Kobayashi remembered it. The white lab coats, the sadness go across his parent's face. It was when he got his diagnosis. They didn't sttart crying, because it wasn't terminal, or even all that bad. But still, they understood it would negatively impact him for the rest of his life, limit him in ways that would make things more difficult, even if it was only ever a little. And that there was no real cure or treatment, just ways to help deal with it, maybe occasionally overcome it.
So when he woke up, he was surprised to realize his eyes were full of tears.
I hadn't had that dream...that memory...come up in awhile.
The sun was only just peeking out, but Kobayashi ffelt like he wouldn't get back to sleep. He pulled on some clothes, and got outt of the sleeping bag while making sure not to disrupt Riku or Mitsuki. They were leaving their shoes by the stairs off the bus, so thats where he went, putting them on and going outside for a moment.
When he got out however, he heard sobbing. He went over to investigate, checking out what was behind a tree. It was Junta, sobbing by himself.
"Junta?"
"Ah? Kobayashi-kun? Sorry, did I wake you up?"
"No, I had a bad dream as well. I suppose I should have expected it, but still. It was...an unpleasant memory".
"Ah...mine wasn't so much of a dream, as a revelation. And me, trying to come to terms with something".
"Coming to terms with something?"
"That it may take a very long time to find a way home, if we ever find one at all. This is our third day here, and we are still at our starting point. We dont even know where to go to find civilization, we dont know how that civilization works. We can only pray that we somehow speak the same language as them, and after that we will need to find the money and resources we need, build up, probably all get jobs".
Kobayashi understood all too well what was being said.
As such, he let out a sigh.
"Yeah, I was thinking of that too. Apparently, a large reason everyone pushed so hard for yesterday to happen, despite how embarassing it might be, was to get me out of that same mindset".
"Yeah, you seem to use your brain a lot. Always thinking about something".
Kobayashi looked at the ground.
"See, I have poor health due to a medical condition. As a result, I couldn't move around or be as active as much, and I got sick a lot easier. Its not like I was in bed all the time, or couldn't do anything at all. It wasn't that severe, just enough to be noticable. But that meant, I spent more time then others in bed, thinking. So I guess you could say, its from experience".
"Or habit".
"Yeah. Or habit. Honestly, ever since getting here, I have been feeling better, but perhaps because of that bad dream, I haven't been feeling as good today".
Junta decided to check quickly, placing the back of his hand on Kobayashi's forehead.
"...I think you have a bit of a fever".
Kobayashi however, felt the need to check something as well. He did the same thing to Junta.
"...you as well".
At that moment, they both widened their eyes, and ran back to the bus.
"Everyone, wake up right now! Mitsuki, I need you to check everyone's temperature! Yuika, get out medicine as Mitsuki tells you to help with anyone's symptoms! Me and Junta are sick, so we are staying outside in case we are the only ones infected! Riku, Mitsuki, you two specially should check yourselves!"
Hearing that, everyone started to get into a fuss. Mitsuki ended up having everyone come out of the bus, his face was a bit pale.
"Sorry, but Kobayashi, Junta, could you both undress?" Mitsuki said as he and Riku came out without getting dressed. It was clear and obvious why they had though, as there was a rash and blue spots on their bellies and spreading out from there.
Kobayashi and Junta stripped naked as well, and confirmed the same thing. Tamayo was next, and she had the same symptoms. She then quickly forced Shiki as well, and surely enough, he also had the same symptoms.
Mitsuki looked at the others.
"We need to do a full body check on everyone! Right now! I need to see it all to make sure it hasn't spread. Furthermore, we dont know if this thing spreads via contact on the rash, so please bag the clothes you were wearing! Dont put on anything new, just save the bagged clothes! We want to limit the spread if that is the case!"
"Good thing we got used to seeing each other naked yesterday".
Tamayo's comment, while it helped a bit with how embarassed the boys were, did not provide any comfort in the current situation.
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As it turned out, everyone was infected. Everyone had minor fevers and a few other cold symptoms, so Mitsuki passed out medicine to help everyone. That said, everyone who was under thirteen, excluding Junta, was doing better then anyone over thirteen. Emiyo had it the worst.
Mitsuki decided that everyone who was heavily infected would need to keep taking medicine and remain at the bus, while those who were better would desparately try to find someone, anyone, who could treat their symptoms. He had Yuika split the group into two. They were not sure if the rash would spread through the clothes they had been wearing and make it worse, so the older kids would remain naked and isolated, while the younger ones of hte older group would guard the bus outside. If they started to develop symptoms and get worse faster then the older group, they would join the older group inside, take off the clothes, and they would probably have to burn them potentially, since they didn't have industrial grade washing ability.
