Author notes: Hello all, enjoy the next chapter of this new book. I am going to be releasing twice per week over the next 5 – 10 weeks, and will review whether to maintain that, or drop releases to 1/week after that (to keep the flow of chapters while I am working on End Online + studies).
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Not long after the first client came, the bell on the door rang once again, indicating someone had entered.
Senna straightened her clothes and quickly entered the reception room, Thomas following behind her not long after.
Thomas was surprised as one client was already rare, but two on the same day was simply unheard of. Normally, there would only be one person walking in a week, whilst three out of four would back out as soon as they heard the price of his service.
What awaited the pair was a couple who appeared to be in their late 20s or early 30s. The man was dressed in a white collar uniform, as if he had just come from work, whilst the woman wore a casual dress. The most notable feature was the dark circles under their eyes and pale expressions.
“Welcome~” Thomas grinned before wrapping his arms around their shoulders as if they were old friends. “Come have a seat and let me know how I can help you. We have charms from warding off evil to bringing misfortune to your enemies. Perhaps it’s something a bit more secretive and personal though, such as an incense that promises a child with one try.”
“Stop talking like a conman,” Senna chastised Thomas in an icy voice before speaking to the couple. “I apologize. Despite his appearance, he is quite capable.”
“Umm… are you one of those creatures?” The woman sent a fleeting glance at Senna’s triangular ears.
“I am a type of nature fae.”
The couple sat down on the waiting seats and the woman covered her face with her hands and began silently sobbing. The man maintained his composure however and spoke for the two of them.
“Please, help us!”
“Woah, woah, calm down. Tell me what the problem is first.”
Thomas pulled out an old fashioned notebook and begun writing the details of their request down.
“Our problem is that our house is haunted…”
Thomas has Senna prepare a fresh batch of tea whilst he lit up a fresh cigarette the moment she left the room.
“Let me understand this. You bought a house that was for sale at a cheap price, a price that was surely too good to be true, because you wanted to save some credits.”
Thomas smirked whilst the unfortunate couple averted their eyes in guilt.
“Everything was fine at first, but after a month, you started experiencing nightmares, higher tensions with one another, and no matter how much sleep you had, you woke up just as tired as you were before? Even if you sleep in a hotel, it is exactly the same?”
“Yes, that is exactly it. It’s the house, it is cursed, and that curse has infected us.”
“Cursed, haunted, what does it matter, there are no objects moving or apparitions being seen, so all you need is some charms to ward off evil energy! It is guaranteed to improve your sleep.”
Thomas pulled out some old small antiques made of copper and brass and presented it to them.
“All you need is to place it beside your bed each night.”
“That… that’s it?”
Senna abruptly grabbed the small charms before carelessly throwing them into the garbage bin.
“Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Reeds, but these charms probably won’t resolve your problem. We cannot know what the precise problem is without investigating your house, a service which will cost.”
“Don’t be so uptight, a small talisman will get their sleeping back on track.”
“This garbage made by the old con artist down the road will not-”
Thomas quickly caught the young fae and sealed her mouth with his hand, ignoring her struggles to free herself.
“Don’t mind her. Aveline is the real deal and so are her talismans.”
Mrs. Reed, whose makeup had ran from her crying earlier, looked skeptical, “But, the girl was just saying…”
“Senna and Aveline simply don’t get along, like baths and cats. It has been this way for a long time.”
“I see… So how much is-”
“24.95c. Great price, and I’ll even give you 15 percent off if you buy more than one.”
Senna shifted her eyes to glare hatefully at Thomas as she was released from his grasp, but she didn’t say anything more on the issue. Her grievances were clear to the eye, however.
The Reed couple were suspicious, but they agreed to purchase one of the charms, to which Thomas pulled out his tablet and opened a mobile POS terminal app on it. Mr. Reed then swiped his phone over the holographic display and the transaction was complete
He quickly pulled one of the charms out of the bin and rubbed it with a cloth to remove any dirt before simply handing it over to the husband.
“Thank you,” He dipped his head politely, even if there was no sincerity in his voice.
The moment they left the front door, Senna turned and scowled at Thomas.
“What was that? You could see the strength of that evil energy lurking around them! For a something to leave such a thick stench on them, it has to at least have some modicum of power. A charm made by that old hag probably won’t even last a day before running out of power!”
“Oh, don’t be so uptight.”
“Uptight? At least tell them what it will cost them to properly resolve. That is what you do, isn’t it? Or is turning the church upside down the only thing you’re good for?!”
“Hey, that was unnecessary.”
Senna harrumphed and sat down at her desk. She took her schoolbooks out of her bag and audibly thumped them on the table to ensure Thomas knew she was angry.
On one side, the half blonde, half blood-red haired girl opened the news on her computer, whilst the other half of her attention was finishing her homework assigned by her teachers at school. It was a Friday, so there was extra homework assigned to keep the students busy over the weekend.
Despite this, after ten minutes of the sound of a pen furious scratching on paper, she was completely done and slammed the books shut.
“I’m going to have a bath, don’t disturb me!”
Thomas smiled wryly as she left, opting to pour himself another cup of tea from the pot that was now only lukewarm. He focused his attention on the channel 13 news still being played on the holographic PQC display on the desk.
“Thank you, Greg, I am currently live from the Vatican City, where you can see reconstruction efforts are still in full swing.”
Thomas watched the video of countless crews rebuilding collapsed areas of the Vatican. Cranes were set up all over the city-state alongside scaffolding and other heavy construction equipment. Hover transports also moved about the place as the core logistics process, and the grand Holy View, a giant holographic display focused on Christian content and propoganda, was also fully repaired.
Amongst the construction crew, the television cameras showed special highlights of superheroes and those with other gifts aiding in the reconstruction, or mages using arcane arts to project images to help create a guideline for recreating old architecture. There appeared to also be some accomplished local urban cultivators aiding in the effort. +
“There is still an enormous amount of work to restore the Christian Church’s artwork and architecture to its former grandeur, but the church is confident the hand of god is with them and it’s only a matter of time.”
“Sarah, it has been well over a year now, has the church made any further statements on the cause of the events that spread fear and panic across the world? There has been rumors that it was a deliberate and targeted attack by the terroristic supervillain association, Villain-E, or some radical group of supernatural beings.”
“Well, Greg, this has been much of a debate over the past year, in which not just the church, but also Villain-E have remained strangely silent on the matter. The official statement by the church is still that the global increase in R4 field energy, otherwise known as spiritual qi, over the past decade caused core spiritual facilities underground to absorb too much R4 field energy and go into meltdown, leading to this catastrophic event.”
“It is a day we will all remember.”
The video cut back to the news room where the anchors were shaking their head with sorrow, reciting the death toll of civilians and calling it a tragedy on the level of the Departure of Machine.
“Onto our next story, there have been a recent increase in monster sightings in the state of Texas. The Department of Homeland Security and the Protectorate have recorded new record figures of quantum field instability in many areas in the state and issued an official warning notice for all residents to take care.”
“No matter whether you are coming home or going on holiday, the Protectorate reminds everyone to plan ahead and check the current danger zones so you don’t get caught in a sudden monster outbreak.”
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