"What happened?" Elias asked with a grin when Kiki came out of the bath again. "Did something grow again?"

  "You sure you should ask a lady questions like that?" Kiki asked, trying her best to channel her scolding mother.

  It had only been intended to be a deflection and Kiki knew the man could take some ribbing, so she didn't at all expect a man in his mid-thirties to flinch, and look away sheepishly. As if the one scolding him wasn't Kiki but his actual mother.

  "A-anyways! What now?" Elias was now the one to attempt a subject change, and not even particularly subtly.

  "Now," Jack said as he returned from the armory, two machine guns in his hands "The two of us will go back out and secure the building."

  "I will help." Kiki interjected.

  "No, you have to..."

  "Listen to me Jack," Kiki interrupted him with the kind of confidence she often even failed to project in her videos, where she could take as many takes as she wanted.

  "Out of all of us, I'm the best with this thing here," she said, pulling the Zweih?nder towards her from where she had leant it against the wall. "I'm sure those guns will be more effective against those monsters than the peashooters you used before. But the matter of fact is still that the only way to kill those things seems to be hitting their weak spot, which is not just constantly moving, just like a head, but also much smaller and hidden. And as far as I understand, there is a good reason you aren’t supposed to aim for the head.

  A machine gun might make it easier, but the only way we have right now to disable them, even if it doesn't kill, is my sword. And before you say anything, no, I will not give it to you, since you have no clue how to use it."

  "Miss Kindra," Jack replied, his face reflecting seriousness and... Kiki wasn't sure, but she thought she saw some fear. "You may be right, but if your father found out I let you do something like that, he would have my head. And I'm not sure how metaphorical that would be."

  "I don't know if you are right or not about our employer, Jack," Elias interjected with his own opinion, "but here is how I see it. If he will have your head for putting the Miss in danger, he will have it twice if she is actually dead. The way I see it, the best way for her to stay safe at the moment, is if she has the strength to keep herself safe. And if I'm understanding things right, she will have to go out there and fight to do that.

  To get stronger under this System, one needs 'Achievements'. And at a wild guess, you can't get Achievements without achieving anything, like Miss Kindra would if the only thing she did was getting protected by us.

  So, here is my suggestion: The two of us," Elias said, looking at Jack, "stay in the front and deal with anything we can via the application of bullets to keep the Miss safe. And the Miss' job is going to be to keep US safe via the application of a big ass sword once the previous option is no longer viable."

  "Urrrrgh!" Jack groaned in frustration as two sides seemed to war within his mind. Duty and loyalty on one side standing against reason and the will to survive. "Fine! I can't believe I would allow this, but if you had told me yesterday that we would be driven to the bunker by a bunch of monsters I wouldn't believe it either. Just tell me one thing first. How are you planning on using that thing inside the house? I don't think anywhere but the entrance hall or the ball room has enough space for you to swing it?"

  "You can do more with a sword than swing it around. At this size?" Kiki leveled the sword with the ground, holding the handle with her right, while the left hand held it halfway down its blade. "It basically doubles as a spear."

  "Isn't that dangerous? To hold it by the blade?" Jack asked her, showing exactly how much he knew about the matter.

  "I mean, a little bit? But also not really? Swords aren't actually as sharp as you might think. If you sharpen them too much they would simply chip that much quicker without noticeably increasing cutting performance."

  "I see. In that case. Elias, to the front. Miss Kindra? Make sure to stay behind us."

  *****

  The three of them walked in formation, Jack on the left, Elias on the right, guns at the ready. Meanwhile, Kiki stood in the middle and one step back, with her sword ready to stab at anything that came too close.

  "Great," Jack said, his head on a swivel as they made their way through the basement corridor. "All doors are still closed. So, here is the plan. We first work our way up, and close every single door, then go back down and check the individual rooms. That way, nothing should be able to get behind us without anyone noticing."

  Kiki felt tense, nervous, and afraid. Her previous confidence had almost entirely evaporated. Her head constantly on a swivel in a desperate attempt to to look everywhere at the same time. As they slowly made their way down the corridor, checking all of the doors, she couldn't help but question her own decision. She could be in the bunker right now, safely hidden behind meters of reinforced concrete and steel. And yet, she was out here. And every time she even considered the option of turning back? Something inside her revolted.

  No, not 'something'. Kiki knew exactly what it was, even if it wasn't something she expected herself to have at all. It was a hunger for power. Not monetary or political like her father had, but something much more personal, more physical.

  Then again, she thought, maybe the amount of self-empowerment I felt when Jason introduced me to swordfighting could have been a sign...

  That, and the fact that she chose to buy the largest possible sword she could find.

  And the feeling of how much more she had become just from getting her Class was hard to ignore. Just the thought of what else might be possible seemed impossible to ignore.

  Kiki knew what she wanted. She wanted to level up and get stronger. And her instincts told her that Elias was right. That she would have to be out here and fight, not hidden in the bunker.

