Outside the capital's approach, Ashley's donor emblem glowed beside her name while Hajin squinted at his wallet again.
[ Wallet: 100,065 Credits ]
'Back home, I'd need to rob every purse in the district for a year to see this.'
The core and tusk sat wrapped in his pack, and Juna slept against his chest, cradled in both arms.
'A whole fortune, and my arms still hurt exactly the same amount, what a scam.'
"Okay, seriously," he muttered, nudging her knees away from the dangling strap and glaring at the emblem, "why that much? Did you mistake a limping pig hunter for a prince?"
[ CringeSlayer91: that's months of pay for normal people, staring is fair ]
[ ashley: you're entertaining, i've watched for days, i want to help even if i can't reach your world ]
"Entertaining, sure, I almost died to a pig, glad somebody enjoyed it."
[ ashley: you also argued with it, that's the part i paid for ]
He puffed out his chest as far as the cracked ribs allowed, "I won the argument, for the record, the pig just didn't accept the result for a while."
He kept to the firmer verge, shortening each step beneath her weight.
'Her breathing matters more than how some stranger got rich, so shut up and walk.'
"So what do you people even do at night when nobody's carrying a girl past a city gate?"
[ NewViewer_02: films, games, other streams, sometimes all three when we can't choose ]
"Films... games... is a game where a machine invents a whole world, or did I just make that up?" He scrunched his face at the feed, sounding the strange words out like coins he didn't trust.
[ CringeSlayer91: honestly closer than you'd think ]
Hajin kept her dressing clear of his shirt while another cart rattled toward the waiting gate.
"Does Earth have monsters, or do those boxes you rent keep out something worse than tusks?"
[ ashley: paperwork, taxes, bosses breathing over your desk until you finish ]
"Bosses breathing on you, gods, that's horrible, I'd take the pig," he said with a full-body shudder.
He glanced at the capital guards and their ledgers, and the answer made a weird kind of sense.
"Wait, so your monsters don't even glow, they just make you write things down until you die?"
[ ashley: pretty much, some of us would trade for the pig ]
'Their monsters still let a guy rent a door and lock it, lucky bastards.'
[ Moderator request: ashley | Community permissions available ]
[ Allowed: Chat, donation messages, community events | Denied: Host System, funds, inventory, private status, purchases ]
[ Grant moderator status? | Yes / No ]
He stopped beside a roadside stone, keeping her balanced while he read every limit twice.
'She manages the messages, she can't touch my Ring, my pack, or a single coin.'
"So you run the room, but you don't get the keys to the vault, right? Say yes before I invent something dumber."
[ ashley: exactly, orderly crowd, you keep the keys and you set the rules ]
He shifted her higher and narrowed his eyes at the denied list, "And no sneaking into my pack, I steal for a living, well, used to, I know every trick."
[ ashley: wouldn't dream of it, i can't even see your pack ]
"Then take the room, and treat those people properly, and ask me before you decide I meant something else." He picked the permission with his attention alone, since both hands stayed busy holding Juna.
[ Moderator granted: ashley(mod) | Community controls enabled | Viewer notified ]
A little shield emblem appeared beside the donor mark, and the balance in his wallet never moved.
[ ShadowMage44: welcome aboard, somebody finally stops the betting fights ]
[ ashley(mod): no death betting during warnings, gifts buy options, not his obedience ]
[ ashley(mod): she's injured, let him find help instead of demanding demonstrations ]
[ CringeSlayer91: organized concern, that pig never stood a chance against this committee ]
"That rule stays, suggestions don't buy my hands, especially when both are full of somebody I'm keeping off the ground."
[ ashley(mod): understood, the pinned wording stays yours, i'll ask before changing what it means ]
"A whole room arguing whether I'm real, hope your emblem came with a comfy chair." He grinned at the reply, picturing some stranger wrangling that noisy room from another world.
"Shit, shit, okay..." he wheezed, freezing until the pain beneath the arm holding her knees eased, "nope, still attached, keep going."
[ Condition: Rib fractures | Further exertion may worsen injury ]
'Rest should involve fewer things hanging off the exact bones that are already broken.'
"Bath, locked room, steak big enough to need its own chair," he sighed, practically drooling, "and I'll argue the order once we stop bleeding."
[ LurkerNoMore: medical help first, the shirt is done ]
Before he could pick which guard might know a physician, red text shoved the steak aside.
