by Naosu N R
"Mom?"
"The reason I want to introduce you to these three is so to pick one of them to be your full time bodyguard," mom said.
"EH?! A bodyguard?" I was shocked.
"Yes."
"Why?" I wondered.
"Don't question me. Just do it. I want to make sure you have a chance. So her level won't be too high because I also want you to work by your own merits also," she warned me.
"OK...so?"
"This means we'll still have the team guarding the house, but those house guards won't be under you. They are just to guard the house. But this will be for your own benefit, so your business and other ventures won't suffer too much and you won't have to stay at the house and can do your own activities. You will be able to leave the house with your other two mistresses also under limited conditions also," mom said.
"But I'm not involved with the family business. Why would I need a guard?" I asked.
"People may target you whether or not you are in or out, just because you are in the family. That's why, this isn't an option. Its mandatory. We are also having trouble with that one incident recently, which you were involved with. So this can't wait," she told me.
"How will it work? And how do I even know they'll be OK with my life style and how I live?" I asked.
"We've been over that. This isn't to coerce you but to keep the family from suffering from shame if you expose a weak spot. They also already know you have two mistresses," mom said.
They didn't really bat an eye.
"So they know everything?" I asked.
"We had to advise them of everything going on. But they have all signed NDAs, non-disclosure agreements with enchants on them. And don't worry for murim noble houses having only two mistresses is actually on the low end. You should be embarrassed for not having more of them if anything," mom warned.
"Isn't that expensive to do this? And are you paying for it?" I asked.
"Yes. Quite frankly it is, and it will be in the family budget. That's why you can pick only one of them to use. But if you were to agree to work for the company, I would have been able to give you all 3 of them," mom tempted.
I flinched.
"How would you advise me on deciding which one to hire?" I asked.
Mom shrugged. "All 3 of them want the job. Its a good paying gig. Working for our clan also has a lot of benefits. Plus, the fact that you dungeon dive with them also sweetens the deal, and would make many want it just from that part, since it means by guarding you in there, they'd also be leveling up."
Its hard to read the 3 bodyguard candidates. All 3 of them look like they've had some training to hide their emotions, and what they think to not be readable.
"Is there a folder or something I can look at? What about their skills and stats?" I asked.
"I have prepared my own file for you," Mandy said first before the others.
But the others also have them, and handed them to me. Its like resumes inside a file folder, but a murim style resume that features their levels and skills.
"Be careful son. We also had to sign NDAs to not disclose their levels. That's how murim bodyguards work. If you slip up, there's a harsh curse involved, even for us. We protect those we work for," Mom told me.
"Noted. But I'm not big on talking much," I said.
I looked at each one of the file folders and their contents, quickly skimming through them.
Mandy is a level 24 knight. Her emphasis is on sword shield magic skills.
Tabitha is a level 21 soldier, but her equipment is the best out of all of them. (But as a non-knight she has less blocking and defense rating bonus than the knight class, but probably makes up somewhat in offense.)
The last, is Lanny, a level 22 knight, with what looks like a similar skill set as Mandy.
Still...there's so many ways of reading this.
Do I go off only level? Or...
Wait a minute, how is their employment history?
I glanced at it.
It wasn't what I thought.
Mandy has the most experience with 4 years in this industry. She has 2 years more than Lanny. And Tabitha has the least experience of all four with only 1 year. But Mandy's last employer was wounded in an attempted assassination. She managed to keep him alive but had a less than satisfactory rating for ending that job. Lanny has 3 different employers rather than one, but left with recommendations from two of them. Tabitha's history doesn't say anything at all and feels deliberately vague.
I found out Lanny has experience as a stripper. She was recommended by dad, not mom; which she emphasized after telling me that. Lanny gave me a big smile when I was told that.
(Is it just me, or are Mandy and Tabitha giving her a cold vibe?)
Wait, does that mean dad hires strippers a lot?
That raises questions.
I looked through them.
"How fast do I need to decide?" I asked mom.
"Take what time you need. There's no right or wrong way of doing it, unless they turn out to be failures," Mom said dourly. But then she added with a harsh sound in her voice, "we don't tolerate failure here, period. But we sometimes reward excellence."
Two of the bodyguard candidates nodded.
"I suggest you try to decide tonight on one of them. We need the extra staff," mom told me.
