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Chapter 6: Pain

It took Stanley a minute to get his emotions under control before he stood up abruptly. He turned around to face the blonde-haired lady who was standing behind him.

"Little brother, are you alright?" she asked, looking all around him. "It looked like you were having an anxiety attack."

Stanley panicked a bit when he realized that someone else had found out about his problems but remembered quickly that it wasn\'t all that bad if it was found.

He gave as best a smile as he could and said, "I\'m fine. Thank you for worrying about me," he said.

"If you\'re alright then… that\'s good," the lady said. "Let me know if you need something."

"It\'s alright," Stanley said. "How much for the noodles?"

"It\'s 3 coins each," the girl said.

\'3 coins each, so 6 coins huh? That\'s… quite affordable,\' he realized. He quickly reached for his bag and pulled out 7 coins from inside.

He sighed when he saw the 7 coins.

The coins were made from iron found on the right cliff and stamped with a V with an arch going across the middle. It was a top-down view representation of the Last Hope.

The coins were covered in some sort of paint, the recipe of which was one of the deep secrets hidden by the mayor.

People could try to counterfeit the coins as much as they wanted, but without a layer of this paint on the coins, they could never be accepted as currency in the Last Hope.

In a way, the Mayor controlled the economy of the Last Hope too.

\'Just 7 and I have to pay 6 right now?\' Stanley thought. \'It was supposed to be Bradley\'s treat, and yet here I am paying.\'

He handed over the 6 coins to the lady. \'Whatever, it\'s his money in the first place,\' Stanley thought.

"Are you really okay?" the lady asked while seeing Stanley get lost in thought once again.

"Yes, I am fine," Stanley said. "Your noodles were really tasty. I will come again soon."

"Sure," the girl said and watched him leave.

Just as he was about to walk out, the sirens blared once more, terrifying Stanley suddenly. The panic returned as he took a deep breath instinctively.

His arms spread around, trying to get hold of something. As he did, his left hand caught onto something that was next to him.

He quickly pulled back his arm as intense pain flared from his palm.

"Ahhh!" he shouted in pain and immediately crouched down.

"Are you alright?" the girl quickly ran up to him. "Why did you touch the open handle?"

"Urghh!" Stanley cried in pain which brought tears to his eyes. The burning pain in his hand was hard to control and he slowly turned it around to see.

From one end of his palm to the index and middle finger, a long red diagonal burn mark was left behind from where he had touched the hot handle of the boiling soup.

"Here," the girl quickly brought a bowl full of water. "Put your hands in this for a second."

Stanley nodded and placed his hands in the bowl. Immediately, a sense of relief came from his palm as the pain subsided quite a bit.

Not only that but somehow the panic he had felt was also gone as the pain had overwhelmed any other emotion he had felt.

"Take this bowl with you and go to the stream there. Keep your palm inside the water for at least 15 minutes or so before the pain subsides," the lady said.

Stanley nodded and moved toward the stream. After he got there, he placed his palm inside the cool water, feeling more relief than what he had felt in the bowl.

While he sat there, he looked to his right, towards the Veil where currently a battle was happening.

* * * * * *

Bradley ran down the slope, crossing past the edge of the 3rd Quadrant, past the small patch of woods between the 2nd section and the 3rd sect, coming out on the farmlands.

With how open the farmland was, he could see what was going on in the distance.

Outside of the veil, there was a single Ink Crawler that was fighting against 10 different people all by itself.

"Shit!" Bradley thought. After the incident 3 months ago and the subsequent drop in the number of Defenders, the number of Defenders that patrolled the veil had become less than 30 at any given time, with it being even less during transition periods.

Since the veterans patrolled the veil during nighttime, the ones that were patrolling right now were all newbies, ones who had only fought the ink crawlers for the first time 3 months ago.

After that, they never fought it again, until today. With no veteran there to help them like last time, Bradley worried that his friends were going to die.

No, his friends were already dying.

Even from far away, he heard the sound of one of the Crawler\'s inky black limbs striking against the body of someone who hadn\'t managed to dodge at all.

The person\'s body flew like a ragdoll in the air and hit the ground hard. Without a doubt, the person was dead.

Bradley ran even faster after seeing this as he needed to help the lot. However, his head moved to the side when some other movement caught his eye.

About 200 meters away from the first Crawler, another Crawler was making its way into the town.

His eyes went wide and fear appeared in his heart as he wondered if the same thing that happened 3 months ago was happening once more.

The sirens blared once again as the second Ink Crawler made its way through the veil and the Defenders started gathering toward it once more.

Bradley looked at the two Crawlers one after another, wondering which one he should go for first.

"Let\'s get rid of the closest one first," he thought. "We can then go for the 2nd Crawler together."