**Hey you think he's alive?**
**Hah, for sure he is! He looks fine and dandy doesn't he?**
**Yeah but little dude's been knocked out for 16 hours.**
**He survived till daybreak against the owl, he's definitely fine.**
Auto who had been knocked out out of exhaustion, was snapped out of his inundated daze, only to realize that he's hearing two unfamiliar voices seemingly discussing his state.
'Huh? Am I being kidnapped?' Immediately, Auto got up, grabbed a dagger and held a dude by his throat. 'Tell me who all of you are.' He demanded emitting an ominous aura.
**Wait we're on your side.** They tried to tell him, but he wouldn't budge 'Yeah right, like anyone would be on my side. I'm a monster they all say.' Auto who is now increasingly more menacing.
"Chill down kid I just lost an arm for your sorryass." An unexpectedly familiar voice calmly says in a corner, 'And who might you-' Auto was about to curse her out but noticing a distinctly familiar figure, Auto was overcome with surprise 'Lost... An arm?' He hesitantly muttered, and to his shock, she was indeed missing an arm.
'Pony tail...?' Auto lets go of his hostage and stares blankly at her for a few seconds contemplating. 'Y-your arm... It was my fault?' Although guilty for trying to curse her out, he was unwilling to remove his coat of pride. 'Hah... My ass is way less sorry than yours, what could you possibly do that's better than me? Your gun failed on you, if it weren't for me you wouldn't even be alive you prick.'
**Why you-** Pony girl was pissed, but before a fight broke loose; That's enough. A strong commanding aura surrounded them, this man seemed noble and calm. He approached Auto and kindly greeted him "I'm sorry for startling you, and I understand your worries. But you don't have to worry, you saved my board member here, her name is Sherley. She's sorta the feisty type, so don't mind her."
HEY I HEARD THAT!
"That aside, my name is Victor Adaset. Nice to meet you, may I ask for your name?" He requested kindly.
Auto saw no harm in accepting and replied "My name is Auto. Happy to comply with you." And they shook hands with each other.
"Well, now that's all done and over. See that castle of there? Those are our headquarters, we're about 3 kilometers away from it. Do you mind joining my guild?" Victor pointed at the town before his request.
Auto stuttered for a second but after regaining his composure, he spouted "Do you know how to get out of here?" He asked with an inquisitively.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're talking about." Victor replied. "I'm saying, do you all know how to get out of this damnation?" Auto yielded but only to a bit of silence.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean." Victor replied once again, "The forest, the monster, how did I get here... No.... How did all of us get here?" Auto pleaded his question one more time but the captain seemed anxious but not suspicious, he didn't seem at fault for anything, maybe a victim himself.
"I don't know myself... We all appeared here with no memories of the past..." He said solemnly.
"Let me tell you a story kid, we have 2 kilometers away before we arrive. That's 5 minutes to talk." He gestured a seat and proceeded to tell a tale.
**Aw here he goes yapping again, he does this to all the newcomers. He's a way too overly genuine guy.**
"I vividly remember the day, I first got here... There were 43 survivors, a far cry from the 14,374 we have now. Together we ventured in the forest until we stumbled upon a maze...
This maze wasn't filled with treasures, it was pure terror. Filled with skeletons of the deceased, mossy chests. And at night, monsters roam the maze to "clear" any sort of survivor inside. This maze is located in the end of the forest, no one knows how far it goes. We deemed it to dangerous to venture, and from what we know. The dark owl frequents the maze...
The dark owl can't be killed, and will only disappear during daybreak."
'But didn't I kill the owl?' Auto asked.
"No you did not... You merely survive until daybreak, but granted, you are an excellent combatant as you survived in direct combat against the owl for the longest we have ever seen." Said Victor.
"May I go back to my story?" Victor kindly asked.
"No... I have a question first." Auto asked him and froze.
"Do you all... Have classes?" He waited anxiously for a reply, and it was imminent in his eyes that something was wrong.
"A class...? What's that?" Victor said in response, and to Auto's utter despair... Indeed... He was powerless.
So that fear I felt... It was because I.... I am weak...
"It-it's nothing..." Auto chuckled in discomfort and waved it off.
**License and registration please- Oh hi captain Victor!**
"Oh would you look at that? We've been so invested in our little chat, that we finally arrived to our destination!" Victor chuckled in excitement.
"Sir Auto shall we get going? I'll introduce you to my guild." Victor said invitingly. "Just call me Auto."
"Okay. That's nice then I'll call you Auto." The carriage brought them to a guild house, filled to the brim with a lively atmosphere with two busy bartenders catering to the hundreds of customers.
"Those two are our beloved bartenders, Quinney and Jack." Victor told Auto, "Come here I've brought my disciple over, I can't tell you how much I value him. He's so important and foundational to our guild that I'd call him irreplaceable." Victor ecstatically brought Auto over to the guild main office to introduce him to his beloved disciple.
"Ah- wait slow down I hit my leg." Auto blurted out in igniting a bit of a fuse, "Oh- I'm sorry I got a little to excited there." Victor apologized.
"Ah, classic Victor. Always excited introducing the newbies to his son." Sherley let out a breath of air and smiled. "It's about Rigel again isn't it? That kid's got good sparks." A man behind Sherley nodded.
