A Necessary Bargain

As soon as I am out of the Hero's and Magic Police Girl's sight, my gait immediately slouches and I gasp in discomfort. The Voice had assured me that the damage Gallant's body had suffered was not life threatening, but it still hurt a fair amount, like a million pulled muscles. I needed to get back to the apartment as soon as possible so that The Voice could start repairing Gallant's body.

"Is this going to be a thing? Running back to the apartment after every fight?" I grumble.

The Voice responds, "Only if you want the body repaired in good time. You could try using mundane medical treatment or magical healing, but the expense will quickly rack up and the speed of recovery would be much slower. Not to mention the all the awkward questions that you would have to answer. I am confident that short of a truly devastating level of damage, I can quickly restore Mr Gallant's body after your misadventures."

"So how long am I going to be grounded from that fight just now?" I ask as I round a corner and approach the apartment block.

"A bit more that an hour." The Voice says, "You took a heavy magical attack on your torso. It would have sliced open Mr Gallant's belly if not for my power."

I unlock the door of the apartment and walk in, turning on the lights at the same time. "Shit." I mutter, "That angel was willing to escalate to that level of force so easily?"

The Voice laughs, "Well you were throwing about his gang members like they were rag dolls. You escalated fairly quickly yourself, crippling and castrating him like that. Lie on the bed so that I can start the repair work."

I chuck off the bloodstained clothes and toss them into the bathroom. Since I could no longer find the seawater soaked set of clothes that I had left inside the bathroom this morning, I am assuming The Voice simply disposes of all my damaged clothes.

"I have been meaning to ask you about the fight," I say as I lie down on the bed, "When I triggered the core, I felt the same warmth that I first felt during the drowning incident. Were you pumping me with your power back then as well?"

The Voice rumbles, "Not exactly. I infused my power into the seawater that Mr Gallant was drowning on, forcing it to release oxygen into his body. If I had directly empowered Mr Gallant before your soul had completely taken control, his body would have very messily exploded. Even so, indirectly exposing his body to my power like that caused some internal injuries which I had to mend while you slept."

I recall the flecks of blood that I had retched out with the seawater and shudder involuntarily. That was too close.

"Another thing," I ask as the pain begins to fade, "I got this weird feeling, of how do I put it? Euphoria. That's right. Euphoria, when I was swimming out of the car wreck and when I was fighting those gangsters just now. Like I wanted to really cut loose. What's the deal with that?"

"No idea." The Voice answers indifferently, "My best guess would be that since you do not have powers of your own, being exposed to mine provides a massive rush of sensation. My advise would be for you to exercise better self-control and not fly off the handle. Trying to castrate your future opponents may not be the optimal course of action."

"So noted. And David Greer? Really?" I respond.

"Yes. Really. Now that Mr Gallant has been classed as a missing person and with the evidence of the car wreck, the police will quickly come to the conclusion the Mr Gallant is sadly deceased and will seal his records. The new name is close enough to the original to be easily remembered and allows us to operate free of any of Mr Gallant's past attachments or life complications. That is the reason why I spawned a City identification for you under that name and subsequently gave it to Mrs Alley to register your employment at the Academy."

I feel guilty when The Voice says this. Will Gallant ever get his life back? Or will he be forced to live as Greer from now on?

"Good work on befuddling Heroine Naiberg by the way." The Voice commends, "I had not thought of Mr Greer's backstory but you had everything in hand."

I smile to myself. What I had described to Magic Police Girl was just a common scam used by illegal asylum seekers. I had recognized where the Dreaming Spires District had originally come from and knowing that it was a fragment of a ruined city, the rest simply fell into place.

"I don't think she bought the bull I was selling though," I respond, "But as long as you can spawn all the proper documentation and Mrs Alley does her part, I don't think the police can prove anything."

The Voice chortles, "Heroine Naiberg will not find anything that will justify her suspicions of you Transmigrator, so have no fear of that. Though you would have made a better impression on her and the Hero if you did not act like a violent lunatic in front of them."

"Like you said, I'll take care not to fly off the handle from now on," I say, "What about that other girl?"

The Voice rumbles, "What other girl? Just stay still for now and let me work."

I nod and shut my eyes, thinking about what The Voice had said. The whole business about granting me powers, I have realized that it was just The Voice giving with one hand and taking with the other. If I want to use those powers, I will have to accept the fact that I need the Voice to maintain and repair Gallant's body. The powers are just a leash that The Voice had tricked me into putting on. Still, it was a bargain that needed to be made. Now I have the means of defending myself against anything that Fate may throw my way.

I think about calling out The Voice about what it had done, but eventually give up on the idea. Not only would The Voice not care, as long as The Voice was confident about being able to abduct someone else in time to prevent Armageddon, I would not be getting any better deals from it. Before I called out The Voice again, I needed to somehow prove my value, that I was an asset worthy of investing in. On the other hand, I could wait for The Voice to get desperate. But who knows if I had that kind of time.

A problem for the future then, I decide, and put the matter out of mind.