White Flower, Black Feather

Interlude 3 – Needing Assistance

“Finally~” Martha placed her hands on her lower back and pushed stretching her sore muscles, normally watering the fields didn’t tire her much, but after her adoptive mother got… ‘sick’ she had to be the one doing most of the work

She sighed, while holding her hat with one hand above her and rubbing her neck with the other

“Right… ‘sick’” to the redhead, needing at least one Holy Blossom to heal a sickness was bullshit, it is the rarest flower in the whole world and even her, a simple farmer, had heard the rumors of it banishing undeads by itself “He is a priest of Aufiea… they are not supposed to lie…”

Was he calling her sick, a lie? Or was he saying that, because he wanted to believe that no human could deliberately poison her mother?

She sighed again and placed her hat on her head properly, Martha didn't knew what kind of poison would require that flower to cure it, so she decided to give the healer the benefit of the doubt

Looking down she stared at the plants of lens she had just watered

‘Everyone knows that the fields between the cities forming the ‘Shield’ are nothing more that decoys and that the real fields are further north of the cities… why can’t we just plant whatever…?’

She knew that this method of farming, somehow, gave better results than just planting the same thing all the time, but considering the risk, what little extra they got paid for the crops from this location, wasn’t worth it to her… even if she was happy with the other benefits they were given

Martha glanced to the forest, almost expecting to see a wave of monsters coming out of it… again… she shivered at the memory of the worse day of her life

“I am hungry” she told herself that, mostly to distract her mind from those memories, she grabbed the bucket with the ladle inside it and threw the remaining water on the fallow field next to her, before starting to walk home, bucket in hand

A whistle coming from the road attracted her attention and she saw a local courier, pushing a wheeled wooden box, filled with firewood, waving at her. As she returned the wave he pointed to the box and then to her home, she nodded and blew him a kiss as a ‘thank you’ gesture

Even at the distance she saw him blush and push the box with extra energy, Martha sighed again at his reaction and checked the Trait that started to give her a lot of problems

At first she had been happy after getting a new Trait, but after noticing how other people started to look at her (and how her back started to hurt as she grew) she started to despise it, even more so after her adoptive mother got ‘sick’ and now she had to do everything alone, without anyone that could help her in case…

She shook her head as she entered the ‘walled’ area around her house

‘That adventurer might be a creep… but… there is a chance that the flower is in the forest…’ she placed the bucket with the ladle inside it next to the door, and got out of the low wall again ‘They should get out in a few days… if… he doesn't accept my body, ew! As a reward, then I will look for it myself…!’ she always kept the enchanted knife, that was given to her after she lost her family, in the pocket of the apron she was wearing, so even if the System itself were to tell her that it was too dangerous, she would do it ‘All those rumor must be exaggerations… right?’

Everyone knew about the Line and how, if you are inside the forest, to avoid the attack of that particular Ruler. She believed that with some luck she could avoid any monster and find the Blossom

She reached the pile of wood and started to pick it up, sparing a glance to the house, for some reason she stared at the chimney, but saw nothing. It took her three trips to have the whole pile of wood inside the limits of the property, but didn't bother to actually bring it inside, she was actually getting hungry by then

“I’m back” she whispered as she opened the door and hung her hat in a hook behind it, she choose to ignore her adoptive father’s moment of weakness and moved to grab some bread and dry meat for both of them “Here” she gave half of the food to him before moving to the cauldron with the soup

“Thanks” he whispered back, Martha used a knife and big spoon hanging from the wall above the cauldron to check the boiling vegetables and meat, but they were still somewhat stiff

“Not ready yet, do you think she will eat something? Or just the tea?”

“It's medicine…” he sighed “I hope she’ll eat something today”

“Are you sure it actually works?” she hung the utensils and moved to the recipe “This says that the Blossom is the main ingredient” learning to read and access to this particular healer, were some of the perks she was actually happy to have, even if they meant being a decoy

“They are easier to get and part of the medicine” he bitterly explained as if trying to convince himself “They are doing something…”

“How hard can it be? Get in, grab a flower and then get out” she pointed to the forest “I could do it in an hour” she boasted, not knowing of a better way to bring up the topic

“You don’t have any training!” but he was losing his patience “A lot of people die there every day! And you are far too young to even be allowed to date!”

She knew he was right, but she always refused to back down if there was a way forwards

“Then we pay those people! If it's too much, then I might just need to get naked to-!”

“ENOUGH! YOU ARE NOT A HARLOT-!”

