Matters of court.

It was a shame that most of the valuable stuff he took during the heist would be unusable or only with **** caution. Even with access to magical ressources, it was a sure thing that the cards would already be canceled and that the authorities would probably be looking for whoever would try to use them. The jewelry was precious, if only for the components (designer jewelry was often worth a lot more than what it was made of, but easily recognizable).

John wondered for a moment about what would happen to his kingdom and those who lived in it if he was to die. Dark thoughts were filling his mind, so soon after risking to lose everything he had another shadow loomed over his new, better life. Despite having his life threatened in a way that would have made it self defense, he had not been able to resolve to kill another human being. A bit hypocritical when he remembered killing the elves who wanted to kill Vesta, but killing people felt wrong on a whole other level than any creature. In a sense even humans who would be part of the Abyss would be fair game, not that he would go hunt some of them for sport, but he wouldn't hold his hand if he was fighting for his life.

The more he thought about it, the more the quest he had received looked like a test. He wasn't going to kill people who didn't know anything about all of this just because a pop-up promised him some cash and xp. He put these thoughts on the side of his mind and tried to bring a smile back to his face while walking to Anna's place after exiting the tram.

John hated having just wasted half an hour to cross the town in order to meet his girlfriend, he really needed a way to move around faster. But at least it allowed him to heal himself and recover his mana.

He knocked on the door and instead of Anna it was her mother who opened the door.

"Oh John, let me kiss you!" she said as she met him. She hugged him really tight and kissed him on the cheeks. "I've never seen my Anna so happy. Come in, come in!"

John was happy that the displays of affection did not go further, his family life was complicated enough.

"Anna! Your boyfriend is here!" she shouted. She seemed very happy to say that, like she had waited to say that for a long time.

A blushing Anna ran down the stairs and jumped in John's arms, kissing him and hugging him a in a very less chaste manner than her mother did and with no regard to her presence in the room.

"Oh, get a room you two," said her mother, jokingly.

"You heard my mom, John. Come on, let's go to my room," replied Anna. Smiling a lot more in such a situation than John thought would be possible. In fact she was even giggling as she dragged him up the stairs, holding his hand tight. It was John's turn to blush, but the smile on her mother's face defused some of the tension. After all they weren't in high school anymore and she seemed to approve of the relationship.

Entering her room with both of them fully clothed was a first. As soon as he got in he noticed four large bags and two baskets on the floor.

"Are we going on a trip?" he asked.

"In a way. As you saw, my mom is here and I really don't want to do this with her around... And no it wasn't a jab at you for doing it with yours! There's a park nearby and we are going to go on a walk together, as couples do," she explained.

"And you need all of this for a walk in the park... Girls pack even more stuff than I was told!" he replied. She looked him in the eyes to see if he was joking and punched him in the chest lightly.

"You... Jerk!" she said to him and then noticing his smile she burst into laughter too. "OK, this was a funny one. Those are supplies for the kingdom. Cooking stuff, old clothes, a few everyday items that we will need if we want to spend days in there. We need to start making this place look like a home, your castle looks like ruins you are living in, the outside is more comfortable than the inside. Ohhh OK, the bed is pretty cool, but that is all there is," she explained.

"I really didn't find the time to get lots of furniture or stuff like that yet. But you're right, it should look better than that if I want to call it a castle. How long do you think we can be out for a walk in the park?"

"If I text my mom that my sexy boyfriend offers me to take me out for dinner... I'd say if you bring me home before 10pm no one will complain I think. What are we going to do today? Now that I have already been introduced to the crew."

"There are always things to do. I could go look for resources to extend the castle, explore a bit, train some of my powers. Of course I could also make love to my beautiful queen. What do you think we should do?"

"You are starting to organize the place, you have actual, sapient subjects. No, we have... We should first attend them, then do a little of everything else. I'm sure we will find something to do that we will both enjoy."

