After ensuring Sam took the medicine and laid down to rest Jack sat down next to the now open vault door to keep guard.
His bandages appeared to have restored themselves on their own thankfully. The necrotic energy was still high in the room but was dispersing slowly with the door being open now. He pulled his character sheet up out of curiosity as he waited.
Name: Pet (Jack)
Type: Undead
Sub-Type: Skeleton
Species: Goblin
Title: Raggedy Goblin Skeleton
Class: NA
Grade: D+
Skills: Jerry-rigged, Inspect, Berserk, Shadow Dash, Pain Resistance
Attacks: Bone Claw, Bone Mallet, Reaper's Grasp
His rank had increased by nearly two whole ranks much to his delight. He managed not to jump around in excitement for fear of waking Sam from her rest. As he continued keeping guard he began thinking about what had brought him here, his first impressions, the mysteries and reveals. He chuckled at his biggest first impression.
'Okay so maybe my summoner isn't such a pervert after all.' Jack thought as he stood up to stretch. it was strictly unnecessary really being made entirely of bones and all. It did make him feel more relaxed tho.
[Pet?]
The soft voice shocked him as it sounded different from what he was used to the system giving. He started up in surprise before noticing Sam was awake.
[Can you hear me Pet?]
{Uhhhh yes I think so... can you hear me?}
Sam's giant grin and excited hand clap answered that question for the shocked goblin. All he had gotten through the system before was his notifications. Naturally he was rather surprised.
{How are you feeling?}
[It hurts a lot still. But I'm still alive thanks to you.]
Jack blushed at that, then quickly berated himself for his reaction.
{Not really... Fang did most of the work.}
[Don't sell yourself short Pet. Fang told me what you did. He said he couldn't have won without you. Also you cared for me after the fight... where... where did you learn to do all that?]
Jack hesitated at that. It wasn't a question he had ever expected to have to answer. For one he never thought he would ever be able to talk with anyone outside the Pocket dimension. On top of that he never expected to have to perform first aid on someone like that in a world with healing magic. He steeled himself before answering tho.
{Before you summoned me I came from another world. It was something I learned in my old life.}
Sam giggled softly at that
[Well I guess I got lucky then.]
Jack smiled as best as he could with a goblin skull. He wasn't really sure how much luck was involved, but wasn't going to deny it either.
{Um, not to be rude but why are you speaking through the system instead of talking?}
[Is that what this is called? System... I like the sound of that. To answer your question I lost my voice as a child when my family was attacked by some nobles who thought my parent's were getting too influential.]
Jack could hear the pain and slight hint of fear in her response and decided to change the subject. She would say more when she was ready.
{So, what happened with the Fallout Chimera?}
[Oh, he's sleeping now while Fang watches over him. He gathered a lot of the crystal dust into the Pocket Dimension before I finished sealing the tear tho, and created a small cave for himself. Fang is rather worried of course.]
Jack nodded with agreement. He would have to check on that as soon as he was back in there and make sure Fang was doing alright.
Both of them looked up suddenly as footsteps rapidly approached outside.
"The door's open! I hope they're alright!" A strange voice called out as the running footsteps slowed outside. Jack prepared himself as a head poked through. He relaxed his guard when he saw it was a human and noticed Sam waving them over.
"They're alive!" The man called out before pulling the door open the rest of the way. "My gods! I've never seen so many mana crystals or summon stones in one place!"
"Ug, who cares let me through!" A familiar voice berated the older man as a female goblin shoved her way through.
"Sam I... oh... I didn't know you were female." Sam just smiled in response to Cheech's surprise.
"No matter let me see what I can do about your injuries. We weren't able to get one of the City clerics quickly enough so we decided id come back with the instructor to take care of any life threatening injuries while we transported you back." She continued as she began healing Sam's injury.
"The bandaging is done quiet well. Did you do this yourself?"
Sam shook her head and pointed at Jack to the Instructor and Cheech's surprise. Cheech was even more surprised as she knew their secret to some extent.
"Well, it seems you have an amazing summon there then. Whatever medicine he gave you also cleansed most of the crystal toxins so you should be fine with a bit of rest." Sam smiled as she pointed at the fish and milk leftovers on the floor surprising Cheech further.
"I'll, um I'll have to look into that then. This could have life saving consequences if that's the case." She looked at the instructor who was totally enamored by the treasure trove of crystals and stone by now before turning back to look at Sam and whispered.
"Do you have any more of those bandages? This guy isn't likely to notice but the city guards will for sure." Sam nodded as she pulled a bundle out and Cheech began helping her get wrapped back up in the bandages.
The instructor had a massive grin on his face has he returned to the group. "You kids found one hell of a find here. We haven't seen a mine like this in years. Don't worry you will all receive two percent of the findings each." It was clear what he was most concerned about tho. "This will do wonders for our cities rankings!" Cheech and Sam both rolled their eyes as they held back their laughter.
The trip back was incredibly uneventful as the lower rank monsters all avoided the instructor in fear. The ripples of the new monster king disappearing had every monster on edge right now so avoiding unnecessary risks was on all their minds. The guards at the gates let them through without any trouble and Cheech managed to convince the clerics that they didn't need to look over Sam after promising they'd visit the school infirmary.
The instructor ran off to make his reports on the new mine as soon as he made sure the students were safely back on campus. The two of them were grateful as they headed back to Sam's room where she collapsed on her bed in exhaustion. After a few moments she raised her head and looked around. Cheech seemed to understand and spoke up.
"The others had to give a report on the events that happened. I'm sure they'll be done soon. I sent them a message on their message stones letting them know you were okay."
Sam smiled gratefully before laying her head back down. She turned her head as she felt Cheech sit down on the edge of her bed.
"Um... you know the others wont care about your secret you know." Cheech said softly. Sam nodded so Cheech continued. "we're all kind of outcasts anyways. Not that you're an outcast or anything." She stuttered. Sam giggled in response putting Cheech at ease as she kept talking.
"So we have a small town home out of the way where we stay to avoid peoples stares and what not. You'd be more than welcome to move in with us if you wanted to. You wouldn't have to wear those bandages all the time either as we have wards up to prevent any spying or anything. You won't believe the efforts some boys will go to in order to peep on some girls and..." Cheech stopped as she saw Sam's smile and instantly knew her answer.
"Great! I can't wait to tell the others! We can move you in tomorrow! We'll see you at lunch!" She exclaimed excitedly as she rushed out to find the others.
{Well, that was interesting}
[Oh Shush Pet.]
*******
If you're enjoying the story so far please vote with stones or leave a review to help keep it going! Thank You for reading!