Book 3: Chapter 14

Talia said her goodbyes. She needed to go and inform Julius that Aaron was taking her spot on the hunt. Meanwhile, Aaron chattered for a short while with Ryan before heading off himself to take a stroll about the little settlement. There were more people than he had expected, and soon, he spotted the small group he had seen when arriving. They were sitting around a fire, and it looked like one of the guards was explaining things to them.

Okay, can’t fault them on that.

All in all, the camp seemed pretty inviting. Although, that made sense, he thought. Safety in numbers, and all that. After all, he might be the only one around who could take down a D-grade beast himself. Well, Talia could probably take out a weak one, and maybe Julius. But that didn’t matter with numbers like these. With so many people, they could likely take out D-grades simply by overwhelming them. At least the weaker ones.

Taking it all in, he kept moving. He wanted to get a better feel of the camp and decide for himself what he thought about the place.

As he walked around, he realized that the defenses, which were a combination of some kind of System-built turret and walls, had some kind of pattern to them. They were built in rows, and created paths that led toward the Bellagio, almost like the were designed to funnel attackers to the heart of the settlement.

That’s odd.

Then again, the paths built by the walls were also used by the people to get around. Still, he would have thought you just build a wall around the camp.

Jumping into the air, he used

[ Spectral Rush ]

to get an aerial view of the settlement. It didn’t take him long to spot something of interest, either.

Not far from the casino itself, he spotted a nice bit of open land stretched out for some distance. It was still close enough to the main camp, but still its own thing, and lay outside of the defenses.

Two streams ran down either side of the grassy land, and there were a few pleasant hills rolling through the mostly flat landscape, and a handful of trees dotting it.

Perfect. I think I might settle down right over there. Assuming everything works out.

He kind of wanted to immediately go and whack his System buildings down and get started on his camp. But he restrained himself. First, he had to deal with the beaver, and then figure out Talia and Julius’ dispute.

If Talia and Julius couldn’t agree on anything, and she ended up leaving, then so would he. Especially now that Ryan was also part of her group.

This little plot of land was nice, but not so nice that he would say goodbye to what might be his only living friends on this new world.

But he had to be careful how he approached the topic. He really didn’t want to fight other humans unless they were genuinely bad guys, like Darius. Far too many people had already died since the Integration, and he didn’t want to add to that unless it was necessary.

He scouted around the camp a little longer, spotting the furthest reaches of it, and the small patrols that marched around it before going back.

Before he met up for the hunt, it was time to figure out what had happened to his own entourage.

It didn’t take long, either. Aaron asked one of Julius’ men, and it seemed that word of him had spread, as their attitude was far more cordial. After just a couple of words, they led him straight to a small gathering of tents where his group had been fed and offered temporary lodgings.

The tents were set up for newcomers, as there was a constant stream of them pouring in, fleeing the beasts of the wilderness. But everyone was to build their own homes, or pay someone else to do it, if they wanted to stay.

“You’re back!” Marko said, bouncing up off a log he had been sitting on around a fire.

Zach, already standing nearby, nodded at him appreciatively, and then, appearing from a tent, Treg rushed over, looking gleeful as ever.

Huh, I didn’t realize Treg had taken such a liking to me.

“You’re back, thank goodness! I think something has gotten into your little friend. He is acting like the leader of my people!” Treg said.

“My little friend?”

As if on cue, a wolf carrying Sooty on its back came rounding a bend, passing through a narrow alley cutting between the tents, and heading in their direction. There were goblin girls on either side of it, chatting with Sooty.

“Ye can all be my wives. No need to fight. I’ll make sure ye are all looked after, I promise. I am basically Aaron’s treasurer, after all. You wouldn’t believe the things I carry for him in this spatial pouch.”

“Sooty, what is this?”

“What!” Sooty jumped, eye-wided and almost falling off the wolf’s back. “Ahh, it’s ahh… lemme explain!”

“What are you promising those goblins in my name?”

“Nothing, nothing at all, bossman! I swear it!”

“Nothing?” One of the goblin women said. “I dunno about that. He told me that you're going to build him a palace and we can live in it as his wives.”

“Sooty?”

“I’m… yeah, it’s taken out of context.”

“What context is there?”

“Well, you see–”

But before Sooty could lay out his defense, a cowled man appeared behind Aaron in a flash.

“Huh? Who are you?” Aaron said, turning to the stranger.

“That’s not important. I’m just one of Julius’ men. He sent me to call you. The party is ready and waiting.”

“Ohhh, for the beaver hunt?”

“Correct.”

“Dammit. Okay, Sooty, no more weird shit while I’m away. Just try to get along with everyone. And Terg, umm, I forgot to ask, what are your plans now?”

“My plans?” Treg said, glancing back at the other goblins. “We can’t go back out there. Not into the wilderness. We’ll never survive. And the humans don’t trust us… we could… we could work for you, I suppose. Assuming you’d have us, that is.”

“Work for me?”

Aaron didn’t know what details of that meant. He was a fighter, and they couldn’t hold their own against the things he fought. Even if they hit D-grade in the next couple of months, he doubted they’d ever be anything more than a dead weight. At least when he was off fighting stronger things.

But then he remembered all of the things he had collected for a settlement of his own. There was even soil, and he had always planned on setting up some kind of farm to replace the food he was collecting in the trials.

Hmm, I mean, they could be pretty useful if they’re okay working.

“Okay, I have a few ideas. But let’s save it for later. We can go over them when I get back.”

“Thank you,” Treg bowed. “This would give my people a future.”

“No need for that. A handshake will do, mate.”

