Ignoring Yeoreum's suggestion to take a break, I finished the remaining work in the field. Stopping her from trying to help was more exhausting than the work itself.

"...Alright, I’ll go take care of something at the guild. Make sure to rest while you work, okay?"

"Yes..."

I said that, but in reality, there was no time to rest. I kept working without even straightening my back, and when I finally finished, I opened the door to the container.

"Huh?"

As I struggled to step inside, I was met with the sight of Levinas, bound hand and foot, staring at me.

So that’s where she had been—caught and tied up like this. Upon closer inspection, her mouth was sealed with tape.

"Mmph mmph!"

Levinas squirmed, trying to tell me something when she saw me. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Hmm..."

She looked so pitiful, tied up like that.

I wanted to free her, but I couldn’t forget that she was part of the beast-kin who were enemies of Sophia. If I freed her carelessly and something went wrong, it would be a big problem. I decided to leave her tied up until I got permission from Sophia.

'...But maybe I can at least take off the tape?'

Letting her speak shouldn’t cause any issues.
Without hesitation, I peeled the tape off Levinas’s mouth. Maybe I was too eager to ease her discomfort, because I pulled the tape off a bit too forcefully.

Riiip—

"Aaaargh!"

The adhesive was stronger than I expected, and Levinas let out a scream of pain. Her pale skin turned red where the tape had been.

"S-Sorry..."

I hurriedly apologized, but Levinas just wiggled away, trying to escape. I felt terrible, like I had done something cruel.

"You... devil! Levinas will remember this day...!"

"Uh..."

How was I supposed to calm down this angry horned rabbit beast-kin?
I was still rolling my eyes around, unsure of what to do, when someone entered the container. I could tell just by the sound of the footsteps that it was Sophia.

"I heard a scream. Did you remove the tape?"

"Yes... She looked uncomfortable."

"She’s a noisy one, so I taped her mouth shut."

Sophia sighed and approached us. Levinas bounced up and down, trying to escape from Sophia.

"Sophia, isn’t tying her up like this a bit too much?"

"It’s just temporary, while we prepare this."

Sophia held up a black choker. I could feel mana radiating from it; it clearly wasn’t an ordinary choker.

"What’s that?"

"It’s a restraining device. If she leaves the guild’s premises, it will explode."

"W-Wow..."

Was she really going to put such a dangerous thing on someone’s neck?
Just as I was thinking that Sophia might be going too far, she moved behind Levinas and subtly shook her head at me so only I could see.

'So it’s just to scare her.'

It was a relief, but I didn’t feel the need to stop Sophia. After all, Levinas was part of the faction opposing her.

"The moment you try to run, it will start beeping. If you keep going, it’ll explode, so be careful."

Sophia fastened the choker around Levinas’s neck and untied the ropes that had bound her. At first, Levinas seemed to accept her fate, but suddenly she shot to her feet.

"I am Levinas of the great horned rabbit tribe...! Do you think I will submit to this...!"

Levinas threw a punch at Sophia.
Given how immobile Sophia was, she might get seriously hurt if the punch connected.

I reached out to stop Levinas, but her fist landed on Sophia’s cheek before I could intervene.

Thump—

The sound was so soft it was hard to believe it was a full-force punch. Sophia’s expression remained as indifferent as ever, even after being struck.

"Sophia, are you okay...?"

"I’m fine. After all, it’s just a horned rabbit’s punch."

"Ah..."

So it didn’t hurt because it was a horned rabbit’s punch.
I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.

'Now that I think about it, Sophia was the one who tied up Levinas all by herself.'

Maybe the horned rabbit beast-kin weren’t that physically strong. Of course, they must have other strengths.

"You wretched devil!"

Thump, thump—
Levinas continued to rain punches on Sophia, but Sophia simply stood there, taking the blows.
Watching her stubbornness, I could understand why Sophia had bound her so tightly earlier.

"...Winter, Yeoreum asked you to come to the guild building."

