He asked her if she could help him skin his prey and she gladly agreed. She was quite cute when she was excited like that...

...Ok the cuteness was relatively lessened by the blood and entrails on her hands as she started working.

Others came to help soon after and they finished when night had settled down for good.

“Finally done!” Era exclaimed.

They had cut up everything that could be useful and thrown away the rest, leaving only the bones on the carcass that Ran had wanted to keep. He had a few ideas about how to use them.

Era protested, saying they simply didn’t have a way to transport them and Ran had had to agree with her. The carts were already used to transport the villagers and given their condition it was not wise to make them walk all the way back.

“If only we had an inventory ring we wouldn't have to carry all this stuff!”

Ran heard her and had a flash of inspiration, if he was given an interface when he came here then maybe... He whispered: "Inventory".

He didn’t know what happened but he felt something open at his words.

He then thought about storing the pieces of the bear he had just killed. As if in response to his request, they disappeared in a flash of light and an information window appeared:

Inventory :

- Alpha tetrabear claws x 24

-Alpha tetrabear fangs x8

-Alpha tetrabear skin x 1

-Alpha tetrabear eyes x 2

-Alpha tetrabear meat x 74

-Alpha tetrabear bones x 37

Era panicked when she saw this and began to emit an inarticulate gibberish:

"Wh..but how?! No one can use an inventory by themselves!”

Ouch, he had just shown something impossible for this world (and for his own, too) and had to find an excuse quickly. He took out his dog tag, some simple plates mounted on a collar where his old serial number could be read.

“ Its thanks to this collar, it has the same function as a storage ring. Even though I only just remembered it. “

“ Raaah, don't surprise me like that ! I don't know if I could have considered you a normal human after that! "

She patted him on the shoulder and started giggling.

He smiled back and they walked together to the campfire that the villagers had set up. He then took out 20 units of meat from his inventory each of which must have weighed at least 2 or 3 kilos, the villagers looked at the meat with envy, their mouths starting to water at the sight.

Ran did not make them wait any longer and distributed the food to all the villagers as a thank you for helping him empty the bear.

They were all grateful for the food and ate with appetite. Ran also cooked himself a juicy piece of meat that was nothing like the bland rations he had to swallow all the time.

While enjoying his meal, he noticed again the disturbingly thin state of most of them.

Considering that they were only one or two days away from the village, their malnutrition must have lasted since before their abduction.

Even Era, who was so cheerful, showed slight signs of nausea and dizziness. In the end, this bear had arrived at the right time, when looking at these people a new objective took shape in his head, he had nowhere to go and he was beginning to feel responsible for them.

The children were playing together, the adults were eating and laughing. Everyone seemed to be happy. And without really knowing why, he wanted it to last.

Was it because they were the first people he saw after coming here ?

Era came and sat beside him and they talked until late at night. Maybe this woman who had made him smile was also responsible for his change of heart. Whatever the case, they eventually fell asleep next to each other on the forest floor...That night Ran kept his helmet on, not that he thought the villagers or Era would do anything to him, but better safe than sorry.

The next morning, everyone set out again at dawn and the rest of the day passed uneventfully.

They arrived in sight of the village in the evening and everyone felt relieved when they saw it, forgetting even the fatigue of the long walk they had just made, they started to run in the village's direction as quickly as possible. The families reunited in a concert of tears, hugs and expressions of joy of all kinds.

Suddenly, men with spears surrounded Ran and shouted at him, asking him who he was and why he was there. They had been attacked a short time ago and some of their people had been kidnapped. It was normal for them to be on edge, the remains of burned buildings and traces of blood still laid here and there, and the smell of death still filled the place, the same smell he had smelled during his first and last mission in the old world, minus the gunpowder that is.

Era stepped forward to defend him but an old man raised his voice behind the armed men.

"Put down your weapons, you fools, don't you understand that this man saved our people? And this is how you welcome him? "

The old man must have been in his sixties, bald with a full gray beard, yet he remained robust and muscular, despite the hunger that was digging into his face. He approached as the villagers moved aside from his path and stopped in front of Ran, holding out his hand.

"My name is Joras, I am the mayor of this village, we have a lot to talk about but first let me thank you for your help. Without you, who knows what would have happened to these people. Please follow me."

Ran nodded and they all headed for what appeared to be the mayor's house, which was also supposed to be a meeting place for such occasions. Joras, Era and Ran sat down at a large table with the men of the village surrounding them.

Joras spoke first:

"Era told me that she promised you a reward for your help, she is the captain of our militia so her word is as good as the village's. So let's get to the point. What do you want, why did you help us? I don't believe in free lunches.”

He had the glare of a man experienced in negotiations who would not be easily fooled.

Ran spoke frankly.

“First of all, I didn't expect anything in return for helping you. I simply wanted to help, thats all. I planned to leave after rescuing them but as you said Era asked me to bring them back here.”

There was a pause in his words.

“But as I traveled with these people I started to feel a bit responsible I guess ? They didn’t try anything to get the rest of the meat from me or take my weapons and armor while I was resting and defenseless even despite their sorry state.”

“So you just took pity on us then ?” There was no indignation in his voice, more like a sight at their situation.

“Yes, that may not be my place to say this but when I saw the state of this village, I realized how serious your situation was.

Your fields are poor even in the middle of summer, the weapons with which you threatened me are only simple pieces of wood with a sharpened stone at the end and your people suffer from severe malnutrition.”

“This is not a very glorious statement, but I cannot deny it. What are you getting at?”

“Well to put it simply...I want this village.”