Chapter 776 Dusk and Dawn

Chapter 776 Dusk and Dawn

"See? We got kicked out thanks to you." Jack stared at Lydia.

"It wasn't my fault. You're the one who started first." She growled, but then giggled, "Yeah, we don't get along."

Jack smiled, "Want something from the bakery?"

"Don't go stealing anything." She growled, "But that one cake there looks nice."

"Got it, give me a minute." He stood and walked back inside.

"You better not steal it." She growled and he waved his hand. After several minutes he came out, "We're allowed back inside. Come on,"

"Allowed? You talked to him?" She stood.

"Yeah, I know my way around words. Rogues are usually meant to be the faces of adventuring parties alongside bards." He smiled as he approached and grabbed her hand. "Let's go inside. The cake is waiting,"

Lydia smiled, "I can really count on you."

"Not always, I'm pretty useless most of the time." He smiled.

As the two sat down to eat the cakes, Lydia looked at the people flocking inside, "This place looks lively, it must be nice to live here."

One of the waiters there stopped and looked at her. "I won't say that. It was pretty rough around here until two days ago. We could barely sell anything."

The owner came walking in and looked at the waiter. "They need help in the kitchen, I'll keep the two guests company, go help them."

"What did happen?"

"Thugs, we were forced to pay a protection fee for the last several years. I do remember that being a thing since I was but a young little boy." He said, "We'll start losing money due to the extortion which made me raise the prices to remain in business. And when the thugs found that I increased my prices, they asked for a bigger fee, it was a downward spiral."

"The guards did nothing?"

"The guards caught thugs daily, but always kept showing back up. Some even say they had a secret escape tunnel in the guard's jail. Or even a rat that was letting them go, the bastard." He whispered.

"So what changed two days ago?" Lydia asked.

"Divine punishment. Puff!" He said, "All the thugs disappeared without a trace and several of their corpses were found dead in abandoned houses, and the warehouse they used as a base went into flames." He said with an enthusiastic voice, "No man could've done that, it was a punishment from the gods, an angel must've flown down from heaven and burned them to ash."

He took a deep breath, "We aren't extorted anymore and the prices started returning to a reasonable state. More people could afford food and clothes, and business was slowly coming back to life. The rush you just saw wasn't because my cake is good but instead because those people didn't have any cake in the past years."

Lydia's eyes slowly turned toward Jack. It's him, those thugs he wiped out before. They were the ones terrorizing the city.

"Amaterasu's church has been flooded by people bringing in offerings and coins to her altar. You must go check it out. It's the first time in decades that I saw that statue clean of bird droppings." The owner said with a smile.

"Jack..." Lydia stared at him.

Jack shoved a piece of cake into her mouth with a fork, "Eat for now, we'll check it later."

As the two left, Lydia stared at Jack. "Why didn't you say anything? There was no angel, only you."

"I don't care. I've got enough money from killing those thugs. It's a nice bonus to have the city becoming safer, but it was never my goal." Jack replied with a yawn, "But, I'm still salty about something."

"What is it?" Lydia asked.

Lydia stared at her own hand and a purplish black spark flashed.

[Asmodeus is acting as a medium between me and you now. Feel free to use that power against your enemies, but make sure it's away from the church's eyes.]

"Hoi! Useless goddess, what's up with this ability? Once a day? Do you know how hard it'll be to get a use out of it?" Jack shouted at her, and Lydia couldn't be more scared.

[Again, that's a problem with you. You lack faith in me, I can't force my divine energy into a non-believer, and they'll burn and die.] She looked at him with a thinking face.

"Jack... calm down."

"You're a goddess so do a goddess thing and fix it!" Jack yelled at her.

[Fine, you two were talking about Kali earlier, so I probably should go with her example.] Amaterasu sighed, [You can use it more than once, but to achieve that, you'll have to recharge from a source that's rich with my divine magic.]

"Huh? Do you want me to come here and lick your statue each day to recharge that ability? It's no better than it not being rechargeable at all." He growled.

[You can do that...but I wasn't talking about my statue.] She pointed at Lydia with her toes. [You can recharge from her.]

"Wait! Me?!" Lydia gasped.

"Lydia..." Jack looked at Lydia, "Keep going..." he looked back at Amaterasu.

[Any physical contact will do. Just touch her and it'll be charged right up, but...It'll be better if you kiss her.]

"What are you saying!" Lydia was the one screaming now.

"And what benefit would that provide?" Jack asked with an interested face.

[Nothing, it'll be more fun for me to watch.]

Jack thought about it for a second and then turned toward Amaterasu. "On a more serious note...there was something I wanted to ask."

[What is it? My little hero?]

"Why does Lydia need to remain a virgin?" He asked.

"JACK!" Lydia cried at his side.

[Good question. She actually doesn't now. Ever since Asmodeus became a medium between us that requirement has dropped.]

"Then doesn't need to anymore!"

[No, she still needs to remain a virgin for now. I'll remove all of her powers if she loses hers.] Amaterasu stared at Jack.

"Why?"

[Cause you'll stop being a hero.]

"Wait! That doesn't make sense!" Jack growled.

[Next time, you'll talk with Asmodeus. Be careful, she isn't as gentle as I am...She hates women like Lydia, so be careful...

careful, careful...] Amaterasu disappeared into the godrays.