One night has passed. After resting in a comfy room Vivian gave me, I slept like a log and fortunately, no strange dream was haunting me this time. I wake up groggily and in my semi-awakened state, I was startled by the different surrounding, then I remembered that I was in a different place now.

"...right, I was teleported huh?" I yawned and stretched my body, a nice bone popping sound to the right place resounded. Then I watch my leg dangled down to the floor and left this room.

I stride down the stairs and an appetizing smell drifted to me, so I decided to follow the scent and arrived at the small kitchen. A woman was humming a nice melody while slicing the purple vegetable, she didn't notice me yet, seemingly enjoying her knife work in the kitchen table.

"Vivian, good morning." I called her. She turned her head toward me and smiled.

"Aah, Hiiro, good morning." She greeted me with her usual bright smile. Her hand was still moving, slicing the vegetable even though her gaze was on me, which was something dangerous to do when handling a knife. But strangely, no accident happens and the vegetable was sliced with clean, precise slice.

"Did you take your potion yet?" She turns her attention back to the kitchen and continues her cooking. Aah, so Ambrose did tell her huh..

"Not yet, since I took the first potion in the afternoon, the potion effect should last until that time. But, are you fine? Like Ambrose, you didn't hate the other races?" I idly watched her cook while striking a conversation with her. Suddenly, she stopped her cooking and crouched, facing me. She turned her head to the side and moved the hair covering her ears with her finger.

"That ear? You are not a human?" I was surprised. Her ear was longer and sharper than a human, although it was shorter than elf ears, it was evident that she has the elf blood within her. She smiled while staring at me.

"I was born from an elf and a human. My mother is a slave and as a child of a slave, I followed her fate." She closed her eyes for a moment, reminiscing her memory. "Being a slave, we lived with the whim of our master, our life was hanging in his mood. Sometimes, we didn't get to eat for days, and we are beaten for what we did not do. My mother died from illness and hunger, and I too, thought that I will follow her into her grave." She opened her eyes and smiled. "That is, until three years ago, a person appeared and freed me."

"Ambrose?" I guessed the name of that very person and she nodded happily.

"I still remembered it very clearly, it was a windy night, and the chain on my neck and legs felt terribly colder than usual. I couldn't sleep because of hunger, and while I was wandering in the slave quarter, a scream pierced the silent mansion. I was in the basement and the scream was on the upper level. I can feel something was happening in the mansion, and the other slaves felt it too, crying and shouting for their fate. But I didn't feel afraid or anxious, instead, I just sat silently on the corner, even when the door to the slave room opened and all of the slaves rushed outside, I didn't move at all." She smiled sadly. "I guess at that time I have accepted my fate, like my mother does." I was silent and listening quietly to her story.

"The ruckus and screaming stopped, and all I can hear was a footstep heading toward me. A pair of legs stood in front of my eyes, so I raised my head and was met with a person colored by the blood of the other. At that times I felt...." She stopped talking and take a deep breath. "I felt empty. I didn't feel scared to the man with the sword, who could have ended my life in one swing."

"But he didn't take my life, instead, he cut down the chain on me and just stared silently. He draped his bloodied cloak around me. Then he said, ' follow me' and reached his hand toward me." Her sad expression changed into happiness, she placed both of her hand on her chest. "At that time, for the first time in my life, I felt a will. A will to live. So, I take his hand and was freed from the brand of a slave."

"I see... you must have go through a lot of hardship." I spoke and Vivian shakes her head.

"After that, Ambrose let me stay at this place and teach me the normal people way of living. I have a lot of happy memories." She was smiling happily while reminiscing her memory.

Her story was long and informative, it left me a new impression on the woman in front of me. She was strong, more than I expected, she didn't curse her past as a slave and lived with it. Her story also left me a few insights with Ambrose and this city current state.

"Oh my, it seems I have talked too long. I put the clean clothes on the counter. You can change into it while I prepare our breakfast." She realized she hasn't done her cooking yet, she stood up in a hurry and back to her work.

I was pointed that there was a well in the backyard, I grabbed the clean clothes and walked to the back of this house. In times like this, I missed the modern world, although only for the bathroom and the shower. I removed my clothes and promptly wiped my body clean. After I lived this past week as a beastmen, the lack of tails and animal ears have thrown me off a little bit. I wear the oversized clothes and that's when the door suddenly opened.

"Hiiro, the clothes- hmm?" Vivian stared at me. My upper body was still naked, but her attention was latched at my back. She tilted her head as if she had seen something she couldn't comprehend.

