Chương 40: Chapter 39 - Insurance

- This is an outrage! Why have no second realm teams pledged to hunt down Artigan!? Cowardly adventurers getting rich off our resources while letting one of their worst troublemakers go free! All of you are worse than the Rising Yets. @Yeally (Realmer) ↪Don't worry ma'am, the leafstalkers are on it. We don't need Trialists to take care of The Realm. @Leaflegend38 (Realmer) ↪Yeah, right you have to be a poser. There's no way the real Leafstalkers would talk about their operations like this.

@Limeriiiick (Unverified) ↪Go away Earther, someone like you wouldn't understand the importance of assuring your fellow allies. @Leaflegend38 (Realmer) *Leaflegend38 would later be identified and chewed out by his superiors in the Leafstalkers. Pinkie still had a knife to his throat as both adventurers refused to back down.

"Oh man, you are fun!" The dragonslayer exclaimed in delight. It almost made him jump in surprise towards her razor sharp knife. She removed her knife from his neck and gave him a genuine smile.

"Okay, I'm probably going to be busy even if you so desperately want to be my student. Buuuuut you can call me Pinkie and as your maybe teacher in the future I have one assignment."

"Are Seffara and Barry still alive?" He cared more about that than this conversation. Frankly, he wasn't sure what he was going to do if they'd been killed. Did they count towards his promise? Pinkie was taken aback"What? You think I'd kill one of my heroes? I mean, I have before, but how dare you!"

"Just wanted to know. What's the assignment, teacher?" He was just trying to be placating, trying to be nice while this crazy ass dragonslayer was still in a plane with his friends. She purred. Pinkie literally mimicked a cat's purr." Ooh I like that. Teacher, mmm nice. Okay, my assignment to you is to tell me how you ended up with Seffara the Sapphire as your teacher." It was rumored that most dragonslayers had a screw or two loose. This Pinkie seemed like she was missing the entire bag.

If this had been all she had wanted to know, then she could have just asked. Ryan wouldn't even have demanded she ask nicely. Still, he was a [Rogue], and he had no money.

"Do I get anything as a reward?" Pinkie thought about it for a moment. Seriously contemplating about the rewards she could give for making her investigation shorter.

"I don't torture you with lightning? Nothing about the agreement said anything about hurting you." Ryan took a moment to think about her offer.

"That sounds fair." He turned around to check on his fainted friends. Only to realize they were already awake and staring at him, both shellshocked at the sudden violence. Clara's eyes looking at the blood dripping down Ryan's neck. Oh shit, how much had they seen? Pinkie put an arm around his shoulder.

"Now we can all talk together!" – Ryan had his head in his hands, Clara was next to him, fussing over his bleeding neck and his state of mind.

"I'm starting to think that you're actually the reckless one and it's not your skill." She was sitting next to him chastising his behavior and acting like what he did was a mistake. Meanwhile…

"Yeah, that's when Barry and Ryan sat down at the Manaburger and the car of teens pulled over and started shooting, just like that! Seriously, they still haven't been caught!" Milock was spilling the beans to Pinkie the dragonslayer. She was leaning towards his friend but was distinctly avoiding touching him, her eyes darted to meet Ryan's glare as she gave him a wink. Milock continued to spin Ryan's tale for him, making him sound like some sort of devastating genius that had planned most of his victories.

Which, he totally was if you thought about it. At least it seemed like the dragonslayer was satisfied. She leaned closer whispering into Milock's ears." My, and what about you Milock? A [Mage]'s name? You must be quite competent for the genius Artigan to be entrusting you with such important secrets." Milock, suddenly self conscious, scratched his ear.

"Uh, me? I've just been posting online, there's not much I can do. I'm just a regular guy." Pinkie shook her head." Nonsense, look at you here, in a private jet, so confident and so calm, talking casually to a dragonslayer who just had a knife to your friend's throat. Very few people can do something like that. Trust me, I'd know." Very few people, other than Milock, who, more than nerves of steel, had just completely forgotten about the hostilities during the retelling of Ryan's story.

Plus, he'd fallen for the honeypot. Ryan was sure of it. Milock's eyes widened, Now his friend looked nervous as he edged away from her. She pressed forward, then leaned back as Ryan narrowed his eyes at her and Pinkie paused. This is breaking the spirit of the agreement. Damn you Witch Tyrant. Pinkie continued.

"Who are you Milock? Why are you here?" Milock looked at the dragonslayer, then looked down at his feet. Finally he looked up at Ryan.

