At 4PM I stood outside the doors of the large dorm building that housed us Earthlings. I had hoped in my mind that I would never have to return here. It was spacious and comfortable, but full of people I loathed. If only the outdoors had similar safety, and the convenience of fridges and toilets.
I had waved off the trio of adventurers an hour ago, but I was already missing them. I stretched my lips into the widest faux smile I could manage and stepped into the building.
“Hello, everyone!” I shouted cheerfully into the hall. “I’m back! I totally wasn’t planning on leaving you all to join the ranks of a foreign nation. Hope you lot didn’t miss me too much.” I fake laughed boisterously.
There were about 40 people in the hall who all turned to look at me with scowls. Each one of them had death glares.
“Sheesh. I didn’t realise I was so unwelcome.” I scooted inside.
The whole crowd was quiet but clearly angry with me. After they finished staring me down, they returned to what they were doing. They all sombrely stood in a circle around a table. A few people were crying and sniffling. It felt like I was at a funeral.
“This place is gloomier than I remember,” I whispered to myself. I was pressured into silence by the few people around who could hear me. “Alright, I get it. I can read the room. So did someone die or something?”
“Someone’s dying,” said a rando, “currently.”
“I can’t believe I’m about to witness the first of us to be unalived,” another said softly.
“I wish there was something I could do.”
I had stumbled into quite a tragic event. The hall had become a temporary hospice. Due to the amount of people blocking the way, I couldn’t see who was dying. I squeezed through the crowd. “Excuse me. Coming through. I want a good look before they pass.”
I emerged into a central ring of a dozen or so people. At the epicentre was a table with a dying man lying on top of it. Though, of course the man looked like a child. To the man’s side was a grieving woman, who was also in the form of a child. She held the man’s arm while weeping into his torso.
I turned to the Earthling at my side and whispered, “What’s going on? I’m out of the loop.”
The person I spoke to snarled at me, “None of your business.” His lips pressed tightly together.
I receded into my shell a little. “I suppose you’re right.” I was being far too nosy for my own good. It wasn’t polite to butt in when uninvited.
The person carried on, “Those two are a married couple from Earth. They were both transported here together.”
“I see.” Didn’t this guy tell me it was none of my business? Why was he explaining?
“The husband was hurt in a fight with a hag.”
“That’s not a nice way to refer to a senior citizen,” I reprimanded him.
“No, a hag is a type of monster. She put him into this dying state.”
“Wow…” I scratched at where my bald spot used to be. “He was beaten by an old woman?”
The expositor whispered sternly, “I told you, he was defeated by a monster not some grandma. Show some respect.”
I asked with genuine curiosity, “What does this monster look like then?”
“…An old woman.”
I could tell he really didn’t want to give that answer. I wasn’t about to antagonise him anymore, though. “Can he not just use a healing potion or get help from a healer?”
“Do you think we would be here if he could? He’s afflicted with the Fading Soul status effect. We asked the royal knights for help, and they said that death is unavoidable for him. He told us that his System said he would die soon.”
I looked at the dying man. “How dreadful. How long ago did he tell you?”
“Five hours ago.”
“Five hours!” I shouted.
Several people turned and loudly told me, “Shhh!”
“Sorry…” I whispered. “You’ve been stood here for five hours?” I asked the guy next to me.
Exasperated, he replied, “Well, what were we supposed to do? He didn’t really give us a time frame. He just said he was dying soon. It felt rude to ask him how long it would take.” He leaned on my shoulder. “My legs are on fire from fatigue, and my bladder is full to burst. I can’t leave now because he could die at any moment.”
I looked around the room. Half the people that I thought were in mourning, now seemed to be just resisting their desires to leave.
The dying man raised his hand and placed it on his wife’s head. “I’m so glad you’re here, honey.” His voice was very weak. “I won’t have to die alone with you nearby.”
“No!” the wife screeched. “Don’t die! Please don’t leave me all alone, darling. I can’t imagine a life without you. I need you.”
The husband stroked his wife’s hair. “It makes me so happy to hear you say that. Alas, my System is telling me that I’m minutes away from death.”
The wife wept even harder.
Everyone felt a deep sorrow at the sight they beheld. Everyone except the boy on my shoulder who said, “Thank goodness. I thought I was going to piss myself.”
The husband cupped his wife’s cheek and lifted her head up. “Look into my eyes, sweetheart. I have something I must tell you before I depart from this world.”
The wife cupped her husband’s face. “What is it, darling?”
“It’s something that I could have taken to the grave, but I wanted to tell you. Above all else, I want your forgiveness for what I’ve done.”
“Please tell me, darling. Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll understand.”
“I want to thank you for being by my side for all these years, my beloved. However, I must admit with deep regret, I have not been entirely faithful to you. In the past I’ve broken my vows and cheated on you.”
