Stefan’s POV
The servant woman’s scream cut through the evening air like a blade.
I didn’t think before I acted. I shoved Authority forward hard then snapped at her, "Keep your voice down. Stop screaming so I can actually see what is wrong with her."
Her mouth opened again. I cut her off with another sharp look and the weight of the stat behind it. She shut up, though her eyes still burned with panic and accusation. She stayed outside the carriage, her hands clenched, clearly torn between lunging at me and waiting for her mistress to wake.
I turned my attention inward.
"System, I know you’re there. Please tell me there is something I can use. Now."
The system replied almost immediately and I was super grateful.
[There is.]
"What?"
[Miracle Shop contains an item, ’Spirit Stitch Essence’ suitable for rapid recovery from any inflicted illness and physical trauma.]
"Thanks dude. You’re being very supportive today, keep it up, would you?" I chuckled despite the situation I was in.
I pulled the shop up. The price hit me like a second punch to the face. I clicked it anyway, already reaching for the confirmation.
[Insufficient funds.]
My lips parted in shock as I stared at the notification. "How the hell is my AP already gone? All of it?"
[Host was previously advised that prudence in spending was required.] The system chimed in very subtly as if I hadn’t just lost what I worked hard for.
I sweated for those APs, dude!
The inventory screen opened without me asking as if the system was trying to prove to me it was transparent. Ten. I had ten Anguish Points left. Ten. After everything I’d burned on Life Embers and healing oil, I was sitting on pocket change.
My lips parted again. For a second I couldn’t even find a proper curse.
"You’re extorting me. There’s no way my AP would remain that low if you aren’t extorting me." I gritted out.
"Recalculate. Properly."
[The calculation is correct.]
I dragged a hand down my face, mind already spinning toward the nearest exit. Maybe I should just grab the currency pouch, leave the carriage, disappear into the side streets before the servant decided to start screaming for real and go cool off inside the palace.
After all, nobody from the palace knew I was here. And Lily was a loyalist, she wouldn’t snitch on me if I told her not to.
[An Incubus does not abandon his women when they are in need.] the system chimed into my thoughts. My nostrils flared up in anger.
"Oh, really? How exactly am I supposed to help her with ten AP and a broken reputation?" I snapped.
[Host may borrow the required amount. Full repayment will be due in forty-eight hours.]
Of course. Another debt. Another chain.
I inhaled deeply then exhaled. A glance at Kara looking so helpless and vulnerable like that sealed my decision.
I would take the debt.
The item materialized in my hand, cool and faintly glowing. I didn’t waste time to use it. I pressed it to the ugly ring of bruises around Kara’s throat and watched the dark marks begin to fade, the unnatural pallor leaving her skin like ink washed away by water. Her breathing evened out. A moment later her eyes fluttered open.
She stared up at me, confusion and shock warring on her face.
"What... did you just do?"
"I have my ways," I said. My voice came out rougher than I intended.
"But that wasn’t free. Not even close. So in exchange for me dragging you back from whatever the hell that was, you’re going to tell me what you’re hiding and who did this to you."
Kara hesitated. Her gaze flicked to the servant still standing frozen outside the carriage, then back to me.
The primary mission timer ticked quietly at the edge of my vision. I didn’t have time for her pride.
"Are you really going to keep secrets from the person who just saved you?" I asked in a low voice then as a second thought, I raised my voice, pretending to be hurt;
"Or would you prefer I put you right back under?"
Her throat moved as she swallowed. The last of the bruising had already vanished, but the fear in her eyes hadn’t.
"I am grateful," she said finally.
"I will tell you if you really want to know. But you must promise you will not speak of it to any other soul."
"Yes, I want to know. I need to know. And You have my word." I replied immediately.
Kara drew a slow breath, as if the air itself might punish her for what she was about to say. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.
"It was the Silent Matriarch. She placed the sickness on me because I failed the task she gave me."
I frowned. "Who is the Silent Matriarch, and what task?"
"She is the god of healing and sickness, the only of her kind." Kara’s fingers curled against the seat. She spoke of the woman with great reverence and I could instantly tell she was a devotee of that woman.
"And what was the task?" I asked, already impatient. I had a timer running down on that particular fact.
Kara heaved a sigh before she continued;
"The task was to take a personal item belonging to the Queen so that it could be bewitched. To make the Queen fall ill."
"Oh, wow! Interesting..." I scoffed in both disbelief and shock. I was shocked for real. I never imagined such could be happening on this planet.
For a second I just stared at her.
A living god? A curse aimed at the Queen. And Kara had been the delivery girl.
She must have seen the look on my face, because she immediately added, sharp and anxious, "You promised. You cannot tell anyone."
I exhaled slowly, my mind already turning over the size of the mess I’d just stepped into. "So she punished you for failing... and you’re still planning to go through with it?" I gestured with my hand to show my disbelief.
Kara’s eyes met mine. There was fear there, but underneath it was something harder. Something that looked a lot like resignation.
"I have no choice. If I do not complete the task, what she did to me today will look like mercy." she said. I gulped.
Silence settled between us. The carriage creaked. Outside, the servant shifted her weight, still watching like a dog waiting for a command.
Kara’s next words came quieter, almost reluctant, as if she hated having to ask.
"Can you help me?" She held my gaze. "Can you get the Queen’s personal item from the palace?"
I processed the question quietly for a second then I let out a dry, humorless chuckle and leaned back against the wooden wall of the carriage. My con-man’s brain started turning the way it always did when the stakes jumped and the board suddenly got more interesting.
I looked at Kara, holding her gaze for a long moment then asked the only question that mattered;
"All right. Let’s say I help you. What exactly do I get out of assisting this god of yours?"
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