"That seems a bit extreme"
"Oh, believe me, it can get significantly worse. You should see what they do to insurrectionists."
"With how you brought it up, I don't think I want to."
"No, probably not, although when it's a particularly insufferable guy, it can be quite enjoyable."
"I'll keep that in mind, in case I meet anyone who annoys me and coincidentally wants to drive a stake into the heart of the church, or something."
"Well, getting back to the topic at hand and ignoring your weird choice of metaphor, that group of miscreants are supposed to have someone watching over them, and seeing how the person who's supposed to be doing it is on medical leave, our resident healer is busy treating him, and I don't want to move, I see no more perfect candidate than you to take over the position."
"Have you considered that I don't want to?"
"Nope. I'm using my authority to appoint you to the position. Besides, what else are you going to do?"
"Sound argument. I have nothing to say."
"Don't feel too bad about it. I'm not asking you to talk to them, it's not like I want to torture you, just watch over them. Take notes on their team structure and how they fight. There should be enough beasts still around to get you some good data. The best part is, since you aren't the 'official' observer, you don't even have to step in to help them if it looks like they're going to die."
"Fine, you talked me into it."
I did a quick check over my equipment and exchanged goodbyes with the Mayor.
"One last thing, before you go. Sorry for using you. Well, I'm not sorry, but even I can acknowledge it wasn't the nicest thing to do. That being said, if put in the same situation, there's nothing I would do differently, and you'll understand why as you get more experience."
I looked at him for a bit, before nodding, turning, and heading off in the direction that group had gone. They had gone towards an area with quite a few buildings still standing, either thinking that leftover beasts would be running around these maze-like streets, or simply wanting to break line of sight with the Mayor. I hopped onto a rooftop and did a quick scan for them, but there was nothing. It was a bit weird to me that they hadn't decided to take the high ground while they searched, but I was starting to expect a lack of forethought from these people. I picked a direction and started moving, listening for them more than looking. Not long passed before I heard people talking, and an even shorter time passed before I found myself on a rooftop directly over them, crouched. They were in the midst of an argument.
"That still doesn't give him the right to treat me like that. Treat all of us like that."
"No, it gives him every right to do that, and more. He could've killed us all in a second! How can you not understand the gravity of that?"
"Please. You heard that girl yourself. They weren't going to hurt us; even people with half a brain know what the consequences of that would be."
"No, she and him operate in completely different capacities. She operates within the laws; he sits above them. Hell, he was around when half of them were written. That's what a Hero is! They are people with power we can't fathom, both physical and political."
"And there you go again with that 'Hero' business. They're just stories! Stories! Tales we tell kids to give them illusions of grandeur before the world kicks their pathetic little teeth in. Some are probably based on real people, I'll grant you that, but they're all clearly exaggerated. I mean, what was that new one they just came out with? One person single-handedly preventing a red fort from losing a man for two whole years? It's barely even believable. And here you are, saying someone like that is now a cripple in a town like this."
"I don't know how he ended up like that! How many times do I have to tell you?"
"Well, you seem to want to tell me that a lot, and it's not getting any more coherent the more times you say it."
"Just like your thought that you could kill him if only that woman wasn't there?"
"I will keep telling you as many times as it takes for you to understand. The man may have been someone at some point, but now he's just a cripple in a chair in the middle of a ruined town – his ruined town. He couldn't even move to stop me."
"Did you forget that he was able to force all of us to a dead stop with his aura alone?"
"I seem to remember him pulling a trick with an unknown amount of preparation that only lasted a certain amount of time, which he conveniently didn't use again when I was actively threatening him, making that girl step in to save him."
"No matter which new way you find to justify it to yourself, it'll never change reality. You couldn't beat him no matter how hard you try. None of you could."
"Hey, now. Don't rope us into this. Also, there's something that's been making its way towards us for the last few seconds and I'll get here in about five more."
