Jensen walked down toward Oakland Town with a man over his shoulder.
Daisaku's body hung loosely across his back. The old man was still breathing, but barely, with every few steps Jensen took, a weak breath escaped his mouth.
The town walls slowly came into view.
Tall grey stone with thick gates and guards standing watch with spears and blades.
Although called a town, Oakland Town isn't small by any means.
Settlement classification in this world isn't entirely determined by size but also Power Levels and technology advancement.
Oakland Town had a population of almost a million, it might seem like a lot until you realize that human population across the nine planet is almost 200 billion.
There was no need to congest the entire population in one place for several intertwined reasons.
One of which was that with the introduction of mana, the size of the planets keeps increasing.
Overtime, with the improvement of the quality of mana the laws of the world were getting stronger
If history was to be believed, there used to be a time when even Level 3s could fly but now you had to be at least Level 6 to do the same.
It was theorized that mana would become pure enough that Unawakened would die from just the gravity but that was also argued against.
Even now the planets, celestial bodies and maybe even the sun was still expanding.
With the advancement of technology, the location of where these expansions occur, also called Expansion Point, were left unclaimed creating natural borders between settlements.
Once such place was the Oakland Forest.
It used to be a massive forest of oak trees but with the expansion of the Expansion Point, several types of trees could now be seen.
***
Jensen adjusted Daisaku's weight and walked faster.
When he reached the gate, two guards immediately stepped forward.
"Stop there!" one of them said.
Both guards looked at Jensen carefully. Their eyes moved to the unconscious man on his shoulder.
"What happened to him?" the second guard asked.
Jensen quickly put on a worried expression.
"My teammate!" he said urgently. "We were ambushed by beasts in the forest. I need to get him to a doctor!"
The guards looked at each other.
"Put him down," the first guard said. "We have to check."
Jensen looked frustrated, but he lowered Daisaku onto the ground.
Any other time he might have tried to bribe the guards but not today. The guards seemed to be on edge, and it wouldn't be wise to raise suspicion.
The guards inspected them.
First, they checked Jensen for signs of him being a demon then they looked at Daisaku.
His clothes were torn and covered in blood. His face was dirty, and dried blood covered his skin.
Jensen had already taken precautions.
Before reaching the city, he had ripped the Uesugi clan emblem from the old man's clothes.
Then he rubbed dirt and blood across Daisaku's face until he was almost impossible to recognize.
To the guards, he simply looked like another injured hunter.
One of the guards leaned closer and placed a small metal device over Daisaku's chest.
The device gave off a faint glow for a moment.
The guard nodded.
"Not a demon," he said.
The other guard stepped aside.
"Alright, go," he said. "But take him to a healer quickly. He looks like he won't last long."
"I know," Jensen replied quickly.
He lifted Daisaku onto his shoulder again and hurried through the gate.
The moment he passed into the city, he slowed down, although the streets were busy with people moving back and forth nobody really questioned him.
Belief it or not this was a very common sight.
To them, he was just another hunter returning from the forest with an injured companion.
Jensen walked calmly through the streets however he did not go toward the Uesugi Clan estate.
Daisaku had already told him that his own son had betrayed him, taking him there now would be foolish.
He also avoided the hospitals because they would most likely ask questions and maybe require identification.
Although the guards typically don't care who entered the town as long as they were human the same couldn't be said by hospitals.
Guards like that were typically bought off by various groups to turn a blind eye to who or what was coming into the town.
Now, instead of running background checks that might uncover a criminal record of their 'client', they just don't check anyone.
That way, they can honestly say they didn't know, which gives them deniability.
Jensen turned into a quieter street near the edge of town.
His house was not far from the gate, which made things much easier.
After a few minutes, he reached the small building and pushed the door open.
Inside, the house was quiet and he immediately made his way to a room.
Jensen carefully laid Daisaku on a bed, the old man's breathing was even weaker than it had been.
Jensen stared at him for a moment then he called out.
"Maria."
A moment later, a woman stepped out from another room.
Maria wore simple clothes and had tired eyes, but her hands were steady.
She stopped when she saw the injured man on the bed.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Treat him," Jensen said.
Maria walked closer and examined Daisaku carefully.
Although she was Unawakened, Maria was an experienced doctor. She had treated Jack's injuries many times in the past.
She quickly began working, she cleaned the wounds first,
Jensen provided with a few pills and potions from the spatial rings owned by the XR gang.
The room slowly filled with the smell of medicine.
Time passed quietly as Jensen leaned against the wall and watched Maria work.
After nearly an hour, Maria finally stepped back.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"He will live," she said.
Jensen said nothing while Maria continued.
"But he will never recover his strength," she explained. "His body is too damaged. And…" she hesitated slightly.
"And what?" Jensen asked.
"He burned his life force," she said quietly. "Even if he survives, he won't live for very long."
Jensen nodded slowly.
That was exactly what he expected and exactly what he wanted.
"Without more equipment this is the limit of what I can do…" Maria glanced at him; she didn't bother asking him to take him to a hospital because if he could have done so he wouldn't have come to her.
There were many questions in her eyes.
Who was this man?
Why had Jensen brought him here?
Why not take him to a hospital?
But Maria did not ask anything.
Instead, she simply cleaned her tools and packed the medicine away leaving Jensen alone in the room.
Jensen walked over to the bed and looked down at the unconscious old man, he slowly released a breath he didn't even know he had been holding.