章 11: Reginald Cast (2)

Reginald gulped audibly before standing in place not wanting to provoke the man sitting in the chair in front of him.

"Wh... wh.. what do you want?" Reginald asked nervously, he was still intimidated by this mans ability to see through him and was nervous that he would find some part of him that was hostile and kill him on the spot.

The man did not change his facial expression as he calmly replied, "As I stated earlier are goals align Reginald there is no need for you to be so nervous. I am offering what you can consider as a business deal."

After hearing the mans reassuring words Reginald calmed down slightly and sat on the chair opposite of the man.

"May I ask as to what this business deal pertains?"

"Of course, I am not an unreasonable man forcing you to enter a deal blindly. The fact is, that I currently want to be placed in the church of Mayaht as an acolyte, but I am not a pious believer. And I want a contact on the outside to... cooperate with, eliminating me spending money on the scriptures."

Reginald frowned before speaking out, "So, you want me to sponsor you as an acolyte to the temple of Mayaht? While reporting to me your findings, may I ask how does this benefit you in anyway?"

"While you may see me as a powerful mysterious being, the truth is I am not. I am simply a 'unregistered' who shares the same goal as you and cannot contend with the church on my own. Establishing a deal with you will expand both of our prospects, yours into the world of magic and rebellion, and mine into the higher society."

Reginald pondered for a second before asking, "But how will I be able to keep this hidden, my father and 2 elder sisters have 'registered' mages, they would be able to instantly find you."

The man smiled. "That's why we don't hide, here's what I propose. You hire me as your personal 'registered' and tell your father that you are going to plant me into the temple of Mayaht as a information channel. That way it will not be suspicious to your family. Another benefit is that it gives you a reason to bring me to social gatherings as your personal guard."

Reginald thought deeply for a while before looking at the man directly in his eyes and saying "Deal"

They both stood up and shook hands as the man was about to open the door to leave Reginald shouted out.

"Wait!"

The man slowly turned around and cocked his head towards Reginald. "Hmm?"

"What should I call you?"

The man blinked a couple times before laughing, he then spoke lightly. "Jack Axter at your service Mr. Cast, I look forward to our partnership. If you need to find me send some one to this location"

Jack passed Reginald a piece of paper with the address and room number of the inn he was staying at, before leaving the room.

Reginald looked it over before folding it and tucking it away in his shirt pocket. Staring at the door Reginald quietly pondered over what had happened in the last few minutes and mumbled in a low voice.

"Jack Axter..."

=============

After a couple of days, a knock came on the door of Jack's room. Since he had stayed in the inn for so long the innkeeper decided to lent Jack rent out the room as a permanent living quarters for a reduced price.

Jack was currently shirtless training his physical prowess to increase his Aura, Jack now looked vastly different from before. His complexion was now a healthy hue of pink, lean muscles replaced the previously scrawny frame. You could no longer see his all of his ribs and outline each bump on his spine.

His frame was still skinny as about a month of exercise didn't make one an athlete, but he was now a healthy weight. He was also now less tired during the day and headaches lessened as he continued to eat his fill and exercise. He could now be considered a reasonably handsome young bachelor.

Getting up from his Aura training he was sweaty, so he picked up a towel and dried his hair roughly before cracking open the door. On the other side of the door was a fair looking young woman wearing a nicely dress red uniform, on her right shoulder was a pin signifying the Cast family.

Seeing Jack shirtless the woman lightly blushed before handing Jack a letter, "Master Reginald told me to bring this to you"

Jack completely oblivious to the woman's embarrassment took the letter and simply replied, "Thanks".

Jack put the letter on his desk before quickly hopping into the shower and cleanse himself of sweat. After tossing on some clothes Jack pulled out a letter opener and cracked open the letter to start reading its contents.

-Dear mister Axter I have told my father that I have made a contract with a magic user in order to gain another power for our family and have proposed placing you in the temple of Mayaht.

