It had been like five minutes, and Mina was still crying. I wasn’t quite sure if that was a reasonable amount of time to be honest, but it was kind of awkward. Well actually, that sounded kind of selfish. She was the one sobbing on a counter right now, after all. But what was I supposed to do about it? I couldn’t exactly say encouraging words, and even if I could I wouldn’t do it right. I could try purring? That might help? Crap how do I purr. Think happy thoughts? This was not a happy situation. Maybe I could just kind of vibrate? Manually do it? Or what if I just thought really hard about purring. Can’t hurt to try.

Like a switch was flipped, I began to purr. Guess that was all there was to it, like bringing up my status it was mostly instinctive. Purring was like if I had a beehive inside me, gently and constantly vibrating. It was nice in a comforting way, which I imagine a beehive inside me would not be. Perhaps the analogy needed work. It felt like I was putting on my favorite clothes fresh out of the dryer, still warm and cozy.

Mina seemed to be getting a bit better as well, pulling me in closer. Her tear-sodden face on my fur was actually really uncomfortable, but I’d have to be completely devoid of morals to complain about that. I was trying to help someone through a breakdown here, I could suffer through some unpleasant dampness.

By fulfilling the required criteria, you have unlocked a new skill: Soothing Purr

Oh! Hey! That had to mean this was helping out, right? Let's see, what’d this do…

Soothing Purr

Level - 1 of 5

Effects - Grants a very minor physical and emotional healing passive to all who hear or feel your purr. Effective on all who hear you purr, more potent on those in contact with you. Skill gained due to your effort to help distressed others in a cat-like way.

This was good! I can’t say I expected a skill that explicitly made people feel better, but that’s kind of what cat purrs do anyway. Physical healing was the real interesting part here, although the wording didn’t make it seem like I’d be mending broken limbs with this. Still nice though. Might as well check that other skill I got while I’m doing this.

Scratching

Level - 1 of 25

Effects - Your scratches are stronger. Skill gained by scratching someone.

Wow. So cool.

A few minutes had passed, and Mina was still crying into my side as I purred. I guess ‘very minor’ emotional healing was as negligible as it seemed, but at least she wasn’t doing it as intensely.

That being said, she needed to put the sobbing on standby. Not because it was getting my fur wet and I was gonna have to lick it clean and I really didn’t want to drink her tears, but because there was a person in the guild hall for some unholy reason. Mina didn’t really close the door before she broke down, and it seems some people can’t take a hint to not approach the crying woman behind the counter. Who did she think she was, standing there awkwardly?

Ium, “Enthusiast of Many Things”. Further information restricted.

Why were some people so against me looking into their information? They really should consider that this is all I have going on in my life now.

Ium hesitantly spoke up. “Um, sorry to interrupt you, but are you alright?” She asked, the answer incredibly obvious.

Mina slowly dragged her face up from my fur, freeing me from being fully drenched by her. Freedom at last. “No.” She started glumly, tragically burying her face back down in my fur. “Also we’re closed. Says it on the door. No one ever reads the door.” She continued, slightly muffled by the fact that she was speaking directly into me.

Ium shifted around a bit, seeming oddly satisfied. “Oh, I’m sorry I missed that. But I’m not here to be a customer for… whatever this place is. I just thought you looked like you could be doing better.” She explained. I couldn’t help but agree on that, Mina was pretty miserable right now.

Mina groaned into my fur, pulling herself back up. I took the opportunity to move away a bit, not wanting to be a pillow again. “Yeah, I feel like garbage and everything sucks. Why do you care?” After a brief moment, she kept talking in a mumbly tone. “Also, this is the guild hall. For the adventurer’s guild."

Ignoring the nearly accusatory question, Ium gasped in slight surprise. “Is it? I thought that would be bigger, to be honest! And can I not simply want to help someone out? What’s bothering ya’?”

A dark and haunting laugh came out of Mina. “Huh, never thought I’d have someone here who didn’t know what this place was.” There was a large sign in the front, if I recall correctly. “And where would I even begin? I guess I’m just a bit sick of this job.”

Nodding along, Ium listened. “Not from around here. What makes it so bad? Seems like a nice enough place.” She asked, moving over to pet me. Of course, this place was nice because I was here. “Or maybe it just looks nice on the surface. Guess you could call it the adventurer’s gild.” Ium grinned with that mischievous smugness that comes with making a terrible, garbage, absolutely evil pun.

