"So, you wanted to talk with me about something.", I finally prompt my mother once we finished eating.

"Well, you will have to pay your rent for yourself from now on.", my mother says with a worried expression.

"You know that I wanted to do that from the start? That's not a problem.", from the start, the only reason I allowed my parents to pay my rent for me was that it would cause me to fall behind in my studies if I had to get myself a job, and until now I have only barely been able to keep up with the others.

Of course, I don't think that is going to be a problem in the future if I win the tournament.

"Though I do want to know. Why so suddenly?", I ask, more worried about my parents than myself.

"Ah, you remember the holiday home?"

"You mean the one you wanted to invest your money in? Did you finally decide to do it?"

It had already been years since my parents had that idea for the first time, and it had come up again every now and then.

"Yes, we found one that we liked and would have returned the investment after about a decade. Although we had to take a small loan from the bank to be able to fully pay for it."

"I thought you especially didn't want to buy anything outside of your abilities?"

"Yes, the rent alone would have more than paid off the interest. Nothing that would have been a problem.

The problem is that the investment firm we used got hacked.", my mother confesses with an exhausted sigh.

"Wait, you mean that case that was on the news recently? Didn't that firm declare bankruptcy?"

Of course, I had heard about that story, there is pretty much no one who hadn't. It's something you would normally only expect to happen in fiction after all. Over several hundred investments with a total value of several million dollars just disappeared overnight, and no one has any idea how that could have happened.

In the end, the investment firm had to sell all of its office supplies to pay every customer a token dollar before declaring bankruptcy. A nice, but useless gesture.

Of course, just like everyone else, I hadn't cared much about it since it didn't affect me, or so I thought.

"Yes, exactly that firm. But as I said, you don't have to worry. We can easily pay that loan back in a year or two if we live a bit sparingly, though you have to pay your rent yourself from now on."

"It's okay. I should have enough money saved up for a month or two. Until then I should have found a job. Hmmm... Saturday sounds like a good day to start searching.", I say jokingly.

"Yeah, yeah. Good try, but you won't talk yourself out of helping your sister. You promised her already."

"Tsk. Right, does Vera know already about this?"

"Yes, we told her already. Though I didn't want to talk about this on the phone, so you are the last one. Oh, right, I heard that Vicky is also going to help out. So it should go a bit quicker."

"Urgh! Why the hell does no one talk with me!? Vicky... You mean Victoria? Wow, it's been an eternity and a bit since I last saw her. But, do you honestly think it's going to go faster with her there?"

"Why shouldn't it?"

"Because they have opinions!", I complain, making my voice sound a bit higher, I continue: "Can you put this heavy piece of furniture over there? Hm... No, maybe over there?! NO, there is even better!"

I continue talking normally: "Yeah, no thanks."

"Oh, come on, it won't be that bad. Now, come and help me with the plates."

We stand up and carry the plates into the kitchen where we quickly clean them. It's already gotten pretty late, so I quickly go into the basement, where the safe with the guns is located.

Opening it up, I notice that one gun of the rifles was gone, whyever that was, and instead, two new handguns had joined the collection. Then, I take a back and start filling it up.

First came my trusty rifle, the one I can shoot the best with, and three magazines of twenty shots. That may be a bit overkill, but it also may not. Who knows what's going to happen.

Next, I take the shotgun. An old pump-action with four shots. While I don't like shooting it much, it's going to be my best choice in close range, whether it be with buckshot or slugs. Of course, I also take several types of ammunition for this one, and even a few blanks, who knows what I can use.

And last but not least, one of the two new additions I hadn't seen before. A polished chrome Desert Eagle. My father had always said he wanted to buy one of these, but never really came around to it, but now it's here. And nothing short of the most defensive abilities would be able to protect someone from it.