Chapter 191. Moving Day.
“So, what exactly are you going to do in here? Aren’t you going to get bored?” I asked Tzes’zod. While I waited for his response, the furnishings that we’d rented dissipated into mana vapor. It was nice while it had lasted and reminded me that I’d eventually need to spruce the place up. A single rocking chair, and a rewards chest looked kind of pitiful now that I knew people could visit here.
“I don’t plan on being here all the time, well, at least not all of me. You see, my previous master, who made me into this, was loathe to let me out of his sight. To keep me tethered to him, he housed my lifeforce inside this phylactery,” Tzes’zod said.
He lifted the bottom of his robe to reveal the skeletal foot beneath. The foot had a ring on what would have been his left big toe. A slightly glowing blue-green gem was set into the ring, and it made me feel nauseous just looking at it. Seeing my discomfort, Tzes’zod lowered his robe, and the sickly feeling went away.
“You’re going to have to explain that toe ring thing to me. I come from a world without magic, and can’t always identify creepy, nausea inducing jewelry on sight.”
“Sorry Rico, let me explain. Should my undead body be destroyed, the power of the phylactery would eventually rebuild my physical form again. An undead such as I would normally place a phylactery in an out of the way, safe place. That way, they could go about their business without worrying about losing their life.
“When I was created, my master put me under a compulsion that I cannot break. That compulsion forces me to keep the phylactery on my person unless my master gives me express permission to leave it elsewhere,” Tzes’zod explained. I thought I was starting to see where he was going with this story.
“Let me guess, you want to keep the ring here and then galivant off to who knows where. Is that why you wanted this position so badly?” I asked.
“Correct. My master has long since passed, and I, more than anyone else, am glad for his passing. But the compulsion remains. I suspect that since we have an agreement, and I am bound to your employ, the system may consider you my “master” of sorts. At least, you would be considered my master while here in your personal space. With your permission, I’d like to leave a bit of myself here, and continue from this place to deal with other obligations I have,” Tzes’zod explained.
“Having a ring that makes me sick sitting around isn’t something I’m excited about. How do you think this will work?” I asked.
“Simple, you will sever the bone the ring is attached to and place it inside your reward chest for safe keeping. Once safely ensconced there, you will receive a notice if I have need of its regenerative abilities. Should you receive that notice, simply place the appendage and the ring anywhere in your personal space, and I will be eventually reconstructed.”
“Okay, that’s gross, but why here, why would you trust me to keep it safe?” I asked.
“Our agreement has been system enforced, and we’re required to keep each other safe while inside your personal space. My toe, and the phylactery attached to it are part of me, and you would face the system’s wrath should you fail to at least attempt to keep them safe from a foe,” Tzes’zod said.
“I think you’re forgetting something about our contract. It’s only a temporary one, and I’m only required to give you this,” I said, reaching into the reward chest and pulling out ten gold coins that I handed to Tzes’zod. As soon as he touched the coins, they disappeared, likely into some kind of magical storage device. It was his pay for negotiations on the expansion. He’d gone above and beyond to keep me safe and get the best deal I could in negotiations, so I didn’t mind paying extra.
“You are correct, but the contract also says I can reside here for a time after the negotiations are complete. Do you really wish to end our arrangement? With my phylactery here, we can amend our agreement, allowing you to summon me whenever you have need of my services,” Tzes’zod offered. This would be a great compromise, I’d get a skilled negotiator on call, and he’d get what was essentially a respawn point inside my personal space.
“How much would you charge when I call you to help?”
“We can do it for a nominal fee, say ten silver per request. Should you require my services more than once a week, or if the negotiations are drawn out, the fee can increase at a reasonable rate. Fair enough?” Tzes’zod offered, causing the system to intervene.
An amendment to your current agreement has been proposed. Do you accept this amendment? Y/N.
I couldn’t see much of a downside for either of us. About the only thing I could think of was if Tzes’zod’s enemies somehow could find their way here. If that were the case, I was supposed to have not only Tzes’zod there to assist me, but also help from Gary whenever he got here. The undead negotiator was a good addition, and I was glad to accept his offer.
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You have accepted the amended contract. The being known as Tzes’zod will keep his phylactery inside your personal space, and in return, he will remain on call for you to utilize his services as previously negotiated.
“Thank you, Rico, I appreciate your trust. I will not let you down. There remains one final task,” Tzes’zod said, lifting his robe to reveal the toe with the nausea inducing jewelry attached to it.
“Will this work? I hope it doesn’t hurt you too badly,” I asked, drawing my Commander’s Blade. I figured a magic sword was probably the best thing to sever the appendage of an undead negotiator.
“I am beyond physical pain in my new form. Your blade should be more than sufficient. Try to sever it at the joint, it will make things easier for me,” Tzes’zod said, pointing toward where he wanted me to slice.
