Chapter 24

The sudden calm helped Alice's arrow to head towards its intended target, but her low skill with the bow couldn't be made up for with just this.

Glancing off the bandit's shoulder harmlessly, the arrow fell to the ground and skittered through the dirt.

The bandit's enraged glare shot to the opening of the carriage, where Alice was sitting in terror. He started dragging Su towards Alice, his eyes glimmering with killing intent.

Su tried to push away from the bandit, but he caught her arm before she could get away.

Just a few meters away, Ash was still collapsed on the ground. His body still felt powerless, but he knew if he didn't get up now, he would lose his new family.

Pulling himself along the ground weakly, he crawled closer to the bandit… but his effort was wasted.

A sickening noise rang out.

An arrow was protruding from the bandit's skull, the bladed tip dyed with red and white juices.

The bandit was dead before he hit the ground, his once wrathful eyes now blank.

The bandit wasn't the only unfortunate one in this incident.

Su was in the splash zone, and were covered with a spattering of brain and skull chunks.

Su immediately began retching up the breakfast from this morning, while Alice ran over to Ash, seeming to not notice the mess.

She immediately noticed the wound in Ash's side, but upon seeing that it had barely broken the skin, she smiled.

Hugo and the rest of the hunters had already finished taking care of the rest of the bandits. After a few shots, the bandits had realized that they stood no chance at winning the fight, turning and running.

Hugo didn't bother chasing after the escaping bandits, instead running over to comfort his daughter, whose breakfast was now displayed openly on the ground.

The rest of the hunters began dragging the bodies of the bandits to the side of the road. The effects of the 'magic stone' hadn't worn off yet, and the caravan would have to wait for the horses to rest before continuing the journey home.

The younger members of the caravan all rested while the older hunters took care of the bodies. Ash was still unable to stand, and Alice was too weak to pick up the large wolf. She managed to rally some of the hunters to come help, but they stood in front of Ash nervously. They had to carry this massive wolf, whose mouth was stained with the lifeblood of another man.

"He is friendly to us… right?"

The hunters knew that the wolf was like a cuddly puppy to Alice, but to them, it was a threatening beast.

Brownie was the most comfortable with the wolf, and took most of the weight when carrying him, while the other hunters helped hold him nervously.

Alice sat with Ash in the carriage, and the hunters went back outside to finish dealing with the bodies of the bandits.

The future of the bodies of enemies who fell in battle was often burning. It would stop wild animals from eating the corpses, and was also faster than digging a whole to bury a body.

After the fire had begun burning the bodies of the bandits, all of the hunters gathered up. The adrenaline of the battle had worn off, and now a silence fell over the group. Most of the hunters had seen death before, but it still left a bad taste in their mouths.

The younger members of the group were more affected than the veterans.

Ed sat with his head in his hands. After the fight was over, the skinny young man didn't seem like himself.

He had been an inch from dying.

If that bandit had moved just a little faster, his life would be over. Everything he had worked for up to this point would be over as well.

He gritted his teeth thinking about it. A peaceful life would have been great. Ed was smart, he wouldn't have struggled finding a job in the city.

He was only here because he had no other options. A job in the city wouldn't pay enough… so even if he had to live with death working out here, he had no other choices.

The scene inside of Ash's head was somewhat similar to Ed's.

Ash had just ripped out the throat of a man.

He was always good under pressure, but now that the adrenaline had died down, he was second guessing himself.

Should I really have killed that guy?

If I just kept biting his arm, would he have given up?

^It's over now, bro. What's done is done. Yea, we just killed that dude, but he was going after Su and Alice. You did a good thing.^

Despite saying this, Roth wasn't feeling well either. He wasn't the one in control of the body, but he was still in here.

'I guess… Well, it doesn't help to think about it more. We should focus on the future. '

Ash quickly found a different topic to talk about, that being the strange 'magic stone'.

'We are finally getting strength back, what was that magic stone thing? Maybe there really is magic in this world, I don't see how else that could happen.'

^Hmm… maybe it is some kind of chemical? Muscle relaxants are a thing, and that seems to what is causing the weakness. I think it is some kind of muscle relaxant… but why does it not work on humans? It doesn't make perfect sense yet, but it might be possible. I don't think this is magic, just science.^

Alice was sitting next to Ash, her hand resting against his side. She surely had a lot to think about as well. While she hadn't killed someone herself, she did see a lot of people die. It was a huge difference from what she always heard about from people in the city.

Before today, the outside world seemed like a magnificent place, filled with friendly people who would lend a helping hand to anyone in need.

Alice knew about her father's standing within the community, and knew that he wasn't well liked by any of the mercenaries around, but even so, she was treated well by them.

Everyone she talked to in the past treated her kindly, even her father's enemies, leading her to think that the world was a great place.

Now that she had ventured out of her sheltered home, she knew that the world wasn't quite as she had imagined.

'If this is what the world is like, where people rob and fight each other… I wonder what Ash went through before he came to us. I need to find out how he ended up in that cage.'

As she looked at Ash, who was now sleeping next to her, the carriages started rolling once more. The horses had recovered from the effects of the magic stone, and were now pulling the young girl back to the city that she had always thought of as a peace filled place.