章 34: Don't overdo it, please! part 2

Soon after Ryu's group reunited, the wolves retreated ending the battle as quickly as it started. Among the survivors there were few standing, making Ryu realize how close they were to end up among the casualties. When he met bob he was about to fight a wolf barehanded and Anne would have been a sacrifice just to earn a couple seconds more to a lowly scum who wouldn't even fight for himself.

Some people were mourning the dead while others walked around trying to help any survivors. Ryu noticed that there were those who would die after a single bite and those who survived even the most gruesome wounds, but still perished due to blood loss or lack of treatment.

As soon as it hit him, he went back to the sled and picked up some potions and bandages looking for survivors.

"Let me help you Ryu"

Anne said and Ryu replied nodding silently.

They lit a fire with whatever they had at hand while Bob went to look for survivors. Anne started to melt some snow to boil water and brought the sleds near the campfire.

Ryu grabbed some rope and sticks to improvise a tourniquet for a young man who was bleeding out due to a wolf bite. After he was sure he was stable he dragged him near the fire and went looking for another survivor.

Bob was bringing people on the verge of death and Ryu did his best, but much to his dismay several patients died anyway.

"Anne, grab ten potions and tend to the wounded. If they still have a chance to survive pour some in their wounds, ignore the ones that are close to death please, we don't have much time nor medicine"

Ryu orders and Anne complies. Bob was dumbfounded by their coldness, he couldn't hold on his tears anymore and was about to let all his frustration out when a loud scream accompanied by a powerful fist to the face brought him back to reality.

"Why are you carrying that!? where's big bro?"

One of Rudd's skinny crewmates hit Bob. When Rudd notices what happened put a hand on his grieving friend's shoulder and shook his head.

"Please excuse my friend Bob, can you point us in the direction of his body?"

Bob pointed the way and tried to hand them back the warhammer, but Rudd refused.

"You can keep it, it's so heavy none of us can use it properly"

People were piling up the bodies to start a pyre, they couldn't afford to leave their friend's corpses to be eaten by wild beasts but they can't carry them all the way back to town either.

A man on his mid twenties with deep wounds in his stomach was lying on the floor, he couldn't move nor did he have any energy to beg for help. Many passerby circled around him leaving him for dead, now the only thing left for him is waiting for the bitter end. He closes his eyes surrendering to his fate when a soaring pain forces him to open his eyes, only to see the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

With a silvery hair and a skin as white as the clouds Anne was the incarnation of beauty to this man.

"Stay still or your wounds might open again"

Anne smiled gently to the man. The effect of the potion was quick and it closed up the wound and healed his health points, but the energy his body consumed to heal added to the fatigue from the battle made him loose consciousness.

Anne walked the grounds tending to the people who couldn't be moved and sending those who could walk to Ryu's campfire. He was preparing a meal for everyone and added a cure light wounds potion to the soup so everyone could benefit from it.

It turned out to be very effective but since it was diluted no one noticed. Instead many were talking about the silver goddess who brought people back from the dead.

"Ryu, can you give me some potions too?"

Bob whispered to Ryu who was stirring the cooking pot

"I'm sorry Bob, but I can't"

"Why not? people are dying?"

"I'm already doing all I can. You're supposed to be on Hiraku's side, if you start using them too people will assume it's one of Hiraku's products and we won't be able to sell it freely"

"Are you saying money is more important than people's lives!?"

It only took a single glance from Ryu to make Bob shut up. His eyes were as cold as the snow they were standing on. There was no mercy, no kindness in his eyes, it was like staring into the bottom of a well, making Bob take a step backwards in fear.

Even though Bob knew he was way stronger than Ryu, his instincts reacted to an invisible threat that came from him. He couldn't believe it was the same mild tempered Ryu who would endure Luke's tantrums, who would cook for everyone with a smile, the same Ryu that would put his life in danger for the sake of others.

People were starting to gather in great numbers near Ryu's campfire, despite everyone's efforts, only about half of the people who came survived. Rudd took it upon himself to lead the people now that most hunters were either dead or injured.

"Listen up, we suffered great losses and I know many of you want to head back to town, but since we're so close to the mines it's better if we keep going. Those who want to go back can wait near the entrance. We'll start moving as soon as we can so rest while you can"

Those who were in good condition started to gather the belongings of those who passed away, the others sat on the snow trying to recover as much stamina as they could.

Anne came back and took a bowl of soup for herself and sat next to Ryu.

"What should we do now Ryu?"

