Adam began to stir. It was early morning and time for him to begin his morning exercise. As he came to, he couldn’t help a big grin from splashing itself across his face. He was waking up in the Domus house! Adma, Helen, and Vivienne had finally moved in just a few days ago! It was just in time, too. Helen had turned sixteen just the day before, so it was time for her to leave Madame’s.
Adam took a moment casting his Spirit Sight around. The house wasn’t finished, but all the doors were in place and the windows were paned and shuttered. He felt he could look at the house for hours without being bored. Every nook and cranny held potential yet to be realized and it was all his! There was also the figure lying in bed next to him. Helen slept peacefully next to him as he silently marveled at their home. If Adam’s grin could have spread even wider across his face, it would. Having Helen here made things feel… complete. As though everything was as it was meant to be!
After having his fill of gazing at the house, Adam quietly rose from the bed and dressed. He noted that Silber had already left the room. While he missed Julianne a little, Silber adored the Domus house. Not only did it have a large yard he could frolic in, but there was also an entrance to the Hill Garden in the back of the yard! Rumors had already started to spread of the Silver Wolf that had suddenly inhabited the garden. Luckily it seemed Silber was well received as an exotic sight by the park goers and not feared as a ghost.
After dressing himself, Adam headed out into the courtyard to do his morning exercises. He did his exercises close to the little pond and tree in the center of the courtyard. A little while after he started, Helen began to stir.
Groggily getting up, Helen draped a blanket around herself to keep warm. She trudged out toward the courtyard to watch Adam train. Warmth suffused her as she watched him. She wasn’t entirely sure whether she was still dreaming or not. Adam was incredibly lucky to this wonderful home and she felt lucky to have him.
After a couple minutes, Helen left Adam to his training for a quick bath before preparing breakfast. It wasn’t long before Vivienne joined Helen in the kitchen with a smile on her face. She’d been rather chipper since she and Adam had moved into the Domus. They had finally become independent! Though, that meant both Helen and Vivienne were out of jobs, now that they were no longer with Madame’s. Good musicians were always in need, though, so Adam still had a gig at Madame’s plus his work with the Silver Saviors.
As the smells of breakfast wafted over to him, Adam breathed in deep. Contentment welled within him as he thought with a smile: ‘I hope this feeling never goes away!’
—————————————–
Adam dropped by the Silver Saviors to see if there were any small contracts he could sign into. As soon as he got there, Bruno and Clyde flagged him down: “Hey Adam!”
Waving back to them, Adam responded: “Hey guys. Just loitering around?”
“Yeah, nothing really good is available. When are you throwing a house party, we could use the distraction.”
“You could always just visit, but I’m not planning for that until Alfred, Franklin, and Kadara get back from their contract.”
Bruno sighed: “It’s so hard for us all to get together at the same time recently.”
As they continued talking, Adam noticed someone rushing into headquarters. Her soul seemed frantic. Adam gave a slight frown and said: “I think someone is dropping off a contract. It might be… interesting.”
Bruno and Clyde both perked up: “What are we waiting for, let’s go see!”
As they stepped in, the woman was quickly led to Heinrich’s office. Whatever was going on was obviously big. If it was something this big, Adam wasn’t sure if he wanted in on it. Still, he was interested in what was going on.
Clyde spoke: “Adam, can you do your thing and listen in on them?”
Adam sighed: “I guess, but if whatever they’re saying is confidential, I’ll stop.”
Even as he said it, Adam began pushing past the walls around him to look into Heinrich’s office. He was just in time to see the woman enter Heinrich’s office. Finally taking the time to inspect her more, Adam noticed she was wearing some light armor.
With a calmness that contrasted the frantic nature of her soul, the woman saluted Heinrich and said: “Sergeant Callison reporting; I have a contract from the army.”
Heinrich nodded and gestured toward a chair in front of his desk: “Please sit.”
As Sergeant Claison took a seat, she pulled hot an envelope that had been hidden in her armor. she said: “This should have all the information you need.”
Heinrich took the enveloped and opened it up to look at the contents. Adam took this moment to tell Bruno and Clyde what was going on. As he was reading, Heinrich spoke: “I imagine this isn’t just being sent to us?”
Sergeant Calison responded: “They are asking the Siler Saviors first. You’ve already proved yourselves with the Dragon. A rampaging Geisttier shouldn’t prove a problem. If you don’t want this, we will send it out to the other mercenaries. This needs to be done fast, the town has little protection and people are already hurt.”
Adam stiffened at what he heard, while Heinrich asked: “I imagine the army isn’t gathering a small group of Spiritualists and Martial Artist to deal with this for a reason?”
Sergant Callison gave a helpless shrug: “I don’t know. I was just ordered to deliver this as fast as humanly possible.”
Heinrich gave a grunt before saying: “Fine, we’ll take the contract. It’ll take at least a day to get the proper people together before we head out.”
Sergeant Claison gave a nod back as she stood up: “I’ll report back and let them know.”
As she left, Adam turned to Bruno and Clyde: “Well, it’s definitely big. Something about a rampaging Geisttier.”
