Chapter 04

Despite waking up at the crack of dawn, I was in no rush. Checking underneath the bandages on Toofy’s arms, I was surprised to find that they had completely healed, leaving behind only a few small scars. The same was true of her face as well. The deep gash on the right side of her face was gone, replaced by a long discoloured scar. Wow, Nadine wasn’t kidding. Toofy looked like she had made a full recovery and was supported by the group status.

[Toofy - HP: 19/19 - Normal ]

“How is your eye Toofy?” I asked excitedly.

Toofy was blinking a lot to adjust to the light but seemed just as excited as I was, “Toofy see!” She stood up somewhat unsteadily and started jumping around on the bed. “Toofy see! Toofy see!” Toofy repeated with every jump.

I chuckled watching Toofy play around. She must have been more worried than I was, despite the brave face she had put on. “Do you want to come with me and get breakfast?” I asked Toofy loudly.

Immediately changing focus, Toofy stopped jumping and looks at me blankly for a moment before her eyes light up, “Breakfast!” She cried excitedly and began trying to shove me off the bed.

“Alright, I’m getting up,” I chuckled, standing up and letting Toofy clamber up my arm.

Toofy stopped halfway up, hanging off my arm like a sailor in ships rigging, pointing excitedly to the door. “Go Tim go! Breakfast!” She shrieked excitedly.

We left the room on our grand voyage to the common room bar downstairs.

“Pfffft!” The innkeeper, Kirk, was not prepared and sprayed his morning tea halfway down the length of the bar before quickly ducking into the kitchen.

“What are you doing? I still need to-” Rose’s complaint’s stopped mid-sentence upon following her husband’s frantic gesturing, “Pfft AHAHAHA!” She clutched at her stomach and laughed.

Kirk himself was red-faced, wheezing breathlessly and slapping his thigh.

I couldn’t blame them. Toofy and I looked pretty silly. Walking down the remaining stairs, I sat down at the bar, taking care to pick a stool that was not wet. Toofy moved up onto my shoulder and sat down. Maybe I should have worn Toofy’s bandage eyepatch and add to this nautical theme? I mean, with Toofy on my shoulder, that’s kind of like a pirate, right?

“Oh, I didn’t realise how much I needed to see that,” Rose snickered, using her apron to wipe a tear from her eye.

“It wasn’t that funny,” I countered, still smiling in spite of myself.

Kirk was still bent over wheezing, waving his hand and pointing as means of contributing to the conversation.

“Breakfast!” Toofy demanded seriously, slapping her thighs with a serious frown on her face.

“Pffft,” Rose clapped her hand over her mouth and made it to the kitchen before she started laughing again, “AHAHA!”

I turned my head to look at Toofy, “Breakfast is serious business, isn’t it, Toofy?”

Toofy nodded emphatically, “Breakfast business!” She agreed with a stern expression, glaring at Kirk.

“I...I can’t...” Kirk wheezed, stumbling light-headed into the kitchen.

Toofy shook her head, very unimpressed with Kirk’s lack of professionalism. After all, he has one job, bringing Toofy her food, and he is somehow messing it up.

Or at least that’s what I like to think Toofy is thinking anyway.

After a couple of minutes, Rose returned from the kitchen with a pair of large steaming bowls of what I would guess is meat in gravy.

“How much is the meal today?” I asked, opening the cloth bag for my coppers.

Rose waved her hand, “No charge, all expenses are being paid by the Guild until the emergency is over,” she smirked, “So I won’t be charging you for ruining four of my good sheets either.”

Toofy hopped off my shoulder, sat down on the bar and scooted closer to one of the bowls until it was in her lap. She scowled at the bowl’s content’s and glared at Rose accusingly, “Hot,” Toofy reviewed scathingly.

Oh boy, maybe today is the day I teach Toofy how to use utensils? “Rose, are spoons covered as part of the Guild’s subsidy?” I asked, hopefully.

Rose could see where I was going with the question and nodded. She bent down and withdrew a wooden spoon from beneath the bar and held it out for Toofy.

“If you use a spoon, you can blow on your food to cool it down before putting it in your mouth,” I explained to Toofy while gesturing to the spoon, “I’ll show you okay, watch me,” I used the spoon provided in my bowl to lift a chunk of gravy covered meat in front of my face, gave it a few exaggerated but gentle blows before putting it in my mouth, chewing and swallowing. “See? Now you try,” I encouraged Toofy.

Toofy looks up at me dubiously as she accepts the spoon from Rose. She copies my actions to a tee. However, upon putting the spoon in her mouth, Toofy’s eyes light up with excitement, and I quickly pulled the spoon from her mouth as she began vigorously chewing. “No hot! Toofy no hurt!” Toofy declares in amazement, snatching the spoon back from me and going in for another spoonful.

“No biting the spoon,” I warned Toofy, “Use your lips to pull it off the spoon, like this,” I demonstrate exaggeratedly, probably looking like one of those apes eating ants off a stick.

Taking her induction into the ways of consuming food very seriously, Toofy watched me with rapt attention before trying it herself. It took her a few tries, but she got the hang of it.

“You’re so smart Toofy” I tousled her hair affectionately and left her to eat in peace.

Toofy smiled and proudly flaunted her newly acquired skills. Throughout the meal, she managed to avoid spilling even a single drop of gravy on herself. A truly impressive feat.

Which is more than can be said for me. However, one of the benefits of not having a shirt on was that I can quickly clean the mess.

After polishing off her bowl of meat and gravy, Toofy rubbed her belly contentedly.

“Are you full Toofy?” I asked her warily.

Toofy nodded and burped, “Toofy full,” she agreed with a lazy smile.

Interesting, Toofy’s appetite had reduced substantially. The only cause for it I can think of is that her HP is now full. I guess that makes sense. Maybe the synergy from my racial ability becomes inactive if she was at full HP. That could explain how I have been able to exercise so much restraint as well. Looking at my own HP, I am not surprised to find it is still maxed out, so that seems to support my assumption, at least for now anyway.

Ooh, actually, I would have gotten a bunch of Exp from fighting those Orc’s right? I wonder if anything has changed., “Status.”

[Tim - Ogre Runt: 1 ] [HP: 45/45 ] [MP: 0/0 ]

[Emelia’s Slave*] [Class: Taskmaster 0. +1 Willpower, +5 HP.] [Exp: 483/1000 ]

[Strength: 15* ]

[Agility: 8 ]

[Toughness: 20* ]

[Intelligence: 10 ]

[Willpower: 15* (16*) ]

[Presence: 3 ]

[(Racial Ability: Thick Hide {Rank 0}): You have an abnormally thick hide that will shrug off minor damage. {Toughness} increases the level of damage resistance.]

[(Racial Ability: Brute Strength {Rank 0}): You deal more damage with {Primitive} and {Heavy} weapons. {Strength} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[(Racial Ability: Iron Gut {Rank 0}): Consuming food accelerates {Healing}. {Toughness} increases the rate of digestion.]

[(Class Ability: Word of the master): The Monsters and Slaves in your party obey your commands as if you were their master. Disobeying your direct commands requires a contest of (Willpower). Degree of failure will result in pain being administered until the command is obeyed or the command is rescinded.]

[Group Synergy: {Vicious: - }, {Underfoot: - }.]

[(Enslaved Status Effects: {Hide/Expand})]

Hrm, just under halfway to the Exp cap. I assume that I will ‘level up’ when I reach the maximum. Taking a quick look through, I saw that there was something I hadn’t noticed before. It was the group synergy Nadine had told me about. Vicious and Underfoot? Oh, these were Toofy’s racial abilities. A bit further down, I saw that the enslavement effects had all collapsed and sorted themselves into a single line of text. When and how did that happen? Did I make that change in my sleep? or...Oh, doesn’t Emelia have access to my status screen? That could be annoying. Wait a minute, looking to the side, I took a look at Toofy’s status.

[Toofy - Goblin: 1 ] [HP: 19/19] [MP: 0/3 ]

[Emelia’s Slave*] [Class: Scavenger 2. +2 Intelligence, +1 Toughness, +5 HP. ] [Exp: 581/3000 ]

[Strength: 7 ]

[Agility: 13* ]

[Toughness:6 ]

[Intelligence: 5* ]

[Willpower: 6* ]

[Presence: 5 ]

[(Class Ability: Treasure Sense): Detects and highlights items of value within a predetermined range. {Intelligence} increases range.]

[(Racial Ability: Vicious {Rank 0}): Deals additional damage to fallen enemies and those with {Negative Status Conditions}. {Willpower} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[(Racial Ability: Underfoot {Rank 0}): Takes less damage from Larger enemies. {Agility} increases the level of damage resistance.]

I couldn't see the group synergy or enslavement information at all. Also, I couldn't see the adjustment to her stats. Why is that? I wondered. Is it because I don’t have permission to see them? Nadine did keep asking for Emelia to give her permission to see my status. So maybe I can only see this much of Toofy’s status by default? Also, wow, how many Vrabbit’s did Toofy kill while protecting Nadine? She had barely any Exp before, now she has close to one hundred more than I do...

Watching Toofy, now rolling around on the floor holding her feet, it is very difficult to reconcile her current behaviour against her murder-hobo persona in combat. Objectively, it’s terrifying. It’s like having a miniature hulk...with a shiv. One moment her hand is empty, next thing you know, she’s holding a bloody shiv, and you're dying from exsanguination, like what the hell. I honestly don’t see how the girl’s thought a Goblin wouldn’t pull its own weight. I mean, Toofy is carrying the team as far as I can tell.

