Amanda and Charlier were shocked at what Din told them after he returned. Even though he hadn't ventured deep into the wasteland, he saw enough to make him sick. The ground was covered by dry blood and a few chewed-up rat corpses, with signs of other rats passing through and stirring up the blood before it dried up.
The rats they had seen here and there during the day weren't as ordinary as they seemed, apparently. If the signs and tracks paving a way through the wasteland were anything to go by, the rats were numerous, violent, cannibalistic, and a danger to other beings.
Considering that the dusty rats were the only thing they had seen in the wasteland, a rising suspicion about the connection between the two grew in their hearts. But they still needed to wait for Toz to wake up and listen to what he had to say.
Thankfully, upon further examination, they found that most of the injuries were surface-level ones, those that weren't were torn muscles from overexertion and abused throats and lungs from breathing in dust and blood.
Amanda and Charlie worked together to cleanse and dress the wounds. Then they waited for a day before moving closer to the river. It was a solid landmark to follow back to the town, and if the young man and his cats woke up or their bandages needed washing, it would be easier with the river next to them. They also took the initiative to get Toz out of clothes and into a pair of new ones.
Everything except the coat was so torn up, that it wasn't even worth washing the clothes. Even the shoes Toz was so fond of were worn out and barely usable.
After two days by the river, the first proof of life from the group they had rescued, was made. The orange firey cat woke up. It was a slow and arduous awakening. Despite having healed the quickest and with a different physical body from the others, something the three were very curious about, the cat was still far from completely healthy.
After it awoke from its spot, lying next to Toz, it stood up and dazedly looked around before settling on Toz's chest. Although the cat was awake, it looked more like sleepwalking when it moved instinctively like that.
Charlie wanted to move the cat off the young man's chest so it wouldn't aggravate his wounds, but when he got close, the cat growled and despite its weakened state, began emitting flames with its fur standing up. Reluctantly, Charlie backed off.
Even if the cat went right back to sleep, it was a sign that the rest were also about to wake up. And it indeed didn't take long for the grey cat to wake up, only to proceed and do almost the exact same thing as the orange one. It looked around until it spotted the young man, after which it proceeded to lay down on the young man's stomach.
Although the three humans wanted one of the injured explorers to wake up and talk to them, they knew better than rashly disturbing someone who required a lot of rest. They could only hope their patience lasted long enough to wait for someone to heal enough to wake up.
While Din and Amanda kept investigating to find other clues, Charlie volunteered to stay behind and care for the patients. In expectation of them being hungry when waking up, he thoughtfully prepared soup. Although he didn't know if the cats ate soup, he could only hope since food wasn't his strong suit. He had always managed with what he was capable of making, and none of the other two were that much better than him, so he was used to other people eating his food.
Unfortunately, Charlie was bound to be disappointed when the black cat woke up. Unlike the other two cats, after confirming the young man's safety, it went toward the pot, and after sniffing the soup in it, retreated with an expressive look of distaste on its face. The cat's strong reaction almost traumatized the already timid Charlie, and before he could try and talk to the cat, it went to sleep, lying over the man's throat.
When the other two got back and heard what Charlie said, they couldn't help but laugh a little. Amanda tried to suppress it, but it only got worse as Din chuckled loudly.
But they were also looking forward to them finally waking up completely. Based on how lively the black cat had been just then, it was probably not long until they had rested enough. And their hopes came true, as, on the fourth day after being found, Toz woke up.
He carefully shifted the cats down to his lap as he sat up. He looked around and was slightly startled to find three people staring at him from across a campfire, but seeing the bandaged wounds on him and the cats, he got a rough idea of the situation. Most likely, the trio had saved him and his cats.
Before any of the three eagerly staring at him could say anything, Toz said,
"First of all, thank you. My name is Toz, and I can tell you want to talk about something, but before that. Can I get some food? It feels like I haven't eaten for months."
"Yes, of course," Amanda said while nudging Charlie to hand over a bowl of soup.
Charlie reluctantly complied. He remembered how the black cat had reacted and was slightly afraid their master would respond in the same way.
"Here you go."
Toz didn't even say thanks until after he devoured the soup in one go. His claims about not having eaten for several months didn't seem like much of an exaggeration as he continued pouring bowl after bowl of soup down his mouth.
After emptying the pot, Toz seemed to have sated his hunger enough for talking. After the three asked him about the wasteland, he told them that it was bad. Really bad.
Toz explained about how the rats were destroying the earth from within and that the wasteland already stretched incredibly far, and housed an uncountable number of rats that pose a great threat to the entire plane.
The three listened carefully, but Toz's words were hard to completely take as the truth. It seemed like a very outlandish story, but they agreed to head back to the branch and report the situation, bringing back a rat corpse as proof.
While the story seemed unbelievable, they had seen Toz's trail through the wasteland and had themselves already started suspecting that the wasteland was spreading. They had also seen rats, and nothing but rats, in the wasteland. It was enough material to make a substantial report and hopefully get some proper scouts to investigate. Or maybe even find out what kind of rat they were bringing back was.
But considering it was night and Toz was still injured, they decided to wait until morning.
Toz and Charlie shared the first watch. Toz took the opportunity to roast the remaining mammoth meat in his coat. Just picking up his coat made him realize how grateful he was to have been saved by nice people instead of being robbed and left for dead.
While seasoning the meat, he said the names of the spices out loud so a certain cook, eager to learn, had something to note down. He also made sure to make clear movements and carefully inspecting the pieces of meat when roasting it.
When Charlie handed his soup Toz had noticed the anxiety and the following sigh of relief as he continued drinking it. It was obvious Charlie didn't have much confidence in his cooking, but Toz, who did, could share some of his knowledge and experience with him.
The smell of cooking meat woke the cats up. Just like Toz, they were starving and could use the meat to replenish lost blood and for Mindle to recover mana.
Although Mindle's body is strictly made of mana, it can still be injured, and when it is, she loses the mana her body is made of. When she has plenty of mana to spare, it isn't such a big issue, it would just take some effort and concentration to restore herself. But when she has completely drained her mana, she can only rely on her natural recovery to regenerate herself. To Toz and the other two, it was a mystery how it all worked, but she healed faster when consuming food rich in mana, like the mammoth meat.
The three cats went back to sleep after eating their fill.
Toz and Charlie talked a bit about food and cooking before the subject changed to what the trio had been doing lately. General gossip really. Charlie was happy to have someone to talk to, and Toz wanted to find out more about the ones who had saved him.
He was happily surprised, but not overly shocked, to find out that Amanda was the little sister of the branch office manager. She looked familiar despite him not having seen the manager for over a month, and at that time, only for a short while. They had the same hair, similar facial features, and the same sword-wielding habit.
Since she was related to the manager, it was more likely that their report would be forwarded to a higher level branch of the guild with more authority.
