For I Am A Side Character - 59: Train Eavesdropper and Celebrating the Results.
After the assassination of Dr. Yohan Rogers, Soril quickly made his way to the rendezvous point. There, his brother was waiting between the alley of two brothels.
“So, how did it go?” he asked as he was out smoking a cigarette.
“You saw it all…bastard tried to fake his death in front of me just like what your entail said.” said Soril.
“Hmm…did he say anything?”
“He said that he was done with his ‘contribution’…or whatever that is.” said Soril as he remembered the words of the Doctor.
“I see, so it was true after all.” said Cecil.
“What is?” asked Soril.
“Dr. Rogers was planning on creating a certain medicine that corrupts the mind of a mana blessed child. A sort of mind-controlling drug that enables a certain group to use these children as a form of army to go against something they believe in. Its like a terrorist group but a bit more religious…” said Cecil as he blows out a puff of smoke.
“A Cult?”
“Something like that…they call themselves the ‘Red Door Organization.’”
“That sounds like a brothel name.” said Soril.
“It is, isn’t it? Anyway…we already had this information yesterday from the Crow’s Coop, whats important for us is the document you retrieved. It should contain the names of some certain notable people in the city…from politicians, celebrities, companies…anything that seems corrupt might have connection to our current target, The Red Door.
“…Hmm, I see.”
“Well, we’re done for today. I should bring this to the Crow’s Coop while you go home and rest.” said Cecil.
“Shouldn’t I come with you? I’m really curious on what these guys are.” said Soril.
“No not yet. Its still early for you to get involve with them…just go home for now and come by tomorrow at the Dojo, we have to move on with your next step in your training.” said Cecil.
“Um, I can’t…really come by tomorrow, my friends asked me to come by their place and spend the night over.” said Soril.
“Hmm…I see, well try not to get too comfortable. The next stage is more physically and both mentally burdening. Its not something you should look down on.” said Cecil.
“Right, I’ll get going now.” as Soril left, Cecil made his way to meet with the Crow’s Coop.
As Soril was able to change into his normal pair of clothes, he started making his way to the station. As he did, he noticed that it was starting to rain…
“…”
Feeling a bit tired, as Soril got on the train, he made sure to sit down and wait as the train moved on to the next station.
But as he waited on the train, feeling nothing but the shaking of the train’s movements, he noticed that apart from every stranger here in the train, two particular people who he knew were also in the train with him.
‘…its Jason and Jessabelle…wait! is this part of the story where Jason and Jessabelle just got back from meeting with the Armadillo Knights guild?’ he thought as he found Jason quite tired and was wearing burned clothes.
“…Geez, I can’t believe they went in that hard just to try and recruit me.” said Jason as he looked very pissed.
“I can’t believe that I’m riding a train for the first time in my life.” said Jessabelle.
“Ah…anyway, what do you think I should’ve done back then. Should I have accepted their offer?” asked Jason as he had this uncertain tone.
“No, you did what you think is right and isn’t that all that matters?”
“Well, it was kind of rude for me to-”
“Who cares if it was rude, you shouldn’t think about it like that. They offered you something, and you had every right to judge for yourself what to do then. Also, I thought you were planing on making your own group…not join one.” said Jessabelle.
“I am…its hard, but I’m eyeing a few people who I want to recruit into my raid group. And I’m hoping that you would join me in that group as well.”
“Hmph! Like I care for your dreams…I have my own and that’s to surpass my father.” said Jessabelle as she sounded very confident about herself.
“Right…I was thinking about recruiting that guy.” said Jason as he had this serious expression on himself.
“Who? Juel?”
“No, not Juel…although, I do welcome him if he does approach me, but the person I want in my group is Soril.”
“What? That rude bastard?” asked Jessabelle.
“He’s a good tank…a person capable of having my back when I need him at my worst.”
“Ha! Like hell you can, I doubt he would even agree to your wish…that bastard doesn’t even seem like the type to go on with groups…he’s probably a lone hunter.” said Jessabelle.
“Well, he does give off that kind of vibe.” said Jason.
“But…if you do get him on your side, hey, I might even consider joining your group.” said Jessabelle as she looked to Jason with a smug expression.
“…Right, if you’re there, then the chances of him sticking around only decreases.”
“What?!”
“Did you even settle your issues with the guy?” asked Jason as he got to the root of the problem with Jessabelle’s issues with Soril.
“I did…I gave him back a high grade potion for healing me. We’re even.” she said.
“Right…but that’s just about the potion. To me, it seems like you want to talk to him…like you really want to talk to him.” said Jason.