“Hello, handsome,” the woman with the chestnut hair and hazel eyes had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She took a seat next to me at the bar, “I would dress down for breakfast as well, but I don’t have your self-confidence,” she grinned brazenly and leaned sideways on the bar and batted her eyelashes at me.

Was she seriously trying to flirt with me? Or maybe just messing with me? Hrm, no, she definitely wants something. Life experience all but confirms it.

“Look, I don’t want anything from you, alright?” She turned her back to the bar and stretched, “Just trying to make conversation is all, honest.”

Okay, that was weird. “What do we even have to talk about?” I asked sceptically, recalling what I had overheard last night.

The woman smiled lazily and nodded, “Probably more than you think, but less than I am willing to divulge in front of an audience. Beer and breakfast, please!” She called out loudly towards the kitchen.

There was a slight scuffling sound, and a few moments later, Kirk left the kitchen with a bowl of meat and gravy. The slight colour in his cheeks suggested that perhaps he had been eavesdropping and was embarrassed about being caught.

I hadn’t noticed Kirk at all, so I wondered how this woman had managed it. Did she have crazy detection skills or something?

The woman dropped one copper on the table and gave me a curious smirk, “I bet you’re wondering how I knew the innkeeper was there, right?” She smirked again and took the tankard of beer Kirk just served and began drinking it down. “Gah! That’s the stuff! Breakfast of champions!” She slammed the now empty tankard back on the bar and turned her attention back to me again, “Well?”

“Well, what?” I asked, “Did you want applause? I have watched a bunch of adventurers drink a tankard in one. It’s honestly not very impressive.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes, “Well, no, I meant about the innkeeper thing. You aren’t even gonna try guessing?” She asked, somewhat disappointed.

I rolled my eyes, “Fine. You probably saw him when you came down the stairs.”

“Nope, he was canoodling his wife when I came down,” she insisted playfully, “Try again.”

I frowned. Spying on people wasn’t really my thing, so naturally, I didn’t know how she could have done it. I shrugged, “I dunno, how?”

She sighed and shook her head slightly, “Giving up so easily? Fine,” she sat up and tapped her temple “Trade secret,” she smiled conspiratorially and leaned onto the bar again.

“Then why did you even ask me to guess if you weren’t going to tell me anyway?” I asked exasperatedly.

“To have a conversation, sourpuss,” she smirked and began eating her breakfast while waiting for me to react.

Nope, not worth it. This person is just trouble. I glanced down at Toofy and could see she thought much the same as I did, standing between the woman and me, glaring at her balefully with teeth bared and ready. “Kirk, can I get three bowls for the girls?” I asked while ignoring the disappointed look that the woman gave me.

“Sure,” Kirk disappears into the kitchen.

“Oh c’mon, don’t be like that!” The woman insisted, ”We haven’t even had a chance to introduce ourselves yet.”

I scowl and do my best to ignore her.

“Hi Tim, I’m Jacque,” she extended her hand expectantly only to suddenly whip her arm back.

*Clack*

Toofy jumped up between us and missed biting the womans fingers by less than an inch.

“Nice try puppy,” the woman, Jacque, smirked antagonistically.

“Grrrr!” Toofy climbed up my back and onto my shoulder again, growling angrily and brandishing her shiv menacingly.

“Here you go,” Kirk returned from the kitchen and handed me a large tray with the three bowls on it.

“Thanks,” I got up off the stool and walked over to the stairs.

“Nice talk. Let’s do it again some time, yeah?” Jacque called after me.

I could feel her eyes on me as I walk up the stairs and try to ignore her. What is she even trying to accomplish? Does she think that if I have a shot at sleeping with her that I’ll magically be able to slip Emelia’s enslavement and join her team as her slave instead? Ridiculous. I knock on the door to the girl’s room and hear a sudden scramble and scattered whispers.

A key rattled in the lock, and Nadine opened the door, “Oh, it's just Tim and Toofy,” she called out over her shoulder and made room for me to enter.

Entering the room, I could see Clarice in the process of turning her tunic the right way round and avoiding eye contact. Emelia is glancing at her, giggling quietly. I shrug and put the tray down on the bed. I have accidentally put clothes on the wrong way round when in a rush too. It’s not a big deal. Picking up a bowl and spoon, I handed it to Emelia. “Are you feeling any better?” I asked her, glancing at the status display.

[Emelia - HP: 3/25 - Bloodied ]

Emelia smiled and gratefully accepted the bowl of food, “Thanks, Tim. Ah, it’s starting to hurt less.”

“She won’t be able to fight for at least a week though without exacerbating her injuries,” Nadine added gloomily.

“Isn’t a week pretty fast?” I asked, a little confused. The healing rate of people in this world is insane.

Nadine shrugged, “It depends. Adventurers can heal from injuries pretty quickly, assuming there are monsters to eat. But it’s still nothing compared to a monster's rate of healing.”

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” I asked. This sounds like very important information. All the more so, considering that if Emelia dies, I will probably not be far behind her.

“Well, it’s one of the perks of being an adventurer. So long as we eat meals primarily made of monsters, it accelerates our body’s healing. There are a few factors, like the adventurers level, the tier and rank of the monster, and how much of it the adventurer has eaten recently,” Nadine gave me a sympathetic look, perhaps assuming that the information dump had been a bit too much, “Basically, low-level adventurers like us, eating low tier and rank monsters for every meal will heal about one HP a day. Does that make sense?”

I nodded, it was simple enough to get my head around. So that meant that it would be twenty-two days until Emelia returned to full HP again. Oof, that’s a very long time to be in recovery. But Nadine had said about a week? Actually, that was an important point, “What does the Bloodied condition mean?”

“Hrm, basically, it is a condition that applies to adventurers and monsters that get below half their maximum HP. Some adventurers and monster’s abilities are dependent on the Bloodied condition or conditions in general to work. Toofy has an ability like that if I recall,” Nadine explained, sitting down on the bed and starting her breakfast.

“What about Vrabbit’s? Do they have an ability like that? I asked worriedly, realising just how royally screwed we are right now.

“They do,” Clarice confirmed dourly, “It’s called Swarm, and it’s brutal. It agros all other Vrabbit’s in range to attack the same target. Pretty much the moment one person becomes bloodied, the Vrabbits completely ignore everyone else and rush that person exclusively. Combine it with their Blood Scent ability, and you are just screwed,” she hugged her arms and shivered.

That certainly explained what happened during the Orc ambush. Why so many adventurers were in reserve guarding the flank and not fighting the Orcs alongside the others. But that was another thing I needed to know as well, “How many adventurers can be in the same party?” I asked curiously. Surely there had to be some reason why adventurers didn’t just make twenty plus kill teams for safety.

“OOH! OOH! I KNOW THIS ONE!” Emelia shouted excitedly.

“Damn! Volume!” Clarice shot Emelia an angry glare.

“Oh, sorry,” Emelia apologised, cheeks reddening in embarrassment, “But I know this one! It’s five, the party limit is five adventurers,” she declared proudly.

Nadine nodded, “Emelia is right. The party limit is five adventurers and ten tamed monsters or slaves.”

Well, that seemed exploitable, “So why don’t people run around with loads of slaves and tamed monsters then?”

Nadine smirked wryly and nodded, “Some people do. But it’s rare. Not everyone can manage such a large party effectively, and the startup costs are just unrealistic.”

“What about taming more monsters? It is Emelia’s class ability, right? Couldn’t we avoid a repeat of that latest disaster just by taming more monsters?” Ugh, I felt dirty, suggesting that. It was one thing to make the most of the bad situation, but to deliberately encourage drawing others into that situation with me was a bit much.

Nadine shook her head, “Unless we bought slave collars for them, it isn’t possible. Emelia’s taming ability has a restriction based on her Presence statistic. She probably won’t be taming anything for a very long time unless we manage to save up a lot of silver and buy a collar for Toofy.”

I wanted to ask why they would buy a collar for Toofy and not me, but the prospect of wearing a slave collar just made the underlying nature of our relationship way too real.

The conversation hit a lull at that point, and I let the girls eat their breakfast in peace. Nadine was taking her time, eating with deliberate, almost perverse slowness. I didn’t blame her, though. I wasn’t looking forward to going to the tailor either.

After about a half-hour, Nadine finished her breakfast, and we no longer had an excuse for procrastinating any further. Capitalising on her weakened condition, we did take the stairs very slowly, just to be safe. But that only earned us another five minutes. Gloomily walking across the road, I wanted nothing more than to call it off and go back to the inn. Even fighting Vrabbit’s would be preferable to this.

Now standing outside the tailor’s shop, I can see the shopkeeper through the open door. She is just standing there without moving, not even so much as blinking.

“We should just get this over with,” Nadine suggested, her expression determined despite her left hand trembling.

I am a real piece of work. I could have faced this eldritch horror alone, but instead, I am dragging two other people down with me. I let out a deep sigh and entered the store.

Almost immediately, the shopkeeper’s head turned to face me, its dark eyes boring into my soul. Unlike the previous times I had visited, the shopkeeper did not offer a greeting. Instead, she began tapping her nails impatiently.

Nadine took hold of my hand, and I very nearly jumped out of my skin in fright. This is one of the few times I am glad to have a poor reaction speed. It was probably the only reason I was preserving any degree of my dignity at this point. Not that I think Nadine would judge me too harshly. She had to be at least as frightened as I am. I could feel her pulse racing.