The crowd gasped.
The wife’s grip on her husband’s face tightened a little. “I see…” She was clearly troubled but at the same time tried to not let it show. “I understand, dear. You had a moment of weakness. I can’t fault you for that. I forgive you.”
“Thank you, honey. Now, I can rest in peace.” The man closed his eyes.
The wife lightly tapped his face. “Before you go, who did you cheat on me with?”
“Is that appropriate to ask in this situation?” a boy from the crowd whispered to his friend.
“Diana,” the dying man admitted.
“My best friend Diana? I knew that bitch was flirting with you behind my back.” The wife sighed. “Sorry, dear. I didn’t mean to get angry. If that’s all, then I want you to forget about it. I forgive you with all my heart.”
The husband cleared his voice. “You didn’t let me finish. Diana, Dorothy, Delilah, Deborah, Denise, Destiny, Delphine, Deidre, Danielle, Daisy, Dakota—”
“Enough!” the wife interrupted. “Did you cheat on me with every girl whose name starts with D?”
“Of course not, sweetheart,” the husband assured. “I also cheated on you with Dave, Desmond, Drew, Dylan, Drake, Derrick, Douglas—”
“Men too?” The wife’s grip on her husband’s face resembled a claw. Her teeth clattered together. She was not happy. “You want me to forgive you for all of that?”
The crowd was split. Half felt that the wife was wronged, and the other half thought she should forgive him. All of this was relayed in hushed tones.
The husband said, “Despite it all, I’ve only truly loved you. No one else can compare. Before I die, please forgive me, my beloved. It is my only wish. The System says I have thirty seconds left. Please grant me this mercy.”
The woman reluctantly swallowed her pride. “Fine! I forgive you! You’re despicable for that, but I love you, nonetheless. I forgive you for everything.”
“Ten seconds left. Goodbye, my sweetheart.” The man closed his eyes as his wife sobbed.
I walked over and grabbed his leg. “Get cleansed, cheater.” A faint glowing light emitted from his skin. Yellow particles spread through the air.
The man with a full bladder tried to pull me back. “I told you healing magic won’t work.”
“Won’t it?” I said with a smug look on my face.
The man suddenly sat up straight. “I’m alive?” His voice was so much healthier. He could move his body freely. “I’m alive!” he shouted.
The crowd erupted. “Holy moly! What was that?”
“The anti-slavery guy just saved the husband’s life!” a woman shouted to the members of the crowd who didn’t get a good look.
“Even the royal knights couldn’t do that! That’s bonkers!”
“I’m alive!” the husband screamed in the cacophony of celebratory cries.
“I never expected that from him of all people!”
“Guess I need to change my opinion of him. He might be 45 but he’s not bad at all.”
“Yeah, I thought he was just an annoying prick, but now I realise he’s also the goat.”
Everyone surrounded me and sung my praises. In the mayhem, I thought I heard the sound of skin making contact with skin. Looking at the husband, I saw he was being repeatedly slapped by his unforgiving wife. “Cheat on me, will you? I’m going to make you regret it.”
“Mercy!” the husband begged.
People hoisted me up and began throwing me into the air.
“Whatever you did there was incredible, bro,” Thaxted shouted at me.
“Hip hip hurray!” said Selsie.
I saw my bursting-bladder friend running into the bathroom.
“You have to join our party, dude. We need a support like you,” said one of the people lifting me.
“No! Join us. We’ll even pay you. We need someone who can cure things like that for a job request we took from the guild.”
“Don’t be selfish. We can share him.”
I felt euphoric. I was never the most popular guy, but now I had a room full of people praising me. This was awesome. I couldn’t get enough of it. My laughter and smiling wouldn’t cease. I felt pleased knowing I had saved a life as well, but mainly I enjoyed the attention.
In the mob, Loftus was shouting and jumping like a fish out of water. “That’s my friend, by the way! Everyone, he’s my bestie! We’re close personal buddies.” He waved ecstatically at me. “Yarm!” He gave me the double thumbs up.
After being thrown up into the air so much, I felt like I was floating. The world felt like a dream. My eyes began to close as I savoured the sensation. Maybe it was a dream...
My body crashed against the floor.
[-9 HP]
The thud knocked the wind out of me. “Ow…”
“Oops, sorry,” said a person next to me. “My hand slipped when catching you.”
“I’m alright.” I got up and cracked my neck to the left and then the right. “I think I am, anyway.”
“You gotta tell us how you did that!”
“Was it an item, skill, or title?”
“Please show us your status page.”
“Yeah, that’s a great idea.”