Meanwhile, Junta, Shiki, Tamayo, Kobayashi, Riku, and Mitsuki would go out to try and find someone, or perhaps find a cure or treatment from clues in the wild.
"You feeling okay, Junta?"
"Hmm? Why do you ask?"
"Because I know what you think caused the illness".
Kobayashi looked at his belly. It was covered by the tracksuit of course, because the away party couldn't just go roaming around the forest bare ass naked. The tracksuits were designed to be durable, so they did offer some protection. And also, it seemed they had absorbed a bit of magic, since after the battle with the goblins, they repaired themselves by the next day.
And Kobayashi was looking at his belly because he remembered the one thing they ate yesterday, that was unusual and unknown.
The birds that Junta had caught, and noticably had caught easily. As a skilled archer, hunting birds was fairly easy. The goblins had been far harder to deal with he found. Some had shields, and their skin was thick and tough. However, perhaps there had been another reason the birds were easy to catch.
"...some sort of poison or illness defense system, to deter predators from ever even wanting to each them. Considering it spread from our bellies, its the likely option. Id have apologized back there, but...there is technically another option".
"Another one?" Riku asked, tilting his head. "I dont recall anything we all did with like that, not with only our bellies. We sunk our whole bodies in the water".
"How many people used Tamayo's leaves that she discovered as toilet paper yesterday?"
Everyone raised their hands.
"Ehh? Can one really get sick from that though? And why our bellies?"
"Tamayo, the butt internally is obviously connected to the belly, since digestive stuff....please dont make me say any more and explain the disgusting features of the human body?"
"Why? Nothing to be ashamed of. It just means its working well!"
"Just leave it alone. You know how she is like".
The rest of them nodded, while Tamayo felt like they might have just done something a bit offensive. To others it probably would be, but Tamayo didn't care as much.
Suddenly, Riku started to sniff the air.
"Riku?"
"I smell blood".
Tamayo, Shiki, and Junta tried to smell as well, but Kobayashi stopped them.
"Riku has very acute senses, especially with smell and taste".
"Seriously? Wow".
"Yeah, but Riku, are you sure its not animal blood?"
"Only one way to find out!"
Riku did not possess some legendary super smell talent or ability, and as such while he could smell things easier, he couldn't tell the difference between blood smells all that much.
They still followed Riku, since it was better then wandering aimlessly. Shiki was making sure to track their path, as well as Junta, so they could make it back to the bus.
"What if we encounter goblins? We are not at full force, we dont have Yuika and Ayumi with us".
"We have practiced a bit, but yeah. We would have to retreat back to the bus, but at the same time, we dont know how to deal with the illness or poison. We dont even know if its illness or poison!"
As they said that, they soon noiced the thick stench of blood themselves. Kobayashi wasn't surprised Riku picked it up from so far away, because tthe entire area might as well be pungent with the smell. As they got closer, they found thte carnage. After only walking for about an hour when Riku picked up the scent, and a few minutes after that, they had found bloody battlefield. Large, ugly creatures and humans wearing heavy armor. All of them butchered, and considering the state of their weapons, probably by each other. Mitsuki ended up throwing up this time by a tree, while Junta and Riku took positions to keep watch over the area and maintain a defensive stance. Shiki raised his camera, and Tamayo spotted a dagger made from a purple metal by one of thte knights, picking it up and holding it tight.
"Did you just pick up a dead man's dagger?"
"All we have is magic, Junta's Bow, and your Camera. I think Knight-san would understand".
"That all depends on if the knights of this world are stuck up or not".
Riku saw another dagger, a green metal one, and picked it up also.
"What do you think these creatures are?"
"Well, they dont look like pigs, so probably not orcs".
"Unless orcs dont look like pigs in this world".
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Good point".
Tamayo looked over the equipment, while Mitsuki checked the bodies.
"No one here is alive, although I suppose we denied the worst case situation of humans not existing here at all".
"Hold on, not everyone is dead".
"Tamayo, I checked the bodies. They are all dead".
"There are nine knights here, but I count ten shields on the ground. Check them".
Kobayashi and Shiki counted while the rest remained on guard.
"Tamayo is right. Nine bodies, ten shields. All tthe shields have the same insignia as the armor of the knights too, a red dragon".
