It was a head injury. That much was obvious. How bad it would turn out to be would be revealed in time. Dulce stayed by his bedside day and night, hoping and praying he would wake up.
After a few days, she forgot to use her crystals. She was so distraught and caught up in Jacob's condition that she wasn't thinking about it. On the fourth day, he woke up.
"Dulce," Jacob said weakly.
"Yes, Jacob?" Dulce said.
He looked her in the eyes and said, "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I still love you, just like I said I would."
Dulce realized she didn't have her youthful appearance up. At first, she was horrified, but then she processed what he said.
"Really? You don't reject me?" She said.
"Of course not," he said, coughing.
She was the happiest she had ever been. She finally found love again. The thing she had been searching for through this whole nightmare of working for Dorian.
She stayed by Jacob's bedside the whole rest of the day and night. He passed in the night. Dulce broke in that moment. She went numb. She continued her employment with Dorian, continuing to deceive unfaithful men, blackmail them, and kill them if they didn't pay.
If anything it was easier now. She had found true love again, and she would never find that again. She was doomed to be alone for the rest of her unusually long life. She had nothing left to lose.
It has been 3 years since Jacob died. She had a tragic life and story, but she made her choices. She made them every day for the last 3 years. She wasn't going to change. She was lost.
"Dulce, I know you'll say no, but I'll give you a chance. If you vow to get clean of crystals, I will spare you," I said. "I know your story. I know about Bert and Jacob. I know about Dorian's manipulation. I'm giving you a chance to start a new life. Please take it."
"I can't. I have nothing left. I have nothing to live for," Dulce said. A tear dripped down her face. "Make it fast. I don't want to see it coming." She lowered her head to look at the ground.
"Very well," I said. I summoned a giant spike and shot it through her heart.
Dulce's knees started to buckle. "It hurts," she said. She collapsed into a heap on the floor, dead. Dulce transformed back into a sad woman in her 60's. A woman who led a good life for 30 years until her husband passed. A woman who once had a bright future ended in darkness.
"I know. I know," I said, thinking back to my own death. This kill I wasn't proud of. It had to happen, but it was nothing more than a tragic death of a tragic life.
[You have defeated a great evil (Dulce). You have gained 3 justice points (6)]
[You have defeated pure evil (Dorian). You have gained 4 justice points (10)]
'You forgot again didn't you?'
[Yes]
'That's ok I guess. I got it eventually right?'
[You did]
'I think I'll save up for an ultimate ability.'
[Affirmative]
[You have killed. Dark aura increased by 5 (-85)]
Thinking about what crystals did to Dulce, I couldn't do them myself. I took all the learning crystals out of my pack and put them on the ground. Then I smashed them with my foot.
With everyone in this building dead, I walked down the stairs and exited the building. I knew there were some crystals in crates on the 3rd floor, but I wasn't about to get caught because I took the time to smash all the crystals under my boot.
My view on crystals was completely altered. I couldn't look at them as pure boosting items anymore. They did have detrimental effects on their users and the effects were bad.
Through Evil Eye revealing parts of Dulce's memories, I found out that 100% toxicity made you lose your mind and you just became a rage monster that attacked anyone it saw until someone killed you.
What was done was done, but I wasn't going to collect or sell any more crystals. And I would make it a mission of mine to take down the crystal market. I would make Abigail get rid of her intelligence crystals.
I made my way back to Sally's. The doorman was about to give me a hard time again for his amusement, but when he saw my face, he just let me pass. When I got inside, Sally was showing Abigail how to bartend.
I walked past them behind the bar, went upstairs, and got in bed. Dulce's kill really got to me. Abigail entered the room and got in bed with me, facing me.
"What happened? Are you alright?" She said. She looked concerned.
"I'll survive," I said. "I just had to kill someone that I really didn't want to, and it got to me."
"I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" Abigail said.
"Sure," I said.
I told her about meeting James at Beer and finding out the location of the Red Tail Fox Company. I opened up to her about Soul Inquiry. I had to explain how I got the answers out of James. I didn't tell her where I got the ability, just that I had it. She didn't ask for any answers I wasn't ready to tell.
"Have you used that ability on me?" She asked.
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"Yes, but only when I first met you to make sure you were safe," I said.
"Oh, ok. Go on," she said.
I told her about the raid on the Red Tail Fox Company building and the fights I went through to get to the top floor. I told her about Evil Eye to explain my kills. I told her about the confrontation with the boss, Dorian, and the confrontations with Bruno, Nico, and Dulce.
I told her Nico's and Dulce's backstories and explained that having to kill Dulce was the reason for my mood.
"I'm sorry, baby. Let's go to bed. I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning," Abigail said.
"Ok. Thank you for listening," I said. I kissed her. She turned around and I held her as we fell asleep listening to the sounds of each other breathing.
Abigail destroyed her intelligence crystals in the morning. She did it outside so she didn't make a mess in Sally's place. I put my hand on her shoulder and smiled at her.
"Thank you," I said.
"I would do anything for you, Tom," she said.
"I would do anything for you, Abigail," I said, taking a sip of my coffee.
"Would you really?" She said.
"Of course. Did you think I wouldn't say the same?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. I thought I liked you more than you liked me. I guess I'll have to try harder," she said.