Sophia spoke to me as if Levinas’s attacks were nothing.

"To the building?"

"Yes, she said she has something to show you."

If it was something at the building, it must have been adventure-related.
I nodded and asked Sophia, "Are you two going to be okay here?"

"...Do you expect any problems?"

Squish—
Levinas pulled at Sophia’s cheek, stretching it like sticky rice cake.

"Um..."

Well, it didn’t seem like there would be any major issues.
Leaving the two of them behind, I headed toward the guild building to find Yeoreum.

Entering the guild building always made me nervous, especially when I was alone.

'Let’s just go in...'

I paced near the building’s entrance until there weren’t many people around, then quickly opened the door and stepped inside.

I stood in the most secluded corner of the building, looking around for Yeoreum. The woman I had seen in the morning approached me.

"Excuse me, Winter?"

"Y-Yes...?!"

It was the woman who had shown me all those spoiled mana stones.
I remembered her name—Sang-Ah. Just seeing her brought back the fear I had felt that morning.

"I’m really sorry about earlier. Yeoreum told me that it must have felt like seeing a pile of corpses..."

"Y-Yeah..."

That’s exactly what it had felt like.
I placed my hand over my heart, which was starting to race again.

"Here’s a little gift as an apology."

She handed me a box that looked like a toolbox. A piece of paper stuck to the front read, "Gardening Tool Set."

"Y-You really didn’t have to..."

"Please, don’t make me feel like a bad person..."

"Ah... Okay."

Since it wasn’t a free gift but an apology, I supposed it was fine to accept.

"Thank you. I really needed something like this."

"I’m glad it’s useful."

She smiled and, saying she had more work to do, walked away. I waved after her as she left.

'I really did need proper gardening tools.'

There were pruning shears and a rake for leveling the soil—tools I didn’t have until now.
With these, I could expand the garden even more.
Feeling happy, I hugged the toolbox to my chest. Just then, I spotted Yeoreum running toward me.

"Winter, have you been waiting long?"

"No, I just got here."

Yeoreum’s gaze landed on the toolbox I was holding. For some reason, her expression darkened.

"...Gardening tools? Are you planning to expand the garden?"

"Yeah. The woman who showed me the mana stones gave them to me as an apology, so I think I can expand the garden now."

"Ah... Sang-Ah gave them to you..."

Yeoreum reached out toward the toolbox.
I felt like something was being taken from me, but I didn’t pull away.

"That was a gift for me..."

"Yeah. It looked heavy, so I’ll carry it for you."

"Oh, okay..."

It wasn’t that heavy, though.
It felt like I had been robbed of a wrapped present, even though Yeoreum didn’t seem to have any ill intentions in taking it.

"Winter, I know you like working on the garden, but don’t work so hard that you collapse, okay?"

"Why?"

"...Why? Didn’t I explain that to you before?"

Was she talking about how resting could improve work efficiency?
I understood the concept, but now that I was in debt, things were different.

"If I rest, when will I ever repay my debt?"

"...Even so, you can’t overwork yourself. If you don’t listen to me, I’ll take this away from you."

Yeoreum shook the toolbox at me.

I wondered why she was suddenly acting so strict, but I understood that it came from a place of concern. Of course she’d be worried if I collapsed from overwork.
I decided I would take it easy, just as she said—just a little.

"Fine... I’ll work until I’m *just* about to collapse."

If I really felt like I was going to die, I’d take a break.
That’s what I resolved, but for some reason, Yeoreum still didn’t look happy.

"...I think I worded my condition wrong."

"Huh?"

Yeoreum sighed heavily at my confusion.

Even though I had assured her I wouldn’t work myself to the point of collapse, she seemed upset. I couldn’t figure out what she was thinking, and it was frustrating.

"...Let’s go. Someone’s waiting for you."

"Someone’s waiting?"

"Yeah. And we’re going to talk about this again later, okay?"

"Okay...?"

Yeoreum trudged forward, and once there was some distance between us, I ran to catch up with her.