Back in the baths, Thoma is soaking in a nice bubbly tub.

  “Rayla was right, this is very relaxing.”

  After a while of soaking in the warm soapy water, there is a knock on the door and a worker enters.

  “Your acquaintance has delivered your clothes, Sir.”

  “Ah, thank you. Tell her I’ll be out of the bath soon.”

  “I shall relay the message.”

  I then make my way out of the bath feeling clean as a whistle.

  “Hi Rayla, thanks for delivering my clothes! What’s in that bag? Are you going in too?”

  Seemingly a bit mad, she says, “Actually…We gotta talk, Thoma.”

  “Sure, what do you wanna talk about?”

  “I don’t want you going back to live with Rhaast anymore. I brought your stuff with me.”

  “Uhm…Why did you do that? I don’t have any other place to go.”

  “I did it because he was exploiting you. Maybe he wasn’t doing it as much before you were earning money but he’s doing it now! You don’t even have a bed!”

  “I have a straw bedroll.”

  Ruffling her tail and showing her teeth, she stomps on the ground, “That doesn’t count! You’re going to live in the boarding house with me from now on.”

  “But I can’t afford that. I don’t have any money.”

  “You just got a seven silver bonus. You can live there for two months with room and board with that money.”

  “Don’t you mean one month? Half of it goes to you after all.”

  Looking surprised, she asks, “Wait, are you telling me you were planning to split the reward despite me not doing anything?”

  “Of course! We are a team after all! You couldn’t participate today but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t have helped me if it was anything but spiders. It’s important to lean on each other when you’re in trouble! Wait…Are you crying? Did I say something wrong?”

  “I’m not crying…I’m just…Okay fine maybe I’m crying a little. But not because I’m sad! I’m just moved and glad that you’re my friend.”

  “I’m glad you’re my friend too! Do you need a hug?”

  Wiping her tears away as she turns around, she answers, “Haha, no I’m fine. Come on, let’s go get your reward and go to the boarding house. Technically it’s for Beastkin only but I’m sure Nekara will make an exception for you.”

  After a bit of walking we enter the guild where to my surprise a bunch of people cheer when they see me enter.

  Gino the blue haired adventurer then approaches me with a smile on his face, “Eeeyyy! It’s Charcoal, the spider whisperer. Good job on your quest. I know I wouldn’t have done it as well as you. That merchant was practically singing your praise.”

  “Eeeh? Is word spreading around already? I was just doing my job.”

  “You weren’t just doing a job, kid. You were doing a bloody good one! Small stuff like this is what keeps the guilds reputation afloat!”

  “Haha, thanks Gino.”

  “Don’t mention it kid.”

  I then go over to the reception to get my quest reward. It seems that Klara the dwarf is manning it today. She has a bit of a child-like appearance despite already being an adult and being around 120 years old but she is also naturally well toned with a decent amount of muscle, like all dwarfs.

  “Ey, Thoma Ahad. Congrats on your quest!”

  “Thank you, Klara!”

  Putting down a heavy pouch with a jingle, she adds, “Here you go, your quest reward. 10 large copper and a bonus of seven silver. Also, for doing an extraordinarily good job today, the guild will award you with a bonus rank point putting your reward to five points which doubled due to the urgency will award you two ten points, putting you at 26/40 points.”

  “Ten points and a bunch of money…Thoma you are the best!” Rayla says happily, patting me on the shoulder.

  “Haha, thanks! Do you want to eat here? Jason is buying today for me.”

  “Nah, I’ll eat at home but I’ll stay here with you while you have dinner.”

  “Alright, thanks.”

  Getting close to me and sniffing me a little with a warm smile on her face and slightly wagging tail, Rayla adds, “Also I have to say, ever since the guildmaster allowed you to temporarily use that cultist necklace, you are much more approachable. I told you, the only thing that was holding you back was that smell, now you’re really popular!”

  “I wouldn’t really call myself popular but there are a lot of good people in this guild. I’m glad that I came here.”

  “I’m also glad that now I finally know what you really smell like that.”

  “Is that really so important?”

  “Yeah! A person's smell is an important part of who you are. Without it, it’s like looking at a face without seeing the nose and eyebrows, you just won’t really know what the person looks like. If I ever go blind I’ll be able to tell it’s you just from smell.”

  “Huh, so what about perfumes and such? Do you not like those because they change the smell?”

  While moving over to the guild tables, she replies “They don’t really change your smell, they just mix it with another one but that curse magic smell completely masks your real smell. So to me, especially since you’re all clean now it’s like I’m seeing you for real for the first time! It’s exciting.”

  “Pfft, you’re weird.”

  “Look who’s talking! Hahaha.”

  After we sit down, I order my food and Bernhard the Dwarf cook delivers it to me personally.

