Chapter 53 - 『Loan Default I』

Almost a week later, Jack was standing in the study, staring out the window at the backyard of the home he had taken under his name. He listened to the children playing, his sister and the Automaton named Shizu, were with them.

A small smile over his lips as he could see Shizu was chasing them around with a sticker in hand. She was getting more and more used to humans. That was for sure, or at least found a new liking towards.

That's at least what he had hoped. If not, she at least had a liking towards the girls.

Jack turned his head slightly to the side as he narrowed his sights on Arche as she entered the room. "Good morning," he said seeing her hair lopsided and clearly unkept. "Uh… having a bad air day?"

"Mmm..." A groan emitted from her throat. It seemed someone didn't have their coffee!

Jack shook his head slightly at this and began walking towards her, pulling himself away from the window. As she made it over to him, he would matte down her hair with his hand, combing through the blonde locks and strands.

Soon enough her hair was flat, framing her face like it had done before.

Feeling him play with her hair, even as her head moved with his hands as they got caught in knots, Arche couldn't help but put smile on her lifeless impression of a doll-like face.

She was happy she had someone who liked her, more than the friends she already had. Her father had practically probably disowned her the moment she left with him though. Not that she minded.

Her mother had a kind hearted soul, but she was just as corrupt and inept as her father. She cared for her, but should they default on their loan, she doubted they would be alive for very long.

Old and extremely young people didn't make it long in the world of slavery. They were worked and died as a result, depending on the labour and strictness of their masters.

She was happy she no longer had to deal with money lender anymore. It wasn't easy sharing a paycheck, or pouring her entire earnings into something that would only grow.

While she still didn't understand his appeal, his attraction, towards her she couldn't help but be thankful. She leaned into his hand as he began to comb it through her unknotted hair.

She rested her chin against his abdomen, looking up at him. His hand would gently grasp at her head, caressing her scalp in the process. That was until there was a loud knocking at the front door of his him.

Jack frowned at this, not expecting anyone to show up today. He doubted the Emperor was here, and Fluder wouldn't have the need to knock. Using『Detect Life』he was quick to sense humans fanning out across the front of the property.

They finally decided to make a move. And they seemed rather organized. They were yet to be aware of who they were up against however. While they knew he was a mage, it was unlikely they knew the true extent of his power as he hadn't shared it often in the Capital of Arwintar. A small grin formed over his lips,

"What's going on?" Arche asked as she shifted herself to his side as she looked to the open doorway, towards the direction of the entrance.

"They're here… Your parent's money lenders," Jack uttered quietly to himself as he walked out into the corridor with her at his side. As they continued down that passage way and over towards the courtyard facing lounge without a doorway. He peered through the window, affirming his assumption.

Three at the door waiting.

Five waiting out of sight in the corners of the Courtyard, hiding from the center building's front windows. Though they seemed to completely ignore the possibility of someone looking down at them from the side. Maybe they shouldn't have been so loud…

His eyes traveled along the yard and over towards the other six he could see who were fanning out about the area. They seemed to have completely underestimated him as a mage.

While he had put on a big display with the healing of that curse, it was likely that not many people had noticed what was going on. He was rather thankful that only the Emperor and his affiliates truly knew to some extent of what he could do.

"Would you stay here, or will you join me?" Jack asked curiously as he rested his eyes on her bright blue hues. Her smile had since vanished and she had an almost stoic expression her face.

The Angel wasn't all too different except for the smile on his face that didn't feel like it belonged.

"Hm..." She was only partially dressed in her night robes, she had nothing else on her person. Rolling her toes slightly, she nodded.

Jack, in return for this as she wasn't currently holding her staff, pulled out a weapon from his item box.

Blinking as he pulled out a black staff that looked to be made of adamantite with golden gilded engravings laced through out it, Arche's eyes were almost as wide as apples. "Wha…?"

She held out her hands to accept the item, her dry morning mouth hanging open, yet when he let it go a few inches from her hands. It didn't fall. The item just floated there above her hands, her eyes widening even more at the sight. "Whoa..." She quickly wrapped both of her hands around it and held it vertically in front of her.

The staff was cold to the touch, unnaturally so. While it would feel as if it would freeze off her hands, it didn't look or feel like she was taking on any damage. There was no pain, her fingers weren't necessarily sticking to it, but she definitely felt the urge to never let it go.

Her eyes shifted from the staff and up to Jack once more, continuing to blink, not knowing what to say.

"Prove that you can handle that staff," Jack spoke in a wise tone, "And you can keep it."

Her body tensed at a tingling sensation that swept through her, excitement and joy. She practically hugged the item to her half-dressed self. "Thank you..."

Jack nodded as his smile was no longer present on his face, his eyes darting back to the courtyard once more. He was sure they could likely hear the children. He had lost sight of the ones who were moving about the yard, but he could still sense them.

Placing two fingers on his temple, he pitched his head down slightly.

『Message』

"Shizu, Eva. The children, bring them inside through one of the back windows. The hostile forces that have been watching the house for a while now, are making their move."

"Yes, Jack-oniisama!"

"Yes, Oniisama!"

Both of them had effortlessly reported back to him, accepting his orders without delay. Directly below them, he could hear them opening a window from the outside and funneling the children in a few seconds later.

Their muffled words reached his ears.

The girls wanted to know what was going on, why they suddenly needed to play hide and seek. They were already having such a good time playing tag!

Jack shook his head slightly as he made his way over to edge of the lounge, the other members of Foresight were off doing a job, unrelated to Fluder.

The only reason Arche stayed home, was because it was her break day. That and she had been wanting to ask Jack out to go on a date like that had gone and done before. That and her ball dress was likely finished or at least capable of being seen. Believe it or not, she was rather excited to see it once it was done at the tailors.

Jack made his way down the hall with her in tow, as if she was being pulled onward by an invisible lure.

The two crept down the stairwell and onto the first floor corridor as they made their way towards the front door. Jack wanted to make an up front confrontation. It was likely since they knew of his 'job' they'd send someone of the same occupation.

Not that it mattered, since he already surpassed Fluder, what could they possibly do?

Kicking open the front door the moment he reached it, the wooden entrance smashed into the first person closest to it. Crushing his nose and sending him skidding across the ground until his head hit the hard surface of the fountain.

"Arge!" A grunt emitted from the man, but he laid there silently thereafter.

Absorbed by shock, the other two who had been standing by the door, stared up at the six foot tall man. They wore cloaks to obscure their faces with shadows. And they had daggers in their hands, as if they had been waiting to pull an ambush.

Quickly the men who had been hiding along the walls from the windows made themselves known, drawing various blunt and sharp tipped weapons.

Jack could only grin seeing so many people in one place wanting to get a piece of them.

"『Triple Magic』『Magic Arrow』!" Shouted Arche as she came up to his side, holding the staff out in front of her in a diagonal angle towards the tresspassers.

"There she--!" One of them was pointing at her, before several bolts of magic energy ripped through his defenses and his flesh at point blank range.