06 – Rusckan village – Waking up

“You were poisoned.” Said a voice from somewhere. David groggily opened his eyes and looked around. All he could see was a large splotch of white and light, and a few shapes here and there. Of one thing he was sure, this was not the white room, meaning that he had not died again yet.

“Uh.” His throat was quite dry, making his speech all but impossible for now. A large moving shadow approached him, resolving itself into something like a person as it got closer.

“You were fortunate that it was only a paralytic poison, or you’d be definitely dead right now.”

As his vision got better, he looked around and saw that he was lying on a bed inside a small room. The walls were made of wooden planks, with many holes and damaged parts that had been fixed by nailing more planks on top of the damaged area. There was a single large window with no glass, wide open.

“Where am I?”

“This is the infirmary, mate. You appeared in a corridor, right outside of this room. You were lucky to have your card with you, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to help you.”

David recalled taking out the hero card to examine it, right before passing out. He made a note to keep it on his body at all times, and turned to face the bearded man.

“Is this Earth?”

The man looked at him, making a confused face for a moment.

“Earth? You mean on the ground? Pretty much, yeah. The closes flying islands are quite far from here. Don’t tell me that you teleported all the way from over there!”

David sighed. “No, I didn’t teleport. What is this place?”

The man’s eyes lit up. “This is the Guild of Heroes!” Then he looked down, and around the room. His gaze went to the many damaged parts of the room, and to the empty shelves. “Or what’s left of it, in this god forsaken village.”

A siren rang, the sound coming from outside the window. It was loud and piercing, wailing intermittently for a few minutes. David focused back on the person speaking to him, a burly man in his forties with a white vest that looked like a night gown. It was made of thick and hard fabric, but it seemed to complement the rugged looks of the man wearing it.

“You might want to sit this one out.” The man said, and rubbed his cleanly shaved head. “You’re still quite weak, and that poison was no joke. No joke at all.”

“Sit what out?”

The man looked at him in the eye.

“The monster sighting. The reason this village is so poor is because of the increase in monster raids the last few years. They just keep coming, you know?”

“A monster? I have to go, then.” He said, already at the ready. If there was something to fight, then he had to be there and fight it. The system had brought him here for a purpose, to complete a mission, and that mission was most probably the monster.

“I like your spirit, boy. But, as I said, you’re in no condition to go and fight. You’re rank E, the bottom of it as well. What do you think you can do against a 3D1E monster like the one that’s coming? Let the others deal with it, we still have some good heroes defending this place, and the regional headquarters will send more soon.”

David scratched his head in annoyance. “3D1E, what does it even mean?”

The man looked at him like he was looking at a retarded person. “Boy, did they not teach you the basics? Ah, whatever. You came from a flying island, so it makes sense that you know nothing. Take my advice, boy. Go back home. This is not the place for kids to play their little games.”

“Stop calling me a boy, I’m 30.”

“Yeah, a boy indeed.”

“Says you.” David huffed.

“I am 80, boy. Looks can be deceiving. In any case, a 3D1E monster requires 3 rank D and 1 supporting rank E hero to kill it at the very least. The rankings are always conservative, as usually monsters are stronger than they appear, when they fight for their lives. And you? You are bottom of rank E, not even worth mentioning. Just wait, the heroes should be all about done.”

A loud boom was heard, then the shockwave that followed sent a little cloud of dust inside the room.

“See? All about done.”

David was not quite happy to comply, but he had to concede that the effects of the poison had not yet worn out completely. He tried to stand, twice, before he gave up. He stayed on the bed, sitting and looking around the room while playing with his summoned knife, until the noise outside made him very curious about what was happening.

Grunting, he got out of the bed and eyed the door. He tentatively took one step after the other, one foot after the other, trying not to lose his balance. The other man had left the room some time ago, and since he was now alone in here with all the noise and the voices outside, there was no one who could stop him from reaching the door. With one hand on the door to support his weight, he swung it open and looked outside.

