'Fuck…I can't breathe…something is on my chest…' I thought as my consciousness slowly returned. I had been swimming in the usual mind fog that accompanied using up my-mana for what seemed like and eternity now. The only upside about it was that I always felt so rested afterward.
As more of my senses came back, I realized that I was lying down. There was something covering my body up to shoulders, and something heavy and metallic was on my chest.
I opened my eyes and blinked a few times. I found myself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, a bright light shining into whatever room I was in and blinding me slightly. Ignoring the ceiling, I looked down and saw the divine gold qolitz that I took during the illegal fights laying down in my chest. Its golden feathers shined beautifully in the morning sun. The evo was asleep and snoring lightly. I smiled slightly and tired to move, and my foot touched something else on the bed.
Straining my neck slightly, I saw that Bo was asleep in a chair next to the bed, resting his head in the covers. Nate was in the room also. He was asleep and snoring slightly in a rocking chair in the corner of the room. His feet kicked up on a dresser at the foot of the bed.
[They've been watching you while you rest…taking turns.] Fours voice suddenly spoke up startling me. It took all I had to nor jerk and throw the divine gold qolitz off me. I looked around the room and finally saw Fours standing in the opposite corner of the room as Nate, watching me intently from his watch post.
[I see…I probably worried everyone…crap I passed out again.] I said.
[You're other evos were definitely worried.] Fours said. [The gold paper weight and I offered to watch while you rested since the others were too big to fit in the room.]
[Gold paper weight…?] I chuckled and shook my head. [Thank you. For catching me and watching over me.]
[It was nothing pretender. However, don't make a habit of this…] Fours said.
[I won't Fours.] I replied.
[Fours?] The gravegyle asked. He cocked his head to the side as if he was trying to comprehend the name.
[Your true splicer called you Forty-four, you were created during the fourth world War, You're the fourth evo I've ever obtained, and you've Ben alive almost four times longer than almost every other evo I have. So, Fours.] I explained. Fours narrowed his eyes at me for a moment, then nodded.
[I find that name acceptable.] Fours said. [Since you are awake, I am going to take a short rest. You should wake everyone up and let them know you are okay. They've all been asleep for some time now.]
With that, Fours returned to my farm crystal, leaving me with Nate, Bo, and my divine gold qolitz.
'Love you too…' I thought jokingly.
I raised my arms over my head and stretched. I was sure to make it as loud and obnoxious as I could, yawning an excessive amount. My divine gold qolitz was the first to stir. It stretched its legs and neck then opened its eyes and saw me up and made a loud caring noise that woke Bo and Nate up instantly.
[My lord!] The divine gold qolitz exclaimed and junped to her feet.
Nate jerked clean out of his chair and fell to the ground. He was spooked so bad, Bo jumped up with his fist clenched, ready to fight.
"Damn golden turkey…" Nate grumbled as he sat up. When he saw that u was awake, he jumped to his feet and rushed to my bed.
"Chase, you're up! Oh, thank the gods! I was starting to get worried!"
"Chase!" Bo exclaimed, then rushed to the head of the bed and hugged me so tight I thought he was trying to strangle me. He then rushed out of the room screaming. "MOM! SIN! CHASE IS AWAKE!"
"Yeah…that's what you want to wake up to first thing in the morning." I muttered as I sat up.
[My lord! I have fulfilled the duty given to me by commanders Bone-lasher and Grimm-Guard and general Alpa'nagia.] The divine gold qolitz exclaimed standing up straight and tensing her tail feathers.
[What duty was that? Wait, commanders? General?] I asked. The evo tensed even more, and I realized that this was the divine gold qolitz version of a salute. Since he was missing his wings, it probably didn't look right.
[Yes, my lord! They ordered me to watch over you in their stead since they couldn't enter the room without harming you. My job was to ensure your safety, Sir!]
[I see…well good job…] I said then reached up and patted her lightly on the head. Her feathers were light but stiff to the touch and sharp. The divine gold qolitz chirped loudly and happily, then fluffed her feathers.
