"Magic. Now be quiet and show me your leg," Ashton told him, putting the water bottle in his pocket down on the ground. So that he could still channel undine the entire time without having them be too visible, the elemental was currently just waiting in the bottle, and then slowly swam out.
The kids, who had been sitting on the gym mats, quiet and scared, immediately started jumping up excitedly. At least, the ones that could.
"Whoa!"
"What is that?"
"How is it flying?!"
Looking at them, who were finally acting like the kids they were, Ashton couldn't help but smile. He looked back at the injured teachers, "As I said, I'm here to help. This world is different than what it used to be now, and these things will become more and more normal. So please, trust me, and let me help you. And I figure you would want to test this out before I go and treat the kids."
Though the teachers were all confused, they knew that Ashton was right. They were already met with things they couldn't understand these past few days, so something like this was somehow less shocking than it should be.
The man pulled up his pant-leg, revealing the shoddy, bled-through bandage. Out of the people here, this man seemed to be the worst off. He was pale and had dark, sunken eyes. Considering that he was one of the older people here, that was extremely dangerous.
Ashton carefully removed the bandage, soon seeing the puss-filled wound with dead, blackened flesh around the edges.
"... When did this happen?" Ashton asked, waving his hand to direct the undine to swim around and distract the kids, so that they wouldn't have to see this. The man swallowed nervously. It seemed like he wasn't aware of how bad it got, either.
"I... I am the headmaster of this school. When those 'quest' things appeared, I decided to take responsibility and lead the charge. I could not bring myself to ask the others to risk their lives if I was not able to do so myself," he explained, and Ashton raised a brow, surprised.
"... I'm guessing the Guardian has their eyes on you?"
The headmaster's eyes widened, "Do you know anything about this? These messages, I don't know what they are! The other teachers are receiving them as well, and we keep receiving those 'coins' as gifts. When that community thing appeared on our phones, I was even gifted the coins that I needed to make the post."
Ashton smiled. He seemed like a good guy, "That sounds about right. Don't worry, the Guardian of the Innocent is on your side in this. Or well, as much on your side as is possible. They're the benefactor of all children, and they're the reason why they didn't need to go out and hunt monsters themselves. And frankly... they're why the monsters outside didn't storm the school just yet." The faces of all the teachers went pale at that statement, but Ashton knew that it wouldn't help anyone to lie about the situation they were in. "Don't rely on them too much, but accept their help when you need it."
Ashton pulled a bit of distilled water out of a bottle, using it to clean up the headmaster's wound. He flinched and pulled back, but pushed through. And while he was cleaning, Ashton received a message.
[[Guardian of the Innocent] is shocked that you know of them already]
[[Guardian of the Innocent] expresses their thanks for coming to their aid]
"Don't mention it. I'm just doing what I think is right," Ashton replied, though when he did, a few more messages appeared.
[[Guardian of the Innocent] has gifted you 100 Coins]
[[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] scoffs at the Guardian's generosity]
[[Executor of the End] is unsure of the Guardian's intentions]
Ashton raised a brow. Were the Daughter and Executor... jealous? He figured that they might want to offer a sponsorship to him at some point, especially ones with as much influence as these guys. But the forerunner there was still the Observer, who had been giving the most gifts to him until now. Maybe they just wanted to scare off more competition for now.
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[[Observer in the Veil] tells everyone to back off]
[[Observer in the Veil] says that they were here first]
[[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] laughs and claims that things do not work that way anymore]
[[Executor of the End] agrees, pointing out the Observer's age]
[[Observer in the Veil] yells back at the Daughter and Executor, telling them to be quiet]
With a slight groan, Ashton rubbed the bridge of his nose and just moved all these notifications behind his head so that he didn't have to deal with them right now. There was little he cared less about than some constellations' squabbling.
"Constellations can get a little annoying, huh?" Ashton pointed out, laughing a bit. It was a good idea to try and distract the headmaster as well as he continued to clean up the wound a bit.
"There are more than the Guardian?"
"Yeah, there's hundreds. Thousands, maybe. I really don't know how many," Ashton honestly replied. He was a bit curious as well, but it was almost impossible for him, or anyone, to figure out the exact number. Even the Summoner could just make guesses.
"How do you know all these things?" the headmaster asked, and Ashton just smiled.
"I've got my ways."
He ignored any further questions about these things for now, and just continued treating the headmaster's wound. It was pretty large and deep. They basically just used medical tape to force the wound shut again, though it was done in probably the worst way possible.
