Chapter 8 – Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions:
Life was cheap on Earth Bet.
It was something I knew intellectually, but only really understood as I looked down at the corpse of the homeless man, or rather the mercenary dressed as a homeless man.
Despite all of my planning, I'd never taken death into consideration. Whether it was my own or anyone else's.
I didn't have any experience with death.
My mother raised me by herself, and I'd never really been curious enough to ask her about whoever my father was, after all, he was never part of my life and she herself never spoke of it so why bother?
My grandparents had been alive and well the last time I'd seen them, and all my friends were the same.
I'd never truly lost someone, and never had the misfortune to personally watch someone leave the mortal plane, only ever hearing about it in the news.
It was always a distant, ephemeral thought, nothing I would ever associate with my life.
The closest I'd gotten was reading about how XXXTentacion was dead, only feeling slightly bummed that I'd never get to hear more of his music and moving on with my day.
This here? This was different.
It wasn't even the gory aspect of the death that was the problem, I'd never been particularly squeamish when it came to wounds not my own or on people I didn't know, almost as if I needed the emotional connection for them to feel real. Perhaps a side effect of growing up playing games and watching movies filled with horror and gore. [No Monsters Were Harmed in the Making of This Product (Monster Girl Encyclopedia)] might have desensitized me as well, though it didn't help making the thought of cutting open a friend like Dinah much less horrifying.
But watching the mercenary in front of me lying dead on the floor somehow felt so much more real than any of my previous experiences with something like this.
Despite knowing that I should turn my attention back to the individual who killed the merc before me, when I'd finally left my shell-shocked, frozen state and moved, I dropped to my knees beside the merc and placed my hands over his body.
Regulating my breathing and running Hamon through my hands, I channelled it into the body.
Hamon was a miraculous thing, capable of healing all kinds of injuries, its regenerative properties strong enough to give me the confidence to face armed mercenaries all alone.
And yet, when I poured the golden crackling light into the body, I couldn't feel the usual warmth of life energy that I'd observed in all the living things I'd scanned with my Hamon. That was when I'd accepted that the thing before me truly was a corpse.
I couldn't really tell what I felt about this. I knew that he was going to kill me but killing him in turn never even crossed my mind.
Oh, I'd added eliminating monsters like the members of the Slaughterhouse 9 as part of my long-term goals of course, but thinking back on it now? It didn't feel like something real, only something I'd been giving platitudes to since all the characters from fanfiction I'd read would have done the same.
All the talk of eliminating targets hadn't had an ounce of Malice Aforethought.
To deprive the world of a living soul, no matter how rotten, hadn't truly crossed my mind seriously.
"W-why…Why'd you kill him?" My voice was barely above a whisper, and yet the hooded female figure, clad in a black outfit paired with a hockey mask seemed to have heard me well enough to scoff at my words.
"Would you rather I'd let you be the dead one? Firearms are particularly lethal when fired at the skull. If I hadn't killed him in a single shot, there was a very real chance that him managing to squeeze the trigger before I could stop him. So, I made it quick and painless." Huffing out a breath, she paused and spoke again.
"I was hoping you were just a dwarf, but your voice…you're a child." She accused as she crossed her arms underneath her chest.
I winced as I remembered that I'd decided not to speak while wearing a mask and gallivanting as a cape, so as to make it harder to identify me. After all, I didn't have Clark Kent's plot-armour magic protecting my identity.
Finally raising my head, I properly observed my savior(?) and felt that I should have cursed my luck but couldn't muster up the energy to do so.
"…Shadow Stalker."
Out of all the ways I'd imagined meeting one of Taylor's bullies, this wasn't it.
Why did everything in life have to be so complicated?!
The Forge poked me with a star, but with no influx of massive knowledge, I easily ignored it and thought to check later.
D38 Roll Result: 10
D67 Roll Result: 5
It didn't matter if Sophia saved me. The gratitude I should have felt wasn't there. Whether it was because of just who had saved me, or because of how I'd been saved and its consequences, I couldn't tell which.
On the other hand, the anger I should have felt at meeting one of the people who'd made my new cousin's life hell…was also missing.
Right now, I just felt drained… and dirty.
"Hmm. Not exactly, Summoner."
"Huh? T-that's not my cape name…I don't even have one yet." And after this I don't know if I want to put on this mask again
I didn't know what led to her calling me that, but those words had been enough to snap me out of focusing on the corpse of the mercenary. I focused on the comfortable feeling of my Hamon and focused on what happened after.
I played back my conversation in my head, but again it wasn't the content of the words I focused on, my thoughts still too scattered to parse through them. No, instead it was her tone and the way she spoke that some part of my mind felt alarmed about.
