I Married Three Calamities (And Got A System For It)

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: I am here to resign

Mars and Solaris walked towards the metro station as fast as they could, with Solaris oddly silent once they were far from their neighbors.

Mars was still holding her hand, dragging her along as if she were an unruly child who couldn’t be trusted to be left alone — which was actually the case — yet Solaris herself didn’t fling her hand away from him.

She seemed to accept it with passive abandon, something that wasn’t like her.

However, Mars himself didn’t notice that at the time. His focus was on his surroundings; he only now realized they lived in a very wealthy-looking neighborhood.

Luxurious houses lined both sides of the road, some with elaborate designs, others simple but still giving off a wealthy vibe.

Multiple cars, the likes of Rolls-Royces, Mercedes, and BMWs, were lined up in front of these houses.

It was only then that Mars realized his house was located inside the famous, and also infamous, Xaliss Neighborhood.

It was well known throughout New France, tucked into a niche corner of Paris, known for hosting the wealthiest individuals of New France below the Primes, some major bank conglomerates like the Joekiller Family and the Law Heaven Firm of the Naymaster Family.

So everyone living there was rich by default: some of them famous Hunters, others simply wealthy people who’d used their Gift well and reached a high level in their field.

Mars remembered someone with the Gift of ’Clean,’ which gave her the ability to clean anything properly. Nothing else.

Yet she’d used her Gift as inspiration and created products that somehow achieved what her Gift did, and became a millionaire by building a whole business off it.

Many others like her existed: people who’d awakened a Gift not suited for combat, but perfect for a certain field.

Mars guessed that was why schools and colleges still existed, teaching people to be engineers, doctors, lawyers, or any other profession.

Because even in this world of the supernatural, such people were needed, and always would be.

Mars himself would have chosen that kind of path if he’d had enough money for college, and if he hadn’t suddenly been married off.

But all of that was useless thinking now.

Because after leaving the Xaliss Neighborhood and walking a couple more minutes to catch the metro, Mars and Solaris soon arrived where he’d been working.

222 Rue Bauvary, it was called.

"Eww," Solaris said instantly, looking at the filthy street and the numerous homeless people littering it. "This is where you’ve been working?"

"Yeah," Mars replied, nodding his head ahead of him. "We’ll get there in a few minutes. You can see the outline of the restaurant from here, if your eyesight is good enough."

"I’m not blind like Willow. I can see it fine," Solaris said in an annoyed tone.

Mars looked at her and smiled wryly. "Are you still angry about what Moon said?"

"I’ll kill her."

"You know you can’t do that."

She snapped her head towards him, golden eyes narrowing dangerously. "Because you think she’s stronger than me?!"

"I don’t think that," he shook his head, the two still walking towards the restaurant, passing old men and women, and even children asking for money. "I said you can’t, because now we’re a family. And the number one rule in this family is no killing each other."

"Where the fuck did that rule come from?"

"I just made it up." He glanced at her. "You can curse each other as long as it doesn’t go overboard and hit sensitive things. You can even fight, as long as you don’t intentionally try to kill. Can you do that?"

"Why are you saying this to me and not Moon? She’s the one in the wrong here!"

"I’ll tell that to Moon too. If we want to get through this together, Solaris, I need both of you to be more like Willow."

Solaris’s face twisted instantly with disgust and anger. "She asked you once if you’re okay, and you’re already licking her ass like a dog?"

"At least she asked," he said, shooting her a glare. "Did you?"

Her face twisted with restrained anger. She parted her lips to speak, but stopped abruptly when Mars halted, looking around with a slight frown.

Solaris mirrored him, stopping and looking around too. Her fake blue eyes widened slightly as they settled on people wearing black and gold uniforms, a steel fist stamped on their chests, weapons at their belts.

Some carried guns, others swords, and still others carried staffs or gauntlets.

The Local Protectors.

"What are they doing here?" Mars hissed under his breath in alarm.

He snapped his head to the left and saw a homeless old man leaning against a squalid wall, his clothes torn and dirty enough that no one could tell their original color.

