"C-Children have better gifts you say? On what basis does that make sense?"
Said Teresa while stuttering
"I know that it seems like I'm just bullshitting here, but we of course have a basis for this belief." (Ken)
"Oh yeah, let me hear it then."
seeing as he grabbed the nun's attention, he continued
"Then let me ask you a simple question. Between an adult who has a realist mindset that was forcefully tempered from childhood, or a child full of untapped hopes and dreams. Which do you think will be more favored by the new "system"?" (Ken)
"!?"
"We adults are educated from a young age to think and act rationally. Our every move must have logic as that is the only way we can earn a living and survive. Because of this we are sometimes forced to abandon our hopes and dreams to pursue more… realistic careers." (Ken)
"But what if instead of a brighter future our logic ends up tying us down? Do you remember the first message we got that told us of our gifts, what were the factors that influenced the gift that we received?"
"...Nature, Ambition, and Mindset..."
"Nature, that is either something innate or something that solidifies when you are young so when it comes to this factor, unless a very rare situation occurs, the difference between a child and an adult is not that much. But what about the other two then?"
"If an adult's dream is to become rich or get a promotion, his/her child counterpart would want to become a superhero with cool powers. If an adult's mindset is to work tirelessly in order to get a chance of a better life, his/her child counterpart's mindset would be to gain something that would make life easier. Effort vs Delusion, Fantasy vs Reality, Children are simpler when it comes to their desires but they are also greedier."
"… and it is that greed of theirs that resulted in so called "better gifts" … am I right?"
"when you mention 'better', we of course took into consideration utility along with combat so you don't have to worry about discrimination in our organization."
"What makes you so confident that I'll allow them to join you?"
"well the although I'm not certain about the others, the little guy beside you seems to be eager enough."
"Hm?"
Looking at her side she saw Jericho standing there with a contemplating look, it seemed like he was having a hard time considering the decision, as there were still many unknowns.
"Hey! Your not seriously planning on jo-!"
"If I decided to join you along with the others… would you grant us a favor?"
"Favor? hmmmmm…. Although I can't say so for the other kids as I've never seen them in action yet, if it's you I'll consider it."
Ken said with a gentle smile, his eyepatch had been taken off for the entirety of the conversation so he was able to see what gift the boy in front of him possesses.
{[Physical Breaker], what an amazing gift! If this child is raised properly his future would literally be endless! We must have him no matter what, I don't care if he asks me for a leg or an arm, I'll do anything to have him join us!}
"Ehem… but something too excessive is not allowed, ok?" (Ken)
"Don't worry, all I ask for is that while we go with you to your organization or whatever, please make sure that the people of this orphanage and town are safe and well fed."
"Jer…. But how can you trust these guys!? We don't even know if whether or not they're really telling us the truth."
"Miss, it's impossible that you got this strong while living as a nun all your life, so I have reason to believe that you must have been in the past a person who was in the underworld. A super infamous one at that, kind of like the bloodied a-"
"W-w-what?! I don't know what you're talking about, u-underworld, what is that?" (Teresa)
"…" (Jer)
"…" (Ken)
"Ehem… anyway, since you should have at least some connection to the-
"I do not!"
"-… then you must have heard the name of our organization by now. We have different names all over the world but we are most commonly known as, 'the Colorless Joker'."
"What, you're a part of that organization!?"
"Sister, who are they?"
"Uh…
"Don't worry, I won't tell the others about your past. Well even if I did, nothing would change anyway, we love you too much already."
"Jerichoooo… come here!!"
"Uwaaah!"
Touched by the words of the boy, Teresa didn't let go of him for almost 10 minutes.
"Do you have something that could prove your words?"
"Oh, I was hoping you'd ask that, would this be enough?"
The man took out something from his suit's pocket and showed her a card with a dancing colorless joker on it. There seemed to be something special about this card as rather than paper or plastic, it seemed to be made out of some sort of flexible metal.
The ink on the card was also special as you look into it real closely it seemed to glisten under the sun. This is because rather than ink it was actually a thin black jewel that was flattened to the point where it was almost unrecognizable from ink.
Being presented with the card, Teresa finally realized that they weren't lying.
"… yes, it's enough… the black jewel used for the card and that irritating looking joker… it is a legit 'Jokers Card'."
"Phew… now that you've realized who we are, how about it? Will you allow us the opportunity to raise your children?"
Asked with the question, Teresa was extremely troubled. She couldn't make haste as her decision here will soon affect the lives of the children she swore to protect, either for the better or for the worse.
"The world is in a phase where we can no longer know what will happen from now on. Gaining powers all of a sudden might make those who have ill ambitions finally move so we are predicting that chaos will soon ensue. It will become a world where those who have superior gifts will rule, while those who don't will suffer. I know that you don't fully trust us, and that's understandable, but at the very least you can trust 'him'." (Ken)
"… him, huh."
Said Teresa with a solemn look.
"The head of the Jokers, one of the most powerful men in the world even before the advent of gifts, the king of the night, our lord 'Asher Lou Villard'."