Chapter 28 - 『Arwintar』

Jack and Arche emerged from the portal right before it dispersed, vanishing from the sight of all, as if it had never been there. Together, Arche's hand was rested in Jack's palm, anchored by his thumb. He walked with his hand out to the side of him at an upward obtuse angle.

It was similar to a way someone were to walk, as if they were going to begin to formally dance.

Eve squealed at the sight.

Shizu didn't give much of a response other than a single blink. Watching the two of them as they approached the group in a calm manner.

The group of three from Foresight all just stood there though, Roderdyck with a brow raised while it seemed Imina and Termite weren't at all that surprised.

"I see he popped that question pretty fast," Termite chuckled lightly, you owe me ten copper.

Imina rolled her eyes, dropping the coins into his hand.

"He tricked me into saying yes," Arche said as he looked over at her friends, one of her hairs sticking up from the rest. "But.. He promised to teach me magic..." She muttered as she looked to her hand which was still being held in his hand.

"With all that being an Angel nonsense?" Termite chuckled as he waved his hand, trying not to burst into a fit of laughter.

Imina smiled at her lover for a moment before noticing that Arche wasn't giving much of a response to that little crack at Jack. Was the Angel nonsense true then? Jack had sent their minds in circles.

Goltron just looked over Jack as he stood there, his arms crossed now. Jack had given him advise, tried to make him believe he was an Angel, and then somehow tried to sweep the young miss off her feet?

No one could deny that Jack was strong. No one could deny that he had good looks. He even had gorgeous little sisters which seemed to follow him as if he was like a god.

While it seemed that he was a good man, the group was beginning to feel as if things were a little bit too good to be true once they let themselves start thinking.

He was going to buy a house. He offered to allow them to use it as a Headquarters, a place to rest instead of using an Inn or a Tavern. He had only just met them and now he had Arche's hand in his own. They couldn't call it suspicion, but he was rather quick to cling to them.

Termite, the confident leader of the group, was getting curious what his angle was. Yet he was sure it would be revealed in time, considering Jack seemed to be strangely honest even if he was roundabout and a jokester from his point of view.

Despite the fact that he wielded that spear in his hand, his hands were quite soft beneath the gloves which he donned. Though the gloves themselves seemed to be soft, she could tell how powerful his armor was. A knife alone couldn't even harm his palm if she were to stab him right there and then.

Idly holding her iron staff at her side, she would look in the distance. Between them and the Royal Capital was straight on roads and wooded lands.

Arwintar was somewhat of a welcomed sight, despite the fact that Arche would be returning to her parents. She'd be paying their debt, whilst they only made it grow. While she knew she had no choice but to soldier on, it was quite clear that no matter what she did it would be hardly possible to save the entire family. So if she could just get her sisters away from her parents…

Her eyes narrowed on the tall man which held her hand. His eyes were on her, yet now he had a stoic expression. The stare didn't bother her, she liked the feeling of his shallow and steady heartbeat she could feel through his hand.

She was almost tempted to squeeze, but it'd be futile. His hand was bigger than hers as he was seven feet tall, and she was under six. Compared to her, he was almost a giant. If only she knew his true size as a Seraph.

An Archangel Flame was already large enough compared to a regular human being. The Slane Theocracy's Dominion Authority dwarfed those. That was how she felt, smol.

"Way to go Oniisama~" Eve was now cheering, jumping in place. Her excitement had hardly vanished, if anything it only grew. "Now to liberate a vacant mansion from the Bureaucratic Overlords!"

"Heh… You said Overlord," Jack uttered under his breath. He could only imagine Momonga feeling the urge to sneeze, even though he lacked a nose and lungs, or any other bodily organ.

Arche raised a brow at this, only shook her head and looked forward as his hand fell to his side. Grasping her hand fully. She glanced to the side slightly, her head facing forward as they began walking towards the Capital.

"So how come you didn't just send us into the heart of the city?"