"I have a blood trail!" Riku shouted, looking over at the grass. "Wait, before we go, should I burn the bodies like I did the Goblins to prevent predators and scavengers from swarming us?"
"...we cant be sure about the policy of the knight bodies, but burn the orcs at least. Its not like we plan to use the meat for food".
As expected, none of them wanted to eat the meat of a humanoid species. It was just too....revolting for them.
Riku used his flames to incinerate the deceased. It would take some time, but it would do it without making any smell and turn them to ash, so it would prevent them from being issues.
Once that was done, they moved over to the blood trail It seemed to be heading south, and they made note of hte direction since they had walked west to get here. That said, south was quite rocky with many cliffs they had started to notice.
"We will need to be careful".
"Can you still go on Koba?"
"Yeah, I am fine".
They pushed forward, when they encountered another one of those creatures. It was big and hulking, and wielding a large broken steel sword. The moment it saw them, it flew into a rage and attacked.
They all jumped and dodged the blow, as Riku sent out a fireball from his first and Zazie unleashed a lightning bolt. Both of them hit, but the creature seemed to shrug it off.
Mitsuki froze the ground under it to make it lose its balance before it could charge at them again, but it smashed the ice and charged right at Mitsuki. Junta put an arrow into its joint, but the creature had thick, fat filled skin, so the arrow didn't do much more then annoy it a bit.
Shiki used his camera to blind and attack it, but while it certainly got disoriented, it appeared that the wounds were superficial. It reached Mitsuki, who tried to dodge but while he narrowly avoided the sword, the hulking creature had predicted this and brought down his fist where he dodged it, hitting Mitsuki full on and sending him sprawling across the ground.
Then it turned towards Shiki, and tried to attack him next.
Tamayo appeared from the shadows behind it, enraged.
"Dont hurt Shiki!"
She proceeded to stab it in the back a few times, but it spun around and knocked back into the tree. This irritated Shiki, who proceeded to channel magical power into the camera and took several rapid pictures at once. This unleashed several magical attacks, but the creature seemed to shrug it off. However, the cut wounds Tamayo made, while the thick skin avoided any critical wounds, were bleeding.
"I got it! Storm Blade!"
Kobayashi formed a sword of lightning.
"Wind step!"
Wind circled around his feet, and he quickly got behind the creature and started to slash at it. This seemed to cause it a great deal of pain, and it immediately tried to attack Kobayashi. Riku grabbed Kobayashi and got him out of the way, and then looked back at the creature enraged himself.
He created several flames, and directed them to fly into the wounds that were created. The creature charged at him, knocking him back into a ttree, but as it rose its sword to stab Riku, Riku snapped his fingers. In that instant, his flames went wild inside of the creature, causing it agony. It stumbled, and the sword was dropped while held right over Riku. Riku closed his eyes and held out his hands, but didn't feel anything hit him.
When he opened them up, he saw that Junta had just barely caught the sword, while the creature writhed and wiggled before it finally expired.
The group took a breath of relief, but then Junta checked the surroundings.
"...we got lucky. It looks like there was only one of those creatures".
"Yeah. That was...intense".
It had been far shorter then the Goblin battle, but by all accounts far more dangerous.
Had we made a single mistake, it probably would have killed us all. And these knights faced off against them with equal numbers. We lack strength, but also...I think we lack experience too.
None of them had fought in a real battle until a few days ago, so none of them really were good fighters yet. And certainly not used to the stress and fighting. Even with the bolsters, it was quite tough.
"Shiki, Mitsuki, you two okay?"
"Yeah".
"I hurt all over, but nothing lethal".
Riku meanwhile, looked down tthe hill.
"I think the knight we are following might be a badass".
He pointed to something, and the rest of the group went and looked. There they saw the corpses of five of those very same creatures.
"Alrightt, now I am just feeling inferior".
"Yeah, thats...kind of depressing".
"Come on, Knight-san probably trained for over a decade, maybe two! He just has a massive head start on us!"
"...yeah, you are right. Lets keep searching, if we find Knight-san alive, it will make me feel safer for sure".
The group decided to press forward, and hoped to find the knight before more of those creatures found them. They decided that if two or more were encountered, they would immediately retreat back to the bus.
They might have done so already, but the risk of this poison or illness getting worse was still present.
Eventually, tthe trail of blood came over to a cave system.
"Mitsu..."
Mitsuki got the med-kit ready. "Yeah Riku, I know".
"Know what?" Shiki asked.
"If we are following his blood trail all the way here, he may be suffering from blood loss. We may need to hurry, even as strong as Knight-san is, this much blood loss cant be good".
