Chapter 33

"Calm down! I'm not turning you in."

In hindsight, Peter could have been more reserved in his observation but there was nothing he could do about it now. He had to do something with the boy who was not only in pain but also terrified of him.

"Alright, take deep breaths. We're not going to a doctor, I'll treat you myself."

Without the possibility of asking for proper help, Peter picked up the injured and took him to their room. The bird man didn't resist, but he couldn't have done so even if he wanted to.

He carefully laid the patient on his own bed and started looking for injuries. In spite of how horribly the landing went, the boy's most serious injury was his left leg being broken. Other than that he only got a few bruises on his arm, also on the left side, and presumably a mild concussion.

Peter began to look for tools. Midway through searching, he realized he had no idea how to do first aid. After gathering everything he thought might be useful, he started working on the broken leg with a video guide playing in the background.

His job was made more difficult by the fact that the injured didn't say a single word while undergoing the very unprofessional treatment, restricting Peter's knowledge of whether he was doing it right to the muffled groans he occasionally let slip.

While putting together a makeshift cast, Peter had enough of the awkward silence and tried to start a conversation, with limited success.

"It looks like you'll be staying here for a while. Can I ask your name so I can call you by that?"

"… "You" is fine."

It was getting increasingly frustrating to get anything out of the kid, but he was still trying. About not getting a proper name, Peter would have been in the same shoes if the angel didn't insist on him picking something normal instead of his serial number.

"How much stamina do you have, just so I know how long it'll take for you to heal."

This time he didn't even get an answer. Peter was left guessing based on facial expressions. He wasn't good at it but he got the distinct feeling that his patient was more confused than anything else, which in turn made him confused since it was a pretty simple question. There was only one reason why he couldn't answer and if that was the case it would have explained a lot of things.

"No offense, but can you read?"

"No… I never had the chance to learn."

And there it was. Anthony told them that there were a lot of children like them, some of them living in much worse conditions than the two of them or even Manda. It wasn't a drastic idea to say that most of them couldn't read properly. Peter could guess before but it was plainly obvious now, he was dealing with one of those children. He felt sympathetic towards the illiterate boy, and since he was already helping him, he might as well do something else.

"Then I'll teach you, we have a week left on the water anyway."

In the next couple of hours, the two of them were searching for some learning material until the other two residents of the room arrived. They were late because the ship was attacked by a bunch of flying fish, which resulted in a nice fireworks show when the ship's electric barrier was turned on.

Sarah wanted to claim them, but unfortunately the staff stopped her from going near them, so she could only get the few that were picked up by the chefs on board.

When they finally got back, Anthony handled the situation in a much calmer manner than Peter expected. He was kind of getting used to absurdities happening near the twins so a mystery guest didn't faze him that much.

"Just tell me how this happened from the beginning. I'll think about what to do later."

The following seven days went by mostly uneventfully. Peter was teaching his new friend to read, while learning himself. The first aid guide he found piqued his interest and he started watching the rest of it.

[Achievement unlocked: First aid.]

[Reward: INT +0.05]

The three tourists also had to smuggle food out of the canteen to feed their fourth companion who, with nothing better to do, found an old cartoon about a crime fighting duck and was watching it on Peter's phone.

After a long journey, the group finally arrived at their destination, Ascension Island. A trading kingdom in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and home to the strongest person in the world. Anthony would interview said person before also meeting with the president of Stonesafe Finances.

The stowaway was allowed to stay with them for a while, at least until he could stand on his own feet both metaphorically and physically. They had more than enough space in the apartment they were given and they wouldn't spend too much time there anyway.

Until the day of the interview, Anthony planned on visiting a few places he had previously had to deal with, including his own bank, while the kids were enjoying themselves in the house or on the shore. One day when they went for a swim however, they were greeted by an unpleasant surprise.

A massive red rock with four claws and six legs sticking out of it. It was heading towards them with presumably not so friendly intentions.

[Entity class 4]

[Abilities: -]