The door was slammed right in front of my face.

I sighed as I stood there awkwardly for a moment, feeling like I should try knocking and hoping the woman would change her mind. But the more I think about it, the surer I was that it was better to not do that—after all, I had knocked over ten houses and none of them seemed to want to give me any sort of straight answer.

They always start sweet, smiling at the fact I was someone new. Probably because this place was so close to the frontiers, so anyone new meant new worker, possibly even new customers if they had a store in the market. Nonetheless, the moment they heard I was the Hunter who Chief Hermann invited? The door was almost immediately jammed closed. If I was lucky, they would have apologized before closing the door kindly.

Still meant there’s no information, though, and I didn’t have much choice but to shout my thanks and leaving to another house. But with everyone that pretty much refused me, I could feel more of my hopes dying in terms of gaining anything. Even just a scrap of gossip would have been wonderful, but there was nothing.

I would have asked Tristan, but he told me straight on that he barely went to the village and preferred to stay in the house—where he lived alone now. I wanted to ask about what had happened, but he looked painfully lonely, and my mouth clammed up once I saw that. This wasn’t my position to ask, nor would it have any sort of connection with the current events. So I went to the village and…

Nothing.

I shoved my hands into my pockets, feeling slightly off with how much I was walled off by everyone. Did Hermann say something to them all? Hopefully not, but I wasn’t going to put this attempt at blocking me off that man. He disliked the way I behaved yesterday, or even the fact I was a Hunter and be around in this village.

Turning around, I started to trudge through the dirt road—not really looking wherever I went. Just letting my feet decide, and my mind to continue churning. I still needed to find some information, and if I remember my training, it would always come back to the most current ones. There was just a need to find a way to convince them to open their mouth and spill it all.

Maybe I could try to ask the people a little sweeter, tug at their conscience? Tell them that whatever fear they had… the monster would be someone more dangerous anyway? A possible death against a certain one?

Another sigh came out of me, knowing that those probably would end up in failure nonetheless. One of my hands also came out of my pants, all so I could drag it against my face. I could feel the slight calluses, the reminder that yes, I was doing this for years. That my fingers weren’t smooth like nobles who probably never did anything physical like me.

“Okay, okay… so if the locals didn’t want to talk…” I whispered, putting my other hand to use, feeling the weapons and cross I had within my jacket. Just reassurance, even though I had checked that the cross was within my jacket instead of being shown proudly on my lapels, as well as the fact that all of my weapons were there. That I didn’t misplace any.

The sharpened and treated branch. The flintlock pistol—only six bullets, and I had to make it count. The blessing didn’t take before I came here, and that was why I didn’t have more. I would have investigated why, but this mission came before I could have done anything. So that would continue to haunt me in the background. At least my trusted dagger, blessed ever since I graduated from the church’s training, was there. A few holy water vials, which I hoped I wouldn’t use because glass vials were expensive. And last, but not least, was the new weapon I had acquired from my last mission—a pouch of powder that could make people sleep.

That one wasn’t exactly sanctioned by the church, but I wouldn’t tell them anyway. It was too useful to not have, and well… if I was honest, I was preferring these cantrips. The ones the church always denounced. Maybe in between my research, I could try looking for some possible herbs I could use to add in the pouch. There were also a few things I brought that wasn’t a weapon, but I could check on those later.

Nodding to myself on that course of action, I stood up a little straighter to look around where I ended up walking to.

The emptier grounds—aka the one I would walk through if my goal was to go back to Tristan’s place. Unfortunately, the sun was still up, and considering how it wasn’t even hot… I probably only spent around two hours talking with the people and got nothing out of it.

So, if the locals weren’t cooperating, where should I go?

There were a few answers, including threatening them—the church was more than happy to keep its monster-killing reputation than anything else, so we were almost always reminded of that possibility whenever we went on a mission.

I shuddered at the choice and decided to put that off. Doing that would be the easiest, and there were more than enough Hunters who would do that… and I wasn’t about that life. Not anymore, after the one time I got angry when one of the dudes refused to answer.

