Chapter 46 (59) (Patreon)

I watched out the window as the bus pulled up to Kim’s church. Someone’s music rattled out of an aged speaker. Another person chatted loudly on their phone. Like everything else in the city, the bus was well used and poorly maintained. Midday light fell through overcast clouds and into the bus, chill air passing over me as I stepped out of the bus alone.

Willow had agreed to destroy the gate. She just had to get her whole guild together to do it.

I watched my breath turn to fog in the air, rubbing my hands together and stepping over the cracked concrete. Pausing in front of the door to the church, I checked my phone a final time. There was no real reason for it. Except for that, every decision in my life, up until this point, was driven forward by a need to survive.

There was no longer anything pressing down on my head. No reason to go out and start fighting for my life. For once in my life, I could afford to just relax. Maybe I would go bowling again.

Done procrastinating, I pushed the door in, stepping inside the cramped off-white hallways.

“Rain!” Mozz said, unusually short, as he bustled by me and down the hallway.

“Mozz.” I replied, walking to follow behind him. At a more leisurely pace. I wasn’t here to spar or train or anything — I was just here to help today. For someone else’s sake. It felt foreign to me; something I hadn’t done since a lifetime ago. It was important enough to Kim, so it mattered to me.

Kim wasn’t in the kitchen. I looked around, quirking an eyebrow at Mozz as he loaded up another plate of food — sloppy joes.

“She’s in the uh, by the pews.” Mozz said. “Going through all the mail. Been a minute, though.” He said, working fast and sloppy. The noise of a few mumbled conversations carried through the wall — the dining room was full today.

“Thanks, Mozz.” I said, sliding between a pile of boxes that blocked the door to the church’s auditorium. The pews huddled against the side of the room, pushed out of the way. Dust covered the rows in the back.

Kim dug through a pile of paperwork on a table, sitting in a folding chair.

“Mail?” I asked, randomly reaching into the pile and pulling a piece out. It was dated from a half a year ago.

Kim rocked in the chair, passing a piece of paper up towards me without saying what it was. Then she pressed both hands to her mouth.

I squinted at it.

“I thought churches don’t pay taxes?” I asked, looking at some kind of property value and tax assessment.

“They’re trying to — ” Kim started talking, her voice almost shouting, then stopping, dropping to a lower tone. “They’re trying to bring more Awakened business into the city. Expanding the, uh, downtown district.” She waved towards the city’s downtown. Passed the stained glass of the church.

It was somewhere on the otherside, through the walls and the dust and the stained glass image of a deity.

“So they started charging the churches?”

“The church was supposed to apply for a special permit months ago,” Kim dug through the paperwork open in front of her, pulling a piece of paper free. Presumably the one that corroborated her point. “But it’s too late. They’re gonna force the church to sell the land.”

Words in dense legalize passed under my eyes without me absorbing a word from them. There was an obvious solution that didn’t even involve me reading this.

“So why don’t you just buy the land?” I asked, scooting up to the table beside her.

“It’s a city suburb. 200k just for the down payment.” Kim rubbed her eyes.

“Shit. How long is it going to take us to make that?” I asked.

“Us?” Kim turned to consider me, looking back at me. I was leaning over her shoulder.

“Yeah. Us. You helped me get access to the gates…” I trailed off. It wasn’t really about repaying a debt or anything. It was friendship. A genuine one.

“Bronze gates. Between the two of us… if we can clear maybe two a day… we might just barely clear the deadline.” Kim scrolled a pen on her thumb, checking for ink before scribbling math onto the paperwork.

“Alright. Then we just do that, then.” I said, walking away from the table to look around the room. I brushed dust off a painting on the wall. “You do the priests paperwork for him now too?”

“No, it’s just — he’s old and barely does anything anymore.” Kim said, still scribbling. “And if I can rank up to silver, we can make way more money… we might just barely be able to buy back the land. Two hundred k. That’s… most people clear gates, big gates like these ones — even clearing a gate a day is already pushing it.” 

“It’s doable. Reaching the 4th Realm will give you stamina far beyond normal human limits.”

“It’s fucking insane.” Kim replied, double checking her math. “I’m more just… shocked that I can earn anything near this much. And if we get so much as a single injury that takes us down for more than a few days, we won’t make it.”

“To be fair…” I said, leaning over the table. “Mortals — Awakened, even — they probably don’t have the stamina to keep up with us.”

“We will still need to… they’re planning on offering land to people expanding Awakened industry in the area first before opening up to other buyers. Bringing more industry to the city. So we will have to start some kind of store, or…” Kim trailed off.

“Or start a guild.” I said.

“It’ll have to be under my name. Since you’re not registered as Awakened.”

“Fine by me.”

“Then… what now?” Kim asked.

“Sloppy joes?” I asked, gesturing at the half open door.

“They probably need help in the kitchen…” Kim sighed, her eyes not leaving the paperwork, staring like it would run away when she wasn’t looking. She finally broke contact with it, power walking out of the room past me. I followed, ducking out of the way of stacked boxes and into the dim hallway.

We burst into the kitchen, people only sparing a look our way for a moment.

“How are we doing?” Kim said, rushing into the kitchen.

“Trash needs out. Dishes from cooking.” Mozz replied, rushing past her and back out of the room. He pushed a door open, and for a moment I saw the other side, tables filled with people eating.

I flinched as Kim threw something at me, smacking it out of the air.

“Apron! Rain, help with dishes!” Kim said, reaching into a trash can and pulling out a huge black garbage bag — almost as big as she was.

I picked the apron up, staring at Kim for a second before she dashed out of the building, probably towards the dumpster out back. Then I was alone in the kitchen. Just me and a giant sink full of dishes. There were no plates or cups, just pots and pans from cooking. I put the apron on, grabbed a sponge and got to work.

I hadn’t washed dishes in years. The last time I did was in a river in another world. It felt strangely zen to scrape away layers of grease. This was an utterly different life than either of the ones I had lived before.

People pushed in and out of the kitchen, a rush of constant work. Mozz filled plates from dishes, and when they were empty, they joined the sink. I rushed to keep up. Killing monsters and doing dishes were easy. Talking about my past was hard. In the rush, I felt more relaxed than ever, almost disappointed when they finished.

“You do this every Sunday?”

“Too much for you?” Kim asked, looking up from where she was mopping the floor of the kitchen behind me.

“Easier than killing monsters.” I replied.

Kim laughed.

“Guess so. Nothing throwing you through a window here.”

I dumped the last dish off, wiping my arms clean.

“So…” I said.

“It’ll be a couple days before we can dive again. Still waiting to receive payment for the gate clear. Then we can afford entry to better gates. Push for silver. And maybe we will buy this place in time.” Kim bit her lip.

“Text me.” I said, taking off and folding up the apron. “I’m going to be taking Hooty for a walk tomorrow.”