Chapter 88 Like Wings On A Gul.

  Isaac sighed again to himself as the three newcomers outside began arguing with each other. He slowly shambled over to the pile of bones that had been his skeletal retainer. He bent down and fished out the modified skull of Shamsha. It was cracked and chipped in a few places but was somehow mostly still intact. Isaac fed the skull some of his mana and breathed out a sigh of relief as the damage started to visibly disappear. “Thank you, Lady Luck, or Fate, or whoever made sure that enough of him survived.” He whispered a prayer. He was going to try and remember to thank the deities that helped him whenever he could.

  As Isaac held the skull in his bloodied hands, he heard someone step into the building. He turned his head to see who had entered and was thankful to see that it wasn’t the first moron that had stumbled in before. The young man froze in place as they locked eyes. His thick wool coat was complete with a hood and scarf so Isaac could barely even make out his brown eyes and well tanned skin tone. “Y-You’re not a monster, right?” His voice cracked as his eyes only continued to widen.

  “No.” Isaac replied and then straightened back up. As he did so, he slipped Shamesh’s skull into his Inventory. The extra weight from all of the items that were now in it was not doing his weak body any favors. “I am an adventurer. What are you?”

  The young man visibly sighed in relief. Isaac couldn’t help but think that he was even more of a moron for taking him at his word that he wasn’t a monster. “Thank Halya.” He spoke with his hands clasped momentarily. “Hey guys! He’s not a monster!” He called back out through the door.

  “No, really?” The laidback one replied with a chuckle.

  “What?!” The first idiot exclaimed and then ran back inside to take another look at Isaac.

  “What faction are you with?” Isaac’s slightly deepened voice cut through the distance with enough weight that the two inside and third in the doorway froze in place.

  “I, uh, we, um-” The mostly normal moron began. His two friends were similarly dressed and their voices were slightly muffled so the easiest way for Isaac to tell them apart were their speech patterns. The first idiot had never been taught how to speak properly, the second seemed normal enough, and the third definitely spent more time watching flowers grow and eating than doing anything else.

  “Vespera Vigilante Core bro.” The third answered for him with a hand gesture that Isaac didn’t recognize.

  ‘Maybe it’s their greeting or something.’ Isaac wondered to himself. He nodded to them. “Good enough.” He replied. “Do any of you have any healing potions on you? I ran out but have platinum to spare.”

  The boys all looked at each other before they each shook their head at him in turn. “Nah, sorry, those things are expensive. Like, a month on the docks kinda expensive.” The third one explained.

  “Where is the closest healer or potion seller?” Isaac continued his questioning. The boys had all gotten used to him enough that their eyes were starting to wander. They each noticed Lenna one by one and became too focused on her that they stopped playing attention to Isaac. Isaac snapped his fingers. “Boys. Pay attention.” He ordered them and all three stood up a bit straighter and locked eyes with him. It was clear that they had gotten that a lot.

  “Yes, Sir.” The second one replied on instinct.

  “She needs a healer or a really good potion, maybe both.” Isaac informed them. “Now, help me with that.” He flicked his wrist and a platinum coin flew across the twenty foot distance between them and the second boy caught it. Isaac had just assumed that he was the leader as he was the most presentable of the three.

  “I, uh, yes, Sir.” The leader said. “The potion shop is only two blocks away but the nearest church is to Storm and, well, they aren’t real clerics, yah know?”

  Isaac nodded. “Does the potion shop have high grade potions?” He questioned.

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  The leader nodded and then looked to the idiot for confirmation. The idiot nodded back and then the leader turned back to face Isaac. “Yes.” He relayed the information that Isaac had already clearly gathered.

  Isaac pulled the sack full of platinum coins, that they had gotten as a wedding present, out of his Inventory. He did it by reaching behind his back first because he knew that trying to do the shadow trick would end poorly for him. “How much are they?” Isaac asked the boys. The leader turned to ask the idiot but Isaac cut him off before he could ask his friend. “He can talk too.” He told them flatly.

  The idiot nodded. “I pass ‘ere ev’ry day on me way ta work. They gotta big red on’ in the winda fer nine…” His voice trailed off in thought. “seven, five, zera.”

  “Take this and tell the shopkeeper to pack up as many and as high of grade healing potions as possible in a box for you.” Isaac instructed the leader without opening the pouch. “Where is the closest church with a healer?”

  “The church of Halya is just off the square, six or seven blocks?” The leader replied.

  “Eight and two thirds.” The airheaded one corrected.