Desperately stealing my nerve, I began approaching the counter again. Each step became more difficult than the last, my dread making me feel like I had weights strapped to my legs and feet. By the time we arrived at the counter, I honestly had no idea how long it had taken us to get here.

The shopkeeper smiled, revealing rows of needle-like teeth, “I have been expecting you,” she said in a mildly annoyed tone, one of her nails shaving a line of wood from the counter. “I have a deal I want to offer you, Tim,” the shopkeeper hissed, “I desire the head of the Orc chieftain. Bring it to me, and I shall reward you!” Her mouth grew wider, revealing more teeth and a blackened tongue.

“Wh-what is th-the re-reward?” Nadine stammered, adamantly staring at the ground and refusing to meet its gaze.

The shopkeeper glared balefully at Nadine with undisguised contempt, “Fifty silver coins is your prize, if you dare,” it hissed.

Nadine was now trembling like a leaf.

We desperately need that money. The Orcs need to die, and theoretically, killing the chieftain will at least delay the raid. Is there a downside to this I am not aware of? Is this an elaborate trick, like a Faustian bargain or something? “Why do you want the chieftains head?” It took me a moment to realise that I asked the question out loud.

The creature stared at me with soulless black eyes for a moment, as if considering the question, “The chieftain has inconvenienced me. I would have him removed and made an example to others!” it cackled dryly.

“Fine, we will do it,” I felt like, unless I gave the creature a reason to keep us alive, I doubted we would be leaving the building, dead or otherwise.

All at once, the creature disappeared, replaced by the unassuming shopkeeper. “Don't forget your purchases,” the shopkeep motioned woodenly to the small pile of folded clothes on the counter.

Snatching up the clothes, I quickly backed away and dragged Nadine after me. Never has the sun felt so good against my skin!

“We are alive?” Nadine whispered incredulously, “Holy shit, we are alive!” Her knees buckled, and she nearly fell to the ground and only managed to remain standing by clutching onto my arm.

“That was stupid...” I groaned. I was way too reckless. What the hell was that thing anyway?! How the hell do Kirk and Rose sleep at night knowing that thing is just across the road?!

“Tim?...” Toofy whimpered weakly, scrambling off my back. She hugged my neck tight. I can feel her heartbeat hammering in her chest.

“It’s okay now Toofy,” I gently hugged her back with my free arm.

Toofy says nothing and just hugs me tighter, sniffling quietly and burying her head against my shoulder.

“Next time I am going in alone,” It was selfish and cruel to drag Nadine and Toofy along for this horror show. What had bringing them along actually accomplished? Pretty much nothing but traumatising three people instead of one. For crying out loud, Toofy is basically just a kid and Nadine is crippled, I really am a monster...

*****

Grobguk was furious! Not only had he lost one of his best warriors, but the Ogre had the gall to run and hide in the one place Grobguk could not follow. Somehow the Ogre had turned the humans into his slaves and was having them do his bidding! Even now, powerful humans stalked Grobguk’s territory and slew every one of Grobguk’s warriors they encountered. They even hacked off the heads to carry back as trophies!

Pacing back and forth in his cave, Grobguk wondered if perhaps there was some way to draw the Ogre out, to separate him from his human slaves. Thinking back on their first encounter, Grobguk wondered if perhaps the Ogre shared the human weakness for females. It was entirely possible, the stronger the male the more females he would require to provide strong offspring.

Yes, this could work. One of Grobguk’s surviving warriors who fought against the Ogre claimed that the Ogre was gathering more females before he fled.

“You!” Grobguk pointed to one of his warriors positioned outside the cave, “Find human females, bring to Grobguk!” He demanded.

The warrior thumped his fist against his chest before gathering a pack of weaker Orcs and running off into the forest.

“You!” Grobguk pointed to another warrior, “Bring Goblin chief Gobgob, kill if resist!”

Grobguk was going to leave nothing to chance. When the Ogre was lured out of its den, Grobguk would ambush him with every able-bodied Goblin in the forest and only then move in for the kill with his warriors.

Grobguk grinned wickedly, “Stupid Ogre, You no smart like Grobguk!” He crowed.

*****

Sitting on the floor in Nadine, Clarice and Emelia’s room, I sat in silence gently rocking Toofy in my arms. She had cried herself to sleep sometime after we returned to the inn and became distressed whenever I tried putting her down. So it had taken me quite a while to get dressed without waking her.

Nadine had just finished recounting what happened to Emelia and Clarice, so the three of them were trying to decide what to do. Obviously, it would be incredibly dangerous to just send me out into the forest to try and find the Orc chieftain. But similarly, all three of them still had the bloodied condition and would not be able to leave the town without being swarmed by Vrabbits.

“I guess we have no choice...” Nadine sighed, “Tim?”

I looked over at Nadine and saw she had a defeated expression.

“I don’t see any other way to get out of this. I think we will have to make a deal with this Jacque person,” Nadine sighed gloomily, “I have a bad feeling about her, but I don’t know what else we can do.”

I nodded. I understood exactly what she meant. Accepting the tailor monster’s ‘deal’ assumedly came with the expectation that it would need to be completed in a similar fashion to other quest givers requests. So Tim had a week or less before the quest would ‘fail’. The consequences for that failure were completely up for interpretation, and as such, we all assumed the worst. Basically, I had less than a week to bring back the chieftain’s head, or the tailor monster would take mine instead.

“I will try to negotiate for the best possible terms,” Nadine tried to reassure me, “If she tries anything funny, feel free to run back to the foothold and we will remove her from the party.”

“She said her class is a Synergist, what is that? Is there something I need to watch out for?” I ask, wanting to confirm my suspicions.

Nadine blanched and nodded, “Jacque claims her class is Synergist. You remember what I told you about racial ability synergies, right?”

I nodded.

“Well, the Synergist class would allow Jacque to effectively gain that same benefit for any slaves or tamed monsters in her party. Similarly, she can also synergize class abilities. These will of course all be weaker than the originals, but I don’t know by how much. Of course, all this information is second-hand, I had never met a Synergist before now,” Nadine explained apologetically.

“It’s alright, I understand,” I sighed and carefully got to my feet, cradling Toofy in my arm. “So what she said that night wasn’t just boasting? With me in her party, she really would be the strongest adventurer on this floor of the Labyrinth?”

Nadine nodded and got off the bed, “Quite possibly. If she really is level ten, then she is already pretty strong anyway.”

“Wait...” Clarice called out hurriedly, stopping Nadine and I as we were about to leave. She fished something out of her pocket and held it out in her hand. It was a small wooden spinning top, no larger than an inch in diameter, made of a dark polished wood of some kind. “It’s my good luck charm, I've had it since I was a kid. I want you to take it,” Clarice insisted, her cheeks flushing slightly.

“Alright,” I accepted the toy somewhat guiltily.

“Just...Just make sure you come back in one piece to give it back okay?! If you don't I’ll hunt you down and drag you back myself!” Clarice looked away and punched my arm.

“Stay safe Tim!” Emelia called out from the bed, “If you get yourself killed, I won't forgive you!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I replied with as much confidence as I could muster.

As Nadine and I leave the inn and head towards the Guild office, I look back and can see Clarice watching us from the window of their room. It was strange to see this side of Clarice. Granted, I honestly haven’t spent much time with her, but I suppose that is the nature of first impressions.

Jacque was sitting on one of the benches near the door and did not seem surprised to see us in the slightest. “Are you ready to make this partnership official?” She asked with a grin.

Nadine pursed her lips and nodded.

“Cool, then let's get on with it,” Jacque chuckled. Sauntering over to one of the Guild staff, she glanced over her shoulder and winked at me, “We wanna see the manager to arbitrate a deal,” Jacque requested casually, making it obvious she was familiar with the process.

The Guild staff member nodded, “Alright, please follow me to the conference room.”

The conference room was about what I had expected, resembling a company board room with a long table and a bunch of chairs arranged around it. The Guild staff member left to fetch the manager, leaving us alone in the room.

Jacque wasted no time in making herself comfortable, leaning back on a chair, resting her boots on the table and clasped her hands behind her head. “I am gonna go out on a limb here and assume you are going to try and wring every coin and assurance you can out of me,” she stated flatly, pointing the toe of her boot at Nadine accusingly, “You know what, that’s fine. Let’s save some time then. I’ll go as low as one share to your four, agree to a conditional enslavement reparations clause at a magnitude of three times Tim’s approximate value, and even give your party first dibs on any loot. That’s as low as I will go. Take it or leave it.”

Nadine gulped hard, her eyes wide in disbelief.

Judging by Nadine’s reaction, I assumed this was a very favourable deal indeed. We would be getting eighty percent of the rewards, the first pick of the treasure and that slave reparations sounded brutal. So why did I have the feeling that Jacque was still very much coming out ahead?

Nadine gave me a small nod, “It's a very good deal,” she whispered, “Are you sure about this?”

I sighed and nodded. We didn’t have much of a choice at this point.

“Deal,” Nadine agreed.

Jacque grinned and looked towards the door.

A couple of seconds later the Guild manager opened the door and entered the conference room. “Good morning everyone. I understand that you wish to organize a cooperation contract?” He asked for confirmation.

Nadine and Jacque nodded.

The Guild manager then transcribed the agreement to paper, had Nadine and Jacque both read it to confirm the agreement and then sign it. All told it took less than a couple of minutes. Apparently, this sort of thing is quite common when adventurers start teaming up at higher levels.

