"phew!" Sharla wiped off the sweat from her pale face looking at the stable Aunt Eva laying on a bed.
She managed to get her patient stable but turned pale at her patient's disfigured legs. Even after working on Alex's terrible wounds, these might be a close second or even pass him. Her legs were so crushed that she wasn't sure if she could even save them.
However, as a doctor, it was her job to try whatever she could. She quickly worked through the night until the morning, setting bones in their correct places and healing specific spots when she needed to.
It was a long, arduous process but in the end, she did it. Her legs were in much better shape, but she was still unsure if Eva would even be able to use her legs again. Her nerves were just so damaged that it was almost impossible for Sharla to recover them.
Only a treasure or special skill could save her now.
After her patient was taken care of, she went to Emma's room where Kailey, Eva's niece was staying. The little girl was still crying and hugging Emma who she had grown attached to quickly.
"Your aunt will be fine. She's safe now." Sharla smiled after getting down to Kailey's level. The little girl's lip quivered and she cried again and gave Sharla a big hug. Mrs. Setter's heart melted as well as her daughter's as they let the little girl see her family member.
She held her aunt's arm gingerly afraid of hurting her again before they took her to get some food. The little girl hadn't eaten much the day before so she was starving. It was a similar case for the other slave girls since Alex only and so much food and water.
They ate and drank their fill before resting for the next few days and most of the slave girls ended up leaving after thanking the inn owners and workers for their hospitality. Some went back to their families and others wanted to get as far away from this place as possible.
Only two others stayed because they had nowhere to go. After the majority of the girls left, Auntie Eva finally came out of her coma and was welcomed by another signature tackle. Sharla quickly pulled the girl off her patient and went through more checkups on her.
They ended up testing whether Eva could walk on her own but seemed too difficult for her right now. Only time would tell if she would be able to walk again. At this point, Alan came in and got Eva's story of what happened.
Since she was in bad shape, he never got her side and they quickly found out just how important this woman was.
"Thank you for saving my life, on behalf of the Mantrigeld family name, I will never forget this debt and will come to your aid should you need it."
Everyone's face paled while Alan glared at her. Sensing his gaze she focused on him with a curious look. That look soon turned to shock and her eyes sparkled like the night sky.
"A-Are you Captain Alan Setter? W-Why are you here on the border of the Ether forest?" She was excited that a historic man was standing in front of her.
Although Alan never talked about it much, he was the only commoner to get such a high ranking. Every other officer position was taken by a noble, whether it be major or minor so he was a legendary figure for the masses and the majority of the commoners who made up the army.
They all aspired to be like him and when Eva was younger, admired him herself.
Alan was not happy however about getting involved with nobles again. He specifically moved here with his family to avoid them yet they seemed to keep finding their way to him like a curse.
'Fucking brat! He's got me roped into more problems!' Alan cursed Alex which sent a shiver down the spine of the young man fighting for his life currently.
"I am no longer a captain and that is of no concern to you. Give your story to my wife and then you can leave."
Alan lost his temper and stormed off. Although it wasn't this noble family that did him dirty, all noble families sickened him.
They may appear sweet and kind on the outside but in reality, they were just as bad as the demons who ate and killed their own kin to become stronger.
Sharla sighed and apologized but Eva felt her heartbreak. She was only in her thirties while Alan was around 50ish so she grew up hearing of his exploits.
Similar to many people her age, they all missed the great Captain Setter very much after he got "injured" and left the army.
Since the noble family who played him erased all of their presence and made up false documents with official signatures and everything, most didn't see that there was something off about his departure except for those who knew him personally.
So as a spectator in his career, she wasn't aware. Sharla was vague in her reasoning for him being mad and Eva immediately noticed something was wrong.
'Is there an issue with me or nobles?' She thought.
He gave her a similar look lots of commoners give her behind her back. It's the same glare and contempt when they think you are a noble who just flaunts their wealth and takes advantage of the middle class and lower.
She got depressed and Sharla's "explanation" only served to make it worse but she put on a fake smile and calmed down the wife. If he didn't want anything to do with her or nobles in general, she couldn't blame him. It was an extremely toxic battlefield after all.
Even she was sick of it. She had to go to tea parties all the time and fight with her words and deal with the hidden language in the flowery words women spoke. She wasn't even on the battlefront for men which was almost 10 times worse since their entire careers, lives, and family's livelihoods were on the line.