"And have a carriage come rushing through it and run us over?" Jack asked as he looked over at Termite who slowly nodded at the idea of a gruesome death by horse drawn carriage. Those got pretty gory, he had seen enough for those when a child or a person in general got hit by a nobleman's car, just because they refused to stop.

"Point taken," Termite crossed his arms behind his head, "At least we'll get there before they close the front doors of the real estate office for the day."

"There are plenty of Noble homes available after the Bloody Emperor removed who he saw fit," Goltron spoke casual-like. "Should you get one of those, we'd be able to house ourselves, and probably more people."

Jack's eyes traveled over to him as he spoke. He heard of the Bloody Emperor's exploits. From what he had seen the City well behind them, his work had been done properly. The reforms he used definitely lead his Kingdom to prosper. Though he was pretty sure there would be plenty of arrogant people. Where there was power, there was always arrogance, accompanied by the bliss of ignorance.

The one reform that they didn't adopt which the Kingdom did, was the abolishment of slavery.

When they entered through the Southern Gates of Arwintar, Jack exchanged his Kingdom currency for the Baharuth Empire's coins which had an exchange rate of 1:1. So once he passed through customs, gained his residential permit, the Foresight Worker group including the seven of them walked along the side of the road.

Jack's eyes traced over the armor of the Knights in light plate amor. The Slane Theocracy had identical armor when they were attacking the Village of Carne. It was down to the letter too. He had plenty of those armor sets in his inventory, along with Slane Theocracy outfits too, thanks to nearly picking the dead clean at Carne.

As the two walked hand in hand, it was hard for people not to notice.

A handsome man in dark metallic light plate armor, with a glowing blue gem on the chest plate, walking with a young woman beside him. Women would talk, children who were paying attention would gawk and men were quickly eying the armor and his spear in admiration.

Some of them even recognized the group as Foresight, from the Arena.

Arche suddenly felt something strange about his hand. It was shrinking? Slowly she turned her head to look at Jack and raised a brow seeing as he was now her height. Her jaw almost hit the pavement.

The entire group came to a stop.

"...How in the world did you get that small!?" Arche stared at him, while she didn't have much of an expression on her face, her eyes gave away the shock along with her gaping mouth.

"Hm… Maybe I'll teach you," Jack chuckled before looking toward Termite and the others. It was strange being this short, seeing how they were all taller than him. Even the elf with the purple hair.

Termite walked over and waved a hand over his head, checking if it was an illusion openly to blink a few times in surprise. It was not an illusion, he had literally changed his own height. "How…?"

"It's an ability I acquired," Jack watched the man's hand flow back to his side before growing to six feet to at least be on par with everyone there. That was he liked about the Minimum job class which he had purchased from the cash shop at some point prior to the end of the game. It allowed him to change the shape and size of his body at will.

It was something he didn't normally use, or show off, but now seemed the time to have a little fun with it.

Arche was just staring at him, her hand fitting a bit more into his hand, which had changed proportionately to his new size. She would lightly squeeze his hand and tilt her head to the side.

"This is something you can teach?" She asked as she looked up at him.

Jack shrugged lightly, "I'm not really sure," he'd say this as it was a job class and not necessarily a skill or magic power. However there were numerous items and equipments which had similar effects capable of replicating exactly what he was doing.

Within the next few seconds, they'd arrive at the government offices. They weren't very far from where they had entered and soon enough they were standing in a lavish lobby.

Dark hard wood panel floors, a blue carpet with golden threaded trim. Portraits of the past Emperors, and the current one. It was clear they were either reprints or duplicates. Though there was one bust of the current Emperor which was on display in front of the reception counter.

Jack and the group walked together.

It didn't seem as if he was going to let go of the girl's hand anytime soon.

So when they arrived, the group's overwhelming presence initially startled the person manning the counter, who had their back to them at first.

