Chapter 6: The Rebirth Party is too kind(1)
The Adventurer’s Guild receptionist grimaced upon seeing Teresa at the counter.
She braced herself, fearing Teresa might grab her collar again for refusing a Level 3 quest.
“Settle the accounts.”
But today, Teresa’s demeanor was slightly different.
While the spoils were being appraised, she sat at the waiting area, arms crossed, staring intently at her children’s heads.
Whenever someone passed by, she shot them a menacing glare.
“Uh, I’m… just getting water.”
“Go.”
“T-thank you…?”
Her intimidating attitude made the adventurer heading to the enchanted water purifier seem pitiful.
It was typical of Teresa’s rough, arrogant nature, but her constant glaring at other adventurers felt different.
Normally, it’d be a hostile stare, but…
There was a restless edge to it.
A discomfort in her low-pressure aura.
The receptionist’s one-year experience whispered to her.
That’s the look of someone wanting to recruit a party member.
She half-doubted it.
No way.
Teresa of Motherhood?
The fierce woman who loves her kids so much she distrusts shady adventurers and hunts alone with them?
“Hey, come look at this.”
The appraiser, wearing white cotton gloves and sorting through a sack of spoils, called the receptionist over.
Weapons of various sizes.
Shoddy equipment.
Not a good sign.
“Humanoid mob gear?”
“No signs of modification for small races. It’s human.”
“No way… Teresa?”
“She’s a woman with two kids. She wouldn’t pick a fight at a disadvantage.”
The appraiser, with a cold but accurate gaze, assessed what happened.
“She was ambushed and survived. That’s all.”
“I see…”
“It’s your adventurer’s business. Keep it in mind.”
“Thanks.”
Hearing the appraiser’s info, Teresa looked different.
No matter how strong, numbers are hard to overcome.
Protecting herself is tough, but shielding her kids is tougher.
The kids were unharmed.
It was easy to guess how hard Teresa pushed herself.
Now, she had no choice but to consider it.
The need for a party member to protect her children.
“Settlement is twenty-five silvers, forty coppers.”
“Too little.”
“It’s a Level 2 quest.”
“Promote me.”
“You know how it works, right?”
Teresa’s gaze fixed on the receptionist’s collar.
The receptionist, desperately maintaining a polite smile, covered her chest with both hands.
“Big boobies!”
“Anna, don’t say that.”
Ian gently scolded his sister.
The receptionist felt more embarrassed by the boy’s polite reprimand, now cleaned up and neatly dressed, than by the girl pointing at her chest.
As her arms shifted lower to cover more than her collar, Teresa’s stare grew sharper.
You little punk, you’re doing this because of my kid?
Sweating under the suspicious gaze, the receptionist quickly changed the subject.
“If you want party matching, you can pick members at the matching table, or we can arrange it. For the kids’ sake, it’s time to get a party member…”
“I won’t give up party leader.”
“Of course, you won’t give up leader… Wait, a party member? You’re getting one?”
“Just one.”
The receptionist sighed in relief as Teresa’s gaze turned to her kids.
“You can post a notice to advertise your party, but you must mention the kids. It could break the party later if you don’t. There’s a fee, so using the matching table directly is better.”
Who would Teresa of Motherhood choose?
The guild’s adventurers were buzzing with curiosity.
Her skill was evident from the size of the sack she brought.
A woman who, even with two kids dragging her down, could outperform a four-person party alone.
She’d never be outdone in any party.
‘So it comes to this.’
Despite the high praise, no one approached Teresa.
The receptionist gave a bitter smile.
Parties are formed by people.
Where people gather, politics and hierarchy follow.
Teresa had an obvious weakness everyone knew.
Her kids.
Ian and Anna.
Smart kids, but undeniably a burden.
The adventurers silently colluded.
Lower your share.
Bend first.
You’re the desperate one.
Acknowledge that, and we’ll form a party.
They were exploiting Teresa’s tough situation.
It was cowardly, but not something to blame.
Forced parties rarely work out.
‘I hope it doesn’t come to that.’
If a forced party member mistreated the kids, it was obvious how Teresa would react.
Frequent party conflicts and a few casualties could cost her adventurer’s license.
The receptionist could clearly see what Teresa might do with her strength after that.
Murder. Plunder. Robbery.
She’d walk the path of a criminal.
Being hunted as a bandit by high-ranking adventurers would be tragic, but joining a crime guild that valued her skills would be worse.
Her kids’ futures would be stained by the underworld.
Given Teresa’s skills, that was highly likely.
Did she even realize she stood at such a crossroads?
Teresa’s face grew increasingly irritated under the distant stares of adventurers.
A man mustered the courage to approach.
“How about me?”
“No.”
A charming male thief, approaching with a friendly smile, was rejected.
Given that thieves sometimes turn to bandits or kidnappers on the job, everyone nodded, agreeing she made the right call.
No matter how good their gear or strength, thieves were a no-go.
The thief’s attempt sparked another to try.
“Isn’t that a priest?”
“Crazy. A priest approaching first with two kids in tow? Makes sense?”
“He’s strong, so he’s trustworthy.”
“Damn, I’m jealous.”
Jealousy poured from all sides.
“I’m a healing priest. I’m confident with kids.”
“No.”
Even the staff-wielding male priest was shot down.
The receptionist screamed internally.
‘How could you reject him!’
Priests are rare.
Solo priests are even rarer.