The group entered the cave, and Tamayo created a light to help guide them. As they made their way into the cave system, they passed by five more corpses. As well as some broken pieces of knight armor, covered in blood.
Eventually they made it to an alcove. A blade of wind suddenly came right at them, but Tamayo blocked it with her purple dagger.
"We aren't monsters!" Kobayashi shouted.
"Whatt? A child's voice?"
Oh thank gods, we can understand the language.
The group of them came out, and they saw a pretty terrible side. Knight-san was heavily wounded, covered in blood everywhere. Furthermore, his right arm was missing. They never found it along the way, but clearly he lost it at some point.
"Quickly, Mitsuki!"
"There is no point in trying to heal me, my wounds are too severe. Short of a miracle potion, I wont survive. More importantly, you look like children, but are those military outfits?"
"No no, we are not military. I guess you could say...we are explorers".
"Adventurers with uniforms then?"
"Uhg...sure, lets go with that".
Kobayashi didn't think a full on explanation would help right now.
Mitsuki then pulled up his shirt and revealed the weird rash.
"We are new to the area, and we ate a bird thinking it would be okay, but then this happened. What caused it, just so we know for sure, and how do we treat it? Is it an illness, or poison? How bad is it?"
The knight couldn't help but laugh a bit.
"Its not life threatening. If you get a good night's sleep tonight, it will go away by tomorrow morning. However, if you want to avoid it at all, there are orange fruits that vaguely resemble bells. They are good for eating, and if eaten with the meat of that bird, it counteracts the effects. Its called Orblari fruit. Also, its good for other toxins as well".
"So it is poison...does it spread to what one wears, the rash?"
"No...nothing like that".
Well, we dont have to burn the clothes now, so thats wonderful.
At this point, Junta asked about the local wildlife as well. Knight-san was very gracious about answering their questions, but there was clearly something he wanted to say. Right as he was about to though, Riku interrupted.
"Xcuse me, but....after ya die, as well as the bodies of ya comrades. Is it okay if a cremate them, rather then letting them become torn apart by predators?"
The knight nodded to Rika's question.
"Yes, but if you could collect their insignias please. They are IDs, so if you reach Charo, we would appreciate it if they could be returned. They look like this".
He took off a pendant with his remaining arm, as he seemed to be fading he managed to give it to Riku.
"Now please...I dont know where you are making camp right now, but you must leave the area. Young boys like you, will definently be targeted by Orcs".
"...so they were Orcs...ah sorry, wait. Why do they target young boys?"
"They target all males. Although they are driven by aggression, not lust, in the age of the first Demon King, he created the orcs to be his frontline troops. To make sure they could resupply troops endlessly, he made it so Orc females could use captured prisoners, forcibly...violating them to repeatedly create Orc babies, that would quickly grow into full blown orcs. It takes a year now, but legend has it when the Demon King was alive, it was so fast it would just take a day for them to reach maturity. Because of that, although they have that reputation, it has nothing to do with lust. Just part of their old design to endlessly create troops. Its why Orcs in large numbers is such a threat, but to think it was so big...we would all get wiped out".
He coughed up blood, and Mitsuki looked alarmed.
"We are losing him!"
"Listen, young children...you must get everything you can, and flee. Charo lies in the northeast. Head there, seek safety in the city walls...you can use this as necessary. Its not much, but it should help".
He handed them a pouch of coins, and with that final act, it seemed the last thing that he was holding on for had been completed, so he passed away.
Kobayashi looked in the pouch, half-expecting a pile of gold coins like in the mangas and animes, but...
"Its mainly small coppers, medium coopers, a few large coppers, and like, a few silvers".
Riku closed his eyes out of respect, and then after taking his dagger for himself, proceeded to cremate the remains.
"Well, we learned the poison isn't dangerous, as well as a fruit that can counteract it, and a bunch of things that are safe for humans to eat. Its sad that Knight-san died, but...at least we know none of us are dying. We should start heading back as soon as possible.
Although their mission had been a success, as expected, having seen knight-san die in front of them, none of them felt like celebrating all the good news they got. Even if they had a victory, it felt a bit hollow because they couldn't save him.
Thats right...we wont be able to save everyone we come across, even if we want to. I thought Riku might try to use a bandaid on him, but we cant really afford to waste those. We have to prioritize ourselves.
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After they cremated the rest of the knights, they headed back towards the bus. They took whatever they could find that might be of any use, but the knights didn't seem to carry much money on them. Perhaps because they were going out to fight, and didn't want to bring their whole savings. These bags were probably just wallets containing their every day amount in them. However, the rest of them had far less then the Knight-san they met.
