For I Am A Side Character - 55: Jessica Dines with her Family for Breakfast
Before the sun was seen in the first morning light of that day, around 3 in the morning…
A simple tap on the window was all it took to wake Soril up from his sleep.
“..?” and to his notice, outside that window, his brother was standing in a rather conspicuous form. Dressed in all gray, Cecil waved as he gestured Soril to come out and talk to him.
Having to nod under his order, Cecil moved out of the window and leaped to an unknown location.
“…” as Soril tried to get up from his bed, he noticed that Jessica was still beside him in her disheveled manner. With her stomach exposed as well as her well-defined shoulder that exposed her bra-line, Soril tried his best to not wake her up as he tries to move out of the bed.
Soon enough, he was lucky to find that Jessica was more of a heavy sleeper than he could have imagined. So he easily was able to get out without any issues.
Making his was down, he found that his brother, Cecil was already down stairs…picking out a bowl and eating the leftover stew from last night.
“Well, it seems like you had a good night of sleep.” he said as he had this smirked expression plastered on his face.
“…Good morning brother.” he said as he went and got a glass of water to quench his dry throat in the morning.
“So, is she your girlfriend?” he asked as he took a spoonful of the stew.
“Yes.”
“Hmm, good for you.”
“Can I ask what you are doing here in my home?” he asked.
“Well, I just heard last night that you were able to conquer the first trial. That’s good…”
“Ah yeah…thank you brother.” as Soril thanked his brother for his compliment, Cecil took another spoonful as he enjoyed the stew.
“Well, its only necessary…anyway, usually by this time, we would move on with the next trial for the basic principles for you to move on and learn the 20 gates…but master told me to meet you and tell you that before we move on to the next trial, he asked me to have you undergo a mission by yourself.”
“…A mission?”
“…more on the point, its assassination.” with no sugar coating of words, Cecil said this with a cold tone.
And in return, Soril simply stared at his brother with an undaunted expression.
“…assassination, I see.” knowing the nature of being a part of the house of shadows, one should expect that assassination was never not an option. Having to conquer his fear altogether, he wasn’t really surprised by this mission or how he was asked to do it.
“I know that you still have around five days before you return back to the academy, so before then you must make time and complete this mission, do you understand me?” he asked.
“…Yes.”
“Good, once your free, come to the Dojo and I will give you the full details of your first mission.”
“I understand.” without hesitation, Soril didn’t hesitate to accept such a request from his brother.
As Soril accepted the mission, Cecil was almost instantly gone from then on. Even Soril couldn’t comprehend how he was able to do it. Still, as he was now awake, he decided that he would cook breakfast for him and Jessica.
“Assassination huh…is this another test?” he asked himself as he began looking into the fridge for something to cook for breakfast.
***
As the clock finally struck around 5 in the morning, out came Jessica in her disheveled form.
With a pair of sleepy eyes, a sight of bedhead, and the cute demeanor of simply fazing in and out of her sleep-like consciousness, she made her way to the kitchen where she found that Soril was washing the dishes.
“Good morning.” she said as she went and embraced him from behind.
“Good morning…Did you sleep alright?” he asked as he leaned his head over to see her pure face.
“Hnn…yeah.” she answered.
“Okay, there’s hot cocoa by the table and a few toasted bread with eggs and a bit of salad for breakfast.”
“Thank you…” as she hazely walked to the table and sat down, Soril started having small talk.
“So, what time should I go to your place?” he asked.
“Hmm?” as Jessica was chewing on some bread, she was still a bit groggy from understanding the question.
“You know, we did decided to do the Magic Class assignment together with Marilyn and the others at your place.”
“Oh yeah…right. Hmm, anytime is fine with me.” she said.
“Can nine in the morning work?” he asked.
“Yeah, that could work.” as she said this…she drank the hot cocoa and started munching on another piece of bread.
“Alright then…”
As she finally finished her breakfast, she had a shower, she kissed Soril goodbye and went home to prepare for the assignment.
She was picked up by her blue luxurious car.
As she got in, her driver simply chatted with her as thy made their way home.
“…I’ve done as you asked young Miss, I just hope your father doesn’t figure something out. They were very worried as to why you couldn’t come home last night.”
“That’s just my father being my father…he wouldn’t react any less from any other situation.” she said as she looked out of the car window with a soft smile.
‘…Hmm, looks like the young miss enjoyed herself last night.’ thought the driver as he too felt giddy about the kept secret.
When she got home,she was met with her personal maid who came by to give her a few reminders from her father.
“Good Morning Miss Jessica, your father has asked you to come to the Dining Room to have breakfast together along with your family members.” said the maid.
“Is Eric Home?” she asked as she wondered about her oldest brother.
“Master Eric is not at home, he is with his wife at Barcili.”
