Ch 51
Matt felt the urge to scream in frustration as he watched another eight heads pop up over the wall while he stood there, pondering his next move. If he decided to run, he was confident he could escape, but doing so would likely ruin any chance of collaborating with this particular group in the future. However, he wasn’t given much time to think, as the person who had initially instructed him to stay put called out once more.
"Now, Matt, would you be so kind as to tell those who are with you to come out where we can see them?"
"Sure thing. Hey, come out! Oh wait, I already told you that I was alone, but apparently that's a lie, and when no one comes out, what then? It's not like you're going to believe me anyway."
"I didn't say to be a smart ass."
"You're not giving me much of an option," Matt retorted, his voice tinged with exasperation. "Honestly, if you think I'm lying, you're planning to attack without even verifying if I'm actually alone."
"If you're really alone, where are the 11 others you arrived here with?"
"I have no clue about five of them, but six of them are back at our base of operations with another group of 12 that we've joined forces with, much like it seems your group has. Though, I suppose I should ask where the other eight members of your group are then."
Matt smiled as he noticed that no arrows had been aimed in his direction yet, as he waited for the other man to decide on his next move. While waiting, Matt took another moment to observe the activities of those in the fort. All eight individuals who had appeared seemed focused on him, yet the eight guards remained at their posts, as if anticipating an attack from a direction other than where Matt was standing. Judging by their posture, Matt was certain they had experienced their fair share of battles. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that many wore tattered clothing, which spoke of fierce struggles—struggles that could easily have led to losses for their group if he assumed they were about as skilled as one would expect most people to be.
"Alright then. Let’s say you’re not lying and you’re alone. Are you saying you can deal with the monsters while traveling without any issue? And where did you get that armored clothing from?" the man inquired, sounding skeptical.
The man seemed uncertain about Matt’s outfit, but Matt smiled as it sparked an idea. He replied confidently, "Yes, dealing with the monsters I've encountered so far is quite simple for me. That’s not to say I’m certain there isn’t one out there that could kill me. I just prefer my chances of finding other groups alone rather than dragging others with me. As for this outfit, I acquired it by completing something called a dungeon with six others. I’m not sure if any of you are familiar with the term, as I wasn’t before stumbling into that death trap. Still, I managed to pull us through it in one piece, thanks to picking up a healing skill at level 5."
At the mere mention of a healing skill, one might have believed that Matt was announcing the offer of a million dollars for something as trivial as reciting the ABCs backward. Every face in the fort turned toward him, and several more heads peeked out from behind the other walls. This sudden attention quickly drew the ire of the man who had been negotiating, his annoyance plain on his face as he responded,
“Keep to your positions! This could all still be a trap! Now, if you claim to have a healing skill, prove it—and also reveal its limitations.”
“Just how would you have me prove it?” Matt replied with a raised eyebrow. “Do you even know the limitations of every skill you’ve acquired in this new world?”
“Cut yourself and heal it. At the very least, you should demonstrate how many times you can use your skill before needing time to recover.”
“How about you send some to me with an injury that isn’t too serious as the cost for me in proportional to the severity of the injury,” countered Matt.
A tense silence followed as Matt braced himself for a refusal. Then, murmurs arose from a small group, and a new figure emerged. Unlike the others, she clearly bore the marks of recent hardship—a battered and weary woman who looked as though she had just survived an encounter with a vicious horned rabbit. Her torn clothes and the hastily applied bandages around a deep gut wound testified to the severity of her ordeal. Two men hoisted her over the wall, while others hurriedly passed her along. Just as Matt was about to remark on her injuries not being “minor” enough, the other man spoke once more.
“If you can heal her, then we will believe you are not planning to be hostile. We might even consider allowing your group to join us here.”
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“Let’s not get anything twisted,” Matt countered sharply. “I’m not seeking a place to join—you should know I’m looking for others to join us. Part of that dungeon I mentioned is surrounded by an actual fort, one with walls so sturdy that even a charging boar wouldn’t easily break through them. Now, tell me, how long has she been fighting for her life?”
“A few days now,” came the tired reply. “But what makes you think we’d ever abandon this wall?”
“The fact that you maintain constant guards tells me something is amiss here. Tell me—have the goblins begun to harass you yet?”
“If by that you mean they’re running headlong at our walls like they want to die while other monsters pursue them, then yes. We endure such attacks at least once a day, though their assaults have become rather futile since we finished building this wall. Now, are you going to heal her or not?”