There was an empty bowl in front of him, set out for money.

Mars hardened his eyes and approached the old man, Solaris at his side. He took out a 2-euro coin and dropped it into the bowl, making the man startle awake.

He looked at the coin and his eyes visibly lit up. "T-Thank you! Thank you, my son!"

Solaris visibly winced as the old man spoke, showing broken yellow teeth, some of them rotting black.

Mars’s expression didn’t change as he smiled back. "It’s alright. Take this money as payment for a question," he said, speaking with curiosity rather than the nervousness he felt inside. "Why are the Local Protectors here? Is something going on?"

"Ah!" the old man exclaimed, waving his dirty hands dismissively. "It’s the same thing every day."

"What?"

"Drugs," the homeless man said, cackling. "The Local Protectors caught wind of drugs being circulated here! Now they’re searching everywhere to root out the culprits and the drugs."

Mars and Solaris frowned.

Drugs weren’t uncommon in this world. Gangsters and mafias built entire markets and businesses around them, earning big money.

But drugs were forbidden by the Rightful Guardian in New France, which led to constant conflict between the mafias and gangs and the government and, by extension, the Protectors, whose job was to keep order.

At the homeless man’s answer, Mars gave him another 2-euro coin and walked away with Solaris.

They watched the Protectors from a distance, trying to act normal. After all, they had nothing to do with the drug matter.

But what they were about to do wasn’t very convenient with Protectors nearby.

"We’re still doing it," Solaris said, undaunted. "We didn’t come here for nothing."

Mars knew he had to go through with it. He’d been given a quest, and failing a quest always meant the Seeds of Calamity’s progression would increase.

For this quest, only Solaris’s progression would be affected if he failed: an increase of +4%. That was far too much.

"And look," Solaris’s voice snapped him back to the moment. He looked where she was pointing with her head and saw a Local Protector leaving the Tendernism Restaurant.

"The Protectors checked the restaurant and looked like they found nothing," Solaris smiled. "Which means, whatever happens, they won’t come back."

"So that means we can do what we need to do quietly, and leave just as quietly." He shot her a glare. "Quiet isn’t exactly your strongest quality, Solaris."

"Fuck you. I can be very quiet if I want."

"Oh, really?"

"Really!"

"Alright." Mars smiled, took Solaris’s hand as if they were devoted lovers, then walked towards the restaurant. "Let’s do it quietly, then."

Solaris’s face flushed red at the sudden, intimate contact. She could feel Mars’s body heat and his ordinary, yet soothing, scent brushing her nose.

"Do... do you need to touch me like this?" she hissed nervously under her breath, trying not to attract attention.

"Of course not," Mars grinned.

"What?" Solaris said. "Then why the hell?"

"Because I’d be a fool not to take this chance to get close to you," he replied, just as they reached the door of the restaurant.

He stopped and looked at Solaris, seeing her face red with embarrassment, her lips twitching heavily.

Mars chuckled. "You really are cute, Solaris."

"Don’t call me cute, plebeian!"

"What can I do if you truly are cute? Anyway, I swear I like your current endearing expression, but I don’t want you cute right now." He pressed his palm to the door and pushed it open. "I want you in your ’I Will Explode Everything’ mode. But, of course, quietly."

He gave her one last glance. "Can you do that?"

"I’ll make you pay for taking advantage of me, pervert bastard. And yes," she gripped his hand tighter and stepped into the restaurant with him, "I can fucking do that."

A chime echoed through the restaurant.

"Bonjour!! Welcome to the Tendernism Restaurant!!" A tall, plump, older-looking woman greeted them with the enthusiasm her job demanded. "Would you like a table for—!"

The woman’s words caught in her throat instantly when her dull, overworked black eyes fell on Mars’s face, recognition flashing behind them.

"Huh?" she exclaimed, slightly taken aback. "Marsy boy?"

Mars grimaced slightly at the nickname and nodded. "Hey, Aunt Lalie, how are you? Do you know where the boss is?"

He smiled, and Solaris’s hand tightened even further around his own,

"I’m here to resign."

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