Rye headed directly home, arms burnt from all the carrying. It was just the first day and he'd looked this pitiful. His mana was low, his dignity even lower from Tomas' shouting. But at least he paid off one day. Nine more to go.
Festival in two weeks, though, that's what Eirin said. Rye had time before that. He needed to get those paper.
Mari greeted him just outside the front door, wearing her usual tattered brown vest with a matching skirt. This time—she held a basket full of slime and… meat? She had blood splattered all over her face too.
"What's the occasion?" Rye cringed, relunctantly backing off. Mari turned around and stared at him. He wanted to pass out.
"Oh, Dad is coming home. Too bad you're spending your days at a stranger's place. I wanted to cook for him. A feast." Mari replied. She lifted up the basket.
"Why slime?" That's an interesting cuisine choice. Meat is reasonable, but slime? "Did you get those yourself?"
"Yes I did! Dad is gonna be proud and I'll finally be an adventurer, like him." Mari beamed. A rare sight. But she snapped and immediately returned to a locked-in state. "Anyways, rest now. You look horrible."
Says you!
Rye nodded and plopped down his matress, the sound of Mari, washing the food, calmed his senses.
She mentioned Mom going outside to buy more food - and that she didn't need to hunt - but Mari insisted because she wanted to look good in front of father. She really wants that adventuring job.
About Mom going outside, she's probably preparing for the feast. Eirin mentioned how important the Harvest Festival was, and it was true. Even Rye's family was involved. It's also probably the reason why Tomas even visited this place as a merchant. And why Dad is coming home from work.
Either way, Rye only had one goal in mind and it's to get paper. He checked his stats and decided to stop pondering.
[Level 19]
Six more levels to go before the first unlock.
For now he had to rest.
—
"Rye, come and help Mari forage some herbs!" Mom screamed from the front door, eyeing Rye who looked stupid, drawing on trees with his bottle of ink.
One more level… one more level…
He drew three more circles, pushed mana, and finally,,—BOOM!
[Leveled Up! Level 25!!]
[Leveled Up! Multi-layer-manifestation unlocked!]
Rye jumped in happiness, dropping the bottle in the process. It was fine. The bottle was drained of all ink, but at least he gained some progress. The jar fell and rolled off the ground.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Mom, why are you pinching my ear?!" Rye shrieked in pain, teary-eyed.
"Stop drawing and help Mari." She released him down and scuffled his hair. Mari walked forward then, and dragged him to the forest.
"The festival is starting. No drawing."
It was true. Three days had passed and Rye didn't have time to level up. This was the only free time he had because of that damn job of Tomas. It was a relief he reached level 25. Rye wanted to scream inside the forest from joy.
The festival wasn't near by any means, but Dad sent a letter about coming home at this time. The preparation for father was done, but the parting on the festival wasn't. It'll be embarrassing to not cook anything and yet attend.
Mari stopped in her tracks and crouched, picking up a lotus-like green herb and shoved it in a new basket.
Rye followed. He crouched as well in an attempt to help. He picked up random stuff and shoved it in the basket. After that, Mari's face paled, eyes shrinking as she stared at the contents.
"Why are you picking up grass and leaves?"
"Food."
She sighed, then stared at Rye with a pitiful look. "Just hold this basket instead. I'll pick the herbs up." With that, she threw down Rye's hard-earned grass and emptied the basket.
The day flew by in this instant.
—
"Rye, it's Saturday. Why are you here?" Eirin asked as Rye walked to their shack, half-conscious. He helped Mom with cooking, feeding the chickens, and a lot of other stuff. Winter was coming too and they prepared wood for that. They restocked water etc etc etc—Rye was dead!
He lost sense of time and realized, yes, he didn't have work on Tomas for today. The man's probably resting right now too. Saturday is supposed to be a non-working day because of the area's religion.
Rye scrambled for an excuse to not be embarrassed. "Oh, you mentioned wanting to draw right? I want to teach you."
Indeed, and Eirin will probably hand him some ink and Rye can try out his new level-up skill.
"Eh? You seem messed up. You can rest first." they offered.
Rye swung his head in desperation.
"No, no, no, I want to draw too. I haven't had the time because we were so busy with the festival."
"Uh huh, if you say so." Eirin tilted their head, green hair spilling down their white sleeves. They picked up a parchment and showed off their horrible drawing.
"Cute dog." Rye smiled, half-lying. He couldn't make out the scribbles of ink.
"Uhm, it's a house."
"Oh."
Eirin invited Rye over to their house. Tomas and his wife were in the other room, bedroom to be exact. Probably resting from the festival preparation. Well, none of that was his concern.
While sketching on a desk with Eirin at the side, Rye decided to ask Eirin their gender. It was eating him away the past few days. They looked like a girlish-boy, but he could be wrong.
"Yo, Eirin." Rye started, thinking of ways to ask without feeling awkward. Who knows? Maybe it's an awkward thing for Eirin. Much like being confronted as a femboy.
Nevermind.
Eirin continued sketching. With the earlier instruction of starting with simple shapes, they began drawing boxes and squares on the parchment until they built guidelines for the lineart. Rye was proud. "What is it?"
"I want to pee." Rye replied. A genius plan, indeed! With Tomas inside the house, it's pretty awkward to pass by and mess up their toilet. Well, chamber-pot.
As rich as they were, the houses here don't have modern toilets. Much less a shower. Rye hadn't showered much, actually, and he always peed on the rivers instead of the chamber pot. It's polluted either way.
"Okay, I'll wait for you." Eirin said, smiling while drawing a better drawing than the earlier house. A box with windows.
"Can you come with me? It's embarrassing to go alone."
Eirin tilted their head, and nodded. "Alright. Since you helped me draw."
They traced their steps to the bathroom.
The hallways were small, and they passed multiple doors until they reached the bathroom door. Eirin pushed it open and closed it as Rye entered.
He sighed in annoyance.
How would he pull their pants down and see for himself if they don't come? Not in a perverted way—the culture here is different! Mari showered him once, both of them butt-naked, so he assumed it was normal even if they were a girl.
With an evillish grin, Rye opened the door, shoved Eirin in, and closed the door.
He pulled their pants down in an instant.
And revealed bright-white undergarments. Rye looked up and Eirin's face flushed. Indeed, a girl.
"I'm not the one peeing, Rye." She said, voice shaking. Clueless either way.
He pulled them up and apologized. Face pale.
A wave of depression hit the first tower.
Guilt hit the second.