by Naosu N R
But this proves I was right to not use charm on Simone until after she liked me a bit more!
Spoon feeding Simone food also made her happier I think. And it seems like she's starting to view this thing as a bit of a forced vacation, since I don't make her do much except exercise and read books.
(She asked to swim in the pool, but that's still forbidden, until we can trust her.)
I'd finally gotten my door to be X-ray vision proofed also. (And now Diego's mad at me but won't say why, showing more evidence I was right.)
But another discovery is that there is such a thing as getting an X-ray vision enchant on clothing now. And I wouldn't have found that if I wasn't thinking about how to counter Diego obsessively. It seems like my mood and what I'm worried about can trigger what unlocks in the system.
I sold 2 sets of 10 throwing daggers to that one shop for $380 dollars today, after a brief trip.
Not bad. You can do a lot for that much, and it was only a couple days work.
I also farmed dungeons for 3 out of 6 days total, for another $283. (It went down a bit because one of the days I'd had an accident and had to flee from some thugs, leaving the dungeon early.)
The 'Blind' enchant flashlight now has 3 uses per day, after I upgraded it again!
Another upgrade also is I have a second flashlight that I'm trying to work up. Currently it can only do 'batteries don't expire' as its effect, as long as its on my person for a period of time.
I also discovered accessories like sunglasses, bracelets, and rings can be enchanted. But it seems unlocking effects for them is harder than I thought.
...
At lunch...
"Hey Simone, how are you feeling today?" I asked.
"Um...pretty good. Things are a bit better today," she said. (She's not giving me as cold a look as she used to. But she still seems guarded.)
Wow, she's gorgeous. She's still not able to wear clothes in the house and now she's getting used to it slowly. I think part of it is that she's starting to trust me.
I have to keep my family away from her to not let them bully her. She sees I'm not mistreating her. But also, she's still uncomfortable and avoids eye contact.
I'd also learned that she doesn't like it when I bring up how she got here.
"Do you want to do something special for lunch today?" I asked trying to win her over.
"I kind of miss Chinese noodles with some stir fry vegetables. Can you do that?" she asked.
(So Simone likes Chinese food? Or just healthy vegetable dishes?)
"Sure. I'll have them make that for us."
There's a knock on the door loud and fast. I cringed.
Melanie and Simone both covered up with blankets.
"What is it? What do you want?" I asked without opening it yet.
Melanie and Simone both can see I feel stressed out, but not quite as much as they are.
"Hey Jay, I'm opening the door," Mother said.
"..."
The door opens.
Mom is giving me her baleful evil stare. (And she subtle like glanced at the door.)
"What? I didn't do anything wrong. Why are you looking at me like that?" I said.
Mom looks really pissed off. She's tapping her foot with her arms folded. "We need to talk."
"OK?" I said.
"Did you get into a fight near the Tower dungeon entrance at the Los Angeles river a few days ago?" she said.
"No. Not really," I know she can tell I'm being vague and half panicked.
"What did you do? Out with it. And hurry we don't have much time," she said impatiently and angry also.
"I stopped a mugging of an innocent person by some criminals. Some things were trying to kill some punk kid. I stopped it. But I didn't do anything that wasn't legal. It would be covered under self defense. It won't get us in trouble," I said.
She appeared to think about it a sec but then nodded. "OK, that makes sense. Now I understand what happened. But in the future don't rescue people. Don't do that. We can't afford to have you take risks where our enemies might exploit it to try to get us in trouble and flip you against us to dig dirt on us. If this happens again, don't help out. Just let them die. We can't afford to have the clan involved in legal problems. Don't be a hero."
She's scowling pretty hard.
"But its good cover mom. It will bring our reputation up," I protested.
"Wait. Hm...let me think about that. You might have a point. But I still don't like it. Don't stand out too much. Try to remain unnoticed if you can," she said.
I didn't really want to talk so I shut my mouth. I kept my cool.
But mom wasn't leaving. Not yet anyway. She seems to be trying to figure me out; which is dangerous for me also.
"Why are you asking about this now anyway? That was days ago?" I said.
"OK, look. The kid you rescued; his older sister is here to thank you. And she's a cop. You realize how this looks? She could try to see something here, or gather intel on us. I don't like it. Its bad. I want you to settle this. Try to have her not come back if you can. I don't want to have to send the family agents on her to settle this," mom said.
"What?! A cop?! And she's here? Wait, are you sure that's what she wants?" I stood up from the bed, worried.
Given my family history and their moods, I'm now worried about what would happen. I'm not worried about someone getting arrested, so much as if they'll try to kill someone in the house.