Anne asked

"I'm not sure. Rudd, are wolves corpses worth anything?"

"Indeed, each small wolf is a silver coin, medium sized wolves should be between 5 and 10 silver each. Everyone will be making a fortune today"

"What do you mean? most people didn't even kill a single wolf"

Ryu asked fearing that they would divide the loot among everyone who survived, almost making him regret saving so many people.

"I forgot you guys are new around here. Whenever a crew member dies everything he had is divided among them. If a crew is exterminated, it's finders keepers, but since people can't carry everything they hold on to the most valued items and pile up the rest. Since so many people died I'm sure everyone will get a decent loot. About the wolves, the one who killed it owns the corpse."

He said the last part looking at Bob

"I saw you fighting, I knew you were strong but that was too much. Man! You didn't even move when the wolf tackled you, when we go back I'll buy you a beer"

Rudd said patting him on the arm. Everyone stared at them in admiration, if it weren't for them most of them would've died that day. It was the biggest wolf attack in Ironwoods history, making the surviving rate impressive. But Bob was unaware of this fact and couldn't shake the frustration of not being able to save more people.

After looting the battlefield every crew gathered, formed a line and started to drop whatever they wouldn't take with them in a single pile, from which others would claim the best items they could find. Rudd was next to the pile, but everything was done in an orderly fashion and Ryu was surprised to see no one was fighting over the spoils.

Only then he noticed that no one was quarreling over the fallen wolves, making him wonder if he was mistaken for distrusting people's honesty. What he didn't know though, was that on every mining trip hunters were able to kill any thief on the spot, making it impossible for them to cheat their way out of someone's loot.

When it was Ryu's crew turn he asked.

"Rudd, do you know whose sword is this?"

Rudd took it in his hands and nodded

"This belongs to Nikolai, one of the wealthiest merchants in Ironwoods. His crew was wiped out so you can keep it. Since you don't know our ways, it's our custom that the one who keeps another man's weapon pays his respects to his family. The same goes for you Bob"

Anne didn't pick anything from the dead, nor did she take anything from the pile. The mere thought of wielding a dead man's weapon gave her the chills. But that didn't prevent others from gifting her with their most valuable items.

Everyone was so grateful to her because she saved so many people, that soon she was overloaded with equipment hindering her movement.

After loading one of the sleds and placed an unconscious young man on the other, they resumed walking towards the mine. Anne and Bob killed so many wolves that they could only carry a small amount, when people noticed this they offered themselves to help them. Normally people would charge for such services, but out of gratitude not a single one of them even mentioned money, they just tied a rope to their waist and started dragging the corpses uphill. They were so close to the mine that even though they were walking slower than before they reached the entrance in less than an hour.

The next shift was already waiting outside and when they noticed how loaded everyone was, they understood what happened. Usually, even after being attacked people would still go in the mine, but now everyone was so overloaded that it just wasn't possible.

Despite it being the worst massacre Ironwoods ever faced, for those who survived it was the most lucrative shift they ever enrolled to. There were those who got loot in the battle, those who managed to kill a wolf or two and, of course, those who came back from the mine.

Much to Ryu's surprise they were almost empty handed. This was because it was impossible for carriages to move in the snow so they would pay a fee to store the ore inside a warehouse in the mine and a foreman would take note of everyone's belongings. This was the main reason why Rudd was so interested in the sleds, since it would make possible for him to carry a huge amount of elemental stones back to town.

Since Ryu wanted to see the mines and get some elemental stones for himself, he was tempted to stay along with the injured and wait until the next trip back, which was supposed to be in three days. But reality was different, Only a small amount of people would stay in the mines since the weather would soon become so cold it would make it impossible to get outside. They had accommodations for enough people to live inside for a long period, so they let the injured stay, but it was different for healthy people. Everyone was forced to go back and the mine was to remain closed until spring. Beasts would be starving after the freeze, making it much more dangerous.

The main issue with this was that little less than half Ironwoods entire population lives at the mine at any given time, so the amount of people going back to town was massive, making everyone fear that a group that big might attract stronger beasts than just wolves. Still many people stayed at the mines to protect it.

"Anne, Bob, should anything happen just drop the cargo and hop on a sled. Going downhill will be fast and safe, besides this people are not our responsibility"

"Can you say that after you let so many people die because you wouldn't spare some potions?"

Bob confronted Ryu for the first time, but Ryu remained unfazed.

