Vol. 1 Chapter 7 : Responsibility

The next day came.

Belle moves to her side and notices that it is a little chilly, so she grabs her comforter and wraps it around her entire body. As she touches the quilt, she notices that it has a rough surface, unlike the one she used to sleep with.

She slowly opened her eyes, sat up, and glanced around. 'Right, I was sent to who knows where,' she said, her head shaking in disbelief as she remembered what had transpired the day before. 'The fire...forest...humanoid orcs...a system...and.....Liam.'

With only a sliver of light reaching the cave's mouth, she awoke at dawn, 'well, who could sleep soundly in an unusual environment?' She threw the quilt aside and twisted her body to get out of the so-called bed, but as she was ready to get up, she groaned in pain from her feet's soles.

She was still concerned with the agony and didn't see that someone was approaching her. She jerked back in alarm as a shadow loomed over her head, and she whipped her head up to face a pair of amber colored eyes.

She closed her eyes as her head was just about to strike the stone, but the pain she was expecting was not there. Then she felt Liam's hand at the back of her head, and she glanced at him with his face near to her.

"Are you crazy?!"

'Is she trying to kill herself?' Liam wondered, astonished by the young female in front of him's quick action. " He had gotten up early to provide breakfast for the female he had promised to look after, and when he arrived at her cave, he noticed she was in pain, so he ran up to her, but she quickly moved, almost banging her skull against the stone wall.

Liam's unexpected arrival and outburst, on the other hand, surprised Belle but then she reacted. "What are you here for so early?" she asked, He removed his hands from behind Belle's head, straightened himself and stepped back, leaving a gap between them.

"I'm here to deliver you your breakfast today," he said, Belle noticed some fresh meat with fruits in Liam's other hand and said to Liam, "I don't need them, I still have fruits from yesterday, I can eat them" 'plus, I can't eat raw meat."

"I heard you females like to eat meat, do you want it?" Liam asked, looking at the stone beside her bed, 'with just those fruits alone she probably wont be full' Liam thought. He'd seen females with more volume than this one, and they also liked to eat meat, demanding that their partners hunt for them every day, so why doesn't she appear to appreciate it?

"I'm really okay, i can just eat the fruits no need for meat" She had no means to start a fire here, what if she was accused of being an evil monster and killed here? if only they knew that fire could actually be beneficial and not evil

"You can't just eat those, you're already so skinny, you might die at this rate" Liam gave her a worried look, as if she were really dying. "okay you can leave it here, and can you please get me a bunch of twigs, small rocks and dry leaves?" she can try to persuade Liam to change his mind about fire simply so she can eat meat again

"What do you need them for?" When Liam saw the woman in front of him smiling stupidly, he had a confused expression on his face. "you'll see" Isabelle simply smiled and waved, "Please hurry so that we can eat," she said as she motioned Liam to depart.

Liam put the meat and fruits he was holding with the other fruits he had from yesterday and turned around, morphing into the large and majestic jaguar that had saved her the day before. Liam dashed outside as she marveled at him morph, since she was still unaccustomed to people transforming into animals in the blink of an eye.

'Are you awake? Conrad's sleepy voice rang inside her head 'Seems like you overslept,' Belle mocked him, 'Well it seems like you triggered an assignment while I was sleeping, and it wouldn't stop ringing, so I had no choice but to wake up.' Conrad grumbled.

"How did you do it?" Conrad arrived in front of her, hovering with a suspicious stare, observing that there was no one else besides them inside the cave. Belle had a light smile at the sight of his cute flushed face so close to her that she felt compelled to pinch it.

"Nothing, I just thought to roast meat so I asked Liam to get me he materials to make fire" Conrad stared at her and withdrew a scroll from his pocket, which he examined. She smiled back, and Conrad had no idea that the woman in front of him was preparing to squeeze his cheeks while he was busy scanning through his scroll.

"Aren't you worried of being accused of being an evil witch? The orcs here have a great aversion to fire and the unknown," Conrad said, waiting for her to respond. "I'm not going to parade the fire around here; I'll just roast my meat and put it out,"

"Well it at least aligns with what you have to do, but what about that guy, what's his name, aren't you afraid he'll report you or attack you?" Conrad was concerned because that man was an orc, and orcs, unlike elves and dwarfs, are far more violent and rely on their power rather than their intelligence.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Belle said, dispelling his worries as he saw her confident expression. "Well, it just so happens that your mission here was to bring fire to the orcs, so you can start with him first."