33 – I Just Wanted to Loot the Roasted Grandma, Not Adopt 4 Kids
Crow was about to charge forward and strike, but a piece of the burning ceiling fell right in front of him. He swerved, losing his balance, and the angry Grandma showed no mercy.
Slash!
Clash!
"Grandma, you look tired. Did you forget your nap time?" Crow smirked a little after saying this.
“YOU! Y-YOU! AAARRG!” The angry Grandma’s face turned red, then she charged straight at Crow, while he mocked her and quickly glanced up at the ceiling.
“Why are you mad? It’s only a joke…”
[Level Up]
[One-Liner Level 1 -> 2]
SLASH!
Crack!
This is bad. How can a pipe only take 2 hits? I needed more time... Or maybe not?
The ceiling, which had already been slowly cracking apart, caved in right on top of them this time, or so it seemed. But Crow had already been paying attention to it and managed to leap away, landing right on the burning patch of the floor nearby that they had both been avoiding.
Ok, maybe that wasn't a good idea...
He turned his head to look at the old woman, but the debris had fallen right on top of her, and the floor began to split apart as well. Looking through one of the small cracks in the ground, you could see it was burning down below, a forge broken into several pieces, looking as if it had been blown up.
This doesn't make sense. I remember them talking about black powder, which I assume is gunpowder, and an explosion, but that was all the way on the other side. Although during the fight with her here, I might not have noticed new explosions. It must be some kind of chain reaction. Whatever the case, I'll take advantage while this grandma—
“[Heal]” she whispered from underneath all the debris.
Yeah, looks like she survived. Well, if her subordinates apparently survived stuff falling on their heads, she, with her CON stat sky-high, probably would too. Whatever, I'm getting outta here. Yeah, she'll be the Hero's problem, so I think it's best to leave it as it is.
She stood up from the debris, but the fire was making it hard for the magic to heal her, and the sharp debris falling on top of her didn't help either. Crow stared down at her from above, and as he turned to leave, he saw a giant man approaching from the right path. The 1 Sharon and the group went through was the middle 1, the 1 that was "created" by brute force. Crow passed right by the guy and said nothing, just ran. In the meantime, the man drew his sword, his expression showing nothing at all. "You did this?"
Crow didn't answer. The brute had swung his sword in the meantime, which was useless because it was easily dodged. The man turned to go after Crow but heard a voice in the background saying, "S-stoneface... my boy... help me..."
He fell into despair upon turning and seeing only Grandma's eyes under a pile of burning metal and wood that had fallen from the completely destroyed ceiling. He ran to help her, but whenever he removed the debris off her, more fell, and she whispered again.
“Stoneface... Leave. I wasted almost all my mana... You can’t see it from there, but I lost my legs. I was using all my mana just to keep myself alive. In a few more minutes... I’ll be dead... Just—”
"No, you can’t die Mama. The Hero couldn't kill you, what are some tons of metal and wood? Fire can’t hurt you, you’ll live, just wait a moment I—"
While on the floor level, only her eyes visible, and 1 of her arms outside that, she said while holding his hand, "Quiet, what I will… tell you is… important, you need…"
A piece of metal fell on his head; he didn't even move. "Mama?"
He continued tearing the debris off her, but the ceiling came crashing down entirely on top of him.
Crow was almost outside the place, running as best he could while the ceiling was collapsing and the floor sinking down at least two stories. Jumping and doing his best to avoid falling and being buried alive, he saw several bodies from the group along the way.
It seems Stoneface gave up on the manpower since he saw them fleeing, and just killed them... well, I tried my best, better not think too much about it. I hope at least a few survived. Where is Sharon? No, she wouldn't be able to kill him right now, but the same goes for him, so he probably noticed the place collapsing and went after his grandma, ignoring her.
Approaching some sort of mining tunnel, he saw a light in the distance and heard a faint, distant voice in the background. “Nooooooooooooo! I will kill yooooouu!”
Finally, I am outside this place, or not? Nevertheless that was close, I almost died. Now what will happen… the gang invasion quest is no more, maybe the Hero will be weaker now? Whatever.
He exited the place and it was some sort of abandoned mine. In the background, he could see a few silhouettes of people, there were approximately 4 of them, and there were mining carts with coal, and some types of metals and rocks inside them, he couldn't identify exactly what they were.
Did she survive? Why didn't I get XP? Wow, to think I am considering people, despite being criminals, as XP. The world really corrupts people, since I got here... no, after the "upgrade" and "loyalty" potion, it seems like a bit of my humanity diminished... well, there's no use crying over spilled milk. From today on, I will strive to only kill the abominable monsters that exist in this world, and besides specific villains and bandits, try my hardest not to kill civilians, before I become a monster myself.
