Kayen was pissed off.
He needed to go back to work. He needed a job. An unemployed monthly wage was not enough for Kayen to continue his current lifestyle. He had to go back to work, he had no choice. The problem was, what job?
On one hand, Kayen could retrain for a new job, perhaps even a new Class completely. But he had already tried that by trying to get into the K-Class and having everything screwed up by a crystalline dragon who disguised himself as a Skyan. Alright, being kidnapped wasn’t exactly Kayen’s fault, but for someone who wanted to work as a soldier, getting kidnapped was the worst thing that could have happened to him aside from being murdered.
Other Classes probably weren’t an option either. News always spread quickly. People already knew that an old former minister of finance’s kid was stolen away. None of them would want to allow Kayen in for retraining in case he was a flight risk or damaged in some way.
Alternatively, Kayen could go back to work in the N-Class Finance and Business sector. But he really didn’t want to do that. Kayen’s previous job was as a tax collector, and that sort of thing was basically a massive KICK ME sign stuck to Kayen’s back. No one liked tax collectors. These days, Kayen often questioned why he’d picked the job in the first place.
This left limited options for Kayen. Either go back to his old job with a sheepish look on his face, or find something outside of Skyan territories.
Both ideas were terrifying.
“Are you still looking for jobs?” Kayef-en, Kayen’s father, asked as he knocked on the door, bringing with him a tray of biscuits and tea.
“Yeah.”
“Not found anything?”
“Of course not.”
“Why not?”
Kayen looked up at his father. “I’m a fucking kidnapping victim. Who the fuck wants to hire that?”
The young Skyavok went back to his search. The Skyan Job Database wasn’t really giving him anything new. He’d gone through it several times already, but each time Kayen thought maybe he’d missed something, or maybe someone had added a new job while he’d been looking elsewhere, or some similar excuse.
Kayef-En watched his son work. The poor thing hadn’t been right since his mother had died a few years back. Kayef-En didn’t like thinking about it much himself. It had been sudden and unexpected. A heart attack and stroke. Nothing they could have done. Kayef-En always wondered how much it had scarred Kayen, finding his mother the way he did.
The whole kidnapping thing must have made things far worse for his beloved son. Kayef-En nearly had a heart attack himself when he discovered his son was missing. Thankfully, luck and good fortune appeared to be on his family’s side and Kayen had returned home mostly safe and sound.
Now, Kayef-En just wanted his son to be happy and to recover from his trauma.
“You do not have to get a job in Skyan territories if that is not what you want.”
Kayen stopped what he was doing. “Pardon?”
“You spoke to the Raptor while on Portalia, yes? I have heard stories of her offering jobs to those she likes.”
“You have?”
“It is a common story from Portalia. And evidence somewhat supports it, what with how her arenas work.”
Kayen blinked.
“You don’t believe me, son?”
“I’m just surprised that, after so many years of you wanting me to follow in your footsteps, you’d be happy for me to leave our territories altogether?”
“I just want you to be happy. You clearly were not happy. And you won’t be happy going back.”
Kayen sighed. “I… I don’t know what to do…”
Kayef-En put an arm around Kayen. “Maybe you should sleep on things a bit more. Take a month’s worth of unemployment wages and work things out. Better that than to be tied into a job contract that you heavily dislike.”
Kayen smiled, just a little. “You’re right, dad. I guess I’ll do that then…”