I began to suspect something during our return to town. The guards extended a hammock between two of them, and wrapped Helen inside. They were very disappointed and angry.

I listened to their talk while pretending to be distracted.

“Why are we carrying this bitch back to town? We should kill her on the spot.”

“Shh. Don’t be loud, the Guild Master will hear you. He wants the girl alive.”

“I don’t want her in the town. She is a goner. The monster touched her. It will bring ruin to the town.”

“Shut up. It was a short straw to come here. You know captain sent us here to be fodder for that monster. I’m glad the thing ran away because we were many. So don’t ruin our luck”

“But those adventurers, look at their smug faces. Shit, those guys got paid to do nothing!”

“I’m glad it wasn’t my daughter. You know, she sometimes played with this wheat girl. Oh, if it was my daughter the tainted one… I’d kill her before she became even more disgraced.”

“I bet the Guild Master didn’t kill her just to please his red headed bitch.”

“Yeah, that red hair is hot, I bet he does her every day in that Guild.”

“This monster bitch here, she is nice too. I bet the monster had a really good time with her.”

“Dude, don’t touch her. She is a monster bride. You will become tainted and then I will have to kill you.”

“The fuck man! Nobody sane would do such thing. I’d rather cut my own dick.”

“I heard once that if a monster bride birthes, a kingdom can be destroyed. She will birth a demon, you know. A real one.”

“Hey, don’t scare me. I still want to find a girl to marry. This harvest it will be my lucky year.”

“Yeah, lets tell to every girl in town you touched a monster bride. They will love to have your horned babies.”

“Go to hell, don’t joke with that. This would be bad.”

“Switch with me. I want some pure air.”

“Rowdy is smiling. I will lose my bet.”

“What did you bet?”

“That he would become a tax slave again this year.”

We returned to town, and when the gate was in sight, Master ordered everyone to get around.

“Everyone, listen up. You are forbidden to talk about what happened in the forest. You are forbidden to talk about the girl we brought back to anyone. If someone asks or forces you to talk, send them my way. I’ll deal with it.”

Everyone nods. They want to get over this and forget the incident.

“I will add to all your records the fight against the monster. We cut its arm off, and it ran. The adventurers will receive half the payment for the mission. The other half will be paid in Spring.”

The soldiers are really pissed off. From what I heard, they were sent as sacrificial pawns, and they won’t be welcomed back.

“Guild Master, will you assemble a team to subjugate that monster?” An adventurer asks.

“Yes, but I will call for some guys from the Capital. That monster is B rank. It is not something you guys can deal with”.

B rank. From the Guild boot camp, we learn that a subjugation party of 50 knights would be required to kill a B rank monster without severe losses. Still there would be some deaths. A knight is the equivalent of a D rank. 50 Rowdys, eh?

Everyone swears secrecy, and the Guild Master addresses the soldiers:

“I will submit a report on your behalf, so less paperwork for you.”

He turns around, the soldiers sneer and scowl at his back. But Master couldn’t care less for those guys.

We enter the gates, and when I think I would be able to get Helen to the Guild nursery, Master commands the guards

“Take the girl to the stockades. Call for Alvus the apothecary. Everyone else, wait for me at the guild conference room. I’ll be back soon.”

“Wha...” I open my mouth, only to be reprimanded by the stern gaze of Master. My heart still holds Master and everything he does as the ultimate truth, but I cannot help but doubt what he is doing here. Helen. Don’t take Helen away from me.

“You too Marcy. You are party of the expedition team. Go to the guild, and wait with everyone. You will receive pay too.”

Pay. It is as much payment as it is hush money. And half will be held until Spring. I bet that if someone talks too much, that pay will be denied. Dejected, I walk after the adventurers to the guild.

Master departs with the soldiers, carrying Helen in the hammock.

I catch up with the adventures, but they take distance from me.

“Hey, what is the problem guys.”

“Marcy, you are young, so probably you don’t know this. But you have to clean yourself thoroughly after you reach the guild. You were very brave taking that girl away from the monster, but we are afraid you have been tainted.”

“Tainted? What do you mean?” I suspect what they mean, but I want them to say it out loud.

“The monster’s… miasma… it was all over that girl. And some of it might have caught on you. This is why you should purify yourself. Take a bath in the Guild. Right, guys?”

All the adventurers nod. In a situation like this, it would be like they would harass me, but they are avoiding me like I am with a plague. Maybe it is so.

“Don’t tell that to the receptionists. I will have Master go after you guys if you do.”

“Yeah, we all want to forget it. With the booze we will buy with the quest money.”

“Easiest quest ever!!!”