"Hiiro, why is there a drawing on your back?" She asked me while walking closer.

"Huh? A drawing? What kind of drawing?" I was surprised by her inquiries, I scrubbed my back and nothing came off, so the drawing must have etched on my skin. She looked closer at my back then grabbed a stone and started to draw on the ground.

Her drawing was quite detailed, the drawing was shaped like a clock, with twelve strange symbols replaced the number. A single line replaced the clock hand was pointed at what the symbol where the twelve should be, two circles framed the symbols inside, the color was black according to Vivian, making it more ominous. An uneasy feeling was budding in my heart.

What is going to happen when the line moved?

I shake my head to clear away the bad thought haunting my head. I will need to investigate this later. I wear my clothes and walked with Vivian in tow to the dining rooms. While we were eating the breakfast, I noticed that we lacked one more person.

"Where is Ambrose?" I asked Vivian. She looked up in thought for a moment, before she answered me.

"He went out before you have awake, I think he gone to the city lord places. So, what are you going to do for today Hiiro?" Her eyes were shining brightly, awaiting my answer. I was a bit taken aback by her enthusiasm.

"Err, I think I will go to the market and buy some stuff..." I answered her gingerly and she clapped her hand together in delight.

"Then let me accompany you! I know a lot of great places! Oh, let me change my clothes first!" She stood up quickly and ran to her room.

I didn't even say yes....

I waited for her for a few minutes, she came out with a brown cloak draped over her. We exited the house and went to the market. The market was surprisingly quiet, only a few stands opened by the merchant and even fewer people walking around the market. Vivian patted my shoulder and my attention is back to her.

"What do you want to buy Hiiro?" Vivian looked excited. I noticed her elf ears has become human ones.

"I need a small bag..., map, weapon and things for traveling, stuff like that I guess." I spoke what I think I will need, Vivian smiled and pulled my arm. We walked for a while and arrived at a shabby looking shop, a wooden plate with bear and sword drawing was attached to the front door. We entered and the smell of iron and leather assaulted me.

"Welcome! Huh? My, isn't this our young lady! Where is that sullen-looking young man?" A middle-aged man greeted us over the counter. He has a brown beard with the same color short hair. He looked at Vivian warmly, he seemed like a friendly person. Another person appeared behind the counter, this time it was a middle-aged woman, she looked at Vivian with a surprised face, then turned into delight.

"Hello Mr. and Ms. Dallan, Amb didn't come with me today, instead my friend here accompanied me." She introduced me happily. I greeted both of the shopkeepers and they immediately shifted their attention to me.

"What a cute friend you have bring!" The woman shopkeeper smiled brightly.

The shopkeepers and Vivian talked for a while, exchanging small talk with each other. Meanwhile, I walked around the shop, looking and picked up anything I need. I walked back to the shop counter and pay for it, the total was 1 gold and 15 silvers. Luckily, I still have the money Gil gave to me before I was teleported away. I silently thanked Gil in my heart. When we are going to leave the shop, the shopkeeper suddenly halted us.

"Wait, do you guys have heard about the 'Leaf of Salvation?" The male shopkeeper spoke with a worried expression on his face. I looked up at Vivian, but she only shakes her head, seemed to not know what the shopkeeper talking about.

"Well, you see, it seems it was a drug that has been popular with the civilian lately, people said that the one who consumes it will become insane and behave like an animal." Mr. Dallan explained to us, while his wife was nodding her head fervently, agreeing what his husband said.

"Yes, it was awful, please be careful both of you. I heard that terrible things came from those lowly demi-humans!" I could see Vivian flinched when Ms. Dallan spoke the word 'demi-human', although it goes unnoticed by the shopkeepers. In the end, she only smiled and thanked both of them for their warning.

We both exited the shop, Vivian has a slightly sad expression on her face, while I was wondering what I'm going to say to her. Suddenly, she slapped both of her cheeks hard, leaving a red mark on her cheeks.

"Vivian? Are you okay?" I was surprised by her sudden action. She turned her head to me and smiled, it seems she was back to her normal happy self.

"I'm fine, this is something that can't be helped. Let's go, we have more shop to visit!!" She pulled my arm and we visited other shops. After finishing my shopping, we walk around the market idly, then I remembered there still one place I still haven't go yet, the adventurer guild. We walk to the guild together, but Vivian opted to stand outside of the guild, so I go in alone. There were only a few people at the guild, I ignored the stares on me and immediately go to the quest boards area.

