Chương 151: Chapter 147

"Wait, you can't walk?" Medy asked, looking over the man.

"You have legs though? Is this a rank thing among humans here, where you don't walk anywhere but get moved around on a throne?" She looked around to see if there were servants nearby, until she gave a very unladylike yelp as Zin grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt, then yanked her up.

"Aaaand we're done here! That's enough unhinged remarks for the day." He said, moving her away from the crippled man.

"Medy, sweetheart, this is Earth. They don't have holy magic to heal everything on the fly. Diseases and injuries here are permanent. People here die looking like dried up raisins after eighty-odd years because of something called cancer or heart failure or just plain old time. It's a whole thing."

"Oh. That's so weird." She blinked, still being held by the scruff, and took a bite of the granola in the meantime. Jason wheeled back a few inches to get a better look at the full group. His eyes lingered on Medy, but otherwise looked back to Wade.

"So who are they really?"

"Two demons," Wade said." Archdemons." Zin quickly added, coughing in his hand.

"And I happen to be the Grand Duke of the Third Circle of Hell, Supreme Commander of the Gallanar Legio-" He stopped.

"You know what, forget it. Old history, and it's been a long day already. I have things to do and NEETesses to torment, and the faster we get to that part the happier I'll be." Jason's eyes flicked to Medy. Then back to Zin. Then back to Wade.

"Two demo-""Archdemons." Zin corrected.

"Seriously, you don't even know half of the history behind that and how good it is to finally say it out loud. Best part of coming to Earth by far, so you can pry that title from my cold dead hands."

"Eh, he gave me this, he can call me whatever he wants." Medy said, still munching the granola bar.

"I'm totally fine with just being demons." Zin rolled his eyes with a long suffering sigh.

"As previously stated, some of us have standards." Jason finished the last bite of his granola bar, then nodded to the group.

"Okay. You know what, I've already seen an actual skeleton get pumped up listening to K-pop music on youtube, and then pull a miracle and heal my legs. Bar's been set. Nothing surprises me anymore. And I'm pretty sure you're not going to bring the evil kind of demons next to Ann."

"That's the spirit, and Hell no I wouldn't." Wade answered back with a wink. Jason rolled his eyes at the pun.

"I do have one question though."

"Shoot."

"Are you ready for this?" Wade started laughing, "Few moments ago I really wasn't. But I am more ready than I've ever been. And the real one you should be asking is your discount miracle worker." Wade glanced over to Eri, who shot him finger guns back, then tapped his head. He better get that pope hat after this.

"Yeah, we're ready." Wade said, going to grab the handles on Jason's wheelchair, turning him around to face the nursing house. The automatic doors parted with the usual jank of the half-working building. Wade had been paying a leg and an arm to keep Ann here, and that was after the insurance had been forced to cough up. It was clear the budget wasn't going to keeping the place running. The reception area hadn't changed either. Same fake plants in the corners.

Same watercolor prints of lighthouses screwed into the walls. The receptionist behind the front desk was new. Wade didn't recognize her. Middle aged woman with dark hair pulled into a tight bun, name tag reading JESSICA. She glanced up from her monitor as the group approached.

"Hi," Wade stepped up to the counter.

"I'm here to see Annabelle Wade. Room 14B." Jessica's eyes didn't even look back up past that first glance, but she tapped a few buttons on her keyboard.

"Annabelle Wade..." She scrolled.

"She's been transferred."

"… What? Transferred where?" Last time he'd come to visit had been a month ago, he just hadn't had enough time.

"Looks like she was moved to Ward C about... three weeks ago. That's our extended palliative wing. Her insurance coverage was reassessed. Looks like… the updated plan you're subscribed to didn't meet the threshold for continued placement in the unit. It says here the reassessment was initiated by the provider. You would have received notification by mail." As in either his insurance had dropped coverage, or the nursing home had increased their rates and the insurance had refused to match, leaving the bill to him.

He was already paying double his rent for her to stay here cared for, and now they were telling him they weren't bothering with the care part. Wade silently fumed as the group walked down to ward C.

