After looking around for a while, Uriel finally found the source of the familiar sll that tickled his nostrils and rushed closer. It was a pushcart filled with Toffee apples which produced the nostalgic sll, though he never before had the chance to buy them.
During his period in highschool he was able to survive on the governnt rations, which were comprised of synthetic food only, but it wasn't uncommon for vendors to wait outside the school and sell their produce and kids would happily spend their allowance in such treats.
Uriel, though, was unable to ever buy sothing like that for himself. Many tis he considered stealing, just to experience what normal kids did, but he only ever stole when it was absolutely necessary and toffee apples were a luxury to him.
Now that he was actually having one he wondered if he would have been able to keep himself from stealing if he knew how good they were.
"I'm glad you like them." The man who sold Uriel the toffee apple smiled awkwardly at him. He knew hunters had an appetite, though he never imagined they would be able to eat them so fast.
'They're juicier than I expected, I'll have a few more," Uriel handed the money and grabbed as many toffee apples as he could fit in his hands. More than hungry, he was just compensating for being deprived of treats for so long, but such thoughts reminded him the actual reason why he was there. "Hey, did you happen to see three highschool kids on their way out of the Cryptid hunting agency?"
"Geez... I've been told many tis to stay out of hunter business, but you're today's best custor so I'll tell you. I saw a guy with two girls hoping into a bus heading south, they're probably going to the hospital because I saw the guy limping," The man told Uriel everything he knew, which was highly unusual, but business had been rough.
Now that kids were allowed to acquire traits, highschools lost over half of their students and as a side effect. "So now, candy isn't 'selling like candy' anymore.' The man chuckled at his own joke, but received no reply.
Uriel was already a few blocks distance trying to catch up to the bus on foot. Such a feat was absolutely impossible for an ascended, but apparently so it was for a heavenly rank hunter.
It wasn't a matter of speed, the actual problem was that he needed to dodge obstacles and people alike. Just bumping into soone at such high speeds could potentially kill a regular human and maybe even hunters of lower ranks.
This was also the reason why Captain silvermane refused to pair hunters with different power levels, but only now Uriel understood the true danger that hunters posed to humans.
In a sense, it was like a whole different species coexisting with humans. One that was stronger, faster and potentially dangerous in all sorts of ways. This ended up convincing him that it would be faster to follow them using the public transportation.
By the ti he reached the south district, there wasn't a single toffee apple left, which sowhat troubled him since he wanted to save so for the kids to apologize. His responsibility was to keep them alive, not safe, but he still felt bad that Jeff got injured when it would have been so easy for him to prevent it.
But what made him feel even worse was the girl asking him if he even rembered her na and he didn't. When Water warlock abandoned him, Uriel vowed to regain his humanity and live a normal life, but so far he had failed miserably at that.
It took him a while to realize it was impossible for him to go back to his past self, but then he also realized that not even back when he was a naive student did he care that much about strangers. He was raised in the slums, where everyone was on thei own, after all.
But he wanted to be better than that, he wanted to be like dusa who had a caring soul that worried even about people she didn't know before. It was one of the things he admired the most about her, but also what ended breaking them up.
"Ahhh! Why do I have to be such a jerk!? Just because it wasn't my job to help those kids doesn't an I shouldn't have. Now I even ate the candy I was supposed to bring them to apologize... I guess I coul at least foot the hospital bill for them and maybe pay them back for their tickets.
Yes, that way they'll learn not to overestimate their strength during incursions." Uriel reflected out loud trying to use what happened as a teachable mont to the newbie hunters.
Reaching the hospital wasn't difficult in the slightest, it was a brand new building made with the best materials available and there was a lot of activity around it. The problem was that Uriel knew the new hospital was under the Fallen corporation's control, which ant that things wouldn't be so simple.
He stood in front of the double doors, trying to figure out a way to enter without being recognized, when he suddenly felt sothing buzzing in his pocket. It was his smartphone which, as usual, gave him bad news.
[System notice] New title acquired, Incompetent babysitter: Title acquired after failing to keep the newbie hunters alive.
Uriel scanned his surroundings trying to spot any cryptids, but then he realized his smartphone was working properly. Not just that, although the shadow cast by the wall kept everything in shades of grey, the sun was sill up in the sky and he had a couple hours until sunset.
"There's no cryptids nearby and there's no signs of an ongoing battle, then why did I get this ssage from the system?
It says the rookies are dead, I don't see how could sothing like that happen in broad daylight, but I guess I'm too late." Uriel was beyond puzzled by the ssage he received, but so far the system had never lied to him and there were no reasons to remain in the most dangerous district in the whole city.
Vampires in the north were easy to deal with, as Luna demonstrated when she hunted them down ike flies while they couldn't even defend themselves. Skinwalkers were troubleso, but since they were weak to silver, dealing with them was a matter of ti and patience.
Wendigos, though, they were in another cathegory. Uriel didnt know much about them, but what little he knew was enough to know he did't want to ss with them.
Now that Uriel learned that the rookies were dead, he figured going inside the hospital was completely useless and not worth the risk of bumping into a wendigo by mistake. However, things changed when he heard a strange commotion in the distance accompanied by many people screaming their lungs out.
"What's going on?" He asked to soone in the crowd who had a better view than him.
"It seems soone just committed suicide." The man replied to uriel without even turning to see him.
"Wait! She's still alive, soone call a doctor!" A woman's shrill voice pierced through the crowd.
Uriel was unable to see much, but people opened te way to a couple nurses who ran outside pushing an alloy wheelchair.
'I'm not a doctor, but why would they even need a wheelchair made of alloy, it seems like an unnecessary expense. Unless...' Uriel thought as he forcefully broke through the crowd, only to see the nurses strapping the girl whose na he didn't rember.
Making use of his quick thinking, Uriel pretended as though he was pushed by the crowd and fell on his knees, then grabbed a hard of glass and attempted to cut himself with it.
Needless to say, the glass broke like butter against his heavenly skin, so he proceeded to make the cut with his pocket knife while no one looked his way. Now that he did't have fast regeneration, he had to be careful not to cut too deep, but in order for the wound to look serious he was forced to draw enough blood to grant him entrance to the hospital.
"Ouch! Why did you push ?" Uriel faked pain as best as he could, though it wasn't enough to call for the nurse's attention.
"I did't push you! You're just too dumb!" The man insulted him, which played on Uriel's favor.
"You're calling , a hunter, dumb? I dare you to repeat that!" This, finally seed to catch one of the nurse's attention and she hurried over to check if Uriel was alright.
"Are you okay?" She asked in a low voice.
"Of course I'm not! I cut myself with this sharp piece of glass. It hurts! I need dical attention."
"Please, sir, keep it down. You're fine, just go ho and you'll heal naturally." The nurse said after checking his condition, showing her relief with a long sigh.
"Sarah, why are you trying to keep a patient from being taken care of? I'll speak to you later, but now take him in for a proper checkup." Said the nurse who was pushing Beth's wheelchair as she walked past the woman who now Uriel knew was nad Sarah.
The latter beca petrified on the spot and sweat trickled down her forehead, it wasn't the usual reaction for soone being scolded by a superior, but rather soone being threatened.
"I'm so sorry, so very sorry," Sara whispered and then continued trying to muster a smile. "Please follow ."
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