“Barcili? Hmm, tell my father that I already had breakfast. I wont be joining them until lunchtime.” she said.
“Very well miss.”
“Also, tell my father that my friends will be coming over because of some academy business.”
“I’ll do so, should I prepare something for your friends young lady?” she asked.
“Hmm, tell me, Do you think it would be appropriate to gift them with armor from our storage? Something of the same quality as my own armor?” she asked.
“I think its best to have this conversation with your father who owns the blacksmith-corner.” said the maid.
“Very well, at the very least, my friends well be coming over at around nine, so please prepare the training grounds for us to work on, and also a few snacks and potions.” as she said this, the personal maid went her way to prepare the asked preparations.
While Jessica went to find her father to ask for permission about the Armor Storage business.
Knowing Soril and how he always go out of his way to not wear armor while hunting out in the dungeons always made her feel uneasy. Today might be the perfect day to finally settle the issue by giving him a matching armor the same type as hers.
This wasn’t just about security, but she thought that it might look very official for him to wear a matching pair the same type of armor as her.
When she finally was able to visit her father, she found him reading the recent news on his portable tablet. Beside him was his wonderful wife who was also looking deep into their business.
“Hmm, looks like our profits around the Alkechi Company has dropped a bit, maybe I’ll visit to see them right after this.” said the father who wore a very formal business attire, with a red neck tie to pair with his blue suit. His short buzz-cut dark blue hair, paired with his serious brown eyes, it engulfed him with the presence of a true business man.
“Rather than the Alkechi Company, have you heard about the news around the hunter association last night? Over 60+ rogres were killed by a band of young hunters.” said a beautiful lady who was enjoying a light breakfast. With her Brown Sliky Hair, paired with her glistening blue eyes and soft-silked attire that was glistening with riches and jewelry, this woman was the mother of Jessica Young.
“Hmm, I did…I’m still trying to look over their information to see if we can find something about them. It might be a good investment to try and start a new guild for Jessica’s future.” said the Father who was very eager in supporting his daughter.
As they talked, Jessica finally came over to the table.
“Hmm? Jessica, you finally came.” he said as he puts down his portable tablet.
“Good morning Dad, Good Morning Mom…where’s Julian and Mac?” she asked as she sat down at the table, taking a sip of the tea placed to her by the maids.
“Julian and Mac just finished eating and are making their way to the University. Eric on the other hand is at Barcili with his wife.”
“What are they doing at Barcili?” she asked, wondering why his brother Eric, went to a place like Barcili, an Island that was tropical in it season, with clear white sand beaches, crystal-clear turquoise waters that stretch out as far as the eye can see and Beneath the surface, a vibrant world of colorful coral reefs teeming with exotic marine life awaits exploration.
Barcili was found somewhere north of the Daimond Reef City, it was an island cut off of the continent where around one resort is already in plan of being built.
“Their trying to see if they can negotiate with building a new resort there.” said her mother.
“Oh, that sounds like fun.” said Jessica.
“So, how did you spent the night?” he asked as he too took a sip of the tea.
“Well it was fine. My friend and I had a great time. We did what any sleepover would be.” she said.
“Hmm, well don’t hold yourself back with the details…tell me.” said his father as he tries to get some information from his daughter.
“I wont.” she said, blatantly.
“…”
“Anyway dad, my friends are coming over today because we have an assignment revolving around creating a new elemental magic skill.”
“Oh, that sounds great. I would love to meet them.” said her mother who was very fund with meeting new people.
“Indeed, its been so long since you brought in new friends into our house.” said her father.
“I’m sure you would love them…just yesterday we did something so incredible!” she said as she started looking for something on her phone.
“Here, this is what we did!” as she approached her father, she showed them a picture of her and her friends taking a picture of themselves with the background being the sight of a stack of dead bodies of rogres they hunted yesterday.
“!?” her father was shocked to find such a claim.
“Y-You did this?!” he asked as he started sweating quite profusely.
“Well, me and my friends did.” she said confidently.
“What did she do?” asked her mother as she didn’t see the picture on her phone.
“…” with a bit of hesitation, her father showed her the picture, and in reaction, her mother quickly stood up from her chair in surprise.
“!?” Jessica was somewhat taken aback by their reactions.
“Is this real?!” she asked as she tried to get a better look at the picture.
“It is…” she said as she tried to stand firm with herself.
“Y-your not hurt are you?” asked her mother as she began searching for injuries all over her body.
“N-Not really no.”
“Jessica, why didn’t you tell us about this?” asked her father in a mad tone.
“I just happened yesterday…and I thought it wasn’t really a big deal…” she said.
“Not a big deal? Jessica, this is the first time I even heard of you taking down a rogre by yourself, you never had the experience to take one down before…even you tutor said that you weren’t ready yet, so how did it came to be that you took a whole group down just yesterday!?”
