When James regained consciousness his eyes snapped open to see two cute girls standing beside him as he lay propped on divine fluffy white pillows. One of the young girls was adjusting a strange device that sent fluids into his body through clear tubes. The other girl had her arms crossed with a serious expression on her face as she stared him down.

James struggled to sit up before a single hand from the cross armed girl pushed him flat on the bed effortlessly. Before he could attempt to get up again, his brother’s voice came from the opposite side of the bed, “Don’t move James. If you react violently here, we die.” His body froze at the serious tone his brother had. He glanced up noting that the collar that had been placed on Thomas was gone, and a quick check of his own body revealed there was nothing around his neck. The panic slowly drained out of his body, allowing James to slump back onto the luxurious bed. The quality of the room, and the two cute girls clearly labeled this as a high quality residence.

“What happened? Did someone rescue us from that paper demoness?” James said facing his brother, which prevented him from seeing the two girl’s angry expressions before they were smoothed away.

Thomas gave a wry grin and said, “That paper demoness that you are referring to is the person who arranged for your treatment after you thoughtlessly used the Skill and Spell combination I remember asking you to never try. Crystal Shot is for use only when you have no other options, not when I am in the middle of surrendering.”

“B-But you had a collar on…” James said weakly.

“And after explaining things to our peak Tier attacker, Eve, she understood, which is the only reason we aren’t livestock right this moment with the others.” Thomas said, his eyes appearing briefly haunted to James.

“Peak Tier?” James said aghast. He had attacked the equivalent of the Oasis City Lord in his stupidity!

“Indeed. I could sense the influx of mana right before I surrendered.” Thomas said his eyes distant. “It was like watching an avalanche of sand falling, too much for even me to stop. I surrendered immediately, and lucky for us both, the surrender was accepted.”

“Grandmother is nice to stupid boys.”

“Grandmother is generous to stupid boys.”

James turned his head back to watch both of the cute girls fall silent as they sent him direct and sidelong glares.

His brother Thomas smirked as James blushed in embarrassment. “I’ve signed a magic contract to work under Lady Eve, James. I wanted to be here when you woke so that I had the best chance of convincing you to do the same.” Thomas said, his eyes serious.

“Contract?” James said, confused. His brother had always been rather independent, the sudden switch to working underneath a noble made no sense.

“There are benefits to working for Lady Eve.” Thomas said, with a wide grin.

“What could make you work under a noble? I thought you hated them for what happened to father?” James asked, probing.

“That would be me, young man. I am Sara, your brother’s superior, he works under me with great enthusiasm.” a voice said on the opposite side of the bed. James turned his face and beheld a gorgeous woman just behind both of the girls. He felt his breath catch in his throat, and the blood rush to places on his body that made his thoughts run wild. Sara was kind enough not to mention anything, although the girls were staring curiously at James wondering why he was suddenly breathing raggedly.

James turned his attention back to his brother with a glance and raised one eyebrow. Thomas’s grin only widened further confirming to James that his brother was in no hurry to leave his current employer.

I can understand why my smooth talking brother signed into service now. Sara is definitely a convincing argument. James thought as his eyes drifted to the two girls. I wonder if the girls are related to her. If they were to look similar to her in the future…

James fantasized momentarily before an inked quill, and a paper contract were placed before him.

“Sign stupid cute boy.”

“Sign weak cute boy.”

His quill holding left hand was gently nudged by four smaller hands towards the paper. “If I sign will I be working with two lovely ladies such as yourself?” James asked as he switched the quill to his dominant right hand. Glancing over he saw two cute girls tilting their heads before turning to look at Sara.

“Big sis?”

“Big sis?”

“Indeed, you will be working under both girls in the future.” Sara said, her smile mysterious. James didn’t miss the snort from his brother’s side of the bed. He wasn’t sure exactly what was funny but it probably had to do with things James would learn in the future. Shrugging he signed the contract watching as both the quill and the paper vanished in motes of sparkling magic light.

“Cute boy ours!”

“Cute boy ours!”

The two girls leaned over and gave James a kiss on his cheek and forehead each. He blushed bright red as they withdrew, and turned to look beseechingly at his brother. Like a true traitor, his brother coughed gently into his fist, and got up to walk over to stand by Sara. The chair his brother had been sitting in unraveled into nothingness as if it had never existed.

“Now that you are stable, and contracted, Lady Eve will speak with you. We’ll be going now.” Sara said, putting an arm firmly around the girls and leading everyone out through the door.

James attempted to get up from the bed, but the pain caused him to gasp before laying back on the pillows once more. There was a flicker in his vision to the left where his brother had been sitting that made James turn his head.

“Greetings.” A calm middle aged woman that reminded James of the few times he had seen a Madame in the pleasure houses of Oasis. The woman didn’t have the instant stunning effect of Sara, yet she drew the eye with a palpable aura of authority. The only strangeness was the chair she was sitting in, and the book half-open on her head like a bizarre hat.

“G-Greetings, Lady Eve?” James said, half-polite and half-questioning.

“Correct.” Eve said continuing with, “I’m sure you have questions. Ask them, I have plenty of time.” A small smirk crossed her face as she looked at James calmly.

“How did you survive Crystal Shot?” James asked his burning curiosity taking the lead.

“I’m a Witch.” Eve said, pointing up to the book on her head. “My familiar has several benefits, one of which prevented my death.”

A familiar that can prevent death? James thought. No wonder Witches are so much money for reporting! Any noble would kill to have such an ability.

“What do you want with us?” James asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

“I want you to use your abilities to make me very wealthy, in a very legal way as a cover for my very illegal activities.” Eve said smiling mysteriously.

“Huh?” James responded confused.