What does she mean by that? Does she mean she 'needs' a bodyguard close by for me especially soon?
But then I had an idea to do some digging some more.
I dismissed them and promised I'd try to consider each of them fairly and be unbiased, while shaking hands. They looked disappointed I didn't decide then.
They left.
"Why didn't you decide then?" mom asked.
"There's a few other things I needed to know first that I couldn't find out there," I said.
"Like?"
"How badly are each of them in debt? Do they owe anyone money under the table? I need to know both of those. Are any of them desperate? I want to know things about their personal lives also. I don't need to be too intrusive but I want to know if they could be compromised by their own choices landing them in a rough patch. How soon can you find that out?" I asked, handing mom the three folders.
"Very good. That's what I would do also. You would make a worthy company employee. Are you sure you won't..." I waved mom to not tempt me.
"I'll try to get it within an hour," one of the other men who was a family guard, standing near the door way said.
I went back to my room to wait it out.
...
In an hour I received updated files inside each black folder.
Mandy is in debt, but only from 2 months of back rent from losing her previous job.
Tabitha looks squeaky clean.
Lanny has been in rehab about 4 months ago, but no problems recently. And not the good kind of rehab; the one for addicts.
Ouch!
Rehab?
I'm not sure I want to deal with that. I could give her a temporary offer to work for my parents in a related position as a building security person. That might let her out of the hole, and try to prove herself first.
I didn't want to see her fall back into the bottle or whatever her personal substance abuse problem was. (But I did check that yes, it was a substance abuse rehab center and not a disability or injury rehab center.)
Mandy's back rent some would take as a liability also. I felt bad for her.
But then I got another hurried update from mom's personal guard rushing me two file updates.
These two updates changed everything!
Linny's rehab may be related to wild partying in college. There's even some sordid pics of her partying days, with her looking sort of half naked and sloppy drunk at frat parties. I found out there's also a video, but cut it off, when the staff tried to shot it to me.
I flinched.
But Tabitha's update showed something else.
Hers showed she actually had an underground debt to some loan shark of $42,000 dol
lars. It had started two years ago and just kept growing. It portrayed a life on the edge, as an action junky that had a spending addiction on trying to get nice things and expensive toys constantly.
Wow.
I'm glad I didn't rush this. Tabitha really needed a lot of help and counseling before she was ready for this.
In fact, my biggest concern over this was... if I took in a guard like her, it would be her trying to lead me around by the nose instead of me leading her.
Her file showed she had romantic affairs with her previous bosses. I didn't actually think that was a bad trait. If anything life is hard, and if its a permanent stable relationship what's the harm. However, the problem is that in such cases it seems like the woman ends up running the man around. And so pursuing this kind of deal, I would end up being manipulated and she'd try to turn me into her gofer person.
Wow.
If I hadn't been so careful I would have ended up in a bad situation with 2 of the 3 choices!
I turned to go back to mom's home office and knocked on the door.
"Yes?" mom asked.
I cracked the door open.
Mom was dressing up to go to some party, and half dressed.
I lowered my eyes.
"Hurry. What is it?"
"I think Mandy is the best choice. The one called Tabitha is an accident waiting to happen in my opinion. If someone else in your company uses her, I think trouble would follow," I said.
"OK...hm...I'll look into it. I'll text you tonight or tomorrow on when the new girl,...Mandy...can start working. Please take care of the help and appreciate them. A good bodyguard can be loyal, but only if they feel respected," Mom told me.
I just nodded.
"She might ask for an advance on back rent. If so I don't mind as long as she's..."
"A good dog?" mom asked.
I would have worded it differently.
"I'll see what I can do. Also, don't get your bodyguard pregnant. Diego keeps doing that and it pisses me off. We've lost too much help that way," mom rebuked.
Damn it.
I hate being treated like a screw up just because of him.
"Well go on..." mom shooed me towards the door while still dressing.
"What about that fourth girl? Why was she there?" I asked.
"Oh her? Did you like her? She's pretty right?" mom asked.
"I'm not sure. I don't know anything about her. Is she decent in being able to talk to? How loyal is she? There's not enough information. I need to know more than her face. She is pretty but, how do I even know what she's like?" I asked.
