Chapter 69: No Room for Doubt

After a couple of hours, everyone had calmed down. Harris and another man carried the injured men, while Farris carried the body of the child. The boy's mother and sister wouldn't leave Farris' side. Farris planned to bury the boy somewhere near the Barracks in the Dungeon, he wanted the mother to be able to visit often.

And so they marched quietly through the woods, each person feeling the pain differently. Some decided to keep their families hidden, while most desired the power to destroy anyone who tried to harm them.

Geth and Hulk had finished looking over the outskirts of the Dungeon. The two of them were wandering around while Geth would consistently use Inspection on the Dungeon's formation.

He had been really curious to know if he could glean any information from the larger amount of Runes here. His interest in formations and Runes grew more and more as he further increased his knowledge of the Mana.

While they were out, they'd manage to catch two rabbits that were wandering the forest. For the most part, they should be left alone to procreate, but it had been a while since either of the men had eaten meat.

On the way back to the Barracks area, they ran into Filthy who was carrying a dozen rabbits neatly tied together on a vine. "You really like to show off don't you?" Hulk asked.

Filthy just shrugged. "Been a while since I've had meat, wanted to dry some jerky for when we leave here."

Geth rubbed his beard thoughtfully, "That would certainly be great travel food. We will have to ask whoever's going to man the tavern to keep packs up in the Contribution Rewards."

The formation in the Dungeon Inventory could keep foods fresh for longer, it also seemed that the Inventory items had a similar feature. "It seems that the Mana had many different uses, I wonder if it will mostly replace science one day?" He wondered out loud.

The others looked at him curiously. They also began wondering about this question.

"I don't know about all of that, I'm just glad the gear and Mana cores that we'd saved up didn't go to waste." Hulk blurted out.

Geth had to agree, he was a bit worried about them since they were teleported before they could move it. The Formation had automatically sent it all to the Dungeon Crystal. He planned to upgrade the place to Level 3 before heading to the next Dungeon.

Also, the Crystal for this Dungeon had become practically useless. His core for Valhalla had gained a new tab for this branch. This made him more comfortable with using it to upgrade the mine when he made it back home.

The trio continued walking and discussing things about the new world. As they made it to the entrance, Harris was standing there waiting for him. Unlike his usual joyful self, he looked quite crestfallen, and they could see that he'd shed some tears.

Hulk sprinted forward to greet him, a look of worry forming on his face. Geth and Filthy made it to the two in time to catch the end of the conversation.

"---same two who we'd manage to run off before. It looks like they've recruited some minions. We killed two of those that were sent, but... they weren't weak, Hulk, if it weren't for our experience here we couldn't have done anything." Harris was saying.

"How's Sara?" Hulk asked quickly.

"She's...." Harris described what had happened through clenched teeth as Hulk started seething. His fists were clenched so tightly that his nails cut into his Mana hardened palms.

Harris also described how the child had died, and how he'd handled the bandits. "Our people are upstairs now. Two are injured heavily and need Geth's attention." Hulk sprinted upstairs before he could finish speaking.

"Here." Geth handed his rabbits over to Filthy. "Go ahead and start prepping a meal for them, they could use it more than us." He then walked up the stairs with Harris.

When Geth made it to the top of the stairs, Hulk was a distance away holding his sobbing wife. He recognized everyone present but hadn't really gotten out of the house enough to know their names.

All of them recognized him as soon as he stepped through the vine archway. Harris had described everything he'd done for them on their walk back to the Dungeon.

All of the men came up and shook his hand. The last of the men showed him to the two injured men who had been laid down beside a nearby stone. Their wives looked at Geth like they didn't trust him as he approached.

One of them stepped in front of him, "I don't know you, I won't allow you near my husband."

Geth didn't say a word in response. He looked the other woman in the eyes and waited. She wrung her hands, but after a minute she nodded for him to come closer.

Without wasting time, he cast Restoration on the man. Both women looked incredulously as the broken bones and deep gashes all began healing at an impossible pace. The color had fully returned to the injured man's cheeks.

After waiting for the effects to diminish he cast it one more time just to be safe. Geth then turned and walked away.

"Wait!"

He stopped briefly and looked back.

"Aren't you going to help him too?" The first woman asked while pointing at the broken man beside her.

"If he wakes up, tell him his death was caused by your own hands." Geth turned back and continued walking as the woman dropped to her knees.

Harris witnessed the entire interaction, he sneered at the woman and her stupidity. He'd described Geth's character to the group and how he had already done so much for them, even almost dying himself.

As for Geth, he had no time for those who would question him. If they had doubts now, they would only increase when he wasn't around.