“I forgib you!” Ada said, mouth full of taco with her hands attempting to stuff burritos into her face.

“Right… you know these are for you and ever-” Jack began, reaching to grab one of the tacos.

“HISSS!” Ada spat, hissing at Jack, her massive nodachi bursting from a nearby wall to shower the pair with splinters.

“Right! Rightrightright. I can see that you're hungry,” Jack said, the blade caught in his hands merely a millimeter away from his face. “I'll just leave you alone.”

Jack went to leave, yet a hand reached out, grabbing him by his uniform and pulling him down to sit beside Ada on their shared bed.

Burp!

“Ugh. I'm gross,” Ada let out before turning and feeling up Jack, her hand on his thigh and creeping higher. “Wanna have sex?”

Jack pursed his lips, eyeing the woman whose eyes were closed with puckered lips covered in taco meat.

Ah. I'm screwed…

“HEY! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW FUCKING EXPENSIVE THESE WALLS ARE?!?!” A voice barked

“Oh thank God,” Jack whispered as Selfia in a pink bedgown kicked her way through the giant new entrance in Jack's bedroom.

“You! With me! Now!” Selfia barked.

“Pervert”

Hush!

“Right, love ya honey,” Jack said, pecking Ada on the cheek before quickly retreating to follow the Queen out.

****

Inside Selfia's secret office below the thrown room, Jack took a seat in the room filled with chalk boards, maps, and the permanent stench of coffee.

“So, interesting few days out,” Selfia said, tossing a newspaper in front of Jack as she walked towards her side of the desk cluttered with files.

Jack looked down, grabbing the newspaper and eyeing the headlines.

“El Negro Gato… The King’s favorite eatery?” Jack read aloud, his eyes drifting down to an image of himself with his mouth full of taco. “Ah…”

“Care to explain that?” Selfia asked, propping her feet up.

“Good publicity,” Jack said quickly. “Gotta admit though, the tabloids run fast. This was only an hour ago and it's already in print?”

“Focus Jack,” Selfia sighed. “This wasn't part of the plan. Plus, that picture isn't very flattering and you made Jessica very unhappy.”

“I know,” Jack replied, setting the paper to the side, eyeing the numerous tabloids on the desk.

“They do work quick huh.”

“You know what they're calling you?” Selfia asked, robotic fingers tapping on her desk. “An oaf, a barbarian, uncivilized, uncouth.”

“They?” Jack blinked.

“The nobles. The conservatives. At least the general pop gets a kick out of this but your stunt hurt us in the eyes of the nobility. Whom I kinda need to finance this war buddy boy.”

“Right…” Jack frowned. “Sorry. I make no excuses for my actions.”

Selfia blinked, staring at Jack, her fingers stopping.

“Well, whatever. It's not all bad. You scored some brownie points with the locals AND you helped to put a fledgling business on the map,” Selfia said, rolling her hand. “So, overall, good publicity.”

“And that part about the nobles?”

“Eh, fuck em. The point is I need you to be aware that your actions have consequences, even something as trivial as getting a taco. Trust me, theres a reason for all my planning.”

“Right,” Jack said, sweeping his eyes across the office. “I get that.”

“Do you?”

“I do, now let's talk about why we're here,” Jack said, leaning forward in his chair and setting the tabloids to the side. “High Table.”

“Right,” Selfia said, pursing her lips, her fake red eyes glancing down at the paperwork. “Do you remember a black MECHFrame? With wolfish features, a tail, and autonomous armor? Looks something like this?”

Selfia pulled out a manila folder with an image of a MECHFrame stapled to it and handed to Jack.

“Yeah, this thing attacked me during our… uh. Reunion.” Jack replied, remembering vividly the howl it made and the aura it gave off.

“Well, this thing has been wrecking our forces all along the damn frontline. I've lost several officers, six platoons, and Colonel Domino’s sister was ambushed and taken.”

Jack frowned, recalling the petite woman that punched the former Captain on stage during the academy opening bonfire.

“Taken? Not killed. How can you be sure?”

“Because of this,” Selfia said, handing Jack an intellipad that showed a white blanket of white with dotted black spots and some kind of blue circle in the center.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Ok? What am I looking at?”

“Cintelli territory. High orbit images. What you're looking at is a signal from an undetectable transponder strobe surgically attached to Major Taya Domino. That blue circle, that's the strobe.”

“I'm assuming underneath that snow is a base?” Jack said, purposely ignoring the fact that Selfia had surgically implanted a device in her soldier's body.

“Yup. And she's not the only one that's been taken. Besides our people being snatched, Paladin Lita has reported a number of her people disappearing, her own resistance forces running into the black MECHFrame.”

“So… what do you want me to do here?” Jack replied, confused.

“Right, I'm getting to that, anyway the egg heads in the intelligence department believe that this facility is where your sister was taken.”

Jack's eyes went down to the page, his jaw clenched, eyes furrowed.

“When do I head out?”

“Slow your roll cowboy,” Selfia said, a floating arm appearing from behind a pillar and setting Jack back down in his chair. “I’m prepping a team. And it's gonna take a bit.”

Jack inhaled, sitting down, Sahaqiel appearing beside him and placing her hand on his shoulder.

“How… long is a bit?” Jack asked slowly, doing his best not to drop everything and run off.

“Three weeks.”

Silence took the room, no one speaking with Selfia observing Jack and his clenched palms.

A moment passed, then another, almost an eternity passing by before Jack's fists relaxed.

“Ok. What do you need from me Selfia?”

Selfia smiled softly. “Continue what you're doing. In three weeks time the strike group will be assembled. In the meantime, I've looked over your proposal about Celeste attending a formal school. And I like it-”

“I'm hearing a but.”