They leave the safety of town, healing patients and steadily raising proficiency, because they’re fed up with temple tithes.
Most priests are arrogant.
They don’t join just any party.
Even among picky adventurers, priests are the pickiest, yet one came to her.
It meant he was willing to compromise.
Still, she outright rejected him, making it seem like she wasn’t serious about finding a party.
Those with nothing to lose lost interest.
“Pass.”
Everyone’s heads whipped around.
Who’s that guy?
“What? A Level 2 warrior?”
“A nobody?”
“Not even chosen for his looks.”
“What’d she pick him for?”
“He’s a guy, even.”
“What can a weak guy do?”
“That instead of a priest?”
The confusion was mutual for the one who approached.
“It’s an honor to join Teresa of Motherhood. As your first party member, tell me what to do!”
Gorgo, hired on the spot without even stating his role, was thrilled yet bewildered to join a strong party.
Was she planning to use him as a meat shield?
Some parties do that.
Weak members join strong parties but must risk their lives in critical moments.
Survival rates are low, naturally.
Adventurers recalling Teresa’s usual aggression, like she’d beat the receptionist, clicked their tongues, assuming that’s the deal.
“Bait?”
Ian’s blunt question made Teresa raise her fist to smack his head but stop short.
Tch.
She clicked her tongue and said curtly.
“Nanny.”
“What?”
“That’s your class from today.”
That was why Gorgo the warrior was hired.
“Level 3 quest.”
“Uh, yes… Two party members… It’s technically allowed, but…”
The receptionist’s eyes spun.
Is this right?
Two members, sure, but…
A nanny?
What kind of role is that?
How’s that different from going solo?
“Rear guard?”
“Probably…?”
Even Gorgo, the party member in question, answered uncertainly while filling out the registration.
“What’s a nanny?”
“Someone who looks after us.”
At Ian’s explanation to Anna, Gorgo became a man with his head bowed.
“Take it!”
Teresa’s youngest, Anna, shoved a grasshopper at him.
The grasshopper, awkwardly accepted, hopped out of Gorgo’s hand.
Anna’s face soured.
“I don’t like nanny!”
The receptionist sent a pitying look at Gorgo’s rough future.
“Um, maybe I…”
Thud.
A dagger Teresa threw lodged deep into the table.
The blade was barely visible.
“I hate men who betray. Makes me want to split them in half and kill them.”
“?!”
“You came first, rookie. You wouldn’t dare betray me, would you?”
Gorgo and the receptionist’s eyes quaked in unison before Teresa’s show of force as she retrieved the dagger.
Gorgo’s attempt to quit the party failed miserably before he could even voice it.
Mother picked a party member.
It seems she chose one to protect us, but even on the first Level 3 quest, she tore through everything alone.
Darting through trees, killer monkeys throwing stones at humans fell when hit by her stones.
Later, they dropped from tree splinters.
When she deflected falling stones with thrown ones, the killer monkeys blinked dumbly, just like Gorgo.
“Annoying pests. Gotta take them out at once.”
She cut off their tails, crippling them, then let them flee to their habitat before setting it on fire.
As the killer monkeys screamed and scrambled out of the burning trees, she slaughtered them.
Gorgo, standing idly by me, said.
“Your mom’s no joke.”
“Yeah.”
“What snacks you got?”
“Jerky.”
“Wanna swap?”
“Just one.”
Gorgo guarded me and Anna during the hunt, eventually just swapping snacks or carrying a sack full of gathered materials.
His face looked dazed, his expression full of existential crisis.
He never even drew the sword at his waist.
All he did was block a few stones flying our way with his body.
“Not a bad party member.”
“I don’t remember doing anything… Did I help Teresa somehow?”
“You can carry more loot.”
“…”
Gorgo went from our party’s nanny to its pack mule.
“Look.”
“What?”
“Couldn’t anyone replace me?”
Gorgo was deeply disappointed with his role in Teresa’s party.
“Watching kids, carrying stuff. Anyone could do that. Wouldn’t that priest from before be better? For your party’s sake.”
“I don’t think so.”
Gorgo was shocked at my words.
Kids are usually more honest than adults.
They don’t hide their desires.
They cry at ugly faces and cling to good-looking ones.
They like those who help their parents and dislike those who hinder.
Yet I showed no rejection.
Not just simple comfort.
A steadfast gaze, so like Teresa’s.
I have my own judgment.
“Gorgo played along with Anna’s antics. Didn’t complain during the grueling march. Carried a lot, didn’t do anything bad. Even took stones for us.”
“What if I’m not that good a person?”
A shadow crossed Gorgo’s face.
“What if I’m a bad person who committed crimes you don’t know about? Just hiding my true colors?”
I looked at the guilt in Gorgo’s eyes.
His eyes were like a starless, pitch-black night sky.
Like the body of the alley woman, unmoving.
Like the remains of a fallen star.
Eyes alive but as good as dead.
They were like the eyes I once had.
A home with no one to welcome me.
A life of repeating loneliness and greater loneliness.
Having lost all hope in life and escaping into games.
Just like the old me.
Gorgo was a lonely, solitary man.
So this was like helping myself.
“…!”
I am a mind controller.
A deceiver who twists and manipulates people’s hearts.
With this wicked power, I…
[Brainwash Activated]
[Target – Gorgo]
[Command – Gorgo is our proud party member.]
I grabbed Gorgo’s hand.
He stared blankly at my hand.
In the darkness consuming his eyes, a small star rose.
“…Thanks.”