During the time Jorgen was busy explaining his reasoning to Fess, Maxwell was busying himself at their gym as he usually does.

"Come on! One more, one more!" Aaron encouraged him to finish the bench press' rep.

"I already hit 20!" Maxwell rebuked.

"No you didn't, your count was off!" Aaron continued, "Just one more!"

"Urghhh...!"

"Yeah, that's it, that's it!" Aaron smiled as he carefully spotted him, "See, I told ya' you could do it! Now one more!"

"Argh! Fuck that!" Maxwell resignedly tossed the bar onto the rack with the last of his strength, "Dammit Aaron, you wanna kill me with this workout!?"

"You coulda' done more." Aaron rolled his Eyes before stepping back, "Now get up, time for me to prove it's easy and do 25."

"Do 30 and I'll give you and I'll give you a gold coin."

"Heh, I'm not one to get enticed by monetary prizes." Aaron glanced up from the bench to sneak a peek under Maxwell's drenched gym shirt, "However, a handjob will suffice~! Oof!"

Smacking him in the nuts with the towel Max used to wipe his sweat off, he effectively told Aaron that he's not interested in the slightest.

"If you were like this with girls, you'd be in a prison ages ago." Maxwell tossed the towel away as he began spotting, "Now come on."

"Ungh, I'm not into CBT, man..." Aaron carefully let go of his nuts to grip the bar, "And anyways, sexually abusing your straight male friends is the most fun part about being gay."

"Is it now? Speaking of, Aaron..." Maxwell counted the reps in his head as he asked, "Are you really gay? I mean, you act queer, but I've never actually seen you with a boyfriend before."

"Mn, good question." Aaron huffed and puffed as he continuously raised the bar, "Then I gotta ask you the same thing—Are you really straight?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maxwell grumped.

"Well, you act hetero, but I've never actually seen you with a girlfriend before."

"...Fair point." Maxwell could do nothing but agree with that, "I guess it's not that simple for us gangsters to find love."

"Looking back, is there anyone in our gang's circle that was ever good with the ladies?" Aaron asked, "Jean was kind of a moody guy, but that just made him cuter in my opinion. He never had anyone though."

"If we're talking gang leaders..." Maxwell recalled, "Yeah, not really. Julian always seemed like the ladies' man, always making sure to look presentably at any moment, but he was a loner. Leonard I think was supposed to have an arranged marriage, but those plans fell through just after he joined BilBros. No clue about Quinn, though."

"Mhm, and Jorgen?" Aaron stopped the bench presses to ask.

"Oh right, Jorgen. Also, don't stop, you're only at 13." Maxwell shrugged, "He has a girlfriend, doesn't he?"

"Eh!?" The bar almost fell on Aaron the moment he heard this, "He does!?"

"Ah, no, my mistake." Maxwell shook his head, "They're like, engaged or something."

"The fuck did I miss!?"

This time the bar really fell, or at least was supposed to, but Maxwell caught it.

"It's some nurse from Trivis Numerica, I think." Maxwell exhaled, "He told me about it a long time ago, it's a real crazy story. She apparently got into a lot of trouble with the authorities when she was testing out all sorts of weird medicines, so she set up a commission at the ITA to have a knight protect her at all times."

"And that knight was him?" Aaron asked, "Wait, Jorgen's a knight? And what was he doing all the way in Trivis Numerica?"

"Keep going, that's 15." Maxwell still kept track of the number of reps, "That's the thing though, he never told me why he went there. He's an Aurolian that moved to Great Hiana in his youth, but why he even got the idea to go east is a mystery even now."

"Maybe he heard 'cute nurse' and immediately hauled ass." Aaron figured, "Yeah, and then he realized there was some presumably good money in it for him too, so that must've only further fueled him."

"I don't see him as that type of guy, though." Maxwell thought, "Though he never once called her cute in his story. Only stuff like "annoying woman", "scummy nurse" and "damned heathen"."

"Whoa, so they're not on good terms?"

"Apparently they never were. They started as client and agent, and ended as such too."

"So what you're saying is—They divorced."

"No, he still vehemently calls her his fiancée." Maxwell furrowed his brows, "He gets super angry when you say they're not together anymore."

"So he does love her?"

"Y'know what? Why are you asking me?" Aaron took the bar from Aaron and put it back on the rack, "Come on, let's just go ask him ourselves."

"Ah, but I didn't even finish my set yet!"

"You're still struggling with 20, so you wouldn't make it to 25, let alone 30 anyways." Maxwell mocked him, "Now hurry it up!"

"Ungh, you try running after getting smacked in the nuts with a moist sweat towel and struggling with 20 reps of 100 kilo bench presses..."

"Less yapping more running!"

Before long, they were already at the generals' quarters, standing readily in front of Jorgen's office chair without even changing out of their gym clothes. That's how excited they were to hear Jorgen's love story, and Jorgen's reaction to this?

"Horse shit smells better than you two." He said unapologetically, "Go take a shower and come back here after, I don't want you stinking up the place."

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***

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"Alright, tell us the deets!" Aaron happily sat down on the sofa in the room with Maxwell, "Who's the lovely lady?"

