Eva slipped on her grey stockings, sliding the thin fabric over the creamy white skin of her thighs. It matched the color of her oversized top paired with white shorts and converse shoes. Her outfit for the day was complete. She didn’t have any real reason for dressing up except that she may have woken up feeling like it. After trudging around the room for a while, she decided to just go out and maybe do some work as a Rune Knight which she had been neglecting for a while now due to all the heavy schedule as a model she had to go through. Hanase san was quite sharp to realize it as well, having asked her about her “other” work last night during dinner.

So that’s what she thought to accomplish that day while getting ready. Although she may have dressed quite cutely for the occasion, Eva thought while eying her reflection on the mirror. She gave herself a quick smile and walked out the room, slowly making her way down the slightly creaking steps towards the counter where she informed the inn owner about going out for a while. To her surprise, she learned that her manager was already out, saying that he would be meeting with a bunch of his friends. Usually, meeting friends for Hanase san meant that she was either getting more work or getting some of them taken away for health reasons. She guessed that this meeting was for the latter considering how hard she had been working all week.

Outside, the sun shined brightly down on the town. She reminded herself that it was truly summer now and the heat was in no way forgiving. Even the gentle breeze that washed over the town had turned slightly warm. Eva wasn’t sure what to feel about it. On one hand, it was the perfect time to wear pretty dresses and visit the pool while on the other hand, working under the heat was starting to make her feel like she was melting.

She walked under the sun for a while, relieved that she hadn’t forgotten to put on sunblock before leaving. Somehow the whole town seemed to be quite gloomy that day, too. She wasn’t entirely sure of what was happening since it was in her nature to not care for anything that wouldn’t concern her, however, she had heard of some kind of sickness spreading in the city from still disputed reasons. Some said it was the weather while some anti-mages organizations blamed magic to be the cause of it. She didn’t keep up with the argument but she did know that the sickness was still spreading within the city, warning everyone to be careful. Since no one knew of how they spread, people have been scared, locking themselves inside their homes and even refusing to nurse the already sick ones back to health. Again, she wanted to openly scoff at the idea of relationships and kindness. No one cared for those values when their own life was at stake.

508/1000

She arrived at the job request board at the center of the city with just a few minutes of walking. It wasn’t her intention but she had somehow gotten an inn near to the city center when she first arrived at the city. She hadn’t even thought about moving since the owner was quite nice and Hanase san liked the place, too, something about the location being convenient.

On the almost empty request board, the first piece of paper she found was from someone at the church. With her first instinct being to ignore it, she let her eyes wander around the other requests, sighing irately when nothing better caught her eyes. She carefully picked up the request from Father Jerad. She had not met the man but during her stay in Magnolia, she definitely did hear of him now and then.

It was a request to help him with distributing medicine to the already sick people in Magnolia. The bubbling feeling of irritation at the bottom of her stomach, she wasn’t sure if it was because someone was going against her expectations or because she had no choice but to accept the mission. Whatever it was, Eva did her best to ignore it as she made her way down to the Cathedral, the place that had gotten restored only a few days ago after someone burned it down in the middle of the day.

She found the tall, slightly handsome Father surrounded by people whining and crying, all red and tired from the sickness. “Good afternoon,” she greeted, doing her best to not show her disgust for the people so openly. She greeted each of them politely, earning a warm smile from the priest that proceeded to instruct her. “I’m so glad that you could make it. I was starting to think that no one will come and help out with this,” he said to her, genuinely relieved that someone had to come to help. “I need you to distribute these medicines to the sickly. We have a lot more down at the infirmary. So finish up here, fast, okay?” he told her, handing over a bunch of capsules and medicines.

Eva spent the rest of the evening giving medicine to the sick ones and even listening to their grieving. Some of them, mostly the elderly, had been abandoned by their family when they contracted the mysterious sickness. Eva felt both disappointed and triumphant at the stories but only showed kindness and care for the people that somehow started recovering after taking the medicines. Father Jerad, on the other hand, helped her but kept a close watch on her, as if he was trying to figure something out.

Once she was done giving the medicine to the last of them, the Father finally approached her with her rewards. He told her of how much he was relieved that there were still people like her out there. Eva smiled, putting on her mask again. This person was completely wrong about her. There was nothing kind about a girl that was only willing to help for her personal gains. Honestly, Eva was sure that if she was someone else, she would be disgusted of herself.

1042/1000