Dull Edge 2 (Patreon)

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

This didn’t sound like a ‘simple and good’ job as Rex was putting it. We were getting paid in advance, yes, but the money we were receiving was quite… suspicious.

It was a lot. And the work seemed to be quite precise considering this ‘Torna organization’ was looking to fish out what sounded to be some old-ass but extremely big ship that had been sunk for a very long time in the sea.

Rex didn’t see much wrong with it, but I really felt like this ‘Jin’ fellow was a bit the big villain of this story- you know, mysterious and stoic, wearing a mask and having the attitude of someone that had gone through the trademarked Edgy Backstory path.

I just had this gut feeling that told me we were going to deal with some troublemakers, so… I personally took care of the ‘shopping’ before we went to the big ass Salvaging Ship we were meant to use to reach our new objective.

While I was expecting us to go ‘solo’ about it, Jin and co. and recruited the guys of the C.S.E.V. Maelstrom provided assistance in pulling up the ship and allowed his group to go inside without having to endure months of Salvager Training.

In order to prevent any major surprises, I decided to invest more on protection. Rex got himself a few more stuff to cover his arms and legs, while I got myself what looked to be a ‘clawed glove’ or something.

“The hell is this?”

“Old Counter Glove.”

I frowned at the shop-keeper, but the guy I bought this for had not much on the item. Heck, it was cheap so that wasn’t a total rip-off, but it was clear this was the kind of equipment that was best fit for two things: add more of an edge while Parkouring and a means to deflect attack during a combat situation.

As much as I would have liked to buy more, Rex coaxed me to use the rest to help around the Guild. The place had been like a second home to us for a few years, so it was fair to turn some of what we got back to it. What was left was sent back to the Fonsett Village.

With all we needed to do back at the Guild dealt with, it was time for us to board the Maelstrom and… it was a bit of a boring trip. I decided against personally approaching any of the trio, focusing on helping around the ship as, despite being a behemoth of technological supremacy, it was not without its own small issues in need of some patching. Not much of importance, just tiny problems that required a bit of a ‘tough love’ situation here and there.

Rex was busy peeking from the uppermost spot in the ship to see any potential trouble all around, the kid always having had a knack to look around to see the vastity of the ocean of clouds and water. But, right as I was busy repairing a few broken panels in the bridge, I was surprised by a most feline and Tsundereish encounter.

“What are you doing, prick?”

I blinked, looking over my shoulder as I was sitting and glaring at a rather troublesome nail that didn’t want to cooperate with me. It was either a nail or a screw, regardless of that, I was hammering it to fix it.

Why? Well, the hole lacked any screw-like swirl to it, and the nail looked devoid of it- then again, it was black and the light coming from the sun was blocked by my back but- Anyway, I am wasting time on something unimportant before Kit-Kat businesses!

“Lady Kit-Kat. Just fixing the Maelstrom here and there.”

“My name is not-”

“Prick?” I remarked, interrupting her snappy response and causing her to pout. “Still, what are you up to? Bored and in need to engage in mind-exhausting banter?”

“That seems to be the case, Mr. Bukharin,” Dromarch replied politely, causing Nia to growl.

“I am not bored. I am just… curious. This is the first time I have boarded a Salvager Ship and…”

“It stinks?”

She looked surprised and nodded at my guess. “How did you even know I was going to say that?”

“My first time, it was dreadful- but then someone told me the answer any sane salvager would provide you- we are literally on a ship and the sea has a lot of deadly things that kill each other off. While we may not see it, some of the ‘rests’ of the various slain animals come up through the stinking smell.”

“Ugh, I can’t… think of a good reason to work here.”

“Well, many here don’t do it because it’s fun. It’s a job, it’s the one that has the greatest opening to newcomers and it can provide quite a lot of money if you can budget your way into it.”

“...The hell is a ‘budget’?”

Seriously? I mean, I know Rex knew nothing of it since education in Fonsett was not advanced but… is this a widespread situation?

“I think he is referring to the capacity to apply limitations and restrictions when handling money in a safe and logical understanding of it.”

“That’s correct, yes,” I confirmed and Nia… looked surprised.

