“Get back here, I ain’t done with ya yet!” Tabitha shouted, chasing the other girl through the forest with an annoyed expression and spear in hand. Her unintended victim looked more terrified every single time she looked back at Tabitha over her shoulder.

The chase wouldn’t last for much longer, though.

The fleeing girl jumped over a small bush and fell over as soon as she landed on the other side, a pained yelp leaving her that worried the pursuing Tabitha. That worry only grew even larger when Tabitha saw her try to stand up and then immediately fall back down.

Tabitha’s first thought was that she landed wrong and hurt her ankle. When she made it around the bush and looked down at the girls leg, though, she realized it was something potentially worse. Around her calf was metal leghold trap that closed with enough force to partially dig into her skin, and it looked like a heavy-duty trap meant for prey much larger. It looked like something to deal with that bear Tabitha saw, not a girl with a thin leg. She wouldn’t be surprised if the trap fractured the bone.

When the girl tried to back away from Tabitha even while she was trapped and in pain, Tabitha finally realized that her entire approach could probably use some work.

“I’m not gonna hurt ya, alright?” Tabitha said. “Hold on, let me help. It ain’t my first time doin’ somethin’ like this.”

The girl still looked worried, but she had no choice other than to trust Tabitha.

After setting her spear and bag down, Tabitha crouched down next to the trap to get a good look at it. It looked similar to the ones she dealt with before, featuring a lever on each side of the jaws that would release them once enough pressure was simultaneously applied to them.

“Pull your leg out as soon as it’s free, alright?” Tabitha said.

The girl nodded, clearly trying her best not to cry too much from the pain.

“Alright. Bear with me for a second here.” With that, Tabitha stood over the girl’s leg and placed one foot down on the right lever. That alone shifted the trap enough to move the girl’s leg, causing her to wince in even greater pain. The moment Tabitha pressed down on the other lever, pushing them both down against the ground at the same time, the jaws opened up and gave the girl a chance to withdraw her leg. “How bad do ya think it is?” Tabitha asked, looking at the girl’s leg. “Think ya can stand on it?”

“I—I don’t think so,” the girl replied.

“Tch. Darn thing.” The girl tried to stand up, but Tabitha grabbed her leg above the wound and stopped her. “Hold on now, don’t go around movin’ if ya think it’s bad. That’s only gonna make it worse.”

“Then… what do I do?”

“Ya wait and let me take care of it. My Gramps was in the Marines, ya see. He taught me all sorts of stuff. Now, I’ll admit that I don’t exactly remember most of it, but I do know that a wound like this needs a splint until we can find somebody better at this stuff to take care of it. You stay right here and I’ll go find what I need, alright?”

The wounded girl nodded before bringing a hand up to her face to wipe at her tears.

Not wasting any time, Tabitha got to work collecting the sturdiest looking sticks she could find. She remembered that going overkill with a splint was better than barely making it firm enough, so she got multiple sticks the size of the girl’s leg. Once she had a pile of sticks gathered, she considered finding plants worthy of stripping fiber from to try and make some weak rope, but that would take too long and she wasn’t entirely sure how to do it.

So, instead, she looked down at her pants. Then she looked at the girl’s waist and saw something that would make her idea a lot easier: a sickle. Probably used for gathering all those mushrooms the girl collected.

“I’m going to borrow that, alright?” Tabitha said, pointing at the sickle.

The girl nodded and took the sickle off from her waist, handing it over.

“Thanks. The name’s Tabitha, by the by.”

“R-Runa. That’s my name,” the girl, Runa, replied.

“I like that. Pretty name. Alright, Runa. Can ya stretch your leg out for me? I know it might hurt, but I need ya to make your leg as straight as possible and lie back.”

Runa nodded before straightening herself out across the ground, cringing in more pain as she moved her leg. While she did that, Tabitha took the sickle and cut at her pant legs until she was basically left with shorts and a dozen strips of fabric.

Next were the sticks. Tabitha eyeballed the sticks to figure out which would be good for inner leg support. They needed to be just under the length of her leg to fit. A couple of them were too long, but smacking a pointed rock into them before snapping the weakened parts shortened them. Those sticks were then set down between Runa’s legs, their upper halves having to reach up her skirt. Tabitha then took the remaining, longer sticks that would reach from Runa’s ankle to her waist and set them next to the outer side of the leg.

“Alright. This might hurt, but I promise ya it’ll feel better for it,” Tabitha said, looking the leg over one more time to see if she could think of anything else to do.

One thing came to mind.

Looking over at her “bag,” Tabitha took her bowl out of it and wrapped the soaked shirt around the wound for some padding. More padding would be better, but that would have to be enough. Next came the pant strips. She laid them out flat underneath Runa’s leg and then put the sticks on top of them. Starting at Runa’s ankle, Tabitha tied the strips around the sticks to keep them firmly held against her leg. She then repeated the process, going higher and higher up on Runa’s leg. Each strip was tied as tightly as Tabitha could manage without cutting off blood flow. When it came to pushing up Runa’s skirt to tie the sticks around her thighs, Runa looked nervous and blushed a tiny bit at first, but she relaxed once she saw how determined Tabitha looked.

