Chương 57: Aftermath

Ch. 57: Aftermath Nelo and Kayla were incredibly gracious to me. I obviously did very little in regards to crushing the Montabeest. I only came to save Nelo at the very end. They insisted to me that that was crucial, and thus placed my name on the form. A 15, 000 dollar pot, and I was no longer resigned to a set amount. I got the full one third. 5 grand just for that. We couldn't retrace a few of the fallen beests back to me. In the messiness of an invasion like that, there was bound to be loss of profits.

Nelo, Kayla, and I also split the leonids three ways. Four Charlie class leonids fetched us 18k. That was another 6k in my pocket. The union placed the rest of the dead beests into a profit pool and split up evenly among the living champs in the area. Another 2 grand. I'll take it. I walked away with a cool 13 grand. I was giddy. The check was in the mail, and I had not yet realized that taxes would mean I only got around 7 grand of that. So for that night, I felt like a millionaire. Then there were the level ups.

That was a lot more valuable to me at the time. Obviously because the quests were tied to my inner goal, I had gotten a colossal amount of experience points. Saving Dory and Nelo in one night raised me 30 levels. Level 83. Not far from my second follower, and I already had some ideas of who that was going to be. But first… I had some ability mods to pick. I was finally choosing from a place of relative peace. I could make some decisions that weren't just about my immediate future.

I was a far cry away from first place… but I was gaining on Squonk. Sorry Squonk. He leveled up too though. 10 whole levels! Mia and I ran the shop while Squonk, Nelo, and Kayla all hung out. I made them what they asked for without charging. Mia pretended to look the other way.

"When are you picking up Dory?" Nelo asked.

"Right after my shift. Finally strong enough to come home. Until her next bone transfusion." Squonk took her to a hospital while I saved Nelo and Kayla. Unfortunately, the fly-by-night bone marrow transplant done through a cursed weapon didn't immediately cure my sister's deadly illness. In fact, while she had champ energy, it was no more than average. Squonk, Spiros, and I think my bone marrow got eaten up by her body as a way to rejuvenate herself, and it processed all of it.

"So… Squonk, you made her your champ too?" Squonk and I exchanged glances and he said, "Uh, yeah. Would both of you… beautiful women like to get touched?"

"No thank you," Kayla said, swallowing the bile rising in her throat, "That would be a firm violation of my contract."

"Same," Nelo said, "Also I'd… rather not be touched by you. If that's not too mean to say."

"Not at all." Squonk said.

"So… running on the sky is something your champs can do?" Kayla asked. Once again, Squonk and I threw each other knowing glances.

"The truth is… that the thing I was running on was tears. I… used them to create temporary platforms."

"Yes, I could also run in the sky if I wanted to," Said Squonk rotely, "And… I also have a six pack. Right, Drake?"

"Mmmhmm," I grimaced, "I've seen it. He's got an amazing six pack. Maybe even eight."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, buddy. But it's definitely only six. Followers, am I right?" We both ignored his gut falling out of his ill-fitting anime graphic-tee.

"Mmmmmhhmmm," I said again, "Either way. Dory has an increased constitution. She's walking around, not just weak in bed anymore. The doctors said it was unexpected but that she's good to leave the hospital until her next bone marrow transfusion."

"Really?" Nelo asked, "I'll have to hang out with her. We should go to the beach. I've got summer coming up so I'll be out of school. You should come! That is, if you want to, Kayla."

"I'd love to. Truth is, I could use some company right now. Billy's passing hit me pretty hard."

"Aw, Kayla. Happy to provide you the company," I said. I stuffed my mouth with a fresh croissant and looked at my phone. I was late.

"Whoops! Gotta go!"

"Do you need a ride?" Kayla asked.

"No, I've got a car," I said. I said goodbye to all of them, thanked Mia for covering my shift and hopped into a 2006 Toyota Camry. The air conditioning worked fine. The horn honked well when someone cut me off. The windows were tinted so people couldn't see me give them the finger. Which happened when they honked at me for cutting them off. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I pulled up to the hospital and saw my sister standing out there.

I rolled the window down.

"Get in!" She got in the passenger's seat.

"So… You're using my car?"

"My car got like.. Massively destroyed. Like massively. Like… it's junk. I gave you a headsup."

"You gave me a headsup?"

"Yeah." Dory took her phone out of her pocket and read my text.

