Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1) by Dimitrios Gkirgkiris (phonics readers .txt) 📕

“Eat. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

“Don’t take too long,” Louie added just before the dwarf opened the door. “I’m thirsty already.”

Rory nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. We both returned to greedily devouring the feel-good dinner we’d been given. As seconds of silence passed, however—the only sound being that of the loud TV from a neighboring apartment—I started to feel more uncomfortable about what had taken place. So much so that I soon lost all my appetite for food.

“What happened, Louie?” I asked as I wrapped my remaining burgers in their aluminum foil and placed them back in the bag.

Louie, having picked up the change in the tone of my voice, lifted his head up and looked at me while licking his mouth. His tail, which had been wagging all the while he was eating, was now moving downward and headed between his legs. He didn’t like what had happened one bit.

“What do you remember?” he asked.

“We were attacked. They tied me up and then…” I felt at a loss for words when I thought about how they’d cornered him and the mage had attacked him. “I’m sorry buddy. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

“No!” he shouted. “It’s not your job to protect me.”

“Of course it is. I should have thought about this sort of thing. I should have prepared some defenses or something.”

“It is I who failed to protect you,” he said, and his ears were pulled back apologetically. “If I had sniffed them earlier or leveled up more… Perhaps if I had invested in better equipment.”

“Louie,” I said, trying to take him off that train of thought. The same one I was on. “We’re here now and that’s what matters. Tell me what happened after.”

“Yes, I suppose,” he paused and stared blankly for a second. “You went crazy. You taught me I shouldn’t bite people, but you ripped into that guy’s neck.”

“I… They were hurting you…”

“They beat you down. It was awful, Alex. I don’t want to see you hurt ever again.”

“I’m sorry, buddy,” I said and pulled him in for a hug. “It’ll never happen again.”

We sat there, holding each other, or rather me holding Louie and stroking his neck while he kept his eyes closed. For a few minutes, nothing else mattered. Just the fact that he was healthy.

“Rory came,” Louie continued as soon as we broke our embrace. “He killed them all and then gave you a potion to fall asleep so you could heal faster. He carried you to his car and brought us back to his apartment. I had to wait a bit before I finally had enough MP to heal you and I kept doing that until you were completely fine. Even after your HP was replenished you still looked tired, so we let you sleep and went for some food.”

“I see. We’re in deep shit then.”

“Do you think so?” Louie asked, and we heard keys in the door. “You think there will be more?”

“Found it!” the dwarf exclaimed, his long pipe already lit and smoking.

“I haven’t thought about that yet,” I replied to Louie and nodded at the smiling dwarf. “I’m talking about all the bodies in the apartment. The broken doors. Us missing.”

“That’s been taken care of,” Rory said, producing a jug and a white bowl out of thin air.

I had seen people use extra-dimensional inventories before, but I still hadn’t gotten used to it. He proceeded to pour water from the jug into the bowl and placed it next to the mattress for Louie to drink.

“What do you mean it’s been taken care of?”

“Well, naturally, some nosy moron called yer authorities,” he continued as he stored the items back in his inventory. “I don’t have any pull in this world. Luckily, yer thirsty lad here told me to call yer elf friend.”

“Leonardo? You called him? Why would you do that?”

“Well, we needed help with the police while it was still early,” Louie replied. “So we called Leo. I thought he’d know what to do.”

“That was…” I began, but then considered how difficult it must have been for Louie with me out of it. “That was a good idea, buddy.”

Louie wagged his tail and went back to quenching his bacon-induced thirst.

“Yer friend’s family is quite connected. The whole place was sealed off in minutes and the officers left as soon as the company came.”

“What company?” I asked. With each of his replies, new questions sprung up.

“A cleaning company,” he replied, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “They take care of sticky situations like this. Ye know, disposing of bodies, actually cleaning up all the mess, repairing damages, and taking care of people asking questions.”

“What do you mean taking care of people asking questions? Rory, did you have my neighbors killed?”

“Hells no!” he said, offended that I had even suggested that. “What do ye take me for? They’re professionals, specialized in covering up Apocosmos-related incidents.”

“How did they ‘take care’ of them?”

“Ye really are a pain in the ass, lad. The company employs many different people and creatures. Ye know what a ghoul is?”

“I mean… yeah. I guess? Undead monsters, right?”

“Well, I’m sure Gary wouldn’t appreciate being called a monster. Ghouls are an ancient race, but they were mostly active in the Arab world. Anyway, Gary and his ghoul crew dispose of the bodies while sirens or vampires usually talk to witnesses so that no trace of whatever they might’ve seen would go public.”

“That’s…” I struggled to find the right words. “…quite an efficient business they seem to be running.”

“It is,” the dwarf agreed and relit his pipe. “They charge a hefty sum, but they do great work.”

“How much do you—”

“Forget about it! Do not insult me like that, half-Celt!”

“But you saved my life. You saved Louie,” I said, and Louie barked softly. “And then you paid to take care of everything. I need to pay you back somehow.”

“Ye don’t own me a damn thing,” he said and took