Chapter 44 - 『TheJob』

Jack's eyes stared through the Court Wizard for a few moments, waiting for him to answer. It felt as if he was wasting time, stalling, in order to think of something.

"The Slane Theocracy had a large cache of magic items, I'd like you to see if you can find any left in the ruined city." Fluder twirled his wrist slightly as he talked, a big smile across his lips as he did so. This seemed to be a personal job that he wanted done.

Jack who knew exactly what happened to the city, frowned lightly at this. It was definitely important, if he hadn't already taken most of the items worthy of value.

Arche raised a brow as they were being used as scavengers. Not that she minded. If they were being sent to go find magic items, there was sure to be a lot of money involved!

"And what about the surrounding cities?" Jack asked as he tilted his head to the side slightly. "And the exclave?" His eyes weren't rather happy with this job, it was very apparent.

Though he wasn't the leader of Foresight, he was pretty much their sponsor now? That was the right term right…? Jack pursed his lips in thought before looking down towards Arche, her dull having started to disappear from her face. As if her teacher had given her a job worth doing.

"The Second Imperial Legion is being sent to the front in order to push back the Beastmen, aiding the remnants of the Theocracy's military forces." Fluder responded with a bit of information which most people probably wouldn't know. "From my knowledge, there might be some caches of valuable items in the other cities, but I haven't looked into it."

Jack's eyes wandered on over to the Emperor who was watching them, before slowly moving back to Fluder. "I have plans for tomorrow, and you still have to orient me with the Academy."

Arche looked up at him with a brow raised, not sure why he was so adamant on declining. Plans could be changed and he could be oriented with the Academy at almost any time.

Fluder blinked a few times and placed a hand on his beard. "Right… Right.." the Old man stressed his eyes slightly. "What about helping round up undead for the Undead Labour Project I told you about?"

Jack nodded slowly. The idea of using undead for labour, at least the lesser undead which had little sentient thought, would be practical. That and they probably wouldn't have to go far. Collecting undead from cemeteries and other areas such as the plains would be a somewhat easy task.

One that didn't have a risk of being poisoned from the after effects of a nuclear explosion related spell.

Arche frowned slightly, she hated dealing with the undead, though she couldn't argue with the fact that it was not only easier, but closer to home. Now that she had her sisters, she didn't want to go too far away. Even if Jack could teleport them back in an instant.

"Or perhaps you could see if you can make them stronger?"

"Stronger?" Jack raised a brow at the idea of doing such a thing. He shook his head, there was no way to level them from what he could tell. At least in the game, one couldn't usually level zombies or undead they've summoned. Though there also wasn't really a point in doing so, as they only lasted a certain amount of time or had set stats.

"How about we just round them up?" Arche suggested as she leaned into Jack, who's been behind her.

Jack slowly nodded, "Still have to run this by the group's leader. I'll just be tagging along and helping if needed." His hand lightly moved up and began combing down through the back of her hair.

Arche motioned her head in agreement before looking around, before noting two people coming out of one of the bedrooms. It was Termite and Imina.

The Emperor and the other Bodyguards started to move on.

"If you accept, you can find me waiting at the academy." Fluder chuckled lightly as he followed quickly after the Emperor as they were going down the stairs. "Twenty Five gold pieces per undead." He was still sharing his pearly whites with the smile across his face, up until he vanished down the stairwell and made their way outside alongside the Imperial group.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Jack would look over towards Termite and Imina who were walking towards them. Their faces becoming slightly red at the thought of Jack and Arche having walked in on them, though they hadn't known for sure.

"You should really just do it in your own room for now," Jack uttered quietly once they were in earshot.

Quickly Termite brought his fingers to his nose, pinching the bridge. "Knew it.. Oh boy.."

"We still get to stay here, right?" Imina raised her hand slightly, as if pleading guilty.

"Yes… Just make love in your own room, okay?" Jack looked at them plainly before wrapping his arms over Arche's shoulders, his hands resting on his elbows.

Arche flushed a light red as she heard Jack's description of what they had been doing as making love. As she had said before, she definitely couldn't get that scene out of her head.

"Ah.. Okay, good." Termite's confidence suddenly returned to him as if it had never left. His embarrassment was also seemingly completely nonexistent. Though the same couldn't be said for Imina. "So what did the Imperial Royalty want?"

"The Court Wizard has given us a job offer," Arche rested a hand on Jack's forearm, lightly gripping it with ease. "He wants us to round up undead, twenty five GOLD coins per living corpse."

Imina and Termite blinked a few times. How were they going to capture an undead? They were often stronger than a living person and they typically weren't nonviolent. That's when their eyes all set on Jack in that moment. "Can't you open a portal to transport them?"