“Ho ho ho. Girl Marcy, call that friend of yours later. I’ll buy him a mug as an apology for kicking him”

And in high spirits, the adventurer guys reach the Guild. They go through the front door, I circle around the building and enter through the back employee door.

Then I head to the washroom. I take some firewood, put in the fireplace under a big water pot. Then remove a torch from a sconce, and set the wood alight.

While the water heats up, I take off my gear down to my tunic. To get my mind off of uncomfortable things, I do maintenance on my gear. I didn’t use my blades, but I still oil and polish them. Everything by the book.

The water heats after a while. I take the iron pot out, and pour the water in a tub. I refill the pot, and take the tub to a corner.

There are sections of the room separated by cloth curtains. I pull the curtain, and remove my clothes.

I wash my body with a rag, then use another softer cloth to dry myself. Then I take out an earthen bottle with flower water, and using a handkerchief, spread the flower water over my body. Finished, I dump the water from the tub in the drain and toss the clothes I was wearing and the rags I used to clean myself in the fire.

I stash my clothes in a sack, and pack everything. I dress myself with a receptionist uniform, and reach the conference room after leaving my things in the receptionist dormitory.

Some of the new guys find my appearance strange, but I dismiss their worries.

“Ah, don’t mind it. I burned my clothes in the fireplace, so I needed something to wear. I’m not a receptionist, but I have permission to use the uniform. I got the training though. In some cases I cover for the big sisters.”

I pass near the guy that called me tainted, slowly enough for the flower perfume to be engraved in his memory. Then I find a seating, and let myself rest on it.

The receptionist uniform is designed to enhance female traits. And I make a pose like I am stretching my arms up while yawning.

“It is much better to be completely clean.” I wink.

The guys nod. They are looking at me, but not at eye level. I don’t mind their gaze. Underneath my fake smile and act, I am concerned about Helen. I know too little. I must gather more information.

“I burned my towel too. I’ll have to buy a new one.”

The receptionists bring drinks for the guys. Ale for the guys, an watered mead for me. They begin to chat and discuss, I sink in my seat and pretend to be tired. The men’s conversation is boring.

After about 3 fights almost break out, Master arrives. Behind him comes a receptionist with a lot of coin bags. We get paid, and swear secrecy. I feel disgusted. It is enough silver to pay my entire family’s poll tax.

I leave the guild and go home. The next day, I am exhausted. I kept having nightmares, but I cannot remember them. All I know is that in all the nightmares, I lose Helen.

I get up, and run to the guild, to return the receptionist clothes. Arriving before opening, I set my eyes in a very juicy request that is about to be posted. I abuse my connections, and get it registered under my guild card before opening. This is one request people would kill for. High pay, low risk, and the opportunity to rake in tons of bunny meat and pelts.

I leave the guild before it gets too noisy, and go to the garrison. The guards not only deny my entry, but they deny that Helen is in there. The party screen is still there. She is with MP exhaustion and poisoned, and I don’t know why.

I hate it. Was I too naive to reach out for Helen? Is this my fault? I hate this situation. I bribe the guards with two silver coins. They tell me that Helen is in the stockades, but they are under orders to not talk about her. I ask them to let me in.

“Please I need to see my friend.”

“Girl, you are going to get us in trouble. The most I can do for you is to bring the lieutenant here.”

“Please do. Anything you can do for me, I appreciate.”

“Don’t worry girl. Your mother helped my sister deliver her baby, I’m grateful for that.”

The guard goes inside, and after some time returns with someone that looks like an officer.

“This is the midwife daughter I told you, sir. The one that wants to talk to our guest.”

The lieutenant scans me up and down. He stops at my chest, and smirks. Men’s gaze, they don’t make me uncomfortable.

“We can’t let you see the girl. She is not even here. We don’t remember any girl...” he is asking for a bribe. Since I gave the guards one silver coin each, I should give him two.

I palm two coins in my hand, and pass it to them as I pretend to do a handshake.

“Oh, that is bad. I am sure the guys that came with me this morning brought her here. Are you sure you aren’t mistaken?”

Lieutenant clenches the silver coins, and then smiles.

“Oh, a girl that was brought in by the expedition soldiers, I remember her now. Look, your friend is fine.” - liar - “She is just being treated by the apothecary, while we observe her. It is a quarantine. If you bring us more favors, we can make arrangements.”

He rattles the coins in his hand.

“Good. I’ll bring five later, when I can see her.”

They tell me that I can enter at night but only twelve days from now. I should leave a handkerchief embed with flower water in a watchtower of the garrison if I want to enter. They will make sure nobody sees me going over the wall.

After leaving the garrison, I go to the weapons shop. I spend some of my money in new daggers and a composite bow. I also buy 50 arrows and a staff. The staff has a E rank monster core, and is good enough for a beginner mage. I secretly attach a faux spear tip to the staff with some string, and then wrap the staff in cloth. I hang it over my back with a leather strap. I go around my errands like I am in a trance. Detachment.

