Chapter 125: Times To Come and The Limax Group (2/2)
”That's true, but you were restricting my moments, Mr. Thorn,” said Quinn as he unwrapped one of the choco-balls and popped it into his mouth. ”I wanted to see both magical and non-magical Aarhus, not just the magical parts. But you insisted that I restricted my movements. You even protested against the random and new restaurant plan. No offense, but I explore better alone.”
Quinn was also sure that if he asked Aksel to take him to Mørke Gade. He would've got shut down before even saying the entire sentence. The area was just too shady for a teen like Quinn to wander around.
”But what if you had got lost,” asked one of Aksel's colleagues in English. ”This isn't your country, and you could've gotten lost with no one to ask for help from.”
”Oh, please,” scoffed Quinn in response. ”I know how the hotel's lobby from memory. With its image and some apparition, I can return from anywhere a few kilometers without breaking a sweat, do ask Aksel. I can't get lost in public, and even if I do, I can teleport at will to return to the safe lobby.
Quinn walked past and settled on one of the single-seater sofas in the living room. ”I can tell that you guys are Mr. Thorn's friends, and from the looks of it, you also work together with him. How about you guys sit down and we talk?”
None of the guys sat down as Aksel once again asked. ”Why would you leave? Did you not know how much panic you caused? How did you even sneak out?”
”Mr. Thorn, why are you even surprised? Didn't your briefing stress on the part that I will try to sneak out?” replied Quinn. He took out a Durum shawarma wrapped in foil out of his pockets and spoke as he unwrapped it. ”It was your fault that you put your guard down. Just because I acted politely, you assumed that the information you had turned null and void. Is this what they taught you when you were training to be an Auror?”
Aksel's eyes went wide open when he heard Quinn speak up. ”I didn't tell you that. How did you know that?”
”I didn't,” smiled Quinn and took a bite of the pita and the meat inside. He pointed at Aksel and chuckled. ”I simply guessed, and just you confirmed it. So, thanks for that. I was genuinely curious if my guess was correct.”
Quinn then looked at the other five men: except for the suit guy and Aksel, the rest of the gang had sat back down and were listening to Quinn speak. He observed every one of them and took in what they gave to him. Every one of them looked fit, and the way they had whipped out their wands the second they saw Quinn was indicative of a few things. When combined that with Aksel's confirmation, Quinn concluded.
”All of you are either Aurors or Hit Wizards,” started Quinn. ”To be precise, ex-Auror and ex-Hit Wizards. Given that you guys work for the family business means that you all left the ministry jobs.”
Quinn looked at the detailed map on the table and recognized the detail in the map. ”Hmm... let me front a guess. You guys are bodyguards or maybe wands for hire that work under the banner of the West family.”
And looking at them, Quinn could see that his guess was correct.
”I didn't know that we worked in this business.”
Quinn heard clapping and turned to see the man in casual clothes and flip-flops clapping his hands while smiling.
”Aren't you a smart one,” grinned the man. ”I am Niel. And yes, you're correct. We are bodyguards for hire. Got trained to be Aurors and Hit Wizards, did some time as Aurors and Hit Wizards, and then left the ministry to start this up.”
Aksel, Neil, and Lucas: the guy in the suit, were three childhood friends. One pureblood, one half-blood, and the last a first-gen magical. All of them were poor or came from tough backgrounds. Two were orphans, while one of them had an abusive parent. So they banded together and formed a lifelong bond to stick together and be the family none of them had.
The three were bright students, and when they graduated, all of them applied for Auror and Hit Wizard apprenticeships, and with their grades and aptitude, passed the tests and got trained to become Aurors and Hit Wizards. The three, who didn't have much money in their lives, finally had a substantial income with the job.
”But you see. People can hire Auror and Hit Wizards for protection when they have a good reason to do so, or they have the money and influence to haul around Aurors are guards,” spoke Neil with a smile as he crossed his legs; his flip-flop removed from his hanging foot. ”We saw an opportunity to earn more money than we were already making, and thus, we left our jobs to start our protection service. We could be hired as bodyguards at a fee. And as it turned out, many rich folks are willing to fork out money for some protection.”
Quinn nodded, well familiar with the private security industry, which was prevalent in the non-magical world. But in the magical world, it wasn't common, and thus, this here could be considered a new industry and job line.
”How does the West family business come into play?”
”The connections,” answered Lucas, dressed meticulously in a suit. ”Not a lot of people do what we do. Most of them were used to going to the ministry for such services, and the ministry would take care of it. But unlike the ministry, we didn't have that level of credibility. Sure we were trained but lacked the connections to get the business started.”
Gathering cliental was always one of the hardest parts of starting a business. And this was also for the trio of private bodyguards.
”At that time, we met with Adam West,” continued Lucas.
”Adam West,” repeated Quinn at the mention of the name. Adam West was his father, who had died in an accident when Quinn was a one year infant. Quinn didn't know much about 'his' parents. He never asked, and none of his family members told him about them.
”Yes, he offered us the connections of the Wests and provided us with clients,” nodded Lucas. ”From then on, everything was uphill. We never ran out of clients as someone was always looking for guards and defenders. It has been fifteen years, and we have grown from the group of three to forty trained wands working in Scandinavia.”
Quinn felt impressed and whistled at the growth. This was the first private security company he had seen, and from what Quinn knew, Britain didn't have something like this. There were retired Aurors who sometimes did something similar for money, but there wasn't anything organized like this, not even close.
”What do you guys call yourselves?”
Aksel, Neil, and Lucas exchanged before Aksel turned to Quinn and answered.
”Limax.”
The Limax was a magical creature with a wide, hammer-shaped head, four arms, and a serpent-like lower body. It was capable of wielding multiple weapons at once, including axes, maces, and daggers.
Quinn smiled at the choice of the name and praised.
”Now, that's cool.”
.
[
A/N:
If the storyline permits, and if I am able to find time in the progression of events, I will bring up the plot hook of exploration of parent's death. Looking forward to if I will be able to create an out-of-Hogwarts plot with the death of Quinn's parents.
Just to be clear, it's not decided yet. It's just an plot idea.
]
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
Quinn West - MC - Has a foodie side to him.
Aksel Thorn - Founder (Limax Group) - Bodyguard, ex-Auror.
Neil - Founder (Limax Group) - Bodyguard, ex-Hit Wizard.
Lucas - Founder (Limax Group) - Bodyguard, ex-Auror.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
If you have any ideas regarding the magic you want to see in this fiction or want to offer some ideas regarding the progression. Move onto the DISCORD Server and blast those ideas.
The link is in the synopsis!