Chapter 21 - Clara Project: Something She Has to Choose For

On one lovely sunny day, Clara sends a magic mail to check their current position against Alc's party since she has nothing to do besides wait for the contest to end.

When the Town Hall replied, she smiled wide to see their current position, which reached 6.500 golds. Angga told her yesterday that their video finally stopped having new view counts. That was the peak performance of the wildlife documentary since the Watchers were already satisfied. 

It'll be difficult to rake up those views and Supports. But it won't be needed.

Yet, one thing that made her wonder was the number of her father's accumulated gold. She remembered what Nixie said about Alc's party's hunt result, which reached 5.000 golds. It was the same number on the report she just received now. That means there was no other progress from her father.

Did he not really understand his position, which was surpassed by Angga's video? Or does he let his daughter win, she thought? It would also be great if Alc understood that he should let Clara do as she wishes. She could finally be free from any expectations and live the life she hoped for.

"But then, Papa isn't someone who will back down easily. So, most likely, he should be doing something to surpass us…" Clara mumbled by herself.

Her self-guesses bothered her mind, so she sent a magic mail to her mother, Maya. When she was done, she waited around the resources guild, and Angga had just arrived.

"Oh, hey. Is it just you again this time?" Angga gret her.

"Hi, Angga. Yeah, it's just me. Aleid still has something to do on his own."

"I thought he would immerse himself with the documents again. Also, I barely saw him around recording stuff."

Clara giggled. "Of course, he also got his own life too, Angga. What do you mean?"

Suddenly, a loud thud noise came from the wall of the building. Angga glanced at Clara, and they went out quickly to check. It turns out it was magic mail that hit the wall somehow. Angga didn't understand what that meant, so Clara came to check the said mail.

"Where is it from? I thought the magic mail would be delivered to the person themselves?" asked Angga, perplexed while checking if it was safe.

"It's usually that way. Unless the person who sent the mail is in a situation unfavorable to them, that's what I heard. They didn't have time to pinpoint the exact location where the mail would be delivered, so," replied the lion girl, uncertain about it, while carefully opening the magic mail. It was delivered to her.

The magic mail was from Maya, her mother. Clara was frozen stiff when she read its contents.

"What's wrong, Clara? Is it true that the mail was for you?" Angga has no clue about what happened.

"Hey, everyone. What are you doing outside? Something is going on inside the building?"

Aleid walked towards the Resources Guild's building while bringing something inside a paper bag, seemingly a snack, and spotted the two outside. Angga shook his head because he absolutely had no clue what the magic mail was for Clara. When Aleid came over, Clara looked at him with worried eyes.

"Aleid… Papa is hunting a void bull now," said the lion girl, her voice shaken.

"I'm sorry, what?" He fixed his glasses.

Clara gave him the letter to help him understand what was going on. When he checked it by himself, Aleid's eyes widened.

"Is this real? They're hunting that void bull?!"

Even Angga had never seen this agitated Aleid, who was always calm in front of everyone—judged from both reactions. He has the idea that this monster called Void Bull should not be messed about.

"I don't know. I know that Papa will do anything to win this contest, perhaps he got this hunter pride or something, so he won't allow any defeat. But, to think that he was going too far to hunt a void bull…"

Angga butted in the conversation, "Hey. Mind to explain what kind of monster is this void bull? I get it that it's super dangerous or something."

"Well, you see," now Aleid looked towards the curious asker, "Void bull is a pretty strong monster that is almost categorized as a high-level one. It's pretty rare for a quest to subdue them because of how ridiculously strong it is, so everyone chooses to spare their lives rather than go on a suicide mission.

"Even the experienced adventurers?"

"Even them. I also agree that there's no merit in defeating the void bulls. Well, their materials are at the supreme level, so you can make high-grade weapons or armor. But nothing is worth it compared to our lives. They usually are not aggressive, so it's best to leave them alone."

Angga nodded. Basically it was another powerful monster without any urgent reasons that endangers the lives of the people around the said beast. Unlike the electric fish monsters, which raided a specific place because they needed the resources there, it was up to anyone to face them of their own volition since it was a non-aggressive beast. 

So, Clara's father even challenged that kind of adversary to surpass her video's Support. Does that mean he was so confident with his abilities that he would win against the powerful monster? Angga thought.

"A-Anyway, Mama said that she sent mails to my other siblings too, to seek help. But, I know they're pretty busy or anything so I doubt they'll come. It's been years since they returned home to meet Papa and Mama," Clara added while feeling restless.

"Then, what do you want to do, Clara?" asked Aleid.

The lion girl seemed unsure. She thought about how to respond since there was nothing she could do. Clara knew there was no way for her to fight the beast, and it would be better if her siblings came to help instead of her.

"What about posting the quest for the adventurers to take?" Clara suggested.

Aleid shook his head. "No one will take it, I'm certain. They will only talk about it, and that's it. Nothing more."

"Then, what should I do?"

As if all of the brightness and energy slipped away from her body, Clara walked staggered until she touched the wall. And then, she curled on the ground. When Angga looked at the usual cheerful girl who was clueless about the course of action she could have taken, his chest somehow felt hurt.

He approached the tall girl who curled up and gently patted her broad shoulder compared to the girls from his world.

"Calm down. I'll help you think the way out of the situation, okay?"

"Mm, thanks," replied the girl, still buried between her knees.

"You know, Clara. I think that you're an amazing fighter and hunter. I saw your brilliance at the savanna and perhaps you could do something in this situation," reassured Angga.

