Red Band quickly climbed up the tree and stepped onto the platform that led to the entrance of the wooden structure. At the end of the path was a wooden door and a handle that needed to be pulled for the door to be pushed open. However, since this wasn't his first time being here, he was well aware of the barrier that had been placed, not only around the door, but the entire house, as well.
Though, only him and the man living here knew about that.
Similar to the barrier at the entrance of the settlement, all he needed to do was place his palm on the barrier, and a hole would open for him to pass through. He went ahead and grabbed tge door handle, pulling it open. Once that was out of the way, he now had to deal with thr barrier. He placed his palm on the barrier, and a hole appeared, allowing him to pass through.
He stepped into the house, and the first thing that caught his sight was the hygiene disaster before him. A foul stench wafted through his noise, urging him to gag, and the piles of dirty clothes and dishes wasn't a very pleasant sight to witness. He was currently in the kitchen, the part of the living quaters that was constructed closest to the one and only entrance and exit.
"What do you want this time, adventurer?" A voice said, and not too long after, one of the otger doors in the treehouse was swung open, abd coming out through the door was a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties. He wore glasses and had curly green hair than went all the eay down to his shoulders, his green eyes matching with it. His frame was considerably big and imposing, giving others the impression that he focused more on physical training above all else, but, this wasn't the case at all.
He wore a rather casual set of clothing, that being a Hawaiian T-shirt abd a pair of jeans and sunglasses to shield his eyes from this planet's solar radiation. He also had otger accessories on his wrists and around his neck, as well as a couple tattoes that could be seen from one side of his neck, running all the way down to the part that couldn't be seen, the part that was covered by his large shirt.
"You came back sooner than expected. Do you have what i asked you to search for?" He asked, a curious expression on his face.
Other than providing for the people in the settlement, the head, who went by the name Jason Kane, had mobilized his funds, using it to purchase quite a large territory that surrounded the settlement. The reason behind this, the settlement's inhabitants had no clue. A deal had been struck between Jason and the lone adventurer, one that compelled Red Band to be the protector of the settlement during times when their safety is threatened.
"I haven't found it yet. I need more time," Red Band replied back. "Looking for something like that isn't quite easy. It's like searching for a needle in a haystack. It can be anywhere, but then at the same time, it can be no where."
The room fell into silence for a couple minutes. Jason was disappointed in the fact that he had returned without any good news. In the midst of his thoughts, his eyes fell upon the girl in his hands.
"And who may she be? A lover? Someone you raped and decided to bring back with you? You know i don't tolerate such immorality. That's part of our deal if you don't remember," Jason said, his face twitching. "And don't try to be stubborn with me. You're benefitting just as much as me from this deal, so you have no right to do anything as you please around me thinking that i would just let that slide."
With that said, he activated his ability. The air around him began to react strangly to his ability, but that wasn't all. Right before Red Band, the man known as Red Band had vanished.
"Jason! Wait! This isn't what it looks like! This girl! She fainted fron starvation and is in dire need of food. I came here because i know that i can trust to help me with food supplies at this point in time," Red Band explained. "You know i don't live in this settlement. I come from someplace else, and it would take me a long time to get back, and I'm not sure if this girl can last the journey."
Listening to what the adventurer was trying to explain, Jason had decided to cancel his ability, reappearing right in front of Red Band.
"So, you want me to supply you with food so that you can save her life," Jason said, stroking his chin. "But then, let me ask you, what would you gain by saving this girl's life? What is your reason for going so?" He asked, walking forward, his gaze fixated on the unconscious state of the girl.
"Even if she comes from a prominent family, do you think that they would be thankful to us for saving their children's life? They may simply give us a pad on the back, telling us how thankful they are for saving their child. But beyond that, they wouldn't bother to waste their resources just to say thank you, especially considering the current situation the world is in.
"The shales have become more frequent in their attacks, and if it continues, then it would mean apocalypse on Earth," Jason explained. "Now, do you really want to save this girl, or do you want to focus on something that can be more beneficial to you? Heroes aren't really appreciated nowadays, with most of them dying on the battlefield trying to protect the ideals and dream of the wicked and selfish. I would say that you should drop this heroic facade, and just focus more on what you could gain from."
Listening to everything he said, Red Band was now conflicted as his gaze shifted to the face of the student.
'... He's actually right. What if, after spending my time trying to help her, i don't even gain anything in return. In the first place, our relationship is built upon mutual benefit, but then the relationship i have with this student, i have merely been helping her for free this whole time..
'Maybe, i should start thinking about myself a bit more,' right as he was done thinking this, an alarm had gone off in the settlement. The local people were well aware of what this meant, and they had been drilled on what to do during situations such as these. Instantly, they all ran to their respective houses to seek shelter.
Even Red Band was shocked upon hearing the alarm go of.
"Isn't this part of your job description?" Jason asked, pointing towards the window. "Go and protect everyone," he ordered, and right after, the adveturer gently placed the unconscious student on the wooden floor and left thr treehouse.
The alarm system was meant to be set off when beasts were detected coming to the settlement from quite a distance, meaning that hr still had time to get rid of them all before the settlement would br in danger. He sprinted to the barrier abd exited through it. From there, he flew towards the beast, his lightning ability activated, ready to kill.
Meanwhile, back in the treehouse, Jason was wondering what he should do now.
"Perhaps, you might be just as useful as the others," he said to himself, walking to a particular door that led to another part of the treehouse. "I just hope that you won't end up being a liability though."
Red Band could see the beasts in sight. He activated his lightning and shot it out all over, killing all the beasts that were running towards him. Not long after, and the horde had been dealt with. He was about to start harvesting the mana cores, when something had come crashing into him, pushing him a couple meters back before his body came to a hault.
"Die, you beast!" Kumon screamed, charging up his lightning once more. Ignoring the other person that was present, he shot it out, aiming straight for the chest of the werewolf.
Red Band could see someone else had arrived, and as he ssw the large amount of lightning being generated, he quickly rushed to the side, avoiding the blow.
However, Kayden wasn't quite as lucky, as he was directly hit by the attack.
"Stoooppp!!!" He yelled, but Kumon couldn't understand what he was saying. To him, it just sounded like more growls, encouraging him to keep on attacking. However, Kayden had regained his senses a while back. He couldn't transform back into his human form because he knew that his regular body wouldn't be able to handle the amoung of lightning he was currently.
In order words, there was a major chance he would die in that state, since he had never felt attacks to this high destructive degree before, not even from Kayla in the past.
"What kind of beast in that? And, that guy, where did he come from?" Red Band was wondering what was going on.
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I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. If you did, then feel free to support this story to makebit popular.
See you all in the next chapter.