- 9th August 2138, Rich Client's Estate -
The family estate was a large, sprawling property with an immense main house with several smaller outbuildings.
Grasses and grounds were meticulously manicured, and the gardens were gorgeous adorned with plants native to earth, a symbol of wealth.
They had a pool, a training facility, and a miniature lake on the property. There were, in addition, a guest house and a caretaker's cottage, typical of this sort of place.
The entire grounds were surrounded by a high fence and there was a security gate at the entrance. This was to keep the riff-raff out and to give the family a sense of privacy and safety. Some people hated this sort of thing. Carefully approaching the small booth next to the security, I scried my surroundings for a way in.
I could recognize a security guard, a large man with a gun-type EX-Foci, in the booth. Hopefully, Wolfgang had disclosed my details through to the family before my arrival. Otherwise, this could be rather troublesome.
"Name and Purpose" He grunted at me, indignantly.
"Erik Graham, Bodyguard for your Boss's daughter."
I hope I'm in the right place.
"Show me your ID card."
Pulling my InfoComm out of my pocket, I flashed him my digital ID card. He proceeded to investigate it with some sort of device he had in his booth.
"Alright, you're clear. Go on through."
He buzzed me through the security gate and I walked up the long driveway to the main house. It was an excellent property, no doubt. But it screamed of wealth and privilege, something that I didn't have any real opinions on. Though other people may get annoyed at such a thing.
As I approached the front door, it opened and an adolescent woman stepped out. Dressed in what looked like a traditional maid outfit from the ancient European kingdoms. It seemed Earth things were a fad among the Neo-Terran elite. Though I admit it was easy on the eyes.
"You must be Erik. I'm Selene. I will accompany you to the master." She spoke in a silken, elegant voice. Performing a curtsey in front of me.
I was a little taken aback by her gesture. I had never seen anyone perform such a thing, outside of old movies.
"Uh, okay. Lead the way." I replied, dumbfounded.
Selene nodded and turned back into the house. I followed her inside, taking in the grandiose surroundings. It was like something out of a movie. I half expected a butler to pop out and offer me a drink.
We walked through the house and into a spacious office. A man, who I assumed was the client, was sitting behind a desk, looking through some papers. Noticing we'd arrived, he thanked the maidservant and dismissed her with but a wave.
"Erik, thank you for coming on such brief notice." He stood up and extended his hand. "My name is Benjamin Fleming"
I shook his hand and took a seat in the chair in front of his desk. Fleming? I was certain I recognised that name from somewhere.
"No problem. What can I do for you?" I asked, mildly suspicious.
"My daughter has been dreadfully nervous of the city as of late. Candidly, I think she watches too many of those ancient Italian Mafia dramas." He mused, explaining his situation.
"Considering your qualifications and age, I thought it best to request you for the job." He said, clapping twice.
A young lady made her way into the room.
The young lady's clothing was a breathtaking sight. It was adorned with jewels and intricate designs. The fabric was luxurious, and the fit was precise. The colour space it occupied was an array of verdant and leafy greens with metal parts gleaming with EX-Energy. The entire outfit was an EX-Foci. The girl's grassy green hair tied into two pigtails, with copious amounts of make-up on.
Naturally, this did nothing to conceal the shock on her face when she recognized me. It was Eliora, from my class.
With a smirk on my face, I played it cool. Finding it rather funny, I'd have to play bodyguard for a friend of mine. What a show!
"Hello Eli, how's it going?"
Now both her and her adoptive father were pulling a similar shocked face. He immediately spoke up. His noble tone inadvertently broken.
"You know my daughter?" He spurted, mouth agape.
"Yeah, she's my classmate in Extrinsic Dynamics class." I replied, still rather smug about the whole situation.
"ERIK?" Eliora shouted, very confused. The redness propagating along her face only barely visible behind all the makeup she had on. "It is- no- you can't- see me like this"
The continuous noise of hurriedly clacking heels emanated throughout the vast office, as Eliora ran to what I assumed to be her personal quarters.