"You were fed lies, Aaron." Jorgen sighed.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Eh?"

"I don't have a fiancée, nor does that tactless doctor have me." He explained.

"...Wait, so she does exist?" Maxwell looked confused too.

"Yes, she is my fiancée." Jorgen replied.

"...So she both is and isn't-Look Jorgen, you're gonna have to start explaining things quick or I'm gonna get mad." Aaron gave up.

"Ugh, must I really tell this stupid story?" Jorgen groaned before obliging, "Fine, it was years and years ago. Right around when I had just left Sulfury to expand my horizons..."

Thus, we cut to a much younger Jorgen on the road to find a new place to call home. Far from his war-plagued Sulfury, from his brother Pierre, he finds his new life's beginnings to be quite tough.

"You can't keep taking all our damned commissions, man!" An adventuring party picked on him at the ITA's guild, "You know you're supposed to be in a party to have a chance at taking on the beast-slaying commissions, right!? At least join ours!"

"Why should I?" Jorgen gave a snide reply, "You're all far too weak. You'll slow me down, and I got money to make."

Hearing this, the party members all grunted in unison before the party leader wound up for a punch. Similarly to how it happened with Fess, his face was promptly transported to the ground in an instant. It seems not much has changed since those days long past—Jorgen always was and continues to be, a beast.

"Jorgen Kaiser?" A wary ITA agent found him sitting angrily alone at his table and decided to join him, "We've heard plenty of complaints from the adventurers here, but don't worry! We know of your exploits and all the good you've done for the ITA ever since you joined last month!"

"So you're not gonna ask me to leave?" Jorgen continued to chug his ale.

"Of course not! You're the best adventurer this place has ever seen!" The agent praised him, "It seems they really do breed warriors down in Sulfury, haha! The townsfolk are happy as well!"

"If you're not here to chew me out, then you can leave." Jorgen groaned.

"...In any case, just cause a commission is more dangerous doesn't mean its pay is better." The agent sounded genuinely worried, "Why not take on some easier commissions when you see the harder ones are being contested? We understand you want as much money as you can earn, but understand that all these other adventurers are in the same position."

"Hrmph." Jorgen glared, "Fuck that. I get up at the crack of dawn just to take these commissions before anyone else. If they want 'em, they can come earlier."

The entire room erupted into loud whines, cuss words and boos. No one liked that soldier mentality of his, the harsh reality he grew up in where if you yourself were too lazy to do something for yourself, then someone else would gladly take it from you. Still, it was how he was raised in Sulfury, and it was the only thing that made sense. Besides, no one could deny that Jorgen's lone wolf nature was best suited for combat and combat only.

"A new commission came in that just might be for you." The agent halfheartedly placed it on his table as he himself got up, "It's far from Bilgam, and in all honesty it's super weird, but... If you're primarily here for the money, why not make everyone happy and take it?"

"Piss off." Jorgen glared.

Thus, the agent sighed and left, assuming this plan of his was a failure. Still, Jorgen's boredom mixed in with curiosity eventually led him to at least humor himself with reading it. After all, it's not good to throw away a commission without even checking how much the client was willing to pay.

"Huh!?" Jorgen slammed the table, Eyes wide open and mouth agape as he stared for the first time at such a large number, "This... Agent! Agent! This commission, I accept! I accept the commission!"

"Oh, changed your mind?" The agent's Eyes gleamed, "Thank goodness! Honestly, we knew it'd get everyone's attention when we got the cash prize's number, but we didn't think anyone was willing to actually go through with doing it."

It was at this moment that Jorgen realized a fatal mistake in his excitement. He saw the number and panicked to take the commission before someone else could, so he didn't take the time to read the contents of what his actual job entailed. Checking it again as the agent happily explained it for him, his Eyes shriveled back in fear.

"You'll go to Trivis Numerica, specifically a town named Stringwood. There's a clinic there run by a nurse who is your client. She tasked you with being her apprentice and knight for an upcoming project of hers!"

"W-Wait..."

"Yes, we saw it too. Who in their right minds would be brave (or stupid) enough to accept such a vague job description?" The agent continued, "But whilst all of my colleagues were dwelling on such a matter, I just knew you were the man for the job! An apprentice and a knight all in one, who knows what might come about such a task! Be it helping the nurse brew or taste test scary potions or even help her with field research where you'll have to protect her from any nearby threats, it all boils down to requiring someone as indestructible and disciplined as you! Thank you for heeding my words, Kaiser! We'll let her know in the following days, so you can start packing your things and take a transport wagon there as soon as possible."

"I-I'd like to cancel...?" Jorgen gulped.

"Not possible!" The agent gave a wide, shit eating grin, "One of our most important rules is to never go back on your word, Kaiser! Once a traveler takes on a commission, they must at the very least participate in it! If they succeed, they get paid, and if not—They come back empty-handed!"

Now was the first time that Jorgen, aged 17, had realized just how shady of an organization the ITA truly was. In his mind, he prayed to the Fighting God Auros that this nurse, whoever she was, wouldn't turn out to be someone too unreasonable.