" Thank you mister " Jason greeted the carriage driver who dropped him at his street. " No problem boy, sure you're okay? ". Yes, I am thanks for the concern " Jason replied already walking away. As soon as he got closer to the manor, he took a detour through the back to avoid getting seen by any member of the household.
Slowly, he got up the back fence, and made it to one of the room windows. He knocked on the window five times in a rthymic way and ducked.
" Jason, is that you? " Jack's voice sounded from the window. Jason immediately rose up and face Jack. " Luckily, it was you " Jason replied.
" What the hell happened to you " Jack asked taking his time to scrutinize Jason. The Jason he was seeing was wearing a badly torn black T shirt and it exposed the cast wrapped around his abdominal region. Bandages were placed on his left eye and nose. His mouth was not left out this, because a red sore was seen at the side of his lip.
" Scouts work did this " Jason replied climbing into the room through the window. Aa expected if an adventurer, Jack's room was littered with maps and weaponry random scattered.
" How do you expect mum to see you like this? " Jack said. " They'll only see me if I go out to dinner ". Jason replied poking his head out of the room's door to see if anyone was passing. He quickly made his way out of the room once he confirmed everywhere clear. " Look Jack, just help me out just this time, as usual " he said before running up the stairs.
*****************
" So how was work today dad? " Jack asked Lucius. The entire family sat eating except for Jason.
" Delda dropped a heart wrenching need on the council. Everyone on the table stopped eating to get what he what he wanted to say. " Evaluators are arriving " Lucius said.
" What " Ginevra breathed in shock. " To Benign? " Jack asked, his face expressing shock as that of his mother.
" Yes son " Lucius replied solemnly " Their arrival is scheduled for next week ". But at that very moment, he bolted upright " But, I'm not going to allow that to happen ".
" You're going to try and stop their arrival? " Jill asked apprehensively. Lucius face contorted as though he had just swallowed a slug " No way " he replied. " Is that even possible" he added.
" Then what do you mean by you won't allow them? " the question was posed by Ginevra who had regained composure and began to mulch on her food.
" Okay. the evaluators sent a letter detailing what they planned to do here in Benign, some of which included devaluating our tier down to 2 " Lucius said. This earned a gasp from Ginevra " And that means they we will have to relocate, because a tier 2 town will not attract investors ". He stopped for a while to drink a cup of water. " Ah.... that's better " he burped.
" As I was saying, tommorow, I and Fredrick will handpick staffs to evaluate all our sectors and correct what needs to be corrected. In so doing, we'll stop the evaluators from devaluing Benign and probably increase our tier " Lucius said. He said the last part with a hint of doubt in his voice.
" Wow, my husband is so smart " Ginevra squealed kissing Lucius on the cheeks. " I.... did not.... actually come up with the idea " Lucius said, embarrassedly looking at Jack, Jill and Heron. But Ginevra continuous kissing showed that she did not hear that.
" I would add that the devaluation is somewhat necessary " Heron interjected. Everyone faced him with angry looks in their eyes. " No, not that. I mean...we should be detiered.... I mean look at our scouts,the leaders are recruiting weak people " Heron corrected. Jack upon hearing this gulped down on his saliva nervously.
" Speaking of scouts... " Lucius face suddenly turned serious. " Where is Jason? " Jacked choked.
Ginevra looked up as she realized that Jason was not with them. " Parvati did tell me that morning that Jason left the manor this morning to somewhere.... no wonder he wasn't at breakfast "
Jason then descended the staircase downstairs with the cast on his arm. He had obviously heard their discussion. " Tada, I got ordained as a scout " Jason broke the 'good' news. From the corner of the table, Jack shook his head.
The atmosphere of the dining room suddenly dropped to freezing point. " Jason look at yourself, look at how injured you are, what were you thinking? " Ginevra shrieked furiously. " You left the house without informing anyone of us, and this is not the first time you have been doing this according to what I've heard from your father. And.... then you come home looking like this, like a.... mere scout you've now become " She breathed even more furious than ever.
" Dad, mum I was just choosing my path....
" What path do you think you are choosing? " Lucius banged on the table angrily. " What path Dean Jason, Jaliel ". Jason now knew the extent their anger had gone. They had never called him by his full name since he was five and now they just did.
" Mum, dad hear me out..... " But they didn't give him that room. " You want to know what I heard Jason? " Lucius asked. Jason in response to this slightly nodded his head even though he knew that if he didn't, his father would still tell him. " You picked a fight with a boy, Don Brown, acted rudely to senior scouts and directly flouted an order not to engage a tier 2 beast giving yourself this " Lucius pointed at Jason's body " Do you realize the level you stooped down to? Do you!!"
" Yes, I do " Jason shouted back. " Jason, no " Jack advised. " Don't talk Jack " Jason replied. Be continued " Dad, mum it will be better for you to stop treating me like a child. I can make my own decisions "
" Mind your mouth Dean Jason, Jaliel " shrieked Ginevra. " Oh, you want to stop me from speaking " Jason laughed. " Well, too bad. I won't stop. Look at Jack, a damn adventurer. An adventurer who does one of the most deadly jobs, and to add to my taste a low tier job ". He turned to Jack " Sorry Jack ". "Did you stop him, No. Did you treat him like you are right now, No. Stop restricting me ".
