Even though Roy had just defeated the giant monster, he could not celebrate or feel happy. He and his friends immediately run towards Jaimie’s crash site to check up on him. Robb, who was the fastest, reached the young boy first and checked his situation.
“He is still breathing, but he is out of it.”
Jaimie’s body was battered, with blood and dirt all over him.
“Let’s get him back home,” Alfonse suggested. “Maybe mister Jacob can help him.”
Roy nodded at his friend’s words. “Yeah, let’s take him back.”
Robb carried Jaimie’s body and the group of friends made their way back to Roger’s house. The walk through the village’s desolate streets was unusually silent. A myriad of thoughts crossed Roy’s mind. Did he take too many risks? What if the giant monster’s attack killed Jaimie and not just injured him? Should he have been firmer in his decision not to let the young boy come with them?
Roy could not answer any of those questions. Yes, he could have forced Jaimie to stay in the house, but would that have helped? In this new world, where man-eating monsters roam everywhere, would stopping the young boy from fighting and sheltering him truly be the wisest choice?
As more questions popped into his mind and few answers, the band of brothers reached their destination. They found Marth and mister Jacob sitting on a bench next to the front door. The latter was smoking from a pipe while talking with the captain of the knights.
As soon as the group came close to the house, Jacob turned around only to find Robb holding onto Jaimie’s unconscious body. With a distressed look on his face, he put out his pipe and rushed towards them.
“I had a feeling that something would happen,” he muttered under his breath.
The doctor walked towards Robb and checked Jaimie’s pupils. He then urged, “Let’s get him upstairs. I need him on a flatbed as soon as possible.”
Seeing the urgency of the matter, Marth quickly opened the door and freed a passageway through the sleeping villagers. Robb, who was holding Jaimie in his arms, rushed after Marth and made his way to Mister Roger’s master bedroom. He calmly laid down the young boy on the bed while the rest of the group and Mister Jacob followed after him.
As soon as the doctor entered the room, he took out his working utensils and laid them on a desk near the bed. He then turned around towards the group of young men before saying, “I need you all to get out of here. I can’t be having distractions while working.”
“What?! You want us to get out and leave Jaimie-”
“Stop it, Jack!” Roy immediately interjected and cut off his friend’s words. “Let’s do as the doctor says. He knows best.”
Hearing Roy’s words, Jack gritted his teeth and clenched his fist before storming out of the room.
“Hey, Jack, what’s wrong with you?”
As Alfonse was about move after Jack, Robb tapped his shoulder and shook his head. “Leave him alone for now. He needs his time.”
The group silently left the room along with Marth before exiting the house also.
“Jack feels guilty about Jaimie. He probably thinks it’s his fault because he argued to let him come with us,” Robb explained as they sat down on the bench next to the front door.
“What? That’s stupid,” Alfonse retorted. “If anyone should take the blame, it should be me. I was the one who first said we should let Jaimie come with us.”
“It’s none of you’s fault.” Roy’s voice was low but powerful. “It’s not your fault that you let him choose his own actions. It’s not your fault that you come and fight monsters to awaken and grow stronger. That is the only choice we have in this world: to fight or to die.”
Roy looked at each of his friends to make sure that his words were engraved in them. He wanted them to understand that there was no use blaming themselves for a correct decision. He then bit his lips and looked downwards before continuing.
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“But if it’s anyone’s fault, it should be mine. I should have planned and prepared things better. I should have explained how that monster operated. I should have made it clear that the moment it looked most vulnerable was the most dangerous time to be next to it. I should have explained these things clearly, especially when I have already fought it and knew what it was capable of.”
“Roy, you can’t be too hard on yourself,” Fred said after a moment of silence. “I know that you feel responsible for us, but we’re all grown men here, we’re responsible for our own lives.”
“Plus why are you all so sad?” Fred continued while laughing heartily. “You’re mourning the poor boy when he is still alive. Do you have no trust in Doctor Jacob? He saved both you and Robb from the grip of death already. And look at you now, you’re as good as new!”
“Yeah, let’s have some trust in mister Jacob,” Alfonse affirmed Fred’s words with a smile. “I’m sure everything is gonna be fine.”