“Alright, you have yourselves protected legally now. Are you going to invite me to the party? Or keep wasting daylight?” Jacque demanded cheekily.

Nadine frowned and carefully removed her injured arm from the sling. She then extended her hand to Jacque, “Party invite.”

Jacque clasped Nadine’s extended forearm and when Nadine reciprocated, she smiled, “Accept invite.”

I wasn't sure why, but Jacque’s group status was immediately added to the row of statuses in my lower peripheral vision.

[Jacque - HP: 35/35 - Normal ]

Why did her status appear but I still can’t see Clarice or Nadine? Is it because she is a synergist?

“Alright! Let’s get this show on the road!” Jacque rubbed her hands together eagerly and left the conference room.

Nadine winced as she replaced her arm in the sling, “What are you going to do with Toofy?” She asked me.

I had already given some thought to it. Despite promising Toofy that I wouldn’t leave her behind, I just couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to her. Especially since I still didn’t know what Jacque’s angle was. “I want to leave her with you and the others, at least for today. I just have a bad feeling about this person.”

Nadine nodded in understanding, “I know what you mean.”

After walking back downstairs, Jacque followed us back to the front of the inn.

“I will be back in a minute,” I told her, heading inside and very carefully transferring Toofy over to Nadine.

“Be careful out there Tim,” Nadine said quietly, “And try to come back in one piece.”

I nodded, “I’ll do my best.” Heading to my room, I retrieved my club and returned downstairs.

“Not bringing the midget huh?” Jacque observed glibly, “I’ll miss the buffs, but it’s probably the smart move,” she agreed.

“So what are we doing?” I asked. I mean honestly, besides vaguely mentioning that we would be doing the extermination quest, she had been incredibly tight-lipped on any further details.

Jacque seemed to think about it for a moment before making a decision, “I think we will take it relatively easy today and just hunt some Orcs and Goblins for the extermination quest. We won’t go too far into the forest though, so the groups should be quite small. So let's get to it!” She smiled at me and then set off towards the gate.

Following Jacque, I made a point of staying a few steps behind and on her left side.

Crossing the open plain, strangely, we did not encounter a single Vrabbit. It wasn’t like we had taken any detours either, just cutting straight across from the gate to the forest.

“You don’t like me much, do you?” Jacque observed aloud.

“I don't know you well enough to decide yet,” I replied, evading the question.

Jacque nodded, snorted quietly and smiled, “It’s fine, you don't have to lie to me just to spare my feelings. I am a big girl, I can take it.”

“I was being honest,” I insisted, “I don’t know you, but you keep acting like we know each other. It’s honestly off-putting.”

“Hrm, you think so?” Jacque mused, “So maybe that girl is more your type then? Do you like more serious girls?”

“I don’t have a type,” I replied stiffly. It was strictly the truth. No one had ever really given me a chance before, so I didn’t really have any positive or negative opinions relating to personality or body type.

“Why lie?!” Jacque cried incredulously, “Everyone has a type, it’s not a big deal.”

“Well I don't,” I shrug and watch the forest around us for signs of movement.

“I don’t believe that for a second, I bet you're just ashamed of it,” Jacque drawled lazily, tsk, this will have to wait a minute, we got two Orcs waiting to ambush us up ahead,” she points to a large bush a few dozen feet further ahead.

As Jacque points at the bush, a pair of Orcs burst out of the bush and charge at us. Both Orcs just have wooden spears, but I was in no rush to find out how much damage they could do with them.

Readying my large club like a baseball bat, I quickly realised a problem. Jacque had not drawn her sword! “What are you doing?!” I demanded incredulously.

Jacque had taken a fighting stance and was just waiting to take the Orc charge. “Fighting, duh,” she huffed snidely.

Fortunately for Jacque, both Orcs had levelled their spears at me and seemed to be ignoring her. However, as the faster Orc thrust his spear towards my face, Jacque ducked low and delivered a right hook to his kidneys. The blow sapped the Orc’s strength and caused his attack to falter.

Unfortunately for the Orc, the disruption in his attack gave me enough time for my club to crash down on his head.

*Crack*

[You have slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp]

The second Orc did not even hesitate, knocking the other Orc aside and ramming his spear into my stomach.

“Oof,” unable to pierce even the leather apron, the jab hadn’t hurt so much as been incredibly uncomfortable and winding me slightly

As the Orc prepared for a second strike, Jacque hooked the fallen Orc’s spear with her boot and flicked it up into her hands.

This gave the Orc enough time to jab his spear at me again, catching and ripping the sleeve of my tunic, but failing to pierce my skin. The Orc jabbed, again and again, driving me back and forcing me on the defensive as he targeted my face.

Jacque watched the exchange for a minute before slipping in behind the Orc and sweeping the shaft of the spear at his right ankle.

*Crack*

“Grah!” The Orc cried out in surprise and pain, falling to the ground as the momentum of Jacque’s attack swept his legs out from underneath him.

Without missing a beat, Jacque shifted her grip on the spear, stepped forward and drove it into the Orc’s eye socket.

[Jacque has slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp]

“That was easy eee-nough!” Jacque grunted as she twisted and pulled the spear free from the Orc’s eye socket, “I am really digging this Brute Strength buff!” She flexed her right arm and squeezed her bicep with her left hand.

Nadine was not kidding, Jacque really seemed to know what she was doing.

Dropping down the spear and opening her pack, Jacque withdrew a large sack and bundle of cloth about the length of her forearm and hand. Unwrapping the cloth revealed a butcher's cleaver with some notches on its edge. Replacing the cloth wrapping in her pack, Jacque knelt down by the Orc she had killed and raised the cleaver.

I flinched. What she was going to do objectively made sense. The Guild required the head for proof of the kill and it had the valuable mana stone inside. Carting around entire bodies is inefficient and cumbersome, it is much easier to just remove a head and carry it in a sack.

Jacque was about to bring the cleaver down on the Orc’s neck but stopped, “You think a cleaver counts as a heavy weapon?” She asked curiously.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. This was not exactly the sort of thing I spent my time thinking about.

Jacque shrugged and prepared to strike again, before stopping with a thoughtful expression. “Hey, I reckon you should do it, ”she said, standing up and offering me the cleaver, “You do have the uniform and all.”

I glanced down at my leather apron. Damnit. I could tell by the way Jacque was looking at me that she was not going to take no for an answer. Logically I understand that this is something I will have to get used to doing, but it's difficult to accept emotionally. Setting down my club, I reluctantly accepted the cleaver.

Kneeling down by the Orc I had killed, I nervously raise the cleaver and prepare to strike. The Orc is already dead, so it won’t feel anything, all I am doing is butchering meat. I repeat this thought in my mind five times before working up the nerve and bringing down the cleaver.

*Thump*

The cleaver cuts deep, perhaps a third of the way through the Orc’s neck, splattering blood against my apron. It was a poor strike, I had lost most of my nerve at the last moment and dramatically lessened the strength of the blow. Damnit, I need to do this! I raised the cleaver again, gathered my nerve and struck.

*Thump*

I did better this time, very nearly cutting the rest of the way through. I had still lost some of my nerve at the last moment, but not nearly as bad as the first time. With one final swing, I separate the Orc’s head from his body.

Jacque nodded at me approvingly, “Not bad,” she threw me the empty sack and then motioned to the other dead Orc.

I nodded, grabbing the Orc head by its hair and depositing it in the sack before moving on to the second Orc. This time, I focus as much of my strength into my arm as possible and bring the cleaver down on the Orc’s neck.

*Chunk*

I stared at the severed neck in surprise. Am I really this strong?

“Hrm, I would say the cleaver counts as a heavy weapon after all,” Jacque commented approvingly, “I think I will use it as my primary weapon for the rest of our hunt today,” she extended her hand expectantly.

I gave Jacque back her cleaver and put the second Orc head in the sack.

“Tell you what champ. I will remove the heads and you carry the sack, fair?” Jacque offered with a lazy smile.

So that was her plan? “Fine,” I agreed. Even though hacking off the heads of the Orc’s was not nearly as upsetting as I thought it would be, I still found it unpleasant. So, I picked up the sack and retrieved my club from where I dropped it. I would probably need to drop the sack when we get into a fight, but carrying it, for now, was fine.

“You’re pretty strange for an Ogre, you know that Tim?” Jacque observed coyly, glancing at me from over her shoulder.

“So I have been told,” I replied dryly.

Jacque smiled, “Still, you’re better company than most humans I hang out with.”

That was a strange thing to say. Then I remembered the nature of the Synergist class and that she must spend a lot of time with tamed monsters. So I suppose it isn’t that weird, given her personality.

We set back out into the forest again. Jacque who was taking the lead didn’t seem to have a clear direction in mind and would drift one way or another for no apparent reason. However, just as I was going to ask what the reason was for doing this, she stopped and pointed ahead.

There was someone trussed and bound in the middle of a clearing. By the looks of them, they were one of the adventurers from town and in a very sorry state.

“There are five Goblins and an Orc hiding in the trees and bushes set for an ambush. I know this will sound bad, but hear me out. I want you to go over to the girl they have tied up out there for bait and trigger the ambush, okay?” Jacque was deadly serious.

“Why? I mean, since you know where they are, shouldn’t we just attack them first?” I hissed back quietly.

Jacque rolled her eyes, “Firstly, they already spotted us. Secondly, I don’t know where each of them is hiding. This plan is much better because they will think they have the upper hand and come out of hiding.”

