10 Chapter 10

"For quite literally the tenth time, yes." Gildar answered nonchalantly whilst Curtis had his arm in an arm bar.

"Some of those higher ups want me to make sure their names never come out, while others want leverage on their political competitions. Between the two, I can have top A grade steaks for the next several hundred years in here, getting the kid set up with you is way too easy." He continued.

"And you helped set me up knowing this?" In her head, Curtis had drowned out the rest of Gildar's answer, lest she be tempted to ask him to list her as an accomplice in all his crimes.

So she simple turned her face towards Akagi once more.

Someone, who for the last half an hour or so, had pretended that the prison ceiling was the most interesting thing in the world.

"You know," Curtis said, "I have all day to do this."

"Then we'll do it all day." Akagi murmured.

"We can do that." Curtis cheeky smiled, "But I know for a fact that you have a neck problem from sitting at your desk too long, I'm sure you'd love to pay your chiropractor even more than you already do right now..."

"While you guys may not be busy, I have a perfectly cooked medium-well steak dinner waiting for me so..." Gildar tried to lift his butt off his chair.

"Sit!" Curtis snapped at him, causing that butt to plop back immediately, "...and get them to bring that steak here."

...

Back in the tavern Arthur was grumbling at himself, 'Oh sure, leave the kid here with me...'

Currently Tasha was laid out on a table in the office while several magic runes circulated around his body.

Little by little the injuries on his body was mending itself, skin stitching back to skin and fragments of bone shifting cemented themselves back into the cracks.

While it seemed miraculous, there was actually a lot of luck involved.

For one, most of the injuries were internal. If Thanis hadn't used a blunt attack, but instead opted for the more slashy or stabby kind, he'd have to personally collect the bits and pieces for this particular spell to work.

Of course, Arthur did not consider lady luck's involvement in his current predicament.

If he did, he'd more likely attempt to wring that b*tch's neck.

Personally, he'd much prefer not having an injured child on his table.

"I'm a bartender for God's sake, I've got no business playing a nurse." He huffed.

A knock at the door shook him out of his stupor.

He picked up the great sword leaning against his wall and went to open it.

He figured that the Glaive family had come to retaliate. These things had happened one too many times that he almost considered it a tradition of those big families.

Every generation thought they were tougher or smarter than those before them, going rampant with their false confidence.

And after every 2 generations or so, the later ones stopped telling scary stories about him and the crippling, pain-induced fear he had caused their elders.

And as if their family's fate and his were interwoven too deeply into the webs of time, those cocky little sh*ts would find their way to him, one way or another.

And their act wasn't simply the young calf not fearing the tiger. It was the young calf thinking it was the tiger.

It was his part.. no, his duty, to put the fear into them once every 2/3 generations.

As he opened the door however, he found himself disappointed, as standing there... was a man with a clipboard.

"Good evening sir, I'm Jamie Xordam and I'm here to inform you that your order of the new designer tables from Orkea has arrived.."

"Oh.. right... uh.." A little disappointment flashed across his face.

Alright, maybe it wasn't so much his duty as it was his place to vent.

Being the owner of a tavern wasn't easy, between managing renovations, making new recipes to maintain business and dealing with rowdy customers who he still had to treat politely, his patience was often spread thin.

So he actually quite welcomed those families when they came to replenish it.

"Ok, I'll pay it in full at the end of the month." He said as he reached out his hand towards the furniture stacked outside his doors.

But a clipboard landing on his hand stopped him.

"Orkea management has convened and they came to the conclusion that they would much prefer you pay in cash this time." The delivery man said.

"What, why?" Arthur asked, displeased by the sudden insistence. "I've made several purchases before, you know my money's good for it."

"Yes, but we heard you had just recently entertained Natsumi Curtis within your restaurant, and we project that you would be spending a portion of your finances into repairs in the near future..." the man explained.

'That wasn't even a few hours ago! How'd they hear about it!?' Arthur screamed in his mind.

Almost as if he knew what he was thinking, the delivery man answered. "Ted from the Spicy Mead downtown reported it to VEFA 20 minutes after she arrived, the committee assumed that since she was in here that long that you probably let her stay for a meal."

