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The nun from the Right's temple

Matt returned the knife to Felicia and kept the cores in his pocket before he asked

“Are we done here?”

Felicia called out to Ike

“Ike, how much longer?”

“I’m done, let’s get out of here before some nastier things show up”

Matt looked over and saw that Ike had bundled up the armor pieces with some robe, he handed the bundles to the others before he also handed a bundle to Matt, only Matt’s bundle was significantly bigger than the rest, Matt was confused for a moment before he figured it out and thanked Ike

“Thanks Ike”

Ike showed a toothy grin and nodded before he spoke

“It is as it should be, now let’s get back to camp”

Matt began leading the way back to the camp, they arrived without issue, Matt stopped at the edge of the clearing and sat down on the ground, Jo asked him with a teasing smile on her face

“What? You won’t come join our happy group, Matt?”

Matt sighed before he asked

“And get shanked in the back? No, thanks, not in the mood to get stabbed today”

“Not today, eh?”

“Yeah…”

Jo fell into contemplation for a bit before she put down the metal plates and sat down on them besides Matt and began speaking

“We’re going to be out here for max a week or until we can’t carry anymore loot, we’ve been here for 4 days already but it looks like we’ll set out tomorrow around midday”

Matt nodded before he muttered

“So you have already stacked up enough loot?”

Jo sighed before she shook her head

“We’ve lost too many recruits”

Matt looked over at the camp and saw many wounded or grieving adventures, he thought for a moment before he asked

“Is this some sort of test?”

Jo nodded before she explained

“It is, it’s the final test to become official adventures, it’s one of the two ways to enter the guild, the other being making a sizeable donation”

“So either you bribe them or get sent off here to kill or be killed in a forest… How many were you to start with?”

“50”

“And now you are what, 30 something?”

“29 this morning”

“Ouch… I am guessing you and your party are not examinees?”

“Nope… we’re sent along with another party to oversee the exam, you know, make sure about half return”

“I see… Thanks for the information”

“It doesn’t come for free though, I expect you to pay us back… So do you mind keeping this side of the camp monster free tonight?”

“Sure, I don’t sleep that much anyway”

Jo nodded and stood up again before she picked up her metal plating and clapped Matt on the shoulder

“Then I am counting on you Matt”

“Sure”

The evening eventually arrived, Matt was sitting on a branch at the edge of the clearing and munching on some fruits while he kept an eye on the returning recruits that had been hunting the entire day, they all looked drained to say the least, some broke down crying as soon as they reached the camp while most had a sour expression on their faces, the shadow of death hang heavily over them all

‘Not that that got anything to do with me…’

Matt turned his eyes away and lessened his presence, soon the recruits seemed to be unable to find him, Matt had counted how many of them there were left, the number had dwindled down to 26 and some were injured, between that and poison from the fauna as well as some of their wounds festering there would likely not be more than 25 in the morning

‘Here comes the first guest of the night…’

Matt turned his attention to the approaching monster and jumped from his hiding spot to another branch where he observed the monster

‘A bear… with six limbs, interesting…’

Matt waited for the bear to get closer as he considered how to kill it the most efficiently…

Ike sighed as he sat himself down by the fire in the middle of the camp, he sat down next to Jo that handed him a bowl of soup, for a bit the two of them sat and ate in silence until Ike asked

“What’s your opinion on him?”

“Who?”

“Who else, our wild man”

Jo thought for a bit, she pushed up her round glasses with a finger before she spoke clearly

“He’s deranged for sure”

“I agree… But he’s also strangely… Friendly”

“Sure, if we’re to believe what he says, then he’s been here in this forest for far too long… Only…”

“Yeah, I know… He’s got no scars or other injuries visible”

Jo thought for a bit, then she spoke hesitantly

“Maybe… He’s got some sort of self-healing or regeneration skill?”

Ike shrugged before he agreed

“Maybe… Geh, here comes the sister…”

The sister from the Right’s temple walked over with a too perfect smile on her face, she greeted Jo while outright ignoring Ike

“Greetings Jo”

“What is it sister?”

Ike snarled

“What do you want?”

Jo patted him on the shoulder to sooth Ike somewhat as the nun from the Right’s temple spoke

“I am here for some information about Matt, you have been with him today so you should be able to answer, yes?”

Jo nodded and leaned back slightly as she spoke

“Sure, as long as you make it worth our while”

The nun nodded and showed Jo a core as she spoke

“This was donated to the temple by a just believer, I will give this to you as long as you answer my question”

“Sure sister, ask away”

The nun’s smile widened slightly as she asked her question

“Say… Have you ever seen Matt get hurt?”

The sun gradually rose in the east, or at least Matt assumed it was east anyway, as the sun rose the pile of carcasses that he had made out of the monsters that had attempted to enter the camp over the night came into view, there were 2 large monsters as well as about a dozen medium-sized monsters, and about 2 dozen small sized monsters, all of them had their chest ripped open, and their cores removed, as for the cores? Matt was currently absorbing the last of them on a branch hidden from view, a few moments later he opened his eyes and sighed before he muttered

“About a quarter to level 3…”

Matt stood up and jumped down and landed by the pile of monster carcasses, then he looked over at the recruits that were busy looting the carcasses, one of them noticed him and yelled at once

“What do you want? Wait, you're the killer!?”

The other recruits quickly gathered and drew their weapons as one of them yelled,

“He killed Samantha! I say we kill him and burn his core!”

Matt glanced at them before he sighed and spoke

“I have nothing to say to dung beetles, whose kills do you think you are looting?”

The recruits became visibly flustered but still stood their ground, Matt sighed and kicked off the ground rapidly approaching the closest recruit, after easily dodging the flimsy sword swipe he grabbed the recruit's writs as a dark green light flashed in his eyes as he spoke

“And this little dung beetle went..!”

Matt’s hand grabbed the wrist of the recruit and swept her legs with a kick to the back of her knees before he twisted her arm around her neck and put a knee on her shoulder pushing against it, then as he choked out the first recruit he roared as a dark green light shone in his eyes

“WHO’S KILLS DO YOU THINK YOU ARE LOOTING, SMALL BEETLES?”

Matt’s roar reached the camp and while the rest of the recruits were scared out of their wits a group of people quickly came out from the camp, Felicia and her party was in the lead, along with them were another experienced looking party that included the sister from the Right’s temple, when Ike saw the scene he sighed, Jo facepalmed while Felicia yelled out at once

“Why don’t we all calm down… Matt, mind releasing the kid?”

“Yes I do… Well, since it was you who asked…”

Matt released the recruit, who hurriedly scrambled to her feet while heaving and gasping for air as she hurriedly returned to her friends, then Felicia asked the recruits

“Why did you steal from Matt?”

“We didn’t… we just saw the pile of carcasses and—”

“And thought, ‘why don’t we help ourselves to that?’ right?”

“Matt, be quiet for a bit… Maybe if we just—”

At that moment, the sister from the Right’s temple spoke up

“Rita! You better confess… Did you truly believe that no one would care if you looted this pile of carcasses?”

One of the recruits paled before she fell to her knees and began begging the sister for forgiveness

“Please sister, I didn’t know, please forgive me!”

The nun narrowed her eyes slightly before she drew a small dagger from her robe and spoke

“Your hand”

This only proved to make the girl panic even more, though as she sobbed she raised her left hand up and presented it to the nun that then grasped her hand and stabbed the dagger right through her palm, over a mark that had been tattooed on her hand, ignoring her cries the nun spoke

“The Right’s temple no longer welcomes you, Rita… We have no room in our temple for thieves”