3 Dire Wolves
(Square Memorial Hospital Room# 43)
The nurse guided Katsuya to a room, walking in as he followed.
As he entered the room, he tried not to burst into tears as he saw his mother laying on the hospital bed, unconscious.
She had an oxygen mask on her face along with an I.V that had poked into her arm.
The nurse then began explaining his mother's condition.
"She suffered a major concussion. Right now she's in a coma. Since monitoring her, we have noticed irregular heart beats. She has been diagnosed with heart failure."
He then kneeled down and put his face on the bed, trying to hide the tears as they ran down his cheek.
It was too late for him to change anything that had happened. Even if he had tried to change anything, he wouldn't have been able to do much.
These thoughts rushed through his mind as they crushed his heart.
The nurse noticed his stress and sadness then began to walk out.
"I'll give you some time."
She then stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind.
Katsuya still couldn't stop himself from thinking that maybe he could have done it sometimes.
"I'm sorry...I should've been there."
He slowly stood back up as he began wiping his tears. Katsuya made a decision. He decided that he'd slaughter every monster he came across and that monster would escape him.
Katsuya then turned around and walked out into the hallway. The nurse noticed this and approached him, handing over a paper.
"This is the medical bill for your mother."
He then grabbed the paper wondering about his sister.
"What about my sister. Where's her room?"
"O-oh, She's right this way. Just follow me."
She then began walking down the hall as Katsya followed.
As they walked, he stared at the floor's white tiles and thought to himself.
"We aren't a rich family. As a matter of fact, we're pretty poor so how am I going to pay for their medical bills."
The nurse stopped in front of a bright wooden door.
(Room # 57)
"This is your sisters room. You can go ahead and go in. I'll go get her medical bill."
The nurse walked off as Katsuya walked inside.
On the hospital bed, laid a girl with long brown hair who was unconscious. There was an oxygen mask over her mouth and she had an I.V poked into her arm.
Katsuya walked over to the girl and put his hand on her forehead.
"I'm sorry, little siss." A tear began to run down his cheek.
Suddenly, the phone in his pocket began buzzing.
He pulled it out looked at the screen
{Caller: Beast Slayer Guild}
{Accept/ Decline}
Katsuya then tapped his thumb on the 'Accept' button and held the phone up to his ear.
"Hello?"
A voice from the other end of the call then replied.
"Yes, this is the Beast Slayer's adventurer guild. Is this Masazumi Katsuya?"
"Yes, it is."
"Well, I called to notify you that you're now an official adventurer. You are D-rank number 762"
The number he got was one of the lowest in his rank.
"W-Wait. Isn't that the lowest number."
After a couple seconds of silence, the guild worker replied.
"No sir, it is not. It's the fourth lowest number of your rank."
Katsuya wore a disappointed expression on his face as he thought to himself.
"That's not really too much better, but at least I'm not the very bottom."
The man on the other end then began finishing up the conversation.
"Well sir, if that is all then I'll be hanging up now. Good luck as an adventurer."
There was beep as the guild worker hung up.
Katsuya placed his phone in his pocket as he let out a sigh.
"Of course. I should've guessed that I was going to be one of the lowest numbers. At least I have a way to pay my mom and sisters medical bill now."
The door opened from behind. Katsuya turned to see who had come in. It was the nurse. She then held out a piece of paper.
"This is your sister's medical bill."
He grabbed the paper and looked at it.
{Total: $11,987.57}
His eyes widened as he was surprised. The total price was something he couldn't even hope to pay, but he knew that he had to try.
Katsuya then folded the paper and placed it in his pocket.
"Thank you for your help, I'll be leaving now."
He then walked out of the room and down the hall as he thought to himself.
"That price is just too much. If both of their medical bills are this much then It's going to be a hassle to pay off. I guess I'll have to start going on quests non-stop. First, I'll need a weapon."
After leaving the hospital, Katsuya walked and arrived at a weapon shop.
As he walked in, he was greeted by a man who stood behind a counter.
"Welcome…..kid?" The man was confused as to what a young man was doing in there at the shop. He occasionally had costomors but none were as young as Katsuya.
"What's a kid doing here?" The man thought to himself.
Katsuya walked around as he looked at the weapons that were locked behind glass cases.
He then stopped as one caught his eye.
{Hunting Knife. Atk: 9 Price: $387.76}
"Looks like I'll be spending up all of my money on this." Katsuya thought to himself.
He then turned to look at the man behind the counter.
"I'd like to buy this knife."
"S-Sure, kid."
The man then walked over and opened up the glass case. He then slowly placed the knife on the counter.
"Your total is 390 dollars and 12 cents."
Katsuya reached into his pocket and pulled out a black wallet. He then pulled out 4 100-dollar bills and placed them on the counter.
"Keep the change."
He then grabbed the knife, placing it in his pocket.