I frowned. So Jacque is skilled enough or has an ability for detecting nearby monsters, but not their exact location? I sighed, yet another question to ask Nadine about. The difference between the abilities of high-level adventurers and low-level adventurers really seemed quite significant.

Jacque was still waiting for my decision.

“Fine,” I agreed reluctantly. If we just walked away, there was no telling what they would do to their prisoner. Still carrying the sack, I slowly walked over to the clearing. Now that I was closer, I could see that Jacque had been right, the adventurer the Goblins and Orc were using for bait was a young woman.

Seeing me approach, I saw recognition in the woman’s eyes but I didn't recognise her. She had probably seen me around town I suppose. She was trying to say something, but the gag in her mouth made it impossible to accomplish more than indistinct grunts and breathing heavily through her nose.

“It’s okay, we are here to rescue you,” I tried to reassure her.

The woman’s grunts became more insistent and she stared fearfully over my shoulder.

Letting go of the sack, I quickly stood up and began lifting my club into a defensive position.

*Clack*

The shaft of the Orc’s two-handed stone axe was slowed but was not stopped entirely, hitting me in the chest and knocking me back a couple of steps. Undeterred, the Orc raised his axe to strike again, “KILL OGRE!” He bellowed.

A half-second later, four small Goblins, just as naked as the Orc, came rushing out of the nearby bushes holding clubs and stone knives.

Unsure of how long I had until Jacque would move in to help and painfully aware of Goblin combat potential, I decided to try and level the playing field a little. Stepping back and swinging my club backhanded, I caught one of the Goblins on its shoulder as it leapt out of the way.

The Goblin was down only for a second before leaping to its feet and rushing in again.

Right, Goblins take less damage from bigger opponents...

*Thump*

I managed to narrowly avoid the Orc’s overhead chop, but now I had three Goblins behind me. Within a couple of heartbeats, I began to feel small impacts on my legs. Far from what I had expected, I didn’t feel any pain at all. I decided that it would be better to focus my attention on the Orc instead and batted at the shaft of the Orc’s stone axe.

*Clack, fwoosh*

Even though I did not think I had hit that hard, the glancing blow I dealt to the Orc’s stone axe slid up the shaft, caught on the stone head, and then sent it flying.

The Orc and I stared at the headless axe in surprise. Neither of us had expected this.

Recovering faster, the Orc glared murderously at me “Ogre break axe, ME BREAK OGRE!” He screamed, swinging the shaft like a club.

I hastily stepped back to avoid the sweeping blow.

*Crunch*

I felt the unpleasant sensation of breaking bones and tearing meat beneath my right foot.

One of the Goblins unfortunate enough to be standing behind me let out a piercing shriek as I crushed its right leg.

The Orc paid no attention to its fallen ally and continued viciously and skillfully driving me backwards with its improvised club.

I didn’t realize what he was doing until my back hit the trunk of a tree.

Weighed down by rocks, a net tumbled out from the tree, bounced off my shoulder and became tangled on my club.

Apparently, the moment the Orc had been waiting for, he took a double-handed grip on his improvised club, stepped to my side and swung in hard to catch me in the chest.

Left with little choice, I let go of my club and did my best to sidestep the blow.

*Crack*

The Orc’s club crashed against the tree trunk with enough force to turn half the axe shaft into a rain of jagged splinters. Unfortunately for the Orc, he caught a face full of the splinters and a couple even went into his eyes. Dropping what was left of his weapon, the Orc staggered backwards while breathing heavily and clutching at his bleeding face.

[Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp], [Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp]

The two consecutive notifications caught me by surprise. Quickly glancing away from the Orc, I could see Jacque stalking towards the one Goblin left standing on its own two feet.

*Thump*

While I was distracted, something had fallen from the tree and hit me on the head. Looking down at the Goblin scrawled at my feet, it was not difficult to figure out what had happened. Ignoring the Orc, I quickly grabbed at the Goblin before it could run away.

*Crunch*

The Goblin screamed as I unintentionally broke its arm. Am I really that strong? I reflexively recoiled and released the Goblin as I considered the number of times I may have accidentally injured Toofy by being so careless.

The Goblin fell to the ground, shrieking and wailing while looking at its pulped arm in horror.

[Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp]

The Orc had begun to move again, groggily staggering towards me, bloody tears running down from his injured eyes, “Kill Ogre...” The Orc growled, reaching out for me with its bloody hands.

No thanks. I am not going to wrestle with a naked Orc. Circling around the Orc, I tried tripping him by kicking his shin.

*Crack*

The Orc howled in pain and collapsed on top of the Goblin.

Making the most of the temporary reprieve, I quickly moved over to my entangled club and pulled it out from the net. Turning on the Orc, I raised my club high for the killing blow. The Orc was already blind, barely a threat. This felt very different from before. I don’t think I can do this.

[Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp]

“Tim what are you doing?!” Jacque demanded angrily.

I gulped and tightened my grip, trying to get in a state of mind like when culling Vrabbits, but I couldn’t do it.

The Orc finished getting back to his feet and lunged at me, “KILL OGRE!”

*Crack*

[You have slain {Orc: 2 } +200 Exp]

There was a sudden bright flash of golden light and a sequence of status screens now occupied my vision.

[Congratulations, you have levelled up!]

[Class: Taskmaster 1. +1 Willpower, +5 HP.] [Exp: 83/2000 ]

[Determining Attribute Archetype {Pending}.]

[Determining Attribute Archetype {Complete}.]

[Applying Attribute Archetype {Pending}.]

[Applying Attribute Archetype {Complete}.]

[Class: Taskmaster 1. {Doctores} +2 Willpower, +5 HP.] [Exp: 83/2000 ]

[Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp]

“Congrats!” Jacque called out from the middle of the clearing, “That was pretty good timing, eh? Good thing it didn’t happen in the middle of the fight. That could have been bad.”

I blinked away the status screens and looked down at the Orc. He was face down in the grass and the back of his skull was split open and bleeding. I did this...

Jacque walked over, knelt down beside the weakly moaning Goblin, pressed her free hand against its chest and cleanly hacked its head off.

[Jacque has slain {Goblin: 1 } +50 Exp]

“And that’s five,” Jacque nodded, turning to the dead Orc, “Oh wow, you really did a number on this guy, didn’t you. Just goes to show how poor a matchup this is for the Orcs and Goblins. I bet you didn’t even take any damage, right?”

I glanced down at the party statuses and saw that she was right.

[Tim - HP: 45/45 - Normal ]

I furrowed my brow and frowned. Was the toughness stat really that powerful? Or are the stone weapons really that bad? I don’t remember Toofy having a racial ability like mine to increase primitive weapon damage, and the Orc never got a clear hit on me, so maybe that was it?

Jacque hacked off the Orc’s head in one swing. She was either VERY good at this, or far stronger than she looks. “Alright, enough messing around,” she pulled the rag from her pack and cleaned the cleaver, “You gather the heads, I'll have a chat with the girl they were using as bait.”

I nodded and began tossing the heads into the sack while Jacque cut off the woman’s bindings.

“Thank you, thank you!” The young woman sobbed, “When they ambushed us and tied me up, I thought I was a goner!”

Jacque nodded and patted her shoulder, “Where are your friends? Do you know?”

That was unexpected. I thought Jacque was a rather callous person? Maybe I misjudged her.

The young woman nodded and pointed deeper into the forest, “They have a small camp in that direction I think, or at least, that is where they had us locked up in a cage before bringing me out here.”

Jacque nodded and stopped to think for a moment, “How big was your party? And what is your party level?” She asked.

“There were five of us, but...I think they killed Jeff...” The young woman’s shoulders slumped dejectedly.

“And your party level? I need to know the threat level before trying to rescue them,” Jacque insisted.

The young woman nodded slightly, “Six, our party level was six...”

Jacque nodded and had that thoughtful expression again, “Alright, this could be doable. Do you remember how many Orcs and Goblins there were?”

“Maybe ten Orcs? Sorry, but I don't know how many Goblins...they kept coming and going from the camp,” the young woman shook her head and shrugged dejectedly.

“Hrm, alright,” Jacque stood up and pulled the young woman to her feet as well.

The monsters had left the young woman with her clothes and padded cloth armour but taken everything else. She also looked like she was having trouble putting weight on her right leg.

“Tim, I will leave the decision to you,” Jacque looked at me expectantly, “We can either take-” She glanced at the young woman.

“Sandra,” the young woman provided helpfully.

“-right, Sandra, back to the foothold first. Or we can take her with us and try to rescue her party members.”

Why was it my decision to make?

“Just so you know, there is no guarantee they are still alive. But the longer we take, the more likely it becomes that they won’t be,” Jacque added.

“Then we should go and rescue them first, right?” I asked, somewhat confused.

Jacque smirked, “I don’t think you properly considered what that means,” she replied, “If we go to rescue the survivors first, then Sandra will need to come along with us. Which means one of us will need to stick close to her to make sure she isn’t taken hostage or killed.”

So that was it. Basically, if I chose to attempt the rescue first, I would be placing Sandra in danger. But I was not a good enough fighter to fight and protect her at the same time. This meant that Jacque would need to hang back, while I took the fight to the enemy. I looked down at the headless corpses of the monsters and considered what exactly that entailed. I would have to attack with the intent to kill. Sandra had said there were around ten Orcs at the camp where her surviving party members were being held. Could I really do it?

“Please...” Sandra looked up at me hopefully, “Please save my friends.”

