"Hello."
"Good evening, this is Caera from the Lance organization speaking. I am calling you about your resume."
There was silence for a moment. Then the young man answered.
"I was under the impression the Paragon would handle awakened resumes as he stated."
Caera spun several strands of hair around her finger.
A slight bit of worry creeping into her.
"Sadly, he is currently unavailable."
There was another moment of silence. This time thicker.
Caera could almost sense the young man's unease through her communicator.
So she decided to speak up first.
"I am the co-founder. I can assure you. That any questions you have would be answered the same way as the Paragon would."
"I–" the man cut himself off. Inhaling and exhaling an audible gulp of air.
"I understand. When should I come by?"
Caera hesitated for but a moment. But she wrestled her nerves under control. And checked her schedule.
"Let's see.." she flipped through her schedule, finally finding a free spot.
"Two days from now, at thirteen o clock is the soonest one I can do. Is that acceptable?"
There were several rustles of paper over the call. The man is checking his own schedule. A moment later he answered in the positive.
"Alright, see you then. Have a nice day."
"Have a nice day."
As soon as the call ended. Caera put down her communicator. Sagging into her chair. She hoped that Arthur would be back by that time. But she doubted. He had called earlier. Mentioning a week of absence. Apparently, the injured man's situation was not the best.
And of course. Caera, as the co-founder of the organization named the "Lances," was now responsible for everything.
And she already felt the stress and exhaustion creeping in. After the first day. She didn't have Arthur's nearly infinite energy. So obviously, she started slightly struggling with the immense workload. Who wouldn't? Dozens of important calls. Securing funding. Securing their cooperation. Creating secure channels to receive the emergency gate crisis calls. And then there was the "shopping". Caera was sure that some of the items required weren't entirely legal. But no one asked her questions. So neither did she.
And then there was her own original work. Recruiting. Assessing. Calling. Being polite, prying the information from people with sweet words. And of course. Assessing the dangers of letting certain individuals in. That included, background checks. Mental stability. Connections. Patterns in their slightest movements.
So it was no surprise. That Caera. A master with a hidden true name. Was tiring out, rapidly. And the worst? Sunless, that little cockroach. Didn't come back here to help her. She was briefed on Sunless's sudden change of heart. And was excited. She finally had less work. How naive she was. She expected Arthur to bring back Sunless. And Arthur himself to stay in Falcon Scott. But instead, both of them stayed there. Most likely relaxing by the best campfire of their lives.
***
An awakened monster had its head evaporated. Arthur casually strolled to its now headless corpse. He grabbed one of its limbs, easily dragging it through the ice and snow. This would be their meal for today, perhaps tomorrow's breakfast as well. Rations wouldn't do for a man healing after all. He needed actual meat. Even if it was from a nightmare creature. Sunny also went to the city. Apparently, he wanted to get more of his shadow fragments. Since he was only halfway to his fifth shadow core. Arthur didn't mind it. Just made sure Sunny wouldn't leave Falcon Scott. Just in case. But Arthur doubted anyone would try anything anymore. Apparently, war had already started. Hopefully, it wouldn't come their way. And if it did? Arthur could claim self-defense. As well as defending injured ascendants that were under his protection. A perfect loophole he had found. Not that he would try to abuse it. Such a thing could only work a few times before being called out on it.
Arthur had also finally learned the names of the two masters. The woman is Layla. And the man named Silas. The two were quite good company after all the sadness, bitterness, and pain had slightly faded. They all ate together. Laughed together. And Sunny, Arthur, and Layla shared a drink. Sadly Silas couldn't because of his condition. But he promised he would drink and buy it after his recovery as thanks. Arthur also pondered about actually inviting these people into his organization. But he still didn't know their abilities. Nor did it seem proper to invite them after such a tragedy. So Arthur decided to wait until they all would be in the Lances building. To invite them. Hopefully, Caera would have gathered a few people as well. Hopefully, she didn't hate him for dumping all the work on her. He would need to reward her greatly for her work. The question was what he could even gift. Without it looking like a romantic gift. Flowers, chocolate, and any sweets were off the table. Vacation as well. You couldn't really go anywhere. Perhaps a gift card to a salon or something?
Maybe he should just buy a weapon and gift it to her. Surely she would like that. Wouldn't that be kind of a bad gift? Since it would look like he gifted it so she could work more.
Arthur let out a groan of annoyance. The creature dragging behind annoyed him even more.
Then of course. Regis decided he had a perfect gift.
"You could just grab her, throw her on a table–"
"SHUT"
Arthur shouted. Not bothering to speak mentally. He didn't even want to think of what Regis almost said. Because it was most definitely sexual. God he hated that wolf sometimes. But he was also one of Arthur's greatest companions. A friend and a comrade.
[A/N: you read through the chapter. Good job!
Now leave powerstones or I will shoot you!
What do yall think about the story so far?
Also I wrote it a little differently towards the end, how did it end up?]
Thanks for reading and support!