Free Web NovelChapter 20: Siren Stronghold [ 16 ]
There was lots of pain, tightly compressed and shoved into a corner of her mind. Underneath that, a cold fury directed at the Elders. And below even that, an exhaustion so deep it seemed like she’d pass out any moment.
"So the Elders set you up," he said.
"The Elders sent me on a mission they knew was compromised." She chose her words carefully. "Whether they intended for me to die or simply wanted me humbled, I don’t know yet."
Nacho hummed. "Does it matter? You nearly died."
"It matters for what I do next." She winced as she shifted in the chair. "But that’s not why I’m here tonight."
Nacho raised a brow. "Then why are you here? It’s the middle of the night and you’re bleeding on Lizbeth’s new furniture. She’s going to kill me." ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"The Elder meeting’s been moved up. It’s in the morning, rather than midday."
That got his attention, and so he leaned a bit forward.
"They’re accelerating because of you?"
"Because of the failed mission. They want to use it to strip my rank. If I’m no longer Grand General, I can’t vouch for you. And if no one vouches for you..."
"Then I wouldn’t be able to extort the elders nearly as well," Nacho said.
The truth was, her presence alone would make the whole conversation easier, which was why he wanted her there. A lot more benefits too. Hehe.
"Essentially." She met his eyes. "But at this rate, without me being able to support you, they’d likely bind you with a Soul Contract and use your abilities however they see fit. Indefinitely."
Nacho sat with that for a moment. The word indefinitely bounced around in his skull. It sounded a lot like something he’d already lived through once.
"So what’s your plan then? Since I can assure you, if there’s even a sliver of a chance that I’m going to become their slave, I’m not going to give myself up," he asked.
"I need to walk into that meeting at full strength. No visible injuries, and no weakness they can exploit." She paused. "I’m vulnerable wherever I go, so do you mind if I use this place to recover for the night?"
Nacho leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
"You’re asking the guy who runs a massage parlor out of a storage room if he can host the Grand General of the Siren race overnight."
She just sat there, one hand resting on the table, the other hanging limp at her side. Blood had stopped dripping from the gash in her armor, but the stain on Lizbeth’s floor was already spreading.
Nacho sighed and stood up.
"Fine, whatever. But we’re fixing that arm first. It might start to rot or something."
He walked behind the counter and grabbed a clean rag Lizbeth kept for wiping tables. When he came back, Sera was watching him with the kind of focus that said she was cataloging every movement he made.
"Take off the chest piece. I can’t do anything with you wrapped in busted metal."
She reached for the clasps on her armor with her good hand. The first two came undone fine. The third was jammed, the metal bent inward from whatever hit her. She pulled at it once, twice, and her jaw locked.
Nacho stepped in and snapped the clasp with his bare fingers. The metal groaned and broke apart. Sera glanced at his hand.
"You’re stronger than you look."
"Just because I look like some skinny model, doesn’t mean I’m incapable. What’s the saying? Don’t judge a book by its cover?"
He pulled the chest piece away and set it on the table. Underneath, her undershirt was soaked through with a mix of sweat and blood. The gash ran from just below her ribs to her hip, but it wasn’t as deep as the armor made it seem.
Her shoulder was worse. The joint sat wrong, and even someone with zero medical training could see it.
Not him though.
I might’ve been a crook, but I did learn some basic medical jazz when I was working.
"You didn’t pop this back in correctly," Nacho said, letting out a sigh. "For someone who’s a Grand General, you sure suck at fixing yourself up."
"I was underwater, fighting a kraken inside a powerful current... with one arm." Her voice was flat. "I worked with what I had."
"Well, I’m going to have to reset it. And it’s going to hurt."
"I’ve suffered through worse. Do what you need to do."
Nacho positioned himself beside her and placed one hand on her shoulder, the other on her upper arm. He’d never actually reset a dislocated joint before, but Combat Precognition gave him a strange sense of where the bone needed to go, and Titan Body meant his grip wouldn’t slip.
"On three. One..."
He popped it back in on one.
The sound was wet and wrong. Sera’s entire body went rigid. A sharp exhale through her teeth, and then nothing. She didn’t scream or curse. Just her good hand gripping the edge of the table so hard the wood cracked.
"You said three."
"I lied. It’d hurt way more if you had tensed up."
She rolled the shoulder once, testing it. Her face gave away nothing, but he caught through Mind Fortress a spike of relief so intense it bordered on dizziness. The joint was seated properly now.
"The gash on your side needs cleaning," he said. "I’ve got the Water Manipulation Talent, so I can flush it out without touching it. Unless you want to bleed on everything Lizbeth owns."
"Fine... Do it."
He pulled a thin stream of clean water from the air and ran it along the wound. The salt and grime washed away, and underneath, the cut was clean. Her regeneration was already working on it, though slower than his. A faint glow pulsed at the wound’s edges.
"Your healing’s slower than I expected for someone your level," he observed. "Aren’t you like level 100 or something? Higher?"
"I burned through most of my mana killing the kraken. Healing of such a caliber takes mana. I have almost none left." She leaned her head back against the chair. "It’ll close by morning. I just need time... And quiet. A lot of quiet."
Nacho tossed the rag onto the counter and sat back down across from her.
"Alright. I’ll give you your quiet after we’re done here. So for now, walk me through the morning. What exactly happens at this Elder meeting?"