“Yes,” Treg grinned from ear to ear as he shook Aaron’s hand with both of his and shook it wildly. “Thank you, thank you!”

“What about you two?” Aaron continued, pulling his hand free and turning to Marko and Zach.

“I suppose we’ll restart our leatherworking business. Actually, I had an idea…”

“What is it? Spit it out.”

“Well, we might not be able to help much with the fighting. But if we could come along and get that beaver hide…”

“I see. Look, I’ll ask. But I’m not sure I can make demands like that just yet. That thing is probably valuable, and they probably want it.”

“Yes, sorry, I understand.”

“It’s cool. I don’t blame you for trying to get ahead. Just understand that I might not be able to do much on this one.”

“Yes, I understand,” Marko nodded. “Perhaps not this time. But if you are able to get us other hides… particularly strong hides, then we’d be willing to share a cut of the finished product with you. Hell, we could go into business together. Having your name on our shop would no doubt bring security as well.”

“Ahh.”

Aaron hummed as he thought about it. It wasn’t a bad idea. He didn’t know what else he would do with the hides besides sell them, and if he could get a bigger cut through them, then why not? Also, he was no doubt going to kill a decent number of the beast anyway. After all, once things were sorted out, he would be off once more, sharpening his edge and getting stronger, and they likely meant corpses.

“Yeah, I don’t see why not.”

The two shook on it, and Aaron followed the cowled man, who leaped into the air with Skill that sent him flying at a speed even faster than Aaron could travel. And within seconds, they had reached the group of hunters, with Aaron trailing a little behind.

Landing a few meters away, he scanned the area on the edge of the camp and inspected the hunters.

Boris Becker [ Level 72 ]

Titles: [ Monster Slayer ]

Planetary ranking: 55,892 of 5,127,244,732

Annie May [ Level 66 ]

Titles: [ Savior ]

Planetary ranking: 492,899 of 5,127,244,728

Carlos López [ Level 70 ]

Titles: [ Monster Slayer ]

Planetary ranking: 129,728 of 5,127,244,723

Fujimoto Yuki [ Level 74 ]

Titles: [ Giant Slayer ]

Planetary ranking: 47,898 of 5,127,244,721

There were four of them. And in order of the Inspection windows, they were as follows. The first, was a guy who looked like a barbarian with a few pieces of leather armor and a bare chest carrying a massive axe. Second, a thin girl, maybe twenty at most, who carried a silver staff and wore silken robes. Next was a tank of a man who barely stood an inch taller than five feet, was covered in thick, metal armor, and held a mace and a shield that was bigger than he was. And finally, there was a girl with a gun. But not just any old gun. It kind of looked like a shotgun, and had magical runes all across it. She smiled at him when she caught Aaron mesmerised by the fascinating weapon.

The girl smiled back at him wordlessly and lifted the gun a little to make it easier to see.

“These are our hunters,” said the cowled man, interrupting Aaron’s staring. “Julius says his thanks. He said to tell you that it’s good you decided to help with this. Things are tight at the moment. And until the camp is better set up with defenses, he wants to keep as many strong people back to defend it as possible.”

“Makes sense,” Aaron said, turning to the cowled man.

“Enough chatter,” groaned Boris, the barbarian one. “Are we going to do some beast hunting or what? We’ve already been waiting longer than I would’ve liked.”

“Yeah. So, this is the one, is it?” Carlos said, glaring at Aaron.

The group, for the most part, seemed undecided about him, and the looks they were giving him said about as much. They no doubt understood how difficult it was to get a ranking like he had, and if these were Julius’ elites, they no doubt knew about the trials, and what it took to succeed in them. And since Aaron had his Title on display and his ranking, they were a little apprehensive about dismissing him over his level alone.

But ultimately, there was still uneasiness. He was a stranger, and an odd one at that.

Maybe I should have brought Zero?

Aaron briefly toyed with the idea, but then decided it was probably for the best that he didn’t. If the beast was weak enough that these guys could handle it, he likely didn’t need help. And Zero might put them even more on edge.

“Well, if you wanna go, I’m good. Shall we head off?” Aaron said, limbering up.

“Can you keep pace? We don’t want anybody slowing us down, and we’re pretty fast,” Carlos said.

“He can keep pace,” the cowled man said. “I didn’t go easy on him.”

“Wait, you kept up with Tarj? Okay, I’m officially impressed,” said Annie.

“Bah, don’t be won over so easily, Annie!”

Aaron’s gaze filtered past the group talking and toward the only silent one. It was Yuki, the one with the magical-looking gun.

“She can’t speak a lick of English. But she follows our lead without issue,” Carlos said. “Can the same be said about you?”

Aaron ignored him and turned to Yuki.

“Hey, Yuki.”

Yuki suddenly straightened. “You speak Japanese?”

“I speak a little of everything. Perk of the trials.”

Her eyes lit up, and Aaron had a feeling she hadn’t had a conversation in a very long time.

Talia’s Tutorial was filled with Australians, and Julius’ were Americans. And while that didn’t exclude Japanese people, they weren’t exactly a huge demographic of either country, and since the Tutorials were only a couple thousand people each, many of them had died, so it wasn’t too surprising there weren’t any Japanese amongst them.

And while there were others in camp, they were randoms from all kinds of Tutorials, roaming bands that had just happened upon the settlement, and it seemed the settlement had yet to form its own little Tokyo.

“So, you don’t speak English. Were you on holiday or something?”

Yuki nodded.

“Oh, you’ll have to tell me all about it.”

She beamed, and words started to roll out as they headed out.

Aaron smiled back as they bounced into the air and flew toward their target. It was nice to give someone the opportunity to share their thoughts when it had been such a long time.