  “Can one of you go get a healer and bring them back here?” Isaac asked the two boys without orders as the leader took the offered pouch. He almost dropped it as his eyes went wide at how heavy it was. He looked up at Isaac with a look full of the fear of responsibility. “Just get it done.” Isaac quietly told the leader with a nod and then looked back at the other two who looked hesitant. “What’s wrong?”

  “Old man Din is kinda ancient bro.” The airhead told him.

  “Ain’t no way grandpa Din’ll make it ‘ere.” The idiot explained.

  “I’m not in any shape to carry her there, or else I would.” Isaac confessed. “Leader, get those potions here as soon as you can. I won’t eat your friends.” He assured the young man you nodded with an audible gulp.

  “Yes, sir, right away.” He said with a few more rapid nods. He then hurried to leave but not before he gave his friends a nod. The idiot looked like he was about to crumple as his lifeline abandoned him but the airhead took it in stride.

  “If we had a stretcher,” The airhead began. “then maybe Wess and I could carry her.”

  Isaac shook his head. “A sled would be better. I don’t trust your noodle arms not to drop her.” Isaac told him flatly. The airhead just nodded in agreement.

  “Sleds are cool.” The airhead added after a short moment.

  Isaac barely suppressed a sigh and he slowly sat down next to Lenna and rested his hand on her head. He started slowly trickling death flames into her again. The response from the boys was instant. Both paled but the idiot tripped as he tried to back up. “Relax.” Isaac told both of them. “I am stabilizing her. This way she shouldn’t get any worse before your friend gets back.”

  “Anybody ever told you that you are kinda scary bro?” The airhead asked him.

  “Yes.” Isaac replied flatly. “It is kind of my job.”

  The airhead nodded sagely like he had just been enlightened about a truth of the world. “Do you have one of those nicknames the important ones get?” He asked.

  Isaac nodded. “I do. And so does she.”

  The idiot sat back up. “What’re they?” He asked with excitement that was only held down by the pure fear that he felt towards Isaac.

  “I am the Lord of Darkness, and this is my wife, the Lady of Hellfire.” Isaac explained.

  Both boys swallowed at the same time. “Boss said we oughtta stay outta yer way.” The idiot meekly told him. It looked like the boy was trying to make himself as small as possible. “Says yah kill ‘eople by lookin’ at ‘em funny.”

  “Nah bro, because they looked at him funny.” The airhead corrected him.

  Isaac nodded. “I’ve never done that, but I did kill someone for looking at my wife funny.” He very poorly explained. “Now, is there a wagon that either of you can get here within the next half an hour?”

  The boys looked at each other. “We can ask the boss. Maybe he can send a healer for yer missus. It’d be better than moving her, right?” The airhead offered.

  “It is better than nothing. Go, and tell your boss that the Lord of all that is Dark would like to meet with him.” Isaac ordered them. “Go together, just in case he doesn’t believe one of you. We won’t be going anywhere, at least until the potions get here.”

  The boys nodded and the airhead helped his friend back to his feet. “We’re on it like wings on a gul.” The airhead assured Isaac who just nodded in reply.

  As soon as the boys were outside, Isaac heard the idiot chastise his friend: “Wings on a gul? Really man?”

  “Bro, I know, it was an awesome one-liner.” The airhead replied.

  Isaac groaned and laid his head down on Lenna’s breastplate. The breastplate was mostly solid so he wasn’t afraid of making her breathing anymore difficult. “I am not sure if Lady Luck is smiling down at us or not.” He told his unconscious wife. “You need to wake up.”

  Isaac laid there with Lenna for fifteen minutes before he finally got a good reading on her remaining injuries. Lenna had managed to heal her broken bones, almost all of the major internal injuries, and a decent bit of her head trauma. What Isaac had been healing was just the obscene amount of bruising that she had on literally everything that could bruise. She really had been out of immediate danger but that was it. There had been so much blood where it shouldn’t have been that Isaac was surprised that none of her organs had shut down. Though, that might’ve been due to her healing magic that was still active in her sleep. In fact, the reason that she was still unconscious was probably because she was in a constant state of mana deprivation. Every drop of mana that her core retained had been immediately spent on keeping her body from falling apart at the seams.

  Isaac realized that, at his current rate of healing her, Lenna’s body would be back to almost one hundred percent in two hours or so. The potions and healer were probably overkill but the sooner that she was awake, the better. Isaac needed to know how badly her core was damaged and only she would be able to tell him that. He also had a few questions for her. Some of those questions the healer, that the boss of the vigilante group had better bring with him, would hopefully be able to answer as well. The chief questions being; ‘What is Soul Integrity Degradation?’ and ‘How do you fix it?’