The way he had cowered, and the sharp, sour scent of piss—I pushed the memory away, and the slight nausea building in the back of my throat followed it too.

What else… I looked around, taking note of the eye-catching buildings. Which was none of them, except for the chief’s, being one of the biggest one around if I didn’t count for the temple. The place of local belief… I didn’t manage to ask whether there was anything being kept there but maybe that place would be the best choice?

The reluctance to go there was still strong inside me, and even though my mind warred against one another—I knew I would go.

After all, time’s a wasting and there wasn’t much choice in my head right now anyway.

The trek there wasn’t difficult, even if it was a slight incline, going up toward the mountain—and incidentally, closer to the forest. The atmosphere from there was becoming oppressive, even though I didn’t step into the woods itself. I would have to prepare for when I would finally do it, but that was a problem for future me.

At this moment… I just needed to ignore it. To push away the heaviness in the air, the taste of fresh vegetations in the air that definitely wasn’t that of a farm—and something else that lurked within the darkness. The same metallic impression in the back of my throat happened again, stronger this time.

I turned my head to look into the browns and greens, to see if I could, perhaps, see something in its depths. The foliages hissed, rustled like a living snake, and I couldn’t help the shudder that ran down my spine. I looked away and walked faster, my feet quickly moving me through the living fences—of vines slithering through the woods the villagers surely planted across the road. They weren’t tall enough to obscure the forest, and yet their presence… helped.

When I was between them, I could think better, the heaviness in the air not pressuring me down. The strong coppery taste also didn’t stay as long in my mouth, staying and reminding me enough that it was there… but not everpresent.

I still quickened my pace, not wanting to stay in the road for longer than I needed to. There weren’t anyone else on the path, making it so that the only sound I could hear was whatever from the forest.

There were still nothing from there, beyond the foliages. The insects, the bugs and animals didn’t seem to find their way here. My stomach twisted uncomfortably, nearly making me puke even as my body chilled. In fear? Perhaps. I understood that there were something wrong in the air, and in the forest, and that affected me harder than I wished.

Throughout my walk, I tried to calm myself down with my own breathing and counting whatever’s around me. Even the metallic taste was used to anchor myself, and I didn’t think that was supposed to do that. A small, choked laugh escaped my throat at that, turning into a giggle I couldn’t really control.

What was supposed to be the sign of corruption in the air being used to stabilize myself… if the church knew, they probably would have thrown me back into the training course.

At least, I found myself calming down the closer I came to the temple—the massive arch stretching itself ahead of me. It was made of wood, or at least that was my guess, considering how much it was covered with vines. The plants themselves have completely grown over it, twisting over one another until the tendrils covered it tightly and even flowing over until it formed a living curtain.

From outside, I couldn’t really see how the building was, considering the way the arch was built. Was it deliberate? That’s the likeliest, because this kind of thing definitely would be something the whole village worked together to make.

Slowly, feeling apprehension despite the fact I shouldn’t—because I didn’t do anything wrong, beyond the differing beliefs. I didn’t even know how the village’s belief would differ with the ‘pagan’ I knew slightly back in Telehan. The church always called them as something heretical, but well… I tried to dig into it recently. Just trying to know what did they believe and their ceremony and so on.

I shook my head to get rid of the tangent my head was going to, focusing back onto the present. My hand easily parted the vines, no ants or any other bugs trying to bite or making an issue out of it. The plant even looked healthy from my cursory look, the leaves lush and almost shiny, not a single brown or dying ones from what I could see.

But when my eyes finally landed on what’s on the other side—I couldn’t help but inhale sharply in surprise. They had more fences and vines going throughout—but this time, I could see various willows being planted on the outside, the trees growing tall and high to cover both outside and within the garden.

There weren’t any ponds, but the greeneries growing across the place was beautiful enough anyway. None of them were placed in a pot, but just… trees and bushes and grasses growing across the lawn in front of the building. They were all looking healthy, and somehow, at this place… I could only smell the greens. No more iron and metal in the back of my throat, and the noises were far calmer than I had just moments ago. When I was still outside the arch.