  They moved slowly through the basement. It wasn't something Kiki had ever paid attention to, but the doors were all put on the outside of the corridors walls, opening inside the individual rooms. What that meant was that the doors were completely hidden behind the thick walls until they were surprisingly close to them. And since the doors being closed and whole was currently the only indicator they had to tell whether there was a monster around, they had no choice but move slowly, if they wanted to be able to react in time.

  When they finally reached the stairs, Kiki felt like they must have spent half an hour just to walk down that single corridor. Even though she reasonably knew that wasn't the case.

  When they finally reached the top of the stairs, and Elias opened the doors into the entrance hall, the first thing that hit Kiki was the smell. The scent of blood and offal hung heavily in the air, and it was only the grassy, almost herbal and soothing undertones that kept Kiki from vomiting right then and there.

  She almost slipped when the stink made her take a step back while still on the stairs.

  She wanted to scream and complain, she wanted to cry, but Kiki kept it in, having determined herself to see this through.

  Besides, she knew herself well enough. If she let herself complain now, she had no doubt that she would run at what she now realized would come next. What she realized she had forgotten before.

  "Miss Kindra, are you alright?" Kiki could hear the hope in Jack's voice.

  Hope that she was alright, and everything would be fine.

  But also hope that she wasn't, that she would ask them to let her return to the bunker.

  "Yes," Kiki answered, trying her best to project her earlier confidence. "I'm alright."

  What was that saying again? Fake it 'till you make it?

  Whether she succeeded or not, all she could do was try.

  As one, they stepped out from the door and into the entrance hall. For now, they were still in the back, behind the central stairs. But it wasn't long before they rounded the corner, revealing the sight to Kiki.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  There were the two corpses of the Monsters, or at least what was left of them. Already they looked less like something that could move and kill a person, and much more like a pile of plants that had been rotting away for weeks. No doubt, Kiki realized, the source of the grassy scent.

  Kiki wasn't sure what was more ironic. That a Gardener had been killed by what seemed to be a very aggressive plant, or that it was the smell of the monster's corpses that kept her from vomiting at that of a person’s.

  But worse than the smell, was the sight. Most of the man's body still looked perfectly fine. Like any moment he could stand back up, a little pale in the face, but otherwise unharmed. He looked young, maybe a year or two younger than herself. She could tell that he must have been of asian descent.

  But only, of course, if one ignored his feet. Raw flesh and skin, cut and shredded apart, most of it barely hanging on in long strips. The bones were showing, bare and broken for all the world to see. It looked as if someone had taken a meat grinder to them, before giving up halfway.

  Her own feet began to tingle uncomfortably, as if to remind her that they were still there.

  "By the time the fight was over, he was already dead. You tried to save him. You might have failed, but know that most people wouldn't even have tried. Don't blame yourself." Jack tried to calm her.

  But... Kiki knew better. She didn't say it out loud, knowing the men would try to sooth her with platitudes. But she knew.

  It IS my fault. I could have saved him, had I acted immediately. She thought. Had I not stood there, frozen, for who knows how long.

  And more.

  I shouldn't have forgotten him. What kind of person sees someone getting mauled by monsters, and just... forgets about it?

  But most importantly?

  I DIDN'T try to save him... I didn't go down there for... I don't even know his name... I didn't go down there for him, but only because I thought it would be the only space big enough to use my sword.

  What if that hadn't been some guy I don't even know? What if it had been Mom? Or Daddy?

  I... No! What kind of a fucking person would that make me? No, next time, I won't be too slow. Or too weak.

  "What is his name? Do you know?" Kiki asked, determined.

  "Kido, I think. He was supposed to be a permanent assistant and maybe take over for the Beckers, since they are getting a bit old."

  "I see..."

  "Right! Do we know if everyone else on the estate is still fine?" Kiki asked, considering who might still be around. Really, the estate was currently running on minimal personnel, with her Daddy and Mom away in america. She herself shouldn't have been here either, only having returned to shoot some videos.

  "With Ben, Hans, and Daryl, and Kido here, all dead, that really only leaves Purity and the Beckers currently on the estate." Jack explained.

  "But we have no way of telling how they are faring at the moment." Elias said.

  "Why?" Kiki asked, confused.

  "I mean, we would have to go and check, no way of knowing otherwise."

  "Can't you just call them? You know? On their phones?

  Actually, why haven't we already?"

  "Miss Kindra's safety came first." "Awww! For fucks sake!"

  While Jack's answer didn't surprise Kiki, even if it left her with a bad taste, Elias left her confused.

  But she didn't have to even ask as he explained himself a moment later: "So much for trying to rely on 'knowledge' gained from fantasy stories. Those stories I told you about? Yeah, they usually kill all electronics right at the start. So I completely neglected even considering the possibility."

  "Never do that again." Jack immediately reprimanded him, an angry frown on his face.

  Not that it made a difference, Kiki could see that Elias didn't need any help beating himself up over it.

  "Anyways, for now, we continue clearing the house. Everything else comes after we have a safe base of operation." Jack decides.

  "But shouldn't we at least..."