At this point, the men carrying the half-conscious woman set her down roughly midway between the wall and where Matt stood. This left him grappling with a difficult decision: he wasn’t sure whether his blood healing technique could combat the infection that had clearly taken hold of her. Moreover, if he attempted to heal her, he would be utterly at their mercy, for her wounds rendered her immobile. With a heavy sigh, he made up his mind and spoke with quiet resolve.
"I have two concerns about healing her. First, I’m uncertain how my skills will handle the infection she obviously has. Second, I’d be taking her wound upon myself, essentially bearing it until I can mend it. I’m sorry, but I can’t trust my life to your hands. However, if you’re agreeable to letting me take her back to my group for treatment, I’ll carry her there and return with her in two days."
As his words fell upon the group, Matt could see disappointment and apprehension spread among the onlookers behind the wall. One voice questioned, "Why not tomorrow?"
He replied, "I left my base about an hour after sunrise, and now it’s nearly sunset. The return journey will be long, and after healing her, I’ll need time to recover before coming back with her. It’s not a quick trip—it will cost me two days of scouring for groups like yours. Were it not for the saying, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, I would simply take her with me and point you in the direction of my group. The condition, however, is that I’ll only return if you all agree to follow me when I do."
"Are you going to refuse to help her—" someone began, but he interjected firmly, "I don’t care what any of you say at this point. I’m taking her with me; if I don’t, it looks like she’ll die. If there are others in similar states and someone in your group is willing to help carry them, I’ll welcome them as well."
Noticing the questioning glances exchanged among the group, Matt sensed that further discussion was futile. With determination, he stepped forward towards the woman. As he reached her, he felt the intense heat of her fever and worried that merely transporting her might prove fatal. Yet, with no better option available, he examined her wound more closely. It slashed through the right side of her gut, exiting at the back. Though scabbed over, the injury looked disturbingly rotten.
Still, as she struggled to keep her eyes open, he spoke softly but resolutely, "Whatever you do, don’t stop fighting. The next several hours will be rough, but if you can hold on, I promise to do everything in my power to heal you."
A slight nod was all she gave him as he bent down to pick her up, his ears alert to movement among a few others hiding behind the wall. Suddenly, another twenty heads emerged, each revealing scars and injuries. Matt observed their pained expressions; many bore deep gashes on their arms, and as several more crept over the wall, it became clear that leg injuries were equally common.
Glancing back at the guard who had been doing most of the talking, Matt frowned and asked, “How bad are things?”
“Stable, for now,” the guard replied, his tone somber. “But before we finished constructing this wall, things were truly dire. Across all our groups, 84 should have been here; now only 66 are still alive, and merely 30 of us are fit enough to fight. Fortunately, the constant monster attacks supply us with enough food, but after reaching level 3, it’s become incredibly hard to level up given the circumstances.”
“Well, crap,” Matt muttered, “I take it there are another 15 back there who can’t walk or stand?”
“Yeah, and from what we can tell, more than one of those is suffering from a broken leg,” the guard confirmed.
“Sounds like you need to get your group ready to move, because I’m not staying—and you’ll need every one of you to help transport them,” Matt stated firmly.
“Wait, you really think you can heal all of them?” the guard asked, a trace of doubt flickering in his eyes.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Matt admitted, “but my primary ability is regeneration. As long as it’s not a severed limb, I should be able to manage their wounds. Just know, anyone I heal is going to be pressed into work; we have a mountain of tasks that still demand attention.”
“And what if we decide to send only those who need serious healing with you?” the guard inquired.
“Then you’ll be following me tonight, no matter what. Once we reach the fort I’m talking about, if you want to leave, I won’t stop you. Heck, in a few weeks, I won’t even prevent the ones I heal from departing—I expect many of them will. Few of us are accustomed to working together, as you might have noticed. But if you’re comfortable being crammed together behind that wall, seeing my fort will make it hard to go back to these walls you’ve built out of necessity,” Matt explained.
With that, he slid his arms carefully under the woman and lifted her up. Then, moving at a measured pace to ensure none of the injured stumbled behind him, he began the trek away. His hope was to reach the first group he had encountered and return to the fort by sunrise without any major complications. He was particularly cautious about encountering goblins, though he couldn’t help but smile at the thought of them trailing behind. In their own way, the goblins might just serve as unwitting tools to lure monsters away towards the fort, allowing him to focus on recruiting new people while the goblin attacks pushed everyone to level up.