“Status page, status page,” the crowd started chanting. “Status page, status page, status page…”
This was bad. There was no way I could open my System in front of so many people. All this veneration would transmute into resentment once they saw I was a villain. “Uhm, my procedure is top secret. I can’t divulge it so easily,” I said.
“Don’t be stingy! C’mon show us!”
A new chant began. “Show us, show us, show us…
I highly regretted taking centre stage. It was incredibly difficult to fight against peer pressure like this. Every bone in my body wanted me to submit to the social influence. My mind knew I couldn’t open my System, but it was tough. Some of the audience members got rough and started shaking me.
“Just open your System up. What have you got to hide?”
“Nothing!” I said. “I’m not hiding anything. I promise.”
It was getting hard to breathe with so many people close to me. They all swarmed me to get a look at this new ability that could cure a man on his deathbed.
“Ok! Ok! Back off and I’ll show you!” I finally relented.
The horde gave me space as requested. They all stared at me like vultures. All were mired in curiosity. They wanted to know. They had to know. The information was vital to them.
“I’ll show you on one condition.”
“What is it? Do you need money? I can drop 20 bandos right now!”
“I’ve got some magical items if you need them.”
“I don’t really have anything to give but I still wanna see.”
“Quiet down, everyone.” I settled the crowd. “If you wish to see my System, the condition is that you must help me to end slavery in this world.”
“I didn’t really wanna see it anyway,” someone said as they walked away.
“It was probably just a one-time use item.” The crowd was quickly dispersing.
“I’ve got better things to do than listen to this guy preach about morality again.” Everyone left me. Now that the husband was alive, they had no reason to stick around.
I groaned. “You people are that against being good and kind? Weren’t you all excited to see my System? What happened?” I stood silently as all my glory washed away. Well, this outcome was better than revealing my System, I supposed.
An entity walked up to me, and I almost jumped out of my boots in shock. “Thank you,” said the entity.
“Who— Wait are you the husband?” I asked.
“In the flesh,” he answered.
“But your face is so red and swollen. You hardly look human.”
“A result of my wife lovingly beating the crap out of me.” His puffed cheeks made his speech a little muffled.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m completely fine, apart from being in tremendous pain.”
That didn’t sound fine to me.
“Anyway, I wanted to thank you. You saved my life. You don’t know how much this means to me. My gratitude towards you is boundless.”
“It was nothing.” Receiving such heartfelt thanks was nice, albeit slightly embarrassing.
“It was everything. You are everything. Because you saved my life, you are now my world.”
“There’s no need to go that far. I was just helping a fellow person from Earth.”
“It might have been a small act for you, but to me it was obviously so much more. I’m so immensely thankful.” The husband placed his hands on my shoulders. “If you come to my room alone, I can show you my appreciation in a special way.” He winked at me.
Wait, was he flirting with me? Unbelievable! “Haven’t you been slapped enough?” This man had no remorse. “I’ll have to refuse.”
He exhaled. “A shame. If there’s anything else I can do for you, please let me know. From now on, consider me your slave. I’ll follow any command you give me.”
I shuddered. “The last thing I’d ever want is for you to be my slave. You’re free to live your own life, as everyone should be. You don’t owe me anything.” I paused for thought. “But I do have a request, if you’ll listen to it.”
“Yes, please tell me. I’m all ears. Or all ear. I can’t hear out of my right side after my wife’s slaps.”
“Right… I want you to never enslave another person. Actually, I want you to be entirely against slavery. No wait, not just that. I want you to be a good and moral person. Although, I guess we probably have different ideas on what we consider to be good and moral. How about this: follow all the major laws from Earth.”
“Consider it done! I’ll be a law-abiding citizen for the rest of my life.”
“You will?” It was that easy? “You won’t enslave, murder, or steal?”
“Nope. I’ll be a good chap from now on.”
I didn’t really know if I trusted him, but it wasn’t like I had any other choice than believing him. “Very good. Oh, and also stop cheating on your wife.”
“Huh? Oh no, my left ear has gone deaf too, so I couldn’t hear your last sentence. I’ll be on my way now. See ya.” He sprinted off.
He was willing to say yes to my first request, but he drew the line at adultery? Just how much did this man like to cheat? What a weirdo. Though, his refusal to listen to my second demand made me more confident that he would abide by my first one.
I sat down to rest a short while. After a few minutes, I was approached and greeted by the wife. “Hello.”
“Hi,” I responded.
“You saved my husbands life. Thank you. I won’t be a widow because of your help.”
“No problem.”
“My husband is a wretched man, but I genuinely love him despite his shortcomings. I want you to know that I’m incredibly grateful to you for saving him.” The wife bit her bottom lip. “If you come to my room alone, I can show you my appreciation, handsome.”
I nearly fell out of my chair. She was a cheater too? “My goodness, you two are meant for each other, you know that?”
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