“So, you are not illiterate,” The cat-girl pointed out, my face half-dropping at this snippy remark.

“Well, Lady Kit-Kat, you could say that I am as much of an illiterate as you are a bit of a sexual deviant in running into people and then using your feline wrath to try and steal some close-ups.”

“I-I am not that!”

“Then you have your answer.”

She pouted a bit and I turned back to the screw/nail debacle as-

“I-I actually wanted to apologize. About that.”

I paused, glancing once more at Nia. “Hm?”

“I was annoyed for other reasons and I was… in the wrong. So, I am sorry for having been… a jerk.”

“...That’s nice to know. I forgive you for the honesty, Kit-Kat.”

She frowned, “I thought-”

“I removed the ‘lady’, so it’s less meant to be a teasing term. Now, it’s just an affectionate nickname.”

It took her a few solid seconds to realize what I used as a justification and… I saw her face burn red in embarrassment.

“O-Oi, what do you mean with ‘affectionate’?”

I blinked, smiling smugly. “Well, you are nice deep down and you are cute. Like a Kit-Kat.”

“I am not familiar with this ‘Kit-Kat’?” Dromarch questioned, clearly confused by the origin of the nickname.

“Oh, it’s a sweet snack from where I come from. One of my favorites as a kid.”

The implications hit poor Nia harder than she had been bracing for and… she huffed.

“W-Well, you are still a lousy prick… John.”

And you are a sweet girl, Nia. Never change.

She left after that, and I was done by the time we had arrived at our destination. I put on my Salvager suit and joined Rex and the rest in applying the Floaters. Since the ship was massive, normal waterproof cranes would fail to hold it up properly, so floaters will have to.

It took a few minutes but the ship was brought to surface and could be explored by the bridge. One issue, however, the thing had been in the deep for a while, so some of the seafaring critters had made their nest within it. And a couple of those decided to raise a complaint by rushing up to the bridge of the old ship and delaying the group’s entrance to it.

All was good and nice but-

“We need only the boy.”

“That’s a bit of a tall order considering we come in pairs, sir,” I remarked harshly to the masked jerk.

“Look, it’s just for a moment and then you get your little kid back.”

“Little kid brother,” I corrected Malos and-

“It’s alright, we will… not cause any trouble,” Nia assured, and Rex.

“I can handle it.”

I gritted my teeth and… relented. A big mistake considering the red flags I was getting from this Torna gang.

“Fine but- be careful.”

“I will!”

I could tell this was the last famous words of a young moron trying to break the ceiling. The rest remained back to handle ‘cleaning up’ in case other monsters appeared and blocked the entrance. Only a few tried to do so, but they were easily dispatched.

The Counter Glove proved to be good in deflecting attacks but also providing boosted hits if some of those ‘Counters’ were done right. Never thought of stumbling on such a piece of technology like that, but it was clear it was a bit of a old junk kind of thing because it could hold just so much for the boost and the attack was barely stronger.

All was going nice and well… until it was not. Story of my life, I know, but I was a bit irked when I soon saw the group leave from the entrance and it was just Malos, now carrying a casket with a girl inside, Jin, Nia, Dromarch but no Rex.

…

I want to say I was calm, but my inner brotherly instinct were kicking in and I was about to jump onto that ship to cause some trouble as I could tell we had been backstabbed and we were in big trouble-

I would say things got out of hand really fast due to a series of events no one could have predicted.

The glass casket then exploded, and all hell was set loose as I could no longer understand what the fuck is going on- wait no, there was something else happening. Rex burned into the upper bridge of the old ship with what looked to be a fire sword and the girl in the casket was now taking a stance beside him… against the trio that had gotten inside the ship.

Malos looked annoyed, Jin was surprised, while Nia was… shocked but relieved by the situation.

But I… I was like…

Ayo, my little bro just got himself a cute big-tiddy redhead girlfriend! Wait, they are trying to kill Rex and my potential future sister-in-law by surrogate means!

I can’t allow that!

—-------d-d-d-d—-------

AN

Always look at a situation with a bright note! Poor Pyra is about to be teased so badly that it’s going to be outrageously adorable. Still, next chapter starts with a bit of platforming followed by some fighting.