Comforting traumatized people is hard, and whoever says that it isn’t, I’d like to see them try and ultimately pull out the roots of their hair once they find out that it is indeed, extremely difficult.

I could still see the fear in the catgirl’s eyes when she was drifting back into sleep when her exhaustion caught up while she was drinking the cup of water.

‘How the fuck am I supposed to assist them in dealing with their trauma?!! It’s not surprising that when they see a goblin, they literally run for the hills, screaming and yelling ****, and I’m not sure how the others will react when they see me…

I laid the catgirl back down on one of the beds I had bought from the Market. Thankfully, these beds only costed 15 DP each, an amount I can easily get back in a day.

DP: 359 -> 314

“Domino, can I ask you to watch over these girls while they’re out? I have to go and set up some rules for the new goblins,” Domino nodded at my request and relocated from her hammock to another hammock, ready to be used closer to the three women.

“… Affirmative… Watching over filthy humans…” Domino commented with an expressionless face, her arms unmoving at her sides.

… Et tu… Domino? What the fuck…?

Briefly forgetting that… off-handed comment, I created another passageway leading towards the Forest area, and by the Lord Almighty, those goblins better be ready, because it’s time for a fucking crusade.

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~ Third Person POV ~

“I see, so you’ve failed…?” Nicholas sighed at the obvious answer to his question. It seems that their familiar Dungeon Master refused to cooperate with them, thus marking them as a target in Nicholas’ eye.

“Yes,” Lennon reported with unveiled despair. Nicholas sympathized with the young man. He knew their plans to seek refuge with the Dungeon Master once the civil war kicks off under the quest from the town’s lord himself to safeguard his wife and children.

They were just ordinary hunters, with almost no experience fighting in a large-scale battle and an equal mortality rate as foot soldiers during wartime.

Nicholas could also see himself, along with the rest of the Hunters who stuck around in this town, drowning in their own sea of blood. Nicholas may be a seasoned veteran, but that doesn’t mean he is invincible.

He might be able to kill a few dozen soldiers before going down himself, but he was prepared to do so…

For the safety of his daughter.

“Dismissed, prepare yourselves,” Lennon sighed, then nodded as he went on his way. Once Nicholas was sure Lennon was absent from the room, he opened up the drawer on his desk. Opening up a secret compartment, he brought out a photo of a happy family of three.

There was him, a few years younger, his wife, who had died of illness, and his daughter, a blonde-haired beauty whom he saw every day at work.

Alexa Gallagher.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Alexa was many things. Smart, beautiful, and aloof, to name a few.

A patient woman, however, she was not.

She was in her early 20’s, managing a job that most average women would shy away from the second they got wind of the paperwork that needed to be done.

She even had training in martial arts. If this young lady were to be ranked by Hunter standards, she would be a solid B-rank, a rank below her father’s, but due to the nature of her work as the assistant to the branch manager of the Hunter’s Association, time was not a liberty.

She wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps, to be a well-renowned Hunter, but after the death of her mother, her father quickly shut the door on that career path.

She was livid, and to this day, still holds a grudge against her father for denying her, her dream. The only reason she was working as his assistant was because, through this, once her father had no more control over her fate, she could quickly get registered in the Hunter Association’s database and be a full-fledged Hunter.

Sure, she’d start at the bottom, but she had the will and perseverance to climb all the way up after missing a few years of service and action, and she’d damned herself if she didn’t reach B-rank in a couple of years.

Currently, she is busy filing paperwork alongside her co-worker, Janette Peihn. A redhead, wolf beastwoman who was about 19 years of age. It was mostly silent, until the wolfgirl piped up with a cheery tune.

“Hey, hey, Lexa, how about we go out and get some sweets?” her cheery voice had no effect on Alexa’s stoic mask.

“No, there is still work to be done,” Alexa replied with indifference, still focused on her task of signing the dreaded paperwork that she abhorred very much.

“Tch, killjoy,” Janette rolled her eyes with a click of her tongue, before rebounding back to her cheery personality once more, but with a hint of concern laced into her tune. “Although, you really need rest. How many nights have you been dealing with all these shits?”

Alexa flicked her gaze towards Janette fast enough that it could cause whiplash. Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits as she paused her work to pay attention to the wolf girl.

More specifically, her choice of language.

“Er… I meant, all these prints! Yeah, prints!” the wolfgirl crept back slowly, her other co-workers giving her pity and saluting her for her balls of steel. Her excuse didn’t work, though, only making the blonde before her angrier than before.

“Eh… Hehe… Please don’t kill me…”

For the whole day, residents close to the Hunter Association’s building could hear the cry of a wolf.. The reason, however, remains unknown.