Damnit. ”Alright, let’s try and rescue the adventurers,” I agreed somewhat apprehensively. I could already feel butterflies in my stomach at the prospect of fighting with the intent to kill. Objectively, I know that it shouldn’t bother me this much. After all, the Orcs were more than happy to kill me if they got the chance. But the premeditation seemed to make all the difference. Which was also kind of stupid, since I came into the forest to kill Orcs. So why was it bothering me so much?

The three of us began moving in the direction Sandra had insisted would lead to the camp where her friends were being held prisoner. Jacque was supporting Sandra with her left arm while keeping her arm free to use the cleaver.

Jacque had looked like she was deep in thought, but suddenly became focused and pointed ahead and to our right. “The monster camp is over there,” she pointed, “Try not to let them surround you,” Jacque advised.

I nodded and tried to psych myself up. I am not a violent person, I don't like hurting people. But all the same, I now had to kill the Orcs in order to save the human prisoners. I tried to focus on the thought of saving the prisoners, it helped a little and I felt like maybe I could do this after all.

Leaving Jacque and Sandra behind, I began walking in the direction of the camp.

I could make out the faint voices of Orcs up ahead, they sounded like they were laughing.

A woman screamed.

The Orcs laughed louder.

I ran through the underbrush and arrived at the Orc’s camp just in time to see the largest of eight Orcs present bending back a restrained young woman’s finger.

The young woman screamed through her gag, trying to pull her hand away from the Orc.

The Orcs all continued laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world.

“STOP IT!” I roared angrily as I charged through the camp.

The Orcs all looked over at me in surprise.

“OGRE!” The largest roared happily, throwing the young woman aside.

[You have slain {Orc: 2 } +200 Exp]

[You have slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp]

[You have slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp]

[You have slain {Orc: 2 } +200 Exp]

[You have slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp]

[You have slain {Orc: 1 } +100 Exp]

[You have slain {Orc: 3 } +300 Exp]

Breathing heavily, I looked around in confusion. The Orcs were all dead. “What?...” My head hurt and I felt dizzy.

Jacque, Sandra, the young woman with the broken fingers and three badly beaten and bruised looking young men were huddled somewhat nearby at the edge of the camp.

“Tim?” Jacque asked cautiously, “You alright now?”

I slowly nodded my head, nearly vomiting from a sudden rush of nausea.

“You sure you aren't a Berserker?” Jacque joked nervously.

“What happened?” I asked, moving to rub my aching head but stopping short as I noticed my hands were covered in blood.

“You don’t remember?” Jacque asked curiously, “Well, I am not completely sure how the fight started, but by the time I came over you were crushing that big one's neck while it was trying to beat your head in.”

“Just came crashing in out of nowhere,” One of the young men muttered in awe.

“Threw them around like they are nothing...” Added another.

The third young man, who was being supported by the other two, just stared at me in a mix of fear and awe.

I glanced down at my HP and was confused.

[Tim - HP: 45/45 - Normal ]

Why am I at full HP? Surely that large Orc was strong enough to have dealt at least one point of damage right? Or for that matter, the Orcs had me heavily outnumbered, did they really deal no damage at all?

“Oi, Tim!” Jacque had already finished gathering the Orcs heads and stuffing them in the sack, which she was now holding out for me to take. “We should head back to town and get these guys squared away doncha think?”

I nodded, accepting the sack and looking at the broken remains of my club. I must have broken it during the fight. It had split roughly around the middle and was currently embedded in the guts of two different Orcs. There was no real point in keeping it since it was only a single copper to replace. For now, I picked up one of the dead Orcs wooden spears instead. It would have to do until we get back to town.

The way back was slow going since we had to adjust our pace to accommodate the slowest of the injured adventurers, Jeff. While Sandra was quite relieved that the Orcs hadn’t killed him, it was apparently not for a lack of trying. Despite being conscious, Jeff had multiple broken ribs, a broken arm, a broken foot, a broken leg and many cuts and bruises. He was the group’s designated front liner and took a severe beating in the Orcs ambush before everyone was surrounded and captured.

There was a pretty big problem though. With how injured the adventurers all were, there was no doubt that they all had the Bloodied condition. So how are we going to cross the plains without the Vrabbits swarming us?

Jacque didn’t seem all that worried, “Once we are closer to the foothold, I’ll head back first and bring back a sled. Then you can just tow everyone across, hopefully, faster than the Vrabbits can chase after us.”

I had thought she was joking at first, but once we were able to see the plain through the treeline up ahead, she waved her goodbyes and promised to be back as quickly as she could. At least she was taking it seriously and was jogging quickly.

The injured adventurers all huddled together and were speaking quietly enough that I could hear that they were talking, but not make out what they were saying. It was to be expected I suppose, they already knew one another and besides being a monster, I was also an outsider.

After about five minutes, I could see that Jacque had made it to the town gates, which was somewhat of a relief. After all, she had no small amount of blood on her padded armour after killing those Goblins and cutting off so many heads.

“Uhm, Tim?” Sandra had separated from the group to talk to me. Seeing that she had my attention, Sandra wrung her hands a little before bowing her head, “Thank you for rescuing my friends.”

“It’s alright. It was the right thing to do,” I replied, somewhat embarrassed.

“We don’t really have anything to offer, but we will make sure to pay you back once we get back on our feet,” Sandra promised earnestly.

Seeing that she wouldn't accept no for an answer, I nodded, “Alright.”

Sandra bowed again and returned to her friends.

About ten minutes later, I saw Jacque slowly crossing the plains towards us with a sled in tow. After she made it about halfway, I noticed that there was someone standing on the sled. Someone small...and hyperactive...damnit. I wanted to keep Toofy out of harm's way, not drag her into it.

Thankfully, it looked like Jacque must have detoured to clean or change her armour first. When she drew closer, I realized that wasn’t the case, since her armour was just as bloody as before. It wasn’t until Jacque arrived at the treeline that I realized what she had done.

My nose rankled reflexively at the smell of licorice. As Toofy leapt off the sled and ran over towards me, the smell only grew stronger.

“Tim!” Toofy didn’t break stride, scrambling up my front on all fours before grabbing my ears and planting her feet on my chest so she could stand here and glare at me reproachfully, eye to eye. “Tim bad! Tim leave Toofy!” She looked more upset than angry.

Toofy was right of course, I had left her, on purpose. Until I had a better understanding of how dangerous it would be, I didn’t want to risk her getting hurt. “I am sorry,“ I apologised.

Toofy pursed her lips and nodded. She let go of my ears and gave me a hug around my neck, “No leave Toofy...” Toofy insisted with a sniffle.

“Alright,” I agreed, gently patting Toofy’s back. I shouldn’t have left her behind. The more I thought about it, the more inevitable this outcome seemed to be. In fact, an innocuous line from one of my favourite movies came to mind and was quite fitting. ‘The closer we (Toofy) are to danger, the further we (Toofy) are from harm’. Just by being a monster, Toofy would forever be in danger. The only way I could reduce that danger for her was to make her stronger. Fighting the Orcs might be somewhat dangerous, but in the long-term, it would make her far safer and less reliant on others for protection.

I remembered that Nadine had also briefly mentioned that consuming the mana stones of other monsters would make me stronger as well, so I assumed the principle would be the same with Toofy. In fact, Toofy already had some progress in that regard if I was remembering right, so I would definitely make it a priority if I could. Ultimately, the decision wasn’t mine to make, but Nadine, Clarice and Emelia’s. If they said no, I didn’t really have any way of circumventing them.

“Hrm maybe I was wrong,” Jacque sniggered from over by the adventurers, “Maybe little green girls are your type?’.

I blushed and Toofy glared balefully at Jacque, probably not understanding the insinuation and responding more to her tone and established dislike.

“Everyone is all ready to go, so let’s head back to the foothold, grab some lunch then get back to it yeah?” Jacque insisted as she began walking over to the sled.

I rolled my eyes at Jacque’s back and Toofy smiled.

Heading over to the sled, I could see that it was basically just a wooden pallet with runners beneath to decrease drag and a pair of ropes to pull it with. It had short rims around the edges to stop crates from slipping off, but it wouldn't really give the adventurers much of anything to hold onto. Or at least it didn't until Jacque tied a pair of ropes between the runners and laid them out in line with the ropes I would be using to pull the sled. So at least now they would be able to hold onto the ropes.

Jacque had brought more of the liquorice liquid and spread it on the adventurer's armour, splitting the entire vial as evenly as she could between them. This should mask their smell, but unfortunately, any Vrabbits they passed would still be able to detect their bloodied status and initiate a swarm.

So the plan was that Toofy would attack any Vrabbits that made it onto the sled with her club, while Jacque would use the wooden spear from the Orc camp to attack Vrabbits that got close. Prioritising the use of blunt weapons was to reduce the amount of blood spilt in the area to hopefully prevent Vrabbits from further afield being drawn into the chase. It seemed like a pretty okay plan, all things considered.

With everyone settled on the sled, with the exception of Toofy and Jacque who were both standing on it with safety ropes tied around their waists, I slowly began moving forward. Even though I felt strong enough to pull the sled into a straight run, the sudden jolt wouldn’t do the passengers any favours. So I had to start slow and gradually build momentum.

The first Vrabbit to attack arrived after travelling just twenty feet or so into the plain. However, despite one of the adventurers crying out in alarm, the encounter ended rather anticlimactically as Jacque crushed its ribs with the blunt end of the spear.

[Jacque has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +0 Exp]

Hrm? That was new. Shouldn’t the Vrabbit have been worth one Exp?

