Chapter 149 Goodbye
Blinded and pinned to the ground, Jack moved his hands to try and figure out what had landed on top of him.
Jack was looking back at Maura when this all happened, so all he knew was that something was pushed into his face and blocked his view. He couldn't see, but he was surprised at how comfortable he was. Whatever was pressed against him, it was very soft.
Soon, Jack's hand got hold of something. It was also soft, yet firm in his hand. He could feel some kind of cloth over it as well.
"Wow, you're more daring then I thought."
Recognizing that voice, Jack hurriedly got Keela off of him and saw the deep blush in her cheeks.
"What, you didn't like it? It felt like you were enjoying it," Keela teased him, yet her face only got redder.
"That-that was an accident. Why were you up against the door, anyway," asked Jack, trying his best to change the subject.
Keela didn't dare look him in the eye as she played with her hair. "Well, you both were in there for a long time. I thought you might be getting to know each other better, so I wanted to double-check."
"What do you--"
"No, we were just chatting, so don't worry about us!" Maura yelled, cutting off Jack and making sure to keep Keela from touching the subject anymore. She remembered their little chat the other night and understood what Keela's intentions better than Jack. "Come on Jack, don't we need to go and speak with everyone to plan the trip?"
"What trip? Aren't I a part of the group now too?" asked Keela. She was keen to not be left out, no matter how Maura tried.
"Right, let's all go and see that old fart." Jack was the first to leave the room, leading the way for the two women behind him.
As they all walked through the halls, Keela was eyeing Maura's new necklace. Having a hunch where it came from, Keela asked, "Wow, Maura, that necklace is beautiful! Where did you get it?"
Still a little shy about receiving gifts, Maura only gave Keela a quick glance. "Jack was nice and gifted me it."
"Oh, and there's nothing for me?"
"Right now, we've got to see if their's anything we need to do. Also, we need to arrange for the funeral…"
Keela said nothing else, not daring to followup such a sad subject by asking for free items. Instead, she smiled at Maura. "You're more aggressive then I expected. Nice job."
"I didn't do anything. He just found out that I didn't have my own storage item, so he gave me the necklace. Nothing happened between us."
"Sure…" Keela winked at Maura, not daring to believe that Jack gave away such a valuable necklace that easily. She still didn't know Jack well enough to believe that.
Soon they were back at the bar, but Advisor Wain and Chief Liam were both gone. Zariff was left alone at the bar as he looked at a paper placed in front of him.
"Hey, old fart, what's that?"
Hearing Jack's usual commentary, Zariff struggled to smile back at him. "Brat, we've got a few things to do before we leave. We'll prepare a wagon and gather enough supplies. There's also the funeral that's happening later tonight."
"Okay, but you didn't answer my question." Jack neared Zariff and looked closely at the paper. He blinked, shocked by what he was reading. "Is that--"
Interrupting Jack, Zariff turned to the girls and asked, "Maura, can you and Keela go clean up her body? Most everything has been done, but give her some new clothes, alright?"
"Sure, Papa."
"Of course, chief."
They both went upstairs to attend to Slivia's corpse, leaving only Jack and Zariff at the bar. All other adventurers were assigned a part of the city to investigate for possible connections with the Chaos Syndicate.
"So, when were you going to tell me about this? What took you so long?" asked Jack, eyeing Zariff to make sure he doesn't hide anything.
Zariff sighed and laughed at himself. "It was only a matter of time. I hadn't reported my condition to the association cause I knew this would happen if I did. Now that I've already lost my first level to the curse, I had no way to hide it and Advisor Wain personally wrote my release papers."
"How long much longer will you're released?"
"This trip to the federation will be my last as the Reinolt Branch Thief. After that, my wife and I will be ordinary members again," said Zariff, looking downtrodden. "It'll be nice to not have so much stress, but I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna miss the job, and the pay…"
"Calm down, in time you'll be just fine. Even if you lose a few levels, I can help you get back to lv. 36 or even further," reasoned Jack. "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if your daughter passed you in level? Maybe I'll make that a goal of mine."
Not even wanting to imagine that, Zariff stared at Jack. "Don't even--"
"Actually, that would be great!" From inside the kitchen, Marisha appeared and cut-off her husband. "Do you think you can help her do that, Jack?"
Jack scratched his head and nodded nonchalantly. "Yeah, that won't be too hard."
"Were you the one who gave her that necklace? It's beautiful! That's quite a nice gift, young man. If I didn't know any better, I'd guess that you're trying to take her for yourself."
"Maam, I--"
"Well, since she's already accepted the gift, you'll just have to take responsibility. Take good care of Maura for me," continued Marisha with a wink. "Also, now you can call me Mom if you'd like."
"I-I…" Jack had no way to respond to that. He started to realize why Zariff never argued with her because she always had something else to say that would force you to agree to her terms.
"Jack, I really do hope you can take care of my daughter, we both do. Every parent wants the best for their daughter, and we think you're the best one for her. In fact, we think you're the only one spectacular enough for her," explained Marisha. "Maura may be shy at times, but she's more caring and genuine than anyone. Also, she's also pretty special herself."
Guessing that she was referencing Maura's subclass, Jack nodded and said a few words. "Please don't misunderstand; she's beautiful and I'm sure she could make any man happy. She came to me asking to travel with me and she lacked some supplies, so I gave her some things, including that necklace."
"Either way, it's a beautiful necklace and I'm sure she's happy it came from you," Marisha added with a smile.
"Anyway, if there's nothing else for me to do, I'm going back to my room until it's time."
Jack took his leave, not daring to continue talking to Marisha any longer.
Zariff was feeling glum. The moment he admitted to supporting his daughter's decisions, she had already started making a move on Jack and he couldn't do anything. And having Jack joke about helping her become stronger than him, Maura's own father, made him even more upset.
Marisha comforted her husband. She understood how much was on his shoulders and that he had his own problems on top of that.
*****
Night winded down and the sun was setting. The Adventurers Association building was empty, not a single soul could be found in its halls.
In the south end of Reinolt City, there was a large group of people walking alongside a covered wagon. Almost every citizen recognized some of the famous faces among that marching crowd.
Eventually, Jack and the others came to a halt as the wagon entered the cemetery and approached an open grave. The tombstone was simple, yet it stood out from those around it thanks to it having a peak-tier item embedded into the tombstone itself. Most people wouldn't even realize it was previously an item if they had no way to appraise it. And since no one just decides to appraise random tombstones, the staff would be fine.
Some people argued, claiming that it was a waste of such a good staff. The idea started to become popular until they found out that Jack was the one asking for it to happen.
Everyone gathered around the grave as a select few lowered the casket from the wagon into the freshly dug pit. Some people offered a few words but most people just watched.
Slivia was a recent member and not many knew her personally, though everyone remembered her as the beautiful newbie.
After all words had been said, each person took turns adding a handful of soil to the top of the casket.
Jack stalled until he was the final person. Dirt slowly trickled out from between his fingers as his tears fell. Regardless of everything, he still felt responsible for her death and his inability to save her.
"Goodbye, Sliv."
His words were the last of the funeral and everyone sighed to think that the powerful hero who was on the rise had such a soft, caring side to him.