Beatrice's Story

At that point, it was getting close to the meeting time with Beatrice, so they went back into town. They quickly sold the hunted rabbits, bought a loaf of bread to share while listening to Beatrice (planning on getting a proper dinner after), and headed over to the point on the map.

Finding the place fairly easily, they went inside. The inside was dingy and dimly lit, with rows of apartment doors on either side. Is this just her apartment!? Based on the numbers, Beatrice's apartment would be on the second floor, so they went up the stairs and found it.

After knocking, he heard a shuffling inside, before it creaked open a crack. He could see Beatrice's green eye looking through. After seeing Damien, she opened the door, looking either way down the hall.

“Is something-” Damien started, before Beatrice grabbed his sleeve and pulled him inside, closing the door behind him.

“I don't want anyone from the guild knowing you're here,” she said. She caught sight of the bread in his arms, and blushed, “Thanks for bringing something,” taking it and placing it on a table, before walking over to a counter.

Damien looked around. The apartment was fairly small, with this main area being the kitchen, dining table, and living room smooshed together. On the far side was one open door that looked like a bathroom, and a closed door he presumed was the bedroom.

Beatrice was still wearing her guild girl outfit, though with an apron over it. She was standing (on a stepstool) spinning a ladle in a pot.

Damien waited a few moments, before asking, “Errr...you said you couldn't talk at the guild, so I'm assuming you want to now?”

Beatrice stopped stirring for a moment without turning around, before continuing, “After dinner,” she murmured.

Damien raised an eyebrow. “Are you feeding me? I thought you just wanted to talk.”

Beatrice looked over at him this time, a slight tinge on her cheek again. “I didn't know if you were eating enough. Plus...I thought having some dinner first would be better...”

Damien nodded.

“It's almost done, you can sit down,” she replied.

Doing as instructed, he sat down, with Bluey jumping into his lap.

A couple minutes later, Beatrice ladled two bowls of soup, bringing them over. “I'm assuming Bluey is fine with soup again?”

Bluey hopped up on the table, and began eagerly slurping on the bowl.

Beatrice giggled a bit.

She's really cute when she's smiling, Damien thought, before catching himself.

Beatrice saw he was looking at her, blushing again and going back to ladle a bowl herself.

To distract himself from the awkward moment, Damien grabbed the bread he had bought, tearing it into thirds and handing one to Bluey and one to Beatrice.

“Th-thanks,” Beatrice stammered out with a smile, grabbing it and taking a bite.

After that, they ate in relative silence until their bowls were empty.

Dabbing her mouth, Beatrice started talking. “Firstly, don't mention that I healed you, or that you came over here. We're not supposed to show favoritism or have...improper relationships with our clients,” she added with a blush.

Damien raised an eyebrow. “We don't though...”

Beatrice coughed and nodded. “Yes, but appearances in the guild matter. Both of us will get in trouble if someone thinks it's the case, regardless of the truth.”

Damien nodded in understanding.

“As for the healing, check your Reader,” she suggested.

Damien pulled it up, getting a shock at the results. “You're a level 8 Cleric!? Why aren't you in a party?”

Beatrice gave a forced smile, looking down at the table. “I was. In a different city, I was in a party of guildmembers that joined around the same time as me. We traveled and grew from Porcelain-Rank up. I thought everything was going fine, but...” she paused, looking down forlornly, “...when we got to Bronze rank, they suddenly ditched me. They had found a...different Cleric to be their healer.”

Damien noticed she had to pause before saying 'different'. There must be more to it, but I won't pry. He nodded to show he was following along.

“I tried to join other parties, but since word had gotten around that I had been kicked out of one already, no one wanted to give me a chance, thinking I had been replaced for a reason.”

Damien frowned. “That's ridiculous...”

Beatrice blushed a bit but nodded. “Yes, but it's what happened. I eventually left town, coming to Silaro where my aunt lived. Since I was part of the guild, I was able to get a desk job here, although...” she winced and trailed off.

“Why didn't you try joining a party here? They wouldn't have the stigma from the previous town.”

Beatrice looked down, shaking her head. “I didn't...I didn't want it to happen again. I figured I wasn't good enough.”

Damien looked down at his healed shoulder. “Seems good enough to me,” he said, rotating it.

