13 The Hunt Resumes (1/2)

”Sebastian... Sebastian...” ... ”Oi!!” Jin shoved Sebastian to try and bring him back to his senses.

”You've been holding onto Melissa for quite some time. Let her go will you? Are you alright?”

Rivie motioned for Jin to stop. She reasoned with him in a hushed voice: ”He is dealing with his trauma. Remember he saw an adventurer die in front of him the first time he came. Also this might have been related to his death, from the way he is reacting. Give him time. Tend to the others please.”

Jin slightly nodded to signify he understood before he moved to the rest of the group. ”How about the other members? Are you all okay? Let's set up a perimeter as we tend to the wounded and decide what to do next.” Being a guardsman and an adventurer for a few years definitely developed his sense of leaders.h.i.+p.

”Got it. I'll scout the surrounding areas. If I see anything I'll come back and report. Nothing near us for now.” Becky saw the wounded adventurers and decided to take an active role herself. She seemed like a different person when it came to other adventurers, Jin thought.

”I have a manrestoring potion if you want it. You did use a high-tier spell after all.” Ellie offered her one and only mana potion to Rivie.

”I'm okay. A single spell like that won't burn out my mana. Though I need to rest after that. You keep it for emergency purposes.”

”I see. Thank you. Are you the magick teacher from the monastery? I didn't see you for a long time. Did you quit your job?”

”No, I was busy developing a training regimen for teenagers who came from the countryside. They're a bit behind in training compared to children born in the city so they need a faster method of training that also produces results.” With a white lie like this, Rivie was confident there wouldn't be any other questions.

”Anyway it's really good you were nearby to help us out. We wouldn't have survived without your help. Thank you.” Tears welled up in Ellie's face as she looked at the injured swordswoman, Melissa. She was still sleeping soundly.

”No worries. You have the rest of the party to thank as well.” Rivie was back to her usual smiling self.

Sebastian snapped out from his trance as he looked around his surroundings. Looking at the wounded Melissa on the ground, her brutal injuries replayed in his mind. He felt the world spin again.

'[Augment] Steel body and mind!'

Slowing down his breathing, he took a look at the people around him again. Everyone seemed to be tending their injuries while Rivie and another elf were looking at him and Melissa.

”Ahh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sebastian.”

”You actually did introduce yourself when you first came over.” Ellie chuckled. ”I think you were under some sort of shock so we didn't bother you. You can let go of Melissa's arm now.”

When Sebastian looked down he was still holding onto his makes.h.i.+ft tourniquet, though without force now. He loosened it when he blanked out.

”Ahh! I'm sorry, I'll let go now. It seems that I was too eager in applying first aid. She seems stable now. Where is Becky?” He looked to Rivie for answer with worry in his eyes.

”Don't fret too much. She's just scouting the area, making sure there aren't any other enemies. She actually volunteered for it.” Rivie was still smiling, it almost became mysterious now.

”I see. With an injured party here, should we go back to the city? We already hunted quite a bit so I think we did our share. The plan was for us to take a rest at night and continue hunting in the morning anyway.”

”I'll follow your decision. Let Jin and Becky know as well.”

Sebastian stood up silently as he spoke with Jin and Becky about going back to the city with the other adventurers in tow.

'I wonder why Rivie didn't want to go over and just check their situation in the first place?'

***

”The monastery building is being used as a recovery centre right? I need a healer on this side please! We have adventurers with light injuries!”

”We also need a healer please! He's bleeding out! Please [Heal] as soon as possible!”

”Where was the healer here? We still have more injured adventurers coming! Make way! There's still lots of s.p.a.ces here in the courtyard!”

Leo casted basic [Heal] spells whenever he could. He paced around the monastery as he gave orders to the healers and the staff there. He tried to organise the mess in front of him - which would explain why he looked serious and angry while he was walking about.

'This amount of damage just from mutated wolves? It's just not normal! If I didn't know better, this almost seems like a war zone.'

”Leo we've come back from our patrol. We've hunted at least 11 wolves within our area alone. We've brought an injured party here for treatment. Is everything alright here?” Sebastian couldn't help but think that it was like a busy emergency department when he looked at the scene in front of him.

'There was this much damage? We got off light!' Deep down he knew that Rivie played a major role in keeping their damages to a minimum.

”Place them on that side. We need to treat the seriously injured first. We seriously underestimated this quest.” Leo was still busy casting [Heal] around him as he was talking to Sebastian.

”With your permission, I'll set up a triaging station. I'll stay by the doorway to organise where the injured adventurers should go. I'll direct the lightly injured towards that side, while the more seriously injured go towards the other side. For the deceased adventurers - I'll direct them to the backyard.” Sebastian almost choked as he spoke the last part before continuing. ”Have your healers take s.h.i.+fts to prevent mana burn out.”

”That actually sounds good. Take Rivie with you to direct the flow of injured adventurers.”

Although there was a bit of nostalgia involved, there were a couple of times when Sebastian had to use his [Augment] Steel body and mind as he worked through the night.

”That was a reasonable suggestion. Is this related to your previous life?” Rivie quietly asked as she had a cup of herbal tea with Sebastian. When the seriously injured adventurers stabilised, both took the chance to swap out with other healers and rest.