As he walked out of the store and down the sidewalk, he thought to himself.
"Next stop, the forest. I know about a small dungeon that recently apeared there. Luckly, nobody has actually gone to clear it."
-------------------------------
(Forest)
There were tall pine trees all around, as far as the eyes could see.
He continued to walk further and further. Katsuya realized that It was pretty windy and that he wouldn't be able to hear if a monster ran up from behind.
Up ahead, there was a cave. As he began to approach it, a creature that walked on all fours began crawling out. Katsuya quickly hid behind a tree, peeking his head out to observe it.
The creature had long black claws and glowing red eyes. It had blue fur and razor sharp teeth. It was a type of monster called a 'Dire Wolf'
They were known for being able to drain the life of people they bit or even how loud enough to stun their prey.
Katsuya continued stalking the wolf until it turned back to face the cave.
"Now!" he thought to himself.
He quickly ran towards the wolf as it turned around to face him. Katsuya pulled out his knife and stabbed it into the creature's eye. He yanked it out and brought it down on it's back. The wolf fell to the floor as he rapidly stabbed the knife in and out of it's skin. He then stopped as he noticed three pairs of glowing red eyes coming out of the cave.
Katsuya's eyes widened in fear as he realized what they were. They were Dire Wolves.
"More of them?!"
He slowly began backing up as the creature's growled at him, showing their fangs.
Katsuya turned around and began climbing up one of the trees when he felt a pair of teeth sink into his leg.
"Aaaaahhhhh"
He looked down and saw one of the wolves hanging with its jaws locked onto the back of his leg. He lifted his food and kicked down on its face, knocking it off. Katsuya was breathing heavily as he closed his eyes, wishing for the creatures to go away. As he opened his eyes, he saw the wolves slowly back off into the cave while growling at him. Katsuya stayed attached to the tree as he watched them slowly disappear from view.
We waited a couple seconds to make sure that they were actually gone.
He let go of the tree and fell to the floor.
Katsuya laid on his back as he let out a breath of relief.
"I actually survived that."
He sat up and looked at his leg where the creature had bitten. There were teeth marks where blood was leaking out of.
"Well, it hurts but, It doesn't look life threatening.
Katsuya slowly stood up in pain and began limping away into the forest.
"Looks like I'll be leaving earlier than expected. I'm going to need to request help from some adventurers…."
He then looked up at the sky and noticed that the sun was starting to set.
"….but that'll have to wait till tomorrow."
(Hp: 1/14)
Katsuya was lucky that he had been bitten by a low level dire wolf instead of a stronger one. If this had happened, he wouldn't have still been alive.
--------------------------------
(City: Pryoras)
The sun had fully gone down and it was now dark. After a long walk, Katsuya had barely arrived back into the city.
"That was a hell of a walk. I don't know how I made it with my leg all messed up."
He stepped onto the sidewalk and continued walking. There were small houses, small shops and alleyways. This was the part of the city where criminals would hang out. Katsuya decided to walk down an alleyway, in order to avoid running into any dangerous people on the street.
It was almost pitch-black and he could barely see where he was stepping.
As he reached the end of the alley, there were three more alleyways.
"I could either go straight, left of right."
Not having too many options, he decided to keep going straight. He then heard the voice of a woman coming from the end of the alleyway.
As he got closer, he hid behind a garbage can and peeked his head out.
There was a woman with long blonde hair. She wore jeans and a black shirt. Surrounding her were three men. The men were dressed in all black and were pushing the woman around.
"C'mon, juts hand over your money and you'll be fine."
"Yeah, just hand it over and nobody gets hurt."
"Yeah, what they said. Unless ya wanna die, I suggest ya hand over all ya money."
The woman was visibly scared of them. The way Katsuya was, he couldn't really do much even if he tried. Ignoring this fact, he stood up and began walking towards the men.
"Hey, stop that."
The three men turned around to face him. They all wore intimidating faces.
"Huh? What are you gonna do?"
"You got a death wish or somethin'?"
"Go home, kid."
The woman took this opportunity and ran out of the alley as she yelled for help.
"Somebody help! They're trying to rob me!"
A cop car then stopped in the middle of the street.
The men were angered by this but decided to run off to avoid the police.
"Damn police."
"Quick, let's run."
"Let's go."
As the men ran off, Katsuya let out a breath of relief while thinking to himself.
"That could have gone a lot worse. Thankfully, it didn't."
He then walked out of the alleyway. Standing on the side of the road was the woman. Next to her was a cop who stood there listening to her as she explained the situation. The cop then noticed Katsuya.
"Is that one of them?" The cop asked.
The cop began walking towards him as the women replied.
"W-wait, no. He's the one who tried to help."
The cop stopped as Katsuya walked past.
"I understand that but, I still need to ask him some questions."
By time the cop turned to look back at Katsuya, he had already left.
