Graupel

Almost lost but she managed to track Castor's house. The sun is out, and she was trembling from exhaustion and shock from the previous fight she had. Her appearance is a mess there were red stains on her mask, hair, arms, and clothes—she looked messier than she thought she was.

"What the hell happened to you? You look like someone came from the pits below?" Castor commented on her devastating appearance.

"Sorry, there are monsters I encountered along the way," she explained with an apologetic voice.

"Did you beat them up or you're the one who got beaten?"

"I did beat them up…."

"Did they bite you?"

"No."

"Come inside." Castor muttered opening the door wider.

"Are you just making sure they did not bite me?" Cleo questioned.

"What kind of question was that? Of course, I should know!" Castor answered while shrugging his shoulders and closed the door after she entered.

"They were really tough. Good thing I survive," Cleo responded followed by her sigh of exhaustion.

"I'll get you clothes. Jeez! You ruined my daughter's clothes! Wait in the living room for a second!"

'Ah, so the girl in the picture is his daughter…'

"I'll end up staining the carpet if I wait in the living room!" Cleo answered back.

"Who cares?" She heard him reply making her chuckle.

"Yeah… whatever you say," Cleo murmured as she walks towards the living room.

Waiting for him while sitting on the couch and staring at the fire in the hearth made her calm, she was not trembling and moreover, she is not cold anymore. She could hear a black and white noise because of the deafening silence, but she was disregarding the penetrating sound while her battle between those level three monsters entered her thoughts without prior notice. Castor entered the living room seeing her stuck in dazed.

"You seemed drained. We will have dinner after this." Castor announced as he handed her the clothes, "Oh, and before anything else, come back here and I'll treat your wounds."

She did not respond and just nod her head.

"I'll prepare the table. Go and change," he muttered before leaving her.

After she cleaned herself and change her clothes in her room, the food is already prepared when she entered the kitchen.

"Is there anything I can help?" Cleo asked.

"Just eat," Castor responded as he puts the cooking tools back in their place.

"Thanks," Cleo replied and sits on the vacant chair.

The old man wipes his hand from doing the dishes and walks to the table while she's busy collecting herself.

"Tell me, Cleo Sky, how's being a traveler?" Castor muttered as he sits on the chair. While rotating himself and facing the other way so that she could take off her mask freely.

"I don't know. This is my first time as a traveler," Cleo answered before she takes off her mask, "Come to think of it, Mister Lee. Would you mind if I ask you to teach me how to use a gun?"

"A gun?"

"I think it's okay for me to use a gun," Cleo announced.

"You barely manage to get through those monsters, why not retire?"

"I…have a personal reason."

"Just saying…" he replied.

"Well…Do you mind if I ask you to teach me?" She asked again.

Castor thought for a moment. Silence arouse between them making her anxious of his rejection.

'If he declines, what will I do?' Cleo thought for a moment before she sighed.

"Not really…I think I could teach you," Castor mumbled, "Those monsters are really… dangerous." He added this time his voice is shaking making Cleo's attention focus on him.

She puts down her spoon and fork and gazed at him—particularly on his back as she tried to figure out his mood. In her observation, his demeanor is in a particular state where she noticed his discomfort, he was not trembling but his was stomping her left foot from time to time in a manner of anxiety.

"Mister Lee, are you okay?" she asked out of her concern to him.

He did not answer.

Feeling the stuffy atmosphere inside the kitchen she tried to keep herself as calm as possible.

"Mister Lee, I would like to ask, is there a nearest town here?" she questions remembering that Ron told her there was a town a mile away.

"Ah, the town, we have that a mile away. That place was lively before," Castor replied.

"—Before?"

"Nobody is in there anymore." He uttered.

"What happened?" She asked.

Castor didn't answer her for a moment. She didn't have the chance to touch her food because of her curiosity.

"Those monsters you encountered, what are they like?" He began.

"They are not humans, but they cry like a human."

She noticed his shoulders lowered. And once again, silence befalls between them. Cleo leans her back on the chair. Waiting for his response.

***

In the end, there is no clarification at all. Cleo returned to her room without receiving any response from Castor.

After she closed the door and locked it, her eyes narrowed with uncertainty.

"You don't trust him now?"

She jumped because of the voice.

"Why. Are. You. Always. Interrupting. Me." Cleo murmured in frustration as she glared at Ron.

"It's fun," Ron responded and chuckled, "So… You don't trust him now?" he asked her again.

"…I need to know what happened in this floor." Cleo replied disregarding his questions, "Ron, can you provide a safe route for me to the town?"

"Yes, I can, but I need to prepare it."

"How long?"

"The whole night."

"The whole night?!" she commented, surprised.

"Yes, the 'whole' night. Now, would you minimize your voice or you'll gonna wake the old man," Ron responded.

"Why the whole night?" Cleo mumbled, upset, "You have a map right?"

"Yes, I do. But if you care to listen, you wanted a 'safe' route, not 'just' a route—which means, you want me to find a 'safe' shortcut for you, right?" Ron retorted.

"That's what I'm asking. But you're not answering my question. Why the whole night?" Cleo retaliate.

