(Samuel's POV)
I wobbled over to the corpse, seeing that there was something on the pool of blood and guts right formed outside it.
"W-what...." I said as I crouched down and picked up what looked like a gun belt, "This is my reward?"
I wiped some of the blood off and saw that the belt was made out of leather and dark brown in color, or at least it looked like it.
I stumbled back and squinted, seeing that it had a holster on the right side and six cartridge leather loops stitched on the left. It was exactly six and I found it to be a bit odd considering that it was quite specific.
"Alright...." I said as I looked at the corpse of the bird, "And you.....what the fuck are you...."
I never imagined I would ever see a Terror Bird up close. Those things are extinct in my world but they're rampant here in Rubrein? Geez, what kind of horrors does this place have? It is definitely a "Wild" western-themed place, huh?
"Hey kid!!" I heard someone call out
I turned to see Mick and some other man running to up to me. The other man was holding a massive bolt-action rifle, mahogany in color with a massive barrel.
"Oh." I said as I stumbled to the side, "Hey, Mick.....I got it....the..."
I collapsed to my knees and felt the blood completely drenching my clothes. My entire body throbbed due to the hits the Bird gave me. Even when using its head as a club, I felt like my entire body could shatter into a million pieces, that thing was extremely powerful. But what is currently killing me is the massive gash that was caused by its claws.
Mick reached me, "Fuck's sake, boy...." He said as he crouched down, "You killed the damn thing. But look at yourself! You're bleeding out!"
The other man saw this, "Holy hell..." he said, "What the hell.....you killed a Terror Bird? Without the Terror Rifle?"
"Go and wake the Doc up, Ralphie!" Mick said as he lifted me up, hooking my arm over his neck as I leaned against him for support, "And get some people to drag the corpse in, we don't want the rest of its flock to smell its blood."
My vision began to be blurry, "Ahh...." I said, "I ain't feeling my chest no more."
"You are going into shock." He said as we headed back into the town
"That damned Wizard didn't feed the Warding Roots?" I heard Ralphie say, "I'm going to give him an earful!"
At that point, everything went black.
I had passed out.
******************
"Ah!" I said as I opened my eyes suddenly, feeling a stinging pain on my chest, "W-what the!"
I saw an old man with a bald head looking down at me. He was holding a cotton ball held by some small pliers.
"There ya go." his voice was raspy, "Yer awake."
"Arghh....." I groaned, "W-Where am I?"
He was on a stool and turned to the side, "In my operating room. You lost a lot of blood, son." He said as he set the pliers down, "I stitched you up pretty good, but the medicine I administered is pretty potent, and it could easily multiply blood cells. But.....it requires you to be awake."
"W-What....?" I said, "That's crazy."
"Yes but it's very dangerous." He said as he cleaned his hands, "It'll work fine with you because you're one of them wizard types. Magic is in your body, and the medicine will settle in fine with you. For regular folks, too much of it will cause the blood to multiply too much, and it could overload the heart.....not pretty."
I slowly sat up and looked at my chest, seeing that I had a massive cut that ran down diagonally. It was stitched up, but was completely red and a bit swollen.
"Damn...." I said as I winced, "That shit hurt..."
"Even Juvenile Terror Birds have claws sharper than knives." He said, "You're lucky to be alive, I've never seen anyone lose so much blood and be fine. Typically, wizards who get the dose of this medicine are in much more pain. Just by looking at you, I can tell that your body is tough."
I looked at him as he stood up, he was wearing casual western-themed clothes. He had grey jeans with a black belt and a grey button-up shirt tucked in, a black vest over it.
"Thanks for helping me out.....I don't have money to pay you, though." I said
"The Terror Bird claws cover for it." He said as he walked to the counter, "They're quite valuable. I like using them to make them into scalpels, quite useful."
He showed me a large black claw that he held with two fingers.
"Ah...." I said, "I see."
"Do you want one? I don't need this many." He said
"Sure." I said
The door opened and I saw Marissa walking in with a small jar, "Oh my...." She said with a concerned look, "Look at you...."
She was wearing her dress but with a fur coat over it, which is wild because it's pretty fucking hot outside.
The Doctor looked at her, "What are you doing here, Marissa?" He asked, "What is that?"
"This is what I wanted to show you today, Doc." Marissa walked up to me and began to dab her fingers in some sort of ointment, "Look at this...."
She began to rub the ointment on my stitched wound, which stung a lot.
"Ah...." I winced
"Shh...." She said softly, "Don't worry...."
I looked at the wound and saw that it was no longer swollen, and it felt refreshed. The wound suddenly began to close completely, with no need for the stitches. It got uncomfortable, but I was able to tell that the flesh was suddenly fused together.
"It's only temporary." She said with a smile, "It needs multiple applications for it to fully heal but within a day, the wound will completely heal."
"Yes, but he would still need to rest." the Doctor said as he stepped forward, "What have I told you about using the Crystal Egg's effects to create your alchemical concoctions, Marissa? I know that you want to help people but you're putting yourself at risk in doing so!"
Marissa looked at him, "We can use the Egg for good, you know that." she said with a scowl, "Besides, that blood regenerating medicine you have was made with a Crystal Egg's shell."
"Yes...." He said, "And you know what happened as a result of using that?"
Her face hardened, "I am sorry about that." she said, "But..."
"If that woman hears about it. she will send people after the Egg." He said, "Do the right thing and give it to the Sheriff. He will hand it back over and it'll spare us pain."
"I cannot...." She said softly, "This could help a lot of people.....I know it....."
He sighed, "I don't want you to get hurt over your stubbornness...."
I looked at my wound, "Hm....." I said, "Say....."
They both looked at me, "What is it?" The Doctor asked
"I reckon you don't have another shirt on you, right?" I asked with a chuckle,
"Mine is ruined."