Bear School Astartes

Chapter 338: 338. Companionship

”I have to say, your timing is quite unlucky. The night of the hunt has begun, the hunters are busy hunting the beastly patients, and the church is busy with logistics and aftermath handling. I doubt anyone has the time for blood therapy for you right now.”

Henrik said this while striding steadily toward the corpse that Lann had pierced a ’path’ through in the chest cavity, without looking back.

After establishing a preliminary trust, this man who claims to be a ’Hunter’ shows no more hostility, except for still resisting Lann getting too close.

Lann stood aside, calmly watching what Henrik was about to do.

”No rush, I’m not in a hurry for blood therapy. It’s fine to wait until everyone is done.”

...What the hell do I know about ’blood therapy’?

Bleeding therapy? It can’t possibly be something so unskilled, right?

From Henrik’s words, he knows that I only have ’single blood, no injections,’ so I’m an outsider. Does that mean the blood of the Yan Nan people is all mixed?

Blood therapy doesn’t sound like bleeding therapy; it’s most likely injection therapy.

Let unclear source, unintelligible blood enter the body... better not.

”It’s great that your condition isn’t urgent. I still have things to handle; you’d better find a place to hide well, the night of the hunt is tough to endure.”

Henrik said while fiddling with the monster’s corpse.

Lann frowned slightly.

”I have a good sword and know how to use it, so you don’t have to worry too much about me.”

”The sword is good, the armor is old-fashioned but sturdy. However, whether these things are useful in Yan’an is hard to say.” Henrik gave Lann a glance with his eyes sandwiched between a tricorn hat and a mask.

In a Victorian-style city, Lann’s knight-era armor certainly counts as ’old-fashioned.’

Luckily, Henrik is old himself; otherwise, maybe Lann would have tasted being called an ’antique.’

”Yours is just an ordinary straight sword, neither a fast combat transformable weapon nor a heavy lethal church weapon. Works against humans. Against beastly patients? Hard to say.”

Henrik lifted the strange saw knife in his hand towards Lann as he spoke.

With a sudden flick of his hand, the momentum seemed to activate some mechanism.

At the junction of the blade and the wooden handle, sparks of metal friction suddenly burst out.

It was then that Lann realized that Henrik’s saw knife was a kind of giant spring-loaded knife.

The blade is lethal on both sides; in a folded state, it can be swung lightly, using the serrated back for slashing, while in an unfolded state, it can hack with wide, sweeping strokes.

If the mechanism is activated during a swing, it should allow the mechanical folding and unfolding force to add to the swing, causing more gruesome tear-like wounds.

Even a scratch from such a weapon would probably splash out a lot of blood.

Yan Nan people’s love for blood is quite evident.

”Indeed, a sophisticated and deadly weapon.”

Lann nodded, not bringing out the Turbulent Flow Greatsword from his alchemy pouch, thinking it too abnormal to pull out a nearly two-meter sword out of nowhere.

Seeing Lann heed his advice, Henrik folded the saw knife back to his waist and said a few more words.

”And during the night of the hunt, the dangerous ones aren’t just the beastly patients; the beastly disease turning them into this is also a threat to you.”

”Are you saying it’s an infectious disease? The city is suffering from a plague?”

Lann was somewhat surprised; he had thought ’beastly disease’ was a local term for a curse. But the locals, using obvious research rather than superstitious speculation, explained to him that this phenomenon resembling a werewolf curse was an infectious disease.

Demon Hunters never fall ill and are never infected; the same goes for Interstellar Warriors.

But Lann would not ignore the diseases of another world... what if a potent one pops up?

”Can’t call it a plague, just regular cleaning.”

Henrik was not concerned about the fearsome term ’plague,’ simply murmuring another sentence to Lann after explaining.

”It’s just that this time... the cleaning has been somewhat frequent.”

After mumbling, Henrik shook his head.

”Alright, I must be going. If you have nowhere to go, I recommend you visit the Yusefka Clinic at the edge of Yan Nan Center. Dr. Yusefka is a compassionate lady; she’ll take you in. In Yan’an, finding someone who would shelter an outsider on the hunting night isn’t easy.”

Lann nodded, taking note of the name.

But, he still called out to Henrik as he turned to leave.

”Henrik.”

”Tsk, what do you want now?”

The hunter in the yellow coat turned around, his tone already beginning to show a bit of impatience.

While Lann, under his gaze, reached out his hand to point along the winding, twisting street. He pointed to the unseen origin of the street, then following its course, pointed toward its similarly unseen end.

His eyes stayed locked on Henrik, this gesture clearly meant to demonstrate something to him.

”I’m an outsider, Henrik. And this is your Yan’an street...”

The young man looked helplessly at the old hunter.

”Honestly, you don’t think I could simply find my way after mentioning a place, do you?”

”Then what do you want?”

The old hunter also spoke with a tone of helplessness.

Clearly, he wanted to help Lann but only a little, and not too much.

There’s nothing to criticize about that.

”Instead of letting me wander blindly in this labyrinth-like town on such a dangerous night, I’d rather stick with you.”

Lann rested his left hand on the sword hilt, walking towards Henrik.

”Don’t worry about me, I can protect myself and won’t mess up your work. I just want to avoid blundering into some perilous spot and getting torn apart by a swarm of monsters... you hunters don’t go to such places, right?”

”A hunter is a profession that requires skill and patience.”

Henrik indirectly answered Lann’s question.

Now the Demon Hunter understood.

Even you hunters need prior investigation and planning for your work!

Reaching unfamiliar places and encountering unknown monsters, it would be ideal to have an experienced veteran leading.

Following the old hunter to some secure spots is much safer than running around blindly.

After Lann’s proposal, Henrik pondered quietly for a while before speaking again.

”Your armor... it’s too cumbersome. Normal armor can’t possibly withstand the attacks of beastly patients; it’ll only slow you down. I doubt when the time comes, you’ll even be able to run away... far?”

Before the old hunter could finish, Lann dashed towards the buildings flanking the street.

In a sequence of leaping, stepping on the walls to climb over six meters, grabbing the second-story eaves, and landing with the broken stones of the eaves in hand.

After a long silence from underneath Henrik’s mask, he muttered a muffled ”Let’s go.”

Then he lowered his head, hurriedly walking off without looking back.

Lann smiled, tossed the stone pieces backward, dusted off, and followed along.