"Oh! Hello!" It was a young man with blond hair and a bit of peach fuzz on his face. He couldn't be anymore than sixteen years old. Yet he had a pair of bifocals on his face, and wore a meaningful attire. "How can I help you folks today?"

"We're looking for a manor to purchase," Jack placed some papers onto the countertop which he had received at the Southern Gate. It was a permit to purchase a residence within the walls of the Empire's Capital. It was something he purchased with some of the money that had gotten converted.

Looking over the papers to make sure everything was in place, he nodded and handed them back to the man. "Right away," leaning over he would pick up a rather large looking book. It was marked with big golden letters with a leather cover and binding.

The group watched as the young man flicked through the pages until reaching the category for the larger homes within the Empire. He pushed the book over for them to look at, each of the pages held information based on what each manor had to offer, as well as their current status and date of last inspection should they be uninhabited.

Jack moved the book to the edge of the counter so that both he and Arche could see the words, along with the rest of them.

Arche's finger would trail along the words, seeing how many bedrooms there were, bathrooms and the lot. There were quite a few things which she knew to look for, considering she had been looking to move out with her little sisters the moment she got the chance. Which oddly enough he had given her.

Arche wasn't ignorant of what he had been giving. Was it to impress her though, or was it just genuine? Either one could make her smile even for the briefest of moments.

From what they saw when he poured coins out for them to be converted, it was pretty amazing to see where they came out of. An extra-dimensional storage like thing. She couldn't quite tell if it was magic, but he informed them all it had been a talent.

It wasn't necessarily something they could deny, nor was it something they could confirm.

Jack had made them think he was an Angel, and then made them believe he was joking. So anything he said could be taken in more than one way. Having the item box seemed not only unique to him, but also those he claimed to be his little sisters.

Their weapons they had used, they were no where to be seen. Even though normally Shizu wore her gun out in the open like a sword, it seemed like she wasn't doing so out in public.

Shizu while all this was going down however, was biting into a cookie, it was soft and gooey with lots of melted chocolate eon the inside. It would coat her lower lip, causing her to instinctively lick it off.

"I think this one would be good for us, and for possible future devours." Jack said as he took the book off the counter, tucking his thumb between the pages as he displayed it for everyone to see.

The manor he chose looked like a large property. It belonged to a noble house that the current Emperor had put to death since they fought against their status being revoked.

If one thought the manor in Re-Estize was large, this one was larger. It's overall shape was that of a lower case 'n' and was three stories tall with multiple basements. It was complete with several bedrooms and other various miscellaneous rooms alongside the required for quality of life.

The last inspection stated it was in pristine condition too.

Imina and Termite looked over the information along with Goltron, there was more than enough room for all of them to have their own families in that place. Whether or not they had servants, it didn't seem to matter. "Wow… Rich nobles really did live extravagantly," Termite would whistle.

"Imagine if Foresight turned into a larger organization," Jack's brows bounced before he placed the book onto the table. Several forms were placed out before him and he would fill them out with ease, using a pen from his item box.

The idea never really crossed their minds. Forming an organization? They were workers, a team. What good would an organization do other than spread out the spoils? Most workers were out for themselves, they teamed up with those they form connections with, or have control over.

Imina though was interested, a larger group meant larger jobs. Though at the same time, a larger group typically garnered more attention. The word Foresight which they chose for their name, had a meaning to it, the very definition of the word.

So what would Jack have to add to it? That was the main thing on her mind.

While the young man was curious about the design, he was pretty good at hiding it. He hardly looked at the pen and patiently waited for Jack to finish with only one hand in use.

The moment he was finished, he pushed the parchment to the young man for collection.

"All seems to be in order," the young man picked up the papers and tapped them on the countertop. "Would you like someone to show you the way?"

Jack shrugged lightly, "Since there's a little map on the page, I think I know where it is."

"In that case, I wish you and your group good luck," the man gave them a light wave. "If you have any question feel f..." He stopped the moment all seven of them vanished from sight wih the use of a teleportation spell. "Free to come back…? Huh."