Chronicles of the Handlers, book 1: Chronicles of the Handlers, #1

By Paul Springsteen

Jester Kim is new to the handler's guild. He hasn't been on that many missions. Recently he answered the plea for a mission for those of silver rank. A rank that he just obtained. There have been disappearances as of late in the town of South Davenport. Can Jester find out what is occurring in this humble port city?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Springsteen
• Release date: Feb 15, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224026937

Paul Springsteen

Paul Springsteen is someone that grew up in a medium sized town in Texas located in the united states. He went into the military upon graduating high school.  Though it didn't last long he did get an honorable discharge because of medical reasons. After this he went to the local college of his home town.  There he got a master's degree in physics. Due to illness he had a hard time in the job market before he discovered the joys of writing and wishes to spend his time writing stories for the forseeable future.  This came about from a strange origin.  From D&D of all places.  He kept feeling like he was getting shafted from playing stories.  So he pushed himself to write his own stories and enjoyed it. His stance on writing though is that he doesn't write to whatever is the it thing in the market.  Instead he has a particular way the story is supposed to go in his head and follows that.  So the reader should be aware that even killing the protagonist and having the bad guy win is a possible way things could happen in the story in the future.

Book preview

Chapter 1....5

Chapter 2.....9

Chapter 3.....14

Chapter 4....21

Chapter 5.....25

Chapter 6.....29

Chapter 7....33

Chapter 8.....36

Chapter 9.....39

Chapter 10....44

Chapter 11.....47

Chapter 12.....51

Chapter 13....55

Chapter 14.....58

Chapter 15.....61

Chapter 16....64

Chapter 17.....68

Chapter 18.....70

Chapter 19....73

Chapter 20.....80

Chapter 21.....82

Chapter 22....85

Chapter 23.....88

Chapter 24.....91

Chapter 25.....100

Chapter 26.....103

Chapter 1

A man walked onto a platform.  He looked up at the sky.  A bright blue orb in the sky where the sun exactly should be.  It was the year 3415 on the world of Hadne.  It was the 4th day of month of Nen the 2nd month of the year.  He was in Britland, one of the largest Kingdoms, on the world of Hadne.

The train pulled up, the man had been waiting for about 1 hour, but then it was something that someone could get used to.  This was everyday life.  Train was the fastest way to travel through the country side.  It sure beat horse with carriage or just horse along.  It was the way of the future.  Or at least it had been for the last 3000 years or so.

The conductor in front of the train took a ticket that the man on the platform extended to him.  Ticket please. 

There was a mirror.  The man looked at the mirror.  His name was Jester Kim.  He was about 6'2".  A good height.  The women always liked it.  He inherited his clean shaven face so he didn't need to try to shave.  The name was something that was passed down through generations.  Though at this point he was probably barely Korean where the name came from.  He was mostly British descended from a lot of white people.  So his appearance was white.  With blonde hair and hazel eyes.  A square jaw and a sure presence of muscles.  He was rather hairless on his body.

British didn't necessarily mean white.  There was variance.  Though so much time had passed since the 1st crisis that no one knew exactly for sure.  What was in the past was mostly lost to time.  The person collecting the tickets ushered him forward, but he stopped him when he saw that he was carrying a rapier at his side.  It was easy to miss because of the suit case that he was carrying on that side.  On both of the sides of his waist he carried two pistols.

Sir, you cannot take those with you.  The conductor of the train said to Jester.

Oh, don't worry.  I have reason to carry weapons.  Jester Kim opened his coat to show the badge from the Handler's Guild.  He was silver rank.  But it is best not to get that mixed up on rank just yet.

The conductor examined the badge for a while.  Very well sir.  Please have a nice stay aboard train 23.  He made a light bow and waited to get the ticket of the next person in line.

Jester Kim hurried in the train to get to his cabin seat.  It was a nice position.  On his way through, he saw a beautiful woman with black eyes.  She smiled at him for a split second as he passed by.  Jester Kim shot her a broad smile that lasted for several seconds as he passed by.  He would have some fun on this trip.  Even if he paid for 1st class, spending time in one of the poorer parts of the train wouldn't be that bad with some fine company.  She did have a man with her.  Though that didn't mean all that much to him.  Women wouldn't be able to resist his charms.

