I wanted to sprint to Wildpost in all haste to see Belka, but my excitement abated just enough a few minutes later for reason to come back. There was no need to rush. If Belka woke up, then that meant the risk of her dying in her sleep was gone and I could now breathe easy. The past two weeks had been hell for me. Not knowing whether my attempts to save Belka were successful tormented me to no end. Hearing of her awakening was like a ray of light finally appearing in the dark.

I slowed down to a moderate pace as my excitement finally calmed somewhat, Taloress matching my pace beside me. That's when I realized that Selise was flailing and thumping my back.

“Let me down, idiot!” Selise shouted.

“Oops, sorry about that,” I said as I placed her back on the ground. The glare she gave me could've killed a dire wolf. “My brain suddenly just went to autopilot when you said that Belka's awake.”

“‘Otto-pilot?’ What the heck are you talking about?” Selise asked as she looked at me weirdly.

“Never mind that, it's a term we used where I came from,” I said with a wave of my hand, internally chastising myself for not watching my words carefully. “Anyway, tell me more about Belka's condition. How was she?”

Instead of the joy I expected to see on her face, Selise grimaced deeply. “Aunt Belka's awake, but her injuries seemed to have messed with her head. She's missing some of her memories.”

“Shit,” I cursed loudly. “What does she remember?”

“We're still uncertain where her memories start and end,” Selise said with a sharp glare, although it was not directed at me. She was looking at the ground, her hands balled up into fists. There was a glint in her eyes, and I realized she was trying to hold back tears. “But one thing is for sure. She doesn't remember anything about Wildpost. Not the people, not the place, and not the decades she spent living here.”

I suddenly felt like the ground opened up beneath me at the revelation. My control over Mr. Marion lapsed for a second and he stumbled, although he quickly assumed control again and kept on walking.

Master, are you alright? Mr. Marion asked in concern.

No. I am definitely not alright, I replied. I didn't retake control of Mr. Marion's body, letting him do the walking. Instead, I closed my eyes and felt the same crushing feeling in my chest whenever my depression decided to rear its ugly head.

“Mr. Marion?” Selise asked beside me. I opened my eyes and saw that she was looking at me with tears dripping down her cheeks. “Please talk to me, Mr. Marion. I don't… I don't know what to do. Aunt Belka is… She's…” Selise stopped walking and broke down crying.

I chastised myself for only thinking about my feelings. Although I was biologically younger than Selise, I lived for far longer and was supposed to be the mature one between the two of us. This was probably the first time that something drastic happened to one of her loved ones, and I was supposed to be comforting her instead of wallowing in my own dark thoughts. It was shameful.

I took back control over Mr. Marion's body and pulled Selise into a hug. “It'll be alright, Selise. Everything will be alright. I'll make sure of it.”

Selise hugged me back tightly and cried into my shoulder. Her shoulders shook as she wept, and every tremor felt like a stab in my heart as I held her. Taloress joined the hug a moment later and caressed Selise's head.

“I think I'm alright now,” Selise said with a sniff a moment later as she drew back. “Sorry about the embarrassing display.”

“Nothing is embarrassing about expressing your grief,” I said as I retrieved a handkerchief that I made just now from inside Mr. Marion's coat and wiped Selise's tears. One perk of owning a clothing factory was having an abundance of fabric, and after the events in Halros, I always made sure to carry an extra supply of fabric in case of emergencies.

Once Selise calmed down, we resumed our trip to Wildpost at a more relaxed pace.

“How are things back in the village?” I asked. After our return from Halros two weeks ago, I had a conversation with the Chief and he updated me on things that occurred during my absence, including the attack on the village. I went back to my cave soon after. Today would be my first visit to the village since then.

“Things had been extremely tense among the villagers since your return,” Selise said. “Although the attack on the village had been thwarted quite thoroughly thanks to the Chief's excellent planning, everyone's still worried about another attack coming in the future.”

“They're not… blaming me, are they?” I asked hesitantly.

