6 - Wanderer

Jean laid on the blood-soaked alter, she had no idea what was happening around her, but one thing was for sure: the Centaurs were fleeing wildly as low thunder sounded out around her, then she caught a glimpse of one of the predators that were hunting the Centaurs

'A metal carriage..?'

It was indeed a metal carriage, a 6 wheeled metal carriage with what she assumed was a cannon

'So it was a cannon and not thunder… That means I am saved…'

With that realization hitting her she began crying tears of joy, soon a low rumble seemed to approach, she turned her head as best she could and saw a giant, square metal carriage that trampled everything in its path, the carriage stopped a few meters away from the altar and then a hatch opened up and a young man stuck his head out and quickly scanned the area before he crawled out, he had jet black hair and wore some dirty slightly stained clothes, this lowered Jane's expectations of her savior slightly, that was until she saw his eyes, they were bright blue and sparkled like slightly dull gems, she had never seen anyone with blue eyes before, her savior walked over and then out of nowhere a knife appeared in his hand before he spoke with a reassuring smile on his face

"Please hold still"

Jane nodded slightly before he cut the gag that kept her from speaking, she opened and closed her sore jaw a few times before he asked

"Do you understand me?"

Merlin did his best to keep calm as he looked at the gorgeous woman on the sacrificial altar, her dark flowing hair and her slightly intimidating red eyes that looked surprisingly meek at the moment as well as her athletic build that didn't do wonders for his sanity when she was lying there all… Well, tied up

'No, no, no… Mother would kill me if she found out I forced myself on a woman that was tied up…'

Merlin sighed before he asked

"Do you understand me?"

"...Yes I do"

Merlin nodded before he spoke undisturbed

"Good, first thing before I free you, I expect you to repay me saving you with one thing and one thing only: information"

Jean nodded slowly, she figured she had been tied up for so long that she didn't mind being tied up a little longer

"First off my name is Merlin Walker, Merlin is my first name, Walker is my surname, I am not from a noble family, and in case you get any funny ideas---"

Merlin snapped his finger and the Pumas suddenly arrived and lined up behind him before they pointed their cannon barrels at the woman

"---I am in full control of these tanks and while I do not wish to hurt you I will do so if you try to cause me any harm, is that understood?"

The woman nodded slowly before she spoke

"I wish you no harm, you are my savior, Merlin"

Merlin nodded before he spoke

"Then with the unpleasant things out of the way, I'll untie you now"

"Thank you…"

Merlin quickly cut the ropes that bound the woman in front of him before he held his hand out to her, she showed a smile and took his hand and helped herself up, it was only now that Merlin realized that she was a head taller than him, he looked up into her clear red eyes for a bit before he did a fake cough and spoke

"Now then… As much as I can assume you want to get out of here… I need the monster cores from the Centaurs"

The woman nodded before she began getting to work without complaining, she picked up a spear from one of the dead Centaurs and broke the spearhead off, and used it as a dagger, before she cut into a dead Centaur with practiced movements, Merlin paused momentarily before he also began to cut out the Centaurs monster cores, as he worked he sent all the 19 Pumas out to watch the perimeter of the village while the Tiger 1, or Bertra (Whichever you would prefer) remained in the center of the village, ready to provide fire support to the Pumas if needed, as the worked Merlin remembered something and asked

"That reminds me, I never got your name?"

The woman nodded before she spoke

"My name is Jean, I am a gold-ranked adventure based out of a city east of here called Helia"

"Okay then… I'll ask just to be sure but adventures kill monsters for their useful parts and their monster cores right, Jean?"

Jean nodded

"Yes, though they also escort merchants and explore the unknown, such as these plains"

"I see…"

The two of them worked quickly, Jean was one thing being a professional, but Merlin was also getting used to the work, and soon the Centaurs was relieved of their monster cores, Merlin added them all to his inventory under the amazed eyes of Jean before he climbed up on the front of Bertra and helped Jean up and into the tank where she very much wanted to ask what the ones controlling the tank were, but she stopped herself when she saw that Merlin had closed his eyes to rest, she sat inside the rumbling of the tank for a bit before she began nodding off and eventually fell asleep despite the noise from the engine, Merlin opened his eyes when he felt something touching him and looked to the side finding Jean leaning against him as she slept soundly, he made a deep sigh before he went back to controlling the tank convoy that was headed back to the river…

The next morning Jean woke up with a set, she felt a little sore from sleeping inside the metal carriage, she looked around while she rubbed her eyes for her savior but didn't see him beside her or inside the metal carriage at all, she let out a sigh before she crawled up and out of the mental carriage when she arrived outside she found that the metal carriages had parked next to a river, next to the river she found her savior Merlin kneeled over seemingly washing his shirt, he didn't notice her before she walked right up behind him and greeted him

"Good morning Merlin"

Merlin was too focused to notice her as he scrubbed his shirt with his hands

'...His focus is good'

Jean watched Merlin for a bit more as he scrubbed his shirt before her eyes wandered to his body, his back was muscular and gave him an overall lean impression

'Come on already…'

Merlin kept scrubbing the one spot that didn't want to get clean for a while, still, he could see his own progress so he wasn't discouraged, just a little annoyed, he just simply kept scrubbing at a constant pace, then some 10 minutes later he finally finished cleaning his shirt and stood up before he turned around and came face to face with Jean that showed a smile and greeted him

"Good morning Merlin"

Merlin patted his chest a few times before he spoke

"I thought you still were asleep"

Jean showed a smile

"I actually greeted you once already"

Merlin sighed

"Sorry about that, I didn't notice…"

Merlin walked over to one of the Panzer 1's and made it turn on its engine as he laid his shirt on the engine deck before he turned towards Jean and asked her

"Are you hungry?"

Jean nodded as she spoke

"Yeah… I haven't eaten anything decent in 6 days now, are we going to go hunting?"

"No, I have food, though it needs to get heated first, I'll make it now"

Merlin took out two MRE's of his inventory and took out the spoons before he added some water to the outer package that had the heating element inside it along with the actual food that was contained in a plastic envelope, then he laid the MRE down on the ground and waited Jean looked curiously at the two packages then the water inside the outer package began boiling, Jean looked up at Merlin and asked him

"Is that magic?"

Merlin showed a smile

"No, it's science"

Jean looked confused for a moment, then she suddenly felt like she had heard that word before, only she was unable to remember it at this moment, still, she tried to remember it as she fell into deep thought, and then finally around the time Merlin opened the MRE that was done heating she remembered and spoke

"Science! Then that means you're a wanderer Merlin?"

Merlin looked up from the MRE before he asked

"What's a wanderer?"

Then he handed the MRE to Jean with a "Careful it's hot" Jean took the MRE and thought for a bit as she ate the contents, then she spoke

"Wanderers are from other worlds, they are people that possess amazing powers, but there haven't been one for the last 100 years"

Merlin nodded as he muttered

"Wanderer huh…"