Why are so many other people here? Was everyone else asked by the same Bounty Hunter to come here? I look towards the body in the arena. Everyone being sent here feels a bit too coincidental, this might be a trap.
“I don’t know, some of them want money in here, others are so suspicious about the letter - there’s lots of reasons why we’re here.” Hailey replies to the stranger that was said last time.
“I, for one, came for the money. So I’ll be staying around here until we complete the job.” The man stood still, his gaze moving over the group and eventually back to the body. “The most likely scenario is that this man is a victim of the one we were called here to defeat.” As Jerome’s eyes focused in more on the body, he noticed… something. Thinking back to the letter, there seemed to be some similarities. White hair and a white hoodie…? That had to be a coincidence, right? Jerome wouldn’t say anything just yet, but he narrowed his eyes at the body. What… was going on?
Even if the body seems to be half dead. Subtle movements of the body are noticiable, signaling that the person is slowly getting conscious.
Breathing and struggling. It’s all becoming more obvious over time.
“Argh…”
The person who just had their first few seconds exhaled.
Arden immediately kneels down next to the man when he notices that he had started moving, and tries to help him up. “Woah there! How are you still able to be awake? Either way, let’s get you up first.”
He then turns around right away. “OI! LADS AND LASSES, HE’S UP!” Arden yelled.
Spencer upon hearing what Arden told,wiped any remaining traces of water or blood on the tip of his spear and holstered it at his back. He then proceeded to come out of the bushes and go to the person down on the floor and decided to nudge him a bit, “Hoy,who are you? Wake the hell up already.” He would say in his usual passive-aggressive tone.
While the person is trying to get up, he still struggles to process or say anything. His eyelids are still shut, although some force is seen attempting to open them. He muttered out some unclear words as Arden and Spencer asked him questions.
Airi frowned at the others, still close to the injuries individual.
“Give him some time.”
Her ire was directed at Spencer then.
“That isn’t gunna get an injuried person to move any faster.”
Of course she was still crouched next the the white-haired male who was trying to stand, noting that Arden was trying to help him up.
"Considering your eariler offer, " she directed her attention to Arden,“I can help you take him to Riverdale to get some better medical treatment.”
Even if the stranger was getting up, his condition was still pretty damn bad.
Arden turns toward Airi. “Alright. Let’s go. But should I help him stand up? His wounds don’t look like they’d feel exactly comfortable to be touched.” His hands still gently grabbing Aster’s arm.
Airi looked the injured individual over.
“He’s in no condition to be walking on his own. We’ll just have to help him. Or carry him.”
She hoped that he could at least be coherent enough to understand he was being taken someplace to get medical care. Honestly, between a life and crowns, she was more so willing to give up money that could be earned elsewhere.
Besides, she didn’t take any joy in battling an already injured person. If they did turn out to be Aster Lamina, Airi was more curious as to why they would be targeted for such a high bounty with so many mages on his tail.
“Then we’re probably gonna find something to carry him with, or we could just carry him by grabbing his feet and shoulder to lift him. That works, right?” Arden says with an uncertain look.
“It works, if you want to kill him,” Fae sighed, stashing the bandages given to her inside her pack, “Hold under his armpits, and try very carefully not to jolt or shake him.”
Fae walked over to the body of Aster, glancing at all the scars. She kneeled over the body, inspecting the several wounds that littered his body, “Now who exactly did you piss off?”
“But that’s exactly what I meant by grabbing his shoulders!” Arden protested, while doing as instructed. He then muttered under his breath. “Guess I’m just not that good with my words.”
“W…Wh…”
Even if Aster slowly gets conscious little by little as he’s struggling to say something again, he’s still just lying there without moving. Although his right arm starts to move as he’s trying to raise it up.
“Someone’s moving.” Jerome’s monotonous voice pointed out, his eyes moving to look down at Aster. “And talking. If you’ve got something to say, spit it out.” Probably an unreasonable request to someone who had just been found beaten up and unconscious, but… oh well. That wasn’t Jerome’s biggest concern as of now.
“Can’t you be a bit more considerate? He looks absolutely screwed over, the least we could do now is not pressure him.” Arden scowls at Jerome, then turns back to Aster, focusing on him and what he’s trying to do. Looks like carrying him to a water source wouldn’t be too hard after all with him waking up.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t take this job to care for some beat up wizard. I came to complete a request. And right now, that isn’t happening.” Jerome shot back, his eyes narrowing. “He can either make himself useful, or just get lost with one of you who are so concernced for him.” Some pretty harsh words, but… they were true, in Jerome’s eyes. Not knowing for sure that this was, in fact, Aster, all he could think of was that the one who did this could be nearby somewhere. That had him on his toes.
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“You’re not wrong, but still, rushing a barely conscious person for answers doesn’t get you anywhere.” Arden didn’t turn toward Jerome this time, his eyes still focused on Aster.
“It will when he talks.” Jerome took a step forward, he kept his head facing forwards, but his eyes were looking down at Aster. It might seem like he was trying to look down on him, but… he just didn’t want his hat to fall off, really. If he’d tilted his head, it probably would have slipped right off.
"If not now, then he’ll talk later. We’re getting something out of him. "