Chapter 203 - 2.80 Uncle Pride
The group approached the reception area and the receptionist immediately recognized Sora and Brie.
"Hey hello Mr. and Mrs. Lockheart, it's been too long! I hope you are well. Are these you newest children? They're so adorable!"
"Thank you very much, Emma and Emery." Sora said with a large smile.
"Well, what can we help you out with today?"
"Our friend Pride here has a letter from Mrs. Michelle Finch that he would like to sit down and discuss financial matters with and he's requested that we sit with him, would that be ok?"
"Oooooh the big settlement. Of course it would! Right this way."
The group followed them to an older woman, probably in her mid 50s with grey hair but a bubbly spirit.
"Well hello there! It's nice to meet you Pride, please, come and have a seat."
"Ok." Pride responded nervously.
"Now as you know you've come across quite a tremendous sum of money. 1,075,087,787 ultravites makes you one of the top 10 richest people in all of Nova. Congratulations!"
"Thank you. I would like to set up 25 different financial accounts for your investments and I would like to set aside three one billion ultravite accounts as well."
"What commission do you take Mrs. Finch?" Sora asked with a kind smile.
"1% like everyone does, who is your financial advisor?"
"Mr. Dingsdale, Pride, I would recommend giving her a 2% commission and leaving a billion a side for a rainy day fund, then having the other accounts set up as you wished." Brie added.
"I trust all of you to make these decisions for me, just please ensure that Scarlet Solstice, Mindy Ashwood and Iris Moonveil have one billion ultravites accounts set up to accrue interest as they are all children."
"2%?! You're too kind but yes we can absolutely take care of that. Here's a debit card for you," she said as she slid over a black debit card with "Pride" written on it.
"You'll have to set a pin, so make it whatever 6 digits come to mind and enter it in this pin pad twice. That way, you are able to withdraw money from any ATM worldwide. Now, if you need to exchange currencies for any reason, just give me a call and I will be able to do that for you ok?"
"Ok, sounds good. Thank you very much. I appreciate everything," Pride said while entering 336699 as his pin.
"See, that wasn't so bad was it?" Sora laughed.
"Uncle Pride is rich!" Emma exclaimed.
"Sh, manners!" Brie said politely.
"Sowwy mama!"
Afterwards they went over to Mr. Dingsdale's office and checked in with him. They had also gained a significant amount of money through his investments and he was very happy with the extra commission. They setup accounts for Emma and Emery, much like they did for Xander when he was young and Mr. Dingsdale was confused why Xander wasn't with them. They just explained he stayed back home with his new girlfriend because they were getting ready for the new school year.
After they wrapped everything up, they gave Pride and the kids a tour of the city. The took in all the wonderful sights and had a nice meal together. Each day, Pride was growing increasingly accustomed to life in the party, and he was finally breaking out of his shell.
"This flesh is amazing!" He exclaimed while slowly eating a portion of his 3 lbs of flesh, which was made in the form of a steak.
"Yeah, they do have some really good food here," Brie added.
"Emma, Emery, anything else you want to see before we go home?" Sora asked as the two looked completely wiped out.
"No thanks dada. I'm tired," Emma said while resting her head on his shoulder. He slowly picked her up and put her on his lap and Pride started to eat more quickly.
"Woah, slow down Pride! You can enjoy your meal. The kids are fine, they like spending time with you. They're just worn out."
"Oh, I am sorry. I just figured you wanted to leave, is all."
"Stop being so dang formal!" Brie laughed.
"Loosen up a bit, I do have a question for you though. You know about Xander's abilities right?"
"Which one in particular?"
"The morality one, he said the only other person's he'd ever seen change are his father's when he went too far against Tesarion and Eris took a little while before going from black to silver, but he said yours instantly flipped from black to silver. If you were such a good person all along, why did you follow orders for as long as you did?"
"I felt I was serving my purpose to Azazel as I was created to do so. Granted, I thought the other sins were pathetic and when I had to kill Wrath because Julius landed his demon art on him, well that was embarrassing."
"But you're so strong Uncle Pride! Why would you follow orders from people who are weaker than you? It doesn't make sense!" Emery said while yawning.
"It's not about how strong you are, little one. It's about following the right person. I chose to follow the wrong person, despite that person creating me and consistently giving me power. People follow your dad because he's strong, but more importantly, because of his character. They follow your mother because she has this bubbly charisma that is contagious and just spreads to everyone she's around."
"What's contagious mean dada?" Emery yawned.
"It means other people's emotions are touched and follow your mother's because she's so kind and happy all the time," Sora smiled.
Brie blushed for the first time in a long time, causing Pride to laugh.
"You are lucky to have parents who love you so much. The sins were treated as tools, nothing more, nothing less. It is nice to finally have a group who treats me as me."
"Well, we're glad to have you and everything you did for Xander, Scarlet, all of it has been great. What do you think is coming next?"
"A war with Hades' and his army of creepy eyed people. I think the eyes Eris had allowed him to control her to an extent. Just looking at those pentagram pupils gives me the creeps. Even the masked god has them."
"How can no one figure out who this masked god is?" Sora asked while asking for the check.
"Not sure. He conceals his voice and uses a voice modulator. It could be a goddess for all we know."
"Well, the kids are beat so let's just teleport to the ship," Brie said while giving Sora a kiss. "Thank you for the wonderful day babe."
"You're welcome, gorgeous," he said as they teleported to the ship and entered the coordinates home.
"We'll be home in no time. I wonder how Xander and Diana are doing?" Sora asked, also yawning.
"I'm sure they are doing just fine. I wonder what tests Athena has in store for them, though," Brie said trying to shake her head to stay awake.
"You go rest. I will make sure we get home safely."
"Thanks Pride, for everything. What you did for Mindy, Iris and Scarlet was pretty awesome."
"Thank you, I don't want to tell them. I want it to be a surprise."
"Well, let us tell them then?" Brie said, finally giving in and yawning.
"Yes, I think that would be nice."
"Wake us up when we land!" Brie said while waving goodbye.
Sora and Brie gently laid down Emery and Emma in the King size mattress and cuddled them from each side.
"They're growing up so fast…"
"Yes they are. I want this war to be over so we can spend time as a family. Would you be willing to have another child? After this is all said and done." Sora asked nervously.
"Of course I would! Sora, I love you more than anything in this Universe and if we could actually just raise a child in peace, that would be amazing. Don't get me wrong, everything with Xander and the twins has been great!"
"I know what you mean babe, don't sweat it." Sora said while kissing her gently.
They laid together for their nap and fell asleep, and had a surprise visitor in their dream.