I looked at her like she was a crazy person. "You are a strange one. Why would you want to like me more than I like you?"
"Because that's what the girl is supposed to do. The girl obsesses over and dotes on the man and the man stares stoically into the distance and protects the girl," she said, like it was obvious.
"You have a very strange view of relationships, but I like you all the same." I smiled. She certainly was strange, but I really did like her. She was kind and understanding of my needs, which were two very rare things in my experience.
"Good. I'll accept being called strange if you admit that you're a really weird guy," she said.
"Fine. I'm a really weird guy who has to justice everything. Happy?" I said.
"Yes!" She kissed me on the cheek. "So what are we doing today? The mercenary company is dead and you don't want to collect any more crystals. Do you want to just do a dungeon run for the experience and stat cores?"
"The mercenary company isn't dead. There's still Stylus. Oh, shit! Stylus! I forgot about him," I said. "I have to go back and see if he's still there."
"I'll go with you," she said.
"I don't want you to because it puts you in danger, but I know you won't listen to me," I said.
"You're right. I won't. I'm going no matter what you say," she said, still smiling.
"Right," I said. "Let's go then."
We went through the building, walking past corpses I created the night before. Abigail looked at them in wonder rather than horror.
"So are these guys were evil?" She said.
"According to my moral code, yes," I said.
"What's your moral code?" She asked.
"If you harm innocent people, you're evil. If you harm guilty people, that's acceptable," I said.
"Makes sense," she said.
We made it to the fourth floor and I opened the conference room door. Sure enough, Stylus was still there. He was sleeping with his head resting on the table.
"Stylus," I said.
"Huh? What?" Stylus looked at me. "You came back. I thought you had forgotten about me."
"I did. Sorry about that. I remembered this morning," I said.
"Understood, sir. What do you need from me today?" Stylus said.
"I need you to inform the mercenaries in the company's employ to continue running the dungeons, but don't collect any crystals and absorb all the cores they collect. Their payment will stay the same," I said.
"Yes sir. What will you do today?" Stylus said.
"I'm going to look for a good source of information on magic. Probably a bookstore," I said.
"Ok. What are you going to do about the higher-ups? When Dorian doesn't check in they'll send someone to investigate," he said.
"Higher-ups? What do you mean? This isn't the whole company? Dorian wasn't the head of the company?" I said.
"Uh, no. This company spans multiple kingdoms. Dorian was just the head of the local branch in charge of mercenary operations," he said, his shoulders bunched up.
"How many other branches are in this city? And what are they in charge of?" I said.
"There are two other branches. One is in charge of selling the crystals obtained by the mercenary branch. The other is in charge of noble and political operations. They basically just maintain good relations with the nobles to keep the crystal trade legal and the company from being removed from the city," he said.
"Ok. I'm going to need to take down those other branches too, but first, we need to find a new base of operations before the company investigates Dorian's disappearance and finds us here," I said.
"Oh! I know just the place!" Stylus said. "There's an abandoned merchant's guild hall here in the undercity. It would be the perfect place to start up new operations. It would have meeting rooms, storage space, even living quarters."
"That sounds great, be a little obvious? If a guild hall started operations again, wouldn't someone investigate?" I said.
"Not if you use the secret entrance. They'd never even see people coming and going. I don't know where the secret entrance is, but all of these guild halls have secret entrances in case they need to do business with people they don't want the public, or even other guild members to know about," he said.
"Ok, I'm on board. When can we move in?" I said.
"Today preferably," Stylus said.
"Ok. Inform the mercenaries of our new operations procedures and then go to the merchant guild hall. I'll meet you there when I'm done researching magic. I may be late though, just letting you know," I said.
"Yes, sir," Stylus said.
"You don't have to call me 'sir'," I said.
"Yes, sir," he said. I gave him a look. "I mean, yes, uh, what's your name?"
"Tom," I said.
"Yes, Tom," he said.
"Good. Alright. Unless you have something else to say, I think that's the meeting," I said, starting to walk towards the door with Abigail.
"There is one thing," Stylus said. "What are your plans? What is your goal? It's clearly not to take over and rise in the company."
"I want to rid the world of as much evil as I can. I know I can't eliminate it all. That's unrealistic. But I want to do what I can," I said.
"Ok. I can help you do that," Stylus said.
"What are your plans and goals, Stylus? How did you come to work for such a corrupt organization?" I said.
"I made a mistake at a major company in the upper city. They fired me and blacklisted me. No one would hire me. Dorian was the only person who did. So I took it. I didn't like the business practices, but they were legal as far as I knew. At least, the mercenary part was," he said.
"I know Dorian kept parts of his personal business from me, but I didn't look into it, because I needed the job. I couldn't afford to have moral objections."
"I understand that. You couldn't afford to disagree with your boss over how the business is run. You still can't directly choose the decisions my company makes either, because I'm in charge. But I can promise you I will always listen to what you have to say and be transparent with you about what I'm doing," I said.
"Thank you, sir. I mean, Tom. That means a lot to me," he said, his eyes watering.
"You're welcome. Alright, I'm off. I'll see you sometime tonight, Stylus. Be careful," I said.
"I will," he said.
Abigail and I left the building to look for a magic bookstore. The Red Tail Fox Company would be sending reinforcements soon and we had to be ready.