  “There ya go kid, how did the meat plan work out?”

  “It worked out pretty well. I managed to kill a bunch of spiders with it, they were all over it.”

  Seemingly proud, he jokes, “Heh, guess the stuff I find on the market is so good it even works as monster bait. Thanks to you, I had a few adventurers ask me if they could buy bait from me, I just wanted to make sure it actually worked before I said yes.”

  “Yeah it worked great! But those spiders were animals not monsters.”

  “Ah that’s good to know. I'll tell them that, thanks Charcoal.”

  Visibly excited for me, Rayla interjects, “See, now even the head chef comes bringing your food personally. You’re super popular.”

  “Haha, maybe.”

  I then eat my dinner and afterwards Rayla and I leave for the boardinghouse. The roads are clean and plastered with stone, the houses are painted and people can just buy things on the street to eat and sit down without fear. This must be a high class neighborhood.

  “Woah, this is a really nice looking area. Can you really afford living here?”

  Giving me a weird look, she answers, “Your view on living standards is way too warped… To most this would look like a kind of shabby neighborhood.”

  “But it is clean here and both the streets and the houses are made from stone.”

  “That’s the norm for a city.”

  “Really? I didn’t know that. By the way, is it just my imagination or are there a lot of Beastfolk here?”

  “It’s not your imagination, this is a historical area where Beastkin were allowed to live.”

  “Were they not allowed to live in other areas?”

  Her mood dampens a bit, “That’s right, I guess you wouldn’t know much about history… Until about ninety years ago, Berk and many other countries in the north were human xxx.”

  “What does human xxx mean?”

  “Human supremacy is the idea that humans are better than other races and because of that, Beastkin and other races should have less rights than them. Because Berk has a big port town they were a bit less extreme in their law making but for most of the north, non-humans were seen as filthy criminals that are harming society. They constructed areas where non-humans were forced to live so that Humans wouldn't have to see non-humans as much. Even though they don’t have laws like this anymore today, a lot of these non-human areas still exist.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “I don’t think I understand. Why did they think that?”

  “I don’t know either. My mom always used to say that prejudice happens when a lot of people are similar to each other and then meet a smaller group than them that’s different. People get scared easily by things they don’t know and don’t understand and fear often leads to hatred. Then when a lot of people hate someone weaker than them they bully, exile or kill them.”

  “Hmm…I don’t really think I get it but at least it’s not happening anymore!”

  Her face seems to get a little sad as she gives me a smile, “Yeah…Look Thoma, over there. That’s the boarding house.”

  “C-cats. Cats. Den. Cat’s Den, right? That’s what it says?”

  “Yeah, you’re improving a lot!”

  “Thanks!”

  The outside of the building looks actually kind of funny. It has orange and white stripes painted on them and the door looks like a cat's face. Going inside, it looks a bit like the guild. To the right is an eating area with a lot of Beastmen eating dinner. To the left there is a counter with a slightly overweight cat type Beastman lady behind it. She has orange and white striped hair and is wearing a white frilly apron over her clothes.

  “Oy Rayla you scoundrel, you’re late. And I see you brought a man with you…Do I need to cook your bedsheets tomorrow?”

  “What? No! That’s Thoma, the friend I told you about.”

  Looking me up and down with an intrigues smile she adds, “Oh! So that’s him? Thank you for taking care of Rayla, she’s a bit awkward so she was a bit of a loner before she met you.”

  “Nekara! Don’t tell him that!!!”

  “Why not? It’s the truth.”

  “Haha, well I’m very happy to have Rayla as my friend too. She’s a very kind, thoughtful and knowledgeable person. I count myself lucky that I was able to befriend someone like her.”

  Doubtful and cringing a little she asks, “Are you sure you’re talking about this Rayla? I mean…Kind, maybe but thoughtful and knowledgeable? Usually she just runs headfirst into any problem.”

  “Nekara!”

  “Hmm…It might look like that sometimes but it’s also one of Raylas strengths to know when she can just brute force a problem. I haven’t yet seen her do anything that turned out to be a bad decision in the end.”

  Nekara whispers to Rayla, “Say, where’d you find this kid? He’s way too kind, he reminds me of a monk.”

  “You know exactly where I found him…”

  “Yeah…But it’s hard to believe him being an adventurer, usually those people are all rough and rude. I guess he looks the part but he acts totally different.”

  “Well, he is an amnesiac so he’s a lot more pure than those kinda people.”

  “Ehm…Not to be rude but I don’t really like it when people whisper about me…”

  Looking very apologetic, she says, “Oh! Uhum, sorry about that. Why don’t you take a seat? I just brewed some fruit tea, here have some.”

  “Oh, thank you! It smells very nice.”

