Chương 7: The Worst Reunion

Those words came straight from Hale's heart. Maddie was the first person he had encountered in this world, and she was the one who cared about him the most. To be precise, she cared about the physical shell he was occupying, but that knowledge still brought him immense comfort. Without Maddie, he had no clue how he would survive in this place—handicapped, scarred, and universally loathed by the rest of the world. He had also grown genuinely fond of this dragonborn maid he had only known for a short while.

Even if her previous master had been a villain, a loyalty as fierce as hers was an incredibly rare treasure. Their conversation was abruptly cut short as Elias Leasser cleared the rubble in massive bounds, landing directly in front of them.

"Hale Wallace. So you really are still breathing." Maddie instantly threw herself in front of Hale, dropping into a combat-ready stance. By the starlight, Hale could now get a clear look at Elias's face.

"Hale Wallace" was obviously not the only one who had taken a brutal beating in their last duel; Elias looked completely drained and gaunt. It seemed Maddie's claim about poisoning him was the real deal.

"Get back, Master." The moment the words left her mouth, Maddie lunged at Elias again. Fireballs began streaking through the air as blades clashed once more. Before Hale could even scream for them to stop, the system interface abruptly flashed right in front of his eyes. NOTIFICATION The Host's Karma has exceeded 1, 000, 000 points. Penalty activated. Penalty: Temporary paralysis of a random limb. Duration: In effect until Karma drops below 1, 000, 000 points. Instantly, all sensation vanished from Hale's left leg.

Losing his balance, he fell flat on his back, utterly blindsided by the sudden development. Three seconds later, a raw scream tore from his throat:"Screw you, system!" He was shaking with pure rage. Are you kidding me? There's a penalty for this too? Why didn't you mention this earlier?! God damn it, is this ruined body not miserable enough for you?! One-armed and now paralyzed in one leg—why didn't the system just strike him dead and get it over with?

Honestly, maybe he should just throw himself off a boulder and call it quits. Hearing his outburst, Maddie spun around. Seeing him splayed out on the ground, she immediately flew back to his side.

"Master! Master, what's wrong?" Hale was so incredibly frustrated he felt like crying, but he bit his lip and squeezed out, "Stop fighting. If you keep fighting, I'm going to die."

"What is happening to you?!"

"I can't move my left leg..."

"Did Elias sucker-punch you? I'll slaughter him—""No, no, no! It wasn't him." Hale frantically grabbed her, looking a hair's breadth away from down-on-your-knees begging.

"Please, I am begging you. Let's just go back." Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Further away, Elias was visibly baffled by the sudden turn of events, but he didn't press the attack. His face was deathly pale, his breathing ragged, and he had to lean heavily on his sword just to keep his footing. He looked like he was running on absolute fumes himself.

Maddie looked incredibly reluctant to retreat, but she couldn't bring herself to leave her master in this state. Seeing her preparing to scoop him up princess-style again, Hale instantly yelled out:"Can you carry me some other way?!" Doing that where nobody's watching was one thing, but with an audience? He had a shred of dignity left. Maddie didn't overthink it. She hoisted him up onto his one good leg, draped his left arm over her shoulders, and wrapped her arm firmly around his waist.

Just before they took off, a sudden thought struck Hale. He yelled across the ruins toward Elias:"Hey! I ask this because I've forgotten a ton of things, so don't get mad! Who is Emma?" It wasn't that he wanted to overcomplicate an already messy situation, but he realized this might be his absolute only shot at interrogating the one guy who actually knew who Emma was. Whether he wanted to slash his Karma score quickly or simply extend his lifespan, he had to resolve that stupid system quest.

The other side fell silent for a moment before a voice hissed through gritted teeth:"You... forgot Emma?"

"It wasn't on purpose, I forgot a whole bunch of stuff!" Hale yelled back defensively.

"Look, if I wanted to save this Emma girl right now, where can I find her?" Elias suddenly let out a furious roar:"You have no right to utter her name! You killed her once already, what kind of sick game are you playing now?!"

"But... she isn't dead yet, right? I can still save—" Before he could finish his sentence, Elias lunged forward, blade raised. Maddie beat her wings, lifting them both high into the sky. The crimson-haired youth stood there, watching them vanish into the cover of night, before sinking down onto his knees. Maddie flew a long, roundabout path before returning, making absolutely sure no one could track them back to the inn. The moment she set Hale down on the mattress, she immediately knelt to examine his leg.

"Why is this happening...?" Hale felt incredibly awkward having a girl grope at his leg, even if he couldn't feel a single thing. He used his hand to gently push her away.

"Stop checking, you won't find anything. This... is a punishment from a god." It was the easiest explanation he could come up with given the circumstances. Maddie's brows knitted together tightly.

"Is it that same god who always ordered you to do those things? The one you used to mention? Why would they punish you?" Hale blinked in surprise. Did the previous owner of this body use the exact same excuse to explain the system? Or was that guy actually a henchman for some evil deity? From what Maddie had told him, her previous master seemed to be a transmigrator as well, though there was no telling if he had possessed a system.

"Uh... it's a different god," Hale answered after a quick mental calculation.

"The previous god forced me to do bad things. But the current god punishes me when bad things happen. You're my subordinate, so if you do something bad and I fail to stop you, it counts as my fault too."

"That... makes absolutely no sense." Maddie lowered her head, clenching her fists tightly. Hale agreed it made zero sense, but who was he supposed to complain to? Maddie looked up, a sudden thought striking her.

"Can't you just go back to serving the old god?" Hale couldn't help but laugh at her logic.

"The old god was an evil god. Serving a benevolent one is supposed to be better for me, right?"

"I don't care about good or evil. I just don't want you to suffer," Maddie said, her voice dropping into a soft murmur.

"Though... even back then, you always looked like you were in agonizing pain..." Hale had no clue how to comfort a girl when she was feeling down, so he resort to giving her shoulder a reassuring pat.

"Look, long story short, I've turned over a new leaf. Starting tomorrow, we are doing good deeds." He needed to desperately slash his Karma back below the one-million mark. Being short an arm was bad enough; he wasn't about to spend the rest of his days stuck in a wheelchair! Maddie tilted her head slightly.

"Good deeds...? What qualifies as a good deed?"

"Uh... basically, helping people?"

"Helping who? If I help you change your clothes, does that count as a good deed?"

"I'm your master, so that probably doesn't count..."

"Then if someone asks me to murder someone and I agree to help, does that count as a good deed?"

"Yeah, definitely not." Hale opened up his stats panel. Right now, his Karma was sitting at exactly 1, 000, 030. He switched over to his quest log to read the fine print. There were two ways to lower his Karma: either complete quests for a flat Karma reduction reward, or earn Merit points to subtract from the total. But he was currently shackled by that sub-quest:'Reclaim the Title of Prince of Berula.' Until that was checked off, he had to grind 2 Merit points just to shave off 1 Karma point.

In other words, he needed to rack up at least 62 Merit points just to cure his paralysis. Watching Hale frown and poke at empty air once again, Maddie let out a quiet sigh, stood up, and helped him lie back down on the bed.

"Tomorrow, I will go out and purchase a wheelchair. After that, we will do those good deeds you want. But for now, you need to rest."