[You're praise me too much, my lord! Now that my guard duty is done, may I return to your crystal, my lord?]
[Yes, go ahead.] I said, extending my hand. The divine gold qolitz returned to my crystal immediately, and I was left alone with Nate, who watched the entire exchange silently.
"Sorry I caused you so much trouble." I apologized. Nate shook his head.
"You helped us all a lot more than you caused us trouble. You saved Bo twice, and you destroyed the red dragons." Nate replied. The sound of thundering footsteps filled the air, and Sin, Jade, and Bo burst into the room.
"Chase! You're awake!" Jade exclaimed. Bo rushed over and slammed his hands on the bed.
"YOU'VE BEEN ASLEEP FOR FOUR DAYS!" Bo exclaimed. My jaw dropped, and my eyes junped between the four of them.
"FOUR DAYS!" I bellowed. I fell back on the bed and ruffled my hair. "Why am I always getting knocked out for multiple days! I need to start keeping better track of my mana!"
"To be fair, after everything that you did in that one day, I think you deserve a few days nap." Jade said.
"Yeah…." Nate, Sin, and Bo all agreed.
"Well, whatever. Can't change that now. How has everything been since we fought Draco and Adellah?" I asked and sat back up.
"Well, the red dragons are a total mess. Once news that Draco had been defeated spread around there was a lot of infighting in the bronze city for two days then gangs from the silver city swooped in and took advantage of the chaos to take control of a lot of the red dragons old territory. I can confirm that Draco and Adellah have left Andromeda city." Sin summarized.
"While gangs have been fighting for territory, they've left our neighborhood alone. Hearing that Draco's right-hand man and the man that defeated Draco was staying here has acted as a deterrent for gangs to try their luck." Nate said.
"Well, that's good. And the shop?"
"Still a mess. All of our stock is either spilled on the floor or stolen while we were gone." Jade said with a sigh.
"I can try to track down whoever stole the jewelry and stuff, but at this point, it's probably melted down." Sin said. I narrowed my eyes at Sin and then looked at Nate and Jade.
"I'm kind surprised that you two have let Sinner here stay for so long considering…" I said. Jade sighed and shook her head.
"The past us the past. He did what he did to try and get a loved one back. I can't fault him for that, I'd move heaven and earth to try and get Bo back." Jade said, then ruffled Bo's hair.
"Mooooom!" Bo grumbled and battered her hands away. Then, immediately fixed his hair.
"Plus, the bum didn't have anywhere to go." Nate added. Sin narrowed his eyes at Nate and frowned, crossing his arms.
"It's not my fault my house was in Bronze City!" Sin snapped.
'The shop here isn't actually that bad of a property. A little fixing up and it could make a good store front.' I scratched my chin as the thought suddenly popped in my mind. 'With the other buildings in the neighborhood being deserted, they would probably be really cheap…'
I smiled deviously, which made everyone in the room flinch and narrow their eyes at me. Jade sighed and walked over to Nate and rubbed his shoulders.
"Well, judging from that smile, you had an idea." Jade said.
"I did. I want to buy your store and hire all of you as employees." I said. Sin, Nate, Jade, and Bo all looked at me with blank stares for several moments.
"What?" Nate said, finally breaking the silence.
"I want to hire you all to work at my company. Sho'lajah artifact company." I repeated.
"Wait, you actually have a company?!" Nate exclaimed. "I thought you were just making shit up when you said you had a company."
"Well, it's pretty new, and only a handful of people have heard about it. Currently, my company creates and sells enchanted items that are custom ordered." I said.
"THE FUCK! You actually sell enchanted items?!" Sin exclaimed.
"Yeah…" I said in a matter of fact tone. "How do you think I could afford all those bets I made. I took two contracts and got paid a it in advance for one."
"You sell enchanted items for a mere hundred thousand dollars!" Sin snapped.
"Hardly, my current project is upwards of five hundred million. I got paid half up front." I said.