“What? Of course not,” Selise scoffed. “It's not your fault you didn't know Rella was a part of a criminal syndicate. Heck, even the Chief didn't know, and he knows more about that stuff than anyone else in the village.”

“Speaking about the Chief, do you have any idea about his past life?” I asked curiously. The Chief told me all about how the village defended against the attack two weeks ago, which was mighty impressive and outright terrifying. Poisoning your enemies before they could even begin their attack didn't sound like something a normal village could do. The past two weeks had given me time to think more about it, and it convinced me that Wildpost was not a normal village. They had hunters strong enough to keep the monsters of the Wild Woods out of their walls without any help from the army, the normal villagers knew how to create a freaking shield wall, and they had someone called Aunt Gerda who could easily poison dozens of people. That was not normal. And I was confident that the leader of the village, Chief Bran, despite looking like a normal old man, was the most abnormal of them all.

“I don't know much about the Chief's backstory, just that he used to have a high position in Halros' government during his younger years,” Selise said. “The older people in the village know more about it, but they never tell us younger generations anything. Sometimes, I think all of them are in on the secret that is the Chief's life story.”

“I guess I'll have to ask the old man himself,” I said.

“Then you can tell me the story as well when he does.”

“Sorry, but it's the Chief's decision whether I'll be able to tell you, if he even decides to tell me his story,” I answered, eliciting a pout from the young woman.

“How are the Night Wardens doing?” I asked, changing the topic. They weren't exactly my friends or anything, but I was still curious about what they were going to do now that they decided to cut ties with the Keepers of the Night.

“They made a formal request to join the hunters,” Selise replied.

“That is unexpected,” I said. “I thought the Night Wardens and the hunters didn't get along with each other when they first arrived in the village.”

“Only at the start, and only because Aunt Belka had a lot of bad things to say about them,” Selise said. “But once they started helping with culling the monsters without expecting any payment, most of the hunters revised their opinion of them.”

“Then it looks like Wildpost gained two powerful defenders, huh?”

“Not yet,” Selise said, shaking her head. “With Aunt Belka in the state she is in now, she has been temporarily relieved of her position as Head Hunter, which means the Chief would be the acting Head Hunter until Aunt Belka recovers or a new one takes her place. Despite the big advantage of letting two powerful individuals join the hunters, the Chief hasn't given his approval yet.”

“I would've thought the Chief would be eager to bolster the village's forces. Did he state a reason why?”

Selise shrugged. “He didn't give any concrete reasons, but I could understand the Chief's hesitation. Joining the hunters isn't as simple as being strong enough to tangle with monsters. Fighting against monsters requires flawless teamwork, and that requires deep trust between the members, something that is not easily shared with outsiders.”

I nodded in understanding. I didn't think of that reason since I was used to fighting monsters with my puppets. With our mental communication, my teamwork with my puppets was flawless, and their unconditional loyalty to me meant I could trust them without reservation. My puppets are awesome.

I wanted to ask more about how Wildpost's hunters operated, but I was interrupted as several entities entered the range of my fabric sense.

“Heads up, we've got incoming from our east,” I announced.

“Finally, some fun!” Taloress exclaimed with a fist pump. She'd been following quietly all this time, not interested in the conversation. I should've known that a battle was the only thing that could gather her interest.

With a smooth practiced motion, Selise drew her bow from her back and nocked an arrow, her eyes alert as she scanned the thick forest to our right. “Do you know what's coming?”

“Five wargs,” I replied as I began casting three Force Blades but holding off on completing the spells. Leaving the spells unfinished like this consumed a fair bit of mana while I “held” on to them, but it would allow me to send them flying at a moment's notice.

Selise cursed quietly. “Are you sure there're five of them? Wargs are supposed to only come in packs of three.”

“I'm sure,” I replied as I tracked the wargs' progress through my fabric sense. They paused from time to time as if they were sniffing us out. “Don't worry, we have plenty of firepower to handle the likes of them.”

