The Arcadia System

"Whew. Even with one arm, the man clearly knew how to fist….heh, not in that way of course," joked Reve.

He was thankful that the rain dulled any of the man's desperate attempts to alert his party members.

Still, that did not mean he was finally safe.

The two leaders would soon realize he wasn't behind the tree they aimed at.

If they weren't careful and had rushed for the tree, they would have noticed since.

Anyway, that didn't matter. In under one minute, they would reach the tree.

He needed to think.

His furry body was damaged by the one-armed man. He reckoned he wouldn't be able to engage in physical combat for a while. Not that, it would have led to anything fruitful before.

"Hmmmm..."

Reve's curious eyes traced the structure of the crossbow that laid in front of him.

He could use that….as soon as he figured out how to fire it.

As Reve's was deciding, a good shout echoed from the leaders, indicating they were finally aware, "##########."

"Sh*t, I need to risk it."

Before the two could turn back, he aimed at one and pressed what seemed to be the trigger.

*shui!*

The arrow flew unbothered in the air and found itself right in the female leader's head.

It killed her instantly.

Her death appeared to have triggered the man, who dashed at Reve with a suicidal run.

"F*ckery! Can't he wait? I have no time to counter," complained Reve.

As the crossbow was his only source of victory, he rushed out to take another arrow from the dead one-armed man's body.

He had to reload the crossbow.

After he found what he was searching for, he fixed the arrow into the crossbow and was about to fire it when an object smashed him.

Reve flew back with great momentum and hit a nearby tree.

"What was that? Hmmmm...a sword….blood."

He understood that the leader had thrown his shortsword at him.

The sword, being so sharp, didn't fail to injure him.

It opened a hole in his body. Luckily, it didn't cut any of his limbs.

However, with the way things looked, if he didn't treat the injuries in the next hour, he would end up just like the one-armed man.

"Hah, the rain is not helping one bit," sighed Reve.

Realizing the man was still dashing at him with great hate, he meowed one last time and rushed to the crossbow.

"As Myrna used to say, "this isn't personal"," smiled Reve.

With nothing stopping him, he triggered the crossbow, aiming at the head of the leader.

*Shui!*

Once again, his aiming skills didn't fail him.

The man fell!

After making sure he was finally safe, Reve relaxed his body and laid on the ground.

He still had to search the corpses for healing salve but for now, he was permitted to rest.

It had been a stressful day.

A minute or two went by and Reve stood back up.

He scavenged the adventurers' bodies for something that could help him.

It wouldn't be wise for a party like that to not have any healing items.

"Found it!" 

It was in the female leader's bag. It was a blue potion that should heal him.

There was no basis behind his thought but blue was for healing, wasn't it?

Many used blue to signify peace and tranquillity. Certainly, a blue potion wouldn't be poison.

Yeah, certainly.

Most likely.

Probably.

Ok…...maybe not!

However, he had no time left to ponder.

He drank the bitter substance and waited for its effects to kick in.

Two minutes later, his bones and muscles were freed from stress as his healing factor was amplified.

It was a gradual process but he could already feel his body being repaired back to shape.

"Now, I just have to check what else I can find?"

He wasn't bleeding like before. It seems his open wound was already trying back together.

Reve walked around the campsite and searched every corner of the area.

The only place he hadn't checked was the last tent that the female leader came out from.

That was when it hit him that there was a child in there.

A human child.

He had killed its parents.

No, he had murdered them.

This was definitely a strange situation.

Myrna loved and hated children. He wondered how she would feel if she saw the consequences of his action.

As if sensing his presence, a loud cry came out from the tent.

"Hah, this is really annoying," sighed Reve.

Ultimately, he was a cat. He couldn't sympathize deeply with what he did.

However, he still walked into the tent, wanting to check up on the child.

The tent was warm despite the cold rain.

The numerous items contained inside were delicately arranged by a meticulous set of hands.

Nonetheless, there was a black box that seemed out of place on this tent.

It was also the origin of the cries he had been hearing.

A look of realization donned on Reve's face as he spotted the box, "So it's like that….I see."

It was a classic last-minute move.

Having followed Myrna for a long time, he has seen his fair share of moves like this.

Most parents hide their children in boxes to protect them when going on a journey.

It worked numerous times.

Depending on the danger, the child would be safer in the box than outside.

However, that only worked if the parents were still alive!

Reve sighed again and walked closer to the box.

The child was getting suffocated. That's why it was making such annoying sounds.

Reve slightly opened the lid of the box to allow in air.

Just like he thought, the child quietened and started at the only source of light.

Despite this, Reve didn't look at the child.

Rather, he couldn't.

It was better this way.

He closed the lid after a while and pictures multiple files on top.

He then took his time to push the box out of the tent to a nearby road.

Although this island was considered a magical beast's zone, there were still some human tribes that habituated here.

He was hoping that, by a stroke of coincidence, they would find the young child and take it in