"I didn't let a single person die on purpose, I did my best to keep everyone alive but I'm only human after all. Now you see everyone acting all generous and gentle with you because you showed your strength, but so far people in town have either ignored us or tried to scam us, do you think they would spare their own potions or even their own food if they had nothing to gain?"

Bob was really upset and Ryu's words didn't reach him, he felt responsible for all the people he failed to save. There were boys no older than sixteen among the group and elders too, most of them died because wolves would instinctively target the weakest.

He was about to reply to Ryu but he saw Anne looking sad. Only then he remembered that she would have been dead, and not because she made a mistake or her opponent was stronger than her, but because a self entitled man tried to trade his life for hers.

On the way back to the town, Bob felt bad for lashing out at Ryu. He still thought that Ryu should've spent all the potions he brought along, but still he wanted to apologize to him. But since everyone walked in complete silence the opportunity didn't come.

Hunters were anxious because of the past attack and did their best to stay alert, talking would only distract them.

Meanwhile Ryu's group was heading back to town, Hiraku was ecstatic to see that the warehouse was finished.

It was a simple square building but big enough to store large quantities of products. Ayumi insisted on going over there to sleep, but they were too used to sleeping in a comfortable bed so they postponed it until they could get some beds.

Hiraku's plan was to build a trading outpost, this meant that they also needed to get some animals. The good thing was that since the plot of land was located on the outskirts the mayor told them they could use as much land as they wanted, as long as they understood that it would be their duty to defend the place from beast attacks.

Usually, if someone wanted to build something on the outskirts, it'd be the mayor's duty to provide workforce to build and some town guards. That's why he asked for a gold coin, it didn't cover the costs completely, but his plan was to expand the city since every winter it became crowded due to the many people coming back home.

But Hiraku didn't need to defend the storage until Helena and Ayumi came back with the last cargo, because up to that point Rudd stored everything in his own house. Even though the group didn't have much time to prepare, they made gathering the elven wheat fruit a top priority before heading to Ironwoods, so they were stocked up on elven wheat fruit flour. They could've gathered even more, but it was pointless because they didn't even have enough plant fiber sacks to put the flour and they needed to keep the fact that the elven wheat fruit was edible.

One of the first things Ayumi bought was a paper, ink and a quill. This was due to the necessity of keep track of the amount of resources Rudd had stored in his house, and also to make a daily balance of their funds. This was a big set back for Hiraku, who wanted to go on a spending spree to make a barn for the horses he didn't have yet, shelves for the goods he didn't have yet, and even on a garden.

If it wasn't for Ayumi they would've been enslaved already. When she came back to Ironwoods along with Helena, the first thing she noticed was that the warehouse was finished and couldn't wait to move in. Every single day at the brothel was like an emotional torture she had to endure.

Not only madame Bianca's girls were good at their jobs, but also at promoting the merchandise. More than once she caught Hiraku eyeing a ravaging beauty's bosom, and whenever that happened she would grab Hiraku's ear and pull it until it became red.

The worst part was that Hiraku was quite handsome, even though he was on his mid fifties and already had some grey streaks inhabiting his black mane, since his body was rebuilt his skin was without any imperfection making him look at least twenty years younger.

By the time Anne, Bob and Ryu came back it was past noon. Since there was a huge amount of people coming home, streets were crowded And Rina's tavern was full to the brim, but the brothel was so full they had to make a line as long as three blocks.

Bob, who now not only has a great reputation but also was staying at the brothel's pension, was able to cut the line without problem. Many girls were standing at the entrance as if they were going to war, but reality was much worse. They were about to endure the weight of their client's prolonged abstinence and judging by the size of the line, things wouldn't settle at least for a few days. This was the only time of the year when they didn't need to go looking after clients or sweet talk them at the bar, but when they saw Bob every available girl marked him, specially after hearing how much he spent on a single night.

One of the most experienced prostitutes, to avoid mentioning the world 'old' which they consider to be offensive, drew close to Bob and reached for his arm. But as soon as she saw his face she realized what happened.

He was bearing the guilt of the battlefield, his eyes were void as if he was dead inside, his face looked more like that of a dead fish than a human being. Then, instead of hitting on him as usual she grabbed him by the arm and led him straight to his room hissing at the other girls to leave him alone. He was so devastated that he didn't resist.

Even though it meant that she would lose clients, even though she knew the other girls would hate her for keeping Bob to herself, she still took Bob to her room and once he lied on the bed she put his head on her lap and sang him a soft song to comfort him and nothing else.

But that meant the world to Bob.

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