“Right, I forgot who I was traveling with,” Selise snorted, some of the tension leaving her face.

“They're close. About thirty seconds before they reach us,” I said.

It turned out my estimation was way off. Once the wargs saw us from the distance, thirty seconds turned into ten seconds as they sprinted at us with four powerful legs that ate the distance between us in no time. I forgot how fast these bastards were.

And I also forgot what Taloress was like.

Without even bothering to give me and Selise a heads-up, Taloress charged like a berserker toward the wargs. I would have applauded her courage, if not for the fact that Selise and I could no longer send our arrows and spells flying for fear of hitting the idiot.

Moments before Taloress made contact with the first warg, her entire torso bloomed open and devoured the first warg. Without delay, Taloress enclosed the warg inside her body and crushed the poor monster as its blood and offal seeped through her clothes.

Dammit, you could have killed it without staining your clothes! I admonished.

Oops! Taloress said while transforming her right arm into a spike and plunging it into the second warg's open mouth as it pounced for her, further showering her clothes with blood.

You're not even trying to minimize the mess!

The three remaining wargs stopped and eyed Taloress warily after seeing their two comrades die in less than ten seconds. Taloress wasn't waiting for them to make the next move though and charged towards the nearest warg, which focused on dodging my puppet's movements.

Instead of ganging up on Taloress, the two other wargs looked at Selise and me and decided to charge at us while my battle-maniac puppet was distracted. This worked for me since we didn't have to worry about accidentally hitting Taloress with our projectiles.

“You handle the one on the left, I'll take out the one on the right,” I told Selise, but I didn't get any reply. I looked at her and realized she was staring at Taloress' fight with glazed eyes. “Hey, focus!”

“R-Right, my bad,” Selise muttered as she aimed for her target, waiting for it to get closer.

I followed Selise's example and waited for my target to come closer. Trying to hit them from a distance had a high chance of missing, what with their agility allowing them to change directions easily as well as the numerous trees acting as obstacles.

The wargs soon reached the edge of the road we were in, and that's when I decided to unleash my Force Blades one by one. There was a soft woosh as the first Force Blade flew for the warg's center mass, only to miss as the beast jumped to the side. But that was what I was waiting for and sent the second Force Blade flying towards the spot where the warg would land. My aim was a bit off, but my spell still managed to cut off one of its feet, causing it to stumble to the ground when it landed. Without giving it a chance to recover, I sent my last Force Blade flying and cut off its head.

I looked over at Selise and saw her warg on the ground, an arrow sticking out of its eye.

“Wow, how'd you manage to nail it right in the eye?” I asked with awe.

“Wargs are predictable monsters and always follow a set behavior,” Selise said as she retrieved her arrow from the warg's head. “They always take down their prey by pouncing on them. All you have to do is wait for them to jump before shooting since they can't dodge midair.”

“Still, it's impressive to shoot with such accuracy, especially on a moving target,” I said.

“Yeah, well, I have nothing else to do but train with my bow every day,” Selise said with a hint of pride in her voice.

Our conversation was interrupted by a triumphant cry. In the distance, Taloress held the head of the last warg in her hand and raised it high. “I win!”

“Get back here already!” I shouted back. I looked at my puppet's soiled clothes and grimaced in disgust. “Does that idiot even know how hard it is to wash monster blood off?”

Selise didn't respond. When I looked at her, I saw her staring at Taloress weirdly as my puppet slowly made her way back to us. “Is something wrong?”

“Has Loress been able to do that… opening-her-torso type of thing all this time?”

“Yeah, she has this tendency to, uh, ‘open up’ on her enemies.”

“I'm not one to judge other people on their fighting style or anything, but she's gonna cause some issues if she walked around covered in blood and gore.”

“I know, right? Washing blood off her clothes is always a nightmare.”

“Stains are the least of your concerns, stupid,” Selise said as she retrieved her waterskin and a rag. Once Taloress rejoined us, Selise poured some water on my puppets' mask and wiped off the blood. Or rather, she tried to, but given that Taloress' entire body consisted of fabric, the mask just ended up absorbing the water and causing the blood to smudge and spread all over Taloress' white mask.