"'Hey, your brakes suck.' That's your idea of a headsup?" The Camry pulled away and I started the drive back to her place.

"It's called subtext. Everyone wants things spelled out for them nowadays. You have to be able to infer things, sweetie." I attempted to pull into her apartment complex. Our fob wasn't working so we had to park in the street. I picked up her suitcase and when another car opened the garage door, we strolled in. We walked down the courtyard, the water fixture cooling us from the hot day. There was a bark, and the german shepherd I'd acquired from Island Towing trotted past me with a leash on.

"Woah! Who let the dog loose! Gunner! Gunner, hear boy!" Gunner came up to me and licked my face. I grabbed his leash.

"The dog?" Dory asked, "What do you mean 'the dog?'""Why is is all our stuff outside? Why are the dogs there? Drake, why is there a big red paper taped to our wall that says, 'Notice!?'""Uhm… I think we just had a conversation about subtext, sweetie." Spiros was standing on one of the boxes, "Oh! You will not believe how coarsely manhandled I was by some… hireling." Just like that, we were out on the streets. Dory and I discussed where to go.

"Nelo's?" She asked.

"No, her dad hates me." I said.

"What about Lee?"

"Lee's got a one bedroom and a big bulldog already. It would be three of us and four dogs."

"Right… so… where should we go?" Kayla opened the door and was greeted by a sister and me.

"Hey, girl!" I said, arms outstretched, "You said you needed the company." When we explained the situation, she had accepted us. Graciously? Not sure. Likely not. The money in my pocket would get us a place pretty quickly, but unfortunately we did have to put Boba, Gunner, and Hunter in a dog hotel while we stayed at her place. I had become familiar enough with violated leases that I knew they meant business. Later that night, my sister finished making birria tacos. I saw Kayla sitting on her balcony outside.

I opened the door and said, "Dinner's almost ready!" She turned back and I said, "What did I tell you? So long as we're here, it's a home-cooked meal every night!"

"I'll hold you to that, What are you making tomorrow?"

"Oh you just know you're getting chicken breast with steamed broccoli and rice from me." She gave a pained smile and said, "Delicious." I knew I'd have to find a place soon. Only so long before she became sick of me.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Oh it's dumb."

"Oh, okay. Well if it's dumb…" I pretended to leave then turned back and sat down on the bench next to her. She had been looking up at the stars.

"Just thinking?"

"Sometimes when I'm out here, I like to look at the stars and wonder which one of them Tartarus is on."

"Ah," I said, looking up at the same sky.

"You're never curious about it all? The tar pits? The gods? Why… all this is here?" Truth was, I was never curious even before I got the answer. I was even less curious now.

"I get anxious. Sitting around not making money. I don't know when the last time I looked up at the stars was." She gave me a kind of gloomy stare and turned back.

"It's all getting harder, right?"

"Yeah. Stuff's… accelerating."

"You worried? You're a champ now. I know you thought it was hard when you were an NPC but… I mean that kind of shielded you from the worst of it." I shook my head, "I'm not worried about the pits. I'm worried I don't have a house over my head. I'm worried about… keeping it above my head once I get it. I'm worried about Dory. That's the kind of stuff that's got me worrying. Monsters? Demon lords? Gods? No. I'm not worried at all."

"Why would you be worried about gods?" I pointed at my ears and said, "Kayla, you gotta use these. I said I wasn't worried about the gods."

"Then why did you bring them up?"

"To talk about how not worried I am."

"Okay."

"They should be worried about me." I muttered under my breath. Kayla let out a rye laugh.

"You're funny. Nelo told me that trick you tried to pull when you bumped into Spiros. To think if you had done that, it wouldn't have mattered. You would have been unpowered." If I had done that I might have been dumb enough to save him. He's better as a living plushie anyway. A buzzing went off but it was from my system. So only I could hear it.

"How long are you going to be out here? My sister's birria is getting cold."

"Oh, totally. I'll go try some," She said. She turned back to me and said, "Are you coming?"

"Are you kidding? Now that you've got it in my head, I'm going to try to find Tartarus for a while." She smiled and closed the glass door behind her. I watched as she left and then when she was gone, I opened up my system. It was a new sound. One I had not heard before. It was a friend request. I clicked accept. And then… suddenly my new 'buddy' started to call. I picked it up and said:"Hello, Ozid."