The morning sun slowly raised and shed light on everyone!
Especially Teras's eyes while he was sleeping
"It's morning already?" Teras asked out loud while he yawned
He slept on a bench that was outside in the town, he couldn't sleep anywhere better
"Apparently!" A girl sitting on the other bench said, she looked tired
"Wow! When did you get here?" Teras replied as he quickly got up
"Oh did I wake you up? I didn't think that you sleep-talked!" The girl said in an apologetic tone
"No, I was awake! I just didn't see you sitting there!" Teras said as he rubbed his eyes
"Are you an adventurer?" The girl asked
"No, I'm searching for a guy named Tokkou!"
The girl looked very surprised when Teras said that
"Are you and Tokkou close?" The girl asked, she showed a lot of interest in Tokkou
"Not quite! He found me in a forest and told me to come to see him, but I don't know him no, do YOU know him? It seems like you know him" Teras said as adjusted the way he sat
"Of course, I know him! He is the grand Jack! You know... One of the four possessors of the special cards"
This sentence made no sense to Teras whatsoever
"Come again?"
"Everybody knows him! He owns a mansion here! You can see it here! You see the mansion peaking over the buildings ahead!" The girl said as she pointed at the mansion
"Oh, you are right!" Teras excitingly said as he got up, he then started walking toward the house
"Are you going there?" The girl asked him confused
"Yeah he told me to come and find him"
"You know entrance isn't allowed if you are not from the royal capital, right?" The girl said, Teras still didn't make sense of anything she said
"Don't worry! He will recognize me! Thank you for your help kind lady!"
Teras said as he ran off to the mansion, but his trip there didn't go as planned
He knocked on the door but there was no response
'He might be asleep so I will knock until he wakes up!' Teras thought as he kept knocking
Suddenly the door opened but it wasn't what he expected
"Good morning, I'm Becka, one of Tokkou's maids how can I assist you?"
It was a red-haired woman that was surprisingly short
"I would like to see Tokkou! He told me to find him"
The woman looked at Teras with dead eyes
"We do not allow people in!"
"Come on! I'm telling the truth! Let him see me! He knows me!" Teras said as he held the door
"I'm afraid he is asleep now, could you please let go of the door now before I have to force you to?"
The short maid said with a devilish smile, Teras did as she said and let go of the door
…
"Who was it?" Tokkou asked from the backyard as he drank his morning tea
"A crazy brat! Don't mind him" Becka said as she returned to her house duties
'I was expecting HIM but I guess he didn't make it...' Tokkou thought as he took a sip of his tea
…
'What am I supposed to do? His maid clearly doesn't trust me so how am I supposed to get him to talk to me in person?' Teras thought as he walked back to the bench he slept on, the other girl was there too
"I told you, they wouldn't let you in!" The girl said with a smile on her face
"I guess you did... What's your name anyway?" Teras asked disappointed
"I'm Clair! Nice to meet you! How about you?"
"Teras! Likewise"
Teras said as he shook hands with Clair
"What are you going to do now?" Clair asked Teras
"No idea! His maid won't even let me see him, she says he is asleep but even if he wasn't it is unlikely that she will allow me to see him"
"Tough luck!" Clair said with a smile
At this moment Teras took his time to look at Clair's outfit, it was kind of weird, it was a tight black cloth, and he could barely see it because Clair covered it with a cloak
"What are you anyway? You don't seem like an adventurer" Teras said
Clair slowly turned her head toward Teras and replied
"I'm a bounty hunter! And my target is said to come here so I'm waiting for it, I have some time before my target arrives so I came here to prepare, you know what I'm telling you is a secret so make sure it stays one okay?" Clair replied with a smile
Silence followed, they didn't have any more words to exchange with each other, Teras was thinking of a way to convince Becka to let him in and Clair was thinking about her assassination
But this silence was quickly disturbed by Teras's growling stomach
"Are you hungry?" Clair asked him
"Like a beast! Yesterday I only ate some blue disgusting fruits" Teras replied
Clair then got up off the bench
"Come on! I will treat you to something, I'm hungry too!" Clair said as she started walking
Teras followed and shortly after both of them were sitting outside a bar, they had ordered some food to eat
"I don't know anything about assassinations but aren't you supposed to... Search for a good spot or something?" Teras asked her as he looked around the place they were sitting
"Normally yes but I don't have to do anything now since my target is someone that can't look past themselves, they act as if they live in their own little world so an attack from me will not be expected, I could easily walk at them and stab them"
While Clair explained how she could kill her target her face became kind of... mean-looking it didn't look like the laid-back girl Teras saw before and also her voice sounded harsher than before
"Here is your food!" A waitress with bunny ears said as he left the plates on the table
"Finally! Let's dig!" She said with her casual sweet voice
"Sure..." Teras said as he also started eating his food
The two of them silently ate until Clair asked something with the harsher-sounding voice of hers
"Why are you wounded Teras?"
"I got into a fight with a giant! Thankfully I manage to win, why do you ask?"