  “Hehe, it’s our home blend. If you like it a bit sweeter you can sweeten it with our honey. It’s also home made, my husband is a beekeeper.”

  “Woah….Really? Thank you!”

  I then sit down at the counter and put a generous amount of honey in my tea while gawking at Nekara's kitchen.

  Getting close to my face and resting her head on her hand she asks, “So, what brings you over here? Did you just want to visit Rayla’s place or do you have more devious intentions?”

  By now Rayla is pretty red in the face as she stomps n the ground and yells, “Nekara! I brought him here and we’re just friends! Actually, I wanted to ask you if he can get a room here?”

  “A room? Why would you want a room here of all places? I’m sure they have empty rooms in boarding houses for humans as well.”

  A bit nervous, I answer, “Rayla visited the place I used to live and then decided I’m not allowed to live there anymore so she took my stuff and said I could live here now. I’m kind of homeless right now.”

  “Rayla! What the hell did you do to this kid!?”

  “W-w-wait! I know it sounds bad but you should have seen it. He was living in the slums! He didn’t even have his own room or a bed, he was sleeping in the kitchen on a makeshift bedroll made out of hay! Also, the one housing him was taking all the money he earned in the guild for that.”

  “Even still…Did you at least ask him before you took all his stuff and made him homeless?”

  She avoids her eyes, “No…But I had a good reason for it! Thoma earned a lot of money today at the guild, if he went home today he would have lost all of it!”

  “Sigh I understand the circumstances now but we’re full. We’re going to be booked out for at least the next two months.”

  “Can’t he just stay in my room? If he pays you five copper a day that should cover his expenses right?”

  Not pleased, Nekara crosses her arms, “Why don’t you just find him a room somewhere else?”

  “Because I don’t think he’s mature enough for that. He’s way too good natured, he’ll get exploited again.”

  “But still…He’s a young man. I promised your parents I’d keep you safe, I can’t just let you share a room with a man that you don’t even wish to court.”

  “Thoma doesn't see me like that though! He’s harmless.”

  Giving her a smug look, she answers, “Look Rayla, you’re young. I get it, but all men will eventually awaken desires if they share a room with a pretty woman such as yourself.”

  “Not Thoma though! I can prove it! Thoma touch my breasts.”

  “Rayla!” Nekara yells a bit flustered.

  “Uhm…Why?”

  “Doesn’t matter, just do it.”

  “Uhm…Okay?”

  “So how do you feel right now?”

  “Confused…I guess?”

  “See! Nothing!”

  Nekara then puts her hand over her face, “Rayla, what exactly is this supposed to prove?”

  “Tsk Not convinced yet, huh? I got it! I’ll prove to you how pure and innocent he is! Thoma!”

  “Y-yes?”

  “First of all you can let go now.”

  “Okay.”

  “I have a question for you Thoma! What is between my legs that all men want?”

  “Rayla!”

  “Is that a riddle? I’m not really good with those. Uhm…Maybe your tail? But that’s not really between your legs most of the time. Uhm…Nothing…Air…Air! Every man needs it so everyone wants it. Is that the answer?”

  “See!? He’s completely pure!”

  Looking completely exasperated and slightly flustered, Nekara sighs, “Sigh Fine, I give up. He can stay in your room just please stop embarrassing yourself in public like this. People are staring.”

  “Kekeke, see Thoma! I told you it’ll work out.”

  “Are you sure this is okay though? Miss Nekara doesn’t seem very pleased and I don’t want to be a bother to anyone.”

  Nekara sighs again, “It’s fine. As her temporary guardian it’s my job to take care of the problems she causes as well. I can’t just kick out someone who she just made homeless. If she wishes to take the risk, that's her choice. She’s old enough. Anyways, Thoma right? Have you eaten yet?”

  “Yeah I ate something at the guild before I got here.”

  “Puh! That stuff they serve there can barely be called food. Here, try some of my homemade stew.”

  She then brings me a bowl of stew with fatty chunks of meat in them. Taking a bite it...Tastes amazing!

  “Mmmh! This is very good, what is it?”

  Visibly proud she strikes a pose and answers, “Hehe, it’s a dwarven stew called Pichelsteiner that I added my own spin to.”

  “I don’t think I tasted something like this before, it is very tasty!”

  “Really? It’s a common meal to eat in winter. What sort of stuff are you used to eating? Maybe I’ll have some recipes like it.”

  “Hmm, I’ve mostly been eating at the guild lately. Before I used to eat fish bone broth with fish guts or seafood that was too old to sell and two slices of bread everyday.”

  Her face suddenly looks a bit shocked, “E-Everyday? For how long?”

  “Ever since I can remember, so about two years.”

