Athtar finished off the rest of the wolves, except for the one that faced Sorisana.

  She was still pointing her sword at a kallminol wolf with shuddering hands. Each time the beast's body flinched, she'd dash away with wobbling legs. She didn't attack so she never got hurt. It was a bizarre battle strategy. She seemed to have achieved her goal, however. Unlike him no wounds covered her. But the same could be said for the wolf.

  As Khourhatin ran towards them to help her out, the monster kicked off the ground, splashing grass and dirt behind it. It leapt toward her. It tackled her to the ground. She screeched. She flailed her sword, stabbing at it randomly in a panic. But the wolf dodged out of the way of her terror-fueled strikes. Fear shoved all skill out of her mind. It bit into her shoulder and slashed cuts across her torso.

  He clicked his tongue. She needed to work on her nerves. Preferably build up her resilience on less dangerous monsters than kallminol wolves. They were a low-ranked monster, but there were plenty weaker.

  Worry wormed up his stomach as he saw blood drip across her chainmail. His run turned into a sprint. He grimaced and sucked in a sharp breath at the pain that rushed through his body in response to the exertion. But that didn't matter. Pain was nothing in comparison to the importance of a friend's life. She screamed. Tears welled up in her eyes.

  He looked at Athtar, wondering if he'd help. He finished killing all of the wolves that went for him. He was free to help. Yet he glanced at Sorisana, shrugged, and turned away. Scum. Might in the hands of someone like him was a waste.

  Khourhatin leapt at the wolf and thrust his sword at it. Spinning to him, it lurched away. But it was too late. He shoved his blade into its neck. Blood splashed out of its maw and dribbled across its body.

  She gasped and scurried out from underneath the wolf, breathing hard and fast. He crouched beside her.

  "How bad are your wounds?" Khourhatin asked, scanning her body. The bites and claw slashes looked shallow.

  She frowned at them. "I think I'm fine.," she said as her breathing slowed and her body stilled. She began to stagger up from the grass. She smiled up at him. "Thanks for saving me."

  "Lay back down," Khourhatin said, resting his palm on her shoulder. "I'll heal you."

  "Don't," she said, pushing his hand off her. She nodded over to Aubron. "I appreciate the sentiment, but he needs it more than I do."

  "Are you sure? You can use your mana to heal Aubron, and I can use mine to heal yours if you want.

  She gazed at his bloody right arm. "Isn't that your sword arm? Shouldn't you heal yourself?"

  He tried to move it. He could, but he winced and sucked in a sharp breath. Stinging pain shot up his arm. "I don't want to see you hurt."

  "We both have white mana, but you have more than me." She laid her hand on his injured arm. "I have the least serious injuries. Aubron has the most serious. Use your healing spell on him, and I'll use mine on you."

  "Fine. Thank you," he said to her with a smile. "Shame we can't ask Athtar to heal you," he said, glaring at the man.

  "Don't bother. You tried five times too many. We're his competition. It doesn't make sense for him to heal us."

  She was right. But it never stopped being frustrating each time he asked on previous missions. He never got injured on these F-rank missions so he never had to heal himself. Yet he never healed anyone else regardless of how injured they were. A few months ago the bastard even let a fellow F-ranker die of blood loss, refusing to heal her. Their clients still gave him most of the hunting tokens anyway. Might makes right after all.

  "Aes sy ial…" Sorisana chanted. A fuzzy sensation covered all of the wounds on his body. "..e zell roil." His wounds burned. He winced at the sensation. But that was fine. His body was healing.

  His left arm strengthened. The wounds that weakened it gradually healed. It was a convenient spell after a battle. But it wasn't particularly convenient during it due to it draining a large chunk of the spellcaster's mana. That would change once they acquired higher-ranked mana. But they only had white mana. He could see Sorisana beginning to slouch. The white glow of her mana dimmed. Considering how slowly it healed him, all it would do would slow down a lethal wound. He'd still need regular treatment. Luckily he didn't suffer from that, so he immediately felt good enough to do what he needed to do.

  The two of them walked over to Aubron and Zelphar.

  "I need to get thicker chainmail," she muttered as she fiddled with her torn cuirass.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Khourhatin shook his head. "You need to commit to an attack sooner," he said.

  "So I get tackled to the ground and mauled sooner?" She asked. "If I did that, I would be dead."

  "Offence is the best defence."

  "That doesn't make any sense."

  He sighed. He knew she'd get it one day, but that was up to her. He couldn't force her to see reason. He'd have to wait for the world to educate her.

  Zelphar and his son Aubron had their crates filled with bread, salted meat, and vegetables placed on the ground next to them. They dropped their goods once the kallminol wolf began chasing them. Fortunately, none of it fell out.

  Zelphar anxiously gazed at his son's wounds and wrapped torn pieces of his shirt around the deep cuts. Khourhatin had actual medical equipment to deal with wounds so he'd have to take that off later. Those torn pieces of cloth looked dirty. They could infect the boy.