And at the end of the dirt path, framed with two giant trees I wasn’t sure what the species of—was the temple. It was a humble thing, made out of lacquered woods and sprawling to the back. The roofs were made out of shingles, with whoever the builder was somehow managing to make a symbol out of vines on it. Everything was more brown, with only the greens of more plants growing over the walls and roofs to add more color into it.

It wasn’t something I expected to see. Especially with how much… everything felt muffled here, as if I was stuffed into a massive pool of cotton, making me unable to listen to anything else. Not like that was a bad sensation, but I still felt off, even as I walked closer to the entrance of the building.

The doors were two-sided, with an intricate vinery carved right into the woods. They were lovingly shaved and taken care of, for I didn’t see any one parts having a pile of dust over them.

Only when I was about to push them open did I hesitate again, remembering the way the people in the village reacted to my questions—before I shook my head, knowing this was one of the better choices for now. I would cross the bridge if whoever the temple keeper was told me to go back. For now… I opened the door, the door moving smoothly to the side instead of inward.

A bell tinkled as the door moved, and I could also see the way sun easily came in from one of the open hope on the rooftop—the beam going straight to a stone bowl, filled with water. It was placed on some sort of pedestal, with a still fresh plucked vines on its sides. There were a few more holes too, all of them having the sun beaming its rays into the water and making it looked like as if it was glowing from within.

There weren’t much other furniture, nor was there any sort of ceiling—just wooden beams, supporting the roof themselves. A few doors were there on both sides of the back, and toward the left or right of the buildings. All of them were closed, making me unable to even know what was behind them. No signs were placed to let anyone know where anything was, either.

“Welcome—” The keeper’s voice choked as she realized who was coming in, and her face immediately went to neutral. “Hello, Miss Hunter, how may I help you?”

Even without hearing her flat tone, it was obvious she was incredibly unhappy with me coming here. Probably hoped that I never appeared, even. Especially when one knew how most other Hunters would have behaved, aka never coming close to this place. They believed in everything the church spooned to them, and I doubted that their beliefs could be shaken. Not even when they saw the same thing as I did.

I exhaled a little louder, making the woman in front of me to narrow her eyes in suspicion. The temple keeper didn’t like me, so before she could have levied further issues at me being here…

“I apologize, Miss. I didn’t want to disturb you beforehand, but circumstances pushed me to come here in an attempt to find any semblance of information that might have helped me find what the issue was here.” I quickly said, cutting off whatever excuse she might say.

She closed her mouth, teeth clacking against one another with a snap. The woman sighed, stopping her sweeping to put the broom leaning against one of the wall. Her footsteps were light, not stomping as I thought she would when it was clear at how unhappy she was with me. A fake smile spread over her face when she’s close enough, not even reaching into her eyes.

“Miss, do you understand why I’m really reluctant to even allow you to stay?” She said, her shoulders still tense and slightly pulled back—and her body pushed forward, even as she kept her head held high. She’s putting herself to be more relaxed, less worried than she actually was.

I put my own fake smile, possibly looking more like a grimace than anything else—it had been some time since I last needed to be charming like this, and it was hard to put the mask back. “I differed slightly from my fellows in that matter, Miss Keeper. What matters to me is having the information so I can know how best to get rid of the monster issue your village is having.”

Not anything else. Not your beliefs.

I didn’t say those, because there wasn’t a need to. Especially when my face stayed neutral, maybe with some tiredness sprinkled in. The smile had been dropped the moment I started to talk too, as I realized that being straightforward seemed to be the best option when it came to this village.

She was silent afterward, the mouth opening and closing a few times. Her eyes still turned into a glare as she looked at me, but I felt like that’s natural for her—even in the boonies like this, people gossiped and talked. And well, the church’s view of other beliefs weren’t a secret. Something they were even proud to really say aloud whenever possible.

