Cless woke up late. She groaned and swore to herself to not make that a habit. Her whole body ached but she pushed herself off the bed all the same. Her body was feeling strange. The world moved around her in a strange way. Was it the fact that she no longer had awfully creeping stats? Did her body improve in some fashion? She would love to have a mirror, but these things were awfully expensive.

Instead of moping for not having something that only nobility could afford, she doffed her pajamas and dressed in her barmaid uniform. Her first challenge was the corset. The bloody damn thing wouldn't tie up not even for the love of the One God. Cless sighed. She tugged some strings and slid the piece back in place. No way she grew fatter overnight by sleeping. She would set those stats back to one that's the case.

Her shoes fit at least. It would be weird if her feet had suddenly grown. The shirt was tight but it wouldn't rip. Cless made the best she could and exited her room. It was already mid-morning and she missed her bathing room duty. What a great barmaid she was. Cless made her way to the taproom and found Josefine cleaning mugs.

"Good morning, Josie," Cless smiled and waved at the girl.

She smiled back only with her mouth and replied back with a tilted head, "Good afternoon, Cless." Josefine went back to cleaning her mugs.

Cless was surprised. Did she do anything wrong? Had she hurt Josefine's feelings yesterday? She took a step forward, crossed the empty taproom, and reached the bar.

"Josie, did I offend you?"

"No such thing, miss Cless. How may I help you?" Josefine gave her the business smile. Cless' heart sank. She couldn't even look at her coworker anymore.

"Is au... Boss Karen in?"

"Unfortunately, the innkeeper is out on some errands with Mister Balthus. I can take a message to deliver her, would you like to?"

"No, Josie. Can I help with anything?"

"I'm good. Thank you for your concern, miss Cless. Have a good day."

Cless walked out of the door into the street. The sun blinded her momentarily. She looked at the hour and found it was time to meet the boys at the northern gate, so she went that way. She got looks from the townspeople but she was used to it. She kept her head down and moved to stare at the dirt street. Before she knew, she was at the north gate. The crowd of boys and the girls were there and the garrison of the north gate apparently doubled. Senior guardsmen Toby was there too but there seemed to be no conflict.

"Hey, guild master. We were waiting for you."

'A guild master dressed as a barmaid,' Cless sardonically noted.

She noticed all of them were there, even the ones no longer under servitude. She waved at them. "Why are all of you here?"

"We are all members of The Blind Eye, aren't we?" Lyle replied with his own brand of business smile. Cless noticed it was a fake one.

Cless covered her face. Her hands were still bruised from yesterday's training but they did a good job of hiding her crying face from the outside world. She felt hands on her shoulder pushing her in a certain way and she let herself be led. The hands made her sit and she found herself on a wooden bench.

"Are you feeling okay, Cless?" It was Maria's voice. She glanced up and Maria was sitting by her side.

"How could I? I'm a mess, Maria. Everything I do is wrong, I am a nuisance to everyone," She vented between sobs. "I can't go on. I just want to disappear."

It was because of her bruised and changed body. It was because of the conversation she had with Balthus yesterday. It was because Josefine gave her the cold shoulder. It was because she expected almost nobody to show up. It was because she felt she abused the boys' contracts. Cless was afraid.

"We would be troubled if our guild master disappeared," Maria brushed Cless head.

"Why do you put so much faith in me, Maria?"

"You are strong and kind, Cless. Oh, you don't even realize that, do you? The girls would be devastated for months if they had to go through what happened to you. And I wouldn't let a single one of them live if I could. Instead, you gave them a job. A future. They would become farmers or guards, but now they can become dungeon delvers."

Cless grew in a sheltered environment, with little social contact except for the nuns. What little she knew from the world came from conversation with the nuns and books. But maybe being in a delving guild was an important thing. She only knew it existed from her heroic novels when heroes braved deadly dungeons to save humanity.

"Is it that important?" She timidly asked.

"Yes! Of course it is," Maria's rebuttal came with a giggle. "These good-for-nothing deadbeat boys had less chance of getting into a delving guild on their own than rats of pooping diamonds."

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"Poor rats. It must hurt."

They laughed. Cless clapped her hands and decided to put her concerns about Josefine for later. She stood up and went to meet her guildmates.

"Okay, everyone. Listen up. We are going into the woods to talk and maybe get some training. So line up in a box formation once we are outside, keep eyes peeled for danger and keep the girls in the middle safe. Let's move!"

They went outside, senior guardsmen Toby frowned but said nothing. He probably talked to the constable. Out in the woods, They gathered around. Cless thought that maybe she should make some kind of amphitheater to get everyone a place to sit while they talked.

After the greetings, Cless took the floor and addressed her concerns.

"Lyle, Arnold, Collin, Martin, Lawrence, and Shane. Why didn't you break free of the contract entirely?"

"We thought that two stat points were too much," Lyle replied. Some of the boys that paid two disagreed and some arguments flared but Cless whistled to get their attention back.

"Fair enough. All my dealings are based on what people believe to be fair. But I don't want to keep my hold on you anymore. What is a fair value for you to trade for the four years you still have to serve?"

"Before we answer it, guild master," Lyle replied, "Why do you want to get rid of us?"

