The by now familiar chime of the door sounded as Elland opened up his shop and they walked inside. It was dark and Elland turned on the lights as they made their way through the workshop in the back and came to the preparation room.
“Dump him inside and remove his clothes,” Elland instructed, pointing at the shallow tiled basin area before leaving.
Duncan swallowed his saliva and turned to Marykah. “You don’t have to be here,” he said to her looking at her. The dim lights were reflecting off her green eyes as she thought of what to reply.
Duncan was right. She didn’t want to see this part. She thought about why she even came along. Finally, she admitted to herself it was because of the sense of safety Duncan and his friends provided.
“Alright, I will wait in the workshop,” she quietly replied and Duncan nodded. He waited for her to get out of sight before he went inside the basin, He dumped the body and the head at the furthest end.
Taking a moment to observe his carnage he shook his head and forced himself to start.
After taking off the boots, he took off some kind of leather armor, pants, and shirt of the headless corpse.
He also pulled off two rings from the fingers and an earring from the head. The blood was still leaking from the body. There was no rigor mortis or any kind of weird smell of decay since the inventory perfectly preserved it. The only smell was the lack of hygiene of the body owner. Of course, that was not counting the bodily functions.
Duncan breathed through his mouth as he did that part so it was not too bad.
Elland came from the workshop.
“Where were you so long?” Duncan asked while holding his hand under his nose trying not to gag. Elland nodded at the almost naked corpse.
“I was talking to Marykah about her sister and waiting for you to finish,” he replied with a smirk. Duncan rolled his eyes, “Wazsh’s attitude rubbed off on you,” he said as he spat on the floor of the basin.
Elland smiled but did not comment. He came to the corpse and used something looking like a syringe you would use on an elephant to poke and inject it.
“We come back in the morning and the underwear will be the only thing left,” he said and left for the workshop. Duncan was standing there looking at the corpse for a while. Even if he knew a prayer he wouldn't pray for this man.
“You deserved what you got. Lead a better life next time,” he said, shaking his head before leaving after Elland.
Marykah was leaning on a counter and chatting with Elland as Duncan came out.
As he got closer Elland looked at the frown on Duncan’s face. “You look worried. What is it?” Elland asked.
“Ahh, it’s nothing I just have a nagging feeling I forgot something,” Duncan replied and scratched the back of his head.
“What were you doing before you came to my place earlier?” Elland asked.
“Nothing really, Just wasting time so I could—. Ahh.” Duncan’s eyes widened and he said with urgency, “I have to go.”
“Wait. Take these. I could only make eight antidotes for Ghoul poison,” Elland said and pointed at another table where eight flasks were on display.
Duncan eyed the flasks and he remembered the pots were much bigger when he made the antidote. “How come there are only eight of them?” he asked.
“The quantity shrinks when it cools down and I gave one to Marykah. There is only one per pot you made. I can make a lot more if you encounter any more Wraiths,” Elland explained.
“Alright. I have to go now, see you soon,” he said before storing the flasks into his inventory and running for the exit.
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“How could I forget that I am lying in a hospital bed on Earth? I need to go there for at least five minutes and hope I am not at the pathology department,” he mumbled to himself as he rushed back to Wazsh’s place.
There was no one at the bar and he rushed directly to his room. He didn’t even brush his teeth or wash his face.
He checked the time off he had accumulated and it was at 2 hours and 34 minutes.
“Let’s just do 5 minutes to check things out,” Duncan told himself as he activated the transfer.
Duncan opened his eyes in a hospital room this time instead of the emergency department.
A big window was half covered by shutters as the sun beams poured in. He had some wires attached to his torso which were monitoring his pulse and a finger attachment for oxygenation but otherwise, he was free.
He quickly checked the cabinet and found his wallet and the money from the diamond sale still present.
Someone got his phone a charger and it was plugged into the wall socket near him.
“I must thank the staff properly before I leave,” he made a mental note as he saw that.
He quickly took it and started it. After the welcome screen, he quickly checked his location using the GPS of the phone. Using the maps app he saw he was around 2 hours away from his home by car at the current traffic.
Going home now would be cutting it awfully close. Getting a cab could take a while plus taking care of hospital administration procedures would also probably take more than 34 minutes.
“Two more days to be safe,” Duncan thought as he looked around the room.
He had to admit it was a nice room with light pastel green covering the walls. Much nicer than the ones he visited with his mother to see his father. He was alone in it and with the sun shining gently inside it almost didn’t feel like a hospital room. Most importantly he had a peaceful and quiet environment, unlike his father who always had moaning roommates.
“My former employers must have really panicked if they are paying for all this. Serves them right!” he said, chuckling to himself.
He leaned back and covered himself up with the hospital blanket before activating the transfer back.
Duncan stood up and took a big breath before he decided to clean himself up for bed.
As he was walking toward the bathroom he heard people talking and he changed his destination to the kitchen. There he was greeted by Wazsh, Elland, and Marykah.
“Ah, you are still awake. Good,” Elland said.
Duncan looked at him with surprise on his face as he didn’t expect them to come by at this hour. “What’s up?” he asked.
“There is one thing we forgot to clean,” Elland explained.
Duncan frowned. “What?” he asked.
“You. Look at your clothes. You look like a butcher,” Elland said pointing with his hand.
Duncan was looking at the blood splatter on his arms, torso, and pants as Elland took out his spray. “Let me just spray this on you a bit and you can go back to bed,” Elland stated.
Duncan nodded and Elland got to work squeezing the mini bellows.
Soon Duncan’s eyes were watering and he was having a coughing fit.
“It will pass soon. I suggest you still get your clothes washed though,” Elland said as he put away his contraption.
“Anything else?” Duncan asked as he calmed down his cough.
“Go to Fenris tomorrow and explain what happened,” Wazsh said.
“No. That’s it. Marykah and I will leave now. She will spend the night at my place in my guest room,” Elland said and made to leave.
“Thank you, Elland. It has been a long day,” Duncan said before looking at Marykah who was observing him. “How are you feeling?” Duncan asked her as he noticed her gaze.
“I am alright. Just a bit rattled. It’s not every day such things happen to me,” she said and tried to smile.
Duncan nodded and replied, “I hope things go back to normal as soon as possible for you.”
“I don’t. I hope they become better,” she said with a self-deprecating laugh and turned away from him.
“Good night Duncan and thank you for everything,” she finally said and followed Elland without turning back.
Wazsh whistled before tongue-clucking, “Duncan you really are an idiot when it comes to women.”
Duncan was taken aback by that statement and with a look of surprise he asked, “What do you mean?”
Wazsh rolled his eyes, before saying, “You really need me to spell it out for you? Well, I won’t. Good night idiot.”
Duncan had an urge to go masochistic on himself by cursing up a storm but he held himself back. He would have just made Wazsh happier if he lost his temper.
They parted ways and Duncan washed up and went to bed.