“Yeah, I don't think I've mentioned it to you before, but her mask is made of cloth,” I said.

“You could've told me that sooner, you know,” Selise sighed. “Well, I guess she'll have to enter the village looking like a survivor from a massacre.”

“I'm a survivor!” Taloress cheered.

“Nope, I can't have her going to Wildpost looking like that,” I said with a shake of my head. “Taloress, go back home and wash in the river near our cave.”

“But I wanna go with Master!” Taloress exclaimed.

“You're not coming while looking like that,” I admonished. “If you want to come with me next time, then stop killing monsters so brutally. You're sullying your body with filth, and you'll give us a bad reputation if you show yourself to other people looking like that.”

“Oh…” Taloress said, her shoulders slumping. I could feel sadness and hurt radiating from her. “I'm sorry, Master. I'll do as you obey.” Before any of us could reply, Taloress took off towards the cave.

“Mr. Marion!” Selise exclaimed suddenly. “What the hell was that?! Why did you have to be so mean to her?” Selise asked angrily, her hands on her hips.

“I wasn't trying to be mean on purpose,” I said defensively. “I have a company now, and public image is important. I can't just walk into Wildpost with someone who looked like she came out of a warzone.”

“I get it, but did you really have to say it the way you did?” Selise snapped.

“Fine, fine, maybe I was a bit heavy-handed with admonishing Taloress. But I had to do it eventually. She can't just keep dirtying herself like that if she wants to come with me all the time.”

“Cut her some slack, will you? She didn't get dirty just for the sake of it. You didn't even thank her for helping kill three of the wargs by herself,” Selise said with a glare.

I closed my eyes and took a very deep breath. “You're right, I should have been more careful with my words. I'll go apologize to her when I get back.”

“Good,” Selise said with a nod before continuing down the road. “What's up with you, anyway? I would never have imagined you being harsh with Loress of all people. You were always very lenient with her, letting her spend her own time however she wants whenever you visit the village.”

I sighed as I looked at the forest around us. “A lot of things have changed recently, and not for the best. Halros descended into chaos because of me, the kingdom now knows a rogue Ascendant is running around its backyard, the village got attacked, Kazimir and Samantia are now jobless, Emily is… gone, and Belka lost her right arm and her memories. I'm sure there's a lot of other stuff I forgot to mention, but needless to say, all of it happened because of me. It was me who wanted to go to Halros in the first place and look at what a shitshow the trip turned out to be. I didn't even get to do what I went there for in the first place, which was to register myself with the Mage's guild and officially establish my company. I'm making mistakes and wrong decisions left and right and other people are suffering for it. So I decided to be strict with myself and others around me, to avoid making more mistakes.”

For a moment, there was only silence as Selise and I plodded down the dirt road. Selise took her waterskin, drank a bit, and returned it to her belt before speaking. “I could see how you'd blame yourself for everything that happened in Halros. From an outside perspective, everything that happened could easily be traced back to your desire to establish your company in that blasted city.”

I slumped my shoulders in defeat.

Selise quickly followed up on her words. “That's not to say it was your fault. If a person got robbed while walking down the street, is it their fault for getting their stuff stolen?”

“Well, maybe they should've guarded their stuff more carefully.”

Selise frowned at me. “No, it was the thief's fault. If there were no thieves, then the person wouldn't have been robbed in the first place.”

“I don't think—”

“Alright, let's have another example,” Selise interrupted. “Let's say a pretty woman was walking alone at night after getting off work, got kidnapped on the way home, and was raped.”

“That's a bit dark.”

“Focus, Mr. Marion,” Selise said. “Now, would you blame the woman for getting raped?”