"We're getting her out of here today. Every month this place gives me another reason to hate it more." Eri clicked his jaw in solidarity. He had no idea what this human building was, or why the people walking around here looked so dead inside, but if his boss said this place was shit, then he'd back him up all the way.

"You should be aware champ, they might not want to let her go that easy." Zin said with a slight shrug, beady eyes looking deeper at each worker passing by.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure they'll try to bill me for the rest of the month even if she's gone today. I'll handle that when we get to it."

"No, I mean they'll probably try to stop you from taking her out of here entirely. Whole place here smells of exploited Medicare loopholes. You gotta remember so long as your sister's parked in one of their beds, she's a meal ticket. Your wallet, the government's wallet, insurance's wallet - it's like a buffet of bureaucratic cash up for grabs so long as they can scribble down forty bucks for a single band-aid. The greed's radiating out of those little windowed offices we passed by."

"How can they stop me from taking her out of here? I'm her older brother." It seemed ridiculous to Wade.

"You know how hard it is for someone who's sane to get out of an asylum by themselves? Not saying that's what's going to happen here kiddo, just giving you heads up that your sister might be a piece of someone's quarterly bonus here." Wade had a feeling Zin knew something more about this place, or the people who worked here, but the Archdemon remained oddly evasive otherwise. Ward C smelled different from the rest of the building.

Less antiseptic, more stale, like it wasn't getting cleaned or paid much attention to. The hallway lights flickered, and two of the ceiling tiles had that brown-tan stain blooming outwards like a watercolor painting. Ann's old room had been a small shared room with a window facing the courtyard. This new room faced a brick wall. And had only enough room for one occupant, in a tiny bed. Wade realized right away why they'd picked this room to move her in. Ann didn't have the mental capacity to self-regulate.

She'd start screaming the moment she felt too overwhelmed with anything. Which was often, since she was constantly waking up in a room she didn't remember among strangers she didn't know. With this setup, they could simply shut the door and wait her out instead. He wasn't certain if that was what was really going on, but his blood boiled straight for that thought first. With his system incapable of fear or anxiety, all that was left was rage. This story originates from Royal Road.

Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Ann?" He called out, stepping inside the cramped room. She was curled up in a ball, hiding under the blankets. Wade's throat closed, because he knew when she did that meant she was already scared or going through a panic attack. He slowly stepped into the room, keeping his footsteps light.

"Hey, Ann. It's me. Michael." The blanket shifted. One eye appeared above the fabric edge, darting from Wade to the doorway behind him where four strangers stood. Her breathing changed immediately. Short, sharp pulls through her nose. It was not a good day right now.

"Whoa, whoa, it's okay Ann, it's Michael. Your older bro, come now, it's all good." She pressed herself into the wall.

"Go away."

"Ann-""Go away!" Wade raised both hands, palms out. He crouched to make himself smaller and less threatening.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Nobody here is going to hurt you." Her eye looked over all of them, and she didn't even recognize Jason today. He gave her a sad smile in return, already knowing what was going to happen.

"Please go away please go away please please please," The words tumbled out in a loop, she was chanting them like a warding spell. If she screamed, staff would come. If staff came, they'd remove him. And if they removed him, getting back was going to be harder. They'd charge him for the disturbance too. He might not be allowed back for a few days.

"Shhh, it's okay, it's just me. Michael." He tried to keep his voice soft, that had worked occasionally.

"It's only me, bad breath and all, you know me, come on." She wasn't listening. Her hands had come up over her ears, holing the blanket around her like a hood. The rocking started. Back and forth. Behind him, Jason's voice whispered.

"Everyone out, slowly. Give him some room." The squeak of the wheelchair and Medy's awkward shoes shuffled behind, as she probably leaned more into the handlebars to keep her walking straight. And Eri equally slinked out the back, looking exactly as sly and circumspect as his costume implied. All except Zin, who remained right next to Wade, watching Ann rock herself against the wall. For once he wasn't smiling, not even the usual shark-toothed smirk.