The answer came a few minutes later as five Vrabbits began chasing the sled and slowly gaining ground from behind.

Jacque managed to kill four of them in one wide sweep.

[Jacque has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +0 Exp], [Jacque has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +0 Exp], [Jacque has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +0 Exp], [Jacque has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +0 Exp]

However, it also gave the last Vrabbit the small chance it needed to make it onto the sled, for all of half a second before Toofy launched the Vrabbit off the sled with a double-handed blow from her club and screeching “Biter OFF!!”

*Crack*

[Toofy has slain {Vrabbit: 1 } +1 Exp]

That’s weird. So I still get Exp from Vrabbits, albeit very little in comparison to the Orcs and Goblins. Maybe the Exp was lower because Jacque is a higher level? Gah, something else I have to remember to ask Nadine about later.

There were not many adventurers out in the plains since the ambush, but the few who remained were definitely staring at us as we raced towards the gate. Sparing only a single glance over my shoulder, I was shocked to see a tide of Vrabbits chasing behind us. But all at once, as if striking an invisible barrier, the Vrabbits abruptly stopped and fanned to either side. I guess what Nadine had told me about monsters being unable to enter the town was literal rather than figurative. Good to know.

Now inside the town, I pulled the sled over to the inn and let the adventurers off. They would need food to kickstart their recovery and a couple of them were in desperate need of medical attention.

“We should settle up what we got so far with the Guild,” Jacque suggested, already walking away before checking to see if I would follow.

Releasing a sigh, I shrugged at Toofy and she climbed up onto my right shoulder. Not what I had meant, but oh well.

*****

Jacque was quite pleased with how things were going so far. She was quite certain that Tim was beginning to warm up to her, thanks in no small part to rescuing those hapless adventurers. Unfortunately, she had not made a good first impression. Jacque’s people skills left much to be desired when she was just being herself. It was one of the oddities of her nature, Jacque couldn’t help it. But now that she had a better understanding of Tim’s relationship with the Goblin, Jacque had a fortuitous opportunity to improve his opinion of her further.

Leading Tim to the Guild office to collect the bounty and extract the mana stores from the Orc’s heads, The state of emergency made all Guild services free of charge, so Jacque had the Guild extract the stones for her. It wasn’t a bad haul for this floor of the Labyrinth, five rank one Goblin mana stones, six rank one, three rank two, and one rank three Orc mana stones. There were easily enough mana stones here to push the Goblin up a rank and make solid progress towards the next rank as well.

Leaving the Guild office, Jacque turned her attention back to Tim and to a lesser extent, the Goblin Toofy. “If you are going to bring your pet, it would probably be best if we increase her rank.”

Tim furrowed his brows at Jacque for a moment. .

Jacque shrugged and smiled, “You just seemed rather attached is all, and hunting Orcs is far more dangerous for her than for you or me.”

“But why are you suggesting it?” Tim asked suspiciously, .

“Because I want us to be friends,” Jacque stated simply, deciding to put at least one of her cards on the table., “Tell you what. I will even negotiate with your masters about the merits of improving the Goblin’s rank, how about that?”

Tim frowned but nodded, .

Jacque tried not to make a scathing remark, after all, it wasn’t like Tim was aware she could hear his thoughts.

Heading back to the inn, Jacque tuned out the background chatter and they headed upstairs to his master’s room. Knocking on the door, it only took a short moment for the smart one of the three, Nadine, to open the door and let them in. “Bringing you your cut so far,” Jacque explained, handing over one silver and one copper, “We rescued another party out there too, but the Guild won't give the reward for that until they verify.”

“Thanks,” Nadine accepted the coins and looked at Tim, .

Clarice shifted uncomfortably in the bed, .

Emelia leaned in to get a closer look at the coins in Nadine's hand before turning her attention to Tim and giving him an emphatic thumbs-up, “You are doing great Tim! Keep it up!”

Jacque tried not to smirk. Technically, there was only one person she needed to convince, and that was Emelia. “There is something I wanted to talk about as well though,” Jacque said, giving Tm a nod, “I think you should invest mana stones into evolving your Goblin.”

Emelia looked less than impressed.

Clarice scrunched her face up, “What? Why Toofy and not Tim?”, .

Nadine furrowed her brow slightly and looked at Tim before nodding slightly, “I agree.” .

“Huh? Why though?” Emelia asked Nadine, visibly confused. .

Clarice looked expectantly at Nadine as well, but her expression quickly changed to one of understanding as she looked at Tim and Toofy. .

“Upgrading Toofy will improve our overall party strength and make earning coin and Exp easier down the line,” Nadine explained to Emelia calmly, if a little domineeringly, “Besides we owe Tim at least this much.” .

“Are you sure?” Emelia asked, still somewhat confused but obviously valuing Nadine’s opinion. . Emelia nodded, decisively, “Okay.”

“Okay,” Jacque clapped her hands together, “‘I’ll assume this is your first time doing something like this so I Will give you some friendly advice. Never bulk feed your monsters the mana stones you collect. It can make them unstable. The stronger the base monster, the longer between feeding sessions. Got it?”

This was at best, a half-truth. There were no risks in power feeding standard monsters created by the Labyrinth. The problem was what happens when you progress someone like Tim too quickly. The effect was akin to addiction. Near as Jacque had uncovered so far, ‘The Broken’ were created by the Labyrinth with this weakness deliberately, amongst others. After all, strung out addicts are more likely to act against their own interests and survival in favour of those of the Labyrinth’s. Jacque did not want Tim to join the ranks of the addicts, there were far too many of those as is.

Nadine and Clarice nodded, while Emelia was literally lost in her own thoughts, so Jacque tuned her out.

“So how would you suggest we proceed?” Nadine asked, clearly willing to put aside her pride for the group’s benefit. .

Jacque smiled and nodded, “For Tim, I would limit him to at most one mana stone of any size per day and to not give him a stone more than three ranks ahead of his own progression. But for the Goblin, feeding her a mana stone every few minutes or so should be fine.”

Nadine nodded, “Okay. Then for the time being at least, I want Toofy to receive all the mana stones from our share when collecting bounties," she turned her attention to Tim, “Tim Is that alright?” .

“Alright,” Jacque agreed. Withdrawing a small drawstring pouch from her belt and upending the contents on the bed. “The rank distribution is uneven this time,” she explained, sorting the mana stones into groups, “But the Guild is keeping count, so I am fine with just taking the Goblin mana stones, for now, agreed?”

Nadine Hesitated a moment and then nodded, "Agreed.” .

“Also, Tim’s weapon broke earlier, so he needs a new one. I highly recommend against buying something so cheap again. You should get him something like a flanged mace or a morningstar since they don't require a high level of skill for him to use against enemies on this floor and will deal a lot of damage.” Jacque suggested “Maybe a shield too, he seems more defensively inclined, so you might as well lean into it. Oh, and a helmet.”

Nadie looked to Clarice for her opinion, likely because the redhead was much more martially inclined. .

Clarice was thoughtful for a moment. . Clarice nodded in approval, “We also need to buy Toofy a decent weapon too.”

“Okay,” Nadine agreed, “I will make the necessary purchases with Tim now if you want to take a break for lunch,” she offered. .

Jacque resisted the urge to roll her eyes and left the room instead. Things were definitely looking up. While heading downstairs to the bar, Jacque tried to think of some more references she could test Tim with. After all, she didn’t have any concrete proof that he was one of ‘The Awakened’ yet and Jacque needed to be absolutely sure before she could move on to the next step.

*****

I followed behind Nadine as we headed over to the weapon shop. Entering the store, we headed straight over to the counter.

“Hello,” Nadine greeted the shopkeeper brightly, “I am looking to buy a new weapon, could you show me a good choice for one silver or less?”

The man who had been obviously bored reading his book before we entered was suddenly quite motivated, “Of course. Is the weapon for you or-” He looked at me with a faint look of recognition on his face.

“It’s for Tim, yes. I was recommended to buy a flanged mace or morningstar, but I don’t really know what they are,” Nadine admitted with a faint flush of embarrassment.

“Not a problem!” The shopkeeper replied eagerly, “Not, a, problem. Please follow me!”

The shopkeeper led us to the blunt weapons section of the shop and gestured to a pair of weapons on the rack. “This is a flanged mace,” he explained, removing a clublike weapon from the rack.

It had a wooden shaft ending in an iron head with stumpy winglike protrusions.

“This is of course the cheaper version to better accommodate your budget. The more expensive and more durable versions are made entirely of iron or steel. But one of the benefits of this version is the lighter weight and being able to replace the shaft if it becomes damaged. It’s a substantial upgrade over the ironwood club.” The shopkeeper then took the second weapon off the rack with his other hand, “Now, this beauty is a morningstar.”

The morningstar was similar to the flanged mace with the exception that its shaft was longer and the iron head of the morningstar was spherical and covered in spikes.

“Much like the flanged mace, the shaft can be replaced if it is broken or damaged and the more expensive variants are made entirely of iron or steel. Personally, my preference is the morningstar. I have found that being able to drive enemies back with the point at the tip is usually more effective than jabbing them with the flat end of the flanged mace. As for the weight, your, ‘Tim’, shouldn’t have a problem with either. But I would strongly recommend upgrading to solid metal variants as soon as possible. It is not altogether uncommon for stronger monsters to break unenchanted wood weapons,” the shopkeeper advised.

Nadine nodded, “okay,” she shifted her attention to me, “Which of them do you think suits your fighting style better?” Nadine asked, obviously quite unsure of which to choose.