"What do you mean? I said that I couldn't fight strong monsters at that time. If I go there, I will only become a nuisance to them."

"I'm aware of that. But, do you know what? Our video wouldn't be like this, accumulating a lot of gold from the Watchers, if I had created it alone. It's all because of you, Clara. You're the expert wingman who helped me achieve an amazing height for our video."

It took a few seconds for Clara to process and raise her head, "Is that so, Angga?"

"Yeah. That's my opinion about you. You're a strong person, Clara. I'm certain that you'll come up with the best solution. We can do this."

Angga extended his hands to the lion girl as she looked at it. Clara nodded slightly and received Angga's hand to return to her feet again. Aleid who came from inside the building, brought a glass of water for Clara and she gladly accepted it since it was exhausting somehow for her.

"Well, my idea is to use my camera to survey your father's condition while you and Aleid gather information and reinforcements if there are any. But Aleid said that no one will take the subjugation quest, so I bet asking for plain help will be futile."

The sheep guy nodded. "That's right, Angga. It'll be pretty challenging to gather help for this matter. But we should try it first since we don't have that much choice."

When both guys brainstormed for the best course to take, Clara just finished sending magic mails to a few receivers before joining the two. "It's alright. I'll go there myself."

Both Angga and Aleid looked at the lion girl in disbelief; even one of them doubted his own ears.

"What are the chances of your siblings coming to help your father's party, Clara?" asked the sheep guy.

"I don't know. But perhaps my magic mail will kinda help. We never know. Maybe Papa is still standing, facing the monster as we speak, since the one who sent me the mail is my mother. I will go where Mama is and help them to retreat if it's necessary.

"Clara, are you sure about this?" asked Angga, trying to ensure she chose what she wanted.

"Yeah. To begin with, it's my family's problem, and you happened to be dragged in, Angga. Don't worry, I'll help my family to handle this somehow."

"Alright, then. I just want to ask since your hands are shaking."

Clara checked her own firm-toned arms. It was just as Angga said, it trembled slightly just at the idea that she would face the void bull. Perhaps her instinct was telling her that it was wise not to approach a danger's source. She would mostly live if she left the beast alone.

But of course, she couldn't leave his family near the beast, let alone her mother, Maya. So, Clara felt that she somehow had to meet them and evacuate.

"Okay then. I'll somehow support you. Perhaps moving my camera around or something that could confuse the beast."

"You could do that, Angga. But it'll be best to distance yourself more than two kilometers from the beast. It can easily kill anyone, and I can't protect you."

"Alright, noted. Best of luck, Clara."

"Thank you very much, Angga. This time, I'll be the best wingman for my papa and mama. Just like you said."

She grinned in an attempt to assure the human guy that everything would go well. And yet, Angga could sense that Clara was under deep pressure to face a threat that was obviously outside her capability.

Somehow, the sight of Clara trying to be strong because of the heavy expectation from his father and the choice to help the said father from danger made Angga wonder while staring at the girl. 

In the first place, why would Angga want to help this girl face the expectations placed upon her because people said she had a talent for it, but not that she wanted to do it?

It reminded him of almost the same experience in his life.

A long time ago, when Angga was still in college, he made a life choice based on what he really wanted to do. Becoming a content creator, specifically making videos, was one thing that he realized he enjoyed doing. He could have spent hours editing or took the footage and produced a complete video. 

His mother was the strongest voice in telling Angga that he had no future in pursuing a career on that path and should stick to his current major instead, a management one. As a young and naive person at that time, Angga disregarded his mother's opinion and tried to prove himself on the path he was willing to take.

Basically his university was in a different town where his home and his mother were. So, Angga could ignore his mother's nagging and do whatever he wanted, such as find a side gig that heavily involved video creation.

Still, not everything went smoothly for him. There was a time when all of his hard work went in vain because it was simply not good. His client rejected all his work and paid nothing because he couldn't deliver the result that he had promised, even though Angga had already spent all of his budget on production.

"You're asking for more money? What about the allowance that I usually give you each month? Have you used it all for your video production? Like I said, focus on your studies, Angga. Your mother will only pay only for your university tuition so if you need more money to do other stuff aside from studying, find it yourself."

Then, Angga spent the rest of the month starving and borrowing money from his colleagues because of his failure at his side gig.

But one or two failures didn't stop him from doing what he wanted. So, by the end of his studies, Angga managed to land a creative job in the town where his university was located and stayed there until now. He no longer needed an allowance since his mother didn't give him anymore now that he had finished his studies, and she disagreed with Angga's current career from the beginning. 

It was not much, but it was honest work. Angga lived by his own sweat to make the creative content needed at his current workplace.

He has proved that he can live all alone with his own life choices.

So that's why somehow he couldn't Clara alone to fight for her own life choice. To make a life choice which one wanted to pursue wasn't for everyone. He definitely saw his reflection on the lion girl.

Hence, Angga cheered Clara from the deepest of his heart, hoping she would finally reach the conclusion she aimed for.

It was true that he struggled all by himself to pursue what he wanted. Now that he has the opportunity to help someone who is fighting for the exact cause, Angga wishes to help them, whoever they are.

"Yea. Be the best wingman, even for yourself. I promise to stay away, but I'll command my camera to float around. Perhaps there will be a chance for me to help you fight the monster. I'll find the way somehow."

"Thank you so much for your intention, Angga."

"It's a no problem!"