Overlord and the Seraphim

『Ruinous I』

Arche just kept her gaze on Goltron, who winked.

Jack kept his eyes on Imina the Half-Elf and Termite the human, watching as they were now trailing in front of them a few paces ahead.

He didn't mind them being in front of him, even though he had the map in his own hands. It seems they didn't really care either way, whether or not they were in the front or not.

They could just follow directions given by him, should they need to change directions.

Jack glanced over his shoulder towards Goltron who was taking up the rear, remaining quiet since his proclamation of Jack taking on the will of God. He wasn't quite sure why the Priest was choosing to be back there.

"Hm..." Jack would tuck the map into his item box and close his eyes partially. He could picture their faces in his mind. Fright, hopelessness. It didn't turn him on, but it made him in a sense, want to smile almost manically in anticipation.

Yet he refrained from doing so.

Looking over to Arche who was now gazing up at him, casually, she tilted her head to the side a bit to get a bigger view of him. "Can't we take a break?"

Jack blinked when she had asked this and his gaze dropped to her feet. The way she was walking, it definitely looked like she was getting uncomfortable. "Let me carry you?"

"No! Th-that would b-be embarrassing," Arche jaw quivered slightly, but her objection wasn't even noted. Without hesitation, without taking no for an answer, Jack scooped her up into his arms.

One arm under her knees and one behind her shoulder blades, his hand grasping at her shoulder to keep her close to himself. This smug look wasn't leaving Jack's face as she glared up at him.

"No fair... Tall people... Mean..." Arche rested her head on his shoulder, pouting, toying with his outfit a little with her fingers. She couldn't deny the fact that she liked the closeness of this embrace, plus her feet were no longer being pressured to keep on moving.

Some space back, an excited looking Aura, had her hands balled into fists with her lips formed into an adventurous grin. "What're they doing?"

"It looks like he's carrying her, S-sis." Mare blinked at this, watching as Jack was carrying a human being who was so much weaker than him. Someone that should be worshipping and being subservient to him. Introvertedly, Mare's grasp on his staff tightened.

Aura hardly noticing the change in Mare's demeanor, started to hurry head. "Come on Mare!" Gesturing him to follow after, a wide smile across her lips.

Mare followed, he didn't even bother speaking, or try arguing or dissuading her.

Soon enough within a few hours the group would be walking on on the surrounding area, overlooking the Ruins several hundred meters away in a clearing.

The ruins were massive.

"They seem different..." Arche pointed out as she took a gander from Jack's arms.

The ruins were following the architecture of over three hundred years ago and looked like it had fallen just about around the same time. Since it was a local ruin, she had visited it and studied it while she was in the Academy.

"There's a lot of undead in that place..." Goltron said as he stepped forward, looking over the Ruins. Though most of the undead weren't visible on the outside, he could definitely use magic to sense them. "Perhaps we should... Get more helping hands?"

He was aware that Jack had told them to do the things themselves, that he'd just be supplying the cage. This was their job, not his, he just acted as a mediator and got it for them. Though he had turned down a job which potentially was less risky. Was he still looking to punish the two who had soiled his Funtime with Arche, and probably made his study smell like pheromones? Definitely.

『Create Greater Item』Jack would have cast on his own, his hand facing away from Arche's back as he did so. Suddenly a large cage, large enough to fit a ton of zombies, skeletons and the like within materalized.

It looked to be made out of iron, or a dark grey, a little ways from the color of black.

Termite, Goltron and Imina all walked over to it. Poking, prodding and even pulling on it. It was stable, light enough to pull by hand. Apparently he created a cage which made everything weigh less once it was placed inside.

"So..." Termite turned to Jack, "You're definitely not helping us with this?"

He was pretty sure they'd die if they went in there, seeing the gaze he was getting from Jack though, sweat began to develop on his brow. "Hm?" That charismatic smile across his face was wrecked with his visible anxieties.

"I'll support, if you get hurt I'll heal you, or if you die I'll resurrect you."

Termite's mouth almost dropped open when he told him that he'd heal or resurrect them should need be. "I... I see..." He rolled his jaw a bit, scratching at his chin. "Anyway I can change your mind?"

Arche who was just lounging out in Jack's arms, just turned her gaze to him, blinking a few times. "He said he'll support us. He supported us before, and we did fine."

Jack nodded in agreement with what Arche had just said to the man. Not really wanting to speak about what he could do to change his mind. There wasn't really much he could do.

There were many things he could ask for, many things he could do with them, or to them. Yet he was more so looking forward do what was going to happen now. Deals were only meant for those who it would benefit and they had nothing to offer him that he couldn't just take from them.

Hell, once they got separated from one another, he could kill them and there would be no evidence left. He probably wouldn't even feel a thing, at least for killing Termite.

Termite's name was exactly what Jack felt of him as, an insect. Imina was a beauty, an androgynous one, but he didn't want her. Not in that way. He wanted Arche, only Arche.

Termite gave up, sulking slightly and shaking his head. However in a moments notice he had this optimistic look on his face, an arrogant smirk. "Well, at least we get a good payday!"

"If we survive," Imina added as she hit him square on the back, her fingers spread out to maximize the pain. It had been his idea to do it in the study in the first place. It was all his fault!

Jack watched as Goltron and the two started making their way down the hill, pulling the cage with them.

Arche who was in his arms would just kick her feet airily, "You... Going to let me down now?" She asked as she leaned her little blonde head towards him, pressing the tip of her nose under his lower jaw. Her big blue eyes staring right through him like that of a puppy.

"Hm... I'll think about it..."

"Uwah!?"

"For a while."

"... You're not letting me do the job, are you?"

"How about I train you while they work...? You want to get stronger, for your sisters, right?"