Bruno and Clyde paused: “A What?”
Adam sighed. Everyone knew about Ghuls, but people rarely talked about Geisttier. Adam explained it simply: “Something like Silber going out of control. It could be bad.”
After another moment of parsing what Adam told them, the two sighed. Bruno dejectedly said: “I’m sure they’re going to handpicking personnel for this one. I doubt they’re going to ask us, that’s another good contract out of our reach!”
Adam shrugged before moving to a board that held descriptions of open contracts on it. Just as Adam found something promising, he heard heavy footfalls behind him.
Heinrich boisterously called: “Adam! I was going to send someone for you, but it looks like you’re already here. I have something I need to ask you.”
Adam turned around; “Boss, are you talking about that Geisttier contract you just got?”
Heinrich was surprised for a moment before he laughed: “You listened in on that?”
Adam gave a noncommittal shrug: “Bruno and Clyde wanted to know if it was an interesting contract they could grab.”
Heinrich shook his head: “Well, that aside, I was hoping you could help me on this.”
Adam gave a frown; “Going up against a rampaging Geisttier sounds more than a little dangerous. You know I don’t do that anymore.”
Heinrich nodded: “I don’t intend for you to fight it. I could take down a Geisttier easily enough, with support from the other Silver Saviors. Rather, I was hoping you could help me figure out why it is rampaging. Such an event isn’t normal and something had to make it act like this.”
Adam thought about it. It was unusual for a Geisttier to get unduly aggressive. To further his cause, Heinrich added: “Besides, you’ll have Silber with you. Between me and him, there’s no way harm will get to you.”
Adam gave a defeated sigh: “Well, you’ve got me interested. These other contracts have been rather… boring. I still gotta talk to Helen first, though.”
Heinrich gave a boisterous grin: “Certainly, can’t have you going off without the Missus’ permission. One way or the other, we’ll be leaving tomorrow at noon. I’ll be waiting and hoping for good news from you!”
Adam quickly stalked off, a tinge of embarrassment evident on his face. He had never gotten over how embarrassing it was to talk about his relationship with Helen with other people. He and Helen had yet to get officially married, but Heinrich was already considering them as such.
Adam left pondering how he would talk to Helen about this. By the time he finally got back home, evening had already descended. He joined Helen and Vivienne in the kitchen, wehere they were preparing dinner.
“I’m back.”
Vivienne scolded him: “What took you so long?”
“Sorry, I was mulling over a contract.”
“Speaking of jobs,” Helen interrupted, “I talked to Floating Spirits, the dance troupe that owns a place in the upper district. They said they would consider adding me as an extra!”
“That’s wonderful! Just make sure they don’t try anything shady.”
Helen gave him a playful push: “It’ll be fine. They don’t make their dancers wear skimpy clothes. They dress properly to put on a performance show told through dance. I really like the idea. I just hope I can actually get a part, even if it’s minor!”
As they finished preparing dinner and sat down to eat, Vivienne asked: “So, what is this contract you were mulling over?”
“Well, it’s one that has the potential of danger.”
Helen perked up at that: “I thought you weren’t going to do this again.”
Adam nodded: “They don’t want me for the fight. A Geisttier is rampaging. If we knew why it was acting like this, we shouldn’t have to fight at all. They want my help with that.”
Helen chewed her food thoughtfully while Vivienne asked: “Didn’t they say the same thing about that dragon?”
Adam nodded: “This is a little different. No one saw the dragon before we found it, we just all assumed it was a Ghul. People have actually seen this Geisttier. Heinrich will be there and so will Silber. Everything should be covered.”
Speaking of the devil, Silber took this time to prance into the room after a day full of playing in the Hill Garden. Adam cast him a critical eye: “Coming in just in time to grab some dinner, huh?”
Silber ignored Adam to sit right next to Helen and give her big puppy dog eyes. Helen beamed him a smile as she grabbed some food and put it on a spare plate she had already prepared. Silber gave her a happy bark of gratitude as she put the plate on the ground and he began digging in.
Adam shook his head at this as he thought: ‘So much for being a mysterious and powerful Geisttier.’
Helen turned her attention back to Adam: “How dangerous do you really think this mission is?”
Adam gave a shrug: “Just the investigation part won’t be that bad. Even if the Geisttier is fast, Silber is just as fast and I can react pretty quickly. If it tries to ambush us, I have my Spirit Sight which can easily spot it. If I get into a fight, I would quickly retreat to let Bossfinish it off. It would be more dangerous than the contracts I’m currently taking, but it would be nowhere near the danger of dealing with a dragon. In fact, it’ll probably be even less dangerous than a bandit subjugation contract.”
Helen gave a defeated sigh: “Will you be getting good pay for it?”
Adam paused, he had forgotten to ask about that! Helen shook her head at him: “We’re no longer living at Madame’s, Adam. We have to be conscious of our budget! Not only do we now have living expenses, but the house still has a lot of work left. You’d better work your but off and get a hefty cut from this contract!”
Adam smiled at her: “I’m sure I can work something out with Boss.
