Dull Edge 1 (Patreon)

Dull Edge - or ‘This… is a blade of justice!’ (Xenoblade Chronicles 2, SI)

I… am not sure if this was an anime or not. But an isekai adventure it sure was.

It all started two years ago when I ended up washed ashore at Fonsett Village. I still remember the pure oddity of waking up with the smell of the sea all around me, the warm sand against my face and the cold water of the ocean dreadfully wetting my pants.

Yeah, it was as good as it was horrible as an experience to wake up to, but the people in the village gave me shelter, food and a few answers on my whereabouts. It was… a welcoming experience into a new world alright. Alrest was the name of the ‘known world’, and it was one that really had nothing in common with anything I was familiar with.

Still, out of all denizens in Fonsett Village, one in particular managed to make quite the impression. Young Rex was merely 13 when I first met him and he was already quite independent due to his background- he arrived to the place in a similar way to mine, yet he was just 2 when it happened and his parents died in the process of washing up on the beach.

The kid was taken care of by Miss Corinne and he had been looking forward to making big steps into the wide world to secure funds for the village. Due to how remote it was, the prospect of good jobs to sustain its economy was difficult, so the kid had hatched a plan to become a Salvager.

The prospect of playing the game of ‘digging underwater treasures’ sounded just as fun as the idea of ending up facing whatever sea monster that made a home out of these treasure containers. Which is why Rex had a plan for this plan: train to be just strong enough to be able to handle that sort of problem. Which, truth be told, was quite the good notion to follow through.

Two years came and went as I kind of tagged along with Rex as the prospect of exploring the world felt like the best option to understand how I ended up there and… the fact that Corinne hard-pressed me to be around Rex and be his ‘older brother’ or something. I found no issue with it, if not for the fact that Rex whined about me being his babysitter or something similar early on in our trip.

Eventually he mellowed, but it took a lot of convincing and whining, especially from our main method of transportation- The Titan Azurda. You know, the big old dragon-like creature that was capable of conjuring thoughts and words as easily as spitting fire when needed.

Yes, this world has mystical creatures. And some sort of ‘unique warriors’ differentiated between ‘Blades’ and ‘Drivers’. I am not completely sure what the real difference was with what the village knew on the matter but… oh well, I wasn’t planning to be involved in that mess.

I was ‘normal’ by all definitions except my unique prowess to improve my physical skills faster than predicted. Something in this world made my body more prone to reach higher milestones of physical might at a faster pace the more I trained.

It got to the point where I could dispatch someone that had been trying since he was 10 like Rex with just two well-calibrated hits. Did that make me above human? No, there were other individuals that were ‘odd’ like that, but nothing was mentioned on what made them as special as that.

Still, the job we had really didn’t need to have overpowered people around. Either Rex and I would go down to find specific treasures in the Cloud Sea, fish it back on Azurda’s back, and then loot what was within it.

At first, our methods were… rusty. Rudimentary. As two individuals just starting into the world of Salvagers, we didn’t have the kind of awareness and equipment to do fine jobs right.

A year into the business had us among the ‘best’ workers reliant on the nearby Argentum Trade Guild. It was a stable hub for traders and had so many shops that allowed us to get all the right tools needed to further expand the quality of the products we retrieved.

We were optimal salvagers on a ‘cost-effective’ scale for small-scaled operations.

Despite that, we still had a few ‘surprises’ here and there. Like the finding of some large crabs that had made nests in some of the treasures we would find. Those were not outright ‘bad news’ as it gave us the means to turn the killed monster into a nice meal or two and save some money.

Speaking of money, I had a very harsh talk with Rex about it. The kid was good-hearted, but giving out 90% of what we made to the village was not a good idea.

I told him that if we had so little budget around, it meant that improvement on some of our items would guarantee a higher yield of coins in the long-run. Stubbornness is a double-edged knife, that much I already knew about, but boy did Rex make me lose some patience over this topic.

Eventually I managed to get him to lower the percentage to 70% and I had to perform a few miraculous haggling efforts to secure ourselves some good equipment.

Such as two Abyss Vests which were deadly useful in guaranteeing a higher endurance capacity against physical attacks and some improvements for our weapons- pieces for Rex’s broadsword and some additional elements to add to my short sword.

Part of me wanted to have a longsword but I thought the blade was too unbalanced compared to my predilection for speed. I lacked a lot of power in some of the strikes I relied upon, so I had been focusing more on capitalizing on my strengths for the time being.

I mean, I didn’t have any interest in getting too powerful as I had other chores to deal with and… nothing had told me that I was a secondary protagonist to whatever was about to happen.

The first ‘red flag’ ensued during a new encounter I made as I was checking for medical supplies after a recent close clash with a crab. No one got injured but… it was a close one. So, I intended to use some of my own share to pay for some first aid kit or anything resembling that.

Rex was helping around the Guild as we were planning to call a day for now as we had found enough to sustain us for about half-a-week. Just as I was turning the last corner to get to the medical area, I found myself tripping backward as someone who was busy stomping angrily turned the corner and pushed me down.

The irony was less on the event itself, but on the fact that the cause of this was a short cat-eared girl with silver hair and yellow eyes.

“O-Ohi, watch where you going, you dingus!”

I forgot to mention one thing- this world has accents. Rex had a Northern-England sort of deal, but this cat-girl… I never thought I would have heard a Welsh-accented Cat-Girl up to this point.

Still, despite the cute squeak at the beginning, her flat accusation was met with a frown from yours truly.

“Excuse you? I am not the one that marched angrily and mindlessly drove into me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?! You came careening around.”

“I was walking, you were close to running,” I rebuked with a hint of irritation and I heard a new voice hum in agreement.

“He is not wrong, my lady. You were pacing a bit too fast,” A… ‘white tiger’ said.

Seriously I have to still digest the fact that Nopon and other critters capable of speaking were a thing, and now there’s a white tiger there acting as the butler of this ‘cat lady’.

“I… You are supposed to be by my side, Dromarch!”

“My apologies.”

“Well, regardless of who is at fault, can you at least stop pushing your face so close into mine?” I asked quietly, making her realize she had been leaning a bit too much on me. “Like, at least pull away because I am not kissing you or anything.”

Her face went red. With rage.

“A-And what’s that supposed to mean? You think I did this to get a free smooch or something?!”

“Considering the leaning? Maybe. But still, you admit that you did it?”

Her wrath was subsided by a sudden bout of panic. “I-I absolutely did not! You are a prick.”

Here comes the insult again~.

“And you are still the one keeping me on the ground.”

The cat-girl realized this mistake and actually got up, freeing me from this mess.

“Hmph, I am not in the mood to deal with some cheap moron that has a thing for harassing women. Let’s go, Dromarch.”

Man, the Tsundere is strong in this one but… I was also feeling extra petty for the way she just came at me like that, so… I regaled her with something special.

“Farewell then, Lady Kit-Kat,” I saluted, waving at her as I just resumed my steps… but not before hearing her fairly loud response.

“O-Oi, my name is Nia, not Lady Kit-Kat!”

I smiled through most of my free time. Until I got told by Rex that the Guild-master wanted to speak with us for a big job and… guess who was among the group hiring us.

“Oh no-”

“Lady Kit-Kat, to think that we would meet again so soon~.”

She half-screeched at that. “My name is Nia, not Lady Kit-Kat, ye dumb idiot!”

Ah… if only I knew this one was still part of a group of baddies and that… she was going to become my wife.

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AN

Ah yes, the Italo-Welsh medley begins!