Veronica's voice sounded stressed. I can only imagine how many work hours she needs to complete every week. I opened my eyes, noticing that I was no longer in the prison but instead at the Silver Coven headquarters. Three witches with different hair colors listened to Victoria's demands while I glared at the new painting behind her with three purple snakes looking like they were going to attack each other. Someone with serious oil painting skills must have done that.
"Yes, Madam!" The three witches said out loud, startling me.
They walked out of the office, and I noticed a black suit hanging on the wall. Victoria got up and approached me, and with a hasty move, removed the bandage. I squinted for a bit, but it was not that bad.
"The injury is healing well, we got some potion for the injury to increase the healing speed."
I looked up at her when she refused to make eye contact and went back to her chair.
"I have taken care of Berk. He is currently receiving treatment for his injuries from a doctor at Valiant. Approval of a Witch sitting in the watchroom, together with the soldiers, has also been approved, so we will ensure he receives proper care. I can not...I repeat...I cannot have you going around and finding the destination of the prison or starting to cause chaos here in Paladin Woods."
Well, I agree not to agree.
"I am sorry I grabbed your throat, Victoria. I reacted to the news in a bad way and should not have done so. It was the first and last time it happened. You are also family, I shouldn't have done that!"
Tried to apologize to her because I had never laid a finger on her during all the years. She has been carrying me and Berk for years when we lived in harmony in Stockholm outside the zone. I feel awful, but it is over. I still need to break my brother out of prison, though.
She smiled at me and answered:
"It is okay, sometimes in terrible situations, people can react differently. Sometimes a person only sees what is in front of them instead of seeing the bigger picture."
Great, a lecture from the leader and protector of the Witches and the leader of an investigation organization, pfft. She threw a dossier to my end of the table, and I, the stupid one, picked it up to check it out.
"Ah, Hell no! I am not chasing the three douches. Fuck no! You know how hard it is to catch any of the three brothers, and when we do catch them, they always manage to break free from prison. Find someone else for this."
She tries to give me a catch-and-grab assignment, but the three Toadia brothers are more or less, or should I say, impossible to catch.
"Can you go to the fifth town?"
"Eh, NO! I can not. I will never catch them. You know they have the latest Flyke shoes, which have small wings on the side, allowing them to jump further distances. Also, to mention, they do not fight fairly, and I don't want to end up in the hospital."
The door opened to the office, and a hot babe with huge racks walked in...dressed in a very unattractive outfit. While I could say the cleavage level was top-notch, the outfit looked like some kinky outfit, and the hairband she had on her head didn't make sense with the long blond hair, but the blue eyes made my hairy chest drool. Wait a minute, that sounded so wrong. Well, she was attractive, but why did she interrupt the conversation I was having? Are they competing with each other to see who is the hottest?
"Ready to be assigned, MAM!" She yelled out in the air, slamming both feet together, and raised her hand to salute.
I looked shocked at her and then at Victoria, who had a smirk on her face.
"Eh! Excuse me. I think you are interrupting the discussion we had here, can you like...come back...like in one hour or so?"
"Stop it, Zark! Her name is Hanna Von Vollden from the Valiant Kingdom. She arrived three months ago in Paladin, and a request came through from the Valiant Kingdom that she wanted to be paired with you to learn the basics of investigation. It is an honor for the Valiant Kingdom to have someone shadow the skills of a member of the Van Polan family. That is why they asked especially for you."
I slowly turned to Victoria with my eyes wide open. I couldn't believe someone from Valiant even wanted to have anything to do with me, but why send someone who looked like she was going to a 'who has the biggest rack with cleavage contest'?
It has to be that the Valiant organization wants to monitor all my activity, so they sent someone attractive to keep me occupied in bed. I still need to play cool.
"What exactly do you want me to do, Victoria?"
"I want you to train her and the other colleague!"
I bent my head low to see if someone was behind Bracky, but there weren't any more people than Bracky."
"What other colleague?"
"I think Madam is referring to Jacqueline Hernandez! She is absent from the meeting." Bracky said, and I stared at her beautiful eyes, wondering why I was still in this office.
"Thank you, Hanna, for the information. We received information that she is currently in the third town, at a gathering spot."
Wait a minute, I am not doing this bullshit Harem thing.
"I refuse! I am not gathering colleagues; I am a busy person."
"In Article 542.1, a person who has attacked the Valiant Kingdom will be imprisoned without Trial for a minimum of one month. Depending on the extent of the damage to the Kingdom, the culprit can spend up to 20 years in prison. If done on royalty, the prison sentence will be for life, or the citizen will be hanged in the open for everyone to see for 30 days."
I gasped, not because of a nonsense article that I did not care about, but because her voice had changed to a robotic tone. Wondered if this was the way their soldiers spoke when patrolling around in the towns. I moved my chair closer to the table and waved Veronica towards me, and whispered to her:
"Look, I get it! Sometimes punishment is used to teach a lesson. I have learned my lesson now, but please keep Brackinator far away from me. I think she may be a psycho."
Victoria's eyebrows showed me her confusion. She whispered back:
"What is a Brackinator?"
"The 'B' stands for blonde, 'Rack' stands for big boobies, and the 'inator' stands for the robotic voice," I whispered in a serious tone to her.
Her eyes widened as I nodded, thinking she understood me completely. A quick slap on the side of my head from her made me lean back in the chair again.
"Idiot! You are taking the assignment. No more discussion about your colleagues or that you do not want to do this." Victoria explained.
I put the dossier on the table, and I didn't have time for this crap. I need to visit crazy Magda to see if she has any solutions to my problems.
"Eh, can I get a Paladin card?" I asked Victoria because I needed some money to obtain information and find a way to get stronger.
Victoria put a photo and a card in the dossier. I opened it and saw a girl, really young.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"That is Jacqueline Hernandez; she is your responsibility now. You will be tutoring her full-time to become a freelance private investigator like you."
"Eh, that is a freaking child. She should not be on the field at all."
"She is stronger than you, Zark, so I do not mind that she will follow you around as extra firepower."
Pfft! Yeah, right, a child will be stronger than me. That will never happen.
I took the dossier from the table, along with the photo and the card, to get out of here before Victoria surprises me with new information.
"Ahum! Before you go out the door, please get dressed in the black suit that I have prepared for you. When working, you are not allowed to wear jeans and a T-shirt, Zark. Behave like a professional."
Behave lik ah foffesional. What kind of bullshit is that? It is called freelance for a reason.
"Fine! Do my colleagues get the same treatment? Or am I the only one?"
Yes, a special outfit is in the reception for Hanna, and Jacqueline is already wearing a black suit with a green tie."
Brackinator took down the suit from the hanger on the wall and gave it to me while I focused on her cleavage for a couple of seconds.
We came out of the building and onto the muddy road, as I felt a little weird from wearing the suit. A girl with two horns protruding from her head walked past us and then suddenly stopped, staring at me. The grown-up one, who looked like a female, stopped as well, and the girl pointed at me.
"Look, Mama! It is the worthless Van Polan, the one everyone does not like!"
I took a deep breath while the mother tried to shush her daughter, and I knew this day wouldn't end well for me.