Chương 81: Ruined Settlement (4)

Rowan twisted around and waved at Eren. Why she was up already, he had no idea. Maybe his perception of time was off, and he'd already spent enough time on watch? She gave a tired smile in return as she continued walking toward him.

"Hey, Rowan."

"Hey. Why are you up already? I could swear I got up less than an hour ago." Eren stretched and stopped walking, sitting down next to him.

"Couldn't sleep. I used to have this problem before the Tutorial, but it's gotten worse since then." Rowan nodded, and for a few minutes, the two sat in silence as they looked up at the night sky. Then, Rowan broke the silence.

"What happened here?" He waved his hand around, gesturing at the ruined town.

"Why are there so few people left? The walls are broken, sure, but it still seems safer than just sleeping in the wilderness."

"We got here right after the boar attacked, and most of the town was still here. The people left because of the bloodspawn; they showed up in the middle of the night, and without the walls…" Eren took a deep breath.

"They killed so many people, Rowan. So many. And they grabbed some people and took them back to the caves, too. They took Isabella." Rowan thought back to when he'd first met the party. They'd been chasing after one of their companions named Isabella.

"Once we'd driven off the bloodspawn, a lot of us chased after them," Eren continued.

"We were all trying to rescue the people they'd taken. We got almost all of them, though it was already too late for most of them.

"But Isabella… we didn't get to her in time. We didn't even manage to get her body. By the time we caught up with the bloodspawn who'd taken her, it was too late." She let out a tiny laugh before burying her head in her hands.

"We would've all died, too, if it wasn't for you coming and saving us." Eren let out a breath.

"And that's why no one's here anymore; the bloodspawn either killed them or scared them off." Rowan opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as Eren kept talking.

"We're just so fucking weak! You know, I thought that we were strong not too long ago. But we're nothing! We can barely hold our own against a few bloodspawn, and just one strong enemy could wipe us all out!" She shifted, looking into Rowan's eyes.

"How do you do it, Rowan? How were you so calm? How are you not in so much pain right now?" She pointed at the wounds scattered across his body.

"I…" Rowan paused for a moment, trying to think of what to say.

"I got lucky. My situation isn't a normal one. As for the pain, I just got used to it. I've gone through a lot before the Tutorial, and even more now that I'm not in it. I'm not immune to it. I'm just better at resisting."

"Even if your case is unique, people like me can still get stronger, right? Maybe not as strong, but we can!" She took a few seconds to calm herself down before going on.

"If a single creature from one of the more dangerous zones comes, none of us stand a chance. We won't even be able to run. We'll just be dead." As she buried her head in her hands once more, Rowan turned and hugged her, holding her for a moment before letting go. It was awkward, to say the least, especially with how he'd barely had any social interactions for weeks. Still, it felt like the right thing to do. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

After a minute, Eren lifted her head and stared into the distance.

"I just don't know what to do! We can't keep going like we are, but I don't know what we should do instead." She let out a breath and stared up at the sky for a moment.

"Sorry, Rowan. I didn't mean to get so emotional. It's just that in the last few days, I've realized just how weak everyone is. Even back at Bastion, all it would take to destroy the walls and half the settlement would be a few strong creatures." Rowan frowned. He'd been thinking about it, too, how everyone was so weak. He was sure there were quite a few powerful people out there, and definitely some who were stronger than he was. But so far, he was more powerful than everyone he'd met.

And that did bring up the problem with him staying with the party; he genuinely enjoyed their company, but at the same time, they were far weaker than he was. Staying with them long-term would just hinder him. He was already planning on splitting up with them eventually to go into the more dangerous areas of the Tutorial, but that had the issue of leaving them behind. For now, the party was strong enough to survive, though they would have to flee when it came to more powerful enemies.

But for how long would that go on? Even if they could keep up with the rate at which the beasts were growing in strength, what would happen if they ran into a level 15 or even a level 20 creature? Rowan knew the answer: they would all die. And he didn't want that to happen. Perhaps he could help them get stronger? He would have to learn more about the area and focus on his own power first, but he thought it was possible.

If he could help them gain strength and get their classes before he left, they would have a much higher chance of survival. And there was also the chance that they would become powerful enough that they could come with him, though he didn't want to subject Cynthia to the danger he would be walking toward. Cynthia was a strong-willed girl, and in the end, she needed to get stronger, too, in order to survive. If he were to help train the party, he would just let her and her father make the decisions, he supposed.

And then, he brought his mind to the final and most important problem: how would he even help them? He was no martial master or expert with the sword. He had simply grown powerful by grinding his way through the caves. Even his combat methods wouldn't work with them, since his abilities revolved around the use of his chains and [Mana Manipulation]. Though if he remembered correctly, Henry had told him that one of the twins, Emma, had the skill as well. Perhaps he could teach her how to use it?

For the rest of the party, though, the only thing he could really do was help them level up and teach them how to deal with enemies like the thunderous jaguars, ants, or bloodspawn. As for how he would help them, he would simply help them fight against more powerful creatures. If he were being honest, he wasn't entirely sure how the System distributed progress from killing creatures.

Back in the caves, when he'd been trying to escape after slaying the broodmother, he'd beaten up a few bloodspawn before throwing them into the attacking ants. Even though he hadn't been the one to land the final blow, he'd still received notifications for killing them. How much… Rowan frowned. It didn't feel right to just call it 'progress.' After a moment, he decided on 'experience.' How much experience had he gotten from those kills, he didn't know, but he was sure it wasn't the full amount.

If he could weaken a powerful enemy enough for someone else to finish it off, then the experience would be split among them. Hopefully, this would allow him to help strengthen the other people in the party. There was always the chance that the System would recognize that he was doing a lot of the work and not give them much experience. But if that was the case, then he would just do less to weaken the stronger enemies and not participate at all against weaker foes.

While it would put them in more danger, it was probably a good thing, in the end; if they weren't ready to put their lives on the line, he didn't think even having a higher level would let them survive. Of course, he could think about all of this, but he couldn't be certain that it would work. He was also operating under the assumption that they would all agree to him training them, but—aside from Lucas, whom he had no idea about—he was sure they would. Rowan was drawn out of his thoughts as Eren spoke.

"I think your shift's about up, Rowan. You should probably head back to bed now. I'll take it from here." Rowan nodded.

"Alright. Goodnight, Eren." As he got up, though, he felt her grab his leg. Turning toward her, he listened as she said, "I'm really sorry about that…I just needed to get it out. Thanks for listening to me." Rowan smiled.

"No problem. If you ever need to talk to someone, I'm here, okay?" She nodded. Then, with a sigh, Rowan made his way over to his blanket on the floor and collapsed into the bed.