There were too many bags to fit in John's inventory, so he blinked in and out of his kingdom a few times to bring everything there. He had many things in mind that he wanted to do with her, things that would make him forget he almost lost her.

They went back downstairs, Anna changed into another set of clothes, John still wearing his school uniform.

"John, if you are going to swing by our house from time to time you should bring a few sets of clean clothes to store here. That way you won't risk getting your school uniform dirty or all ruffled up. I'm sure your mother would appreciate that. Try not to be home too late and don't do anything stupid," said Mrs Klein.

After giving her their word on this subject the two young lovers ran away in the direction of the park, only stopping a block or two short of it. John had waited for the correct spot and for his stealth indicator to display the number one. In a heartbeat the couple disappeared and they found themselves in the familiar arrival room of the castle.

Sylvia, Cali and Vesta were there waiting for them. Sylvia was holding some sort of fur cushion on which rested the two crowns that had been left in the kingdom when they last left it together.

"My King, My Queen, welcome back!" said the three girls in one voice. John finally noticed the four yellow flowers in small pots laid out in the room. Sylvia had created an alarm system to know when John would return. He realized that he should have warned her himself, but was impressed by her innovative ideas. The cushion was a big mystery though.

John and Anna put on their crowns and John walked to the storage chest, switching his school uniform for casual clothes. He picked an old promotional t-shirt from a gaming convention and a pair of jeans, he kept his trusted boxers and boots though, too useful not to wear.

"John, you brought a lot of things. What is in all of these bags?" asked Sylvia. Since he met her, the dryad had been curious about him and his world, every new item, concept or activity presented to her was like a gift. Showing her how the phone worked had amazed her, though less than John when he realized that she could read, a thing for which she had no explanation. John wanted to tell her, but he didn't know exactly what was in the bags, he let Anna explain.

"This place is wonderful, but the castle seemed a bit empty. The kitchen was missing a lot of things and I wanted to bring some of my stuff here. Those are for you Sylvia. I wanted to make sure we could feed properly the population of our kingdom, do you think you could make these grow here?" she said, removing the kitchen towels covering the two baskets.

One was full of fruits, three kinds of apples, a pear, an orange, a lemon, a lime, a cantaloupe, a peach, a banana, some grapes and a small box full of strawberries, raspberries, cherries, and blueberries. The other basket contained vegetables, a cucumber, a carrot, an artichoke, some lettuce, some garlic and onion bulbs, normal peppers and spicy ones, three kinds of tomatoes, four of potatoes and an assortment of fresh aromatic herbs.

Sylvia touched the content of the baskets, the tip of her fingers glowing with green and golden energy. She never had seen such variety of fruits and vegetables with such bright colors in the old glade.

"I will do my best to make them grow in the kingdom, my Queen."

"You call him John, you can call me Anna. You are someone important to him and as such to me. We are all working together for the good of the kingdom, Sylvia."

"I... I already have made a few of these grow on a patch of land behind the glade. From the seeds you let me buy, John."

The group gathered around her, as she showed them pictures of a small vegetable garden on her phone. The speed at which she had adopted this technology was incredible.

Some of the bags only contained some clothes or blankets, some pots and pans for the kitchen, some spices and cooking tools. Anna apparently owned an impressive number of knives, she offered an old set of them to Cali, the huntress looked at the stainless steel blades as if they were a priceless treasure. It reminded John of the cushion and of the thing Sylvia wanted to tell him last time.

"You have started hunting here, Cali? Right?" he asked her.

"The land is flourishing, prey's aplenty. I merely wanted to see what the creatures here were like. Sylvia found the weapons you had made for me and the others. We even tried this cooking you showed us, with little success. On the thing you call phone, she showed me images of men explaining how to strip, clean and butcher some of the creatures we find here. These blades will make it even easier. I hope it is good with you," she replied. John wanted to reply, but Anna interrupted him.

"John! There's a huge rat behind you!" she almost screamed.