Chương 79: Ruined Settlement (2)

"I'm right here." The moment Rowan spoke, Cynthia let out a happy cry, while Eren and Henry both leaped from their seats around the campfire, staring at him in alarm. Cynthia ran up and hugged his leg, inadvertently putting pressure on his wound, but Rowan just gritted his teeth against the pain as he waved at the two adults sitting around the fire.

Once the little girl let go of his leg, he limped over to them, plopping down and letting out a groan of relief as he set the boxes and meat he'd taken along with him to the ground as well; he was tired. At the same time, he cut the mana flow to his chains, allowing them to faintly glow once more.

"Oh my god, are you alright?" Eren stared at his many wounds with horror as Rowan sat down.

"I'm fine. They're nothing too bad, just gotta wait a bit for them to heal." Rowan sighed. Sometimes it was like his toughness stat didn't do anything, but he knew that wasn't the truth—it was the only reason he was still alive. It was enough to drastically reduce the effects of many attacks on him, just not quite enough to stop them entirely. That was why it felt like it wasn't doing anything; even if the injuries weren't as bad, he still got them all.

It also didn't help that his opponents also had enhanced stats, allowing them to do more damage and essentially counteract his toughness.

"The jaguar got you, huh?" Henry frowned as he looked at Rowan.

"I don't know how you do it. I can handle a few injuries, but that many, and you're still moving?" He shook his head.

"The pain's just too much for me, y'know?" Before Rowan could respond, Eren cut in.

"Those…don't look like they're from the Jaguar. They almost look like bullet wounds—wait, when did you get that gun?" She pointed at his waist, shooting him an inquisitive look.

"Yeah, they're not from the jaguar." Rowan smiled slightly as he thought back to the fight.

"It was weaker than I thought it would be, to be honest. It barely managed to hurt me.

"I got ambushed after the fight. I think it was eight people? They tried to kill me and take my stuff."

"Seriously?" Henry leaned in.

"What'd you do to them?" Rowan felt a tiny bit of pride at Henry's words. It was nice to know that the man assumed that he'd won the fight rather than just fleeing for his life. But that feeling of pride was crushed as he thought back to what he'd done. He'd killed them. He didn't truly regret his actions, but he still didn't like the idea that he'd killed people, and he certainly didn't want to take any pride in it.

If it had been the him from just before the Tutorial who'd had to kill more than half a dozen other people, he thought his reaction would be much worse, but his time in the caves had hardened him.

"I…" Rowan looked down. It was one thing to make peace with the killings in his mind. It was another to tell someone else about them.

"... killed them." The last words came out as barely more than a whisper as Rowan tried not to meet the eyes of anyone else.

"Ah, it was your first time, no?" Henry asked, voice sympathetic.

"Makes sense. If you want to talk about it, you can always…" The man trailed off as Rowan replied, "I'm alright. Thank you, though. They deserved it, but still, it's just…"

"I understand. Most of us have had to kill someone at some point since we got here." Henry sighed.

"None of us dealt with it very well, y'know? It's hard.

"Well, if you need anything, just let us know." Rowan nodded.

"Thanks." As he shifted to look around, he saw Eren walking toward him from beneath a tarp that they'd put up between the town wall and one of the damaged homes. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. He hadn't even noticed her leaving, but in the woman's hands were several strips of cloth. A few seconds later, she handed them to him.

"I know you said you'd be fine, but you should still bandage up. We boiled these earlier, so they should be clean." Rowan smiled as he took the bandages.

"Thanks." As he took off his shirt and began to wrap the wounds on his arm, he asked, "Does it really matter if the bandages are clean? Once our stats get to a certain point, can we even get infected anymore?" Eren shrugged.

"Don't know. Still, better safe than sorry." Once most of his injuries were bandaged, Rowan tried to reach around his back to wrap the wound, but he just couldn't get the cloth to properly wrap around it. He'd already taken off the leather shirt the party had given him, but he still wasn't quite able to get it. Frowning in frustration, he twisted, trying in vain to get it around himself. The cloth was more than long enough to wrap around his whole torso, but the injuries on his arm restricted his mobility.