Then I go to the general goods shop, and buy a complete set of adventuring gear. I left everything behind in the forest, and everything was destroyed in the campsite. Everything feels so mechanic.

I have nothing better to do during the day, and I can’t think straight. I just leave through the west gate, and go off to the fields, to train with my bow and hunt rabbits.

It is summer, and There are fields of cucumbers and asparagus that are almost ripe for harvest. The request I got is to keep bunnies out of that field.

The crops are withered. This is not a good year. If the bunnies eat too much, we won’t make it through winter unscathed. The dry spell also affected the wild lands beyond the farm fields. This is why so many bunnies are invading to eat our crops.

I spend the day training my bow skills, and killing bunnies. There is a breed of diurnal rabbits attacking the crops. I managed to slay twenty-seven bunnies. My bow skill didn’t go up. I also didn’t level. I drained the blood of the rabbits as I catch them, then tied the ears of all the bunnies in a bundle.

I am returning to town as the sun dyes the sky orange, when the party screen disappears. Disbanded. I despair. The only connection to Helen is lost. That idiot Julius. I’m angry. I enter town, and run to his house.

People in the streets compliment me for killing so many bunnies. I gently answer back, and they encourage me to keep killing those pests.

When Julius’ door is in sight, it opens, and I see Master coming out. I hide myself. I can’t hear what Master is saying, but it seems he is thanking Julius for something. It is strange. A feeling I’ve seen the face Master is doing now.

I think for a while, then it hits me. It was when I told Master I could see Helen’s HP in the party screen. He made me make sure Julius doesn’t disband the party, now is Master thanking him for doing that? If so, why would he dismiss the party? It is not necessary for him anymore, is it so? Or did he come here to make sure it was disbanded?

Master… He is leaving. Should I talk to him, follow him or just let it be? Master has something planned for Helen. I’m not sure, but maybe he will tell me if I ask.

Dreading what might happen, I approach master as he walks down the street. That unwavering trust I had for him, it vanished as we walked back to town yesterday. But I want to believe. That kind, caring yet stern master. I’ll reach out to him.

“Would you tell me what is going on, master?” He stops. Without turning around, he asks.

“You were following me? What do you want, Marcy?”

“I was going to visit Julius to talk to him. But then I saw you coming out of his house. It is unusual for Master to visit a newbie Adventurer’s place.”

“It has nothing to do with you.” Master turns around, and looks at me. This inquisitive, deep face. Like he is baring me naked in his mind. “Now, please leave. I see you got quite a haul of bunnies today. Go turn them in at the guild, and wait for me there. I’ll return later, and then we will talk.”

I can’t resist him. I cannot defy him. This heartbeat that happens only when I am with him.

“Yes, Master. Thank you for clearing my doubts.” The words just fly out of my mind. Somewhere deep inside, I doubt myself. And my being hates the me that doubts Master. But the uneasiness still won’t go away.

“Good girl.” He comes close enough I can feel the warmth of his breath. My heart races. My mind numbs. He pats my head, then kisses me on the forehead. I could live for this kiss alone.

“Master, one thing before you leave.”

He looks at me with a “what is it” face. He is bothered.

“I would like to get lots of requests to hunt in the farm fields, I need money to improve my gear, and I’m sure hunting will keep me busy enough. I want to help.” I put on my best pleading face.

“Oh, I see. Indeed, you should worry about your finances. This harvest you are exempt from the poll tax, but you should save money even now.” Master smiles. I sigh. “I will order the receptionists to put aside the best crop protection requests for you. Make sure to kill lots of bunnies.”

He turns around, and leaves. His gait is composed yet fast. And then Helen’s scared face, in that forest, flashes in front of me.

I stumble across the street, and enter a side alley. It was all I could do before the strength of my legs give in.

I drop on the ground. The more I want to put my trust on Master, the more I dread for Helen’s fate. I don’t know. Master is the Guild Master. He should care for the well being of all adventurers in town. Helen is an adventurer. She might be a weak winter child, but she is a magician. A rare magician. And even one that trained in all elements.

“He called her ‘harvest girl’...” I mumble to myself. Helen’s hair is a sign of a blessing from the harvest goddess.

The withered asparagus and cucumbers flash in my view.

Master is caring. He looks for the well being of our town. He must be worried about the crops, with all those protection requests popping in.

Everyone is scared there won’t be any food left.

Do they need Helen for saving the crops? Does she have that kind of power? Night falls while I worry. I remember the agreement with the guards.

I spend my days hunting bunnies and wolves around the farm fields, until our agreed time to visit Helen.