  After Zelphar awkwardly stopped the bleeding, he stared at Athtar with sparkling eyes. Even despite Aubron's injuries, he looked at Athtar with admiration. Athtar yawned as he absently gazed down at the five kallminol wolf corpses that laid on the floor around him. Not a single bead of sweat glistened on his face. Not a single cut or wound could be found on him.

  Khoruhatin and Sorisana frowned at the sight of him. He'd surely get the majority of the hunting tokens this time. Again.

  "Very impressive," Zelphar said, staring at Athtar.

  He turned to them and nodded, barely looking at them. "Pick up those crates. Let's go," he said, sheathing his sword. He turned back down the road. He gazed at Thradumlin City, nothing more than a grey blur in the distance. Immediately back to business.

  "Could you wait a second?" Aubron asked. "I think I just need to sit down a bit to deal with my injuries."

  "You can find a doctor when we get to Thradumlin," Athtar said. "The quicker we get there, the quicker you'll be healed."

  And the more jobs he'd be able to complete in a month. The more hunting tokens he'd get. Whilst Athtar was strong, his personality left plenty to be desired. Maybe that was an opportunity. Sorisana already jogged over to Aubron. She must've been thinking along similar lines. He followed her.

  "We should deal with his wounds now," Khourhatin said. He stood next to Aubron and pressed his palms together. He closed his eyes and focused his mind's eye on the mana that spread across his body. "Aes sy ial…" he chanted. His muscles weakened. His vision blurred. Sounds quietened. "..e zell roil." The mana that filled his body dimmed and thinned till he could barely sense it. The white glow that previously covered him vanished.

  He crouched next to Aubron and pressed a palm on his shoulder after Sorisana took off the ramshackle bandages Zelphar rushed on him. Blood dribbled back into their wounds. Bruises shrank. Cuts closed, to an extent. Whilst it was a convenient spell, it wasn't an instant fix. They still needed to treat him normally for optimum effect. He unhooked a water satchel from his belt.

  "We still have quite a distance to walk," he said to Athtar. "So it could get worse."

  "We're monster hunters, not doctors," Athtar said, crossing his arms and leaning his back against a tree. "This isn't in the job description."

  "Being a decent person isn't in the job description, I agree," Khourhatin said. "But it's one of those things that goes without saying."

  "Go ahead, waste your time." Athtar shrugged. "That's why I'm an E-rank, and you're still an F."

  Khourhatin wanted to punch that smirk off his face, but unfortunately, he wasn't strong enough and it's not like their employers wouldn't consider that to be particularly professional. But it didn't matter. Athtar was practically punching himself in the face with the way he was talking and acting. Aubron glared up at Athtar. Khourhatin snorted. He wouldn't even need to punch him to wipe off that smirk. He'd just need to wait for the farmers to hand out their hunting tokens. Athtar would surely receive the least. There's more to business than getting the job done. How you get it done is just as important.

  After Khourhatin and Sorisana finished rinsing Aubron's wounds with water, disinfecting them with a poultice, and dressing them with bandages, they continued heading down the road and towards Thradumlin City.

  As they walked out of the forest and onto the open plains that were spread out before the city walls, Athtar strolled at the back of their group with his hands in his pockets. Whereas Khourhatin had Aubron lean his arm against his nape, helping him walk, and Sorisana carried their crates filled with foodstuffs.

  A couple of hours later, they finally entered the shadows of the city's walls.

  "We're finally here," Zelphar said with a smile, stopping to face them.

  "Are you sure you don't want us to help you to an Inn in the city?" Khourhatin asked, watching Aubron with concern as he pulled his arm away and tried to walk on his own two feet. He limped over to Sorisana.

  Athtar rolled his eyes. "I'm certainly not going to any Inn," he muttered.

  "It's alright," Aubron said as he grabbed the crates Sorisana carried. "An Inn would only be ten minutes away. I can make it there."

  "Well, if you need any more help, feel free to chase us down after we leave," Sorisana said, smiling at both of them. She carefully handed Aubron and Zelphar their crates. "It was a pleasure to travel with you."

  "No, the pleasure was ours," Zelphar said, reaching into a pouch attached to his belt. He pulled out of it a collection of twelve hunting tokens, the overall number of hunting tokens that were to be awarded for this escort mission. A hunting token was a golden coin with a sword carved into one end and a shield carved into another. He picked through them and separated them into two hands, probably pondering on what proportion to give to each hunter.

  Khourhatin glanced at Athtar and saw him smirking. He couldn't wait to see it drop into a scowl when he realised that you had to do more than mindlessly kill monsters to get the highest proportion of hunting tokens on a mission.

  Sorisana glanced at Khourhatin and smiled. He nodded and smiled back. They both knew what was going to happen as their eyes focused on Zelphar's hands, shifting tokens back and forth between them.

  "Ok then," Zelphar said, approaching Athtar. "Here you go."