The coughs of the ill woman in the bed interrupted their discussion and has her father tried to calm her, as frustrated as she felt, she struggled to remain there and not rush to danger, holding back her tears

‘Uh?’ out of the corner of her eye, as she split the bread between her hands, with more force than was required, she saw something white. Turning her head up she saw nothing but some dust falling from the main beam in the roof ‘Right… I need to clean that…’ she sighed yet again

-----

Two days later Martha was preparing more soup and had another small cauldron boiling water for the ‘medicine’

It was one of the rare moments that her mother was awake… moments that kept becoming rarer

“Field…?” she asked tiredly, for the third time since she woke up

“Celia could help me to water it this morning, we are done for today” she answered, again, as her father was seated next to her replacing the wet rag from her head

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Three loud hits on the door scared everyone inside the building, who could be so rude, to get inside the walls before announcing themselves?

‘This is not the city!’ Martha screamed mentally as she got closer to the door pondering the idea of getting her knife ready ‘…?’ she opened the door but saw no one there, nor in the road that passes in front of the house ‘Who is playing pranks-?!’

“Ah!” her knees gave up their strength at the sight in front of her, she was barely aware that her father stood up from the bed in alert, most of her attention was stuck in the seven flowers in front of her, they still were attached to the plants and with soil in the roots, divided in two groups, one of five and another of two “No way!”

“Don’t tell me is a baby-!” he gasped loudly once he reaches her side and looked almost ready to join his daughter in the ground, tears already forming on his eyes

The young girl recovered first and carefully grabbed the two that were separated, she nearly screamed when she saw inside the petals, but gave them to her adoptive father with fire on her eyes

“Hold them!” she ordered and he obeyed, she grabbed the other five and after she looked inside them she stood up and ran to the open parchment, even if she already had memorized it, she looked for a particular phrase on the ridiculously small letters “Here! ‘Use the male flowers to brew the medicine! The female flowers have a red dot inside it! Or! They look like, they have a mouth inside the petals when they are about to turn into seeds!’ those two look like they have lips right?!” she asked excitedly

“Yes!” he was getting excited too

“Plant them! Oh, they need shade! Wait! Plant these too I just need one!” she gave all, but one, to her father

“Shade?! Where do I…?” he looked at loss for a moment, but the voice of his wife drew the attention of both of them

“Wood… fire… wood…” she was looking at the flowers with a hazy gaze, her husband understood and laughed at the brilliantly simple solution

Martha’s father kissed both of them in the forehead, before grabbing a mallet and rushing outside with the plants, they had received a delivery of wood that he could use that morning and was still outside

The joyful girl hugged her mother and let her smell the flower before adding it to the water for the medicine that was being boiled

“I… feel… better…” her mother slowly spoke to her

“You just wait mom! I just need to boil it for a moment with the rest of the herbs and let it cool!” for some reason those words made her shiver, so she tried to keep her awake “Just hang in there for a moment!”

“No… I… do… feel… better… just… hungry…”

The girl got overcome by her emotions and hugged her mother, things were just keeping getting better and better for her

-----

“Wake up! You lazy bones! We have a lot to do!” the very next morning her mother was already back to her normal self, if still looking thin, even after eating the whole cauldron of soup they were making the day before, while asking about a white thing she saw in the ceiling before drinking the cure

“I’m awake~” the redhead yawned as the three got out the small house, just as the sky started to illuminate, she got an empty bucket trusted into her arms as an answer

“You don't look like you are! Water duty! And get it quick!”

Her words made Martha groan, but she still complied with her order, seeing and waving to the others in water duty on the other side of the river, as she did so

“Did you heard that noise yesterday?” she asked as she got closer and filled the bucket

“In the afternoon?” another girl, Celia, responded “It made my brother cry! What was it?”

“Mama said it was a snake!” Fi, the youngest of the three answered

Any further chatter was placed on hold since all the caretakers of the girls chose that moment to call for them and filling a bucket is not something that takes much time to do

She got back and gave the bucket to her father, getting another empty one as he went to the field to start the work, just as she was getting back the second time she saw a group of people get out of the forest

‘Ugh!’ she recognized the creep in the leading position immediately, now that she didn't needed his help, thanks to her unseen savior, she was actually completely disgusted by the idea that was born from her despair ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ the attempt at a solemn expression on his face was almost funny, almost

“Martha! I forgot something in the house, come with me!” her mother called for her louder than necessary, but she used the opportunity that her mother was giving her, to avoid dealing with him

The shock on his face upon seeing her mother was odd… and for some reason, the thought that the same day, that she saw this particular group getting into the forest, was the same day that her mother got sick, started to nag at her

Both of them got inside the building, ignoring the frozen adventurer looking at them and the rest of his group, but both spied at them from the door opened just by a gap

