"Can I assume that captivating display answered to you?"
Wraith looked him dead in the eyes. Lex felt scrutinised as the goblin's green eyes stared into his soul.
It was as though he were being analysed from head to toe, evaluated and marked as important.
A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.
It was understandable that the goblins would be cautious of him, and this old goblin seemed the type to devour every piece of information he could get.
He didn't really know how to handle this situation.
He scratched the back of his head and frowned.
"Yeah. Although I didn't think it would be this... gruesome."
Wraith let out a strange chuckle.
"That's the most delightful part. You should be proud!"
"Proud? Of that massacre?"
He wore an unsettling grin.
"The fact that it was a massacre is what you should be proud of. It can't be a simple spell if it obliterated that beast surge. Tell me, what exactly is this barrier of yours? An artefact? A magical tool? A spell?"
The goblin's eyes grew wider with each question.
"How does it work? I saw it absorb magical attacks, but that wasn't the only thing it collected, was it? Was there some other type of energy? How did it hold so much force before releasing it?"
Lex subconsciously took a step back.
Vargis glared at Wraith. "Stop it, you old corpse."
The old goblin rounded on Vargis.
"I've been tasked with finding the source of the magical disturbance. What I've just seen cannot remain an unknown factor. I must know about this barrier and how two near-magicless humans managed to use it!"
Vargis shook his head. "Is that any way to treat the people who saved our lives?"
Wraith opened his mouth, then closed it and grumbled.
He thought for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.
"You're right, brat."
Wraith turned to Lex and bowed slightly with his hand on his chest.
"I apologise. I got ahead of myself in front of such a wonderful display."
Lex put his hands in front of him.
"Apology accepted. There's no need to bow. I'm not that uptight. Unfortunately, I don't understand how it works either. It's the store's emergency defence mechanism; I merely authorised it."
Wraith's wide eyes faltered.
"Oh. That's rather disappointing."
"I'm not hiding anything. I was just as shocked as everyone else when I saw the carnage outside the barrier. But that doesn't mean you can prod around as you like."
He gestured to the barrier.
"Until I fully understand it, I don't want any of you touching or prodding that barrier. Understood?"
Wraith narrowed his eyes at Lex for a moment before clicking his tongue.
"Tch, fine," Wraith said.
"I wasn't going near that thing anyway," Vargis said.
Lex nodded, relieved.
He was glad they had listened to him, for whatever reason. Perhaps the barrier gave him more authority than he'd realised.
It was best to act with caution without showing fear.
Without the store, he was just a weak, magicless human in a world of monsters.
With the store, he could use its strength.
He looked toward Wraith and Vargis.
"Now I have a question." He pointed towards the Moontrail hunters. "Who are they, and why are they with you?"
Wraith pressed his lips together. "They're Moontrail, an insular clan from the east of Durim. Their seer divined that this place should be investigated, so they sent a pack of young hunters."
"In truth, we started as enemies. They encroached too deep into our territory, but it turned out they were looking for information before heading here. Then the beast surge struck us. Their leader is Raska, and the injured one is her twin brother, Rosco."
Raska held her brother while the rest of the pack shielded them, shooting daggered glares at Lex and Herman.
"Right, and why are they glaring at us like that?" Lex asked.
Their teeth were bared, and low growls rumbled in their throats.
"Don't mind the glares," Wraith said. "Moontrail hunters are protective of their kin. Though being human hardly works in your favour. Their clan holds quite a grudge against your kind."
Herman scoffed. "Bloody racism. Even in another world."
Wraith turned to him. "Another world?"
"Have you even looked at the sign?" Herman asked.
Wraith's gaze travelled to the faded board above the entrance.
Otherworld Retail Department.
His mouth fell open slightly. "That would explain a great deal."
"What would?" Herman asked.
Vargis stepped forward. "How the store got here. When I first scouted the area, I couldn't find a damn thing. No footprints, no wagon tracks. It was as though the entire building had appeared out of thin air."
Wraith looked at him. "And you didn't think to mention the sign?"
"I was outside the barrier. And as good as my eyesight is, the sign was hanging by one rope, and it's so faded it's barely legible."
"Tch, useless."
"Enough," Lex said. He glanced toward the Moontrail hunters. "What happens with them now?"
Their attention snapped back to Lex. Raska pulled her brother closer as the others scowled. He realised a little too late how his question must have sounded.
"I meant Rosco," he said loudly enough for the Moontrail hunters to hear.
Wait, they're wolves... or something like that. Their hearing must be quite good.
"Wraith, you said you sealed his wounds, but he still looks like he's in agony."
Wraith shrugged. "He was crushed by a Quakeback. Not much I can do about the pain."
Rosco's arms and face were marked with cuts and scrapes. Every so often, his body jerked against Raska's shoulder, and he let out a low groan. Whatever Wraith had done to his injuries hadn't made him any more comfortable.
An idea came to him.
"I think we have just the thing. Herman, can you grab the first aid kit from our initial supplies?" Lex asked.
Herman gave him a dirty look. "Do I look like your lackey?"
"I'm your boss," Lex said with a sigh.
"Your wish is my command, sire," Herman said, bowing dramatically before storming off.
A few minutes later, Herman came back out carrying a green bag with a white cross on the front.