Beatrice gave a wry smile. “Thanks. But, I'm hoping I can build up a good clientele and make a living that way. Or at least enough to not work at a tavern too...” she said, before suddenly checking the clock. “Shoot! I need to change and head over for my shift.”

Damien quickly stood up. “Sorry, I didn't mean to keep you...”

Beatrice shook her head. “No, I invited you. Um...” she paused, looking up at him, with a small smile, “...thanks for listening to me.”

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Damien smiled back. “Of course! I'll...try my best to make you money, too!”

Beatrice giggled again, before heading towards her bedroom. “Thanks.”

Since she had gone into her bedroom to change, Damien and Bluey left, heading outside to the street. It was now past dusk. “What do you say, Bluey? Go find a tree for the night?”

“Huwah!”

As they were walking, Damien was considering Beatrice's story. That's really tough. It makes me not want to join a party, either, just getting thrown away like that.

The next morning, on the way to the guild, Damien stopped at an armor shop. A muscular woman with an eyepatch was inside, hammering away at a breastplate. When he walked up, she didn't stop hammering.

Damien waited a minute, before asking, “Um...excuse me...”

The lady looked over, one eye glaring. “You wanna buy something?”

Damien nodded.

She set down her hammer, “Shoulda said so...” she grumbled. She walked over to the counter, setting her elbow down and holding her head. “What can ya afford?”

Damien reached into his bag, grabbing about two-thirds of the coppers he'd saved up.

The lady counted them quickly. “Well, for that, I give you some basic leather armor. Anything metal's gonna be a lot more.”

Damien nodded, “That's fine.”

She looked at the torn up tracksuit he was wearing. “Yeah I think anythin's better than what you currently got.”

She grabbed a measuring tape, and walked around the counter. “Spread out yer arms and legs,” she instructed.

Having been fitted before, Damien knew what she meant, spreading his limbs so she could measure. He was a bit taken aback a the lady's nonchalant attitude towards touching him.

She grabbed, rubbed, and turned him as necessary, and even smashed his nethers up with the back of her hand she getting the in-seam of his legs.

Damien succeeded in not getting embarrassed (although his groin now hurt a bit from being squeezed against his leg) until the lady finished.

“Alright, I got everything,” she said, finishing writing the measurements. “I gotta finish this armor set first, so come by tomorrow morning and I'll have it finished.”

Damien smiled and nodded. “Thanks!”

The lady grunted in reply, sliding his coppers into a drawer.

Going outside, he thought about what to do. I don't wanna go back to the gnolls until I have armor, so... “Bluey, you wanna fight more goblins today?”

“Huwah!” Bluey replied.

They then headed over to the guild to turn in the murder-rabbit requests they had completed the previous day, and grab some goblins requests to do today while they waited on the armor. However, when he went to turn in the requests, he encountered a problem.

Beatrice was not there.

Thinking she was in one of the backrooms doing something, he decided to just wait at the window for her to return.

After a few minutes of waiting, and no Beatrice, a different lady walked by behind the counter. Noticing Damien waiting, she walked over. “Um, are you waiting for Beatrice? She hasn't come in yet.”

“Oh...” Is she okay? Maybe she had to work late at the tavern and slept in? That must be it. “Thanks, I'll turn them in later.”

The lady gave a pained smile and nodded, walking away.

Damien went over to the Porcelain-rank board to grab more requests. Goblins, goblins, goblins... grabbing any requests for defeating goblins he could find. There was a couple other Porcelain-rank Adventurer's, man and woman, also at the board this time, blinking in disbelief.

Seeing them looking at him, he blushed slightly. “Ah, it's easier if you get a bunch at once, so you don't have to keep coming back.”

The man nodded, turning back to the board.

“Bluey, you rea-...Bluey?” he asked, not seeing it anywhere near him. Looking around, he found Bluey hopping along tables. “Bluey, what are you...” he trailed off as Bluey sailed through an empty queue window.

Walking over, he heard a 'heaugh' come from somewhere in the back.

After a moment, Beatrice appeared, looking a bit red, and holding Bluey in her arms. “I believe this is yours,” she said, holding Bluey out.

Damien held Bluey up to his face. “Bluey, I know you were probably excited to see her, but you can't just go hopping around tables and through windows like that.”

“Huwah...” Bluey replied, seeming to understand.