"Yeah, that kid again... Say... Auto this is Xavier right here, he appears out of the blue every once in a while don't get startled by him." Sherley told Auto.
Xavier double peace sign
Auto swallowed some saliva before responding, "uh- yes, okay I won't."
"You know... I wasn't expecting you to be this shy and timid. You were a beast again the owl, why are you all shy and frail now?" Sherley said as she clicked her tongue.
"There there Sherley. Kid's can be confusing you know? There's also Rigel with his shenanigans." Xavier tethered in response.
Auto looked down, avoiding eye contact, and narrowly feeling the feeling of actually being shy. Victor was laughing along until he noticed him "What's wrong kid?" Victor asked.
"Nothing... It's just that people don't really talk to me this nicely. It feels unreal." Auto said looking a bit gloomy. "Must be tough... Say... I think you might come to like Rigel, get on your feet kid. Keep your head held high." Victor said as he placed his hand on Auto's head.
"You know, you've got a good set of pipes kid." Victor reassured him with a thumbs up and a wide smile, Auto reacted fondly to this and said "Hah, you went from extremely formal to an unc." He said teasingly, and they both exchanged laughter as the party arrived to the office. It was more like a father, Victor calmly stated at the back of his mind.
Inside, a boy with ginger-red hair was sitting on a table accent fireplace chair, seemingly waiting for their arrival, he glanced calmly and invitingly. And he emitted a presence similar to Auto and Victor. "This is my disciple, Rigel. he's like a son to me. I took him in since he was a wee baby, he's irreplaceable family to me." Victor claimed with a proud smile on his face.
Auto smiled, it was never so often he felt this welcome and warm, but it was only for a split second. He noticed that Rigel had blood on his hands, his knuckles were bruised. It looked like he came straight out of a fight. "Hey do you guys have any potion crafters here?" Auto asked, "Well we do have a herbalist, but so far potions can only be found in the maze and are extremely rare to find. Usually the maze only contains junk but in the low 0.1% we find potions." Victor explained.
"Give me some ingredients let me craft a healing potion." Auto requested, "Hm? Potions can be made? I'll gladly oblige, but why so suddenly?" Victor asked in puzzlement. "Eh, it's nothing too major. But I think Rigel fell into a fight earlier." Auto explained, then Victor himself took a look at Rigel's hands and indeed, it was bruised.
"Huh? Rigel have you been training without permission again?!" He exclaimed, "Going out into the woods at night to fight wolves isn't training! What if you got badly endangered?" He shouted not out of anger but out of worry.
"I'm sorry captain, I'll be careful next time." Rigel replied and saddened, "Being careful next time won't make a difference, you should stop going to the forest unsupervised." Victor scolded, but before more tension broke loose Auto butted in "That's enough." He said.
"I'm here now, you guys have a healer." Auto reassured, "How are you so sure of your capabilities?" Victor asked, Xavier and Sherley were also curious but knew to be silent and just wait behind them.
"I'll show you." Auto said with confidence, he first went to get ingredients, but looking at the lack of magical ingredients in the area he had to supervise.
Usually I'd use herbs close to magical sources but I'll have to make do with, adhaella leaves. Adhaella carries enough healing properties for a small wound, next we'll have to get a Ministro mushroom, but since those aren't available I'll make do with Bungi mushrooms which still carry anti-fungal effects.
Lastly I'll need magic, but I can't find magic in this world apart from this Eve's adam, I found. Starting by pounding the adhaella leaves, next stir the Bungi mushrooms and mix them in with the herbs, and lastly the Eve's adam for a stable restorative and disinfectant effects.
And now! We have enough to create 50 bottles.
"Hand me small glass containers now!" Auto requested quickly, "May I request service for mini glass containers?" Victor loudly demanded to the "servants" working there.
Auto carefully picked the mixture into the glass containers and carefully permed it into Rigel's hand. "Just carefully place it here, and it should work in just 5 seconds." Auto said while gently applying the extremely low-tier potion.
And in about 5 seconds, the wound was slowly covering up. "This is amazing!" Victor said in astonishment, The crowd applauded.
**WE HAVE A HEALER NOW! GET THE WOUNDED SOLDIERS.**
Quickly, they gathered up. Forming a line to treat the wounded, one by one they got treated and the townsfolk praised Auto's skill. Saying they were lucky, and blessed by the saint. Auto couldn't help but smile at how easily he was welcomed, "Hah... If only they treated me this well back then I wouldn't have had to massacre a thousand people... Or maybe Aira would still be with me.... But I can't blame it on them... After all I'm still at fault."
But amidst his reverie he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Good job kid, maybe you were worth my arm after all. Sorry for underestimating you." Sherley told him with a smile.
"Thanks, but I can't bring back your arm though." Auto looked down in sadness. "That doesn't matter, my arm is nothing if I saved someone who could heal a thousand wounds." Sherley said in response out of respect.
Xavier charmed in "Yeah, we would have to go high and low to find someone with your talents."
"I'm pretty sure everyone else would agree." Victor chimed in as well, "All hail our new healer! Hahaha!" I'll claim this one as my child Victor chuckled.
"All hail the healer! All hail the healer!" The crowd cheered his name and held a festival at night... But one person was missing... Rigel.