"Wolf extermination, finding a lost item, retrieve spider silk......, guarding a caravan, Aah, there it is!" I tore the quest from the board, the caravan was heading to the city of Tvora tomorrow, the nearest city to the border. I walked to the counter and was met by a rude staff. A glasses young man was chatting with his friend, ignored me completely.

"...Hellooo?" I raised my voice and finally gained his attention, he tilted his head down and clicked his tongue when he saw me.

"Posting request is at there." He pointed me to another counter, then he back to chatting with his friend. I sighed, this is going to take a while. I grabbed my adventurer card and slammed hard on the table, the guild staff was surprised and glared at me. I spoke before he managed to open his mouth.

"I'm here to accept this quest." I pushed the card and the paper to him. He was looking at me in doubt, before he stared at my guild card, then widened his eyes in shock.

"Wha-?!" He stared at me with a flabbergasted expression, his hand which was holding my card was trembling. Did he need to be this surprised?

Back at the town of Eschaton, when I get my first guild card and displayed my combat ability, the guild staff there didn't look shocked as much as this four-eyes did, they handed me the guild card without a fuss.

"So? Could you process my quest now?" I tapped the table and that waked him up from his reverie. I could see he was looking at me with different eyes now. He immediately grabbed the quest paper without complaining and processed it. Which was simply filling more paper and handling me a token for accepting this quest. I took the token and prepared to leave this place, but was stopped by an alcohol smelling man.

"….haaa...." I sighed, feeling annoyed. The man was red-faced, a dark ring beneath his eyes, he was armed with a one-handed sword on his waist and on his right hand was a bottle of beer. He was hiccupping while glaring at me, then he pointed his bottle at me.

"Hey!! You shittyyyy brat!! You... what the hell you are looking at!" He was speaking nonsense while swaying left and right. He tried to stop me from walking away and failed miserably. He tripped and fall to the floor, groaning from pain. I was only a few steps away from the door, before a shout from behind gained my attention.

"Arggh! You, all of youuuuu, don't you dare look down on meeee!!!"

It was the man before, his sword was out on his hand, he was waving it around crazily. The people around him moved away, evading the sword warily. Since most of the people in this place is an adventurer, nobody was wounded by the crazed man sword. An adventurer decided to stop this nonsense and tackled the man. The sword slipped out from his hand and stabbed the floor.

The crazed man was squirming and screaming, but being held down by two more adventurers make his escape impossible. His mouth was foaming with yellow froth. His current expression makes me doubt the man state of mind. Suddenly, the man scream turned from anger to pain, he was coughing blood and his eyes were tearing blood. The adventurers holding him immediately moved away, befuddled by the man changing state.

He was crawling in my direction, when I look closer, his ears are bleeding blood too. He will never make it to me, since his crawling is slower than a snail. His hand was reaching up, as if asking for help.

"Give meee, give mee, give me....., I don't want to dieeee...." His voice cracked, his face was full of desperation, he keeps uttering these same words again and again, like a prayer. Then his hand abruptly fell to the ground and never moving again. An unsettling silent engulfed the guild.

"He died?" "How troublesome." "Who going to check?" "Oh my god." "This is the fifth time already." "If he going to die, why don't do it outside?" "I want to drink." "Ha! He deserves it." "Hey, when is the guild staff going to move?" "I think I will go back home."

The guild was exploding back with activity, the people are talking and whispering to each other. Two guild staff came out and moved the body away, moped the bloody blood staining the floor and the guild was back to its normal state, as if nothing happened and no one has died. I stood still for a while, I was curious, but I decided to leave.

This is not my problem, I'm going to leave this place tomorrow anyway.

My hand reached to the doorknob, but someone swinged the door open before I touched it. I managed to avoid from being hit by the door as I tilted my head up and stared at this unknown man. His face was plain and unmemorable, if it isn't for his all black clothes, I probably would have missed him in a crowd. He has deep green almond-shaped eyes and his orange hair make a striking contrast with his black hat.

"Hmm? Aah, I'm sorry, did the door hit you?" He noticed me and asked for my well-being. I shook my head and he smiled warmly at me.

"I see, that's good then." He walked away and I too, finally left this place. I reunited with Vivian and we decided to call the day off. We walked back to the inn while I was talking about the quest I accepted. Vivian was making a sad face, since I was leaving so soon, but she accepted quickly that I was going to leave this place and her face turned into energetic once more, saying something like preparing a great feast for me. I smile wirily at her changing mood.

I raised my head look at the darkening sky, the shops are starting to close and the star started to reveal themselves. Lamp and torch lighten up the road we were walking. While I was wondering that I haven't seen Ambrose for the whole day.