Wolfe continued meditating until the pouch of what he could only assume was mana in his chest felt full and wouldn’t hold anymore. The action seemed natural, as if he had always known what to do on an instinctive level and only had to try it once to awaken the memories. It was an incredible feeling, like he was whole and complete for the first time in his life, but with a hint of weakness, like a newborn who had just taken its first breath.
The process had taken much longer than expected, and his watch showed it was already afternoon. He really had to get to work now, as he hadn’t planned on skipping his courier job entirely, just taking the morning to rest after a good haul yesterday. The courier company was one of the best places on this level to work, and skipping a full day without notice was a great way to get yourself fired.
Wolfe turned his phone on and checked the courier app for nearby deliveries. There was a good order from just down the street going to the Noxus main house that nobody had picked up yet, so Wolfe quickly accepted it and grabbed the two Crystals plus his bike on his way out.
Pushing himself as hard as he could to make up lost time, Wolfe noticed that his legs seemed just a bit stronger today, and he wasn’t getting tired as fast as usual.
The meditation had really helped, he decided as he kept pedalling as hard as he could, testing his limits. A faster courier made more money, and Wolfe was one of the best already.
The order was ready and waiting when he arrived at the restaurant, but it was still steaming, so he wasn’t too far off the ready time.
“Must be a busy day today, it’s not often that we wait that long for a confirmation.” The cashier greeted Wolfe as he jogged in with his courier bag.
“Yeah, I started late today and I was pretty shocked to see you with an active order. No worries though, I will get it there on time. Who was the contact?” Wolfe replied, double-checking that the order was correct.
“Butler James. Same as usual. He’s expecting it in twelve minutes.” The cashier told him as Wolfe loaded his bag and jogged back out.
He locked the bag to the back rack on his electric bicycle and raced out into traffic, overtaking most of the slower-moving vehicles.
The speed limit in the city was only thirty kilometres an hour, and most vehicles held to that in order to save energy, but not Wolfe. That was why he used a modified electric bike with the speed limiter disabled and not a moped. He could add his own efforts to increase his speed and not use up the battery.
At his usual speed, the main house was fifteen minutes away, but Wolfe was practically flying today as he wove through the lunchtime crowd. Traffic control always looked the other way for couriers speeding, so he didn’t slow down at all, except when he reached a red light. Even then, he ducked around the line of traffic using the oncoming lanes so he could get to the front and sped off the moment the lights changed.
After only nine minutes, he was at the gates to the Noxus main house, where an unexpected sight greeted him. It was not Butler James that came to collect the order, but Uncle Ivan himself.
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Uncle Ivan was a huge and intimidating man, broad in the shoulder and over two meters tall, with salt and pepper hair that had begun to show his age.
Wolfe unlocked the delivery bag, since the butler wasn’t there with the tray to collect the order, and reached out his hand to greet the family patriarch with the family’s unique handshake.
The moment their hands touched, a spark of energy flowed between them, and Uncle Ivan’s eyes opened wide in shock.
“It seems that we have a lot to talk about. Don’t leave after dinner, and keep your gloves on when you are greeting anyone but the elders.” The patriarch whispered, then led Wolfe inside the immaculate white plantation-style house.
Wolfe followed the Patriarch of his family into the dining room, where forty or more men, all sharing the same dark hair as Wolfe had, and similar facial features, had gathered.
“Don’t worry about the ladies, they retire to the sitting room until dinner so we don’t bore them to death with talk of work.” One of the older men welcomed Wolfe to the room.
Butler James quickly collected the delivery bag and gave Wolfe a wink and a tip, the same as their usual routine.
The takeout would be for the children since they probably wouldn’t truly appreciate the spiced sausages and cabbage that Wolfe could smell cooking in the kitchen. Until very recently, Wolfe himself had been with them on the rare occasion that he was here for the monthly gathering, eating restaurant food in the small side room and socializing with the other youngsters.
This would be his first monthly dinner in the adults’ dining hall, and he had completely forgotten about it.
Not that he had gotten an invitation or a reminder. The Noxus Family didn’t do that. You were either here for the dinner or weren’t, and it only mattered if you were a topic of conversation in a negative way. Everyone had jobs and lives outside the house, other than a select few, and Uncle Ivan didn’t judge based on attendance.
“Roman, you know Wolfe, yes? He has just turned eighteen and joined the family properly.” Uncle Ivan informed the offer man who had spoken earlier.
“Is that so? Very good, very good.” Roman replied with a smile, then removed his glove to shake Wolfe’s hand.
The moment their bare skin touched, that same feeling of energy passed between them, making the old man look even more pleased before he schooled his face back to neutrality and put his glove back on.
Wolfe took that as his cue and slid his riding gloves back on his hands. He felt a bit strange doing it, but he noticed that he wasn’t alone.
Though they were soft leather gloves, expensive and comfortable, almost all the better-dressed men in the room wore gloves. If he hadn’t known about his ability to use Magic, Wolfe would have simply assumed it was a preference of the senior family members.
But now, Wolfe had just as many things to ask Uncle Ivan about as the old man had to ask him.