The keeper stayed silent, not offering her name or anything else… before she pressed her hands to her face, muttering softly. I only managed to catch a few of her words, such as ‘can’t believe it’ and so on. Then she took a few more deep breaths, pressing her palms stronger against the bridge of her nose—before she finally turned around and walked to the right door on the back of the building, making the two of us need to pass the stone bowl for a moment.

Just a momentary look, and not even that close, but I could see how that helped to show how smooth the stone was. How much the stone cutter had to be careful with every movement they do. I had no idea, just that it wasn’t anything primitive, despite the fact it was made out of rocks.

“Okay, follow me to the library—there’s a helper today, and you can ask her whatever.” She muttered, walking slightly faster and forcing me to do the same. “You better say thank you to her, without her, well… I still half a mind to throw you out of here. I knew what your ilk really feels about us, who merely believes in the Goddess, she who controls the sun and life.”

I kept my face neutral, letting out a grunt of acknowledgment as she talked—we were going through various other doors, with the corridors seemingly snaking around and confusing. There were of course, still a few holes placed strategically near the ceiling and the top of the walls too, allowing the sun to send a ray of light through. There’s also the plants, growing through those holes so it could snake through within the wooden building.

Her sandals didn’t clack against the floor, no noise of wood against wood. From a cursory glance, and that was quite hard considering she wore a long pleated skirt, I could see her footwear was something made out of grasses.

Only, and only when we finally stopped on one of the doors—I wasn’t sure how this place differed from the other. But she opened the door, and shouted something before finally turning around to me.

“Okay, you can go in now. If you need anything, ask her. If you want to leave, ask her to accompany you. If I found you breaking even one of these rules…”

She trailed off, not really saying what the consequences were. I still nodded in the end, as well as giving her my agreement noise, knowing better than to make issue with someone like her. One never knew when a keeper was truly someone with power, or just someone appointed by the village to take care of the shrine. Not two villages were the same too in this regard, so I didn’t really have much to fall back on.

“Okay, good. Then please finish your business here as quick as possible.” She muttered, opening the door—not looking any different from the others—before she stood aside to let me walk in. She hadn't left, possibly to watch me talk with the helper first.

I didn’t say anything, merely walked in—and saw who the helper was. She was slightly taller than me, her slightly curly black hair long and easily flowing below her shoulders. Her outfit was something that looked relaxed, just a long tunic with patterns stitched on them, ones that flowed and mixed with one another. They built, curling against one pattern to the next. More blending and matching almost constantly as one pattern was finally let go, and they started another.

My mind followed, digging and curious on where it would end. I stood, staring with a slight frown on my face, eyes slightly squinted in concentration, trying to see if there was somewhere I could reach—because I needed to talk to her right now, about something important. A cause that made me came to this village, even.

Then there was a hand, waving and covering my eyes for a moment—and that was enough to break whatever hold was in my mind.

I blinked, just to regain my bearings. Everything spun for a moment when my eyes were closed, but it was fine when I reopened them anyway. I jerked almost immediately after, for the woman had come close, standing right in front of me. She smiled, one that didn’t reach her eyes as well… but there were curiosity lurking there.

“Good Morning, Miss Hunter. I’m going to be both your minder and helper, it seems.” Her voice… was nice, surprisingly. I didn’t expect that, the slight melodious sound that made me feel as if a feather was swept across my skin… I shuddered slightly in place. She smiled wider while looking at me, before finally offering a hand so we could shake hands. “Nice to meet you.”

Her grip was alright, not too tight, not too loose—and it was admittedly nice to finally see someone who didn’t see me as some sort of evil incarnate or anything. I gripped her hand back, exerting my muscle slightly, so she knew I also like doing this.

The door was finally closed too behind me right after, so I presumed that the temple keeper finally figured that she didn’t have to haunt the helper or anything.

“Likewise, Miss…” I trailed off, waiting for her to tell me her name. She loomed over me a little, despite the fact she was hunching slightly.