With a final glare, the girl and the leader stopped arguing and turned their focus towards the direction the other members of the group were looking. Sure enough, after a few seconds had passed, a beast came bounding out of a nearby alley. The group quickly assumed a formation. One man stood directly in front of the beast, the other two men stood off to the sides, and the two women stood well behind the middle man, one on either side. The man in the middle served as the distraction, and had a small, fold-out, metal shield on one arm and was holding a maul in the other. The group leader stood to one side with his sword drawn in a low-ready, while the third man in the group stood opposite him, similarly with a sword drawn, although he was making a strange gesture with his other hand. I assumed him to be someone who used magic as a compliment to his swordplay, although his current role seemed to push him into using solely magic. The girl who was arguing with the leader seemed to be the healer of the group, as she was stood noticeably farther back than everyone else, looking at the whole situation instead of focusing on the target. She was also holding a small lever action rifle. The last girl was also making a strange hand gesture, so I assumed her to be the true magic user in the group. The overall formation served to focus the attention of the beast on the man in the middle, which would then allow everyone else to pounce on it once it was distracted. It was a good formation but had some noticeable flaws.
With the positions of the magic users, there was a significant chance of friendly fire. Having one man serve as a distraction also seemed like a bad idea to me. Sure, having the thing focused on one target makes it much easier to attack, but it also poses significant risk to the man serving as a distraction. One slip could kill him or do enough damage to take him out of the fight, which would then expose the backline. The ranged attackers should've positioned themselves on top of the nearby houses, while the magic swordsman should've sat a bit farther back to either put pressure on the beast to keep it in a specific area, while also being able to tag in and out with the pure melee fighter, in this case the leader. It was situations like this, teams like this, that were why I chose to work solo. I'd much prefer my mistakes to only affect me, and not have to constantly worry about where everyone else was. I was curious how they'd deal with these problems, though.
The beast pounced on the center man, who readied his shield and braced himself. When the beast was in range, he struck out with his shield, landing a good solid smack on the beast's face. Before it could recover, the leader jumped in, with admittedly impressive speed, and drove his sword into the side of the beast with precision. The other man made a bit of space, then struck the beast hard with his maul. It soon stopped moving and everyone relaxed, resheathing their weapons.
It was a well-practiced act, and it remined me of the fact that strategy is important, but a group with high strength can make even bad strategies successful. The group then moved on from this spot, and followed as quietly as I could on the rooftops. Soon, the same man warned of another beast, the group adopted the same formation, and dealt with the situation in the same way. They then moved on until they encountered another beast, which they killed. This pattern continued time after time. As I watched it, I realized that they never had problems with their formation because the leader would always deal with the beasts before anyone else had the chance. I also noticed that he never seemed to show concern for the man he had drawing the beasts' attention, never checking to make sure he was uninjured after every fight. It became clear to me that these people only saw a victory as a victory, with no care for how it was achieved. There was no thought given to resource management, and it didn't seem to me that they'd be able to effectively adapt to unexpected variables. They could deal with a beast from one side, and that was it. I was of half a mind to try to lure another beast towards them just to see what they'd do, but I felt that would just be cruel.
"Alright, I need a break."
"We'll stop for ten minutes, then. I don't want to be here a second longer than we have to."
The leader seemed to actually listen to the man he had supporting him. It was my opinion that he should be checking in frequently and keeping track of the status of his whole team, instead of relying on them to say something, but maybe this system worked better for them. It was interesting to see the difference in treatment, but it was unfortunately the only thing keeping me entertained while watching them. There was nothing special about the way they fought. It was fast, but it wasn't particularly skillful. I felt I had a good idea of the skill level of the two people who were actually fighting, but I had utterly no idea where the rest of the group stood. My role was as an observer, and I didn't feel it was right to manufacture a situation to split them up. I was treating them like mice in a maze, thinking of different things to introduce just to see what they did with it. I didn't feel particularly good about it, but I limited myself to just watching. The longer I watched though, the more bored I became.