"He was probably their leader. He ended up being the only survivor after the attack, so he tried to get away, but ran into more Orcs".
"I guess Orcs dont look like pigs in this world. That will be useful to know".
"Yeah, they look way uglier".
Everyone shared that sentiment, as they picked another one of those orange bell fruits they found along the way. They each had one already, and already the rash was receding.
"Its nice that we also have some knowledge on safe fruit to eat, and that this was the extent of it".
"Yeah. We had no idea, so our actions were necessary, but i nthe grand scheme of things, it was entirely unnecessary".
Once they arrived at the bus, they explained everything they learned, from the meat, to the poison, to how it spread, and things like that.
"...so basically, we kinda got nearly nothing done today for nothing?"
"Well, kinda. We got some money, and very useful knowledge".
"And we know where the nearest city is, however..."
Kobayashi looked over in that direction.
"If there are more orcs, and they go after humans, then more then likely, the orcs might be moving that way too. Apparently they are coming from the southwest, which means..."
Yuika paled a bit.
"They are coming here".
"We have to flee. And fast. Even with all of our members together, Idont think we can take on ten or twelve orcs at once. Half of us could barely manage one".
"Yeah, I dont like our odds. The knights more or less seemed to beat them all, but I still think its dangerous".
"Aren't the protagonists normally supposed to win against orcs and trounce them easily?"
Shiki shook his head. "We dont have super strength or cheat-like abilities. And worst of all, we lack experience. You two have some of that at least, and then Junta, but not the rest of us".
Yuika and Ayumi were still their strongest potential, but at most, they could defeat an Orc one on one after a good deal of fighting. But even then, it wasn't a guaranteed victory.
"Junta, you know about the various things you can hunt, but what about realistically gathering the supplies and cooking them all?"
"The smaller ones yeah sure, but the bigger ones...until I get better with my abilities, I think its too dangerous. Right now, I can only hunt animals. Trying to hunt a monster one on one, or even with a group, for food...seems dangerous. I dont think we have the experience".
"Yeah, especially since we confirmed Goblins were fairly crafty, certainly still dangerous and risky, but also one of the weaker monsters. If we faced a strong one, one that doesn't rely on numbers, we would probably all die. Maybe wouldn't even take a minute".
Everyone understood the grim feeling of those words, as well as the truth it held.
"The bus is still our best shelter, however...its also a vehicle. And a vehicle should be able to drive. Mitsuki, you are good with technology. The bus can still drive right?"
"Yeah, totally. It still has fuel, we barely used any after all".
"Alright, then we are going to take the bus as far as we can. But first, we need to stock up on food. We dont have a map, and we dont know where we can find food and water, or take a bath for awhile. Knight-san...didn't live long enough to tell us these things".
They had a direction, but Junta had never been able to see anything in that direction, so it had to be far. As such, they would need to take care of preparations before they left.
But it was clear they could not risk staying here, in an unknown forest that Orcs were infesting, and had who knows what else.
"How soon do you think we can leave?"
"Not sure yet, we will have to work really hard...but I reckon a few days at least".
"Why is that, Kobayashi?"
"Because Junta will need time to hunt everything and stock up on food, we need to collect plenty of clean water for the journey, and we will need to work on magic that will help us drive this bus through the forest".
The bus was their only shelter, so they couldn't lose it. If it wasn't for the mental boosts, they might have pancked and fled the bus, and who knows what might have happened to them.
It seemed that their struggles had only increased now, as they would need to work double time to keep themselves safe and get to shelter.
Meanwhile, in a tavern in the closest village, a rumor had started to stir.
"I hear talk from some of the hunters, that one thought he saw a bunch of children in the forest".
"Impossible...we would know if there was a village there, and someone woulda gone after them for the profit".
At this table, another man came down and sat with them.
"The rumors are true, and from the information I have, there is even a very nice, very wealthy buyer. Not even a squabble over money, cause apparently they will pay each applicate ten gold per child".
One of htem looked jumpy, but the other narrowed his eyes at the person.
"You for real?"
"Yeah" the man said, putting down his hood. It was the bus driver. "The contract is already set. I just need the forces to help deliver".
"Hehehe...they dont mind if there are used goods in the midst".
The bus driver shrugged it off, like it couldn't be helped.
"They never specified".
"Perfect".
A dark smile crept upon his face, as plots began to unfold.