[ Warning: Demonic bloodline detected | East | Threat: Unknown ]
"Oh, come on," he protested, throwing his head back, "I already met my quota of horrible introductions today, ask somebody with fewer cracked ribs." The Chain buzzed against his waist like a dog hearing the dinner bell, offering no rank at all.
[ DarkBlade: stopped again, just keep walking toward help ]
"I am walking, see, feet moving, it's the chain that wants a field trip."
Another tug dragged the coil against his strap, pointing east without turning his feet an inch.
'Pull all you want, broken links, you aren't the one carrying her.'
[ Chains of the Goddess | Corrupted essence nearby | Suitable feeding material may support repair ]
[ Defeated boar: Artificially tempered with demonic blood | Nearby source matches ]
[ Source: Two miles east | Rank undetermined ]
Hajin stared at the rows while his shoulder complained, and the pig suddenly stopped being bad luck.
'Somebody made that thing, so the next hunter walks into the same blood without a warning.'
His jaw set hard as the joke drained out of his voice, "Demonic bloodline, two miles east, no rank, and the same blood that changed our pig... walking away just picks whose morning it ruins."
Juna's fingers tightened on his sleeve, and he steadied her before he even thought about fighting.
'She already paid for one fight, I'm not leaving her under a tree to pay for another.'
[ Summoner function: Manage active summons | Juna | View status / Unsummon ]
[ Unsummon: Safe rest until recalled | Injuries persist | No automatic physical healing ]
"Safe, but nothing heals, so her ribs stay broken and finding a healer is still my job."
Her ear flicked against his collar as he lowered his voice, "Somewhere safer than my arms for a bit, save the complaints until I can hear them beside a real bed."
Light wrapped her body without closing the wound, and a sleepy little scowl stayed on her face.
Her clothes, the bandage, and the hand on his sleeve vanished with her weight in one breath.
[ Juna unsummoned | Safe rest | Injuries unchanged | Available for resummoning ]
His arms stayed raised for a stupid second, still listening for a breath that went somewhere else.
He lowered them slowly against the fractures, and the road felt way too quiet without her grumbling.
[ CringeSlayer91: where'd she go, explain before the fan club climbs through the screen ]
[ ShadowMage44: wait for him, that light came from his hands ]
"Relax, she's resting somewhere off this road," he told the chat, rubbing his empty forearm, "wounds and all, and I still owe her a healer."
[ ashley(mod): pinned, safe resting state, no automatic healing, stop telling newcomers she's gone ]
'Safer, yeah, but my arms keep waiting for her to complain about the ride.'
He tightened the pack strap away from his ribs and checked the core and tusk.
The new sword stayed sheathed at his hip, and he wound the Chain's loose links across his palm.
'It wants a meal, but I'm the one who pays if feeding it turns ugly.'
"A look first, and if something ancient owns that road, I run, the steak can survive being second." He turned off the gate road, keeping the capital walls where he could still see them.
[ ashley(mod): unknown means it can't tell you what you survive, keep that retreat open ]
[ CringeSlayer91: remember the running part when something starts talking ]
"Running is a proud family tradition, I ran from every baker in my old district."
His ribs throbbed with each step, yet a stupid grin crept up anyway at the thought of a real fight.
'Broken ribs, no healer, unknown monster, and some idiot part of me is excited, great.'
He crossed a broken fence where the side path met fresh wheel ruts and churned hoofprints.
A snapped harness fitting lay in the mud, stamped with the crest he saw on the gate guards.
"No body, no blood, just horses that really wanted to be somewhere else, fast." He crouched with his good side low and read the tracks of a carriage racing east.
'A carriage running straight at the same blood, and nobody here to tell it to turn back.'
'Guards might listen, sure, but who reaches that clearing before whatever's waiting there strikes first?'
A cold gust carried splintering wood from farther east, and frost crusted the leaves beside the rut.
He raised a brow at the crusted leaves, "Frost, in this weather? Okay, either somebody's fighting with ice, or the weather lost its mind too."
[ DarkBlade: frost on the plants, someone's fighting out there ]
[ ShadowMage44: keep the way back clear, don't let that chain make the plan ]
"If somebody's still standing, I bring them back first, feeding a greedy chain comes way after that."
Distant voices reached him as the path widened beside more abandoned fence.
He kicked a fallen branch across the fork so it pointed back toward the capital road.
'A look, not a charge, and the next choice waits until I see who's alive.'
Hajin followed the crushed ruts with the Chain hanging loose and his sword ready.