There was only one thing on Tabitha’s mind, and it was helping the girl before her… with the power of crafting.

Putting together a makeshift splint out of cut pants, sticks, and a wet shirt was definitely crafting! If she could make a splint that helped her, it would prove just how great crafting was! And prove how great she was at crafting!

So even while Tabitha was working with Runa’s thigh, all she could think was, I wonder if this’ll count as a new item once I’m done with it.

Then, when it came to Runa’s waist, Tabitha realized there was a bit of a problem. Those strips she cut weren’t long enough to reach around Runa’s waist. However, Runa had the solution to that in the form of the half apron she had on.

“I’m gonna take this off, alright?” Tabitha said, her hands on grabbing the half apron. She figured that she should explain everything she was doing when it came to taking somebody’s clothes off, especially after having already terrified them earlier.

“Wait,” Runa answered and reached her hands underneath her back. Tabitha couldn’t tell what she was doing, but it was made obvious when Runa pulled out the untied strings used to keep the half apron up. “Here.”

Tabitha took the half apron from her. “Thanks.” Now, she was basically just going to put the half apron back on, but she tied it over the outer sticks rather than under them like it was before. “Alright, I think I’m done. It ain’t gonna keep your leg totally immobilized or anythin’, but it’ll do a good enough job. Just keep your leg as still as ya can and it’ll do the rest.”

Right after saying that, a window popped up that made everything a hundred times more satisfying as far as Tabitha was concerned.

Item Information

Name

Stick Splint

A splint made of sticks used for immobilizing injured limbs, held together by various materials.

Rarity

E

Quality

13

Element

Nature

System Menu

Congratulations, you have acquired a new Achievement!

Homemade Doctor

Awarded for tending to a wound using an item you crafted.

Reward: 5 Intelligence

Congratulations, you have acquired a new Achievement!

Novice Achievement Hunter

Awarded for acquiring 10 total Achievements!

Reward: 5 Attribute Points

Nice, Tabitha thought. She didn’t really care about the achievement for getting achievements, but she did love to get any achievement related to crafting.

“I’ll—I’ll try,” Runa said.

“Atta girl. Now, let’s get ya up! I’ll help ya walk back, no worries. There’s gotta be a town close by, right?”

Runa nodded. “It’s not far from here. But you don’t have to… worry about me. It’s my fault for not looking where I was going. I should have been more careful.”

“Yeah, ya should have been, but I should have realized I was chasin’ down a girl with a spear out. We both messed up, so let me help ya. Besides, I have no idea where I am, so I reckon headin’ back with ya would be in my best interest anyways.”

“You don’t… know where you are?”

“It’s a long story. Well, not really, but I’ll explain it later. Oh, wait, lemme do one more thing before we get ya up.”

Runa tilted her head, unsure of what else there was for Tabitha to do. Then she saw Tabitha pick up her basket and load all of those mushrooms back into it. Once the mushrooms were safe inside it, Tabitha put her bowl on top of them, set the blunt end of her spear in the basket, and smiled before keeping one hand on top of the nearest mushroom for a few seconds just to check it out to satisfy her curiosity.

Item Information

Name

Freckled Oyster Mushroom

A species of mushroom covered in brown spots with a savory taste and soft texture.

Rarity

D

Quality

18

Element

Nature

“There we go! Wouldn’t want your effort gatherin’ them goin’ to waste,” Tabitha said to Runa while thinking about making a mushroom stew, or maybe grinding the mushroom up to use in alchemy some way. If alchemy even existed where she was. She definitely hoped that it existed.

“You—you didn’t have to do that,” Runa said, almost looking like she was about to cry again.

“Sure I didn’t, but I did. All ya really need to do in life is sleep, eat, drink, and breathe. Everythin’ else is optional.” With that being said, Tabitha helped Runa get up while keeping the injured leg as still as possible. Once she had Runa up, she stood on the side of her injured leg, grabbed her nearest arm, and pulled it around her shoulder to serve as a human crutch. “I’ll carry you, and you carry the goods.”

Runa nodded and picked up the basket carrying everything with her free hand. “I’ve got it. Also… thanks. And—I’m sorry for running from you.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I understand I’m a very scary lady. What with my terrifyin’ height and vicious fangs and all. I would’ve been offended if ya didn’t run away in terror!”

For the first time, Tabitha got to see Runa smile.

“Now, which way we goin’?”

Runa looked straight ahead and said, “That way. It’s not far. Even with my leg like this… I think we can get back before it’s dark.”

“Then let’s get a move on, because if the sun goes down and some nasty beasts come out huntin’ prey, I’m sacrificin’ ya to get away.”

That smile Runa had was replaced with fear as soon as she heard that.

“It’s a joke!” Tabitha shouted. “Don’t worry! I ain’t gonna leave ya. I promise.”

Runa sighed and her tail hung low as her heart struggled to keep up with the emotional roller coaster.