The First King of Beasts

"I said I had to be amicable, but that was just an excuse not to carry along the monster corpse, but now-" Dustin said as he stopped for a moment.

Saving these guys was completely up to him, and it wasn't as if he would feel any guilt if he left them there, maybe for some hours, at most a day, but nothing more..

"Whatever. Maybe not taking the corpse was not just a coincidence after all."

Dustin approached the people who very much looked like they were dying by the second, the others even looked dead. Dustin stopped upon getting to where they were, and the voice he was hearing that beckoned him to come save them was gone now, the young man had collapsed on his comrade who he was holding in his arms.

The first thing Dustin did was get down immediately and check their pulse. He had already accepted to help them, the least he could do was keep them alive.

Starting with the one that called out to him, Dustin placed his hand on his neck to check if he still had a pulse, and after him he did the same for the rest. Out of everyone, he could only feel a pulse from only three of them, the last two people had none. After finding that there was no pulse, Dustin directly ripped the shirt of the first person and placed his ear on the young man's chest to see if he had even the slightest bit of movement in his heart. Unfortunately, there was none.

"There's no need for CPR, right? He's already dead." Dustin said.

There were times he had seen on tv, some people being revived from the brink of death even after their hearts stopped breathing temporarily, but that was a miraculous thing, besides, this guy must have been like this for some time. He did the same for the other person, but it was the same, she was already dead.

Dustin looking at the three bodies he had to take back sighed a little. Carrying them above the mountain would be incredibly difficult, thank god he had beasts to do it for him, but after he got to the top, he would have to take them himself since he didn't want to expose his ability to control beasts and monsters.

He brought out the tigers he had just tamed, and on one of them he laid two bodies, while he himself rode the other with another body.

'Let's go, be gentle.' Dustin commanded the tigers. Stopping to pick a body that fell would only wate his time in the end.

Just as they had turned and started moving, Dustin heard something that shocked him a little. From behind came a faint voice that simply said,

"Me too."

Dustin turned back immediately while stopping the tigers, and the corpse of the girl he thought was dead had turned to its belly down and one arm was stretched forward as though desperately trying to reach something.

'Look at that. The desperate struggle to live, guess it's up to me...'

.

.

'Damn she's so light, like a feather. Brings me back to the days.' Dustin said in his mind. He could remember the days when he was so malnourished that he could be tossed around by even smaller kids because of how light he was, and unfortunately, he wasn't among the percentage of humans that had a denser bone. If anything, his bones must have been lighter.

..

After getting to the top of the mountain, or rather, close to the top,, Dustin put the tigers back in and carried the bodies on his shoulder and arms to the peak where he could start descending the other side.

Carrying these bodies down the mountain would be difficult, even though he was strong enough to do so, it didn't he should, so he dropped two bodies at the top and descended with two first. Since they had entered the safe area, there should be no monster attack or any of the sorts.

Dustin took the bodies of the two men down first, and when he got to the gate, he asked the soldiers there if they could call the medical team to come take the bodies to the hospital. Normally with the soldier's attitude, they would have refused, as the death and wellness of the players didn't concern them them one bit, but this time was different. The person asking right now was someone even the city lord treated with respect, so they couldn't be reckless and offend him. Who knew what the city lord would do to them.

After making sure that a guard left to call the hospital, Dustin returned for the other two, and brought them down the mountain. He had actually forgotten to mention the fact that there were more than two people, and the medical people that came only brought stretchers for two, so when Dustin returned he had no choice but to follow along with the others on his arms.

As he got to the hospital, he was directed to the place where he would take them, and he did. When he got there he saw a man with green hair also coming into the room, and the way the others treated him seemed different, so he could already guess the man was the doctor or similar. On the two beds provided, Dustin placed the two ladies on them, and then exited the room.

"To think so many people have sustained such injuries already." Dustin said to himself.

The room he placed the bodies also had at least seven other people who looked like they would die at any moment. It was evident just how much everybody was trying to get stronger by grabbing whatever opportunity they could.

After dropping them at the hospital, Dustin left there and went to the collection hall immediately. It was already late, and the time when the town's hall would close was near was near, but he could still make it if he was fast. This he was.

Getting to the city hall, Dustin noticed that the number of people inside was small, and they even seemed to be leaving. 'Was I too late? Fuck it!' Dustin cursed in his mind.

Just when he was about to leave, he caught sight of Elva, and walked up to her. It turned out that his prediction was right, and he really was late.

"How was the hunt? Did the map help?" Elva asked.

"It did, very much."

"But I don't see anything with you." Elva said, as she gestured at Dustin.

He had received a pouch earlier when he arrived, but she couldn't find it on him. Usually, this was where things would be stored, but since he didn't have it with him, it could only mean that he didn't bring back anything, right?

Dustin looked for a bit, then said,

"I thought the rewards would be collected in the collection hall."

"..." "What? Not at all. Rewards are only given after things like quests or similar are completed. When you hunt on your own like today, you have to take things like the monster core and other useful parts yourself.

"Ohhh? Right."

"And another thing.. Just how many beasts dd you kill to get so much blood on yourself?"

"..."

Dustin had suspected this, but he didn't care to check, it though seemed like he would now. Talking about cores, he hadn't used the ones he received earlier at all. This was something he would have to try when he got home later.

He left the town's hall and returned home, but before he got home, he just had to branch and get some things. With the amount of blood on him, he just couldn't go on like that.

He had wondered why the hospital staff looked at him perplexed, but now he understood. They must have thought that he was also injured like the people he brought with him. Maybe they thought he was actually team mates with them and they had met some trouble on a quest, but then seeing him leave the premises without receiving any health care would also cause a bit of confusion in itself.

'No doubt I'm being suspected in some way right now.' Maybe the people in the hospital would have already come up with different back stories.. 'Heh.'

Dustin entered a small shop by the side of the road that seemed a bit shabby, but as long as it sold what he needed, he wouldn't mind.

"Excuse me, can I get-" Dustin was cut short.

"Worry not sir, you have come to the right place! I see from your look the reason you have come to our shop!" A voice said from further into the shop.

'Our? A family business?' Dustin thought in his mind.

"Yeah? And what do you think I came here for?" Dustin asked.

"Your clothes of course! Please come this way!"

Dustin followed the voice and headed further into the shop that was starting to look bigger than originally thought. 'Was this place this big?' After reaching the counter, Dustin saw the person sitting behind the counter, a young boy scarcely around the age of 12 or 13.

"Yes please. For your clothes, the price will be 3 points. HEE" The young boy said with a wide smile.