Prologue: Live Bait
“GAH?!”
XXXX looked at the blood-coated blade piercing his body. He coughed up fresh blood, finally realizing he’d been stabbed from behind.
“Sorry ’bout that, XXXX,” said a voice from behind, though the voice lacked even a hint of remorse. “Gotta make it so four people can make it back with the loot instead of all five dying. It’s only logical, right? The monsters on this mountain can smell human blood from miles away. Your body’ll attract them so we can get out alive.”
With that, Gemmel kicked XXXX’s backside and pulled his sword out, then wiped the blade on XXXX’s trousers and cleansed it with water from his waterskin. The bloody water splattered across XXXX’s back.
“Hey, you sure about this?” asked one of the others.
“Hmph, well it’s his fault to begin with, isn’t it? He was deadweight, anyway. No way we would make it back with him dragging us down. This is our little secret though, ’cause the moment we make it back in one piece, we’re all criminals.”
The others didn’t even try to stop him or even criticize him. The other three with Gemmel just laughed.
Adventurers.
These people earned a living by delving into the wilds, where monsters ran rampant, to eliminate the beasts or recover resources. They usually worked in groups of about four members called a “party.”
Gemmel and his group worked together in a party they named the Seven-Sided Die.
XXXX, too, was a member of that party, but he wasn’t actually an adventurer. He was registered in the guild as an adventurer for convenience’s sake, but he was actually a manager, someone who handled administrative work.
They’d traveled deep into the wilds of Mount Kugus, where a dragon dwelled. All monsters who roamed this dangerous area were ferocious. Even adventurers who pushed the boundaries of what power is humanly possible had a good chance of dying here.
The Seven-Sided Die snuck onto this mountain despite it being normally forbidden, and, as might be expected, they found themselves pushed to their limits by the waves of attacking monsters. That’s when Gemmel shifted their strategy to sacrifice as a means to escape.
“Don’t forget his adventuring license.”
“Oh, yeah, good catch.”
After it was pointed out by one of the party members, Gemmel snatched up XXXX’s belongings that had scattered about when he collapsed. He rummaged through the bag to make sure the silver-colored metal plate was in there, then grinned.
Then, he leaned down and whispered into XXXX’s ear, “Now, even if someone does happen to find you, they’ll have no clue who you are. You’ll just be some idiotic poacher who was lollygagging in a forbidden area.”
His putrid breath hit XXXX’s face. “Damn…you…”
“You know what, for a lackey, you weren’t half bad. But you’re useless to me now. So. Thanks. For. Everything,” Gemmel spat with as much malice in his voice as he could muster. Then, he ordered the other three members to move out. They slipped away with XXXX’s bag, disappearing through the trees before the monsters could arrive.
And they never came back.
“Those…b-bastards! Dammit, no, I can’t die! I can’t…die! I’m not going to die…not here!”
Something cawed in the distance, though XXXX couldn’t tell if it was a bird or a monster. He clutched at the underbrush, pulling himself along through greenery unspoiled by human hands. Bright red heat spilled from the tear in his abdomen, weakly pumping, flowing across the grass.
His breathing trembled, and his body gradually turned colder. The strength left his arms, and he crept forward at a speed a turtle could beat, slowing until even a slug could outpace him.
Even then, XXXX kept thinking how he couldn’t die, how he must not die, but it seemed to be futile when the ground below felt distant, when he was struck by a gentle vertigo. He thought his soul had finally left his body and was starting to climb up to the heavens.
But that wasn’t quite what was happening.
Rather, some great, rugged beast had scooped him up and carried him away.