"Are you sure you want to give all of us a job in your company? What would we even be doing?" Jade asked.
"Well with hiring all of you naturally I'd be buying the store and converting it into a storefront to sell enchanted items along with anything else I think about." I said. Then pointed to Nate and Jade. "The two of you would be in charge of the day to day running of that store as well as the acquisition of a few other properties and their management. Sin will be in charge of on site security."
"Acquisition of other properties? You're planning on expanding already?!" Nate exclaimed. I nodded and crossed my arms.
"I have ideas that will one day become plans but to make those ideas a reality I need space to expand and experiment." I said.
"So you're flying by the seat of your pants right now…." Bo commented.
"Hush you!" I grumbled and ruffled his hair, passing him off again as he grumbled to himself and fixed it. "I can't offer much right now but I can promise you'll have a reasonable wage, protection from other gangs, and a steep discount on any enchanted items you want done."
"How steep?" Bo asked.
"Eighty-five percent." I said flatly.
"That's still hundreds of thousands of dollars. But much more affordable." Nate said. He looked to his wife and arched a brow.
"What do you think?"
"I think you know what I think already Honey." Jade said with a soft smile. Nate nodded then turned and looked back at me.
"We accept."
"Excellent! What about you Sinner?" I asked.
"I called you Boss during the fight with Draco. I didn't do that to be sarcastic. You're my boss now." Sin said. I smirked and nodded.
"Good! Good! It's going to take some time but I plan to turn this store into the center of the company's future operations." I exclaimed then froze when a thought suddenly occurred to me. "FUCK! I'VE BEEN MISSING FOR FOUR DAYS! JANE AND IRIS ARE GOING TO BE PISSED!"
Everyone flinched and then looked at me like I gad just lost my mind. While I hadn't yet I would lose my mind when I got back to the college, mostly cause Iris would beat what brains I had left out of me.
"Who's Jane and Iris?" Bo asked.
"The chief of Logistics and chief of security of my company and my teammates in class." I groaned.
"Chief? That means they are over all of us." Nate said.
"Yeah…Jane would be yours and Jade's direct supervisor and Iris is Sin's." I explained.
"I understand…" Jade said. She tapped Nate on the shoulder as well as Sin then motioned to the door. "…you'll need to head back to the college in order to deal with your absence. We'll leave you so you can change and head out. If you leave instructions for us we'll do purchase best to execute them while you're gone."
"In that case, I want you to look into resourcing precious metals, particularly gold, silver and platinum. As well as a goldsmith that specializes in crafting jewelry and a building large enough to set up a smiting workshop." I instructed.
"If you need a goldsmith then you don't need to look any further…" Nate said then smiled at his wife. "…Jade comes from a long line of goldsmiths and she grew up learning her family's craft. In fact all the jewelry that was sold in the shop was made by her."
"Nate no! My skills aren't good enough to make jewelry that will be enchanted items!" Jade exclaimed. I looked down at the rings that I had enchanted and frowned. While they weren't anything expensive or awe inspiring that was mostly due to the fact that they were made using sub-par materials. As far as I could tell they were solidly made. With better materials their quality would improve.
"I'll be the judge of that…" I said then used the void pocket enchanted ring and casted the spell. When the void pocket opened I reached inside and pulled out my briefcase of money and quickly counted out a few million then held the wad of cash out to Jade. "…source the materials you need and then craft the best works you can. Depending on the quality we'll talk about finding another goldsmith."
"If…you say so…" Jade said meekly then accepted the cash.
"That's kinda careless of you Boss. You're just going to hand someone a giant wad of cash without a second thought. How do you know she and the others won't just run off with that?" Sin asked.
"Because she seems trustworthy." I said.
"He also saved my son's life twice now. I'm not going to repay that by stabbing him in the back." Jade said in a matter of fact voice.
"Now everyone out of the room so Chase can change and be on his way!"
"Yes mom!" Bo exclaimed then rush out of the room. Nate and Sin did as they were told and Jade brought up the rear and closed the door on me.