"Liar..." She said as she stared deeply into his eyes
"You fought with Tokkou that's why you are hurt, and the reason you look for him is to take him away from me! How dare you?" Clair said as he was about to get ahold of a dagger she had under her cloak
Teras didn't know how to react to what Clair was saying, and he didn't know the reason she assumed that in the first place
"Look he found me in a forest and told me that if I survive he would help me out! I don't have any anger toward Tokkou and I don't plan on taking him on a fight either!" Teras said as he got up
"Oh I see, I'm sorry I misunderstood..." Clair said with her sweet voice as she continued to peacefully eat her food
'This girl is crazy...' Teras thought as he slowly sat on his chair
He then continued to eat ignoring what happened, until he saw a familiar maid
It was Becka, she was holding a bag full of fruits and vegetables and another bag full of herbs, Teras excused himself and ran toward Becka
"I'm sorry Miss Becka! Has Tokkou woken up?" Teras politely asked
"Oh it's you again, I'm afraid not, you should wait a bit" Becka said as she walked away
But this time she couldn't escape like that, Teras grabbed her wrist
"Don't lie to me, I know that he isn't sleeping! I ask just one thing, let him see me, I don't want anything else, even if it is through a window, I want him to see that I made it alive!"
Teras said with a D E T E R M I N E D look on his face, Becka sighed
"I don't sense anything coming from you so you must be a fan or something, fine let's go to see him if that is all it takes to make you stop bothering me!" Becka said as she started to walk quickly
Teras followed her and they were quick to reach the mansion
"Stay here, I will tell master about you!" Becka said as she slammed the door at Teras's face
Shortly after Becka reopened the door and invited Teras in
"Come in sir! We were expecting you!" Becka said with a smile
"Are you serious?" Teras said as he entered the mansion
It was big and surrounded by marble walls, there was also a red carpet on the floor
Teras followed Becka into the backyard of the mansion, where Tokkou was drinking his tea while reading the newspaper
"You made it out alright, huh kid?" Tokkou asked with a smile
"My head hurts and I find it hard to move the right side of my chest so I don't know if alright is the right word to phrase it!" Teras said with a straight face
"Oh, my bad! But it was expected! You fought someone that used the power of cards while you hardly had any mana circling your system"
"Pardon?" Teras said, his brain was being fried
"You forgot about that too? Well, it's better to show you rather than to tell you so how about we have a little spar?" Tokkou suggested as he put the newspaper down and got up from his comfy seat
"I-I don't know about that, I mean if word went out I probably be in big trouble!" Teras said while remembering what Clair told him
"Oh don't worry! My mansion is one of the most secure places so ready up! You are about to fight the Grand Jack!" Tokkou said as he walked further into the open area of his huge garden
Well considering a garden is not right since Tokkou's garden looks more like a park rather than a regular garden
Teras got ready and when Tokkou nodded at him he charged at Tokkou but before he knew it Teras was stopped and then pushed back resulting in him falling down
"What's wrong? I said go, don't run away" Tokkou said as he smiled
Teras was a bit angry so this time he ran with all of his might toward Tokkou, but when he got closer to him he felt like something was pushing him away, the closer he got the stronger he was pushed away
"What the hell is this? I can't get close, I'm sure you are the one behind it but how are you able to do it?" Teras wondered as brushed off pieces of grass stuck on his pants
"There are these amazing things in our world, they are these cards!" Tokkou said as a card came out of his skin, it was the Jack of Hearts
"There are a lot of cards like that that give you an incredible power like this, mine is the Jack which gives the possessor telekinesis, this power allows me to move things around as much as I like," Tokkou said as he played with the card
"I don't get it..." Teras said as he stared at the glowing card
"Don't worry! If can touch me at least once I will enrich you with the knowledge of this world!"
Tokkou said with a smile on his face
"Bring it on!" Teras said as he picked a rock from the ground
Teras then threw the rock at Tokkou and also charged at him, the rock was stopped at its track and Teras was stopped too
"I can't move my body! That's unfair!" Teras said as he tried to break free
"Unfair? That's how the world works kiddo! Everything is unfair, and when you fight don't fight fair because you will never win!" Tokkou said with a grin on his face, it was just like a small kid's grin
"So... how am I supposed to get free?" Teras asked as his body was still frozen
"If you had a good mana control then you would probably be able to free yourself" Tokkou said
"I don't know that in the first place so please make me do something doable!" Teras whined
"Okay I will undo that" Tokkou said but he wasn't aware of Teras's devious intents
The moment he let go of Tokkou got punched in the face by Teras
"Haha! Unfair is really the best way to win!" Teras said as he laughed, Tokkou laughed too
"You didn't hit me but I will count it as a wain! Tokkou said
Tokkou looked unharmed by that punch
"So... are you going to teach me about cards and stuff?" Teras asked
"Of course not! Come by tomorrow! The king made me do a lot of paperwork today!" Tokkou said with a clearly bothered face
"Sure... But what am I supposed to do?" Teras asked
"Hell like I know! Do whatever just don't die! I will ready up a paper to make it easier for you!" Tokkou said
Tokkou then went to his office, and it was Becka's turn to dismiss Teras from Tokkou's mansion, she did that with a smile on her face the whole time...
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