There was a large room, with walls made of stone bricks and supporting wooden beams, filled with chattering people. Many were sitting at long tables with mugs in their hands, and they were all acclaiming a small group of three people clad in armor at the center of the room.

The three looked battered and worn out, their elegant pieces of equipment distorted and dented. The paint was covered by blood, grime and other clotted fluids, and they were helping each other remove the helmets. Inside, their eyes were bloodshot and their faces long and tired.

“Isn’t that the new twerp?” David heard one of them say, and all the faces in the room turned to look at him.

“Yeah, the rank E who appeared in here yesterday.” The other man close to him replied. He turned to face the door and David who was still using it to support his weight. “Hey, you! We could have used a hand out there, you know?” The second man said, spitting at him while yelling slurred words.

The third tried to hold the other two back, and in fact David noticed that they were stepping closer to him. He was already preparing the fire mana, since after getting his magic upgraded, he learned how to prepare it without activating it. This was going to be an unstructured casting, basically a free manipulation of the fire, but hopefully it would be enough to make them stop. Perhaps he could also buy enough time to construct a spell, or maybe he could use the fireball from the fight against the beast. It was not adapted to his new control over fire, but it had to be enough.

He didn’t want to fight people, though. They were not his target; they were not the things he wanted to hunt. He hoped that they would leave him alone, because killing a person really was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He had never killed anyone before, and he was under no illusions that it would be easy only because of his newly formed personality. Hunting a beast was one thing, basking in the pain too was one thing. Indiscriminate murder was another.

The third man stopped the other two before they could reach David. “He was poisoned. Don’t you see that he barely walks? He would have been useless.”

The other two nodded. “Bah. By staying here, he was useless. Out there, at least he could have carried my backup sword.”

David considered what the man said. They were right, and he knew it. He had been useless in this fight, but it was not entirely his fault. He could no know what to expect after being transported, but he should never have been hit by that poisoned needle in the first place. The Hunter still had much to learn before he could call himself The Hunter.

As they disappeared behind a door, all the people who were still staring slowly returned to their own drinks. A short man, or more like a dwarf, approached David.

“Don’t mind them. They’re just tired, after all these days of fighting.”

He looked down at the strange person, a small miniature of a man with long hair and beard. He sighed, but for his own reasons alone. He could feel how these people felt, but the real reason he was so down right now was because he had missed what probably had been quite a good fight.

“I noticed.”

“They’re our last line of defense, and they know it. They’re the only ones who did not run away.” The dwarf said.

David looked at him sideways.

“The other heroes ran? Can they do that?” David asked. That didn’t sound much hero-like.

The dwarf huffed under his beard. His face was downcast, for a moment, then it returned to its previous state.

“Of course. What’s the worst that can happen? They lose their status and rank. What’s that compared to death, am I right?”

David nodded. What was death anyway to him?

Another siren, the sound much stronger now that he was closer to the source. It came from outside, probably from a device mounted on top of the building. The wailing was different, but he could not tell what it meant.

“4E… damn it. Go call the White Knuckles!”

David put a hand on the short man’s shoulder.

“I’ll go.”

The man looked up at him. “You? Alone? Don’t be stupid, child.”

“What’s with you people and calling me a kid? You don’t know what I can do, so why do you say I’m not fit to fight?”

The dwarf sighed.

“You’re right. I don’t. Very well, if you say you can do it, then go. But before you go, tell me your name.”

“David. The Hunter.”

The dwarf shook his hand, and made a gesture like a salute.

“Good luck, Hunter. My name is Griglir, Rusckan’s guild master.”

David nodded, and took off towards the edge of the village. The dwarf watched him disappear out of the building, before recalling that the man had never been to Rusckan before. He scanned the room, and his gaze fell on a young man sitting at the counter.

“Go with him and take him to the battlefields out of the city. Also, keep in mind that he probably is not from around here so give him the full debriefing, alright?”

“Yessir!” The man ran away after David.

“And let’s hope that this David… this Hunter won’t die, otherwise this action will cost me not only the village, but also my carreer.” He said to himself.