Wind began to blow furiously around Ginevra thrashing the plates around. " Mom, calm down " Heron said. " And Jason, up to your room ". Heron was really trying to ease the tension in the air.
" No, I'm not done. One last thing dear mom and dad. I'm done pretending you're deciding the best for me. Just stay out of my life. You interfere too much " Jason concluded and climbed the stairs upstairs.
" How listen to me Jason, you're under my roof and I decide what is best for you whether you like it or not. You will not disgrace us or get yourself injured or speak to me like this under my own roof. How get yourself upstairs and await your punishment " Lucius screamed out his verdict. His last hit in the table broke the table into half.
Jason stopped in his tracks up the stairs " Is that so? then I guess I'll be leaving this roof then to make my own decisions ".
" Jason, you will not " Jill said. " It hasn't gone far enough for you to leave the manor. "And where are you going to go to? " Jack asked concerned as he was the one who egged Jason on to becoming a scout. " It's not like we have any relatives here you could go to " Jack continued.
" Anywhere but this house " Jason replied marching on. In a few minutes, he had a few of his things packed including some of his clothes, his knight badge and some accessories then stormed out of the manor.
" Jason, where are you going to? " Parvati asked shocked seeing him leave the house with a luggage at the early hours of the night. She blocked his way.
" Just get out of my way you insect " Jason insulted. He pushed her to the floor and walked away.
*****************
" How, where am I going to go to? " Jason though as he dragged his luggage across the road " But my parents were just too hard on me ". The noise of an approaching chariot jolted Jason back to reality. The chariot stopped a few feet away from Jason and the cabin door opened.
" Hi Jaliel " the girl that came out of the chariot squealed excitedly.
" Hi um....
" Narla, Narla Hopkins " the girl said coming closer to Jason. " I'm a scout for now, and I saw you on the hunting grounds, and also when you were carried out ". Jason blushed in embarrassment for being told by a lady that she saw him fighting and unconscious.
" Oh.. yeah " Jason replied nonetheless. " Where are you going to " she asked still smiling.
" Just taking a short stroll " Jason replied without thinking a d instantly regretted saying those words the moment they left his mouth. " With that? " Narla asked pointing to the luggage that Jason was now trying to put behind him. " You ran away from home or was kicked out " she added.
Jason's eyes furrowed " Obviously, she has no problem speaking get mind " Jason thought. " So where were you off to Narla " Jason tried to steer the subject away from him.
" You didn't even introduce yourself, surely you won't want me to keep in calling you Jaliel " Narla said.
Jason's dislike for Narla soared a little bit high but he tried to keep it in check. " Yes, I prefer you keep using the name Jaliel " he replied her.
" Okay. anyway, I was just returning home from a meeting with a friend. Care to join me? " she said her face solemn. She probably noticed her question annoyed Jason.
" Your house? "Jason asked
" Yes, if you don't mind " Being more polite this time. Jason pretended to give it a thought and decided " Alright, I'll come with you ". Narla jogged to the cabin, and a man came out who carried Jason's luggage. " Thanks mister " Jason greeted the man. Together, he and Narla rode to her parents house. While in the chariot, Jason took his time to examine her. She was tall, sane height with him. She had a sharp nose, small lips her brown eyes matched perfectly with her platinum blonde. All in all, she was very beautiful not forgetting to add her in inviting curves.
" We're here " Narla's voice jolted him back to reality again. Jason looked out if the cabin windows and saw a magnificent house as the chariot stopped at the front porch.
" Finally, meet my parents " Narla said. The door of the house opened. One man and woman stepped out if the house. Jason raised his face to meet them, and was shocked at who he saw. " You... " he pointed.
******************
The Jaliel family were seated in the sitting room after Jason had left. " Why did you let him leave? " Ginevra questioned Lucius with tears gushing down her face. Lucius looked at his grieving wife and didn't know what to say.
" I am to blame " Jack stood up and continued speaking before anyone could interrupt him. " If not for me encouraging Jason, he would have never been a scout. I was close enough to him to stop him but I didn't "
Nobody said anything probably from the fear of Jack losing his cool like Jason did. " The deed has been done " Heron said. " There is nothing we can do now but to look for Jason and maybe you could offer you support for the scouts work " he said referring to his parents.
" I know Jason, he won't sleep in the streets this night. He'll go to somebody. We need to find that somebody tommorow " Jill said.
" I'll look for Jason and try to bring him back home " Jack said. " I'll own up for this " he added.
" Well, I guess that this might not be a good time to bring this up, but I got an invitation from the thirteen upper council. It's an interview probably to be part of the council " Heron said.
" Council of Tierurus? " Jill asked with her mouth wide open. " Yes " Heron replied " and it will be in four days time, so I'll leave tommorow. Forgive me for not being part of the search "
" No worries son. Just go to the interview " Lucius said holding his sobbing wife tightly.