With the Handler's guild he had a job that he needed to do.  He really should focus on work, but that woman near the entrance of the train was very enticing.  He shook his head for a little bit.  It is best to get situated for a while.  It was an extermination job of sorts.  Grizzly work, but it pays some of the best.  The handler's guild handled all sorts of different jobs.  Different ranks are able to handle different levels of danger on the job.  He himself was silver.  Which was below gold which was below platinum.  Silver was still higher than copper which was higher than private.

Some of the people in private didn't have ascension paths.  So they would be given the lowest rank jobs.  But above private everyone had an ascension path.  What was an ascension path?  No one really knows.  It was just to explain that some people developed powers of different kinds.  A lot of power.  So much that those without ascension paths could quickly find themselves severely out done and out competed.

Something strange happened with ascension paths at least according to what was in history books.  Apparently they were a lot more similar in the past.  Now, they were very spread out in what they did for people.  People could slowly advance in one rather than a rigid burst in power.

Jester Kim was a Hwarang.  Which meant some things that he wasn't that quite well acquainted with.  In particular, he noticed that he was able to sway, persuade, and seduce people much better than a normal person.  Though it came along with a slight amount of magic and swordmanship as well.  Beyond what people could normally accomplish.  Beyond what was human.

Though most of Jester Kim's abilities and attributes were kind of normal.  At least in their base essence.  He was able to just get some things in combat which made him more of a danger and threat.  The only thing about Jester as far as base attributes was his ability to get people to do what he wanted them to do.  He could be very persuasive and more importantly seductive.

A simple smile.  Held for the right amount of time.  It could do miraculous things.  But there was more to it than that wasn't there?  He wasn't sure about it, but he wondered if the ascension path had something to do with his flawless skin.

He should really be gathering his thoughts but then he heard a knock at his cabin door.  It was the woman with the black eyes.  She smiled at him once more.  She couldn't take her eyes off him.  Jester Kim smiled at the woman.

I just can't stop thinking about you.  I want to hear more about you.  The woman said to Jester Kim.

Jester Kim closed the cabin door and locked it so that they wouldn't be disturbed.  Having supernatural charisma was almost unfair.  But then Jester didn't care.  They talked for a while before Jester moved things forward.  He didn't know why he did it.  It was forgettable to Jester Kim, but the woman would never forget. 

Eventually, he bid the woman goodbye.  He needed to focus on the job.

The train rocked back and forth as he rode.  Looking out the window, it was miraculous, the marvels of technology.  He was still getting used to something like this.  He had known about his ascension path for almost 4 years (2.63 earth years).  He was about 46 years old with some months (about 30 earth years).

He still remembered what caused for him to enter the handlers.  He looked at a picture of his parents for a moment in his luggage.  He let out a sigh, then put it away.

He didn't know what he should be doing at this moment.  He needed to ask around the town that he was going to.  He could be very persuasive.  Hopefully, the guild sent some manner of back up.  Monsters that he was facing could be very dangerous.  But if he fled things would get very rocky with the guild.  He could lose rank. 

The journey to South Davenport could take 5 days from Crown Town.  He could spend more time with the woman.  But why limit himself to one?  Jester Kim shook his head.  He needed to think about the task as hand.  It was no laughing matter.  He could die.

A job like this.  He didn't know how many of the monsters there were.  He wasn't even sure what kind.  But then they decided to send a silver on a job like something like this.  They told him they were sending someone else.  Hopefully he would either meet them on the train or that they would already be there.

Jester Kim would like to keep his clothes in the best condition, but it was simply impossible for all the travel that he needed to do.  Designer clothes would be destroyed in combat.  So he had to content himself with 2nd rate clothes.  The pocket watch that he kept was more or less expensive and made of gold.  Though that was because he tried to not have the pocket watch on him in combat.

This job would pay 73,000 bills.  That wasn't too bad and was surely more than the average person would be able to make in a year.  But the average person's life wasn't at stake.  What was all of this danger for?  Jester Kim watched the scenery of the outside as the train