Matthew sat down at the table not seeming to hold the urge to eat his sister's cooking as she cooks the best in the whole town, that would be an exaggeration but according to her it contains "love" but for Matthew, it was 1 word "Hell".
When he opened the lid, Matthew was met with the ugliest smell that he experience daily for the past 3 years. 'Let's face it, she is just 12 years and wants to cook for me but she is not experienced enough to cook professionally at this age but if I tell her that she cooks horribly...I'm Dead thought, Matthew.
He gulped the so what called "Dish" and swallowed it and said with his trained expression for 3 years, "It's Amazing Grace! Seriously how can you cook deliciously at the age of 12!"
"Brother, I am suspicious of you now," said Grace with a cold expression.
"Uhhh, what are you suspicious of Grace," Matthew asked with innocence in his voice as he was scared shitless inside his mind afraid of the consequences if she finds out he lied about the taste of her "dish full of love" according to Grace.
"It's just that...Its nothing! Eat up your fill and go to shower brother, You are covered with smoke remains of your trashy bike" said Grace with a face that mocks my attire.
Grace knows that her brother has been fired due to the gossip of the neighboring ladies or so-called but they are the worst calamity for Matthew to completely ruin his image of a heroic brother who works hard for his cute sister.
"He always works hard for me but ever since that day, I can sense the loneliness from him that's making me worry more for him. I hope he puts away his past as a soldier and lives happily", muttered Grace after Matthew left the house to go to the public bath where he usually baths as he leaves the bathroom on the house to Grace as he cares about her safety.
After 15 minutes of walking, Matthew entered the public bath and gave the usual amount of money to the lady who collects it daily but he was stopped by her voice.
"Hey Matthew, the prices of bathing have gone up" said the lady with a stern look on her face.
"Seriously Sister, my shitty luck is not even helping me today. After taking out 5 more hels from my pocket and giving it to her, he said "I got fired from my job thanks to a fucking geezer and I didn't even get my monthly salary to buy meat for my Sister".
"Well, it's how adults live their lives Matthew." said the lady with a glint of pity on her face "but do you know what's different about you?" she asked Matthew with the face to ask her "what?"
"What makes me different?"
"The fact that you are enduring the hardships of an adult at the age of 16 tells us how much greatly you love your sister,"she said with a smile on her face.
With his face burning red due to the compliment from her, he said " Thank you!" and left the entrance in a rush to the bath area of the men.
Seeing him running, she muttered, " He's cute when he acts that way but what I said is the actual truth".
After bathing to his heart's content, Matthew left the area and again goes to his house to pick his bike and sped up to the shopping district to check for any job availability but his efforts availed him nothing as he was rejected by every shop as in this year, every shop has maximum workers to meet their quota as the "Flickers" of this era were going to be chosen this year by the Flicker Birds who carry different powers.
Every man and women can see the flickers by paying a total of 1 million hels in the royal district, where every species leader will come, even the Klash who are known for their hatred towards humans. As for how they will find them, according to rumors(Which is found in the dark web)that while they are being selected by the flicker birds they will emit an aura that is known only to the Kindley family who are known for their fame to track people down with just their descriptions they hear from their client.
As for the job shortage in the Forbes city in this period is because the Angrith Kingdom's King(Where Matthew currently lives) William Angrith told the people that Flickers will be selected in this month definitely, so that's why people are working their asses off to pay that 1 million hels to go and see the legendary flickers who will save the world from darkness.
Flicker Birds signify good luck and happiness when we see them and the reason why Flickers are being chosen every era is to defeat the looming threat that will seemingly destroy the world according to the records that were published to the eyes of the public.
BUMP!
While he was thinking about how to earn additional money, he bumped into an old lady who was wearing a black hood and a coat that goes down until it stops at her toes.
"Ouch! IT HURTS!" screamed the old lady after falling on the ground backward.
He asked the old lady with a concerned expression and voice "Are you okay?"
"Ahhhh...Help me get up bra--aaahhhhh" the woman groaned as she was experiencing severe back pain.
After lifting her, Matthew made her sit on the nearby bench which is available for public in case they get tired.
"I am extremely SORRY! I was not aware of my surroundings" apologized with all my might in the hope she will not ask for any medical bills.
"It's ok brat, I am a strong lady so this pain is nothing t--ah ah ah" she struggled with her pain to speak.
"Um do you have any guardian who was with you in the district?" asked Matthew to help her reunite and get the hell home without giving any compensation money to her.
"No, but I live near the Milton Pizzas, ever heard of it?"
"Ah, I work there!" said Matthew with a relieved expression as he found a way out of the situation but soon frowned and muttered, "But I just got fired from there".
"Oh, you got fired from there?"
'Shit, she heard it...does she have good hearing or what'
"Yeah Grandma, I was fired due to my 5 consecutive late deliveries," said Matthew after lifting her to get to his bike parked at the entrance of the district.
"Now Now, Life will be hard but learn to endure it brat," she said like every elderly does.
"If not for my cute sister, I would have killed myself to go ask God himself why did he give me a hard life," said Matthew with a chuckle but it seemed serious to the lady that he had tried what he had said now.
"Kid, are you an orphan?"
"Well my parents died when I was 7...but at least have to thank that so-called "god" for not taking away my sister from me!" said Matthew with a cheerful expression that would melt girl's hearts.