A moment of silence ensued before Benjamin spoke once more.
"Well... Are you still interested in the job? It would likely be pleasanter for her since you recognize one another."
I thought about it for a second. It would be an easy job and the pay was good. Plus, it would be farcical to watch Eliora squirm.
"Yeah, I think I am."
-------:-
There I lay, sat in the living room of the Fleming estate. A room with enough space to fill my own family home at least twice, with a traditional television easily the size of one of the walls of my student apartment. I was patiently waiting for Eliora to be done getting changed so we could go into the city for our brief excursion. It was a rather lovely day outside, and I was looking forward to exploring GEI Central some more.
I heard the click-clack of heels on the marble floor and turned to see Eliora walking down the stairs.
She was wearing a different outfit now. A rather simple, yet elegant, white and green dress. Not dissimilar to the one she wore for the journey to GEI Central from Dawnport.
With her recognisable EX-Foci shoes and a pair of green knee socks adorning her lower half. She now only wore some subtle make-up, which I was getting a knack for noticing it.
Perhaps due to the nigh-exposure therapy that Minerva and Siska'd put me though on a daily basis.
Thinking about it. If she came from Dawnport, then her father must have recently purchased this moderately grand estate.
"Hey Eli, are you ready to go?" I asked, getting up from the couch.
She nodded, unable to speak. Her innocent face was glowing a beet red, and she was avoiding eye contact.
I chuckled gleefully to myself. This was going to be fun.
We made our way into the wealthy part of the city, builds towering around us and started walking around. Eliora was still rather quiet and wouldn't look me in the eye. I found it rather amusing.
The clockwork of people commuting from place to place was almost hypnotic.
"So, what do you want to do today?" I asked, trying to shatter the obstinate silence.
She mumbled something under her breath.
"What was that?"
"I said I wanted to go shopping."
I raised an eyebrow. Shopping? That didn't sound like much fun to me.
"Okay, shopping it is."
We walked around for a while, carefully looking in store windows and such. Eliora would occasionally investigate a store and come out with a bag or two. I let her do as she liked, waiting for her. This was still a professional job after all, not some teen's day out.
She'd stow anything away in a small bag at her waist. Some sort of larger-on-the-inside sort of thing, similar to what Warmund have.
"You sure you don't want to buy anything?" She asked, after noticing me coming out of a store empty-handed for the third time...
I shook my head.
"Nah, I'm good."
Material possessions are desirable and all. But I feel like her father may dock my pay if he finds out his daughter invested any money on me.
She shrugged, we continued on our way. Definitely starting to have fun with herself. She was visibly smiling.
We walked around for a few more hours before Eliora said she was famished. I was getting a little hungry myself, so we went to get something to eat.
Visiting a nearby restaurant on my call, order some food. While we were desperately waiting for food, Eliora finally started to loosen up a bit. She was still avoiding eye contact, but she was no longer as mute as she was before.
Until the glint of something caught my attention in the distance. He was wearing a tailored suit with a white shirt and a black tie.
His shoes were polished, and he had a black leather briefcase. A man that could only be described as 'Mafia', pointing a gun at Eliora. The gun looked to be an EX-Foci too. Suppose that's more convenient than bullets.
Instantly jerking my head around the mostly deserted restaurant, noticing two other men in similar attire.
I wasn't too confident in my chances with these three, but a job is a job. Eliora is also rather adorable sometimes. It'd be a cruel shame to lose that.
Holding them off until the local law enforcement inevitably arrive would likely be the best option.
My thought process was complete, unsheathing The Mauve Allure almost instincivly. Instantly revealing its ornate purple edge to the restaurant in a flash of metal.
This was going to be interesting.
Faithfully imitating something I'd seen on an old video game from over 100 years ago, in a flash of confidence, I levelled my razor edged blade at the rather gruff looking man closest and announced to the whole room,
"Prepare yourself!"