Chapter 106 - 105: The Cost of Getting Stronger
The wounded were taken care of first.
Everything else could wait.
Claire had quickly turned one of the available rooms into a temporary treatment area. It was not a proper clinic, and there were no rows of medical equipment waiting on the walls, but they had enough space to work.
"Hold him still."
The survivor beside Claire immediately tightened his grip.
"Careful."
"I am being careful."
"Then be more careful."
Claire’s voice remained calm despite the amount of blood around her.
Iris stood nearby, watching her work.
The wound on the bodyguard’s side was not as bad as Iris had first feared, but it was still deep enough to require attention. The other survivors had injuries of varying severity. Cuts, bruises, bites that had not broken the skin, and one particularly nasty wound on a man’s leg.
None of them looked like they had expected this.
That was perhaps the most obvious thing about them.
They had gone outside thinking they were hunting monsters.
They had returned looking like they had been hunted instead.
"You’re going to be fine," Claire told one of them.
The man gave a weak laugh.
"That sounds like something people say when they’re not sure."
Claire glanced at him.
"Then let me be more specific. You’re going to be fine if you stop moving."
He immediately stopped.
Someone nearby laughed quietly.
The tension in the room eased for a moment.
Iris looked toward the doorway.
Several survivors had gathered outside, waiting for news. Some had watched the group leave earlier. Others had simply heard the shouting and rushed over when they returned.
Nobody was laughing now.
Everyone wanted to know what had happened.
Iris did too.
But she waited until Claire had finished dealing with the worst injuries before asking.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
The survivor who had delivered the final blow looked down at the floor.
"We went farther than we planned."
Iris nodded.
"Why?"
He hesitated.
"We wanted to find monsters."
"I know that."
"We wanted to level up."
That answer was simple.
Too simple.
Iris studied him.
"Why?"
The survivor looked toward the people gathered around him.
"Because what else are we supposed to do?"
His voice wasn’t defensive.
It sounded tired.
"We’ve been inside here watching everyone else work. Some people are gathering resources. Some are trading. Some are helping with things. We don’t have much to contribute."
Another survivor nodded.
"We can’t just eat and sleep every day."
"We need to become stronger."
"We need to be able to protect ourselves."
Several people murmured their agreement.
Iris remained quiet.
That was exactly what she had been afraid of.
They were not going to stay behind the walls simply because Velaris was safe.
They had already started thinking about the future.
And in their minds, getting stronger was part of that future.
The survivor continued.
"We heard people talking about gaining experience from killing monsters."
"Did you?"
He nodded.
"Yes."
"How much?"
"I don’t know."
His expression became frustrated.
"I didn’t exactly have time to check."
Another survivor gave a small laugh.
"We were more concerned with not dying."
That earned a few uncomfortable smiles.
Iris glanced toward the bodyguard.
"And you?"
The bodyguard looked at her.
"I went because they were in trouble."
"You weren’t part of the original group?"
"I was keeping an eye on them."
Iris raised an eyebrow.
"So you were following them."
"Not exactly."
"Then what were you doing?"
"Making sure they didn’t get themselves killed."
Someone in the room muttered, "We nearly did."
The bodyguard ignored him.
"I stayed close enough to intervene if necessary."
Iris looked at his injury.
"You intervened."
"Yes."
"And got injured."
"Yes."
The answer was irritatingly straightforward.
"What happened?"
The bodyguard explained what he had seen.
The group had initially encountered a smaller number of monsters. They had managed to fight them without too much difficulty. The creatures were dangerous, but the survivors were beginning to understand how to move around them.
They became confident.
Too confident.
They pushed farther.
Then another group appeared.
The monsters came from a direction they hadn’t been watching.
One survivor was caught off guard.
Another tried to help.
The formation broke.
People started retreating.
And suddenly the easy hunt became a desperate attempt to get everyone back alive.
"I thought we could handle them," one survivor admitted.
"You could handle the first ones," Iris said.
He nodded.
"We thought the next ones wouldn’t be much different."
They were.
The bodyguard had stepped in when one of the survivors was cornered.
He managed to pull the person away, but one of the monsters struck him before he could fully retreat.
That was where the injury had come from.
"And then?" Iris asked.
The survivor who had killed the monster raised his head.
"I saw an opening."
His hands tightened together.
"He had already weakened it. I attacked when it turned."
"You landed the final blow?"
He nodded.
"Yes."
Iris looked at the bodyguard.
"You didn’t get the experience?"
"No."
The survivor immediately looked uncomfortable.
"I didn’t mean to take it."
The bodyguard shook his head.
"You don’t choose who gets it."
That was true.
The system did not care who had done the most work.
If the final blow determined the reward, then that was how it worked.