“Do you know where precious metals come from?” Eve asked as she leaned back in her chair. The chair adjusted to conform to her form, and floated over to land closer to the bed.

“Mines?” James said unsure where the conversation was going.

“Yes, now where are such things as Mines located?” Eve pushed.

“The ground? Like, mountains, and stuff?” James said thoroughly uncertain the point that was being made.

“Your brother is the Earth element. Third tier to be exact.” Eve said, announcing the knowledge as if stating a fact.

James gasped as he made the connection and said, “Mines, you want to create a mine with my brother’s power.”

“Find. Not create. Find. Land is cheap, but only when it is worthless. We are merely traveling through this desert, heading for the next layer of the Endless Forest.” Eve said, her eyes glimmering with delight at his quick thinking.

“You are aiming for the Mountains, the Sky Sword Range that cuts the next layer in half.” James said connecting the dots. Such a place would be perfect for his brother’s talents. The only problem was travel to the next layer required appropriate paperwork from officials in the Serpent Empire. There was absolutely no way for a pirate, or his brother to get such papers, or pass the inspection entry point. Smuggling had been considered by both brother’s which had led them to the current endeavor of piracy to raise money.

“Correct. You are a very intelligent boy, much like Tim another young man in the family you will meet later, along with his sister, Jenny.” Eve said before ruffling his hair. The warm feeling that Lady Eve’s hand brought to mind had been something James had forgotten as the world around him grew colder. The streets had few people that would be willing to spend a fortune in potions on him. He might not understand what the device pumping liquid gold into his veins was, but the clear red liquid couldn’t be anything except a health potion of high quality. There was nothing else James knew that could heal so effectively.

Straightening his hair James asked, “That explains why you recruited my brother, but not me.”

“You can manipulate crystals, correct? Eve asked another mysterious smile passing across her face.

“Yes.” James said before continuing guiltily, “I’m limited by the amount of mana and knowledge. There aren’t a lot of schools for street rats.”

“I would imagine not.” Eve said, casually removing a book from a spatial item before gently setting it before him.

James looked at the title sounding it out, “The Wonderful World of the Crystal Geologic Empire and Sub-Kingdoms.”

When he looked at Eve she was staring off into the distance before she said, “That’s a book from my homeland. It is a comprehensive guide on mineral structures, or what you know as crystals.”

James opened the clearly expensive book with pages thinner than anything he had ever seen. The words inside the book appeared as gibberish before twisting before his eyes. Even though his knowledge of language at a bare minimum James found the words speaking their meaning directly into his mind causing his jaw to drop.

“Magic book!” James shouted, amazed before turning his embarrassed face to Eve.

“Yes. As part of my family it wouldn’t do to have your lack of learning affect your education. I would be a poor magic Witch if I couldn’t create a book that anyone can read after all.” Eve said her voice filled with kindness before she said, “Of course you will need to study this book every day and complete the homework inside it to my satisfaction.”

That was the moment James learned that the kind caring face he had seen so far was nothing but a cruel illusion. His betrayed expression caused James to look pitiful as he said, “Homework?”

A smile that was angelic, yet somehow also demonic appeared on Eve’s face before she said, “Indeed, homework. I cannot allow those in my employ to remain uneducated, it would reflect badly upon myself. I have collected a number of books over the years. Some are from my homeland, and some are from more…local...information sources.”

“What if I don’t want to do homework?” James said, his expression mulish.

“That would be unfortunate, since only those that do homework are allowed into my personal Dungeon to raise their level.” Eve said dropping a conversational bombshell.

“Y-You have a p-personal what!?” James managed to sputter out. Even the City Lord of the Oasis had to share the water dungeon the city had formed around with others.

Tapping one hand against her lips, Eve gave a sly smile and said, “Oh? Did I forget to mention that? No matter. Raising your levels and your knowledge of gems is of utter priority to ensure the fountain of gold you can become for me occurs. Once you do enough homework you will be able to take the Jeweler Profession along with the Enchanting one. Combined those will allow you to create marvelous items that will sell for a fortune.” Eve paused before she flashed a grin and said, “You know girls like things that sparkle, right?”

James gulped at the suggestive image that flashed into his mind. No matter how hard he tried to erase it the image of two beautiful women hanging on his arm stuck. The imagery wasn’t hard to conjure as he thought of a pair of younger versions of Sara. James had seen the few times running messages for certain brothels how men would gift expensive jewelry to women they were enamored with. He envisioned himself crafting rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings before he shook himself firmly.

Just because they called me cute doesn’t mean anything. James thought. However, the path Lady Eve is laying out sounds extremely impressive.

If there was one thing James had learned on the streets, it was the power of money. Birds die for food, while humanoids died for gold. There were places in the Oasis that he steered away from because a single copper piece was enough to purchase a corpse. For all of the power Thomas had, it wouldn’t do James any good if he was already bleeding out from a punctured kidney.

“There are of course more the more mundane things you will receive working for me.” Eve said dismissive.

James focused fully on her as she continued, “Things like this.” A hand waved deposing a steaming tray filled with a vast array of food, drink, and silverware on his lap. Before he could get over his shock at the luxury meal display, two small green furry mice came into his vision.

“These two are valued servants of the Hut, the house within which you are currently located. She takes care of almost all the needs of those within with her powers, although the Hut rarely communicates with others. Take care not to harm any animals or plants within my domain, as it will result in punishment.” Eve said as she rose while the chair beneath her disintegrated into nothing.

“Although we got off to a rocky start, I bid you welcome to the family, James.” Eve said before vanishing from his side.

James looked at the food that was being floated to his mouth by mice that were clearly air element users. He wasn’t sure what the future held, but it was bound to be better than the past at this rate.

“Family, huh?” James mumbled, “Feels nice.”