"I just wanted to help a friend, that's all. Barry thinks I can help, so I'm here." Ryan blinked at his friend's sudden confession, he felt his eyes start to water, then blinked them away. The dragonslayer curled her lips in disgust. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it." Yuck." She stood up and shook herself off, as if trying to dispel the feelings. She turned to Ryan, "well, I'm done here.

I was going to try to blackmail you a little more but you've realized something, haven't you little Artigan?" She gave him a carnivorous grin, her teeth back to being sharp and angular. Ryan kept cool.

"I have no idea what you mean adventurer." Pinkie gave a deep chuckle and then flicked a card at Ryan, it flew so fast he barely managed to catch it. On it were numbers and a contact detail for a public realmnet message site. When he looked up, she was gone. The intercom came on. The captain started speaking.

"Hey folks, welcome to Los Angeles International Airport. The weather is looking fantastic today and we'd like to thank you for flying with us. Please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened until we reach the gate and the seatbelt sign is turned off. We hope you have had a pleasant flight."

"Ryan, what did she mean by that?" Clara asked. He shook his head, "She's probably still in here and invisible." Milock was looking out the airplane window.

"Guys? You might want to look outside." Pinkie the dragonslayer was gliding alongside the plane, brilliant, pink scaled wings sprouting from her back, she gave them all a wink and disappeared.

"Is that normal for dragonslayers?" Clara asked. Even she seemed to understand that something was very different with this dragonslayer.

"No." Ryan had no idea what kind of skills allowed someone to shift their body so freely. That lack of knowledge concerned him more than anything else. – After they'd landed and were processed they caught a rideshare to Barry's place where Milock had left his car. Thankfully, it hadn't been towed or broken into in the time they'd been away. The drive back in the crappy, beat up manual was such a stark contrast to the whirlwind of luxury and madness that had been the adventurer's lifestyle.

Most of them were eerily quiet during the drive to Clara's place. His two friends somber after the encounter with the dragonslayer. Clara had been mostly silent and looking guilty as if trying to bring up the courage to say something. She took a breath.

"I don't think I can handle all of this, all of that. I know, I sound like a coward saying this right after meeting her, but I was always going to do this. I have a job lined up and I can't - I know your stuff is way more important but I just finally felt like my life was on the right track you know? -""Clara," Ryan said, interrupting her before she passed out.

"Breathe, slow down, it's okay."

"It's okay?"

"I mean it's okay for you to go back to your life, we won't think any less of you." Unsurprisingly, Milock was the first to try to shoot his words down.

"What? You can't just leave now. You're going to go back and be a waiter? How can you do that after everything you've learned?" Ryan resisted the urge to punch his friend.

"Milock, please shut up for a second." He turned around and met Clara's eyes.

"You shouldn't come back if you don't want to." She looked down. Fidgeting.

"Was it that obvious?" Ryan laughed.

"I've never seen you so quiet before in my life. Even in Seffara's place, only Milock wouldn't notice how uncomfortable you were back there." Milock had the decency to be at least a little guilty.

"Oh, sorry I didn't realize."

"Clara, Milo, I really appreciated you guys being here. I hate to say it, but I'm glad Barry told you guys to come. I really needed it at the time," Ryan admitted, he'd figured out Barry's little scheme pretty quickly, "but I'm good now, my identity is safe, all of you are safe. Live your life Clara." Ryan was lying out of his ass to make Clara feel better. He was still pissed at what Pinkie had done and he was almost certain she would come visit him again. Clara wasn't going to be around when that had happened.

"Oh you," Clara unbuckled and jumped forward to hug him. It had been so sudden he'd almost reflexively dodged. Ryan hugged her back. She laughed.

"You know. You guys are so much better than most of my old friends, they didn't understand…" she trailed off. It reminded him why Clara was often so naive and working at the same Manaburger they'd been. Clara had ghosted her entire family.

"You still haven't told us the full story, I'd like to hear it one day, if you don't mind sharing." She sniffed.

"It's silly, nothing compared to what's happening to you."

"Doesn't mean it isn't as important," Ryan said, "just like your own life is important," she stayed silent and he realized she still wasn't wanting to share, "alright, what's this new job anyway?" They stopped hugging, her eyes were slightly wet.

"Waiter at a fancy new restaurant, they're currently short-staffed and one of the head waiters is my friend. They said I would get a job as long as I had some experience. I was actually going to ask you if you wanted a job there too. But guess not now that you're, you know."

"Wait!" Milo cut in, "what about me?" Clara glared at him.