"Good answer. She's the daughter of one of my managers. We don't usually do this, but I'd like you to consider a date with her, you know as a potential fiance," mom said.
Weird.
I don't get why they are trying to fix me up.
"Well?" mom asked turning to face me again.
"Do I have a choice? How much time do I have to decide?"
"Decide now."
Damn.
What do I do?
Chapter 21
I'm now in my parents mansion living room. The living room of 'officers' in the demon lord clan. (I don't know how high up the chain they are, but they are probably not THE boss of bosses. That could be that mysterious third faction.)
And with me is mom and the 3 bodyguard candidates with mom, asking my opinions about them.
We did a few minor questions again, things that weren't too hard to answer to put them at ease. Stuff like what they like to do for lunch, etc.
But I was so worried about making the most optimum choice that I forgot half the stuff they said.
"So which one will you go with, for your choice of a bodyguard?" Mom asked me.
The 3 candidates seemed to puff up their posture a bit, while mom is sitting in a chair attentively watching my reaction.
"Um...Mandy seemed like the best choice," I said.
"Even though she's behind on rent?" she asked.
"The others also had vices that were just as bad," I said.
"Oh. Fine then. I'm OK with your choice. Let's do that," she said and walked off with the dossier with the 3 choices in it. She had her head down and appeared to be thinking something about it.
I wonder what she was thinking?
Just like that she walked off.
Within about a half hour, I was sent a text. And surprisingly it was from Mandy, but at first it came from an unknown number.
'Thank you! Thank you so much! I won't let you down. see you tomorrow morning!' was sent by the number I found out to be Mandy's.
They were all nice looking and good candidates, so I didn't choose Mandy based on appearance. I'd tried to do a good job of thinking about it. But I didn't think that someone should be disqualified based solely on being behind on rent.
...
But things escalated also with the family company.
Over night there was a robbery at one of the warehouses belonging to dad's company. Dad thinks there's a mole in the clan that leaked its location. Also, the robbery involved a shooting; which the police never found out about due to magitek to both hide the evidence, and to silence the sounds (and sight) of the combat.
I heard at the dinner table, that mom knows who it is, and they will escalate accordingly. (Lots of background noise of silverware clicking on nice Chinaware dishes while listening to the family news.)
By morning, the breakfast table news is already that the clan hit two of the opposing parties own warehouses, and looted everything in sight. The other party thought we couldn't find out who did it.
"They were wrong!" mom said while telling us this.
I had to stop myself from getting emotionally wrapped up in this. With all this going on it creates adrenaline. And that adrenaline can really pull you into this, especially when you start thinking about if its stuff related to family.
I had to catch myself from not using possessive thinking about the family business, because I knew it was evil. And that would have gotten me wrapped up in it; especially when we're winning.
Dad tried to recruit me again at breakfast, promising me rewards from the warehouse sacking loot.
That horrified me. I avoided committing.
Then my brothers left to go to work.
One of the staff then informed me my bodyguard is going to pick me up in a few minutes.
Since its a Friday I don't mind.
At this point, things became fairly routine.
Mandy was excited to have a job and meet me. She shook hands very enthusiastically when picking me up.
Melanie wasn't very happy that she doesn't have to pick me up anymore. But she insisted on being in the car to drop me off at school.
...
It wasn't until I was picked up from school that the trouble began.
I was picked up like usual, but instead of using Melanie's truck, she's using one of dad's company vehicles; a white four door very new looking Audi sedan. It looks like its got all the trimmings with all the new options, leather seats, and very nice with that wonderful new car smell.
Wow.
But when peeking in the window, instead of Melanie in the driver's seat its just Mandy, in a woman's business suit, as my new bodyguard.
"Oh."
"Hi," she said.
"Hey. Melanie didn't come?" I asked.
"She wanted to. But your mom wanted you to have a first day with me alone without her interference, so I could get you to see if we can work together," Mandy said.
"I guess that makes sense. She'd want to know if we could get along," I thought aloud.
"Yeah probably," Mandy shrugged. "Oh let me get the door for you."
She came around and opened the rear door for me like a full service chauffeur would do.
Then we began driving. Its very smooth. She's obviously a very good driver. The new car feels good to.
I guess part of having access to the new car is me having more demand in the clan, which means prestige and moving up
in the world?
