(CHAPTER 17: WORK)

The next morning, Hero awoke a bit earlier, it was still dusk at the time but he had to start going. He suit up as he took some food and his water canteen, he try to keep this as quite as possible since she is still asleep and yes, still on his bed. He took out all of the items he needed for the day before putting it into a backpack. He turn his head and look at Brine, she was still asleep, her chest going up and down according to the rhythm as her mouth slightly ajar, letting out a soft "puff". Her legs were twirl together as her hands were on her chest. Maybe she has grown, or maybe he didn't pay much attention before, he never though that Brine who was almost a half of his size would grow to have a body like a woman, he thought she is just any other kid. He turn his head around as he opened the door and closed it as softly as he could, he left a note created with braille telling her that he is exploring the town and will be back at night. He just taught her braille last night, she will know his message. He also left some items such as flowers and beads that hopefully would fill in her time at the stay.

He walk down the stair to the main entrance of the Inn where Phil is already waiting for him. "Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah," He reply "Any job would be fine, as long as it earns."

"Well you could help me take care of my Inn if you wanted." Phil said "I need to restock items for a few days, so I might not get enough time to take care of it."

"Sure, what should I do?" Hero asked.

"Here are the keys to every room in the Inn, just check whether each room is okay, if there is any problem tell me, I will fix it." Phil threw him a bunch of key before walking into the storage room to "restock". "And also, no worries, you two are the only one staying!" With that, he closed the door with a thump, leaving Hero alone at the entrance of the Inn.

Without wasting time, he got to work.

He began to open every single room of the Inn, checking every single item in the suite carefully. If there are any problems, he would jot that down on a book with a quill which will later be given to Phil. This continues all day long. He thought it would be easy, but what he doesn't know is that this Inn has a whooping one thousand rooms, so it would at least take two or maybe three days to finish the job. After he handed the book in, Phil gave him some emeralds and resources like food, ore and items "You did well. Get some rest for tomorrow."

Hero nodded, he was completely drained up. The moment he arrive at his room, he jump straight into bed, ignoring Brines question as he fell asleep instantly the moment his head came in contact with the pillow. And at the next day, he wake up early once more, leave his note, some food and tell Brine to stay in her room before leaving. Today he was determines to finish the task, and he did in the evening, when he handed him the list, he felt light hearted. Phil look at it first and smiled, he gave him some emeralds and resources like last time. "Rest well Hero, tomorrow another job await, if you complete it, you might be able to leave within this week."

"Yeah," Hero nodded as he put all the items in his backpack, and the emeralds in another tiny pouch. He bided him goodnight as he headed to his suite. The feeling of having money with him is making him dizzy, but something seems to bother him, that is how Phil is able to keep an eye on every single suite of his Inn. And how he is able to keep his Inn alive for such a long time in such a harsh situation. He've read the log book before, the last customer before him was a year ago, so how Phil is able to maintain the Inn for so long? Well these question disappear once more when his head hit the pillow. He was out cold once again.

What he didn't realize is that every customer in the log book.

They never log out of the Inn.

She woke up the next day, Hero has left her once again all alone. She stood up from her bed. Her hand reach towards the desk, and sure enough, there is another note, writing the same message:

I am out for the day, will be back before night.

She let out another groan. He fell something fishy these days, he always left him at the room alone and leave. And when he return, it is always night, he would always be all sweaty and tired, sleeping the first time he got. They rarely talk these days, she felt uncomfortable herself too, cramped in a room like these. Although it is only day 3, it is driving her nuts.

She misses they day where they spend the time together, when there is only two of them, together.

She let out a sigh as she reach towards the bead that she have been focusing to complete these days. It is the only way to make her time passes faster. She remember the bracelet she have created for Hero back then, she wonder whether he is still wearing that? As she thought, her finger slipped and a one of the beads fell to the ground as it roll underneath the bed. She bends over as her hand reaches beneath her bed, as her hand touches blindly, trying to reach for the missing bead.

Just then, she senses something, something was under their bed. He jump back from the bed as she grabs her bow and take aim. Now, she is able to see the monster under her bed, clearer than ever. It was a small humanoid figure, with a pale blue skin and two small wings, it seems to be holding a sword and something on the other hand, something green and bright, wait a second. It stole their emeralds!

The humanoid figure seems to notice that he has been found out as it let out a terrifying horn like screech as smoke starts to appear, he then suddenly set off and pounces towards her at alarming speed. She let go of her arrow but it misses. The figure charges once more with its sword, letting out another deafening screech. She dodged the attack by inches as a few strand of her hair were cut off. She let out another shot and this time, the figure was pinned on the wall, he let out a screech in pain before finally giving up. Smoke suddenly started to trickle out from its body before it suddenly fade through the wall and escaped. She walked closer as she inspected the wall in front of her. She tore open the wallpaper that covers the section of the wall and she let out a gasp. She turn her head around as she dashes towards the door, packing up everything and leave the room as fast as she could. She had to tell Hero, they had to leave, NOW!

On the wall, covered by the layer of torn up container was a two glimmering box fixed in the wall, with various weird looking symbol carved on the golden side, but on the top of the boxes written two words

HERO

BRINE