Roy looked at Fred and Alfonse in surprise before chuckling. “You’re right, I shouldn’t be saying these things. Jaimie will be fine.”
“Good, that’s the right attitude,” Fred replied.
As the three friends were laughing with each other, Marth who had been silent the whole time couldn’t hold his curiosity.
“Ehm, excuse me, but what’s that monster that you guys have faced? I don’t think many can give you trouble.”
“It’s a giant human-looking monster that is around three meters tall,” Roy replied. “It has green skin like goblins and its weapon is a giant club. It also makes this red aura when it’s about to die. It becomes stronger, faster, and more ferocious.”
Marth scratched his chin in thought for a few seconds as Roy described the monster. “So, as I thought, it was the Ogre.”
“An ogre?” Roy raised his eyebrow at the surprising name. “I guess you could call it that.”
Ogre was definitely the perfect name for that monster. It had a similar look and description to the beast that grandmas would use to scare children at night. After fighting them twice, Roy did feel that the giant monster was a realm above that of the goblins—whether they be tall or small.
“That monster, it annihilated most of us.” Marth’s eyes were full of fear as he recalled his memories. “When we awakened, we thought we had become invincible. We slaughtered the goblins—dozens, hundreds of them. But just when we thought we had won, it appeared as if it was a messenger from the gods sent to mock us. It slaughtered thirty knights, and dozen more guards. Half of those knights were awakened, but it was of no use.”
“How big was it?” Roy asked. He was interested in the reason that would let the ogre be able to go on such a rampage.
“It was around four to five meters tall, and it had a blue tinge to its dark green skin. It also used that red aura you spoke of; that’s how it slaughtered so many of us.”
Roy scratched his chin in thought. “So there are bigger and stronger variants of that Ogre. We will need to avoid it for the time being. Even though we are strong, we will have too many casualties if we face it right now.”
Alfonse nodded at Roy’s words. “Yeah, let’s do that. Honestly, I’m kinda tired of facing those ugly things. I wouldn’t mind just fighting cute goblins and not seeing those ogres at all.”
Roy chuckled at Alfonse’s remark. “Well, I wouldn’t mind a slow and easy day either, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Since we’re going to split up into different groups, the chances of us meeting them will only go up. At that time, just make sure that those who haven’t awakened yet get a chance to run away first. After that, don’t fight it and just dip.’
Roy’s words were not directed to Alfonse in particular, but to the entire group. They all nodded at him, knowing how important it is for them to follow his directives. For now, while most of their stats were still in the Initiate rank, even the smallest ogre would not be an easy fight for them. That is especially true when they would be leading groups of unorganized and unawakened normal people.
“Okay, it’s almost dawn. If you guys wanna get some rest, now is the time.” Roy opened the front door and the group followed after him. Only Robb stood behind, outside the house.
“What about you, Robb? Not going to rest?”
“No, I’ll follow after you in a bit. Just go on without me.”
Roy nodded at his friend’s words and closed the door behind him. Robb, on the other hand, stood in his place for a couple of minutes as if he was waiting for something.
“So, will you be sitting next to the house the entire night?”
Jack, who was sitting down listening to his friends talk, stood up from his place and made his way to the front of the house.
“You know, that ability of yours to sense where everyone and everything is, is creepy.”
“You say that because you’re jealous,” Robb retorted with a grin. He then looked seriously at Jack before continuing, “You heard them, right? It was not your fault. The situation was out of control, and no one could have predicted what happened.”
“Wh-who said I thought it was my fault anyways.” Jack looked to the side, avoiding Robb’s eye contact.
“Yeah, I know you’re a cold-hearted bastard who would never feel guilty about anything,” Robb said while barely holding in a chuckle.
Seeing how his friend twisted his words, Jack couldn’t help but sigh and give up. “Okay, okay, I get it. I really do.”
He paused for a second and looked down with shivering hands. “I-I want to become stronger. I need to become stronger.”
“Don’t we all?” Robb replied as a matter of fact.
Jack shook his head and clenched his fists tightly. “No, I’m being serious here. I will become stronger. I will fight and fight until neither that Ogre, that bear, or even if a dragon came in, none of them would make me feel so scared. I will be strong enough to fight them all.”