Tanya turned the blade around and held the sharp end, pointing the handle toward me.
“I’m not going to kill you, Max. Not sure I even could if I wanted to.”
I nodded and took the blade. Rested it horizontally in front of me instead of putting it away. Part of me was anticipating some trick or reversal, even if she didn’t go for the immediately obvious play of putting the sharp end of the weapon in the soft parts of my neck.
“What do you want to do, then?”
She tilted her head but maintained eye contact. Her eyes were a warm brown, but there was a sharpness to them. As much as her family was a weak point in her heart, she seemed like someone who would act logically if given the chance. There was some intrigue in there too. Like she knew I wasn’t so soft-hearted to just let her go free because we had a nice conversation, so she was trying to see my angle.
“Living would be nice, actually.” Tanya raised an eyebrow. “Is that an option?”
I shrugged. “It could be. Want to know how Quinn became part of our group?”
She gestured for me to continue.
“Came out and challenged me to a duel for Ren’s hand.”
Tanya chuckled and shook her head. “You let him tag along after that?”
“Trust is a difficult thing to hold on to in this world. It was either see everyone as an enemy, or take some chances to hopefully achieve our goal.” I looked out at the sunlight streaming through the window. Oh, to go back to the times when my next trick was the most concerning thing on my mind.
“Am I not your enemy?”
I smiled. “Depends what you do when I unlock that door. Unless you intend to escape through the window.”
She rolled her tongue around in her mouth. Already made some kind of decision, I was sure. Not entirely convinced that she wanted to speak it out into the world yet, it seemed. Exhaling deeply, the words eventually worked their way from her mouth as I allowed the silence to settle.
“Allow me to help you.”
“You’ve done quite a lot already.” I continued to smile. The locations of the Crimson Shadow groups were a huge boon - allowing us to go on the offensive rather than wait for the inevitable ambushes. Who needed to level more when we could pop into their camps at night and kill them with a fucking demonic cannon?
She pursed her lips together. “You are right, Max. It would be too much to ask for your group to trust me after today. It probably seems shallow for me to say I believe you four would be able to take down the Lady and her Guild.”
“It does seem shallow.” I nodded. “We don’t need our asses kissed. Can you do taxes?”
Tanya pulled a face. “My husband is an accountant. I picked up some basic things over the years.”
“We are planning on killing off the blood couriers. We have their route. Would you know when they’ll be at certain points?”
“I would.”
Part of me hated what the other part of me knew. It almost seemed to be something fated for our group. The final puzzle piece that we were missing. Against every fiber of my being, I didn’t want it to be true, but it was almost as if the route was well lit by the bright lights, taking me to center stage.
“Death and hardship follow us, every day.” I grit my teeth together. “Are you willing to kill and risk it all for the rest of us so that we can eventually succeed? It’s all or nothing, Tanya. Either you are with us or you stay far out of our way. Preferably not six feet underground, but we’ve buried better than you.”
Her mouth opened and closed, taken aback.
I took the dagger up in my hand. Purple electricity started to arc around my body, flickering as my mood cooled. “Even on our darkest days… this is who we are…”
With a quick action, I stabbed the blade down through my left hand, pinning it to the table. As she shuffled back in shock, I drew out my blood into the air to form a magic card. With no mana, I was purely using my own life to create it. I couldn’t be curtailed by the System.
The door burst open, splinters of wood scattering to the floor as the weak lock shattered from the setting. Ren appeared with her bow up and her smite shot glowing radiant light.
“Hold,” I commanded, and she relaxed the held tension ever so slightly. “Tanya wants in on the show, Ren. Thinks she can help manage us, make us more efficient.”
The semi-captive woman winced and pulled a face. It wasn’t really what she had offered—and certainly not in those words—but destiny knew different. Either that or my mind was partly spinning out of control.
“Is she also able to stop you from breaking your skull on things? Because my attempts have been for naught.” She glared at me and my heart did a little flip.
Oh, it might also because I still had a knife impaling my hand to the table. I threw the card to the floor, having it appear as a Hellhound+, who immediately began wagging their tail at the sight of the elf. A wave of my free hand and the knife and cuff went into my Inventory. I took out a bandage to top me off, not wanting to bother Ren for a heal right this moment.
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“I can... try?” Tanya replied, looking remarkably unsure as to what was actually being asked, her eyes darting towards the aggressive elf and my partially insane self.
“Good enough for me.” Ren sighed and put down her bow so she could pet the summoned canine.
“You’ll have the same terms as the rest of us,” I agreed. “Equal effort, equal risk, equally shared loot. Don’t give us any reason to terminate our partnership.”
“I’m… are you really…?” Her brow was furrowed. The last couple of minutes a bit too much of a fever dream for her mind to process.
Perhaps I shouldn't have maimed myself to make the point - but it was pretty clear. Hadn’t even signaled anything to Ren, but she knew when I was in pain and was ready and willing to erase the woman with no questions asked. Not only that, but if she had tried to kill me, I still would have the ability to summon cards, even if it detrimental to myself. In truth, the cuff wasn’t even on properly, but a little illusion never hurt anybody.
[Tanya has joined the Party]
“Don’t overthink it,” I said as I waved her away. “I’m fucking ravenous, though.” Up and away from the table, I stepped past the elf coddling my hell-pup. “I hope Wolf found two containers.”
Quinn stood up from the chair he had been occupying, not quite as energetic as Ren at coming to my defense, but he didn’t have the same sixth sense. “Ah, I saw that the good lady Tanya has j-”
“She’s married,” I said as I waved him away as well. “Where’s Wolf?”
