The death of the bandits camps spread further than the Deadman could anticipate. News of fear and monsters travel far from where they come from. The news of these camps shook nearby camps and the bandits that survived became insane. They preached the Deadman who had spared their lives. They preached of goodness and they whipped their backs in forgiveness. The Deadman followed the bandits to make sure before parting.

Along the way, the Deadman felt his soul tremble. He knew that staying too long would be a problem for Einar. He let go of control of the body and let Einar take over. Before they could, the two met in a room that connected their souls. It was the white void that the two dwells. The Deadman appeared in front of Einar.

“Old Man,” Einar said. “Good job, I learned a lot from you.”

“Don’t thank me,” the Deadman said. “All I did was rid this world of scum.”

“You are used to this,” Einar said. “Old Man, you blocked off some of your memories but there are parts where you’d shown me the way you fight. I’ve practiced these skills and even though you regained muscle memory. I didn’t. So there are times that I had to watch you to perform the same tactics or the way you fight.”

“The way I fight?” The Deadman patted his head. “The way I fight is composed of trying the best way to kill someone. Back in my days, we had to kill monsters who were stronger than we could ever hope for. They had scales that are tougher than steel. Their senses were far better and we had to prepare various potions and blade oils to take them down. We only got better because of the Master of the Nether teaching us the way to engrave the runes inside our bodies. I’ve done it by using the obsidian flesh as knives to carve out the runes that would help circulate the energy that nourishes your bones.”

“You said bones right? What about the organs?”

“I did as well. I burned the runes while you were young. Remember those days where you couldn’t get up? I had to make sure that you wouldn’t move the carvings. Ah, I did have to worry about how the circulation of runes would affect your health. You see, I had to double the layer of the runes to nourish your soul as well. The runes are taxing and to cure that I have to improve the way your body handles the recoil of the runes. Think of it as exerting your whole body by making use of the runes. For your ability in close-combat, the way you fight shouldn’t be lesser to me.”

“That’s only because you were holding back on me,” Einar said. “You fight without trying to kill me and that alone makes it clear that you cannot fully exert your strength against me. Still, now that we spent weeks scaring these bastards. I know that you could have handled them with so little effort. There was no need to spend days doing that.”

“I know,” the Deadman said. “But this isn’t my body so I had to make sure that you are not hurt. You are strong and you can take punishment but I will not allow it to be harmed while I am in control. I had to rely on stealth and fear tactics to do the job. It took us time and forgive me for taking so much time. You could have used this time to bond with your little sister.”

Einar felt a tug around his body. He knew that he finally got control of the body. The Deadman flickered the moment the control over the body was released.

“Really, when will you take care of that. You will have to wait before you can take control of this body.”

“You’ll be fine. I believe that you handle anything that will come your way. As long as we don’t meet a Magus Dragon or a War Maiden then you’d be fine. You should go back now, Einar. Your family is waiting for you.”

“What about you?”

“What about me? I am here sleeping inside you, don’t worry about this Deadman. I have made use of your body for too long and I rather not wrestle control over it.”

Einar woke up and found himself walking on the path leading to Old Tarsus shop. Old Tarsus was working on his wares, and when he saw Einar, walking towards with his cloak on, he waved at him, “Einar, oh, you smell of blood, lad. Ah, doing some hunting? Haven’t seen you around lately. Rufus has been busy with his Black Dogs and now there are troubles in the court. The throwing knives you want are done, the bandolier, as well as that wheeled chair you wanted to make. I thought it was odd but seeing the little lady. I understand why you’d want that. It’s ready around the back and for heaven’s sake clean yourself up, lad, I can’t have you walking around like that. There’s a barrel of water, get dressed and just leave it to me. I’ll send the bill to your parents.”

“Ah, I don’t need it.”

“Just go, lad,” Old Tarsus said. “You really fucking smell musky. I’ll have them ready here and I’ll get you a new cloak. Goodness, did you swim on rotting corpses of pigs? Go! And don’t bother coming out unless you clean yourself up! Darling! Give the lad some of those perfumes to freshen him up! I don’t want the Smiling Swordsman to come here complaining!”

Einar couldn’t help but laugh at the forcefulness of the Old Dwarf. When he was young he spent time here and has stayed here to temper his arms and also get extra money. Most of his time was spent in this forge and it was his second home. Old Tarsus’s wife, Merla, held him and started chatting about anything before he was told to go and bath. Einar took a bath, took the clothes that were placed a drawer and took the wheelchair with him.