Holding the hilt of the blade in both hands, with the blade pointing down, I stabbed as hard as I could into Tzes’zod’s toe. With a sickening crack, the blade crunched through the joint and the toe rolled away from us. It started to roll back toward Tzes’zod, like it was going to reattach itself, but he had me snatch it up quickly. Using the edge of my shirt to grip it with, I quickly tossed the ring adorned toe into my personal space, glad to have it out of my sight.
“Thank you, Rico. I’ll stick around until your new tenant gets settled, then I have some personal obligations to attend to. Don’t forget to check inside your reward chest, I suspect the system will use the most recent deposit to assign a way for you to contact me,” Tzes’zod said.
“No problem, Tzes’zod. You’re welcome to visit whenever you need to, and by having you visit, I mean the rest of you, not just your toe. Do you have any idea when my summonings will resume? Do I have to wait until Gary gets here?” I asked.
“Sorry, I have no idea how your summonings work. That’s a bit beyond the scope of my knowledge. We can only wait and see. Gary did seem rather eager, so I suspect he’ll arrive shortly. If you are called away before then, I’ll do what I can to keep things organized.”
He was a great negotiator, and had a good knowledge of the system, but it seemed that Tzes’zod wasn’t some all-knowing being. I’d have to look elsewhere for answers to many of the questions I had. There was always my question-and-answer session with Gary. He seemed like the kind of being that would know about summoned people, and how I could break free from it.
That did bring up another question that I’d have to answer at some point. Did I really want this to stop? Sure, the pain and fear I often experienced as a summoned being were horrible, but I’d also had the opportunity to help people, and even save lives. Was there some way I could keep this power, and even grow it if I wasn’t being summoned on the system’s whim?
“Rico, I think that indicates that your new tenant is arriving,” Tzes’zod said as the door to my personal space swirled with the angry red energy that indicated Gary was about to show up.
The diminutive looking creature appeared a moment later, with the big demon-looking guy at his side once more. Looks were deceiving and I had no doubt that Gary was far more powerful than his assistant, despite their appearances. With his body giving off a few final spurts of flame as he left the portal, Gary looked over to me and Tzes’zod, who had resumed his Gimblewalt disguise.
“Hey there landlord, and my good gnome Goopy Fault or whatever your name is. I’m back! Look at that, you cleared out the place to make it easier for me to move in, I appreciate that,” Gary said, making me even more self-conscious about our lack of furnishings.
“So, are you cool with me setting up where I indicated before? That’s what people are your world say, right, you guys say cool a lot?” Gary asked.
“Uh, if you mean locating your entrance between the front door and the armory, that’s fine, and no, not everyone says cool on my world,” I replied, more than a little worried that Gary seemed to have taken an interest in Earth.
“Great, I’ll get right to it, though moving everything in might take a bit. Don’t worry, we’ll try not to disrupt you all that much. Once we’re settled, I can create a summoning portal inside the expansion, so we won’t need to barge in every time I bring in a fresh victim, oh wait, scratch that victim thing, I meant when I need to move in some supplies,” Gary said, talking a mile a minute as he brushed the palm of his hand over the wall apparently looking for just the right spot for his expansion.
“Before you settle in, there is the matter of remuneration,” Tzes’zod interjected.
Gary’s smile disappeared, and his face scrunched up like he was trying to contain a growl. For a moment, I was worried that Gary was going to attack Tzes’zod, but since he was in my employ, the system must have warned Gary about breaking his contract. Like a light switched on, Gary dropped his scrunched up angry face and resumed his pleasant and happy demeanor.
“Gnomes are naturally annoying, it’s not his fault he interrupted and insinuated I was trying to stiff you on the payment. Here you go, Rico, that’s the coin, and the other things I promised will be transferred by the system into your reward chest there. Say, when do you think we’ll get to go to Somhagen? I’m looking forward to our buddy trip,” Gary said, reminding me about one of the things I owed him in the agreement.
A large bag of coins appeared from thin air and dropped onto the lid of the reward chest with a satisfying clinking sound. I could only assume the other things he’d promised would appear just as he said.
“As far as Somhagen, it should be soon, I have to hit the next tier first,” I replied.
“Where are you at now?” Gary asked. He couldn’t use the information to harm me, at least, that’s what our deal with the system said. I glanced at Tzes’zod, who gave me a slight nod.
“I’m Tier 1, Rank 8 now.”
“Close, hmm, let’s see, I’ve got to spend some time getting this place squared away, so I suppose I can wait a bit longer. Rico, make sure you take a look at your reward chest, there’s something in there that might help speed things up,” Gary said.
According to the agreement, I was due six pieces of gear and four class scrolls. While I loved loot, I was a bit concerned about what it might be lurking in the chest since it was coming from a being like Gary.