"Remember you were a dick to me for my first few shifts? You think I'd refer you?"

"I was making jokes! You were so stupid! I didn't realize you were taking it to heart!"

"Well, Ryan wasn't an idiot and he's a better worker." Ryan interjected before Milock said more stupid things.

"Well, if I fuck up I might still take you up on that job offer."

"Hah! I doubt it, I've never seen you so alive… just promise that you'll be more careful alright? I don't trust the whole risking thing while you're still in your safety life business. Seems like a recipe for disaster." Ryan almost reflexively lied to her, but found that he couldn't, not when she was looking at him with such genuine concern. He just grinned at her instead.

"Sorry, I can't promise that. You're just going to have to trust that I'll do alright." Her crestfallen expression made him wonder just how much she'd realized. She probably understood that he wouldn't stop, even if he were to lose his safety. The only thing she didn't understand was that he was already there. She gave him an encouraging smile and left Milock's car. When she got to the gate she waved back.

"I'll see you every month or so! I want all the details!" Both of them waved back as they watched Clara walk back into her apartment complex. Milock turned to Ryan.

"Is this okay Ryan? I know you had a thing for her."

"Of course it's okay. This is going exactly the way I wanted. Now, I just need to figure out how to get rid of you." Milock laughed.

"Hah! Good luck, I've made up my mind, ride or die. I'm going to be there until Seffara kicks you out for being an idiot."

"Thought as much," Ryan sighed and shook his head, "alright, just one more piece of business. Actually two, gotta pack up my dorm first." He'd been working full time while taking economics classes part time at university. He'd never been passionate for it, it'd just been something he'd done so he could get out of a rut. Now all that time felt like a waste. That wouldn't be a problem to quit, it was his parents he was trying to figure out how to deal with. Milock didn't have any such problems.

"Man, I just told my parents I'm leaving and they didn't even ask. It must suck having caring parents."

"Yup." – Ryan stood outside his parent's house straining his ears. There was an argument happening with his fully enraged mother and his health insurance.

"Yes, and I told you! My son was shot at work! What is this? Rejection of insurance claim because of magical healing? He was in a coma! We got out earlier than recommended! You should be thanking us that we saved you money!" Mrs Robinson was going full final boss form as she was being forced to deal with an experience that was far too common to an unfortunately high proportion of Americans.

"Now you listen to me, you think I won't cause a ruckus and hire lawyers? I'll go to the media, the shooting was in the news! This will be horrible publicity for your company and you'll end up paying us anyway." There was a pause.

"What do you mean you recommend a gofundme? Listen here you'll be hearing from our lawyers -" Ryan had heard enough. He knocked on the door." Magical healing not covered, this isn't over mark my words!" The front door opened as Mrs. Robinson looked at her son, her eyes widened in surprise and put her phone behind her back, looking guilty.

"Ryan! You're home early!" She hugged him and he hugged her back.

"Hey mom, when did you get on the phone with my insurance?"

"Oh come now Ryan, you were in the hospital. Let me deal with that." He had her on the ropes.

"yeah and you promised me you wouldn't worry about my finances and let me deal with my own problems. I'll deal with the insurance company." His tone was maybe, a bit darker than it should have been. His mom stepped back, brows furrowed as she took her son in full. He was wearing a turtleneck in the middle of the day, hiding the scarring from Pinkie's knife. Then his mom snapped out of it and narrowed her eyes at him, Ryan felt a prickle as she advanced on her boy."

No, I'll deal with the insurance, you tell me what you've been up to. Don't think I've forgotten that you were just in a coma then decided you were adult enough to run off into god knows where." Damn"Mom -""If you're going to mom me." she pointed a finger at him. Somehow she had him on the ropes.

"Then you should listen to your mother, now go wash up. You smell like you need it." She started pushing him towards the stairs while holding her nose. It was probably true, he hadn't showered in awhile. Once he started walking up the steps by himself she hurried away. Ryan paused, then narrowed his eyes, he smelled his pits. He was an adventurer. Bacteria build up that caused bodily odor didn't happen after the second Trial. Even his improved sense of smell just detected salt.

Damn, I'm still getting outplayed by mom. He decided to accept the loss and take a shower anyway. It gave him time to plot. Not about anything regarding the Trials or his parents but rather figuring out how to deal with United Insurance. He wasn't going to let his parents take on his burdens ever again. Ryan would rather deathmatch Zedart again. Stupid insurance company, he'd signed up with them because of a discount that Manaburger employees received… Ryan paused, his eyes narrowing.

He knew exactly how he was going to deal with this.