Finn’s stomach tumbled a bit. It was a bit embarrassing, to be honest, considering he had been a beggar and he actually witnessed a few murders happen growing up.
It was just that people of their strata didn’t gather any attention from the police. Even on Earth, where laws still existed, the backstreets felt like a different world that the law didn’t care for.
He was never comfortable in any of them. He’d rather slaughter a hundred beasts than have to deal with this.
The fire continued to burn, burning their skin, clothes, and other items. As for the bones, it’d take too long, so he simply used his [Sticky Soil] skill to completely submerge them.
"Is it six feet?"
"No, three feet," Finn said. "Most monsters wouldn’t bother with this anyway. It’d also decompose faster."
As for why he knew this, some random beggar was apparently a criminal and would mumble random ’tips’ among the beggar kids.
"Three feet is best for burying bodies. Six feet is too deep, creates methane, instead."
Finn shook his head at the memory, and they just moved on. Their guards were still high up. Although monsters were far scarcer in this place, humans were not, and they could get attacked again. Somehow...the other two started following him no matter where he went, and completely willingly this time.
At some point, his feet stopped, staring ahead of them. Curious, the other two looked over as well, realizing there were the distant sounds of fighting.
"I’m curious. Let’s peek," Finn whispered, and the other two had no complaints.
They could just look from a distance so they wouldn’t alert the other people, but if it wasn’t possible, then they’d just move on. This was mostly curiosity anyway, especially since they were less than a hundred meters away.
Interestingly, they did get a relatively safe and clear view of the fight.
It was two people fighting against a monster. One was badly injured and was on full defense, hiding behind trees and shrubs when he could, while the other had to drag himself to cause a proper distraction.
At certain angles, they saw that some of those wounds didn’t seem like they were made by monsters either.
The two men were already at the edge of the rope, preparing themselves to die because they were in so much pain, and they knew more monsters would come because they were so bloody.
They were lucky this was only level 0, so the monsters weren’t too many, but they doubted that they could beat another awakened monster in their state.
Unexpectedly, a blade that shone against the skies descended, stabbing the monster at the side of its neck.
The edge of the weapon suddenly sparked with fire at the moment of contact, too. With a few more pushes, the weapon was completely embedded in the monster’s body, going deeper until it breathed its last.
The two men gasped, losing the remaining strength of their legs, and looked up at their savior.
"...thank you," they said, gaping at the handsome redhead who rescued them. He studied them both.
"You’re not gonna die, are you?"
"Hopefully not."
Finn looked at their wounds and pointed at one each.
"Those don’t seem like they’re from beasts."
"Yeah, I was stabbed by my carriagemates. Those jerks. Wait til I get my hands on them—cough!"
"Is it the one with pointy hair? And along with an emancipated dude with a rat face?" Finn asked. They nodded after blinking.
"Yeah, they...were eaten by monsters."
They naturally didn’t tell them they killed them.
"What?"
For a moment, they thought the lad would celebrate. Instead, he sneered. "I see...until the end, they’re useless. Feeding the enemy—"
Finn’s lips twitched. Should he be impressed that the dude had his priorities straight?
"Speaking of food..." he paused, looking at the beast he just killed.
Unlike the other beasts they encountered so far, this one was a brindlejaw, also known as: a familiar meat source he knew how to cook.
He smiled at the four bloodied people. "Shall I treat you to a few bites?"
...
They traveled a bit more and found a nice spot to camp sometime at dusk. The other two were injured, so they were a bit slow, but Finn took this chance to kill a few beasts.
They were so few that he thought they were cute, and he jumped at the chance to fight whenever they appeared.
The other four could only gape, forever shocked.
Some people were just built differently.
If Finn knew what they were thinking, he would roll his eyes. Who told the system to throw him in the middle of beast mobs?
Right now, though, he was just glad to find a place to rest. He stretched his arms. "It’s time for camping and dinner. Let’s just enjoy the peace."
The rest blankly helped him either butcher the carcasses or set up the campfire. Someone discouraged it as they could be found easily, but then Finn just gave them the look, ’and we should care, why?’ and they just dropped the topic.
They also helped make the skewer using some sticks from branches they cleaned.
He made easy to prepare barbeque with his precious sauce, and then gave some to them. The sauce he used had sap in it, so the meat was soft despite being from beasts.
The others cooked their own meat, just that he offered his sauce to add flavor. "This is delicious, I promise," he told them, and by this time, no one really doubted him anymore.
Interestingly, Maria shyly handed a stick she cooked to Remus as thanks for saving her life earlier. Finn couldn’t help but smile a bit.
The other two were bleeding, but were quite energetic when their tastebuds got awakened by the food.
"This...this is delicious!"
Like this, he watched as the four gobbled the meat, humbly requesting a bit more of his sauces.
Finn smiled. He would definitely help these people pass the exam.
They were his potential customers, after all!