Chapter 100: Keeping It (Patreon)

I held a razor-sharp blade of Primordial Energy to my face. I willed energy into the mechanical hand’s fingers, and with a snip, the scissors I’d created soundlessly cut through the hair on my beard. I stared at my handiwork in the all-purpose pod’s mirror. Used to be I’d always go clean-shaven, but now a finely trimmed beard was more my go-to. Clean-shaven didn’t look as good on account of the three claw scars across my face. With the beard, it’s ‘rugged mercenary with a soul-piercing gaze,’ without, it’s ‘creepy stalker guy who lost a fight with a panther.’ 

I preferred the former. As would anyone that’s sane, I think. 

“I talked to Vast,” I said, looking at Zinuetet with the mirror in front of me. She sat on the table in my room, kicking her legs like a child without a care in the world. Only half-right; I suppose she was a child, but she definitely had cares in the world. As much as she talked about being a burden in the past, she’d certainly handled what had been thrown at her much better than most her age would have. 

“I talked to Vast,” I repeated, cutting another small portion of the beard off. “Once we make landfall, if the situation is right, we have some searching to do. The way I hear it, we’re landing on a planet that wasn’t colonized as yours or mine was. As such, things are a bit wilder than they’d be on a colonized planet. There’s bandits, warlords, the like.”

Zinuetet’s leg kicking stopped as she thought, and then resumed as she spoke. “What are we looking for?”

“Hopefully we won’t have to look for anything, as Vast is going out on the first day. If the plan goes awry, I wouldn’t want to implicate you in this. Better for you not to know.”

Silence for a long while. Then, she said quietly, “I thought you said you weren’t going to leave me in the dark anymore.”

“It’s for your safety. Let me get in trouble.” I stopped trimming for a moment, staring at her expression in the mirror. She seemed none too pleased. I tried considering things from her point of view, and then realized I might be making a mistake. “No, sorry, you’re right. You do deserve to know. We’re looking for fighters not associated with the Archduchy that’ll fight for money.”

Zinuetet’s mood visibly brightened once I’d let the beans spill. “Why’s that?”

“Ruel mentioned that looting is forbidden. But rules are meant to be broken.” I pulled the scissors away from my face to laugh. “By rules, I’m not talking about green-skinned men with fiery hair. If we can’t loot, we let other people do it for us. It’s going to be a pain to coordinate, but if we do, I imagine we can get some good stuff from it.” 

She nodded. “But how can we make sure they don’t take it all for themselves?”

I smiled in the mirror, proud of her for asking a very pertinent question. “Dear sister; that is a wondrous question, one I’d been asking myself. The answer’s not one I can give before learning the lay of the land, though. I had a few ideas, the most prominent among them being utilizing local mercenaries, but that brings its own issues. 

“Local mercenaries, if indeed they’re present, have ties we can utilize to ensure loyalty. Family, houses, the usual. But using them brings its own set of issues. They have ties we don’t know about. They might inform the defenders, or the whole community, ahead of time. It’s risky. Getting people to betray their people isn’t as easy as books or movies make it out to be.”

I pressed a button on the side of the machine, and the mirror contorted back into the see-through top of the pod. Dispelling the scissors in my hand, I gently pushed the lid down, and the pod shut. I turned on my heel to face her. I knew Zinuetet well enough to know she looked somewhat distraught. “Something wrong?”

“I don’t know.” She pressed the tips of her fingers together. I waited for her to know patiently. “Isn’t it… should we really threaten people’s families?”

I sighed, though only inside my head. “I didn’t say that was the path I was choosing. If you’re not comfortable doing as much, I’ll look for another way. Just keep in mind; threatening is not the same as hurting. There are other options. Bandits. With the four of us—us being Vast, Giir, and we two—I’m confident in dealing with some minor bandits. Problem is, there’s no honor among thieves. Petty bandits are not only dishonest, but notoriously stupid. Where I come from, at least.”

“So many things to consider,” she said, placing her fingers on the side of her temple. “Maybe finding a warlord would be the best option. We only have to control one person—the rest will follow their lead, because they already have been.”

“True… but they’re a ‘war’ lord for a reason. They might not be something we can handle.” I combed my beard with my fingers, then turned around and leaned against the closed pod. “We’re really just making vague speculation. Until we get there, nothing is for certain. And there’s another matter that we’ve to deal with. People dislike Leedie. She’s troublesome, sowing disunity in the squad.”

“I think…” Zinuetet walked to the other side of the pod. “She likes you.”

“Who doesn’t? But that’s bes—“

Zinuetet uncharacteristically cut me off. “The same way you said that person named Rian liked me.”

“Who doesn’t?” I reiterated with a laugh. Still, I cringed thinking that the blonde with green-skin and a pockmarked face might make a move on me. “Come to think of it, I can name a few. Maybe only one. Even the Cannibal liked me enough to want to eat me, after all. They’re going to die eventually anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Point being...”

I trailed off as I heard a ring from the door. Someone wanted to enter. 

“I need to get a ‘No Solicitors’ sign.” I sighed, and moved to press the button the open the door. 

Standing at a modest 5’5”, the girl who’d covered her entire body in black cloth waited for me. I was a bit taken aback—I had been expecting Day, maybe Grendel or Vast, and definitely not the girl with the name so long that I forgot it. Without asking permission, she tried to enter the room, but I held my leg out to stop her. She turned her eyes towards me. They were pure white, possessing no iris or anything of the sort. 

“I’m not looking for company, sweetie. I have plenty. Why are you here?” I moved my torso aside so Zinuetet was clearly visible. She held her spear in her hand, though she’d not yet extended it. 

“You’re an alchemist, aren’t you?” she asked. She had a somewhat sweet voice, but it was marred by a cold indifference in its tone.

“No, I’m a glassblower. I just made the bottles, not the potions.” I laughed. “Yes, I’m an alchemist. Why?”

She looked around everywhere, and her eyes stopped at Zinuetet. “I don’t want everyone to hear this.”

I pulled my leg away and stepped back. “You can come in, but Zinuetet stays. She’s my little sister. Anything you say, she’ll learn eventually.”

Long-name entered very quickly, walking with rapid, short steps. I watched her impassively, a little curious about her purpose. She stopped and rummaged inside her pockets before pulling out a bottle filled with liquid. She held it out to me. “Do you know what this is?”

I took it, willing some of my Primordial Energy into it, trying to see what it was composed of. Hmm… very small green particles within, almost unnoticeable, and thin strands of blue… “It’s a simple tonic to remove cancerous cells in the pancreas, called Treevenom Rotblight.”

“So you are an alchemist,” she nodded contentedly. I held out the bottle, which she took back. “But this one is what I actually want you to look at.”

Testing me, hmm? Cute. Real cute. 

Long-name handed me a vial made of white glass that was not easy to see into. Briefly willing my Primordial Energy into it, I found a large variety of ingredients. I stayed in silence for a while with my eyes closed, scanning the potion, trying to piece it together with the abundance of knowledge in my head about alchemical ingredients. 

“Have you recently killed someone?” I asked, opening my eyes. I swirled the bottle in my hand. “This salve reverses the decay of the flesh; it’s called Longsleep Awakener. I can’t think of any other reason you’d have it.”