"I am sorry," said the old lady with a worried face.
"It's okay, I get that look often from people," said Matthew not wanting the old lady to think that he has a weak mental fortitude.
The atmosphere got awkward for both of them to talk as nobody opened their mouth for 10 minutes.
They came to the parking lot where Matthew parked his bike at the very west end of the 5th lane and started to kick start his bike as his bike belonged to the old generation.
"Seriously brat, are you joking with me?"
"I didn't speak anything to begin the joke with," said Matthew with a chuckle.
"You want to get on a bike that seems as it came from the junkyard?...no-no-no, to be specific enough it looks like it came from a bomb blast."
"Please stop mocking my bike and get on" gestured Matthew to the lady to get on his so-called motorbike.
Not wanting to argue with a young man, she got on the bike without further arguments and sped off the parking lot putting her hand around him to avoid falling.
After a 20 minutes drive, the duo arrived at the Milton pizzas, and surprisingly the store was still open.
After she got off the bike with the help of Matthew, she finally let out a sigh of relief as this young man in front of him brought her to the Milton pizzas which was a 40 min drive from the shopping district.
"Did you even get your driving license brat!" she scolded Matthew seemingly forgetting the back pain she was experiencing.
"Sorry, old habits never die," said Matthew with a chuckle.
"Do you want me to accompany you to your house?"
"No, It's okay. I'm thankful enough to you for giving an old woman a ride home".
"It's okay, it was partly my fault too," said Matthew not wanting her to feel bad.
"Well take care grandma, it's already 12.00 pm and my sister must be worried if I make it late for lunch".
"Wait, at least tell me your name," asked the old lady.
"It's Matthew, Matthew Layman". "Yours?" asked Matthew with a polite tone.
"It's Celine. I definitely owe you one so I will pay your favor at least three times better".
"Well, if fate allows it" muttered Matthew.
He sped off leaving a smoke trail behind shouting "Take care grandma!".
After he left, Celine muttered "What an interesting kid".
Celine entered the Milton pizza shop avoiding the curious gazes and went straight to the room where the door had a nameplate "Manager" hanging on it.
The man who fired Matthew earlier this morning got off his sleepy dreams and bowed 180 degrees after seeing her face clearly and said " I welcome you to our establishment Mam" with a sense of fear and respect in his tone.
"What is your name?" asked Celine with a stern look.
"It's Delma mam," said the man not caring about how she did not know his name.
"Delma, I heard you fired a young man named Matthew Layman. Is that right?"
"Yes mam, earlier this morning I fired him because he did deliveries lately and even earned our shop a 1-star rating. I only kept his job without firing him due to his sister as I had thoughts of marrying his sister to my son as they grew up as his sister was a beauty that was breathtaking.
Celine saw a photo of an ugly-faced kid on the table which was placed near her.
"Is this boy your son?" asked Celine with a cold expression.
"Yes mam, he is my precious son," said Delma with an ugly grin.
"Do me a favor Delma. I want you to pack your fucking belongings and leave with your so-called son and family before I kill you" said Celine with a cold voice revealing her killing intent.
Pressure was building on Delma as he was not even able to move an inch of his body to run away.
She moved closer to him and said " I need you to revoke your decision of firing Matthew Layman who you fired this morning".
He can only nod like a mad man in front of her while he peeing his pants.
"Good, now get the hell out of Forbes before the clock strikes midnight or you won't live to see daylight," said Celine while suppressing her killing intent.
He ran like a psychotic patient out of the shop to his house thinking 'How the hell did Matthew know Celine Milton, the fucking Mother in law of our king Willianm Angrid!'.
'Her aura was so scary when I first met her with the other branch managers to make a request on increasing every manager's salary in the upcoming year' thought Delma while calling his family to pack their belongings.
Not caring about how Delma will get out of the city in 24 hours, Celine was talking to the overall manager of Milton's pizza branches which is scattered across the continent making it top 5 in the stock holdings of the Imperial family.
"Clint," said Celine to the other person on the phone.
"Clint Jabo at your service mam," said Clint with respect to the other side.
"I want you to change the manager of Forbes city branch"
"As per your request mam but can I put a capable person from our family or do you have already someone on your mind? Excuse me if I am intruding on your privacy," said Clint thinking he has overstepped his boundaries.
"No, you are not and yes I do have someone on my mind".
"If you mind, can you say his/her name to register that person's name officially," asked Clint.
"Do not reveal his name to any others as people will get nosy as to why I am changing a manager of a small branch personally. Got that?"
"Yes mam". It will remain a secret until I die until you give the order to reveal it!" said Clint assuring Celine she can trust him.
"His name is Matthew Layman, sex is male and age around 16 or 17," said Celine with uncertainty as she never asked that.
"Can I register his photo mam?"
"No, for now, let's not reveal his identity as it's going against his privacy"
"Ok, mam, it's done," said Clint within 30 seconds as he believed his master to be very busy.
"Thanks, Clint and place Matthew Layman's name under star 5 as I don't want anybody to go digging around his information just because I got involved with him."
As Clint was about to ask why Celine said with a cold voice, "It's an order".
"Yes mam," said Clint and ended their call, and was ready to go to the informative department to update Matthew's name in the 5-star department.
On the other side, Celine muttered " I think this is enough to repay his favor".
While this was happening, Matthew was cleaning his bike while thinking about how to get a job.