"Because the whole night, Cleo Sky, I will go to that specific 'shortcut' and check it myself. What do you think of me? That I do hocus pocus?" Ron muttered, angry.

"Oh, I thought—

"What? Some kind of magical being? A pony? A genie?"

Cleo eyed him from head to foot, "Almost," she commented.

"F—k you, Cleo Sky," the little red man responded, frowning at her.

"In my defense, you don't look particularly…normal," Cleo retorted, "Can you blame me?" she continued and shrugs her shoulders.

"Whatever," Ron muttered, rolling his eyes at her, "I'll be on my way, and you… you should be on guard," he added pointing his bony pointer finger at her.

"Fine by me."

"Then I'll be on my way," Ron declared before disappearing.

She spends the whole night thinking in circles but after a while, her eyelids felt heavier as exhaustion cradles her to sleep that she dreamed of herself shopping for groceries in their local convenient store. She dreamed of buying tomatoes and radish while trying to figure out what she should eat for the day. Those simple things are out of reach now.

A tear formed from the corner of her eyes before she hugs her blanket.

***

Morning came, and Ron didn't come back yet. Her heart tense for a moment before she wears her mask and exited the room, walking down the stairs while securing that the mask would not fall from her face, she tried to soothe her mind.

'What would I make today?' she thought.

She flinched from the sudden drop of message from the system early in the morning. There was an urge inside her not to open the message, she was too stunned to think that it was another horrible mission she needs to accomplish—but she has no choice. Cleo opened the it with agitation.

[Defeating 2 Level 3 monsters = 200 gold coins]

Her body relaxes after she reads the notification.

"Oh, I got money now?" Cleo murmured to herself.

'I have to pay Mister Lee.' Her inner self muttered.

"Good thing your awake, Cleo Sky." Castor announced just as she was about to enter the kitchen.

"—Oh, Good morning, Mister Lee."

"Good morning. After we take breakfast, I will help you choose your weapon."

"Ah—okay." She replied, "…By the way, I just got paid for those monsters I killed the other day—

"First, help me prepare breakfast." He interrupted.

"Ah…yeah."

They both entered the kitchen in unison.

While she helps him in the kitchen, there is an awkward silence barred the peace they have as Cleo observe his action putting some plates on the table. Castor's expression is not the usual one he had. She was expecting his sarcastic attitude but he was strangely silent.

After Castor puts the utensils on the table, Cleo clearly heard him sighed before he glanced at her.

"All of them are gone because they don't have a choice but to be dead," he muttered in a grieving tone.

She flinched at his word, dumbfounded by his sudden confession.

"My daughter is one of them." Castor continued to say, "You're the same age," he added.

"…I'm sorry to hear that," Cleo responded.

"She was lively, brave, and kind… She's never afraid to defend what she thinks is right." Castor describes as he chuckled reminiscing his daughter's appearance.

Soon his smile faded like snow melting from the sun.

"I just don't get it, Cleo Sky." He uttered in a sad tone, frowning and almost on the verge of mourning. "If my daughter's death is a lesson, what else do I need to know when I just want to be happy with her," he said in a shaky voice.

Cleo couldn't help but choose silence. She cannot find the words to console the man's mourning heart. Even her, she cannot distinguish how to make someone feel okay, it's always her problem. She keeps her head low and avoids meeting the old man's gaze.

"Those monsters," Castor uttered, "Those monsters move with their group, they are intelligent and organized."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, if they noticed that those monsters… The monsters that you killed yesterday were gone, they will take revenge for them. They will hunt you down, Cleo Sky."

"There's no trace of me back there."

"Your scent is all they need," he responded, "They are humans experimented by someone, they evolve into a deadlier species. They are made as a weapon," Castor continued.

"By someone? You don't know who made them?"

It took him to respond making her agitated.

"…I have no idea, I've been trying to track the source of this problem as well… and the exchange of that is my daughter," he answered.

"So are you saying that those experimented humans are…"

"Yes, they are the people from the village."

'Sh-t! I hope Ron is okay!'

"So what must we do?" Cleo questioned in distress.

Castor inhales to calm herself and gazes at her seriously.

"Have a proper breakfast, and I will train you as soon as possible."

"And what must 'I' do?" she asked.

"You have to learn faster—No, you have to learn in the fastest way that you can."

"Is there enough time?" she asked with a worried tone.

"...Enough time?" He responded coyly. "There is no such thing as 'enough time' for you. At this moment you only have now, or as soon as possible," Castor responded.

"Mister Lee, what happens when they bite a human? Will it turn like them?"

"No, they are experimented, to be like them, a person must be made like them. If any person gets bitten by that monster, the most common thing that happened is they will die," Castor responded.

'Death…again,' Cleo's inner voice murmured inside her head making her frown.

"And do you have any idea how long for them to track me?" Cleo enunciated.

"You'll be lucky if we can last until tomorrow, the fastest would be, tonight," Castor answered, "Prepare yourself Cleo Sky, tonight can be deadly or peaceful."

Cleo's breath shakes upon hearing his announcement. Her feelings at the moment are indescribable, it was a mixture of tension, nervousness, and fear. Another bloody battle again.

Another chance for the system to kill her.