“Morningstar,” I replied, the shopkeeper's advice had sold me on the idea. I already had problems with enemies getting too close and needed a way to make them back off.

“Okay,” Nadine agreed, “How much is the morningstar?” She asked after shifting her attention back to the shopkeeper.

The weapon racks were all divided by prices carved in the wood, so I wondered why she had not just read the price directly.

The shopkeeper quickly glanced at the price on the rack before looking back to Nadine and taking a shallow gulp, “Ah, for you, only seventy coppers,” he offered.

Nadine smiled brightly, “Thank you. Oh, do you also have any shields for thirty copper?” She asked sweetly.

Okay, now I understood what she was doing and given our money situation at the moment, I did not particularly disapprove.

“Ah..we might have one or two,” the shopkeeper agreed, a little apprehensively, glancing towards a row of shields on the wall behind them.

The assumedly cheapest of the shields was only twice the size of my hand. The larger and undeniably more expensive shields were closer in proportion to Toofy in total size.

However, contrary to my expectations, the shopkeeper removed one of the largest shields off the wall. Well, calling it a shield was perhaps a little generous since it closely resembled a door sprung off its hinges. Consisting of three wide vertical planks of wood held together by two horizontal planks on either side, it was basically a door with leather straps on it. Not that I was opposed to the idea, I actually rather liked the idea of having a thick wooden door between myself and the enemy.

“I know it isn't pretty, but so far as budget ironwood shields go, it's definitely the best option. Normally the weight is too draining for rookies, but your, Tim, should have no problems. Since it has been sitting here collecting dust for so long, I can let you have it for ten copper.” The shopkeeper generously offered.

“Great!” Nadine agreed cheerily.

We still needed a weapon for Toofy and I saw something that might just do the trick. I pointed to the row of leather slings hanging on a nearby rack and motioned to Toofy. I didn’t want to interrupt Nadine’s conversation with the shopkeeper, just in case he decided to stop giving Nadine the discounts.

Nadine gave me a small nod to show she understood before making an exaggerated expression of surprise, “Oh, I nearly forgot, I would like to buy a sling and pouch of bullets for my Toofy,” Nadine exclaimed, moving over to the row of slings, “Do you have any recommendations for what I have left?” She asked while blushing slightly.

Wow...had Nadine been doing this to me?... Hrm, I need to start paying more attention.

The shopkeeper gulped, quickly shifting the shield and morningstar over to the counter before nearly tripping over himself as he eagerly rushed back over. “O-of course!” The shopkeeper gushed excitedly, “For your budget, I would recommend-” he gave Toofy a quick glance before rifling through the slings, “-this bristleboar leather sling! The leather is incredibly durable, so it should last at least a couple of years with only minor maintenance. The accompanying bristle boar hide pouch can hold up to twenty standard sling bullets, so it will give your, ‘Toofy’, plenty of ammunition without being weighed down.” He picked up a small pouch from a nearby table and handed it to Nadine to judge the weight for herself.

“Okay I’ll take it,” Nadine smiled brightly.

The shopkeep accepted the pouch back and we all returned to the counter. Nadine handed over the single silver coin and received seven coppers in exchange. Geez, I hoped the shopkeeper didn’t take too much of a loss just now.

After giving Toofy the sling and pouch of stones, I picked up the morning star and shield and we walked out of the shop. Nadine made a point of turning around, smiling and waving at the shopkeeper before we began heading back to the inn.

Except for Jacque and a couple of other adventurers, the common room was pretty much empty.

“So you took my advice,” Jacque observed cheerily, “Good. Because I doubt the boss monster is just going to hang back and just keep letting us run around the forest unopposed. I would rather bag him and collect the bounty than run away, that’s for sure.”

“You want to hunt the boss monster?” Nadine asked hesitantly, probably deciding if we could trust her or not.

Jacque shrugged, “I mean I would rather kill it than run away. After all, killing the boss monster would end this emergency and award a substantial bounty. As for hunting it deliberately, eh, not sure it’s worth the risk. Boss monsters only rarely stray far from their minions after all.”

Nadine glanced at me for a moment, but said nothing.

“You should probably get something to eat before we head out again, I wanna get back out there in less than an hour,” Jacque told them dismissively, turning back to her meal.

“I’ll send some food up to your room,” Kirk said before disappearing into the kitchen. It was hardly surprising, he had heard the whole conversation and the Guild was footing the bill for all the meals and accommodation anyway.

Returning back to the girls room, I laid down our new purchases on the bed so Clarice could take a look at them. She was the most qualified of us to determine if Nadine and I had made the right choices.

Clarice carefully looked over each piece of equipment before giving a perfunctory nod, “How much did you spend?” She asked curiously.

Nadine smiled, “Only ninety-three copper.”

Clarice snorted in amusement and grinned, “Then you got a hell of a deal. This is a big step up from that club Tim was using, that’s for sure. We might even be able to get the carpenter to embed some spikes in the shield to deal some damage when Tim shoves enemies away with it. That shouldn’t cost much either.”

I actually quite liked the sound of that. I found the idea of shoving enemies away easier to handle than outright attacking them, “Should I go take care of that now?” I asked.

Nadine shook her head, “There probably isn’t time for it until this evening. Jacque sounded pretty adamant about getting back out there again.”

I nodded, “Should we start feeding Toofy the mana stones?”

“Sooner would be better than later if we follow the advice she gave right?” Clarice agreed with some uncertainty.

Nadine nodded, “That would probably be best.” She removed the mana stones from a pouch at her waist and chose one of the smaller ones. It was like a small chunk of amber coloured quartz that shimmered slightly in the sunlight coming from the window. “We should probably start with a rank one mana stone and see how much of an effect it has first, before trying the others,” Nadine suggested.

It was a smart idea since none of us had any experience with this sort of thing.

“Tim do you want to keep an eye on Toofy’s MP?” Nadine asked.

“Alright,” I agreed, “Status,” I ignored pretty much everything except for Toofy’s MP.

[MP: 0/3 ]

“It’s currently sitting on zero out of three,” I announced, for everyone but Emelia’s benefit.

“Okay, let's give this a try,” Nadine held out the mana stone to Toofy, “Toofy, could you eat this please, just, ah, maybe don't bite it?” Not a bad suggestion since we had no idea if it was as strong as an actual stone or not.

“Kay,” Toofy snatched the mana stone and swallowed it in one gulp.

Nothing happened at first, but a few seconds later Toofy’s mana stat changed.

[MP: 1/4 ]

“Toofy’s current mana just changed to one and her maximum improved to four. No other stats changed,” I announced, making sure not to blink and dismiss the status screen by accident as I checked the other stats again.

“Interesting,” Nadine rubbed her chin, thoughtfully, “I wonder what increment of mana she needs to improve to rank two. Let’s try a rank two mana stone next.”

After a few minutes, we fed Toofy the rank two mana stone and it had immediately noticeable results. Outwardly, Toofy just grew about two inches taller, stats-wise it was a little more interesting.

[Toofy - Goblin: 2 ] [HP: 19/19] [MP: 3/6 ]

[Emelia’s Slave*] [Class: Scavenger 2. +2 Intelligence, +1 Toughness, +5 HP. ] [Exp: 510/3000 ]

[Strength: 7 ]

[Agility: 14* ]

[Toughness:6 ]

[Intelligence: 5* ]

[Willpower: 6* ]

[Presence: 5 ]

[(Class Ability: Treasure Sense): Detects and highlights items of value within a predetermined range. {Intelligence} increases range.]

[(Racial Ability: Vicious {Rank 1}): Deals additional damage to fallen enemies and those with {Negative Status Conditions}. {Willpower} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

[(Racial Ability: Underfoot {Rank 0}): Takes less damage from Larger enemies. {Agility} increases the level of damage resistance.]

Toofy’s maximum mana increased, her rank increased and the rank of her Vicious racial ability increased as well, presumably making it more effective. But as Nadine said, the group synergy for her Vicious ability increased to rank one as well. She also gained one point of Agility

“Toofy’s max mana is now six, her rank is now two, she gained another point of Agility and her Vicious ability is now rank one!” I announced excitedly.

Nadine and Clarice both look surprised.

“That was fast,” Clarice replied with surprise., “Thought it would take loads of mana stones.”

Nadine nodded in agreement, “So did I. Maybe it’s because the Orcs are so much stronger than Goblins?” She turned to Emelia, “Do you remember your trainer mentioning anything about mana stone tiers and evolving monsters?” Nadine asked.

Emelia blushed and shrugged, sinking into the bed covers to hide. But then she suddenly stopped, “OH, they gave me a small book. It’s in my bag!”

The three of us stared incredulously at Emelia, even Toofy joined in, though I doubt she was aware of the reason for it.

“What?” Emelia demanded meekly, “I became a Monster Tamer to lead, not to read.”

“Emelia...” Nadine rubbed her eyes tiredly, “May I read the book please?”

“Go ahead,” Emelia replied in relief, “Boring book anyways, not even any pictures.”

Clarice just winced at Emelia and shook her head.

However, the timely arrival of lunch delivered by Kirk provided Emelia with a reprieve as everyone began eating their food. That is, everyone except Toofy, who would lower her spoon of stew every few seconds, look over at Emelia and comically waggle her head before continuing to eat again. It honestly just got funnier each time she did it. I am pretty sure Toofy was doing it solely for my reaction since she would dart a quick glance my way whenever she was doing it, the little goofball.