Chapter 48: The Noble Debt
We hit the city like a pair of cannonballs.
The roof didn't even slow us down, tiles shattered, wooden beams snapped like matchsticks, and we crashed straight through the top floor of the house. Plaster dust choked the air as we smashed through another floor, then another, before finally hitting the ground floor with a bone-jarring thud that knocked the breath out of me.
"Fuuuuuck!" I wheezed, clutching my ribs. Freya wasn't doing any better, she was sprawled a few feet away, gasping, armor dented, hair a wild mess. The only thing moving in the room besides us was the swirling cloud of dust.
Every muscle screamed. My vision pulsed with each heartbeat. It wasn't the worst pain I'd ever felt… but it was close.
With a grunt, I reached under my leather armor and pulled out two of the yellow-green vials I kept stashed close. Thank every god in this shithole world, they hadn't shattered on impact. My fingers were shaking as I popped the cork off one and downed it in a single gulp.
The bitter, almost metallic taste hit my tongue as the familiar yellow-green glow flared to life around me. It seeped into my skin, knitting some of the damage back together, dulling the worst of the pain. The broken bones in my chest shifted uncomfortably as the magic worked, but I could still feel something cracked inside. My body didn't feel brand new like before, this wasn't a miracle cure, just enough to keep me moving.
I slid the other vial across the wrecked floor toward her.
"Drink it," I said.
She didn't even argue, just popped the cork with her teeth and downed it. The glow lit up her pale features for a second before fading just as quick. She still looked wrecked, but her breathing evened out.
Neither of us said a word. The house creaked around us, one of the broken beams shifting with a groan. Somewhere outside, the distant roars and screams echoed over the city.
I didn't care. Not right now. I just lay there on the dusty floor, letting my heartbeat slow.
The silence was almost nice.
I tilted my head slightly, just enough to glance at the corner of my vision where the countdown pulsed.
56 hours, 39 minutes, 08 seconds… 07… 06…
Only I could see it. Only I knew exactly how much time was left before the system decided whether I lived or died.
I didn't move. Not yet.
She broke the silence first.
"Why are you doing this?"
Her voice was quiet, but it cut through the dusty air like a blade. I turned my head toward her, still lying on the floor, ribs aching with every shift.
"Doing what?" I asked.
She propped herself up on one elbow, grimacing from the pain. "Keeping close to me during the preparations for the invasion. Almost like you knew I was going to end up in that pile of corpses outside the wall. Why did you come rescue me when all seemed lost? When nobody else even tried?"
I stayed silent.
Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you care, Kaizen? Are you really that in love with me?" She didn't even blink when she said it. "I don't think you'd risk your life for me just because you want to fuck again. You can fuck Gwen. There are other women in this city who'd let you put it in them if you flashed them a halfway decent smile."
I shifted my gaze to the cracked ceiling, saying nothing.
"I've got this… fucking feeling in my gut you knew what was going to happen to me today," she pressed. "Are you some kind of seer? Can you see into the future?" She scoffed before I could answer. "No. I doubt that. I can't sense a lick of mana from you. But the way you moved back there, your speed, your agility, your brute strength… that was fucking tier-two martial magic. And yet…" She tilted her head at me. "You don't have any fucking mana to use magic. So what the fuck are you, Kaizen?"
Her words hung in the air like the smoke outside.
She'd just asked me every question I'd been expecting since the moment I decided to stick to her like a shadow. And the worst part was, I actually wanted to answer. Not with lies. Not with half-truths. I wanted to tell her everything, about the system, about the damn missions, about the clock always ticking in my head. About how every second I was either inching toward survival or walking toward my own execution.
But I couldn't. Maybe not now. Maybe not ever.
So I gave her another truth instead.
"I feel like I owed your fiancé," I said finally.
Her eyes hardened. "What?"
"That other prisoner you heard me tell Gwen about yesterday, his name was Rorden. Your fiancé."
I saw the flicker in her expression, but she said nothing, so I went on.
"I didn't know him before I woke up in that cave. But I saved him. Together we fought through the goblins in those tunnels, trying to find a way out. Until we ran into the goblin chief."
The memory hit me like a second impact. The dark cavern. The reek of blood and rot. The way my bones screamed every time I moved.
"I was about to be killed. My ribs were shattered, my legs barely working. That thing had me dead to rights. And then Rorden, he used his fire magic. Distracted the chief long enough for me to breathe. The chief turned on him, and what it did to me was nothing compared to what it did to him."
I could still hear the sound of it, the crunch, the wet tearing.
"I used the last of my strength to throw a sword into its throat. Took its head clean off. But if it wasn't for him using his magic, I'd have died. No question."
I exhaled slowly. "I didn't know he was your fiancé. Didn't even know his name until I heard you arguing with your father in the inn, over four weeks ago. But with this entire invasion… the goblins rallying? That's on me. My killing the chief made it happen, whether I meant it or not. So I figured the least I could do was protect your life, like he saved mine that day."
I let the words settle between us, her gaze locked on me.
She stared at me like she was trying to peel me open with her eyes, digging for the parts I didn't say out loud.
For a long moment, she didn't blink. Then she leaned back against the wrecked wall, her jaw tightening.
"You're telling me," she began slowly, "that Rorden died in some filthy cave, torn apart by a goblin chief… while you walked out alive."
Her voice wasn't trembling. No, that would've been too human. It was steady, cold, like steel pulled fresh from ice water.
I didn't answer. Not yet.
"And you didn't think to tell me," she went on, her tone sharp enough to cut skin, "until now? Weeks later? After…" She stopped herself, lips pressing into a thin line, but I knew what she'd been about to say. After we fucked.
"You think I care about the whole 'I owe him' crap?" She turned her head toward me, the look in her eyes equal parts anger and disbelief. "Do you think telling me this now is supposed to make me feel… what? Grateful? Honored? Touched?"
"No," I said quietly. "It's not about that."
Her glare narrowed, but she didn't interrupt.
"It's about me not wanting you to die," I continued, forcing each word out steady. "Call it a promise. Call it a debt. Call it my way of trying to make sure something good comes out of that fucking cave instead of just another grave."
She scoffed, but there was no humor in it. "Something good? You think me surviving is 'something good'? You don't even know me, Kaizen. Not really. You've been clinging to me like a parasite ever since this invasion started. And you expect me to believe it's because of some noble debt?"
I met her stare without flinching. "I don't care if you believe it. I'm telling you anyway."
We sat in silence again, the air between us thick enough to chew on.
Finally, she muttered, "You're a fucking idiot."
"Not the first time I've heard that," I said, leaning my head back against the wall.
"You won't tell me everything," she said, almost like it was a challenge.
"No," I admitted. "I won't."
Her eyes stayed on me for a few more beats, searching, testing. Then she exhaled through her nose and said, "Fine. Stick close. But if you get in my way out there…" She trailed off, her meaning obvious.
"I won't," I said.
"Good."
She pushed herself up, wincing from the half-healed injuries. I followed, my own body still screaming in protest despite the potion's work. We didn't say another word as we stepped out into the street, the distant roar of the beasts and clash of steel crawling back into earshot, dragging us both toward the inevitable.
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