"Do you know how to use it?" Herman asked.
"Yeah, I did a first aid course in case something happened to my grandpa in his old age."
"Well that's one thing you can do."
Lex shook his head, snatched the first aid kit and walked towards the Moontrail hunters.
As he drew close, Raska snarled, "You might have saved us, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let a human treat my brother."
Lex looked at the wolfkin on the ground. Rosco groaned and shuddered, sweat running down his face.
"Your brother is in pain, and your stupid grudge is getting in the way of helping him. I don't care that you're… whatever you are. I care that someone is hurt on the premises and needs first aid."
Lex tossed the green bag to Raska. She caught it against her chest.
"You can do it," he said. "I'll tell you how."
Raska turned the bag over in her hands. "What is this thing supposed to do? Is it magic?"
"No. It's something far more mundane. It's a bag."
She brought it to her nose and sniffed the zipper.
"That part's for opening, not sniffing." Lex sighed. "Pull the little metal piece along the edge."
Raska pinched it between two claws and tugged. The bag opened, revealing packets of wipes, dressings, bandages and a small tray of tablets.
"See those little packets? They're antibacterial wipes. Use them to clean the dirt from his cuts."
She tore one open with her teeth and unfolded the damp cloth. Rosco winced as she cleaned the cut on his arm.
Wraith moved closer, his eyes locked onto the process.
"It stings," Lex said. "That's normal. It's the wipe doing its job."
Raska shot him a warning look but continued, wiping away blood and dirt from the shallow cuts Wraith hadn't bothered with and the skin around the wounds he had sealed.
One of the other hunters held Rosco steady while she cleaned the other scrapes.
"Now put one of those white pads over the major wounds. The bandage keeps it in place."
It took her a moment to figure out how to unroll it. She wound the fabric around Rosco's arm, then looked up at Lex.
"Too tight. Loosen it. You don't want to cut off the circulation."
Wraith raised a brow.
"You seem quite knowledgeable about medicine and anatomy for a merchant."
Lex laughed dryly. "No, I'm really not. This is basic first aid. I couldn't tell you what goes on in the background."
Raska eased the bandage and tied it off. Rosco's wounds were covered, but he still lay shivering against her, sweat dripping from his brow.
"What about the pain? You said something about relief," she asked.
Lex pointed to the tablets. "That's what these are for. They're painkillers. Co-codamol. Paracetamol and codeine combined."
Wraith stepped even closer. "And what do those words mean?"
"Honestly? This is where my knowledge ends. I couldn't tell you how they make it or where it comes from. But it's medicine from my world. It doesn't fix the injury; it makes the pain easier to bear."
Raska picked up the tray and held it close to her eyes and nose. "How do I know this isn't poison?"
"Here. Pass it to me."
Lex pressed a tablet through the foil and swallowed it with a swig of water. Wraith watched with interest.
"Do you mind if I have a look?"
Lex shrugged and passed it to him.
The old goblin took it eagerly. Green light brightened in his eyes as he inspected a tablet through its clear casing.
"Not to mention the peculiar packaging. I don't sense a single drop of mana inside these pills," he said.
"The clear packaging is plastic. The backing is a thin layer of aluminium. And you're right, the tablets aren't made with magic. People make them."
Wraith looked from the tablet to Lex. "And you say it relieves pain?"
"That is what I said, yes."
Wraith brought it closer to his eyes, as though looking hard enough would reveal its true nature.
"How?" he murmured.
Raska watched them both. At last, she took a tablet from a spare packet, helping Rosco swallow it with some water.
For a while, nothing happened.
"It takes a bit to work. His body needs to absorb it before it takes effect."
Wraith used that time to pester him with questions. What were the tablets made from? Who made them? How could they affect pain without magic? Could Lex get more?
Lex was a shopkeeper, not a chemist, so he had to let Wraith down. He was a business student, not a medical student.
Still, Wraith's questions got him thinking. He looked at the packet differently now.
Painkillers were ordinary products on Earth. Here, an experienced necromancer was examining one as though Lex had placed an artefact in his hands.
Wraith had done the hard work of sealing Rosco's wounds, but Rosco had spent all this time looking as though the pain alone might kill him.
There were probably specialised healers who could do more than a necromancer. But if someone with Wraith's abilities couldn't ease the pain, what happened to people with no healer nearby?
Lex looked at the first aid kit beside Raska. It was lightweight, and anyone could learn to clean a scrape or wrap a bandage. You didn't need to be a doctor to take a pill.
He had bought food because everyone needed to eat, and its long shelf life could help travellers go farther without hunting. But that was only one need out of many.
He could only get co-codamol through a pharmacy, but paracetamol, ibuprofen and aspirin were all things he could find more readily.
Rosco's groan brought him out of his reverie.
"Argh."
Slowly, Rosco's shivering began to ease. His breathing grew less strained. His sister's touch no longer made him flinch, although he still winced occasionally.
"Does it still hurt?" Raska asked.
"Y-yes," Rosco said, swallowing. "But it's less."
Wraith stared at the packet again.
Lex found himself doing the same.
Such a small product, yet it had affected someone so significantly.
The hackles of the pack eased as their gazes softened, looking toward Lex with a completely different outlook.
Lex smiled. "You're welcome."