Ashton used the potion and poured a little into the wound. The headmaster tried to pull away, since he wasn't sure what it was, but Ashton held down his ankle and made it happen. The potion seemed to almost immediately relieve some of the pain that he was feeling, so after that, he calmed down a bit.
He put some of the potion onto a gauze and pressed it onto the wound, using some bandages to tightly wrap the teacher's leg and keep everything tight and together. Ashton didn't have access to medical stitches right now, so this had to do.
Once he was done, Ashton closed the potion bottle and cleaned his hands with some water, "The wound should close by this evening, and you should be good to go as normal by tomorrow morning," he explained, "This is called a health potion."
"A... health potion? Did you buy that?" the teacher asked, looking at the plastic bottle. Ashton raised his brow, a bit confused.
"Buy? What do you mean?"
The headmaster looked around at the other faculty members beside him. They seemed okay with telling Ashton as well, so he quickly proceeded, "There is a vending machine in our school. It wasn't there before, but it just appeared overnight. It sells a few different things in exchange for coins, though it was all too expensive to buy."
'A shop? Did the Guardian arrange for one to be put here?' Ashton wondered, "Would you mind if I take a look after I treat everyone? There might be some things that come in useful against the monsters outside."
"Of course! Please, we will show you the way soon!"
"Thank you." Ashton said, as he moved over to who he considered to be the next person in need of treatment, another one of the teachers. They were in a far worse state than the kids, who were also being distracted by the undine right now.
As he continued treating them, and people started feeling better and better almost immediately after, mostly due to the pain-relieving effects of the potion, trust seemed to come with it, and everyone visibly relaxed. They still seemed unsure whether Ashton could kill all those monsters, but he didn't need their trust to do that anyway.
Even the kids seemed okay with being treated by Ashton, as long as the undine was there to keep them happy and distracted. When he was done, he took a step back, and looked around the room to see how everyone else seemed to be doing.
Though the ones that were doing the worst before now weren't on death's bed anymore, that didn't mean that everyone else was okay. The kids were hungry, thirsty, and were clearly scared and struggling.
"Could I ask... but what is your name?" the headmaster pushed himself off the ground, sitting down on a chair while hesitantly looking at Ashton. It was like he recognised Ashton, but didn't want to say anything in case he was wrong.
With a smile, he replied, "Ashton Garling. I used to go to this school as well."
The headmaster's eyes widened, "Ashton Garling? Yes, I remember you. I wasn't the headmaster then, but I heard about you. If I recall right, when you came to our school, your mother had just-"
"That's me," Ashton interrupted him, looking into his eyes for a moment, "Could someone show me to that vending machine?"
The headmaster looked over at the woman that had led Ashton inside, "Do you think you could?"
"Of course," she said, and quickly got to it. Ashton apologised to the kids, since the undine had to come with him, and then went on his way. As he left, he continued to glance at some of the children. There had to be at least a handful that were coping better with this situation than others. Ones that were keeping an eye out on things, and that understood the concepts that were forced into this world two days ago.
But... everyone in the gymnasium was so quiet and sombre that it felt like some kind of false hope he was clinging to, "Is everyone in the gymnasium, or are some of the kids elsewhere?"
"Ah... yes, some of the children are with a few of our teachers in the classrooms. Mostly doing arts and crafts, drawing - just things to keep their spirits up," the teacher explained, "To be honest with you, it's mostly the ones that keep causing trouble and don't seem to be taking this situation seriously."
Ashton raised a brow. That sounded interesting. He had to see if he could find those kids later. They might have a better idea of what the deal with those monsters was than even the teachers that actually went outside to face them.
But for now, Ashton was more interested in the shop that apparently popped up in here.
At the end of the hallway, there was a vending machine. Though no electricity was supplied to this building anymore, only it was still lit up.
Ashton looked through the items. At first glance, they looked just like what you could usually find in a vending machine. Snack bags, candy bars, soda cans... but when Ashton took a closer look, they weren't any brands he had seen before. Plus it all seemed a bit
'Dr Fantasmo's Magic in a Bag', 'Red Punch Potions', 'Sticky Business Orange Soda', or 'Devil's Kiss Chocolate'. The branding seemed a bit outdated as well. Kind of camp. The prices were also a bit steep. The cheapest item cost 250 coins.
But that wasn't even what Ashton was most curious about. There was an item that he hadn't seen in a hot second. In the top row of the vending machine, Ashton could see random boxes. They cost 1000 coins.
He whispered to himself, double-checking the item numbers, "Well... I guess it's been a while. Time to gamble a bit, I guess."
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