“Of course not,” I replied. Selise was about to speak again but I put up my hand. “I get what you're trying to tell me, Selise. The blame belongs to those who committed the wrongful acts and not to the victims, I get it. But my situation is different from the norm. I'm a fucking Ascendant, for goodness' sake! With all my abilities, they should have been enough to protect those close to me or at least allow me to save them from danger. Instead, I failed them. Badly. And I can't afford to make mistakes again, Selise. My mistakes already cost someone their life.”

“And that's why you've been so harsh with Taloress?” Selise asked quietly. “I don't see how her being covered in blood is going to risk lives.”

“It won't,” I admitted. “But developing a habit of ignoring little mistakes like these cannot be allowed. It would lower my guard until such a time comes that I will pay dearly for not having my guard up.”

Selise sighed. “Alright, I understand. I still think you're blaming yourself too much, but I understand.”

“Well, blaming oneself is a good way to push one to improve and to avoid making the same mistakes, don't you think?”

“It's also a good way to sink into hopelessness when you don't see tangible improvement before spiraling into depression,” Selise chuckled. “But I'm sure that's never going to happen to you.”

“Y-Yeah, of course it won't. Haha.”

“You still owe Loress an apology, though.”

●●●

Having left behind my wagon and my horses in Halros during our escape from the city three weeks ago, the trip to Wildpost took way longer now that we were traveling by foot. Factor in the two more instances of monster attacks after our warg encounter and we found ourselves taking one and a half hours before finally arriving in Wildpost, a far longer time compared to the half hour it would've taken if we had a wagon. I never would've thought I'd miss my two stupid horses. They may have had tendencies to munch on anything and everything, but at least they always got me to wherever I wanted to go in record time.

As I wondered how my horses were doing back at the inn I left them in (probably munching on someone's hat), Selise greeted the hunters at the gate. They waved us in with friendly nods, their eyes only glancing at us briefly before focusing back on the edge of the forest.

Selise guided me to Wildpost's clinic, a building I never knew existed until now. It was a small wooden structure near the village center, nondescript in its appearance save for a clean white banner hanging beside the door. The banner contained a picture of some kind of herb along with the word “healer” beneath it.

Nervousness and anticipation warred inside of me as we approached the clinic's entrance. On one hand, I was eager to see Belka now that she was awake from her two-week coma. On the other, I feared how things would change now that Belka lost most of her memories.

I detected Chief Bran inside the clinic with my fabric sense and his presence helped me calm somewhat, although that calm was quickly shattered when Belka's shout emerged from the building before Selise could even open the door. “I want to see his dead body with my own fuckin' eyes!”

Selise and I froze at the entrance and shared a glance.

The Chief's muffled voice came through the door next as he tried to soothe Belka, although I couldn't understand any of his words. Belka's furious reply came next. “I don't care if I can't walk yet. I'll fuckin' crawl all the way to Halros if I have to!”

The Chief's muffled voice came again as he spoke to Belka, and again, he was answered with furious shouts from the Head Hunter.

“Do you think this is a bad time to visit?” I asked Selise.

“I don't think there will ever be a good time to visit,” Selise muttered. “Ever since she's woken up, Aunt Belka has been extremely angry. She snaps at everyone and would only talk to the Chief. I tried talking to her as well when I received news of her awakening, but… she doesn't have any memory of me.”

A pained expression passed over Selise's expression, and I realized that their first conversation probably didn't turn out so well.

Just as I was considering visiting another day, Belka's shout came through the door again, but this time, it was addressed to us. “Stop eavesdropping on us, fuckers. If you two are so keen to see my ugly mug, then get your asses in here already and stop skulking outside the door like fucking stalkers.”

Selise flinched at Belka's words and looked at me with uncertain eyes. Well, no time like the present.

I opened the door and prepared to reintroduce myself to the first friend I made in Wildpost, only to have a flying fork greet me in the face. Before I could even yelp in surprise, Mr. Marion reacted quickly and caught the fork midair, its tines a few millimeters from his mask. It was fortunate that I allowed Mr. Marion to override my control over him whenever he wanted or else the fork would have hit us right in the face. Not like it would've pierced the mask, but if the fork was a sharp enchanted dagger instead, there was a chance that it could've pierced right through and killed me instantly.