He was sure he would be able to do it eventually, but his arm flexibility wasn't great. As she watched him, Eren let out a laugh.

"Do you need help with that?" Rowan tried one more time, only to let out a yelp of pain as he strained his injured arm. He let out a defeated sigh.

"Yes, please." She laughed again and walked over to sit behind him. Grabbing the bandage from his hands, she began to wrap it around him. As she worked, Eren asked, "How'd you get this one?"

"Someone threw a dagger at me." Rowan gritted his teeth as the bandage tightened around his wound.

"Huh. It's not very deep for a wound like that. Was it a bad throw?"

"I think my ribs blocked it from going any further. It wasn't the strongest throw or a very sharp knife, either." As Eren continued to wrap his back, Rowan caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye. Looking over to where the party had strung up a tarp to keep their supplies under, he saw a figure get up from where it had been lying on the ground. Looking closer, he saw two others curled up on the floor. He hadn't thought about where Lucas and the twins might've been, but it seemed he found them.

The figure that'd gotten up stepped into the light of the campfire, illuminating their face. Rowan sighed. It was Lucas. He'd been hoping it would be one of the siblings, if only because he was too tired to deal with the man. If he were being honest, he didn't even care that much if Lucas was callous or ignored him. As long as he didn't try to start anything like he had when they were heading out on their journey to the ruined town they were now in, Rowan wouldn't bother with doing anything.

"I'm gonna go use the bath—" Lucas cut off mid-sentence as his eyes flicked over to the shirtless Rowan and then to Eren, who was just finishing bandaging the wound on his back. Rowan just stared back as Lucas glared at him for a second before turning away and marching into the darkness that surrounded the fire. As the man went to do his business, Rowan shook his head. What was his problem? Well, he knew the problem, he supposed.

He'd known plenty of people who were like Lucas back on Earth, and all of them had had deep-seated insecurities of one kind or another. Still, it was annoying, especially when Rowan just wanted to rest. Before he could get too worked up, though, Henry walked up to him and handed a wooden bowl filled with some kind of roasted meat and a wooden fork to eat it with.

"I cooked this earlier, but we saved some for you. If you want any more, just let me know, hm?" Rowan nodded.

"Thanks. What is it?"

"Cerva meat," Henry said, continuing a moment later after seeing Rowan's blank look.

"Y'know those weird deer things with extra antlers? I think some of the bloodspawn were carrying them back into the tunnels, no?" Rowan nodded again, remembering the deerlike creatures that the bloodspawn hunting parties had been bringing to the broodmother.

"Well, we found one of 'em on our way here," Henry said.

"Their meat's basically venison. A bit gamey, but it tastes alright." The man paused and thought for a few seconds.

"I think it'd taste better from a higher-level Cerva, y'know?" Rowan's eyes widened at the man's words. He'd nearly forgotten about the gift he'd brought for him.

"Speaking of meats from high-level enemies…" Rowan twisted slightly and grabbed the meat that was sitting atop the boxes he'd been carrying.

"I got you this!" He hoisted the chunk of flesh into the air, presenting it to Henry. At the same time, Eren, who'd still been sitting behind him despite having finished with the bandages, stood up and walked around to stand next to Henry. As the two looked at the meat, Rowan continued, "It's from that boar the Jaguar was on! I'm not sure what level it was, but I think it was at least level 15." Henry nodded slowly as he took the meat from him, holding it by the hook.

"Definitely. That was the same boar that attacked the town here, so level 17." Rowan smiled slightly as he received the confirmation that the boar had been the one to destroy the settlement. It was nice to know that his theory had been correct. Even as he spoke, the man's eyes remained locked onto the boar's flesh. Then, after a few more seconds, he turned to Eren and spoke.

"You got room for more, no?" She nodded.

"Good." Henry smiled happily and made his way over to the boxes of cooking supplies that Rowan had brought.

"This better be as good as I hope it'll be.