“-but! I've got an amendment to the idea,” Selfia said, handing Jack a file she plucked out of a seemingly random pile.

Wait.

Jack blinked.

“You… seriously?!” Jack exclaimed, jaw agape.

“Yes,” Selfia smiled.

What Jack held in his trembling hand was a birth certificate. One that held Celeste’s name, Jack's and… Selfia.

A simple piece of paper, but one that would change the trajectory of Jack's daughter’s life.

“First Princess Celeste Cordelica. CC has a nice ring to it, don't you think?”

Jack stared at the paper.

“Jack? Yo, yoo-hoo, earth to Jack?”

“Uh. Yeah. Uh… are… are you sure this is ok?” Jack asked, gently placing the document on the table as he read the plans for a school, one sponsored by the crown with Celeste attending as part of its grand opening and announcement of an heir.

“Eh, I plan on dissolving the monarchy anyway. Eventually, but until then Celeste will be royalty. I guarantee it. Plus with a heir we won't have to fuck in front of a bunch of people to officiate our-”

“I'm sorry, what?!”

“Oh? You didn't know? The Queen and her consorts are required to do the dirty under the gazes of witnesses to mark their joining or whatever, don't worry about it, an old traditionalist thing, my great grandmother was a freak,” Selfia said, tossing Jack another file.

“Ok… officially not worrying about it then,” Jack frowned before opening the new file that contained images of Hoshido, Jack's home and settlement. Reports, statistics, letters, and even pictures taken by Jiang featuring Mo Ye, Granny Cao, Ming, and a secret photo of Kenichi holding hands with a certain uptight woman by the name of Valentine near the lakeside.

“The settlement is coming along nicely, from the reports, they even have roads now. Albeit, cobblestone and gravel, but it's a start,” Selfia explained, "We've already begun construction of a wall and a route to the main imperial border through Victoria's border crossing."

A soft smile settled on Jack's face, his brow relaxing a bit. “They look happy.”

“They better be! Do you know how hard it is to smuggle material in and out of an active warzone?!” Selfia exclaimed, her floating arms flying into the air in exasperation. “Stupid hard! That's how!”

“Right. Thanks, Selfia. Seriously.”

“Yeah yeah, just remember who has your back bucko,” Selfia replied, waving Jack off. “And this don't come free! Quid pro quo!”

“Ok, so name your price,” Jack replied earnestly, locking eyes with the woman, the two staring at one another for a second before Selfia looked away.

“Jeez. When ya say it that way it sounds like you're making a deal with the devil,” Selfia replied before slouching in her chair and munching from a large bag of chips that lay nearby.

Sahaqiel giggled. “I wonder what the populace would think if they could see their queen.”

“Anyway,” Selfia said, mouth full with one pair of floating hands shoveling chips into her mouth and another pair handing Jack various files. “For the next three weeks here's the schedule. I've got a ribbon cutting ceremony on a new factory we have to attend.”

“Alright.”

“A masquerade ball with a bunch of stuffy nobles-wait you know how to dance right?”

“Uhhhh.”

“No, ok don't worry you'll learn-”

“Grea,.” Jack murmured sarcastically, taking the next file.

“-A marching parade welcoming the Seventy-Seventh Combat Corps home, and then after that, we've got to pay a visitation to the dockyard to christen the HMS Winchester.”

“Ok, HMS Winchester, destroyer class airship,” Jack replied, reading the file header before another folder was dropped into his hands.

“And finally, a small tournament to watch that's hosting several military officers, mercs, and new prospects,” Selfia said, dropping the last of six manila folders in Jack's lap. “Of course you're going to attend. Will be a day affair, no long tournament arc thing.”

“I have to ask Selfia… why so much paper? Why not put this all in an intellipad?” Jack said, organizing the stack of folders in his lap.

“Cuz an intellipad can be hacked, duh. Could you imagine if people had my schedule? Would be an assassin's wet dream. Plus this way I know I'm the only one with a copy. Oh, by the way, here's this.”

Jack flipped open the folder titled nomad, his eyes going round.

“Huh?! Wait a minute?! What the hell is she doing here?!” Jack exclaimed standing up.

“Surprised?” Selfia said, Jack's eyes fixed to the picture of a nomadic girl he was all too familiar with. A mischievous teenager that was a constant troublemaker.

In Jack's hands was a mugshot of Ho-sook, the korean girl arrested and thrown in jail with her tongue sticking out at the camera.

“Yeah! Damn right I'm surprised, what the hell is she doing here?!” Jack exclaimed, his brow furrowed as he debated storming off to the jail to yell at the girl.

“MPs picked her up with aid from several awakened officers. Apparently she's responsible for a string of pickpocketing and evading constables for the last few weeks. She was only brought in because she stole from an Awakened officer who just so happened to have several friends with speed skills to catch her,” Selfia explained as a slight smirk appeared on Jack's face. “What? What's funny?”

“Ah, nothing. For some reason I'm feeling angry but also somewhat proud,” Jack said, eyeing the photos of Ho-sook’s escapades through the city alone. “So I take it she's in holding?”

“Yerp. I thought you'd want to have a chat with her first, maybe call some people to pick her up.”

Suddenly a boom, an influx of mana.

“Right. Yeah. I'll talk to Victoria and have her get me a line to the village leader,” Jack sighed as Selfia got up.

“Coo Coo anyway, have fun with that. I'ma go make sure that woman of yours isn't destroying more of my home. Leave the files on my desk when you're done,” Selfia instructed, walking off and leaving Jack to his homework.

“Great,” Jack sighed, rubbing his chin, a soft smile on his face as he pondered what kind of noble he would be.