Chapter 43 Stage End

"Alright! Now that everyone is ok, let's go join the others!" The soldier said, before heading out of the building while leading the way.

After walking for a minute or three, they arrived at a big building. It was obvious that this wasn't any ordinary building as even the space from the other buildings in the vicinity was much, and the territory occupied by the building was large. The building itself could be said to be enormous.

The guard led them inside and as they got closer they saw the others that had arrived ahead of them. Without being told, they moved towards the crowd of people and joined them. Everyone was quite curious what they were doing here at this particular building. Because of the size, they had concluded it was some kind of important building that housed a very important person, if not the most important person in the town.

The murmur around the place was getting louder and louder as everyone was just left to their own thoughts. A moment later, someone came out of the building's main door and made their way to the front of the crowd.

Best

At first, they may not have looked like much, but after noticing the respect every other person gave them, the crowd began settling down a bit.

"Quiet." Akara said, not raising her voice, but with a loud enough voice for everybody to hear in a quiet place. The aura she gave was enough to shut the crowd up even if they didn't want to.

'She's strong.' Nathan and Marcel thought as the aura swept past them.

"My name is Akara, and I am the city lord."

Akara went on to explain every she had to, from their purpose of being there to what the town's hall was for, briefly, and some other things. Of course, she didn't go into much detail about each of the things she spoke about and just brushed through them. When she spoke, she referred to herself and others in the village as natives, and referred to those that just came from the adventurers.

When she was done welcoming them, she handed over the rest of the process to the others present and returned to her office.

From there, the crowd was taken into the huge building and divided into separate groups. Each group was taken to a different place within the building for a tour around it. The last and final place they were taken to, which was also the place where all the groups converged was the collection centre. There, they were going to collect their rewards, which they had earned for the most part.

The crowd outside went inside in pairs twos, and one by one collected their rewards in the same type of sack Dustin used, only that theirs were much smaller, at this point it resembled a pouch. After getting the reward which contained monster cores, the use of these cores were explained to everyone.

Basically, the number of cores an individual got was relative to the number of beasts or monsters that person killed. Everybody didn't get much, as people were trying to survive, not prove their strength in face of death. This was so until Nathan and Marcel came along and received a descent bag full of cores. Everybody looking at them was shocked, as they immediately understood what it meant to have that amount of cores. Their sack was as big as a descent sized back pack, each.

Seeing this, everybody instantly showed respect to the brothers and placed them on a higher level than themselves. Even the natives, including the soldiers and those working within the building had stared at the two brothers, even for a second at least. It was quite clear that these people just came from the forest, but the question of how they got their hands on equipments lingered in their minds.

Honestly, if any of them knew of the amount of cores Dustin collected, they would all together treat him as a godly being. Even Raven and Mizu's rewards were better than what the brothers got, albeit only slightly.

..

"This place is so good.. I can be as lazy as I like, and nothings here to make me stress. I should savour this opportunity while it lasts." Dustin said, as he lied on the bedding within his quarters.

It had been a while since he thought about what was happening outside, since he didn't have to go outside. Everything he needed was provided for him by the workers. They would give him updates on the happenings outside from time to time, so he wasn't bothered about missing any important information.

As for Aria and the rest, Dustin hadn't thought about them in a while since he was sure of their safety. He left them in quite capable hands, and since he cleared most of the danger along the way, he was even more reassured that they were fine. The person coming to take care of the house he was in had told him that a group of people arrived at the town sometime ago, but he didn't think much of it.

For now, Dustin was just going to rest and relax as much as he could till it was time to move again.

..

After everyone had collected their rewards, and instructed on how to use the cores, they were taken around the town this time to show them a few places.

First was the training centre, where anyone can come to learn anything concerning fighting and how to use their skills well. After that they were also showed the market place and a few other important places.

That day, just like when Dustin was received, nobody was outside, so the streets and roads were empty.

When they were done doing the little tour, they were then brought to a site somewhere near the outskirts of the town. Here, an almost infinite line of houses filled the area. It wasn't accurate to call them houses; rather, it was more like rooms.

These rooms were maintained in courtyards, and each courtyard had 15 rooms. Each person was assigned a room, and that was going to become their quarters.

As each person was called and assigned their rooms, they all moved accordingly. After that, they were informed that they would have to wait for another three months for others that may arrive. Before then, all the facilities are free to use, and they could also use that time to absorb their cores.

With that, everyone went to look for their quarters. Of course, since they arrived on time, they had the luxury of choosing where they wanted to reside, this in turn helped those that wished to continue partnering together stay together.

.

.

.

Over the course of three months, many people arrived at the town, some well with minor injuries, while others with major injuries and a handful of disabled people.

Those with some major injuries had no problem as these injuries were treated well, and for absolutely no cost. Others with missing limbs or missing innards couldn't be helped much, though.

There were people that had also lost their sight or others that became traumatized after the whole ordeal. Those that had developed some type of trauma were given special attention and taken care of well, in hopes that they'd get better.

"Sir, it's getting worse. She's not getting any better." A young man said, as he walked into an office where the man with green hair was.

"Hm. Then just let her be. We have other patients don't we? Go attend to them." The man responded nonchalantly as he continued studying the papers before him, not even looking up to see the one who entered the office.

'Sooner or later, the deaths will only increase. We can't be bothered with one underperforming patient. There are more important things to do.' The green haired man thought to himself, as he continued on with his work.

Back in one of the hospital rooms, the young man that just left the green haired man's office entered, and walked towards a young lady.

"Um, miss-miss Rea?..."

...

After three months had passed, anybody that was yet to arrive was declared. If someone does arrive after that, they would still be taken in, but they would no longer wait for them.

The city lord called for an assembly, as she wanted to give the reports to the people.

"Out of the one billion people that came to this world, only 1.2 million of you made it here, for now. We will no longer wait for new people to arrive. From tomorrow, it will become business as usual!"