Ann's voice cracked upward, she began looking around the room wildly.

"Michael! Michael, help me! Michael, Michael, Michael! There's people here and they won't go away!" Wade flinched, knowing he was the other in this room, the stranger, and she wasn't looking for him. Today wasn't one of her good days. She already started off spooked by something, and he'd walked in while she was already going through a panic attack of some kind. It was doomed from the start. He stayed real quiet, trying to think what he could do, coming up with zero ideas. Zin closed his eyes and sighed.

Then with snap movements, crossed the room in three long strides.

"Wait, stop! You're going to frea-" Wade hissed out, but Zin was already past him, left hand removing his right hand's white gloves. Ann saw him come straight at her and now properly freaked out, scooting backwards out of her rolled up position, trying to bring the blanket up to hide behind, opening her mouth to fully scream for help. Zin's hand snapped out and grabbed her shoulder, quick as a snake, thumb pressed into her neck. Her eyes went wide.

She blinked twice, slow and confused, as if she'd walked into a room and forgotten why. Zin withdrew his hand, straightened his cuffs, and carefully put his white gloves back. He glanced back to Wade, "Don't you dare say a single word about this to anyone. Got that?" Wade silently nodded back. The Archdemon turned and wordlessly walked straight out of the room. Ann remained behind in the bed, watching with curiosity now.

She didn't know who he was, or who any of these strangers were, but she didn't feel scared of them. In fact, for the first time in a long while, she didn't feel scared at all. Zin passed outside the room, then snapped his fingers twice at the group lingering in the hallway.

"What are you lot staring at? Back inside everyone. Show's over, curtain's up, let's go, let's go." Medy shuffled in first, balancing on her glued shoes with Eri's steadying hand at her elbow. Jason wheeled himself to the doorway but stayed just outside, giving the cramped room what little space it had. Zin was the only one who remained fully outside the room, guarding the hallway instead, muttering to himself the entire time. Ann sat upright now on the bed. And more importantly, she looked calm.

Wade slowly took up position by her bedside.

"Hey, Ann." She focused on him.

"Who are you?"

"A friend." He smiled, "I brought someone who's going to help you feel better today. This is Eri, he's wearing a Watchman costume right now. He's really cool."

"Oh that's fun." She smiled back. Eri took his cue, stepping in. Showing off his trenchcoat, fedora, and inkblot mask.

"He's got a funny hat," she said. Eri straightened up, happy to be meeting a fellow hat connoisseur, and adjusted his fedora with great pride. Market's blessing of languages whispered in his head the kind of gestures he could do with a hat if he so wished to introduce himself properly, and the skeleton didn't waste a moment to give the most exaggerated bow with his hat to his chest, left arm stuck way out. Ann clapped her hands at that, excited now.

Medy had positioned herself near the foot of the bed in the meantime.

"I can keep watch while he works, if you want? If anything looks off, I'll know. But you know…" She glanced at Wade.

"I'm pretty sure everything will be fine, the healing ring is definitely holy attuned magic. It doesn't usually fail mortals, it reacts a lot to emotions and thoughts of your kind." Wade was past pretty sure. The System had already marked his attunement quest as complete. Which meant the System already knew this would work. Really, he shouldn't have ever been afraid of messing this moment up. Eri approached the bed like he'd approach a bird that had just landed on a park bench.

All he was missing was some bread to tempt with, but the skeleton worked with what he had. He gently pointed at himself, pointed at the spot next to her bed, and tilted his head in question. Ann studied him for a moment.

"Okay." Eri took the last step and settled beside her. He raised one hand and shot her a pair of finger guns. She blinked. Then burst out laughing, and fired finger guns back, even making shooting sounds with each shot. Eri clutched his chest like he'd been shot, staggering sideways in the narrow space between the bed and the wall. They played around for a bit, an old ex-Nathir slave golem hunter happily playing along with a poor girl who needed it.

And then Eri gave a few quick gestures to the girl when he found the right moment. Want to see a magic trick?

