Another Stupid Isekai

I barely slept thru the night. At some point, I even started crying, but the time didn’t care about my emotions and just passed.

I felt terrible after waking up, like somebody threw a hand full of sand in my eyes. I was still tired and kept yawning, but my body was used to jumping to action at this hour, so there was no possibility of going back to bed. Instead, I slowly collected myself up, grabbed everything I needed, and put it on the cart. Then left heading to the city center.

No matter what they decided, I was going to the canyon.

When I finally got to the destination, there was a bit of a ruckus. A big crowd split apart into smaller and bigger groups was listening to few leaders. The division of hunting grounds was just happening.

I maneuvered through them to reach Hatta and the others. Surprisingly the group was rather small. I saw Amit, and few others, but except them, there was nobody from Wuxia. Instead, Boris, Ilja, Nobuo, William, Hailwic, and few others surrounded him and were listening to what he had to say.

– Peter, finally. Join us.

– What are you talking about?

– Just saying our goodbyes. Since you left us yesterday you don’t know, but this is the canyon hunting group. I’m staying behind with Ilja and we will take care of things here. We agreed to follow the decided schedule for a month, and then we will come out with the new one. So return after a month.

– Fine. So who is going?

– Ten people – he answered.

They raised their hands, but there were only eight of them. Nine if you count me.

– I invited one more person, but since he is not part of any of our groups, he is waiting probably by the gate right now – said Will.

– Who is it? – I asked. – Do I know him?

– It’s Martin.

I just nodded. He seemed to me like a trustworthy person, so I had no objections.

– And you four are?

– I’m Nil Sanders, but you can call me ‘The Fist’, hehe – He assumed a boxing stance.

[0)ᴠʟ He was a big black guy with a thin mustache and very short-cut hair. His leather armor was covering only the torso, leaving his muscular arms on a full display. I saw two peculiar-looking knives hanging from his belt. They looked like a combination of military knives and knuckle dusters. He was clearly one of Boris’s guys since he was standing close to him.

– You are probably wondering why this handsome black gentleman is hanging with those white ass Russians, so let me explain. My mother was Russian so I’m half Russian half American – A wide grin showed up on his face, putting a set of white teeth on full display. – I used to box.

The skinny shorter guy with messy blonde hair clearly found his friend’s introduction funny.

– I’m Vitya, but you can call me ‘Midnight’. I play with fire – upon saying this he created a small flame over his open palm.

– They both are pretty strong and loyal – added Boris.

Then I looked at two others, standing closer to Nobuo. Both wearing old Japanese attire, with katanas fixed to their belts.

– Ryuu Otis – said a skinny black guy, with big ass afro.

He reminded me of those old dry Shaolin monks.

– Hideaki Miyajima – said the other one, then bowed slightly.

He was Asian and slightly shorter than Nobuo. Young. Probably around 18 years old. Rather handsome.

– I’m Peter.

– We know – said Midnight with a slightly creepy smile.

I nodded to that.

– Let’s start moving – proposed Will, and everybody actually listened to him.

They started to gather their things, carts. I went to buy provisions in the device and after I was done, we slowly departed, heading towards the gate, to grab Martin who was ahead of us.

The atmosphere quickly became pretty cheerful. New guys seemed to know each other rather well, and from the very beginning, they talked a lot. The rest of us remained silent, but still kinda positive. Hailwic was an exception. She was very gloomy and tried to stay away from the rest of us.

She probably felt like an outsider here, among people she betrayed alongside Aisha. Others didn’t have a problem with her though.

Eventually, we made it all the way to the gate and Matin was already waiting for just there. The dude got even bigger than before, just like the weapon he was using. He seemed stronger, and a smile wasn’t leaving his face at all.

– Good to see you guys – he started. – I’m Martin and I’m happy to go hunting with you.

– Nice to meet you, Martin, I’m Nill, and this is…

He proceeded to introduce everybody. There was a little bit of talking, but I ignored it, focusing on Hailwic.

– Are you ok? – I asked her.

She forced herself to smile.

– Yes. Why wouldn’t I be ok?

– You know exactly. What was that ‘sorry’ about?

She sighed heavily.

– Look… I was against this, but Aisha wouldn’t listen. I get that you and Blue are enemies, but she just wanted a balance of power. You might see it in a different light, and I don’t want to argue with you, but for us even the slightest possibility of somebody like Mark appearing ever again is terrifying. I know you are a good person, Peter, it’s just… Please try to understand her. You don’t have to agree with her, just try to understand.

– I’m the one being misunderstood. I know you don’t want a second Mark to show up, but Blue is not somebody you can make a deal with. You don’t know him as well as I do. He doesn’t care what you want or what he has to say to make you do things he wants, he will use you.

– He already did. I think Aisha won’t believe him ever again. Actually… You might disagree, but I think it all ended well. She got her lesson, and you guys didn’t get hurt. I hope you can start again, from the beginning now.

– It’s not that simple for me.

– It is. Just forgive each other, and stop lying. People are getting hurt because of you two. Look at Nadia. She really tried to warn you that night, yet you left her. I don’t know what is going between you two, but she does love you, Peter.

She gave me a lot to think about. I assumed Nadia was lying to me back there in her room, but I believed Hailwic words. You might call me stupid for thinking this way, but that’s how it was.

– Hey, you two! Let’s go – Will yelled at us, and the march resumed.

With Martin, the cheerful atmosphere got even stronger. He managed to bring Hailwic on board with everybody else and after few more hours she was fitting in perfectly. Joking with them, and telling stories.

Soon after we entered goblin territory and a few of them showed up. They were killed quickly, but we didn’t pick up the crystals, since, according to the agreement, we were not supposed to.

I distanced myself from the rest a bit, still thinking about both Aisha and Nadia. Trying to figure out what to do with them. Part of me wanted to forgive, and attempt to bring back the old times, when we could trust each other.

My pride had a different opinion. I was not the one who started this, according to it, but just a victim of their actions and decisions. Ergo, I shouldn’t be apologizing. Or even attempting to ease things between us. They both should be.

After few more hours, I grew tired of those thoughts and joined the conversation others had. It was nothing important. Just a casual talk full of jokes, and silly stories. Even though, it made me feel way better. I decided to go back to the dilemma about Aisha and Nadia when I come back from the hunt.

We did a small break to eat, and quickly resumed, reaching the cliff before the sun started to set. Then we set up a camp, surrounding ourselves with carts like a wall. I additionally set up some barriers around, just to alarm me if something would get closer.

– What are you doing? – asked Midnight, who actually followed me.

– I’m setting up an alarm to wake me up if something gets too close to the camp. It’s a skill I have.

– What class?

– Barrier maker.

– Is it useful? Sounds like it is…

– Yeah, pretty useful when you are alone out here.

– Maybe I should pick it up next? – he said, but more to himself than to me, and just left.

He clearly was a weirdo. We all kinda were.

After that, I returned to the rest, ate dinner and we all slowly went to sleep. Tomorrow was gonna be busy.

The day came to an end with 618 181 points remaining on my account and five class points.