Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

After a while, the other mercenaries returned, and soon the sun began to set. Noticing that they had a prisoner, the mercenaries started to get agitated. Magic weapons were valuable, but they could get rich much faster by selling beings of other worlds, even more so when they resembled humans quite a bit.

In any case, the little kid was put in the center of the camp where everyone could see him, and not a single person could get close without Ethan noticing. Although she didn't receive the order to do it, Emily healed his wounds and as soon as that happened. The boy fell unconscious. He was exhausted and hungry, but the relaxing feeling of healing magic made his tension drop to zero.

"Apparently, the other groups who came to investigate this place didn't reveal everything they found," Ivan said while he was approaching the boy in the center of the camp. "There are survivors in this world, and I am quite sure the other groups captured some of them to sell them. Well, that is none of our business. We are here to discuss about what we are going to do about them, but first, I want to hear your report, Zeke. Don't hide anything from me. After this mission is over, I will make sure to make an example of the others who came before us."

"… There is nothing to hide," The tall man said. "My group and I found the traces of some survivors and found them in a cave. This boy and what seemed to be his mother and sister. The boy was being carried unconscious on the back of one of my men, then he used a grenade to create a diversion. His mother and sister escaped; he was too wounded to do the same."

It was just like Ethan had imagined. A single prisoner wouldn't try to do something so risky as explode himself and others to escape. In any case, at that point in time, it became obvious that the other expeditions found survivors. There was no other explanation as to how the boy learned how to use a grenade.

"Three of my men died because of this piece of shit," Zeke said. "I will make him regret being born until the day I sell him."

"Aren't you a brave big guy?" Ethan said. "As far as I can tell, you two are even since you tried to capture his family. If you aren't satisfied with that, at least show some balls by fighting him alone."

"What did you say?" Zeke got up and roared.

"Are you deaf?" Ethan frowned. "I think I spoke loud and clear."

"Enough," Ivan said. "Your report seems accurate enough, so it is time to move to the next topic. What are we supposed to do with the survivors? We will decide this by a majority vote. However, I must warn all of you that all the details of this mission will be reported to the people of my country. If you decide to sell the prisoners, I will recommend choosing the right buyer. Otherwise, you will get some unnecessary attention from all the governments of the world."

In the end, the vast majority decided that they would keep prisoners. Still, since none of them felt it was worth the hassle to look for buyers on Earth, they decided to sell them to Ivan. As for Ethan, he wasn't really interested in either of the options, and he just didn't want to see some low-lives acting the way they wanted in front of him.

"Don't worry about it," Ian said. "My father is a cold-blood as they come, but he isn't cruel. Besides, he more or fewer works for the government, and they will pay top-dollar to keep the survivors of this planet under their custody."

"I don't really care," Ethan said while he was meditating and training some of his spells. "By the way, don't you think that I forgot about this afternoon? I will break some of your bones when I get the first chance."

"I'd better sleep with my eyes open then," Ian shrugged.

"Maybe you should," Ethan said.

"Hey, Ethan," Emily said. "About what happened before…"

"I'm not going to explain it out loud while so many low-lives are nearby," Ethan said. "If I remember well, you said you didn't want to get involved with troublesome things, right? Still, if you are really interested, then try to touch me for a single moment."

Although that was true, and she struggled for quite a while to make her decision, in the end, Emily decided to touch Ethan's shoulder for a moment. Her curiosity was stronger than her caution, after all.

You received 100.000 experience points.

Congratulations! You leveled up!

Your health, mana, and stamina have been completely recovered as well increased by one point.

You received five status points.

You received two skill points.

"What the heck…" Emily said, shocked, after pulling back her hand as fast as possible. "That much mana… how?"

"Who knows… I will leave that to your imagination," Ethan said.

Emily was panicking. It was the same exact reaction Ethan had when he discovered the true nature of his power. Well, if anything, that only showed that she wasn't someone who caused him problems with that kind of information.

"It must be harsh," Emily said. "I can somehow imagine what it can do… you shouldn't have let my curiosity get the better of me."

"Live and learn," Ethan said. "You can only truly learn something when you make a big mistake. Tomorrow, it will be your turn to learn something from your mistakes."

"Man, you sure can hold a grudge," Ian sighed. "Anyway, I will sleep a little. I don't want to share a tent with you two."

"No one is going to share a tent with anyone!" Emily shouted.

Ethan sighed; it was because of that type of reaction that Emily could be easily taunted by Ian. Ian left after laughing for a while, but eventually, Emily also headed to her tent. Although there were some lookouts that would stay awake throughout the night, Ethan didn't trust them. In fact, he couldn't trust many people to watch things while he slept. Although Ethan laid down on the floor and used a sleeping bag to get comfortable, he didn't get a wink of sleep that night. No one could do a better job of keeping an eye on things better than Ethan, after all.