This is bad.
I do like cops. And I want to be good. But its too early for me to have contact with one, while staying with my family. My stress just went up.
"Listen you have to be careful what you say. It would be a shame if I had to kill her. Or Simone if she makes any noise while she's here," mom said.
"No please! Don't! Mom please! Simone is wonderful! She's good and won't do anything! Don't hurt her please!" I pleaded, even getting on my knees.
The thing is, I know dad and mom are really, really powerful. I don't know what their levels are but I'm sure this is bad.
Simone looked scared also cowering on the recliner in the corner of my room. "I-I won't talk please." The tone of her voice wrenches at my heart.
"That's right you won't. That woman is down in the living room waiting to meet you. While you meet with her, I'm going to be waiting in this room with my knife on Simone's throat. If she or Melanie make a peep, I'll slit the slut's throat," mom said.
"Please mom! Both her and Melanie are good. Don't hurt them," I pleaded.
"Just make her go away. With no trouble. We can't risk it with those cops here. The house is big, and if anyone were to yell or scream the cop woman would hear it," mom said.
Its scary hearing what she's really like.
This is reinforcing my plan to some day leave the family and hide out.
"Wait let's talk about this. If she wants to do a visit, let me just take her out to a restaurant to talk or something. That way there won't be any risk for her seeing the family house," I said.
"He can borrow my car if he needs to. It should be clean and you wouldn't have to worry about it being traced to anything," Melanie said.
"Really? Hm..." mom thought about it a sec.
"OK, we can do that. Invite her out to eat at a restaurant. Try to get her away from the house. I'll still be in your room watching Simone until you come back. Don't disappoint me," mom said.
"I'll do it. But you can't let Diego near my room. He's a total pervert. And because Simone and Melanie both look like models he can't restrain himself," I said.
"Fine. I won't let him perv on your sex slaves. But would it kill you to make your brothers happy too?" mom sighed.
I flinched at that word. I didn't like my women being called sex slaves. I really intended to treat them well and like wives. (Melanie didn't seem to mind, but I think Simone didn't like it.) And her comment was selfish and blind. People don't pass around people.
What the hell?
Sometimes my family really pisses me
off.
I carefully shut the door and then went down down the stairs. But I was startled at her free roaming of the house.
No wonder mom was worried!
This cop lady wasn't in the living room, but instead she was in the hall going towards my room! This is bad! If she would have gotten to my room, a blood bath would have emerged!
"Hey, I'm Jay. And you are?" I asked.
"Hi, I'm Valerie," she smiled and shook my hand. She's really up in my face with positive and looking at me a lot.
She looks kind of interesting and also pretty. She's not quite as glamorous as Melanie or Simone but definitely has a slim athletic look and great looking face. Her breasts are a bit small but I still like her figure in that cop uniform. She looks a slight bit older than them also, but not that old; maybe 26?
She kind of looks Latin in genetics also, which I find interesting. But culturally she looks and feels like a normal English person with no accent, and acting like American culture; and very educated it seems.
"Sorry to show up unannounced. I just got off duty, and wanted to meet you," she smiled brightly.
"Hi. Nice to meet you."
"You also."
"Let's go to the living room to talk," I suggested.
"You aren't going to let me see your room?" she smirked.
"Now isn't a good time. Its a total mess," I said.
"Ah gotcha. I don't mind though," she said.
(This is a bit weird. I don't feel too good about this and I would be more nervous than I am if I were more involved in the family business. But it is also a bit suspicious because she probably is about 7 years or so older than me. I mean she doesn't look bad, or real old, but she probably looks late 20s or close to 30.)
"How about next time? Let's go out to the back pool. Its relaxing," I said. (I thought this would drive her away actually.)
"You guys have a pool too? Wow," Valerie said, swooning at our massive deck and pool as I led her towards it. Now she can see it. It is pretty impressive. But that's a given since its a rich person's house, from my parents evil overlord businesses.
"Its quite big actually. Let me show you. Its fun," I said.
I felt a bit more relieved since getting Valerie away from my room.
I took her through the back of the house to the back kitchen area, and then out the double doors of the back onto the back porch. This area I didn't go to much because I didn't want Simone outside where my family would be tempted to kill her. But I'd wanted to bring both her and Melanie out here.
We also had high fences and a nice yard.
"Whoa, this is amazing," Valerie said smiling big.
"Yeah, that's...well its my parents. I can't take any credit for it. Its pretty fun. The temperature now is good too," I smiled.
We walked over to the lawn chairs.