'I thought Shadow Stalker would have sounded more…crass. Instead, she sounds a lot more sophisticated than I'd have thought. Well, that might be pushing it, but I haven't heard a single curse word out of her. More importantly I still haven't heard a hint of the predator-prey mentality she tries to preach.'
"Ugh…That's not what I meant. Stupid surface dwellers. At least my disguise is working well." Placing the hand not holding the crossbow onto her mask, the woman I'd thought was Shadow Stalker pulled it aside to reveal her face, even as I panicked at her seemingly unpredictable behaviour.
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It was only when I spotted a face that was distinctly not Sofia Hess, underneath, that I realised I was dealing with someone else entirely. Someone with pale skin and pointed ears. It was a pretty-looking elf.
"My name is Yenna. I'm your…employee? Summon? You should know better, you're the one who summoned me to this surface world!"
"A-ah! T-that's…uhh…yeah…" What the heck?! It's the Evil Sexy Tailor!
"Regardless! It's the end of the week and I'm here to give you part of the profits from my shop." Unceremoniously, the dark elf woman reached into her cloak and pulled out a cloth bag she'd hidden…somewhere, not noticing or choosing to completely ignore the way I'd tensed up at her reveal and further when her hand had disappeared into her clothing.
Despite the neutral tone with which she'd said it, I had a distinct feeling she was gritting her teeth as she'd spoken.
Taking the sack of money(?) with both hands, I clutched it to my chest as I stared at Yenna while shifting awkwardly. "You…You forgot about me didn't you…"
"N-no way! Wh-what made you think that?!"
"That's…I even made sure that the local news organization covered the opening of my shop, how could you not know? No, before that how long are you going to keep wearing that ridiculous mask for?! Shouldn't you reciprocate my actions?"
Reflexively I started taking off my wooden mask, before I stopped myself. "Uhm it's not that I don't want to show you my face, but there might be cameras around here…"
"Hmph! Right…I've seen that interesting method of divination here on the surface, you're not wrong to be wary of it." Saying so, Yenna affixed her own mask back in place, while I secretly wished I hadn't said anything since I couldn't see her facial expressions anymore.
"Uhm, is there any reason you're dressed like…that? Not there's anything wrong with it! But you look an awful lot like someone else to the point that I mistook you for them."
"That's the point child. I've heard of the so-called 'Heroes' of this land. 'Shadow Stalker' simply fit my aesthetic choices best, so I've decided to cover my own actions with her identity as my disguise. Plus, it doubles as showing you how good I am at my job. What do you think?" Saying so, she shifted slightly, holding a pose that she probably felt was 'heroic', instead she just looked more intimidating…which might not be all that inaccurate when it comes to emulating Sophia Hess.
"Its…Its really good, I couldn't tell it wasn't her. Although, your voice and way of speaking gives you away. Shadow Stalker has a more abrasive personality."
"Insignificant. I'm a Tailor, not an actor, as long as the clothes do the job I'm satisfied." Although, her words were dismissive, I could make out a hint of satisfaction at my acknowledgment of her work.
After a short silence, seemingly considering her words, Yenna spoke.
"I'd had many questions, for you Summoner, but not quite as many now that we've met. You…I can sense magic of some kind from you youngling. But you're no Warlock, you're too soft. Who helped you summon me here?"
"…T-that would be my…uhh, patron? Rob."
With a hitch in her breath, I could feel Yenna's eyes take on a sudden intensity as she took a step forward. "A patron? A new Dark God? Tell me child, are you a Keeper?"
Taken aback by the change, I took a step back but wasn't fast enough to avoid her hands resting on my shoulders and her getting close enough to the point that I could smell the scent of lilacs and something else, even through my mask. "…A K-keeper? Uhm, you mean a Dungeon Keeper?"
Yenna simply continued awaiting my answer in silence, while I freaked out about her closeness and what I was supposed to tell her.
While I hadn't played any of the Dungeon Keeper games, I knew enough about them from fanfics and other sources. My own situation might not be that of a Keeper, but if you looked at it from the right angle, then maybe it could be described as similar?
"Uhm, kinda? I-I have a Divine Patron, and…he's given me powers, but they don't have to strictly have something to do with dungeons and magic. Also, he's a lot more hands-off than any of the Dark Gods you might be familiar with, so no rules, but he's similar in that we're just entertainment for him? So, I guess you can think of me as a Dungeon Keeper of the surface?"
