Chapter 9 - Actions Have Consequences

“Hey! Are you listening?”

“Yes!”

Whilst half asleep, half crying, in a seiza sitting position, I tried my best to stay awake. How did this happen? Well, it’s all because I made a tiny mistake, and allowed the agents to expose what I was doing on my computer.

“You’ll be banned from touching any devices, for 3 months!”

“What!? This is tyranny!”

A ban for 3 months? The amount of knowledge I'll miss out on! This is obviously oppression of the weak, and not allowing them to gain information.

“You dare question me?”

“Hiiii! No! Never!”

Nevermind, the ban is not tyranny at all. The ban is a very peaceful and wise decision.

On the food chain, you’d think ancient dragons, and demi-gods are at the top, but it’s truly moms that are at the top of the food chain. I’ve faced many rogue ancient dragons in my old life, and none come close to my mom right now.

My dad is shivering in the corner, eating dinner right now. He’s not related at all, but he still jumps whenever mom raises her voice. Truly frightening.

“Lotte, tell me how you managed to get tangled up with the FBI? What’s with this buying information thing?”

“I learnt how to hack, and I used it to help the FBI arrest bad guys.”

It wasn’t a lie, but my voice was trembling. Blackmailing the FBI isn't a crime since I'm technically helping them, and that automatically cancels out the crime, so I didn't include that. I also didn't include the pay, since unpaid labour is a crime, so it was necessary to pay me.

My mom stopped for a bit to think, and heaved a heavy sigh afterwards.

“The world is dangerous, Lotte. Don’t involve yourself with politics; it’ll only do you harm. It doesn’t matter how talented you are. When you involve yourself like that, the bad guys will target you. I don’t mind if you enter the political field when you have the experience, but, you don’t have any experience now, so I won’t allow it. The only reason why I allowed you to go outside so freely was that I trusted you. You were mature, and this neighbourhood is very safe. But, today, you’ve lost my trust. Until you can fully gain my trust again, you have you notify me anytime you want to do something. Got it?”

“Y-yes.”

“It’s getting late now, finish dinner quickly and go to sleep. You have school tomorrow.”

I exited out of the seiza sitting position, with my legs aching, and sat down to eat dinner. The atmosphere was awkward, so I quickly downed everything and returned to my room. I quietly snuck a message to the FBI, saying I have to deal with some troubles, so I won't be able to sell any information.

That night was the first time in a while, where my heart ached when I tried to sleep. The last time my heart ached when I was trying to sleep, was when Sharla, my first apprentice mage, died from assassination from a noble I used to work for.

I stopped working for the noble to accommodate Sharla, and that resulted in the noble trying to get rid of her. She was such a talented mage and a nice girl. It still pains me to this day.

---

The next day at school, I tried to wash my mind clean and focus on trying to regain my mom’s trust. I also told Allen and Alfred that the plan to control the world from the shadow will be temporarily disbanded.

They looked surprised, but they didn't dive any deeper because they had a rough idea of what must’ve happened. Having a bunch of suspicious FBI agents, dressed in all black to escort you home won't end well. I learnt that the hard way.

And so, for the rest of my school days, I spent my time rigorously training Allen, Alfred and Amelia to study. We managed to skip a few grades, and together with Amelia, we entered the same private high school at 9 years old. When I establish my mercenary group, they will be the three As, the highest-ranked personnel under me.

Also, after the 3-month ban, I spent my time researching as much as I could.

For now, my mom said that I will be allowed to take a special test at home once I reach sophomore high school. If I pass the test, she’ll renew her trust in me, and allow me to go back to extorting the FBI.

When I look back on that day, I learnt quite a few things. For one, actions have consequences. I never looked much into it in my past life since I worked under Royals and nobles, which usually bailed me out every time I got caught using their authority and money.

"Hey, system. Are you still alive?"

[Yes]

"I'm sorry, I haven't talked with you much after that happened. Let's work again together once again. Let's extort the FBI together, once I pass the special test."

[It will be my honour. I shall lower the price for the first return purchase, to only $9999]

"Hey! That's not even 1%! You cheapskate system! At least lower it to 30%!"

[2% is limit. No more than that.]

"Tch. Fine."