Mina sighed, but it was half-hearted, a good mood bubbling to the surface despite her efforts to stay grouchy. “That pun was worse than working here, and someone threatened to attack me with lightning fists today.” She said with a giggle.

Ium’s grin faded, she didn’t seem quite sure if she should laugh at that. “Are you alright? Well, you look fine. But still…” Oh no, the grin was back. “That must have been rather shocking!” I hate her.

“Stop making those damn puns.” I muttered futilely as Mina rolled her eyes in amusement.

“I’ll keep making these puns forever. So many that everything will become a chaotic mess of wordplay.” She paused for dramatic effect. “It’ll be Pundemonium!” That one barely even worked, shut up. “But seriously, that’s not good. You alright?”

It took a moment for Mina to answer, her smile from the puns fading as the conversation got a bit more serious. “Yeah, I’m fine. It just sucks. I couldn’t fight back if I tried, so what would I even do? If he wanted to, I’d be fried right now. Hate being helpless like that.”

“Why don’t you quit? Plenty of jobs for someone your age, could do an apprenticeship too, you seem pretty crafty! Or maybe you could even become an adventurer!” Ium cheered with infectious enthusiasm.

Mina looked down at the counter, reaching over to pet me. “Most jobs wouldn’t accept me, much less an apprenticeship. And being an adventurer…” A wistful look spread across her face before almost instantly leaving it. “I’d love to, but it’s not happening. Even if my parents didn’t run the guild, I’d be rejected for safety reasons. Not exactly fit for a job like that.”

“That makes two of us! Always hated fighting, adventurer’s guild is overrated anyway!” Ium said in a pretty blatant attempt to cheer Mina up. Maybe she wasn’t the worst, despite the puns. “But even so, I bet you could do it! Just learn some skills and magic and you’ll be all set!”

“Well it would be nice if it was that easy. But I’m a bit of a special case here. I can’t cast magic, and skills are worthless to me.” Mina shifted about a bit, as if unsure whether or not she should continue. She took a deep breath in preparation before speaking. “I don’t have any mana, and well, skills and magic both require it. Pretty much everything does. Opening the status menu spends a fraction of some mana. Choosing a title requires some mana. Every single activated skill, even Insight, costs mana. Those little notifications for leveling up or getting new skills? Never seen them, they use a bit of your mana to appear.” She sounded bitterer the more she ranted, but she wasn’t done yet. “Joining a party? Mana. Choosing a class? Mana. Enchanted weapon? Mana. Activating a magical appliance? Mana. Evolving a skill? Even if I could open my status, it would cost mana. It doesn’t matter how much it is, any amount is more than the nothing I’ve got.” She spat, crumpling a spare adventurer application sheet into a ball as she spoke.

Ium looked a bit stunned, and I couldn’t blame her. How was she supposed to respond to a heartfelt speech that, as far as I could tell, was a problem unique to Mina? “Well, yeah. That definitely isn’t the best. Maybe there’s a silver lining though?” She asked warily, her optimism wavering.

“If there was one, I think I’d have found it by now.” Mina said dryly.

“Doesn’t hurt to keep looking!” Ium chirped, flinching a bit before seemingly reading from thin air. Using her status menu, probably. “Anyway, sorry about this, but I was on my way to something when I dropped in, so I gotta go in about… now.” She walked back to the door before Mina could react, stopping to read the open and closing hours. “Seeya around Mina! Tell your cat to appreciate puns more!” She called out as Mina merely waved. And just like that, she disappeared into the dusk

Hey wait a minute, how did she know I hated her puns?

Mina whipped her crumpled paper across the room. “Why did I DO that?? She was just being nice, I didn’t need to tell my stupid life story…” She turned around and kicked the wall, immediately regretting it and hissing through clenched teeth. I turned Soothing Purr back on, guess both healing aspects would be helping now. She walked over to pick up the paper, uncrumpling and reading it. “Like that’ll ever happen.” She muttered before tearing it up and slamming it into a waste bin with apparent disgust. “Didn’t even get her name because everyone in this dumb city just uses Insight and doesn’t introduce themselves.”

Mina grabbed a weathered looking book–Advanced Encyclopedia of Monsters–and sat down at a table, grumpily reading it. I curled up in the center of the table, still purring. She seemed better than before Ium came in at least, hopefully some downtime would help her improve further.