Beatrice, blushing, coughed. “Ermh...sorry I'm late,” she murmured. “Did you need something?”

Damien pulled out the requests he needed to turn in, handing them over.

Beatrice processed them quickly, as if trying to make up for being late.

Damien thanked her, and turned to leave.

“Um...”

Damien turned back around, to see Beatrice shifting.

“Do you...” she looked to each side, to see if anyone was within earshot. She continued, “do you want to come over for dinner again?”

She must be worried about us eating enough. “That's okay, we're going to be out completing goblin requests,” he shook the papers he'd grabbed a bit ago, “so we probably won't be back until late. I'll make sure we have enough food.”

Beatrice seemed a bit disappointed. “Oh, okay.”

That's...not the reaction I expected. “I'm sure we could come over a different day, right? The soup was great.”

“Huwah!” Bluey added.

Beatrice blushed a bit and smiled. “O-okay!”

Damien and Bluey grabbed a quick bite, then started making the trek over to the goblin area. Bluey seemed extremely excited again, hopping around and brimming with energy.

“Bluey, do you wanna just go ahead?”

“Huwah?” Bluey replied, seeming confused.

“I'm, uh...since my armor isn't here, I'm a little worried about straying too close without any protection.” I feel like a wimp, but I don't wanna die either.

Bluey seemed to understanding though. Hopping up and down before turning and rushing away.

“I'll watch you on the map. Don't go too far, and come for Healing if you get hurt.”

“Huwahhh...” he heard shouted back.

Damien sat next to a tree, having his map pulled up as he watched Bluey zipping around the area. Occasionally he heard the crashing of a tree or the squealing of a goblin, then silence for a while as Bluey was finding a new group.

As he sitting there, he thought about their immediate situation. Once I get to level 5, we can start doing Tin requests. Those will probably require us to go a bit farther out. He thought about Carleen and her party, who often went on longer trips for their requests. And about Beatrice's story regarding her old party. I like just having me and Bluey, but...more would probably be better, despite the possibility of being abandoned. Especially once we start fighting tougher creatures. He thought about the very few people he knew. I'm way too far below Carleen to even think about asking to join their party. Beatrice though...

He had a feeling Beatrice might accept joining a party with him, since she didn't seem too keen on her current jobs. Or at least, working two of them. I can't ask her when I'm half her level though. I need to level up first. And convince her I wouldn't just throw her away. If anything, I'd be worried about the opposite... Damien could relate with her fears. Having been thrown out or given up on by everyone in his past life, he wasn't keen on repeating that in this one.

After a few hours, Bluey hopped up to him. “Huwah!”

“What, did you run out of goblins?” Damien asked, before pulling up his status screen. “No level though? That's lame.”

Bluey just jumped into his chest, nuzzling up into his face.

“Yeah, yeah, I love you too,” he said, grabbing Bluey and petting it's head.

“Huwaahhhh...” Bluey let out, seeming most content in this position.

A few minutes of petting later, and they started back for Silaro as it was getting late. Beatrice must be at that tavern by now...

Beatrice felt like she had to sneeze, but fought it back as she was holding a tray full of empty mugs. Quickly bringing it back to the kitchen and setting it down next to the sink, she sneezed into her sleeve.

“You feel alright, Betty?” the tavernkeeper lady asked.

Beatrice nodded. “I'm fine,” she replied, starting to put the mugs in the sink for washing.

The tavernkeeper grinned slyly, “Maybe a guy was thinking about you?”

Beatrice was startled and blushed, dropping the mug she was holding back into the water.

“Haha, wait, did I get it right?”

“Stop teasing me, Auntie...” Beatrice asked.

“Haha, sorry, sorry. Just make sure you introduce him sometime!”

Beatrice didn't reply. Is...is he really thinking about me? She blushed again, I'm so pathetic, why am I falling for someone I just met a few days ago? She was confused by her own feelings. For reasons she couldn't understand, she had felt drawn to him as soon as they met, as if he was a kindred spirit, even going so far as to confide in him about her past.

“Betty, it's fine if you wanna daydream about your boyfriend, but you gotta clean at the same time,” the tavernkeeper said, noticing Beatrice's hands weren't moving.

Beatrice blushed again, quickly grabbing the mugs and continuing scrubbing. I have other things to worry about right now.