'Damn you Ted!' Arthur thought, yes they were rival taverns, and maybe they did a lot of unsavory things to each other during the duration of which.

But wasn't there a line? Wasn't there some courtesy for the man who'd been competing with him for so long and always pushed him to be better at what he did?

Wasn't VEFA that line.

Seeing Arthur's distressed expression, the deliveryman felt a little bad, like it or not he'd been a good customer so far. "You must understand sir, we're a new company, we're just worried that if you put your debt to us on the back burner later on because you have things that need your immediate attention then our company's cash-flow would be messed up," He tried to explain "and as we've come to find out, you're an archmage yourself, if you didn't want to pay your debt then what can we do?"

'Ted probably told them that too, damn! Was he here last night?' He thought.

"And what if I don't want to pay right now?" Arthur asked, honestly just a little ticked off by what happened as soon as Curtis entered his doors and wanted to let that out on somebody.

Troubling the delivery man a little seemed like a good option for him.

But the delivery man gave him a troubled look, "I hope you wouldn't do that sir, VEFA is not only for direct victims of Ms. Curtis but for the ones affected down the lines as well, that includes suppliers like us."

"And while this committee formed as a result of Ms. Curtis, they can extend new policies towards other powerhouses." He continued. "If you received the last notice, vendors were urged to prepare a special table for the Shadow King where they have several surveillance equipment focused on it, to make sure that he does not swallow his order into his shadow and say it wasn't brought to him."

"I'm sure you and your tavern wouldn't like to be on the next notice." He urged.

"Fine..." Arthur grumbled as he walked back into his office to get money from his safe.

He didn't notice that the runes were now circulating around an empty space as he walked out the door.

...

"Yeah I don't understand why either." Akagi asked, "She's less suited to normal human functions than even the Maids, much less parenting."

"Hey..." Curtis reprimanded.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way..." Akagi apologized.

"Yes you did, and you're entitled to your opinions..." she excused her. "But just not that one, at least not with me."

"But you get my point right?" She continued talking to Gildar, Curtis was a simple person, if she said her piece then there wasn't a point to make herself feel guilty and try to console her, if she wasn't happy, then she'd just deal with you with a punch to the face.

"Yeah, I get that." Gildar answered, eyes looking at Curtis's face from time to time. "But right now, I don't need a good parent, I need someone to protect him."

"Because he can use zero level magic?" Curtis guessed.

"No, I made sure that never came out." Gildar replied. "And you also need to make sure that part of him never comes to light. If they know, they'd tear him apart and bid for the pieces."

"I know..." Curtis answered. With his condition there would be countless people who would want him, whether it was for research or to continue using him as Gildar did, it was basically like sending the 12 year old kid to work in a never ending hell of tests and dangerous assignments for the rest of his life. And that was the good outcome.

The more radical ones would strip him down to the bones just to see what he was made of.

"...Then what's this about?" Akagi continued.

"Like I said, I had a lot of proof about my higher ups out there, and they know that as long as nothing happens to me it won't come out..." Gildar said.

"But they're not going to sit comfortably with a gun to their heads just because you promised you won't pull the trigger." Getting more sober, Curtis was finally feeling a headache, partially from the hangover, and partially from the weight of everything finally bearing down on her.

"Exactly." He confirmed. "Right now, they want to shake down all my contacts, and he looks particularly suspicious since he was found inside my house, they think that if he didn't know where my files are then he can at least identify someone who does."

"If that's the case why would they agree with you to put him with me?" Curtis asked.

If they set him up with someone weaker, it'd be easier to take him when they wanted. Or they could've put him under someone who was 'friendlier' with them. Curtis was friendly to very few people, even more so when considering big wigs like these guys were.

"They had no choice, you're neutral ground." Akagi explained. "Anyone who didn't agree was basically saying they have a guilty conscious, in those circles, that's no different from being guilty."

"He's actually right," She continued, "being in here is better for him, it's basically a witch hunt out there."

"Tell me something I don't know." Gildar said, looking at the both of them.