"To where exactly?" Jack chuckled and shook his head at this. "Unless we have a ca.. Oh, I could supply a cage to put them in." His eyes trailed over the blonde male for a moment, then towards the purple haired half-elf.

"A cage on wheels?" Termite was taking on a thinking pose with one hand on his chin and the other grasping across his torso, his gaze to the floor.

Jack pursed his lips as he was quickly finding that they expected him to do the job. "How about I get a cage on wheels, and you four do the rest?"

"Do the rest?" Termite and Imina looked him over.

"This job was offered to Foresight. I told you I'd help if needed, to support you. Not do the job for you." Jack retorted as his arms began to wrap around Arche's head. "Like a Chaperone."

"Tch," Termite scratched the side of his head at this. He knew they could probably do it.

"Plus, if I were to step in, it's likely I'd obliterate them," Jack uttered as he used his chin to push the hair band on Arche's head down along her bangs.

"He-hey!" Arche reached up, attempting to fix her headband only for him to grasp her hands with his own. "What're you doing, Jack...?"

"Playing," His eyes were staring down at the top of her blonde hair, his chin resting on her scalp.

"Being preoccupied," Jack snickered lightly to himself before looking over to his sister who was now walking in circles around them. Watching the four absentmindedly.

"Where's the armored dude? Rubber dick is his name, right?"

Jack's eyes just flickered at the word she had just said. Roberdyck in a way when written out in the english characters or even said out loud, could definitely be confused with rubber dick.

Imina almost burst out laughing immediately.

Termite wore this soft smile across his lips as if he wasn't trying to laugh at the words the twelve year old looking girl had said.

Though the name 'rubber' wasn't necessarily something they were familiar with, they knew of the natural latex which could be used to rub off charcoal marks and soot.

Arche just stood there staring at Eve, "That's rather rude."

Eve just shrugged, her eyes moving to her brother. "What am I to you?"

"You're my little sister," Jack's response came without any hesitation, not a single stutter or lapse in thought.

Eve smiled faintly, her eyes drifting to the side. "So I'm not just another creation," her voice sounded a bit empty, though there was definitely some happiness evident.

"You will never be just another memory," Jack's eyes closed as he smiled at his sister, his shoulder raising slightly as he leaned into Arche.

"Too heavy..." She muttered as she turned and shifted her body until she was facing him, placing her feet on top of his toes.

As she had changed her position, Jack blinked a few times and stood straight before looking to his sister again.

Eve had her hands folded behind her head, this smug look suddenly across her face. "Okay, that line was rather satisfying.." Keeping her arms up behind her head, she began to walk away, turning her back to her brother. As soon as she was a few feet away from the group, she started to skip down the hall, humming loudly.

Arche pressing herself against him, she rested her fists up upon his chest. "What did she mean by creation?"

This lifeless doll impression she constantly had made him want to grin down at her. She was so cute, reminded him of a fake kūdere of some sort. While she often appeared emotionless, she could easily share them unlike Shizu. She just seemed quite a bit more silent than most and less expressive.

"Ah… That was a trap." Jack closed his eyes for a moment as the three of them all stared at him. They were wanting to know why she referred to herself as just another creation. "She's a homunculus."

"Eh?" Arche's mouth dropped wide open, similar to that of a puppets, before snapping shut again. "Huh..." She lowered her head to look directly into his chest. "Explains her appetite in the room before."

"What about Shizu-san?" Imina asked as she crossed her arms, already shocked about the idea of him having made an artificial life form. "Is she one as well?"

"I'd like to say that Shizu is somewhat the same in that regard, probably." Jack sucked on his front two teeth before looking to the ceiling, puckering his eyelids as he squinted.. "But Eve is based on an actual person who died… So it makes her my sister." He lowered his head back down to look at them, he had no reason to tell them about Nazarick. Not yet.

Arche's eyes found themselves gazing at the floor in the gap between their two sets of feet. His sister had died and he created a creature that looked exactly like her, and probably acted like her too. The thing was even sentient and he saw it as his sister in a way.

If she had lost her sisters, and she had the ability to do that, it's likely she wouldn't hesitate. Yet she would also resurrect them if she had the capacity to do so as well. Though it started to make her curious, why hadn't he resurrected his sister?

Did he not have the power at the time? Or was there no corpse to resurrect? Her eyes moved back up to look at him sympathetically.

Termite and Imina had somewhat sympathetic expressions on their face. Maybe they even felt bad about prying, but it was probably something they had to do otherwise it would get in the way later.

"So..." Jack scrunched up his face seeing their expressions, "Shall we head to the Academy to accept this offer of his?"

Nodding, Imina would take hold of Termite's wrist, "We'll go get Roberdyck."