"Do you think I would be scared of a mana stone?"
That’s what I thought, but to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure.
After all, I knew better than anyone how much my body had changed since receiving the *Blessing of the Beast Spirit*.

My senses had become more sensitive, and I liked fish more than before.
Since my preferences had changed, it wouldn’t be surprising if something else, like fear, had also changed.

"Ugh."

Still, I hoped I wouldn’t be scared of mana stones.
Sighing inwardly, I followed Yeoreum to the basement of the guild building.

"Where are we going...?"

"This is the mana stone storage."

"Storage?"

It was a storage room, similar in size to the warehouses I had seen in my previous life.
I never expected a place like this to be in the basement of the guild building.

As I looked around curiously, countless baskets came into view.

"Wow."

The baskets were filled with a vast amount of mana stones.
Selling all of this could probably make someone one of the top hundred richest people in the world.
The sheer number of mana stones was overwhelming.

"Wait here for a bit. I’ll grab just one mana stone."

"Just one?"

"Yeah. If there’s too many, you might faint like that rabbit friend did earlier."

"Oh... got it."

I watched as Yeoreum walked away, then turned my attention to the mana stones nearby.

There were mana stones as small as a fingernail and others as large as a head.
Fascinated by their size, I couldn't help but poke at one with my finger.

'...It’s hard.'

A mysterious energy was condensed inside the crystal-like mana stone.
It was a type of energy I’d never felt from the small goblin mana stones before.

Is this mana?
Just as I closed my eyes to savor the sensation of mana, a blunt voice spoke from behind me.

"You shouldn’t touch the mana stones carelessly."

"Y-Yes...!"

I quickly pulled my hand away and turned around.
A man in work clothes was standing there, looking down at me with a blank expression.

"This is my job, so please refrain."

"Oh..."

I should’ve known better.
Messing around with merchandise mana stones like that.
Maybe I had become a bit too comfortable with the guild members and was starting to get careless.
I had foolishly thought that since I was close with some people in Yeoreum’s guild, it would be fine.

"I-I’m sorry...!"

I apologized to the man and hurried in the direction where Yeoreum had gone.
Although there were a lot of workers in the warehouse, it wasn’t hard to find her, as I had been keeping track of her footsteps from the start.

"Y-Yeoreum...!"

"Hm?"

Yeoreum turned around at the sound of my voice.
In her hand was a mana stone the size of a baseball.

Though I had never seen such a mana stone before, the power radiating from it made me instinctively realize what it was.
It was a mana stone from a feline monster.

"U-Ugh..."

I felt a shiver run down my spine.
I halted in my tracks, like slamming on the brakes, as I was running toward Yeoreum.
The momentum caused me to skid a little, but thanks to the natural agility of my beast-kin body, I managed not to fall.

"Huh?"

Yeoreum blinked at me and glanced between me and the mana stone in her hand.
When she hid the stone behind her back, the eerie feeling began to fade.

"It’s... it’s just really creepy."

"Is it that hard to look at?"

"No, it’s not that I’m super scared of it. It’s just... strange, you know?"

I reached out toward the mana stone that Yeoreum had hidden behind her back.
My heart pounded in my chest, but I didn’t feel the same level of fear as Levinas had.

'There are some changes, but...'

Still, the feline monster’s mana stone didn’t feel like a companion to me.
It just gave me the sense of staring at the heart of a living creature.

It was creepy, but it wasn’t as if I had no tolerance for such things.
After observing the mana stone for a bit longer, I handed it back to Yeoreum.

"It really does feel like a heart."

"Well, technically it is a heart."

"Right."

It wasn’t as if the mana stone had scared me terribly.
I sighed in relief and turned to leave.
Just then, I spotted a woman carrying a large bag heading our way.

It was the same woman I had seen purchasing mana stones at the guild counter once.

"Oh, Yeoreum. Winter is here too?"

"Ah, Miss Sang-Ah."

I awkwardly nodded at the woman called Sang-Ah.
On her back was a giant backpack.

"What’s that?"

"These are all defective mana stones. Redcat mana stones spoil easily, you know."

"Oh... so you’re just going to throw them all into the generator?"

"Yes. Gotta save on electricity bills."

The woman showed us the contents of the bag.
The mana stones inside looked exactly like the one Yeoreum had shown me earlier, yet just looking at them made my skin crawl.