The survivor lowered his eyes.
"I know."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then another person asked the question that had been sitting in everyone’s mind.
"So if we kill monsters..."
Everyone turned toward him.
"We really can get stronger?"
The survivor who had delivered the final blow nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"Then maybe this wasn’t a complete failure."
Iris looked at him.
He immediately added, "I mean, obviously getting injured was bad."
Someone snorted.
"Obviously."
"But we learned something."
That was true.
They had.
The survivors had learned that monsters could be killed.
They had learned that fighting them could make them stronger.
They had learned that they could not simply rush into a group of monsters because the creatures looked weak.
And they had learned that strength was not the only thing that mattered.
Experience mattered too.
So did coordination.
So did knowing when to retreat.
Iris folded her arms.
"What will you do differently next time?"
The room became quiet.
Nobody answered immediately.
Finally, one survivor said, "Stay closer to Velaris."
Another added, "Go in groups."
"Don’t split up."
"Watch our surroundings."
"Don’t assume a monster is weak because the first one was weak."
Iris listened.
Those were reasonable answers.
Perhaps this was how people would learn.
Not through lectures.
Not through instructions written on a board.
Through experience.
Unfortunately, experience in this world came with consequences.
Iris looked at the injured survivors again.
She could not ignore that part.
"Are you planning to go again?"
The question caught them off guard.
One man looked at another.
Then someone nodded.
"Yes."
Iris sighed.
"Even after this?"
"We can’t stop."
"Why?"
The answer came from the same survivor who had spoken earlier.
"Because we’re not going to get stronger by staying inside."
He looked around.
"We need people who can fight."
Nobody argued.
"Velaris needs people who can fight," another survivor said.
That sentence stayed with Iris.
Velaris needs people who can fight.
She looked toward the doorway.
Outside, life had already begun returning to normal.
People were gathering resources.
Some were talking about what had happened.
Others were probably already wondering when they could go outside again.
This was not going to be the last hunting trip.
If anything, it was probably the first of many.
And that changed things.
Iris had initially thought of Velaris as a place that needed food, resources, homes, work, and people willing to build something together.
Now there was another problem.
Protection.
The Blackstone Wall was strong.
It was one of the safest things Iris had created.
But the wall only protected the territory.
It could not follow someone outside.
It could not warn a group that monsters were approaching from behind.
It could not rescue someone who had gone too far.
And Iris could not personally accompany everyone who left.
Neither could the bodyguards.
There simply weren’t enough of them.
She looked back at the injured bodyguard.
He had gone out because someone needed help.
What would happen the next time there were several groups outside at once?
What if more people decided to hunt?
What if they encountered something stronger?
What if the next person who needed help couldn’t be reached in time?
The thought made her uncomfortable.
Velaris was becoming a place where people could actually live.
That meant people would also start taking risks.
They would gather resources.
They would explore.
They would fight.
They would grow stronger.
And Iris couldn’t ask them to remain weak simply because she was afraid of what might happen.
They needed the freedom to become capable.
But freedom without protection could quickly become another word for danger.
"You’re thinking about it again."
Iris looked over.
The bodyguard was watching her.
"Thinking about what?"
"Velaris."
She looked away.
"Of course I am."
He gave a small smile.
"We’re making things difficult for you."
Iris glanced back at him.
"You were the one who got injured."
"I know."
"So maybe you should worry less about making things difficult for me and more about getting better."
"I’ll work on that."
A quiet laugh passed through the room.
For the first time since everyone had returned, the atmosphere felt a little lighter.
Claire finished securing the last bandage.
"Done."
The bodyguard looked down.
"That’s it?"
"For now."
"That sounded suspicious."
Claire gave him a flat look.
"Would you prefer I reopen it?"
"No."
"Then stop talking."
He immediately became quiet.
Iris almost smiled.
Almost.
She stepped outside.
The afternoon light stretched across Velaris, touching the rooftops and the paths between them. People were moving around as they had been before.
But Iris no longer saw the settlement in quite the same way.
The people here were changing.
They were beginning to understand the world.
They were beginning to understand themselves.
They wanted to become stronger.
And they were going to keep stepping outside.
Iris looked toward the massive Blackstone Wall surrounding Velaris.
It had once seemed like the answer to everything.
A wall strong enough to keep the monsters out.
A boundary between safety and the chaos beyond it.
But perhaps she had been thinking about it incorrectly.
A territory was not truly protected simply because something dangerous couldn’t enter.
It was protected when the people living there could survive what waited beyond the walls too.
Iris stared at the wall for another moment.
Then she turned back toward the settlement.
There had to be a way.
And this time, she would have to find it before someone else came back covered in blood.