  “Good lord, it’s a miracle you survived that long. Do you still have all your teeth? You need to eat some vegetables! Make sure you keep eating that stew, I’m going to make some more nutritious meals from now on.”

  Giving me a elbow bump to the side, Rayla smiles at me, “Heh, good job Thoma, you completely won her over now.”

  “But I didn’t do anything.”

  “Exactly.”

  We then talk a bit more and eat some more food together. When we’re done, Rayla brings me upstairs to her room. It’s a nice but simple room with a fireplace, a big bed, a small bathroom and a table with some chairs. There are also clothes and items strewn everywhere around the room, it seems like Rayla isn’t a very tidy person. Looking out of the window I’m able to see the street market and watch people enjoy themselves on the streets.

  “Woah…So pretty.”

  “Right? The first few days I came here I used to look out the window all night just watching people. But we can’t stay up too long. The guildmaster is getting someone to have our magic aptitudes looked at, right? We need to be there bright and early.”

  “Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that. Where do you want me to put down my bed roll?”

  “In the trash. You can just sleep next to me in the bed, it’s big enough.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I used to sleep next to my brothers all the time, I don't mind. Unless you mind of course, if you feel uncomfortable with it you can sleep on the bed and I’ll use my bedroll for the night.”

  “No, it's fine. I used to sleep next to my sisters a lot too, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay with it.”

  Her ears perk up, “Oh? How many siblings do you have?”

  “Two sisters and a brother.”

  “Are they older or younger than you?”

  “Older, I’m the youngest.”

  “Do you remember their names?”

  “Yeah their names are…Their names…Sorry, what were we talking about?”

  Suddenly seeming deep in though, Ralya tells me, “I see…Thoma I think I have a suspicion about how your memory curse works.”

  “Oh? Please share.”

  “I think there is a slightly broken lock on your memories. Everytime you would naturally say something from those memories it gets checked for whether it is something that is going to make someone find out who you really are if they hear it. If it is, it gets blocked and your mind resets to an earlier point in time. If it's not, you can say it but then you instantly lose access to it again so you forget it afterwards.”

  “I see…So, I can only remember information that’s unimportant?”

  “Not quite. It’s more like you can only remember information that is less important. But the thing you just told me is definitely valuable information that will help us find out things about you.”

  “Really, what was it?”

  “You told me that you have three siblings, two older sisters and an older brother.”

  “I…I have…”

  “Let’s all go down to the town to see the festival together!” a cheery teen girl's voice says.

  “But didn’t dad say we shouldn’t?” a younger girl's voice asks.

  “It’s fine I convinced uncle to go with us as long as we promise to stay close to him.” the older one answers.

  “What do you think xxx?” the younger one asks.

  “Well it’s not like I can stop you two, you’d just take xxx with you and go without me if I said no.” The voice of a young man answers.

  “Of course we’re gonna take xxx. It’s xxx first town festival, I bet xxx will love the fireworks.” the younger one says.

  —----------------------

  “Be careful xxx, there are a lot of people here. Make sure to hold uncle’s hand tight. I’m going to get us some skewers.” the young man’s voice says.

  “Haha, It’s just too easy,” a deep voice bellows.

  “What are you doing uncle? Hmph. Ouch! Uncle that hurts.”

  “Shut up.”

  —-------------

  “How could you three be so irresponsible!? I trusted you enough to go out here with you and now xxx is missing? Have you any idea what that means?”

  “I’m sorry uncle, I thought I had left xxx with you!” the young man’s voice pleas.

  “Are you trying to put the blame on me now!? I thought you were better than this xxx.”

  “I’m sorry uncle. That wasn’t my intention.”

  “No…I’m here! Can’t you hear me!? I’m right here! Please…Anyone…”

  —-------------------------

  “Uncle please…I want to go home.”

  “Don’t worry, once I’m done with you you won’t even remember a home to come back to.”

  —--------------------

  “Good, he stopped seizing. It looks like he’s about to come to. Rayla, stay here in case he gets worse again. I’m going to the kitchen. He’s going to need water and some light food when he wakes up.”

  “Rayla?”

  “Yeah Thoma, I’m here!”

  “This is important. Listen to this before I forget again. We went to a festival together. Our dad didn’t allow us to go, so uncle went with us instead. When the streets became busy and my uncle was alone with me he put me in a box. He blamed my brother for letting me go missing then he did something to me. I think he put the curse on me.”

  “Your uncle did? Do you remember anything else? Any information could be helpful no matter how small!”

  “I…I was eating a candy that looked like a flower.”

  “What kind of flower?”

  “I…I don’t remember.”

  “Is there anything else you can remember?”

  “Remember? Were we talking about something? I’m tired Rayla, can we talk about this tomorrow?”

  “Sure, just go to sleep, we'll talk tomorrow.”