At least for the women they could sit still and look pretty.
Over the next few days, they helped Eva to try and stand with not much luck and it only made things worse since the relations between the Setter and Mantrigeld family soured. Alan never bothered to speak with her and had to get her story from his wife.
Sharla felt very awkward being the middle woman and she also didn't like nobles so much but knew she had to give them face. She wouldn't be like her husband and throw a tantrum. The only one out of these two families to always be happy was Kailey.
She got to play with Emma most days and spend time with her Aunt and Sharla as well. Even Alan couldn't stay mad at the adorable girl.
He was a lolic-father after all.
While the two families got more awkward with each other, the girls of the dorms were having a similar incident with the complicated sex slave...
"Why are you pulling your nipples like that?! Stop it already!" Alicia complained as Grace was pulling her on her titties like they were udders.
No milk came out but she didn't stop pumping them when she looked at the red-faced and angry young woman. Kaya also had a weird expression on her face but she wasn't gonna stop the girl anytime soon.
She'll take a good show when she can get one.
While Kaya was ogling Grace, Alicia was trying to get her competitor to stop. Alicia felt threatened by this weirdo who made it known that her master was hers only. Grace was very territorial and felt it was her duty to "protect" her master.
Grace never really cared about Alicia and didn't stoop to her level of anger, mostly because she believed what she said was a fact. She also didn't have many emotions, making her a bit like a robot. She only got more human when it came to pleasing her master but even Geren never got to interact this much with her.
The two rivals had a one-sided cat fight where Alicia was bombarded with "facts and logic" about Alex being Grace's while Kaya watched with interest as their clothes got ruffled and nipples threatened to spill out of their shirts.
Since they were on a break, the two roommates never bothered to get fully dressed while Grace had never worn underwear of any kind. Plus there probably wouldn't be a store-bought bra that could fit her size, she would need a custom-made one. She wouldn't accept it though since it was her "duty" as a sex slave to make sure her titties were available for her master to suck or fuck whenever he needed.
It was a long and stressful few days that turned into a week and Alicia had now begun to worry as the one-month time frame hit and Alex didn't show up. Alan and others knew he may not show up right on time so they could only calm her down and wait.
- - -
Around the same time when Eva woke up and most of the slave girls departed, Alex was getting frustrated as he couldn't find a Basilisk. He had now pretty much healed himself and even tried to go back and give himself a follow-up surgery to fix his hand.
He also spent some time gathering more natural resources for medicines and medical materials. He set up more traps around his base that was now on the border of the 2nd outer ring, closer to the 3rd Ring. He was pretty much set and could easily survive in this place for a while as long as he didn't get complacent but he wanted to go back to the inn.
He felt dirty and exhausted after not getting a real shower in so long and having to fight all the time. He even went and hunted a few more 2nd rings out of boredom and maybe he could sell the carcasses or something.
Currently, he was sitting on a tree branch in his hideaway kicking his legs in the air while humming and working on something. His scarred upper body revealed the extensive damage he had from this entire trip while his hands worked fast and efficiently to build something.
He was finally able to put some of this "engineering" knowledge to use even though it was basic tinkering. With one final tie of some strong 2nd Ring beast tendon, he looked at what he built satisfied.
It was a giant... fork.
While it looked very funny, it was actually a pretty good weapon that he made from scraps. He had destroyed one of the claw gauntlets after the fiasco with the Rock Bull and decided to repurpose it. He had lots of beast materials just collecting dust in his storage ring, even though they didn't actually collect dust, and got the idea of making something useful out of it.
He ended up using the claw as the end of a trident-like weapon and used the femur bone of a 2nd Ring monster as the polearm. He connected all of the parts together with tendons and innards before using a sappy kind of material that hardened like amber.
He was quite proud of this crude weapon despite having zero weapon-building knowledge. He wasn't sure if it would hold up, but it was better than nothing.
Alex sighed, he really wanted out of here and went for another trip to the 3rd Ring outer area and check for a Basilisk again.
He got up and dashed away through the dense forest while a pair of yellow-slitted eyes stalked him. A second eyelid blinked over those sharp eyes before its camouflaged body silently moved it to a different area.