Back at the battlement, the two guards immediately hid behind the balustrade. Like this, they wouldn't have noticed the missing slaves at all.
"Has it stopped?" Survivor #1 asked #2, worried that an arrow would come flying in as soon as he checked.
Survivor #2 just furrowed his eyebrows in wonder. "Where would it come from?"
After the onset of panic calmed, Survivor #2 soon realized what could've happened. At this, he whipped his head to #1 and pointed in a direction.
"Crawl!"
"What?"
"Crawl to any other side! Just do it!"
And so they did. When they lifted their heads and no arrow came to them, they heaved a sigh of relief. By the time they stood tall and there were still no attacks, they felt a bit smug.
"What happened?" #1 asked, still unsure what just happened. #2 smirked.
"Idiot. They could only get a limited vantage point from the second floor," he said. We'll be safe here."
"I see," #1 said, shrugging, before looking down to see how many they got before the other two were taken down.
He frowned at the fact that an entire section was… empty.
"There seems to be… a lot of slaves missing?"
…
Back at the houses, the two archers had already packed up, knowing their fluke wouldn't be happening again.
Juan wasn't an archer either and his shot missed. He looked admiringly at the other archer on the other side of the street.
Crow had actually only activated the archer profession lately. But he had good eyesight and attention to detail, and after a long time of focused training every day he activated the profession.
He had good talent too, and he awakened a skill called 'Precise Eye's a few days earlier.
The two of them met up downstairs with Juan staring. "What is it?"
"You're amazing. Did you use bow and arrow before?"
"Not really."
"Your skills are really high! You hit them straight through their necks!"
"I just used an inherited skill."
At this, Juan gasped in amazement, Crow's light in his eyes adding another halo. "So you're a professional!" How rare! There were not many in the territory, and almost all of them were recruited by Fargo!
Crow looked at him weirdly. "Pretty much everyone awakened a profession in Altera."
"..."
Okay, fine. He was just excited on his own.
…
Back to the house, the slaves were being handled with as much care as they could.
One of the house occupants happened to be an EMT and he checked the now-unconscious slaves that were laid down on a line.
The Alterans decided that before they gave diluted healing potion, they wanted to see their states first. This way, they'd have an idea whether to give undiluted versions instead. Resources were limited, after all, and they couldn't just give them away willy-nilly.
The EMT was called Gamut. He was on-duty when the zombie apocalypse happened, and it happened when he was in an ambulance en route to the hospital.
The patient he was doing CPR on suddenly tried to eat him, and they crashed to the sidewalk shortly after (with the driver apparently becoming one as well).
He survived through nit and grit, using a lot of his professional knowledge to help himself and others. He didn't join the clinic because he saw how the ruling party was. They'd always have to prioritize them no matter how minor the injuries were compared to the citizens.
As such, he only made a subtle partnership with the doctors, gaining similar knowledge they were getting and getting a bit of the medicine they had to help out the citizens in need. Of course, it wasn't so many and only the people in the house and some friends could actually take advantage for a while.
Even now, when he had lines of patients, he had nothing. All he could do was to check on their situation and perhaps do some first aid as needed before they could take them to the actual doctors.
It was just that the more he saw the slaves, the more dire his expressions became.
"Their bodies were beaten up, they were parched and hungry. Their bodies were filled with bruises and wounds…" he said, voice low, as his hands checked another patient.
"I'm surprised how they could stand up for so long," he said. "Their bodies were strained beyond their limitations. I'm no doctor, but I can tell this will definitely have long-term effects on them."
"Bastards!" Tacky cursed again as he paced around the room. He paused when he reached his sister's unconscious state and sniffed.
Baka sighed and patted his shoulder, looking at the 'slaves' with eyes full of pity. "We should get them checked by the doctors soon."
Gamut shook his head. "I bet there are many guards in there. The 'slaves' would not have a chance to be treated. Worse, they could even put them in danger."
No one spoke after that, knowing what he said was correct. Before they could think of an alternative though, suddenly many of the slaves flinched awake.
They started flinching and struggling immediately, and they had to be held down on all limbs even as they were tied down.
"What's going on?"
"Didn't we use a knockout potion on them?"
This puzzled the Alterans a bit.
Although the knockout potion was greatly diluted in fear of damaging them anymore, that amount should still work seamlessly for the levels of the 'slaves'!
The only reason these people could once again be pushed beyond their limits was if they were compelled to.
"Did they receive a new order?" Crow couldn't help but wonder out loud.
It was around this time that Juan, who had been among those monitoring outside, barged inside with wide eyes.
"Guys! The slaves were being called in!" He yelled. "...why?"
This made them silent for a bit in thought, and it was the Alterans who immediately came to a conclusion. "The fact that they're being called inside and risk lowering the defense outside meant our team caused them a lot of trouble!"
It had developed to the point that, perhaps, the lord's life was in danger.
What was losing a territory when the lord himself was at risk? The citizens may not agree, but the person who could send orders would.
At this, Tacky and the others couldn't help but worry for the other slaves as well. It also had to do a lot with guilt. After all, they could've had a chance to save them, but they didn't.
"Doesn't that mean they'd be in more danger?"
If the 'slaves' were going to be used not just as an extra wall alarms, but rather legitimate meat shields, then a lot of those 'slaves' were going to die.
"The strongest people are there, don't worry," Dog told them. "The best way to lower the risk of the 'slaves' dying is to end this war as soon as possible."
Crow nodded. "Well, at least now that the slaves are gone, we can get through the wall easier."
He then turned and looked at the Alterans. "Let's go," he said, and then looked at the other Alterans.
The Alterans then stood and gestured to leave the young lads alone. "Will you be alright? You're not lightly injured."
Let alone the accumulated wounds, the war and the rescue alone contributed a lot to their wounds. The Alterans felt a bit responsible because they not only helped them out during the fight, but they also guided them here.
"Don't worry about us." Tacky shook his head. "You'll need it more. We can go to the clinic." At the very least, they were citizens and wouldn't get too much attention. They could also assess the situation of the place as well.
"Focus on winning this war, now," he said, with pleading eyes, holding his struggling sister's hand. "We're counting on you."
Crow and the others turned to leave, soon adding to the number count that would ultimately help win them the war.