Juliet spent the rest of the week exploring what she could in the forest with Devon, while Yamna and Tohgi spent time with his family. The week passed and they all set off to return to their respective workplaces, Juliet informed Tohgi that she was ready to return as soon as he was ready to have her. The next day Tohgi returned to work and got a message from their receptionist about a woman that came looking for him during his vacation.
Tohgi: A woman? Any other details? A name maybe
Receptionist: Nothing sir, she said she would rather meet you in person, I told her you should be returning in a week
Tohgi: That is very strange.
Member 1: Haven't even been here three months and he has women looking for him.
Tohgi: Well I've been here 3 months and I really think you have read the situation completely wrong.
Member 1: why else would she want to meet you in person?
Tohgi: I can literally think of ten, if we want to play reasons roulette
Member 1: I've been a knight for so long and not a single woman has accepted my advances yet
The knight moaned holding back a tear.
Tohgi: again that's not… wait not even one? That's quite pathetic (shit! I was too shocked to be polite)
Member 1: rub the salt in!
Tohgi: Oh come on! At least one person must have said yes to a coffee date or something.
Member: nope… not one
Tohgi: how is that even possible?
Member 1: not everyone gets to be lucky and blessed with looks.
Tohgi: well that is true, to be honest!
Yukimori slapped Tohgi across his head.
Yuki: That is the part where you're supposed to be modest and ashamed of being perceived as good looking.
Tohgi: I have a thing against lying
Yuki: that in itself is a lie
Member 2: all that arrogance…
Tohgi: I wouldn't call it arrogance, more of an inclination to accepting reality
Member 1: I even heard Captain Diaz had an interest in him and he said no
Member 2: He said what?
Tohgi: Again, a complete misinterpretation of what happened, but it seems like no one cares at this point.
Member 3: well it's not his fault that he's liked and you're all pathetic losers…
Tohgi: Thank you!... By the way I agree to only the first half of Christina's statement, not the pathetic part, just to clarify.
Member 2: You agreed a bit too quickly!
Tohgi: Can everyone listen, I do not know who this woman is, I have never met with any woman here that you don't know… of (that's technically true). This was probably just a misunderstanding.
Receptionist: I don't think so, she was very specific and described you quite accurately.
Tohgi: You're not helping.
Receptionist: However, she looked very classy, I would be surprised if you knew anyone from that social bracket
Tohgi: there you have it!
Member 1: Oh… it's one of those cases. Tohgi… stay strong! We are here for you.
Tohgi sighed deeply as he continuously struggled to clarify the misconception that just seemed to get worse with every passing second.
Tohgi: What the hell are you talking about now?
Member 1: it's not uncommon for high-end women to make pleasure slaves of southerners, but don't worry we would come with you and defend you.
Tohgi responded abruptly with a blank uninterested stare.
Tohgi: no thank you!
Member 2: you don't need to be shy or pretend to be brave… men get abused too.
Tohgi: I am very aware of that, but with all humility I refuse to take advantage of your clear good will.
Member 1: Are you sure?
Tohgi: very sure!
Member 1: we can…
Tohgi: appreciated, but rejected
Member 2: I didn't know there were so many ways to reject an offer.
Tohgi: I still have a few more if you want to keep going
Member 2: fine… We get the message, but if you ever...
Tohgi bowed at his senior knights.
Tohgi: I regretfully decline your offer
Member 4: wow… there was actually more
Receptionist: Oh I almost forgot a letter came in for you this morning from a Yamna Saatchi.
Tohgi: (worst timing!) Thank you.
The members in the lobby all turned their attention to Tohgi, after hearing the name of the sender. Tohgi ignored them all and took the letter from the reception. After collecting it, he attempted leaving the lobby.
Tohgi: Alright then
Member 1: don't "alright then" us, what happened to "I have never met with any woman you don't know of" I don't think I know any guys named Yamna.
Tohgi: Well you all know of her.
They all looked perplexed, wondering what he meant by that.
Tohgi: About a year ago she was announced as a new knight joining the order, she's the one that got in on a technicality
Member 4: Oh I've heard rumours.
Member 2: It's always the playboys that get all the girls, he needs to be punished!
Tohgi: I'm sorry, but how did we even get here?
Member 2: We don't like men who can't stay with one woman, making it harder for the rest of us!
A good section of the male members in the lobby nodded in agreement. Captain Aspen came out of the office to see that Tohgi had returned from his home town.
Aspen: Oh Tohgi, you're back, how did your trip with Juliet go?
Tohgi: (I should have just called in sick today)
Member 1: You went on a trip with Juliet?! It's decided, drinks tonight are on Tohgi, he has enough money to spend on multiple women.
They all nodded in agreement.
Tohgi: there is no way I'm sponsoring the whole squad!
Member 2: Captain! We believe this to be vital for the squad.
Aspen: The squad has spoken and I'm not passing up free drinks.
Tohgi: You're kidding me. Yuki?
Yuki looked away and ignored Tohgi completely.
Tohgi: Christina, bail me out?
Christina put her hand on Tohgi's shoulder in a comforting manner.
Christina: My favourite bar is the one across the road from Yuki's house.
Member 2: it's decided then, Tohgi is sponsoring drinks tonight!
Tohgi could no longer protest. A tear fell down his cheek while he thought of the demise of his bank account.
Tohgi: (why am I spending money I don't have)
They went to the bar and drank all night, the more time Tohgi spent with the group, it became clear how much they acknowledged him as a vital member. Tohgi had already gained the approval of Aspen and Yuki to be considered as the third mate of the squad, due to the talent they could clearly see in him. Although it wasn't unanimous, nor clear, the rest of the squad began to see him in the light of an unofficial leader. Sometime later, news about bank robberies became common, Tohgi was alert to the news as he considered the frequency to be alarming.
Tohgi: There was another bank robbery recently, is this a common thing?
Member: Bank robberies happen from time to time, the police handle that.
Tohgi: But don't you think it's a bit too frequent? Also they are targeting valuables, not coin vaults.
Member: petty robberies aren't our field, there has been no reported use of magic, why are you bothered by it?
Tohgi: Firstly, my background makes news like this a little more bothersome, secondly, it doesn't seem like the police are handling it and it is too frequent to be considered "time to time", thirdly, the amount of money stolen is alarming and hard to move which might indicate magic and lastly the timing between each robbery seems organised, like they have a schedule they are working with.
Member: That doesn't make sense, if it's the same people how do they hide such a large amount of valuables?
Tohgi: That's assuming they are small time criminals, but what if they aren't? What if it's the wealthy noble?
Member: I could see a trader pulling that off, but it is still too difficult to hide. I mean they can't have sudden spikes in their bank accounts without raising an alarm, and what would you use all the extra money for?
Tohgi: What do the great families do with their wealth?
Member: Fair point!
Tohgi: If there's a pattern, we can track their next move, do you by any chance know all the banks that have been robbed?
Member: yeah.
Tohgi: show me on a map.
Member: they've all been different cities, so here, here, here, here and here so far…
Tohgi: hmm, if there is a pattern, then there's a good chance our city is next in about 2 weeks, there's only two other cities in range.
Member: If you think our city would be hit based on proximity, then you're basically saying a noble in Cryhill is organising bank robberies.
Tohgi: I'm wondering if that's the case, not saying that it is.
Member: You know that's Sabueso's zone right? He wouldn't take a different squad investigating his region kindly, if that's what you're thinking of doing.
Tohgi: Is that so?
Tohgi suddenly became visibly excited.
END!