Naturally my father would like to meet you first to prove if your trustworthy. I hope you can attend at 7pm tomorrow -

Jack quickly read over the paper and then grabbed a lighter ignited it, and moved the flame back and forth underneath the paper as a new set of words slowly appeared on it.

-Jack my father is highly suspicious of you, you need to be extra careful. My entire family will ne waiting for you including the current 'Registered' mages.

You will also be able to prove that you have made an oath to me, which we haven't I don't know what to do about that so I can only ask for you to deal with it.-

Jack smirked before burning the letter and then putting on his coat and exited the inn. He was naturally going to find Shark at the Jovial Joint. Jack was not worried about faking an oath, all he had to do use his Aura to fake it as his soul and put it into the oath. The 'registered' were all Mana users so they couldn't tell the difference between soul and Aura. Both came from within the person so they felt similar to non-Aura users.

Jack simply wanted to talk to Shark since he hadn't seen him in a while, and to tell him where he would be and what he would be doing for the foreseeable future.

Arriving and the iconic skeleton tipping his hat at Jack he grinned and strode into the bar with confidence. But as Jack entered he noticed something was off, there was no loud noises or the usual grumbling that came with the alcohol. Instead there was silence, as a man dressed in dark clothing was standing with his arms crossed looked down at Crazy Alf who was kneeling on the floor rubbing his throat with his hand.

The man spoke out in a deep voice "Your next payment better not be late Alf, otherwise we won't be so kind next time." before turning around and started walking towards the door.

Alf took this opportunity to stand up and shout in a scratchy voice, "DAMN YOU DARK SHADE FREAKS, MY FATHER PAYED OFF OUR "DEBT" 2 YEARS BEFORE HE DIED I DON'T OWE YOU SHIT!!"

This seemed to be the wrong response as the man turned around and lunged towards Alf with a curved blade appearing out of his sleeve. But instead of hearing the slicing of flesh like he expected, he heard the clang of metal and his sword stopping short of his target.

Jack stood there holding a silver plated pocket watch against the blade of the curved blade. He had teleported in between them just before Crazy Alf died saving his life, he had a fondness of old Crazy Alf and knew a little about the debt of Godfreed.

The man backed off a couple steps before his eyes flashed with excitement and said, "Interesting".

Suddenly he pulled out another curved blade from his other sleeve and lunged towards Jack. Jack, who was currently flowing his Aura through himself to enhance his physical prowess easily dodged the blades. Finding a slight opening Jack struck the man solar plexus knocking the wind out of him, then he kicked the back of the mans knees making him unsteady before grabbing his face and slamming it into a nearby table.

Then with extreme dexterity, robbed the man of all his belongings and looked at Crazy Alf and said in a nonchalant tone, "One brandy, oh and one order of todays special". Jack then tossed Alf a couple of coins before he sat down at the bar while everyone in the bar stared at him in bewilderment.

Breaking out of his stupor Alf got to his feet and prepared a drink for Jack before laughing loudly.

"Hahahaha, I never thought you were such a good fighter, I wouldn't've charged you a higher fee if I knew before hand" Crazy Alf joked awkwardly.

"Say mind if I hire you to go kick Dark Shades asses? Might take em' down a peg hehehe"

Jack simply smiled and took a sip of his drink shaking his head. "Can't do that I'm afraid but if I see them out and about I'll consider giving them a quick greeting. Anyways shouldn't you be more worried that they'll come back?"

"Pfft Nah, the Dark Shade gang is a bunch of cowards as soon as they hear that there is a good fighter frequenting here they'll buzz off real quick."

Jack nodded in understanding before relaxing at the bar enjoying his drink.

Over the next couple hours a couple people would go up to him and asked how he did that, to which he simply stated "It's a secret". Seeing that they wouldn't be getting a answer out of him the patrons dragged the unconscious man outside and stripped him naked, before placing him in a spooning position behind the skeleton of Godfreed.

Jack did not speak to Shark until after he signaled for him to leave the bar. Shark nodded in understanding before leaving the bar, a few minutes later Jack left to and turned and started walking casually towards Annalise's.