecked they are. The soles are cracked and worn straight through, the leather long since rubbed away. That leaves just my feet, callused so heavily that I can't even feel anything when I touch the bottoms.

Oh god, I've really wrecked my body, haven't I? When I've finally piled up my clothes out of the way, into a stinking pile of filth, I wonder if I should just burn them all...

Standing up from that, I turn to the mirror and fully think to myself again, oh shit, I really fucked myself up.

Staring back at me, the figure in the mirror is unrecognizable. Thin as a rail, so emaciated it's like looking at those commercials about starving children in third world countries. Despite the endless, beating sun on my journey, my skin is sickly and pale, translucent even.

At least, the places that aren't entirely covered in dirt and filth, which really isn't much, even in the places my clothes should have covered.

Moving a forward, hardly able to contain my horror, I look a little closer. My face is gaunt and sallow, all of my joints knobby and disgusting. With shaking hands, I wince and remove my earring, worn for far too long without cleaning. My piercing is probably infected... I do what I can, cleaning around the hole with soap and water, and leave the earring out for now.

As I stare at it on the countertop, it finally occurs to me, and I facepalm hard enough it hurts. I could have sold it for the money I needed for food and lodging, instead of going on that quest and ending up a slave again. FUCK!

After a few long moments, I try to move on. Can't change the past... Besides, with my clothes and armor so destroyed, it's the last thing I have left from Master...

Putting a hand to my hair, it's a flat mat of knots, all formed together around so much dirt, I already know there's no saving it. Before I do anything else, I search around until I find some scissors. I don't care, I just chop it off.

Or, I try. His scissors won't even go through all the filth. So I find Krulm's razor, the he uses to shave. Its scary sharp blade makes much better work of my awful hair. I cut it and cut it, reaping away the nastiness until my hair is almost to the scalp. I don't completely shave my head, but come damn close...

Along the way, the tub finishes filling with hot water. I stare at it through the rising steam. The temptation is incredible, the soothing, muscle relaxing joy it promises, but I really have to wash myself first.

So I do. Sitting with a bucket of hot water and soap, I scrub myself.

I scrub and scrub, endlessly pulling layers of grime from my skin. Unknown months of filth slough away, running down the drain. Like I'm shedding my whole life up to this point.

Bit by bit, I get down to my sickly, stinging skin, my arms going hot and numb from the work. I pour bucket after bucket of hot water over me, until I've been at it so long, my stomach starts demanding food again. Too much to ignore anymore.

I'm starving again...

I keep working anyway. I just want... I don't know. I just want to be different. Not like this.

So I scrub myself clean. Impeccably clean, no more filth clinging to me anymore.

Apparently, I take so long that Krulm knocks on the door and asks if I'm alright.

“Y-yeah, I'm fine,” I call back nervously. I'd lost myself in cleaning so much, I almost forgot what was waiting for me out there. “I'm just really dirty, I'm basically done now.”

“Alright,” is his only answer before he moves away from the door. I quickly try to finish up.

A minute later, I release a slow breath and stand back up. I'm finally clean. I haven't had a chance to shave, but at least I'm clean. I gaze longingly at the tub, I have no idea when I'll have another chance for a bath.

But it took me so long that the water inside has already started to cool. And I just told Krulm that I was almost done, and I really don't want to know what he'll do to me if he gets impatient...

Leaving behind the regretfully unused tub, I slip into the oversized bathrobe, extremely conscious of how flimsy it is as a barrier.

Why would he even want me? Like this? I look disgusting. Ugh...

Trying to just not think about any of that, I leave the bathroom. Just outside, Krulm is waiting. “Ah, you're looking much more like a person. Good, good,” he comments. Then he walks into the kitchen, removing something from his stove.

It takes a moment, then the sight and scent hit me.

Food?!

Feeling about ready to pounce at whatever he's serving, I stare with wide eyes as he places two big bowls of food on the small table in the middle of his room.

When he says, “Come eat,” I'm at the table before he's finished speaking. I don't care what he does to me after this anymore.

As long as there's food.

He chuckles and warns me that it's hot. It's all I can do to heed the warning, blowing on the food and eating slowly, instead of shoving my entire face into the bowl like my survival instincts are demanding at maximum volume.

Instead, I eat one bite at a time, the food hot and heavy in my stomach. As it turns out, despite being ravenous, starving hungry, I hardly even have an appetite. I think I'm so used to starvation at this point, my body can't cope with, well, actually having food.

I barely finish half of the bowl. I keep staring at it longingly. I want it. I need it. But it feels like if I eat another bite, I'll make myself sick...

With a nervous glance at Krulm, I wonder if he'll get mad at me for not finishing. For wasting his food. He won't punish me afterward, will he?

I don't even want to think about it.

Then he looks up and sees me staring at him. “Done eating?” he asks.

I gulp, unable to voice my response. Instead, I nod demurely, kind of trying not to move too much, like somehow that will save me.

“Alright.” He stands and takes my bowl. “The couch is over there. Get some sleep.” His words give me pause. That's all? No scolding or anything? I even get to sleep here?

I'm not questioning it. “Thank you,” I say quietly, with a bow, then head straight over to the couch he just pointed out. He already laid out some blankets on it, so I lie down. It's not the softest place I've slept, but still incomparable to some of the conditions I've found myself in before.

Despite it all, I'm out like a light.