  "No." Jack interrupts Kiki. "If they have survived this long, they can keep themselves safe for a while longer. If they haven't, well... For now, it doesn't make a difference either way. The less you know, the less it will distract you. So stop thinking about it and stay focused."

  Part of Kiki wanted to have some choice words for Jack. Another part knew that he was right. Wether it was the Beckers, Purity, or her parents, knowing about them would not change anything about her own situation or what she had to do at the moment, so Kiki gritted her teeth and moved on.

  *****

  "Now I'm feeling a little stupid." Kiki said after three very tense, exhausting, and ultimately anticlimactic hours.

  They had gone up floor by floor, closing all of the doors, until they reached the top.

  That was where they found Purity, the cleaning lady, during their search. She hadn't stopped working this entire time. While she had heard the commotion and shots a few hours ago, she had been busy on the top floor all along and simply assumed that the commotion had been dealt with, since no one came to tell her anything. Kiki, for her part, couldn't help but feel bad for that.

  After asking her to stay in a room the three had secured and to keep the door shut, they then went top to bottom through every single room in the manor one by one, searching them for any of the green monsters, or whatever else might have gotten in.

  In that entire process, they had not found even a single monster within the manor. The only chance that there still was one would be if it were dextrous enough to open and close doors, and intelligent (or lucky) enough to dodge their search efforts. While the possibility certainly existed, they collectively agreed that it was important to stay careful, but not get paranoid.

  Then again, maybe Kiki shouldn't have been that surprised by that outcome. The ground floor, while called that, was actually about a meter above the ground outside, so any of the windows would have been at least two meters of the ground, and made of the kind of glass used in skyscrapers with floor to ceiling panes.

  Even if the monsters could jump that high, they had little reason to do so. And if they did anyways, they would probably just bounce off.

  The first two monsters had managed to get in for the sole reason that the door had been open.

  "Never feel stupid for being careful. Doubly so when your life's on the line." Jack answered her.

  "I guess."

  Kiki was tired, the search effort having been absolutely exhausting. If not physically, then mentally. But she couldn't rest just yet.

  With Purity safe, Kiki refused to leave the Beckers alone any longer, and she wanted to know about her parents' situation too.

  *****

  *dooooot* *dooooot* *dooooot*

  "I... I can't reach them." Kiki said, worry thick in her voice. Without being able to check, she could only hope that her parents were safe. And she would continue to hope unless someone could provide irrefutable proof otherwise.

  However, there was one silver lining.

  "The Beckers are safe." Elias confirmed. "Apparently, they have been tending to their own garden this entire time and have been wondering where Kido had gone. They have now bunkered up in their own basement with all the food they still had in the house. It should last them for a few days at least."

  Kiki was relieved, the Beckers were almost like the grandparents she never had. The old couple lived in their own little house in the back of the estate, working from there as on-site gardeners as long as Kiki could remember. Over the years, all of the personnel had changed one by one, some positions more often than others.

  Where others could bear living in their employers home only for so long, the husband and wife had always referred to their work as a full-time vacation. Especially since Kiki's father left them almost free reign and a large budget, leading to some rather interesting creations of theirs. One of Kiki’s favorites was the field of tulips that would bloom into the image of a Llama.

  "In that case," Kiki decided, "Let's get them back here as quickly as possible, no point delaying and risking that the Monsters spread all the way to them before we get there ourselves.

  But first, I need some armor."

  *****

  "Wow, darling, you have grown!" Purity said in broken German as she looked Kiki up and down. "Front, back, and even upwards."

  "Upwards? Did I grow taller?" Kiki wondered. Distracted by her growth in other directions, she had completely missed it. But now that she paid attention to it, she realized that it was true.

  I really hope there is a limit to it... I mean, I wouldn't mind growing a size or two more, but any more than that would just be excessive. Never mind inconvenient.

  Kiki looked down at her own body.

  They kind of are already, just a little...

  "Maybe should take one of those Classes too you people talked about. I wouldn't mind own growth." the woman said with a cheeky grin.

  "Hmm... Is that even possible? It's not like you killed, or even helped killing one of the monsters." Kiki wondered.

  "I don't think that necessary. When you told me to stay in room, I got bored and continued job. Got one of those texts you talked about. I ignored, since Jack said it dangerous, but looking at you, might be worth anyways."

  "Really!? You got an achievement by cleaning? Or did it say something else?"

  Kiki considered the situation. If it was true that Purity had gotten an achievement doing something other than fighting, well, it would put the System into a very different light.

  No, wait, that’s stupid! I mean, how else is someone supposed to get stronger if they don't have a combat Class?

  "Yes." the woman answered. "About achievement, and something about Class. Not sure what it has to do with school."

  "Nono, Class has nothing to do with school. Honestly, I'm not sure why it's called that anyways." Kiki said, quickly explaining how the System worked in rough terms.

  "I see. Then let me..." Purity said, clearly intending to choose her Class.

  The process lasted mere moments, just as it had with herself and Elias. But this time, it was Kiki's role to be the one whose jaw dropped.