“Hey!…its not easy.” said Jessabelle.
“Yes it is, just go up to the guy and say ‘hey’…and only two things can come up from that. Either he hates you, so he ignores you or insults you like he normally would for some reason….or he says hey back. Now, if he does say ‘hey’ and acts friendly, what do you do?” asked Jason to Jessabelle as he tries to fix her issues with Soril.
“.…I…I punch him?” said Jessabelle in an unsure manner.
“…Y-You punch him? Why?” asked Jason as he felt doubtful of her response.
“I don’t know…I mean everytime I look at the guy, I just wanna punch him in the face.” said Jessabelle.
“Oh god…damn. Well I guess I can understand why he’s rude to you…” saying this, Jessabelle couldn’t believe what jason was saying…but knowing her tendency to be somewhat violent…she took this chance to try and think things through.
“…Wha-fine, the next time I see him I’ll…just say ‘Hi’ and nothing else.” she said as she too couldn’t really see that happening.
“…Right, and hearing you say that really didn’t seem skeptical at all.” he said as he was being sarcastic.
“Believe me, the next time you’ll see me and him together, we’ll be colleagues unlike any other.” she said as she looked very confident.
“Right…I don’t see how a ‘Hi’ can lead to that, but whatever.” and still hearing that, it seemed very unlikely.
Meanwhile as they continued to talk…Soril remained listening to their conversation, leading him to only one thought in the end…
‘The next time we meet…I should probably just avoid her altogether.’
Its almost unlikely that they were going to be friends and its seems like it’s a more of a possibility that she hits him in their encounter rather than she says hi to him. So to secure the safety of his face, he might as well avoid her…that seemed like the safest option.
As the train finally arrived at Soril’s neighborhood, he got off…and looking back, he saw that Jason and Jessabelle were still talking inside the train. Seeing this, it seemed like they lived a bit farther from his hometown.
“Hmm…that was awkward.” said Soril as he made his way home.
The next day, as Soril and his friends made their way to Jessica’s place, they came upon the sight of a celebration congratulating everyone in their ranks going up. With Soril, Jessica gave him a piece of item that seems to resemble the same item she usually carries with her. The kind of item that turns into a suit of armor.
“This was made from one of our most talented blacksmiths…I should have given this to you yesterday when I had the chance, but we were busy with some other things. And since today was a celebration, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.” she said as she handed him the gift.
“This is nice…but should I really have this?” asked Soril as he felt overwhelmed by her gift.
“Don’t worry about it Boy, consider it a congratulatory gift from us, the young family.” said Jessica’s father as he came to celebrate with the group.
“Dad? You’re here…”said Jessica as she was quite surprised by her father’s arrival.
“Mr. Young…It’s a pleasure to meet you again.” said Soril as he tries to act formal in front of Jessica’s father.
“Don’t be so Formal Soril, Call Mr. Oliver.” as her Father introduced himself by his name, Being Oliver Young. He moved his hand forward and gave a gesture for a handshake.
“R-right…Thank you Mr. Oliver.” said Soril.
“Your Welcome. Anyways, this Magic tool is called a Foldguard. Its one of the many advancements of human craftsmanship that enables humanity to go one step forward against our enemies.” said jessica’s father.
“I don’t know what to say…but thank you.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it Soril, as long as you help our daughter here grow, consider yourself a part of our family.” said Mr. Oliver as he holds on to the shoulders of Jessica.
“Anyway, I also have gifts for you guys as well.” said Jessica as she turned to her other friends and she pats away her father’s hands.
“Really?” asked Marilyn as she was surprised by this.
“Of course, although I choose these gift to accommodate your abilities.” said Jessica.
With that said, she gave Marilyn a Grimoire that was leaning in to the elements of light magic. She gave Zelisha a new more powerful bow and she gave Thors a gauntlet that is more advanced than the one he uses to hold his Hammer.
“How can we ever repay you for this?” asked Thors.
“You guys don’t have to. We’re friends…and we’re also a raid group, so as much as I wanted to give these as gifts, their just a precaution when we enter more dangerous dungeons in the future.” said Jessica.
After her friends were given gifts, Jessica’s maid came in with an array of foods fit for a celebration. Seeing this, Jessica announced that it was time to eat and as they all ate what was prepared as a celebration for a feast. Another person came to join the celebration.
It was Oliver Young’s Wife, Eveline Young. With her brunette hair and dark-blue eyes that came with a soft expression, she visited with a very exquisite blue dress that matched her eyes.
And just as her approach was very soft and eye-catching, she made way to Soril and Thors who were talking to one another.