As if on cue, the bear shuffled in through the back door - struggling somewhat as his round rump hardly fit through the small frame. Walking backwards, he dragged a shallow wooden trough in behind him—bringing plenty of dirt and foliage in at the same time.
“That’s a planter, Wolf.” I sighed and shook my head. “Not exactly the best thing to eat out of.”
“But you promised,” he murmured through teeth clenched on the end of the frame.
Well, I couldn’t let him down now, could I? As he tried to maneuver the long object into the kitchen, I gestured for Quinn to help him out as I went through my Inventory. Ren stepped in through from the side room, somehow carrying the Hellhound+ in her arms like it was still a puppy. Tanya came in after, still uncomfortable and trying to process her acceptance.
“Any good at cooking, Tanya?” I asked as I sorted through the loose stacks of uncooked meat.
“I know a thing or two,” she said with a shrug.
“Perfect, we need a little feast for all the talking we have done and are about to do.”
Ren scowled at me from behind the panting held canine. “Something wrong with my cooking, trickster?”
“No,” I smiled, “I need you for something else.”
She raised an eyebrow expectantly.
“My shoulders are killing me, if you could give them a rub?”
“Asshole.” She sighed and put the dog down, giving him a last pat on the head before I sent him away.
I grinned and turned back to the bear, who was now sitting on his backside and looking at me - awaiting his just rewards in the long planter he had arranged in the kitchen.
We had a full house now, and I was apprehensive despite the gusto I had been putting on. My natural confidence was at an all-time high—that wasn’t an act. It had been a long day of hard fought wins and easily expended emotions… but I felt good about it all. Whether I could trust the newer pair was something else, but not exactly why I felt a little on edge.
Ren and Wolf had been the perfect matches for what our Party needed to be a near invincible trio. Well, if you didn’t count all the times we nearly died. Becoming a five had been a shadow looming in the back of my mind ever since I knew Parties were a thing. Did the other two fit in?
A little too well.
The System had smoothed some of the lines between our skills, but Ren’s acceptance to be my protégé was something she had come to naturally. Wolf was far from a performing animal, but it hit some of the same markers. Quinn being full of rugged utility… a fixer, according to the System, was odd enough. Now that I had shuffled Tanya into the same box as Reggie once held, I wondered how much of this was fate, and how much was my mind rounding off the edges to fit reality into something that I could accept and understand.
Either way, I was mentally burned out from the day we had endured.
Hand extended, I expelled a healthy selection of meat, fruit, and vegetables to spray down and fill the trough Wolf had brought. I’d need to stock up again soon.
“Still have those feathers when you want them,” I murmured, as I turned to go sit at a chair. No sooner as I had, Ren’s hands gripped at my shoulders and plied my muscles into less-tense shapes.
Tanya sat opposite, unclasping the side of her breastplate so she could sit more comfortably. She gave a tired glance between each of us, then sighed. “I feel like I may have gotten myself into something I am woefully unprepared for.”
“We’re each a little weird,” I said, totally at the mercy of the elf breaking the stress from my body. “Perhaps a better introduction is in order? My name is Max, I was a magician and Demon Hunter in my previous lives. Now in the System I have demon summoning abilities and am a dab hand at Inventory manipulation.”
“Demon Hunter?” she repeated. “Thought we were from the same world?”
“I’m actually two different versions of me stuck together.” I shrugged, as that didn’t seem to budge her confused look.
Ren gave one last squeeze before moving from me. “Give her an example of your Inventory stuff, trickster.”
I clicked my fingers, bringing forth a card into my hands. A plain, normal one, from the many part-decks I had collected. Ace of Hearts, purely by chance. After letting them both see which it was, I flicked it straight into the air. Only, it turned into a dagger as it ascended. Hat down from my head to catch it. My spear then slowly rose up out of the hat, the Ace of Hearts impaled at the tip.
“Impressive.” Tanya tilted her head. “ At first, when they said you were a magician, I assumed it was just a different name for wizard.”
With a shrug, both objects vanished, and I put my hat back on. Could have done something a lot more spectacular, but I’d had enough for today. Having found the ability to give myself limits, I would make use of it on occasion.
“Ren,” the elf said, sitting down near me. “Ranger with healing and defensive skills.”
“I’m a bear,” Wolf said, his voice rising from the kitchen where his mouth was still half-full. “And I do bear things.”
“Called Wolf,” Ren added. “Which I believe is partially my fault.”
“Quinn,” the man said from my peripheral, giving her a low bow. “Utility specialist and jack of all trades. I owe my life to Max, and have sworn to assist in any manner asked until I can repay him.”
A little more exposition than required, but it fit his personality well enough. I gave Tanya a brief smile. “I have a pact demon who makes a regular appearance. He was the one who restrained you - Roger.”
She nodded slowly, taking this all in. “Tanya, as I’m sure you’ve worked out. My Class is focused towards buffs and debuffs. I told Max this, but in my normal world, I am a virologist with a military background.”
I made note that she was still using the current tense throughout our conversations. As if her reasons for joining the Lady weren’t clear enough, she was obviously still holding onto something we had long let go. For us, it was always ‘old’ or ‘previous’ world.
Tanya was like a ghost who hadn’t moved on and accepted that she had died.
Not that I was here to show her the way to heaven, of course. For as long as she proved her loyalty, then we’d be here to support her coming to terms with those things being behind us. Focus on the Lady now, we’d worry about the after when we got to it.
Her eyes unfocused as she glanced over to her STAR menus, before her eyes dimmed and expression hardened.
“They know my group is dead,” she said. “But that I live.”