“I didn’t do it on my own, I had some friends with me.” as she said this, she showed them the pictures of their friends.
“Here’s Marilyn, Zelisha….Thors is the one with the big hammer…and finally, Soril.”
“Wait, isn’t that boy the one who took you down during the entrance exam for the academy?” asked his father as he saw Soril.
“Well yeah.”
“Why are you hanging out with a boy like him?” he asked as he was getting worried about his daughter.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Wha- that basta-” but before her father could exaggerate, his wife came by with more clear words.
“What your father means is that, isn’t it weird to hang with a boy who fought with you?”
“Well, yeah it is at first…but we got over that. He’s even the one who I partnered up with during our combat classes…in spars and stuff like that.”
“Really? How good of a boy is he?”
“Well, in terms of kindness, he is really….kind.” as she said this, a tinge of red came from her cheeks, and her mother immediately noticed this.
“And in terms of fights…he never looks down on me. Its because of him that I got so strong in fights…and it because of him that we even got so far in our hunt yesterday, it almost feels like we made a record.” she said.
“Really? And how is that possible? Last thing I knew, you were both probably at the same level.” said the father as what he knew was that Soril’s strength was back to when he took the entrance exam.
“Well time passes and he just grows…he’s really far beyond what I can handle. He’s probably at least a B-rank hunter right about now in terms of strength.”
“B-rank?! in just a matter of days!?” her father was shocked to hear that kind of impossibility from Jessica yet still, Jessica wouldn’t have said this without confidence.
“He can easily deal with a C-ranked Rogre by himself with just a shield.” she said as she tries to ut in her confidence into Soril’s achievements.
“Do you trust him?” asked her mother as she was hearing the boy’s quality as a hunter.
“Of course…I’d even say that I trust him with my life.”
“Oh my…I see. Well then if you trust him so much, I want to meet him personally.” said her mother.
“Indeed, so do I.” said her father.
“What are you going to do if you do meet them?” She asked as she looked somewhat worried about her father’s reaction.
“Bringing you into a place that is hardly your level…to go and kill a group of Rogres without a precaution if things went wrong is just plain careless. So I want to see this boy personally…to test him if he even has the right to include you in some dangerous activity.”
“Dad! You don’t have the right to do that!” she said as she felt somewhat attacked in her on form of trust.
“I do, as your father, I have every right to secure your safety.” he said strictly.
“But I thought that you would trust me in things on being a hunter…” she said.
“…Of course I do, I trust you, and I know that you will become someone who will one day lead a proper guild. One that will stand at the top. But things like these have a process…your going far beyond something you don’t realize is far beyond you. And that ‘Boy’ is someone who has to prove himself to us if he wants to involve you in his adventures.”
“Fine…so you’re saying that if he proves himself to you, you won’t mind in my affairs? that I get to be free with what I do as a hunter?…fine, you better prepare yourself Dad. Soril isn’t just some regular Hunter…He’s strong…Stronger than most people I know.”
As she said this, she quickly turned her back on her parents and made her way to the door.
*Thud!*
As she slams it shut, it left her parents quite disturbed by this development.
“Shouldn’t you have been proud of her?” asked his wife as she looked somewhat unsure by this discussion.
“Of course I was…but.” he said as he turned and remembered the face of Soril.
“But what?” she asked.
“But its this BOY!!!…I don’t like the look of his face whatsoever!” he said as he was annoyed by the face of Soril. Remembering back to when he witnessed her daughter’s fight at the entrance exam, all she could remember was the fact that she was leaving hurt and injured by the same boy who now she trusted with said life.
“Hmm, I can see where your coming from, but it shouldn’t make you that mad. The seems nice, the way Jessica praises him like she was proud of it is very intriguing.” said his wife.
“…You don’t mean…”
“I think I do…”
“B-but our daughter is still young!! how can she already have someone she likes!!? I’m still here! And she’s still my baby!!” said the father as he started ranting on and on…
“Ehh…You weren’t like this when Eric and Julian introduced their girlfriends for the first time.” said his wife.
“…This is different! She’s doesn’t know men at all! Their Savages, heck, Even I’m a savage myself!”
“Well…a savage in bed, but still…she already knows what she feels and you can’t change her on that.” she said.
“Tch!”
“Love is love dear, I’m sure you know what that feels like, right?.” she said as she approaches her husband and embraces him from behind.
“Hnn…fine, I get it…”
“Good, and besides, we’ll be meeting him today. we have a lot of time to judge for ourselves what good of a man he is.” as she said this, she pecked her husband’s cheeks, turning them red like cherries.
“Hmm, your right.”
With that said, the father expected the man to arrive to be a son of a bitch and nothing else.