“You can just call me Penelope. Miss makes me sound too old.” She sighed slightly, shaking her head before tilting her head in a questioning manner—I hadn’t introduced myself to her just yet, and I could feel a flush raising up as embarrassment formed.

“Then you can just drop all that Hunter title.” Especially considering she wasn’t trying to drop it before that—in fact, I would argue that Penelope tried her best to be incredibly polite. Honestly, even if she didn’t, I would prefer to be in a good standing with someone who would help me with my research. “Stella’s the name.”

“Stella huh…” She murmured, sounding my name out, as if she was tasting it. “Good name.”

I nodded to her in thanks, as she finally started to go back to the various bookshelves around us—the place wasn’t too big, and there were a few racks around us, each of them filled with at least, a few scrolls, all bundled and bunched up together.

While this wasn’t as much as how it was back in the city, the amount of scrolls here… I grimaced, not really wanting to spend so much time about it all.

“Well, I mainly wished to see if there’s perhaps, something that will give me of any past news? Maybe over the past year?” If this was the city, the librarian would have given me the stinkeye and pointed me at the newspaper racks, where all the older issues were kept in its best condition, and from nearly every major newspaper in town. Everything would be sorted incredibly nicely…

But here?

What I got is Penelope letting loose a sharp laugh, before she turned to me to dramatically pointed out at the shelves behind her. “Newspapers? There’s nothing like that here.”

More sighs came out of me. I didn’t expect it, not really. Considering the village was leaning more toward something small, without much industrial presence, I had doubted it. It was incredibly disappointing to hear that too—that meant I really had to find a way to ingratiate myself to the people, to find a way that, perhaps, would finally convince them to open their mouth.

I really didn’t look forward to that. Nonetheless, I still let out another sigh before turning around, about to just… walk out of here, letting my mind think of how should I push them all.

“Wait.” Her voice echoed from the slightly raised voice, as she was attempting to gain my attention—which I gave easily, of course. There wasn’t any reason not to, especially when she’s the only one, other than Tristan, who was being normal to me. “While there are no newspapers here… well, there’s more information written here. All the important census that the capital city sometimes ask and so on.”

Now that—she was offering to let me find out about possibly sensitive information. Ones that wouldn’t even be shown to the neighboring villages. I gulped, my hands shaking slightly as I looked right into her eyes, so deep and gray, like the skies when they were about to storm.

“Are you even sure that’s allowed? Don’t you need permission from the temple keeper?” I asked, throat slightly dry from excitement. Especially since this meant I could focus on just… researching. Maybe I would need to ask others eventually, but this was huge.

The storm in her eyes were full of understanding. “You are here for the important matters of that monster, right? And since I didn’t think you are some sort of spy or anything like that… I don’t see why not. I just need you to not tell it to anyone else if you can? Technically, I can just… tell  you the information while you never read the paper itself.” She shrugged after, and that little glint I saw before was seemingly, gone without a trace now.

“Of course, this is exactly what I need right now… thank you.” I said sincerely, coughing slightly to hide the slight flush in my cheeks from embarrassment.

She grinned, motioning for me to come closer. I did, and we spent the next few hours just… checking the population census, and the situation for the herds.

Those kinds of things should have been easy to find out from normal talk, if people were willing to interact with me. Unfortunately that answer was no, and these were the two main points I remember from the report, and what I had talked about with the village chief.

They didn’t seem wrong, beyond slightly obfuscation on the matter of dates…

“Do you think you can, perhaps, help me ask around?” I couldn’t help but ask after she put back one of the scrolls—knowing I shouldn’t have, and yet hoping that having someone else doing the ask would be more conducive to the situation.

She didn’t take long to answer, and the agreement felt nice.

Slowly, but surely, I would finish this issue. Then I would go back and then… well, hopefully with another notch in hunting in my belt meant I would have an easier time with the church.

Maybe the blessing issue would have fixed itself then.

I didn’t have much hope, but I keep it anyway, hiding it below all of my various feelings in the surface.