As Crow walked slowly towards the entrance reflecting in vain, he felt a presence when passing near a fork that led to another area of the mine, which he intended to ignore, but looking at the ground he saw a trail of blood and several pieces of stone, and some crumbled ones painted in dark red.
"You took a while... Crow..."
This... can’t be.
He saw several bodies cut in half at the height between the chest and the belly button, the very people he had rescued. He approached the dark part of the fork; Sharon was there, with about 5 bodies split in half near her.
[CONGRATULATIONS!]
[Passive Skill Acquired]
[Mental Fortitude Level 1]
"Crow... say something, since I... can't see... he hit me head-on, right... it was only 2 strikes... 1 at eye level, and another at stomach level... well, at least at my stomach... say something... why aren't you saying anything?"
This... isn’t real.
He almost threw up seeing the carnage, bodies everywhere, then he put his hand over his mouth and tried to swallow the nausea. “Sharon, I'm going to get this body off you, and... I'm going to check the situation...”
"Be quick... because I'm not feeling... my legs."
Man, this is too heavy for my mind...
He took half of the woman's body off Sharon. Since it was dark and hard to see well, he couldn’t be certain she was whole, especially with the pool of blood near her. He shook his head and said, “I'm going to get you out of here, I should have guessed... you were in a weak state before, I didn't calculate this right, this is my fault... again, I thought the plan was perfect.”
After that, he took off his coat and placed it around her stomach, tying it to stop the blood from flowing out, and as he ran his hands behind her back, he noticed that her spine bones felt all wrong. "Did he throw you here?"
"Honestly... I don't remember, but probably yes... I am… almost losing consciousness."
Crow took her in his arms and lifted her, carrying her similarly to the well-known princess carry, after bandaging her in an improvised way. "Don't worry Sharon, from what I saw, the cut was deep, but I believe your life is not at risk, of course I’ll take you to a cleric. What happened to the rest, is the girl okay? Did she die? And the kids?"
"They... well, I took the strike to the eyes first, so I didn't see, but he just did 2 or 3 area strikes, and ran away because of the collapsing noises, those strikes that... killed most of them. Honestly... it's a joke that I was severely injured by them... but, I was low on strength, a lot happened while—"
She passed out. Great, simply amazing, she didn't even drink anything to heal herself... those people up ahead, I hope they aren't guards, the situation is already not good.
When he left the area and could see better, he heard a female voice saying, “I knew it! I told you guys he wouldn't die so easily.” It was Dorothy.
Crow looked around and only saw children; when one of them approached, it hit him.
I see, the strikes were above their height, to think they survived because of that, at least the children. Looking closely, Sharon is the only adult who survived, how is that possible?
“E-er, big brother... what will happen now? What do we do?” A boy asked.
He looked around, seeing only 4 children including Dorothy. The blow passed right over the kids because of their height, killing all the others, except for Sharon, who survived because she was high level.
“Let's leave this mining area... head back to town, and I will, well... I'm going to talk to a merchant I know and hire a transport with mercenaries for you guys, in case you want to go to the kingdom where I'm living... But it's your choice, and in the meantime, I'll look for a cleric for her.” He finished speaking, looking down at the unconscious Sharon in his arms.
Dorothy approached and said, “Well, now that Grandma is gone, I don't even have to think twice, I already know chaos is going to take over this city, since now the other gang, um... I think their name was something like The Skinnies.”
I knew it! To think I guessed that gang's name from a joke one of the thugs made, and it really was The Skinnies, haha. No, I have to get out of here soon, before bigger problems arise.
“Come on, whoever wants to leave with me, just follow me, it is too early for children to make their own decisions, but life is unfair.”
After speaking, he just kept walking straight, and Dorothy and the other children followed him. Passing a bit further ahead, he saw a small crater on the ground.
Looks like this is the part of the ceiling that had fallen and buried the others, yeah, that was a close call. True, I almost forgot, the Hero at this moment must be at the raid, I wonder if there will be a reset? I sincerely hope not, if all of this is in vain it is tough, and it is not like it could be any better than it was, more stealthy than I was for a Warrior, impossible, although the Hero was way too smart, he probably wouldn’t try again in the same place... or would he? Anyway, another crater here, strange that there are no guards.
He kept going straight until he almost left the mine area, where it was already flatter and a simpler part of the town was beginning, a bit simpler than the ruined, falling-apart place where he had accidentally managed to infiltrate the base of that Grandma's gang.
“M-mister?” Dorothy, visibly nervous, asked. “I know you helped us get out of there... where we were slaves. Without a doubt, Mister is a good person, but, don’t be mad, I-I just want to know, why did you do all this?”