"...!"

My ears and tail shot up in alarm.
My heart pounded wildly in my chest.

It felt like I was staring at a distorted, rotting human heart.
Dozens of such hearts were packed into the bag.

"Winter...?"

Yeoreum waved her hand in front of my eyes, but I couldn’t move my body, frozen in shock.

"U-Ugh...!"

Had I lost consciousness from the shock for a moment?
When I came to my senses, I was already back in the container.

Yeoreum had carried the stiffened Winter back to the container.
She tried to enter immediately but hesitated upon seeing Sophia sitting by the campfire, deciding to approach her first.

"What happened to the kid again?"

"Ah... she fainted after seeing some spoiled mana stones."

Yeoreum gently laid Winter down on a mat nearby and pulled out the mana stone from her pocket.
It was the same spoiled mana stone that had caused Winter to faint.

"Oh my."

Sophia scanned the mana stone with a frown, then glanced at Winter with a sympathetic look.

"Sophia, do you know why Winter reacted this way?"

"Yes, she probably mistook the spoiled mana stones for something else."

"The mana stones?"

Yeoreum tilted her head in confusion.

"You see, young beast-kin often mistake the energy from mana stones for that of their own kind."

"So, you’re saying Winter thought the Redcat mana stone was a corpse of her kin?"

"Exactly. And since the mana stone was spoiled, it probably felt like seeing the rotting corpse of one of her own."

"Oh..."

I had shown her the equivalent of dozens of decaying corpses.
That would certainly be horrifying.
It was only now that Yeoreum realized why Winter had reacted the way she did.

"She saw dozens of them up close."

"...Poor thing."

Sophia’s gaze softened as she looked at Winter.
It seemed like she understood exactly what was going on.

Had Sophia experienced something similar herself?
I wanted to ask, but Sophia spoke up first, preventing me from asking.

"Don’t worry too much. All young beast-kin go through this at some point."

"Oh, okay."

I hope she doesn’t develop any trauma.
Just as Yeoreum was thinking this, Winter slowly opened her eyes on the mat.
Yeoreum hurriedly threw the spoiled mana stone into the campfire, so Winter wouldn’t see it.

"...?"

"Winter, you’re awake?"

"Yes..."

Winter sat up and rummaged through the pouch at her waist.
She pulled out a small trowel and began to trudge toward the vegetable garden.

"Uh, Winter...?"

"Yes?"

"Don’t you think you should rest a bit?"

She had just gone through something so terrifying, yet she immediately headed out to tend the garden.
What kind of thinking was that?
Yeoreum glanced at Sophia, silently asking for her help, but Sophia simply stared into the campfire.

"I’m fine. I have to keep working to pay off my debt."

"But, that’s..."

She didn’t even need to repay that debt.
How could I possibly explain this to her in a way she would understand?

Just then, Winter said something that shocked Yeoreum to her core.

"I have to pay off the debt so I can go see my friends."

"F-Friends?"

"Yes. I don’t want to leave without paying off what I owe."

Was she implying she wouldn’t die until she paid off the debt?
Yeoreum bit her lip unconsciously.

There was a lot of money to repay, but if Winter became a skilled adventurer, she could repay it quickly enough.
After all, she had consumed the *Blessing of the Beast Spirit*.
With the right guidance, she could grow into one of the top adventurers.

'Maybe I should make it as hard as possible for her to repay the debt...'

I could slow down her growth, come up with excuses, and make sure she couldn’t pay it back.
It wasn’t a good method, but it was better than letting her walk toward death.

As Yeoreum’s thoughts reached this point, she sighed deeply.
No matter how she looked at it, it wasn’t a good direction for Winter.

'I’ll have to find a better way to keep her from paying off the debt...'

Encourage her to buy more expensive equipment as she earned more money, or convince her to expand her business.
That was the best idea Yeoreum could come up with.
At least, everything would ultimately benefit Winter in the form of growth

 and increased earnings.

Of course, Yeoreum planned to make sure she spent as much money as she earned.

'Alright.'

I’ll just keep making sure she spends her money.
Yeoreum clenched her fists in determination.

It might look like I was tormenting her, but everything was for Winter’s sake.

The plan was to buy time and eventually give her a reason to keep living.