Even if we aren't swimming there's a lot of landscaping and garden style flowering plants around the pool. And its a good place to impress guests (or try to disarm their reactions). Its also very equipped for non-swimming activities also on the deck.
"So you got off work just now?" I nodded at her uniform.
"Yeah. I did. Its still early, but I'd gone in early," she sounded a bit tired.
"Hang on I can have one of the staff bring us out a snack. Or I could just take you to a restaurant," I said.
"Well I didn't want to stay too long. But I had to meet you, considering," she said.
(She's looking at me seriously, like she's trying to look into me.)
"So you rescued my brother. Did you want to tell me about that?" she asked.
"Not really. Are you here as a cop or as a sister?" I asked.
"Well, its case closed. I'm not trying to investigate you. But its just basic dignity that I should be a little grateful and at least say hi to you. So I am here as a grateful sister. But I couldn't help be curious at what happened," she said. "Are you going to tell me?"
"There's nothing to tell really. I was by the toilet and heard them saying they were going to kill him and take his stuff, and that he had something valuable. Did you give him something valuable, and let him show it openly? Something he had on him tipped them off. There must be a reason he was targeted," I said.
"OH! Damn it. I knew that body armor shouldn't be worn on the bus to the Tower entrance. I'd warned him a dozen times to keep it covered up," Valerie sighed.
Ah, so now we know what happened. The body armor would be viewed as an expensive item. That attracted their enmity and treasure lust.
We did a bit more small talk while I'm trying to not stare at her pretty face.
And now I know why he was able to run away during the beating (because his armor let his system be less shocked, so he could still have quick reflexes. He still would have died if I hadn't intervened and was injured however.)
"Thanks for saving my brother. I really owe you one," Valerie said.
"Its no problem really. Is he OK?" I asked.
"He does have a few broken ribs. Even with the body armor they'd hit him too many times. I'm lucky they didn't hit him in the head," she said.
We ended up sitting on one of the lawn chairs next to the pool.
"Dang. I really like this. I could get used to this," Valerie smiled at me.
I laughed. "Well I'm glad you like it. We can hang out again whenever you like," I said.
"I might just take you up on that," she winked at me.
"Did you know he was a cop's brother?" she asked me.
"How could I know that? I wouldn't know that," I said.
"And you're a mage?" she asked almost in disbelief.
I shrugged. "Trying to be one. Don't know if I'm a full mage. We'll see. Its complicated."
"Magitek is pretty awesome. You're lucky to have it," she smiled.
"Its complicated. It brings problems too," I frowned.
"Yeah I get it. How did you overcome three at once?" she sat up from the lawn chair leaning forward to face me.
"Well using my skills. Also I'm an enchanter," I said.
"Enchanter? Wow. How did you get that? Its really rare right?" she leaned a bit more towards me on the edge of the chair.
I guess people really are more impressed with enchanters than others. It takes getting used to still. Valerie had definitely been impressed by it.
"Yeah it is. I'm still kind of new though," I said.
"Well if you took on 3 thugs at once you don't sound like a beginner," she said.
"So you gave him the armor and the equipment? So do you both dungeon dive?" I asked.
"Well I'm just a normal person. I don't have magitek. But I'd been trying to level up, so I can survive my job," she sighed. "And my brother somehow got it in his head that he was going to do that also and wouldn't take no for an answer. It was either set him up with body armor or let him die. There's nothing I can do, its so frustrating some times," she added.
It sounds like law enforcement seem 'VERY aware' of the level up system and needing it, from the way she sounded saying that.
"Yeah that's rough."
"C-can you help me?" she asked.
I was surprised when she took my hand and held it. Its not like a romantic hand holding I think...maybe?
But severe pleading probably.
"Wh-what?"
"Can you help me please? I have a rough job. There's a lot of criminals out there. I also don't have a lot of body weight. And I'm also trying to raise my little brother. And my parents are gone. If you're strong, maybe we could do a few 'Tower' runs together?" she suggested.
"We might be able to. What did you have in mind?" I asked.
"Just a few runs to help me level up some. If you do, I can help you get hooked up with some police armor. You can't tell anyone you got it from me. But if I did that in exchange for you maybe enhancing my own armor and my brother's, wouldn't that be fair?" she is giving me puppy dog eyes.
She's done her homework. She even knows what enchanting and enhancing are. Its interesting, but means I better be careful,
as she was quick to jump on an opportunity.
"Please! OK, I'll also take you out to eat and wine and dine you even!" she added getting desperate.
"As often as I want?" I joked.
"Heh, if you are a gentleman maybe," she said playfully back.