Chapter 20: Kindness

Working?

I worked. It lasted for the whole afternoon. No more than five hours. So much so that, right now, the sun even started to settle down. The woman who offered me her protection and kindness, after she had helped me, offered me a job. And at the end of that job, I'd get to eat and drink. This was to be my income for the day, she said. And thus I did work under her conduct.

She was kind. And actually, I even got to eat before starting the real job. She said I needed strength in order to work. After I ate well and replenished my strength, she said this wasn't enough yet, and she called the healers for me. They called it "illness and lingering symptoms of malnutrition for a prolonged period of time"—I called it a bunch of Negative Status Effects acting up together. Or the System did, rather. So I was cured, healed, and nourished. This made me happy, and I started to jump around happily. The kind ma'am had as much reliability as she had kindness. Seeing me jumping around like a fool around her, she stopped me and urged me to keep my strength to work, now. Because we would get started.

I obeyed. We had our stand to attend to, our customers to satisfy, and a livelihood to assure. So we sold things. Or more like, she sold things, and I helped her the best I could. Greens, vegetables, flour, wheat, numerous kinds of bread, and some other things I did not inquire about. There were all of these. All goods that we had to sell. Customers would come to us in order to buy, and we would serve them in exchange for money. The kind ma'am was behind the counter dealing with the clients, and I was in the background, handling things she needed me to, or simply putting some orders and cleaning up as she ordered. We worked as a team. "You're capable enough, kiddo. Be proud of yourself." The kind ma'am cheered me up a lot. Before long, our working time was over. Now the sun was settling down.

It was getting dark outside.

The monsters' home. What was the monsters' home? And where was it? It was my home, mine, and it most likely was outside of the Sville Village, in the forests, where monsters were lurking in the dark. Anyone's home was where anyone should be. That's what the kind middle-aged lady taught me.

I should be at my place… but I'm not. Right now, I'm not. Rather, I'm at an inn. A huge, hearty, pleasant inn. The Frontgate Inn. Rather than on the inside of it, I was out, resting my back on the outer wall of the place. The front porch was empty, all the customers were inside. Only I was here, my eyes glued to the big gates in front of me.

"So… will you open yourself already… or what?" I mumbled, waiting patiently. It had been five minutes since I got here. And no, the big, thick wooden gates wouldn't dare open. But just as my mentor said about working patiently, 'Being patient is a quality, a virtue.'

So patiently, I waited some more. Those were the village's gates. They led to the outside. My eyes squinted as I examined them. They were connected to high ramparts that protected the people of the village from their enemies. In front of the gate were standing two guards. Each one of them by either side of it. They were on duty.

I now saw that waiting idly wouldn't get me anywhere. If the guards were to open the gates, well, they'd have done it by now. So I jumped up and walked up to them. I looked at one of them, he looked at me. I wondered what I should tell him so that he opened the door for me. But rapidly, he crouched down and waved for me to approach. With quick steps, I was in front of him. He took his helmet off, placed it by himself on the ground, and stuffed his hand in his pockets… "Ta-dah~" he produced a candy for me. "I only have this one. Promise." Standing back up, he shooed me away.

"Open the big doors for me." I wasn't just some kid, please.

"Uh? Didn't you just want some candy?"

"What? Why?"

The guard's colleague spoke and said I'm not from the other usual group of kids. "Oh. Other brats always want candies so… All right then, what do you want, kid? Wanna play at fighting with me?"

I said I just wanted the doors to open. I wanted to go out—no, I needed to.

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"Well then, I'm afraid not."

"Why? I need to."

"Why do you think we're on duty this late at night, eh?"

I shook my head. "Why?"

"What? Damn, that's one amusing fella we got there." "Yup, you said it." "Hey, little man, you don't play with the other kids? Not from town? I mean, the other kids, don't they keep talking about it? Word is, a monster's lurking in town. Yes little man, as we speak the monster lurks. That's why the gates're closed for now. Only big shots get to go in and out as they please. Wanted to play outside? You can't. It'll soon be pitch-dark anyway. Just go home. You'll try again tomorrow. Or well, maybe not… I guess we still got to catch the monster first. Well anyway, there you have it." And he shooed me away. "Don't be too scared~ You're safe with us!"

If they didn't recognize me, they were the ones who shouldn't be scared. Going away, I went back to that inn. The kind ma'am's inn. It rested right by the front gate of the village in order to welcome newcomers. I was a newcomer too, so I went to the door and was welcomed in.

What I didn't know was that I wouldn't leave this inn alive.

The door creaked so loudly the people inside were alerted by my presence. "Welcome, welcome! Come on in— Oh, so you came back, after all, kiddo!" My eyes widened in surprise as the door opened to an unknown world. I had never seen this. Walking past that door, the change in atmosphere was so abrupt. Outside, at night, it was cold and quiet. Inside of here, however, man it was full of life. A crowded place.

Laughter and shouting rang out within the enclosure of these four walls. Afraid to disturb the quiet people on the outside, I hurried myself in and slammed the door closed. An inn, huh? Surely, this was the most animated and lively place I had ever seen. Then again, I only was a-day-old for now, so maybe it was normal.

The kind ma'am called to me with a happy tone. She asked what brought me here. Did I just happen to have a change of mind? She was going about serving the customers. I wondered whether she stopped working even one hour a day at least. What an avid worker, I thought. That's commendable. In both her hands, she held giant plates. Within these giant plates were scattered plenty of delightful dishes, full of different kinds of food. In the ruckus of that place, "Owner, owner!" some hands were raised here and there, while she scurried all over the place, making sure no one was forgotten. She was quite the skillful lady. And an avid worker with a lot of work to do. Still carrying around all her dishes, she managed to spare herself some time and threw another glance at me. Calling for her daughter, she handed her over all her gear.

"What can you be daydreaming about that'd make you this detached, eh, kiddo?" she said, pinching my nose. Startled, I came back to reality.

"Yes, ma'am. This, uh, business-related stuff I had to take care of, that I talked to you about, well, I can't do it for now. That's why I came back… as per your instructions, ma'am." I couldn't get out of this place for now. The monsters' home had to wait.

So did I want to help her with her work again? "Is it really okay if I trouble you with my care, though, ma'am?" I needn't mention it, she said. As she also said, just by looking around us I could see all of the work she had, in abundance, which meant I wouldn't just be taken care of if I decided to stay with her, but rather take care of myself. Honestly with the bad guys, at that. She said this place was even denser in work compared to the place at the marketplace. I could only agree with her. It couldn't even compare, to be honest.

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