Chapter 9: Ch 8: Human selfishness
Alex did not know what a twisted smile he had on his face. His hand was also covered in the beast’s blood which made him look like a maniac.
No one wanted to approach him in such a state. They were all suddenly afraid of him and they avoided looking at Alex.
The only one who stepped ahead to help Alex was the same priest who treated him in the first place. He took Alex’s bloody fist in his hand and gently poured his healing power into Alex’s body.
Up until now, Alex had not even realized he had been hurt by the impact of his fist colliding with the beast. But the pain slowly started to rush back once the adrenaline faded from his body.
“Kid, treasure your body a little bit. You might be strong enough to beat a beast, but that does not mean you should abuse yourself like this.”
The priest finished healing Alex and let his hand drop. Then, he turned away from Alex and walked toward the rest of his patients. He had a lot of work to do.
The others still looked uncomfortable as they watched Alex walking around in between them. They looked at Alex as if he was a criminal who was about to do something drastic and evil.
Alex was sure that his clash with the beast would attract attention. But he did not realize how soon people would come to check out the situation. Within 10 minutes, a guard from the city ran toward them with a tired expression.
“W-What happened? We heard the bell for help rang from here. People also told us that a beast was headed this way. Where is the beast?”
The city guard asked as he huffed. He looked around but was not able to see anything. Not until his eyes landed on the corpse in the corner of the room. That made the guard pause and flinch.
“What happened here? Where did this corpse come from?”
The guard asked with a shocked expression. This was the first time he had seen a demonic beast’s dead body. Usually, they had to drive them away since there was no way of killing these things.
‘H-Have we found a solution to our problem now? I need to hurry up and tell the head priest about this. He needs to know that there is a way to get rid of these monsters.’
The guard looked hopeful once more. But he was faced with hostile expressions of the people as well as their suspicious looks.
“Go back. We are not going to tell you how these beats were killed. You do not protect us and you do not even try to make the situation better for us. How can we trust you to keep you people?”
“That’s right! As soon as we tell you how this beast died, you will go ahead and take it away from us. What will happen to us if you did that?”
People were not happy to see the city guard in their camp. They had their guards up and the city guard knew that it was his fault. He tried to get these people to spill their secrets but they refused to.
But there was nothing these people could do when Alex decided to step forward himself. He stepped in front of the guard and looked him right in the eye.
“I am the one who killed that beast. What do you want from me?”
The guard looked shocked once he heard Alex speak. He could feel that Alex was telling the truth but it did not compute in his mind. Alex was a thin and fragile-looking young man. He was malnourished and his body showed signs of abuse.
The guard could not compute this kid being the one to kill the beast.
“Stop playing around kid. Now hurry up and tell me the truth about this beast’s death. How did it die?”
The guard asked once more but the teenager did not back down or change his mind. The others around him looked quiet but suspicious as well.
‘Don’t tell me! Is this kid telling the truth? Is he the one who killed this beast? I need to take this kid back at any cost now.’
The guard was alert now. He knew what he had to do and he was willing to do it at any cost. He did not care if he would become an icon of hate for these campers. He had a duty to fulfill.
“You killed this beast? In that case, you need to come back with me and meet the high priest. Come, I will lead you to the city.”
The guard held his hand out for the stranger to take. The stranger looked at the guard in front of him with a blank expression and that made the guard hesitate. But he kept his hand held out.
However, the people around them had a lot to say about this decision of the guard. They could not accept that the one protecting them would be taken away from the guard.
“How dare you! You cannot just come here and take away this person! He is here to protect us. What will happen to us all if this young man leaves us now?”
“That’s true. You have so many people protecting the city. Why do you have to take away the one person who is protecting us? We will not let you take him away.”
Alex had to say one thing about this situation he was in - these people were far too entitled.
They were scared of him and refused to acknowledge his presence before the guard came. But now all they could think about was how to hold Alex back in their camp. How was this fair to him?
Alex was about to tear all these entitled people a new one when someone else beat him to it. And unlike Alex, the priest was far too gentle and kind to use mean words.
“Everyone, the decision to go back with the guard or not is not ours to make. The only one who can make this decision is the young man in front of us. After all, he doesn’t owe us anything.”
This priest was far too kind for his good. His words caused the other people to look at him with angry expressions. They did not like what this priest had just said.
But at the same time, they could not deny the priest’s words as well. If this teen decided to go with the guard, there was nothing they could do to stop him.
“Young man, the decision is yours to make. Will you come with me? Or will you stay here and waste your time with these crippled people?”
Alex looked back at the group behind him. There was nothing he would gain from staying here. And his objective was to get into the city and fight the succubus threatening them.
But at the same time, he also wanted to want to repay the priest for his help. It did not feel right to not do anything for him.
“Hey you, come with me. I am going to head to the city since it is my mission, but I want to repay you as well. So come back with me.”
Alex held his hand out to the priest and no one else. Everyone behind the priest tensed up as they watched the young beast-killer make this offer. They had already lost one person; they could not afford to lose the priest as well.
These people were selfish and they only thought about their lives. But that was human nature and they could not help it. The priest knew this as well so he decided.
“I cannot come with you into the city alone. I am responsible for these people and I want to stay with them until they can go out on their own.”
The guard groaned in frustration. He did not want to stay out of the city gates for long since it was not safe. The demoness was a real threat looming over their heads and there were a lot of wild beasts as well.
‘I am sure the superiors would not be happy about me bringing back these many mouths to feed. But this is better for me to bring them all back than to not bring back our potential saviors.’
The guard thought about this and decided to make an offer.
“You all can head back toward the city with me. We can discuss things once we are back.”
Everyone looked happy with this offer. They no longer complained and even the sick stood up to walk toward the city. They had only taken a few steps when the bushes rustled and a small but viscous rabbit-looking beast crossed their path.
The guard tensed as soon as he noticed this beast. Even a beast this small would require 10-12 people to kill it.
But much to his surprise, the young man he had recruited dashed forward and hit the rabbit with his fist. The rabbit beast collapsed and died on the spot.
This left the guard as well as the on-looks in awe. The stranger had a disturbing smile on his face but he had produced results.
‘I am sure this is the right decision to make. This man can help us out.’
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone