The Hunt (4)

"Jezabel was one of the fastest up-and-coming adventurers in the capital. They offered her a position as a guild branch leader, and she jumped on the opportunity. Apparently, a rival party in the area set her up to eliminate the competition. She signed the contract without realizing that she would be sent here. This is such a small boring town, and I'm sure it's driving her crazy."

[I never considered that Jezabel might be suffering like that. I can only imagine the pain of being betrayed by the guild and forced to work for them. On top of that, she must watch her prime years slowly slide away.]

I can feel a tempest of emotions bloom from within myself. I try to put myself in her situation and think about how I might have behaved. What could I have done differently? No matter how I think about it, I would probably end up in a similar situation.

[Maybe I can get her on my side if I try to make things a bit more exciting or get her some opportunities to improve her situation somehow.]

"How long has she been working here?"

"About five years now. She signed a ten-year contract, so she still has another five years." The friendly guild staff member replies.

"But she's making a lot of money as the guild master, right? Why would she be upset if she is making a lot of money? My dad always told me to focus on making money more than anything else because money can buy anything." Sakura explains her thoughts on why Jezabel should be content. I give Shelly a chance to counter, but she just shrugs her shoulders.

"The reality is that your father only says those things because that is his biggest day-to-day concern. If he didn't have to work so hard to make a living, then he wouldn't. Once we aren't concerned with our survival, it gives us the chance to find meaning in life and our purpose. Being a high-level adventurer means that Jezabel wasn't concerned about money anymore. She could probably go the rest of her life without working, so now, she has an opportunity to focus on figuring out what she wants to do instead of what she needs to do. It seems like she thought being a guild master was what she wanted to do, but we often don't know what we have until it's gone. The freedom of being an adventurer is likely much more alluring now that she has to manage so many of them herself. It may have gone differently in a larger town where there's a lot more going on, but there isn't any room for her to improve or make a name for herself here. She's just a figurehead. This place would probably run fine with someone less competent in charge. We need to feel challenged to feel fulfilled, and I doubt she has any difficulty running a guild that's only ever at about ten percent capacity." I give Sakura a chance to digest my words before continuing. "Have you been happier the last few months?"

"Hmm..." She hums while thinking over my question. "Yes! All sorts of cool things have happened, and I've met a lot of really cool people."

"Does it feel good to see that your stats have gone up from training?"

"Yes!"

"How did it feel to take down your first Punctastar?"

"It felt great!"

"Did you feel powerful?"

"Yes!"

"You should. We made the forest a little bit better and are getting paid to do so. You have a place in the world. Now imagine you suddenly lost all that."

"Hmm… Well, I'd still have Josh, so everything would be okay."

"What if you also lost Josh?" Sakura's face pales at the thought. I can see the fear and confusion in her eyes. She tears up a bit and scoots closer to Josh. He picks up on her reaction and wraps one arm around her.

"Now, that would be a bit of an exaggeration for what Jezabel is probably going through, but if you never had someone like Josh and you lost your place in the world, then that would probably be pretty similar." Sakura shifts around uncomfortably in her seat.

"That would be sad."

"Of course. We're not animals. It takes more than working for our survival for us to feel fulfilled. I once heard of a concept called Ikegai. It's the idea that fulfillment comes from working a job that you enjoy, that you're good at, that is needed by others, and that makes you money. These four principles are what makes us feel fulfilled while we work."

"I have been very happy recently. I thought it was just because I have friends now, but I also really enjoy working." Josh responds to my assessment with his typical bluntness. Sakura lights up at his words and squeezes his arm even harder.

"It's rude to talk about someone behind their back." Jezabel's cold voice flows into my ears. I turn around and see her scowling at me.

"I knew you were there the whole time."

"Well then, I'm sure you know what I'll do next." She catches onto my lie almost immediately and presses my bluff. I tense up. I'm positive that she's going to strike me.

"I don't know, but I assume it's gonna hurt." She walks up to me and lays one hand on my head. With the other, she places a bag full of money down in front of me, jingling loudly upon the table.

"You seem to know a lot about me, considering we've never had a single conversation."

"I get that a lot. Was I close?"

"No."

"Okay. Hopefully, what you have been through is less painful than what I described."

"It's not." I pause for a few seconds and carefully observe her reaction. I feel that there is something she's trying to tell me or something she is trying to hide from me. Either way, I'm curious. I see her eyes soften, and my heart drops. The same type of feeling I felt when I first heard of Ashley's death washes over me.

"Oh… I'm sorry for your loss." One of her eyes twitches at my words. "I lost someone recently as well."

"Shut up."

"If you want to talk about it–"

"I said, shut up!" I tightly seal my lips. I know I've pushed the situation to the limit, so I must let things settle now. "Keep your nose out of other people's business."

"I'll try, but I'm not very good at that."

Crack. My vision blurs as Jezabel uses the hand on my head to drive my skull down through the table's surface.

"AHHH!" I let out a yell more from shock than pain.

"Don't get a big head just because you made a little money." Jezabel hisses.

"I deserved that." I wince and rub my forehead. I hear the sound of footsteps as Jezabel walks away. "Well, I guess that's over."

"Are you okay?" Josh asks with a concerned expression.

"I'm fine," I say as the pain begins to subside—Shelly giggles at me from the side.

"How much did we get?" Sakura asks, seemingly without concern for my well-being.