"Okay! Yeah, show me, show me!" She beamed, bounding a bit in the bed. Slowly, carefully, Eri peeled the glove off his right hand. Of course what was under was exactly what Wade remembered: Slightly tan-white bone, all somehow still connected and moving. The healing ring sat on his index finger. Ann leaned forward, eyes wide.

"Whoa." She reached out and touched his fingers, fearlessly testing how durable the bones were.

"How are you doing that?" Eri wiggled his skeletal fingers in a little wave. I'm a very good magician.

"Whooooa, that's so cool." She breathed, full of wonder. Eri's head slowly turned to stare at Wade. In fact, I'm such a good magician, I should get a top hat for this after. Right boss?

"Top hats are used for magic tricks." Wade immediately said.

"That makes them useful." If the skeleton could tut, he would have. A jaw click of disappointment would have to do. Market's blessing had whispered the shape and idea of those top hats and Eri had been fascinated. He reached his skeletal hand over anyhow, and gently patted her head, then held it there. The ring pulsed red and gold. Ann seemed to relax into the bed for a moment, happy. And then her eyes drooped down, head lulling back against the rough pillow where she promptly fell asleep.

Eri remained pressing his hand on her head, holding the power there. Wade should have felt worried about this. Normally. But the ability to worry was gone and so he simply knew this was totally fine and if there was a problem Medy would have said something.

"She's in a coma." Medy said, watching.

"That usually happens when healing a head injury. Holy magic rebuilds based off the soul as the template, so it's a little weird with stuff like the brain. Mortal biology takes it kind of like a tune-up."

"When would she be awake at?" Wade asked. The archdemonness hummed.

"Maybe a day? It's like when you're knocked out, you could wake up in a day or three. Magic can't do that for you though, it's all up to your head." Eri's healing was defuse, sinking into her head and spreading out over her face just as much as it spread over the rest of her brain and skull. That was more a limit of the ring rather than his healing. But it did come with an odd side effect Wade could visibly see happen.

"Why's her wrinkles getting healed up like that?"

"Amigo," Zin said, head poking through the entryway, rolling his eyes at the discussion he'd been overhearing.

"Holy magic heals based on the soul remember? You think a single mortal out there ever thinks of themselves as old? Wrinkles aren't a thing in Azdrial. When people die of old age, their body's completely burned up, wrangled dry on the inside, and falling apart to the point even a miracle isn't going to keep them up. But they'll all look at the ripe old age of twenty five or less, however they internally see themselves." Wade nodded sagely at that.

What he'd actually heard from Zin was the sound of gold coins raining down in a vault with his name on it. The skincare industry was likely even more massive than the healthcare industry. In fact, it was an outright titan among titans. Everyone needed healthcare every now and then when they had absolutely no choice other than to keel over or handle the paperwork. And sometimes they'd still take the gamble with keeling over. But skincare?

Everyone had zero issues heading over to the local shops to get anything from simple sunscreen to entire runaway shopping trips. Which meant Wade Cosmeceuticals Incorporated was going to hit the world like the black plague. His empire would be vast. His power would be unstoppable. The billionaires would kowtow before him, begging to cure their male pattern baldness and cancer, whichever was more important to them, who really knew?

He wou- The System popped a new notification midway through his maniacal laughing, and the rest of the room staring at him wondering what was wrong with his head. Wade read the notification.

"… what the actual fuck? How?" Bringing Magic to a gunfight complete! SAS operatives added into the lootbox draw pool. Reputation with the Blackwood-Sinclairs increased slightly. Reputation with other factions will be applied once factions are discovered. Wade stared. And then zipped through the interface, looking over his completed quests to the original quest description. Bringing Magic to a gunfight - Give David Harrison a mana potion, along with basic instructions on mana usage and casting spells.

Give David Harrison a mana potion. Which implied Wade had to do it. Implied. It hadn't directly stated that he had to be the one to hand the potion over. Which meant someone else had given Mr. Harrison a mana potion, and then taught him how to use mana. And if Wade was all the way here, then the only ones who could have done that are…

"Oh my god, what the hell has Illy been up to?"