"Amelia, what in Nessa's name happened?"
The first one to act was Leah who rushed to Amelia's side. Grabbing on to the older woman's shoulder to support her.
"This is my mother Leah, she's been…"
"It's ok child, let's get her to another room."
Whatever happened it was not good, Leah could tell that much at first glance.
It was better for Amelia's mother to go to a separate room where she could tell her what occurred or keep it to herself. Leah wanted to help but knew Amelia's mother may still be in pain and wanted to keep everyone at a distance.
Jacob watched the three women walk away as they went down a hall on the left side of the temple.
Jack sighed as he looked up.
"Do you want to know what happened?"
"No, what did you learn about Ash?"
Although he was slightly interested in what occurred to Amelia's mother, Jacob needed to keep a distance. Getting too involved would make him get attached. To him, he had no plans on keeping in contact with Amelia after he was recovered.
Besides, from the bruises that were shown on Amelia's mother's face, Jacob knew she was beat up or raped.
"Just what I was told. He runs an agency for loans in the slums called Ash Advance. Along with him are three others who work as collectors. They go receive payments when they are due, or force others to work when they cannot pay."
Explaining what he was told to Jacob, Jack stepped closer to Jacob so that they would not have to speak loudly.
"What about his backer? Surely he has one, or else he would not have enough money to support his business."
Motioning with his head, Jacob started walking towards the stairs.
Leah was going to show him to the study, but considering she walked off that plan was put on pause. Granted, he could easily explore by himself but he was not in too much of a rush.
It was still early and Leah would return, eventually, Jacob would make his way to the study.
"Not really a backer but there is a rumor that he is the bastard son of the Levi family. He does have a relationship with the Midnight Brothel, as that is where the majority of the girls go."
Jack replied quickly as he followed Jacob up the stairs.
He made the name of the brothel clear in case Jacob would ask about it later on.
His experiences in the city were not great, but he has encountered a few women who wanted to escort him back to their workplace. Midnight was not one but from what he knew it could not be located anywhere in the center of the city. Must be in the outer region somewhere.
"If he does not have any support behind him then this will make things easier. We depart tomorrow, today I need to see if I can complete this spell."
Jack raised his eyebrow.
Complete the spell? It has not even been that long since Jacob obtained the scriptures and he was already close to learning it?
Jack was no wizard, but he could understand how profound their spells were.
Take a look at when he tried to read the scripture that Jacob possessed, he could not understand a single symbol. Even if he could, he would still need a lot of time before he could conjure a spell.
For Jacob to say that surprised him greatly.
"How close are you?"
Jacob thought about it for a second before he answered.
He was not that stable in his control just yet, so if he were to use heal its effect would be weak. Not only that, but he may also only be able to use it once. It truly depended.
He could not help but curse this world for not enabling him to learn everything with the press of a button just like in the game. Then he'd be able to use a variety of spells with ease.
"Roughly seventy, eighty percent complete. I feel as if I am missing a key part before I can use the spell correctly."
This only reinforced the thought that Jacob was a monster in Jack's mind.
His growth rate was phenomenal, and if he were given a few more years Jack could picture Jacob as a figure everyone would know.
Yet, that was in the future and the future was never set in stone. Many people die all the time, Jacob could easily be one to fall before his potential was reached.
Seeing that Jack did not comment, Jacob looked over his shoulder and saw he was in his own thoughts.
He chuckled.
"Don't worry, you too will become a great person. The only thing that separates us is experience."
Experience points were more like it.
Without it Jacob would be behind Jack still. However, once Jack gained a mentor or entered the knight academy he would grow in strength.
Keeping Jack around was something Jacob would like to do, but he would never hold someone against their will. Unless… he needed to.
Jack could graduate from the academy and enter the services of a general or even a noble's family. Heck, if he proved himself to be far above his peers then he could have a chance at becoming a royal guard.