“You must be Soril, I’m Jessica’s Older Sister, pleasure to meet you.” said Eveline as she had this playful smile attached to her expression.
“…I never knew that Jessica had an Older sister, I only knew that she had three older brothers.”
“Oh my, she didn’t tell you? Hmm, sometimes that girl is really shy to introduce me…I wonder why” said Eveline as she acted distraught about this news.
“I wonder why indeed, Mom.” said Jessica as she stood behind her mother with her arms crossed.
“Mom? Oh Jessica, you jokester you~~O-Hohohoho” as Eveline laughs at Jessica surprising appearance from behind, Eveline slowly made her escape.
“Please don’t tell she told something about me?” asked Jessica as she approached Soril.
“Not really…still, for a mother, she really looks young. For a second there, I thought she was your older sister for real.” said Soril.
“Haa…that’s her way of introducing herself to some of our guest. She sometimes like to act like it, but really, its getting worse and worse each time she does it.” said Jessica as she was quite tired of it.
“You wanna have a piece of my cake?” asked Soril as he moved his plate closer.
“Thanks…Aahh~” as Jessica accepted, she only opened her mouth and waited for Soril to feed her himself.
“…Hmm, fine…” as Soril felt pressured by her cutesy act, he had no choice but to feed her.
“Nam*…thank you…” said Jessica as she blushed from being feed cake.
As time passed, and as the celebration was ending, it was now time to move on with doing one of the last activities for their assignment. Which was to make a high-grade potion.
“Now come on, lets go and make us a few high Grade Potions.” said Jessica as she lead her friends to one of the many labs in the mansion.
As they were making the potion, out of the time that they were working, Zelisha calle out something she just remembered on the news.
“Hey, speaking of making potions, did you guys heard about a Doctor that got assassinated last night?” asked Zelisha as she was working with her friends on making the potion.
“Hmm? Not really no.” said Marilyn.
“What kind of doctor was he?” asked Jessica.
“I think his name was Roger or something, and he worked with making Pharmaceuticals…so, medicine and stuff.” said Zelisha as she barely remembered who the person was.
“Hnn, did the news say anything about why he was assassinated? I mean…for all we know, he might have made some really controversial stuff that could put a man in jail. ” asked Thors.
“Well…they said that his head was cut off from the rest of the body and was liquefied.” said Zelisha.
“Liquefied?….oh, you mean they melted his head in like some acid or something?” asked Marilyn.
“Yeah…something like that. What’s crazy about this guy was that he had a storage filled with dead bodies of some children in the basement of some company…now that he was found out, the company was quickly turned over by the police. A lot of the people working there were questioned, so now, I’m pretty sure that company doesn’t exist anymore.” said Zelisha.
“Whoa…that’s pretty gruesome.” Said Soril as he acted quite surprised by this news.he apologized.
“.…talking about stuff like that…Did you want to become a Doctor Zelisha?” asked Jessica as she turned to Zelisha with a curious expression.
“Well…yeah, I do. Other than taking the course of being a hunter, I also wanted to become a doctor like my father.” said Zelisha.
“Oh…so that’s why you’re pretty good at making potions, you got it from your dad.” said Marilyn.
“Yeah…and I got my talents of being an archer from my mom.”
“Hearing the things about the stuff the doctor did to those Children really isn’t something a person should ever do. That bastard didn’t deserved the title of Doctor if all he did was be a damn monster. If I had my chance, I would have killed him myself…” said Zelisha as she was starting to get angry.
“Well, he’s dead now.” said Soril.
“Yeah….Good riddance.” said Zelisha as she calmed down for a bit.
“…” seeing as how everything seems to have gone rather depressing, Zelisha turned to her friends and apologized.
“…I’m sorry for bringing it up.” said Zelisha.
“No don’t apologize. We completely understand how you feel about this…its not right.” said Jessica.
“…Do you think that if we ever come across a person as terrible as the Doctor in the, despite all I said…or anyone thinks, do you think we can actually act on the murder of a criminal?” asked Zelisha.
“Lets not think about that.” said Soril as he took this chance to lead them away from that thought.
“But what if-”
“Murder is Murder, and there’s no justification about it.” said Soril as he sounded strict with his words.
“…” Zelisha stood silent after that.
“I get that your Worried Zelisha, but we’re hunters…and if we ever come to a point where a person was pointing a knife to our necks with evil intentions, the only thing we should do then is to protect ourselves and those who we care about…and there’s nothing wrong with that.” said Soril.
“…right.”
“Fight to protect…this is what we do.” said Soril as he tries to lead Zelisha in a right mindset of being a hunter.