Letting go of me and stepping back, Yenna performed a quick bow that didn't feel deferential and only conveyed a sense of respect. She muttered something under her breath that I wasn't able to quite catch, before speaking a little more formally than before. "…Not exactly the kind of stable job I was looking for, but I can work with this. Life is getting a lot more interesting here on the surface with Sabah and I am getting used to the surface anyways…Well, I shall henceforth call you Keeper then. I won't be able to track you down every week to give you your dues, so please make sure to visit my shop and consider purchasing an outfit as well. It is my hon—*BOOOOOOOOOOM*"
Whirling around in a panic I saw the Alcott residence go up in flames and felt the wind push me back a step as the aftereffects of the explosion reached me.
"…What the hell, that was hardcore!...Ah, perhaps I underestimated you Lord Keeper. It seems you've already taken the steps to remove any evidence of your involvement here during your…mission. To be selected by one of the Dark Gods at such a young age, you must have done something to impress them."
The explosion had taken me so off guard that I barely even registered Yenna's words, instead wondering what the hell had happened to cause this, just how mad Dinah would be when she heard of this and whether the other mercenaries had escaped the house before the explosion. Although…perhaps the mercs were the ones who caused it in the first place? Coil was known to be a crazy motherfucker after all, and this played into his bond villain theme!
"I'm sure that even the thug dressed in rags was someone you could have handled on your own. However, in the future please do not expect me to assist you in matters of violent conflict, my contract only obligates me to do certain things and I'm perfectly content with my Tailoring profession. Now I shall take my leave."
"Wha—" Turning around, I saw no sign of the Dark Elf anywhere in the alley.
It was just me and a dead body, alone in an alley.
Glancing at the mercenary's corpse, I still couldn't understand what I felt…or what I was supposed to feel.
The fact that I wasn't violently vomiting my guts out or crying and bawling on the ground…felt wrong. But my thoughts went back to why he and his fellows had attacked, and I found my emotional burden getting lighter.
Above all else, I think what kept me together, what stopped me from breaking down was that…I hadn't killed the man. I hadn't meant to kill him either. So, I wouldn't let myself feel guilty for this.
And…I realised that I wouldn't kill him if given the chance no matter what his intentions.
I realised that I didn't want Earth-Bet to change me, to make me someone who would casually take lives.
But I also knew that whether that hope would be realised or not was uncertain.
Mercy was the privilege of the strong, and while I was indeed strong, on Earth-Bet I still had a long way to go before making any claims of strength.
However, I had ways to get stronger, even with just what I had now, I could train and become strong enough to afford mercy when it came to a majority of those who would go against me, and that was discounting anything else the Forge would provide.
'What was that line from Dark Souls or was it Bloodborne? Ah right. "Seek Strength, the rest will follow".'
Looking back at the burning house, I could hear a distant siren indicating the approach of the Fire Department and possibly the police.
Looking down at the sack given to me by Yenna, I opened it up and spotted bills of money inside.
While I couldn't be sure of just how much was in there without counting it was probably a lot, if she'd really started a shop somewhere in the city, I couldn't imagine a magical tailor having a cheap price.
"I guess I can start buying the parts to make a high-end desktop already, huh? The timing couldn't be better…I was almost getting desperate enough to ask Danny for money…"
Walking over to one of the Dumpsters in the alley, I touched the little door attached to its sides, willed my Power to take hold and opened the Door to reveal my storage shed in the [Mundane Supply World].
Throwing the bag of money inside, I took a deep breath, channeled my Hamon and started running silently along the alley.
While the initial escape plan was to hop along the roofs of houses and buildings, the explosion might have attracted Hero attention.
The last thing I wanted was to run into a flying Glory Girl and get my skull smashed in because she was a little to trigger happy. After all she wasn't toted to have an Alexandria package for no reason, the girl had enough strength to lift tens of tons, that was a magnitude more than my own power. Not something I was willing to challenge after being humbled so thoroughly by the threat of Death.
Thinking back to the explosion at the Alcott residence, I remembered that little bit of scientific trivia that for the life of me I couldn't remember where I'd heard about first.
I thought about how Dust explosions could be caused my fine particles in the air and how they would set off with even the smallest of sparks. Something that sawdust and a gunshot could easily explain.
Shaking my head, I continued running while trying to distract myself.
'…In the end I ended up staring at the explosion like an idiot with my mouth open. I guess I'm not a cool guy then…'
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Remaining CP: 0
Total Word Count: 2866
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Perks Gained this Chapter:
* Dye and Paint (Terraria - Journey's End) (100CP): A selection of paints and dyes that can be used to color various objects or furniture. Each hue has enough to paint two or three objects and restocks in a day once used. This also comes with a set of brushes, rollers, and scrapers that you can use to apply or remove the dyes and paints. To start with, you have all of the basic, bright, deep, and gradient hues. You gain the strange, lunar, shadow, negative, and illuminant hues.