"I don't, really. I haven't expelled everyone else, and I won't. Everyone that wants to remain in the guild will be under the same contract as the girls. Keep secrecy and leave whenever you want but give me two weeks notice."

>     Contracts updated.

They stared at their notifications. "Folks, you need to find an alternative way to get your notifications. These visual ones are a bother during combat. I changed mine to sound only, find what works for you but don't get distracted by the pretty messages more than by the four pretty girls among us."

They all laughed. Maria and her friends even straightened their backs with pride.

"Good. now, Lyle. Make an offer to get out of these four years of service."

"Three thousand Experience Points per year, how does that sound?"

"Experience Points are easy to come by, Lyle. We will be drowning in Experience Points once we start delving. Ten thousand."

"Cless, you can't be greedy now, can you? You don't want our indentured service anyway. Forty thousand Experience Points would take more than four years of hard work. I offer four thousand."

"Settle it at eight thousand then, with my guarantee that you will be making that many Experience Points per year until you earn back all the thirty-two thousand you paid me."

"Six thousand."

"Seven thousand with the guarantee to earn them back. If at the end of four years you haven't earned that much I'll repay the difference doubled."

"Deal then. Do you guys agree?" The other five nodded.

"Okay. I want the Exp paid up front if it won't endanger your lives."

Cless Skill triggered and the terms they agreed to show in their notifications. After they accepted, the contracts were modified.

>     Cless earned 168,500 Experience Points. Cless advanced to level 21. Five unassigned Stat Points awarded. Cless earned 16,800 profession Experience. Cless' professions advanced to level 6.

Fortunately leveling up had little physical or mental side effects. Levels were important for two reasons. Besides the free stat points, the level difference between combatants dictated the accuracy and evasion rates and the person's level would give a soft cap to their proficiencies. It was progressively harder to raise proficiencies above one's level. That Cless had reading at a level of four before her rite of passage spoke greatly on how much she read.

"How are you guys?"

"Negative twenty-one thousand Experience Points here," Lyle reported. "But we are free from our servitude. Did you get all that Experience at once, Cless?"

She couldn't fake it. Cless just nodded.

"Damn," Lyle cursed. "That makes you level what? Eighteen?"

"Twenty-one, actually."

Gasps and whistles.

"But did any of you lose any levels?" They shook their heads. "That would actually make it easier to regain these Experience Points."

They were so excited with their now strong guild master that they failed to notice the wolves surrounding them until the first one of them growled.

"Wolves!"

"We're surrounded!"

And to boot, most of them were unarmed. Some of them had daggers, two boys had short swords. The wolves cared not. Some of them leaped from the undergrowth, jaws full of teeth.

Cless saw it and felt a cool focus from deep inside her mind. She knew she could lead these people. There was no time to worry, no time to panic.

"Stand close together and hold the line. Get rocks and sticks if you can, hit the wolves from the sides. If a wolf jumps at you, just try to defend while others hit them. Don't let the wolves drag anyone away. Close up everyone and get to screaming and shouting at those wolves!"

Her commands were quickly followed. Two boys decided to wrap their jackets over their forearm and offer that as bait for the wolves to bite. The wolves bit some of the boys and were bashed from the sides by the others. Those with weapons waited for opportunities to strike at the wolves sides while they were biting.

A wolf leaped at Cless and she felt as if time was stretching. She could see the wolf moving. She ducked under aimed a punch at the side of the wolf's head. The critter twisted the jaw to bite her arm but she was only grazed. The punch connected on the wolf's cheek and it fell on the ground. Lyle stomped on the wolf and it backed off to run back to the undergrowth.

They were being bitten but at least half a dozen wolves had already died. Others were limping or unconscious.

"Those with weapons aim at the wolves that are still attacking. Someone get a big rock and bash the skull of the unconscious wolves! Get the wounded in the middle of our circle!"

The animals regrouped and attacked once again. Arnold and Lance were with big rocks ready to drop them on any wolf that stood still long enough. Maria and another girl were in the middle tending the wounded. Cless kept shouting commands to her guild.

"Hold the line! Shout and holler! Show these wolves we are not an easy meal!"

Another wolf tried to bite Cless' leg but it only got her skirt. The fabric was torn, exposing her legs. Cless hit the wolf with a kick to the head and Lance dropped his rock over the beast.

Two wolves bit Herbert and started to drag the boy. He screamed, making Brett and Edward drop their sticks to hold the boy while the wolves ravaged his legs. Arnold tossed his rock, breaking one of the wolves hind legs while Lyle ran out of the line to stab the other wolf.

"Lyle! Get back into formation!"

Cless' shout came too late. A silver wolf, almost half as big as the other brown ones jumped at the boy's throat, pushing Lyle down on the forest ground. He hit one of the logs they were using as seats and lost consciousness.

Enraged, the boys rushed the big wolf, pelting his sides with their improvised clubs. One of them got Lyle's dagger and stabbed the wolf's flank. The monstrous wolf kept snarling and thrashing over Lyle's unconscious body. After a while, it latched onto Lyle's shoulder and started to move backward, dragging the boy with him.

"Don't let it take Lyle!"