The receptionist returns to the guild after passing on a message to Miss Serafina. Mint plays with the Maroon Hound named Red outside while Miss Serafina and I talk inside a hut next to the kennel. Peachy the songbird welcome me and Archie from a wooden perch.
"What brings you here?" Miss Serafina gets right to the point as she pulls out a chair.
"Since I'm already registered with the guild, I wanted to know more about what a tamer does. The other day when you mentioned that the tamers' ranking system is separate from adventurers, I naturally assumed it applies to job requests too."
"You're perceptive," says Miss Serafina. "That's right, adventurers choose the job they want to do based on their rank from the quest board while tamers are assigned jobs by the guild according to their capabilities. The assigned jobs ranged from running deliveries, helping at the farm and stables to scouting in the forest and if you and your monster companion are combat-oriented, you might be lucky enough to get recruited into a party. How you grow as a tamer depends on your action and the goal you want to achieve."
Miss Serafina gulps down a glass of water before she continues speaking. "In my case, Peachy and I started going around delivering messages until Red came along and guild master suggested that I train Peachy and Red how to scout. He probably saw our potential in that field early on since now we're the best scouting party in this town."
Peachy whistles in agreement with Miss Serafina.
I spend most of the day listening to Miss Serafina talks more about her past experiences working with adventurers and mentally noting down the unspoken rules between adventurers and tamers. Since adventurers is a profession where a person faces unexpected danger in their daily lives, Miss Serafina advises me to cherish the relationship I will eventually make with those people.
"The guild asked me to deliver potion supplies to the east gate tomorrow. Why don't you come with me? We could use all the help we can get," Miss Serafina offers as she glances towards Archie.
Is Miss Serafina implying that having Archie at the east gate will be helpful? But first, I need to have a clear understanding of what's going on.
"Something's happening at the east gate?" I ask, unaware of the situation.
"Haven't you heard? Monsters are appearing out of the forest recently. Even with monster repellents, it won't do any good if strong monsters were to appear too close to the road and attack the merchants' carriages."
I frown after hearing this. Could that be the cause of my uneasiness for the past three days, or maybe I'm just being overly sensitive?
"The Imperial soldiers are also cooperating with the guild about this matter," Miss Serafina drops a piece of news that makes my heart palpitates.
"Are the Imperial soldiers strong, Miss Serafina?" I ask, trying to make my voice sound as calm as possible.
"Just call me Serafina, no need to be so formal between us."
"Then, please call me Iris."
"Iris, okay. Back to your question, I never had the chance to work with the Imperial Army before but the monster subjugation unit is known to be the strongest that rivals A-rank adventurers."
I nod along even though I have no reference for that. The strongest people I know are Roy and the rangers.
"The person leading the Imperial soldier is a Woolfe. This whole thing might end before it escalates into something worse."
"Don't say it! Don't raise the flag!" I thought.
Afterwards, I help Serafina clean out the kennels while enjoying the company of the energetic normal-sized hounds. Archie retreats to the hut where he won't be bothered. Meanwhile, Mint is already attached to Red and when she made a comment on how soft and clean Red's fur is despite the Maroon Hound's large size, Serafina shouts aloud her belief regarding that.
Quoting Miss Serafina's words, "Fluffiness is justice!"
Unsurprisingly, Mint and Serafina become fluff buddies once they discover they are one of the same.
Mint, Archie and I are lounging in the living room when Syl returns to the suite room that evening with an exhausted Jilko who immediately passed out on her bed.
"Master Kif heard some of the merchants have been attacked by monsters on their way here," Syl shares a piece of concerning news.
"Shouldn't the monsters affected by the fiery hail settle down already?" Mint raise a good question.
"I'm talking about the forest to the east, the forest close to the road the human merchants use to travel here from Esmeron," Syl reminds Mint.
"Oh, you're talking about the Kiln road. Aren't there plenty of monster repellants planted along the road? Weren't the carriages attacked because the merchants strayed from the road?"
Syl shakes her head before sharing more information. "From the merchants' statement, monsters suddenly came out of the forest and rushed towards them. The adventures they hired described that the monsters were mostly low-ranked and weak, hence they suffered no damages."
"That doesn't make any sense."
Syl agrees with Mint.
Monster repellents as the name imply repel monsters; by discharging scent that's repulsive to monsters, however, it only works against low-ranked monsters. Stronger class monsters have higher resistance, therefore they are unaffected by the monster repellent.
Listening to Syl and Mint's conversation closely, I speculate that the weak monsters are running away from something in the forest, something that terrifies them.
"It might also be related to the information the spirits told us regarding the fluctuation of mana happening around the forest surrounding the town. For now, do not go near the east gate," says Syl as she looks directly at me.
I slowly look away from Syl's stare. Mint elbows me and we exchange eye contact.
"What is it that you want to tell me?" Syl catches on quick and questions us with a firm gaze.
"Iris is going to help Serafina at the east gate tomorrow," Mint quickly blurts.
"Mint is also tagging along because she wants to play with Red more," I expose Mint's true intention as retaliation.
"Gah!" Mint exclaims before covering my mouth, then she speaks in hushed tones. "Don't say another word, Iris, or else she won't let us both go!"
My protest is muffled under Mint's blocked hand. So I make hand gestures that Mint's at fault for blurting it out like that.
"Mint. Iris."
Syl calls our name, causing Mint to release her hand from my mouth.
I sit up straight, clear my throat and start talking. "Today, I met with Serafina, she's the tamer who helped with my tamer registration and we got to talking..."
Syl listens without interrupting.
"So, I told Serafina that Archie and I will help her tomorrow," I end it with that.
"I won't tell you not to break your word," Syl pause before continuing. "Because the east gate will be at risk if a monster stampede does happen, I'd rather have another reliable person come with you."
Mint sink on the sofa, displeased with Syl's remark.
"I will join them tomorrow."
Erissa suddenly appears from behind the sofa. Syl nods and stands up.
"I need to inform Polina about this," says Syl then leaves the suite room.
Mint and I look at each other and breathe a sigh of relief.