-----

“What? Scared of old ladies?” Andrew couldn’t stop himself from asking, everything about the other swordsman irritated him to his limits, the mage next to him looked terrified, while the tracker and vanguard looked at him with curiosity

“Shut up!” the ‘leader’ of the group snapped back, recovering from his shock “Let’s move…” he grumbled something in Almend under his breath, that Andrew couldn’t understood

But in the short time he had been part of the ‘team’ he had more than enough, so even if he was aware that the two women were looking at them, he started talking

“No, I don't think I will” he took a seemingly relaxed posture, but anyone that knew how to use a weapon could see that he was ready to counter, in case the other man were to attack him

“Eh?! Are you going to stay here for the rest of your life then?!” the self proclaimed leader sneered back, not really paying attention to him, just angry at his words

“You are the worse excuse for an adventurer, I have ever seen” Andrew continued, ready to give him a piece of his mind “You refuse to hear the rest of us, you think that just breaking wasp nests is enough, the rest of us need to save, or cover you every time you overextend or let something escape and, somehow, you think that leaving an Aberrant Spawner undisturbed is ‘good for training’”

“He has no fire affinity!” the other quickly shifted the blame to Neil, the mage “Or what?! You want to chop a tree for wood?! In this place?!” he smiled as if he just won all the arguments in the world, with that comment alone

The mage glared at him, but Andrew continued before he could said anything

“Neil can use. Anything. Else. To destroy that thing, or, we can bring wood from the city” he calmly stated, but his words were dismissed with a gesture filled with disdain from the other, so he used his last resort “I am leaving this group and reporting your individual failures to the guild”

That comment made the creep in front of Andrew glare at him as if he were his worse enemy, but whatever he was going to shout was muted by a shy voice

“I’ll go with y-you!” the mage took his side in the discussion and moved behind him

“WHAT?!” he looked shocked at this apparent ‘betrayal’ “You have been with us for months! How can you betray ME like this?!”

“S-shut up! Y-you…! Prick!” was the answer the stuttering magician gave him, making him recoil from the hate in the words of the quiet man

The other two, August and Esp, shared a look and nod, that the ‘leader’ of the group didn't saw and each took a different side in the splitting group. That was really odd for Andrew, he wasn’t sure that his ‘coup’ would work at all, but he expected those two to remain neutral at best, but together, no matter what

“Fine!” suddenly finding himself at a numeric disadvantage against another swordsman, a mage and an archer he started to walk away “This treason will be reported! I will see all of you EXECUTED!” he pompously turned away and walked towards the city

Andrew ignored him and looked at the archer while raising an eyebrow when the rest were far enough

“We were going to do this, inside the guild” Esp answered his unspoken question after a moment, while the mage looked confused at their elder “He ignoring whatever made that noise yesterday would have been the last straw for me, but we were going to do it anyways, because August saw him talking with some people that gave him a bad feeling” he shrugged “And I trust August with my life, so that is enough for me”

“I see, sorry for ruining your plans then” he apologized to the more experienced hunter

“Don’t worry! The big guy is just going to nod at everything he is going to say for now, until they get inside the guild, then the moment he tries to blame any of us, he will ‘betray’ him” he laughed “The only thing I regret is not being there to see his face”

Andrew laughed with him

“Anyways” Esp patted Neil in the back “Thanks for not taking his side, he probably would have tried to get you to kill Andrew here, to ‘prove your worth’ or some crap like that”

“I-i-i w-would f-first k-k-k-k-k-!” the mage started stuttering and shivering more than usual, but stopped when Andrew placed a hand on his shoulder, releasing an explosive sigh

“No one thinks less of you, for being unable to kill humans” the swordsman thought for a moment before adding “Except for that idiot” Neil gave him a grateful smile and a chuckle

“Now, considering how… obsessed, he was with this family” Esp nodded to the two women getting out of the house “Do you think you can ‘work your magic’ to get them to say stuff against him? We don’t need them, but just in case”

Andrew nodded and waved to them, the older one whispered something to the girl and she nodded back, the girl was attractive, but FAR too young, for his taste. The older woman seemingly satisfied moved closer to the adventurers and raised an eyebrow under her hat

“Good morning!” Andrew started “I was wondering if, the sorry excuse for a man that was here a moment ago, had bothered you or your family in the past. We can escort you to the guild to report him, as soon you are able to, of course!”

“Good morning…” the grandma looked at him with a critical eye, before nodding satisfied at some quality that she could see, thanks to her wisdom granted by age “We can, but only if you agree to help us to do a delivery first”

“Sure!” he shrugged his shoulders and the girl ran to the other side of the building

When she came back carrying flowers the three men screamed, but all of them swore to protect that family, no matter what would happen next, at the same moment