Crow, leaving the mine area, replied, “How can you tell if someone is telling the truth? I'm going to say something that sounds absurd, but at least to you it will make sense. I know a little bit of what's going to happen in the future, and if I left you there, well, you’d end up dying early. I know your potential and I need you for my plans. Don't worry, I'll guarantee your safety. Of course, you can just walk away and go your own way, but then I can't guarantee your safety, and you know what this world is like.”
“I see. Well, knowing the future doesn't sound that absurd; mages can do unbelievable things to most people, after all... well, I’ll go with you... not because I'm grateful or anything... okay, I'll trust you. I'm under your care, for now.”
What…? Man. Well, whatever, fire mage added to the party. Now there are 2 of us. I need more people who would follow me when running away from Alice. Well, I think that... no, that guy is a no-go. If it worked out... man, what a situation. I was practically close to getting 1 mage, 1 marksman, and me on the front line as a tank warrior. It would have been perfect. No, I'll forget about that guy, he's too unstable anyway. Maybe it's for the best. Though Sha-sha... she actually seemed really interested. I need to find out if she would join the party, but in a way that if Alice checks her memories, she won't find out about my plans... well, I'll leave that for later, after all—
“M-mister?” Dorothy gently tugged at a piece of the fabric of his coat, right near his wrist.
“What is it?”
“I'm hungry.”
“Alright, as soon as we get there and find a cleric, I'll buy some food.”
It didn't take long before they were inside a neighborhood of the town. Crow asked a few people to find out where a cleric was, and he learned about a place with a moon symbol where people with healing powers could be found. For every question he asked someone, Dorothy asked him another. He, being very patient, answered her every time. After a while, he arrived at the location and went to talk to the receptionist, who, after explaining a few things, told them to go right in after seeing that it might be an emergency due to the injuries on the woman in his arms.
Crow followed her, and all the children stayed in the reception area waiting for him.
“11 silver coins. You can leave her there on the bed, and the cleric on duty will begin the treatment.”
After Crow paid and laid Sharon on the bed, the cleric arrived. She was quite short, with red hair.
“Hello. Since I can see the situation is bad, and I can tell she has a severe blade wound on her abdomen because of the red stain, as well as her eyes... well, I won't ask too many questions about that. But keep in mind that if you guys are from one of the gangs in this city... The paladins are at the back door, okay? Don’t try anything funny... So, I'll go ahead and use healing magic on her right now.” The cleric placed her hands on Sharon's belly, and a silver light shone forth as she began the healing. Sharon didn't react; she remained unconscious.
Crow analyzed the place in the meantime and noticed there were only 2 doors: 1 in the back and the main entrance he had come through.
I hope this doesn't cause trouble, because at some point this cleric is going to realize that Sharon is a vampire, and the inquisitors will be here soon. I don't know how much time is left, or if they'll arrive earlier or later. Since she was seen injured by so many people with a blade wound, there are too many witnesses... this could go very wrong. But there's no choice… If she doesn't get treated here, she might die. I'm not going to risk her life.
The cleric managed to close Sharon's stomach, but a scar remained there. “I can't remove the scar, but with advanced healing magic you could do it easily. I'll examine her other injuries. I'll leave the eyes for last since they aren't the most severe right now. She seems to have lost a lot of blood; even after I spent so much mana on the healing, she's still unconscious.”
Crow looked to the side, and then back at the woman who had just thrown the rags that previously covered Sharon's belly into the trash next to the bed, but he didn't say anything. He turned, looked through the door's glass, and checked if everything was alright in the reception area, seeing that the children were still waiting there.
Alright, so far so good... I'll just wait for her to finish healing what she can, and as soon as Sharon is out of danger, I'm getting out of here, getting some food for these kids, and heading to the merchant I met on the trip to this town... yeah, sounds like a good plan. If everything goes smoothly, that's what I'll do.
He turned back toward the cleric, who had removed Sharon's cloak and lifted her dress underneath it. But at least she had another thin layer of white clothing underneath, covering her body so she wasn’t exposed.
WHAT?
“Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were married. I need to check if she has other injuries besides what was visible from afar... well, seems like she doesn't. I'll heal her eyes now. Normally I wouldn't be able to heal someone this fast... she seems to have a very high regeneration rate... anyway.”
A short while later, when the woman was healing Sharon's back, the door behind him opened.
“M-mister?” Dorothy once again ruining Crow's precious silence.
“What is it this time?”
“U-um... j-just to make sure I am not seeing things… are they your friends? Haha…” she asked, pointing to the window of the door behind them.
What's with that confused look on her face? I'd better check the window.
He walked over and looked through the door’s window to check who she was talking about.
Oh no. You’ve got to be kidding me...