Nice job, I said to Mr. Marion. From now on, you have my express permission to take back control if I fail to sense any incoming threats.

Yes, Master, Mr. Marion replied happily.

“What the hell was that for?” I exclaimed as I took control of Mr. Marion's body again and threw the fork to the side.

“That's my greeting for fucking eavesdroppers,” Belka replied.

I was about to say something about manners, but my words got stuck in my throat when I saw Belka's appearance. She was sitting in bed with her legs hidden beneath a thick blanket, and the rest of her body that was visible was extremely wasted. Her former robust musculature was gone, replaced with an almost skeletal figure. Her right arm, which I replaced with a cloth prosthetic back when she still had some semblance of muscle, now looked comically large on her wasted body.

Belka looked even worse than when I brought her back from Halros two weeks ago.

“You like what you see, you ogling weirdo?” Belka snarled. Where her body was frail and broken, it seemed that her will stood strong. Maybe even a bit too strong.

“Where have your manners gone, girl?” an old voice snapped. Chief Bran, who had been sitting beside the bed all this time, finally intervened. “That is no way to speak to the man who saved your life.”

Belka looked at me incredulously. “That masked weirdo saved my life?”

I wanted to refute Bran's words and say that I was the reason why Belka was in the state she was in in the first place, but I knew that would just lead to a pointless argument. So I swallowed my misgivings and gave Belka a bow. “It's nice to see you awake again, Belka. My name's Mr. Marion, Clothing Master and owner of the Broken Heart Company.”

“Belka,” Belka grunted. “But seeing as you already know my name, then you're probably one of those people I forgot about because of my fuckin' amnesia.”

“Yeah, we actually met—”

“Don't care,” Belka interrupted. “Bran said you saved my life, which means it's probably true, but I remember none of it, so don't expect me to grovel in gratitude.”

I frowned. “I never sought your gratitude in the first place, Belka.”

“Lovely,” Belka replied.“You can leave now. I still have to talk with Bran, and I hope to do it without somebody eavesdropping this time.”

There was an awkward silence before Bran finally sighed and stood up. “We'll continue our conversation some other time, Belka. Rest for now. I will have a few words with Mr. Marion.”

“Hey, we're not done yet!” Belka exclaimed. “I swear, if you leave right now, I'll crawl back to Halros on my own!”

“Mr. Marion,” Bran said as he turned to me with a meaningful glance. “Can I ask for your assistance in keeping Belka in bed?”

I quickly understood the old man's intention. “Uh, are you sure it'll be alright?”

“Absolutely.”

“Hey, what are you two on about?” Belka asked.

“If you say so,” I said with a shrug. I took control of Belka's prosthetic arm and unraveled its hand into several tendrils before tying them into a tight knot on the bed's frame.

“What the fuck?!” Belka exclaimed. She tried to pull the prosthetic arm off her shoulder, only to cry out in pain.

“Please don't pull on your prosthetic arm,” I said. “When I attached the arm to your body and healed you with magic, your flesh fused with the fabric. If you rip the arm off, you'll end up taking a large chunk out of your torso as well.”

“Are you fucking serious?!” Belka shouted and slammed her left arm on the mattress in rage. That slam would have ripped the mattress apart with her former strength, but now, it looked like she was simply having a tantrum.

“You will stay in this bed, Belka,” Bran said, his voice neutral and steady and with just a hint of coldness that I heard from the kind old man for the very first time. “You will rest and recover your strength. You will respect the people who come to visit you. And you will listen to everything I say. Only when you do these things will I allow you to go back to Halros.”

I expected Belka to curse Bran and shout at him, but she silently nodded her head with the nastiest frown I've ever seen on her face.

“Good,” Bran nodded. “Let's go to my house, Mr. Marion. You can come as well, Selise. I'm sure you have a lot of questions regarding the situation. Let's discuss it over tea.”

And so we went to the Chief's house for a tea party.