[Melas] Chapter 82 - Moving Forward (Patreon)

31/12/2020 Sorry for the late chapter. And unfortunately, there will only be one chapter this week.

I can't lie and say it's not demotivating to see the chapters after my break get less than half the views of my chapters before I took my much needed break. And seeing my ranking drop from 500 to 600 and my rating drop from 4.37 to 4.33 is equally demotivating.

However, those weren't what delayed the chapter. The real reason for the delay and the only single chapter this week was A) I got sick and B) I'm celebrating the holidays. Unlike Salvos, I don't have a backlog for Melas so I can't just enjoy myself while I post chapters and occasionally write them over the holidays. And again, I couldn't write as much as I wanted to because I got sick, so even my backlog for Salvos has gotten eviscerated.

Anyway, I'm not proud of the most recent chapter I wrote. I have once again fallen for the trap of writing what I feel are hollow chapters: nothing really happens and scenes are dragged out to reach a certain WC. I need to revisit the Plague Doctor and Hunter arcs to be perfectly honest. They're my favorite arcs, and I want to see what I did right there, and try to implement that for future chapters in Book 3. This means that chapters will be more sporadic, which is the bad news. But if I want to write Melas in a way that I'm proud of, I have to get better at writing.

It wasn’t the most euphoric thing in the world. Certainly, having the chance to live a life where I was not watching behind my back constantly was actually a very normal thing. That was how I lived my previous life, after all.

But for the me in this life, it was an incredibly liberating feeling. I left the Taj Palace with a skip in my step; I could almost feel the endorphins pulsing through my veins— and I wasn’t even sure if endorphins were transmitted via the circulatory system!

But the bliss. Knowing that I hadn’t been traveling in vain— that my paranoia was just that: paranoid. It made me feel so happy.

Gennady eyed me with an odd look as I waved him forward.

“Come on,” I called out to him. “Why’re you so slow?”

“You’re in a good mood, aren’t ya, lass?” he commented, taking his sweet time to catch up to me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, grinning cheekily at him. “Too old? Is that why you’re so slow?”

“Hah, no.” The Dwarf shook his head as he stepped up behind me, the two of us finally out of the gates to the Taj Palace. “You’re actually scaring me. Makes me want to keep a distance away from you.”

I snorted, walking two steps ahead of him. I continued until we got close to the main street, still full of life like I had never seen before in this world. Then I stopped. I turned around, hesitating only for just a moment.

“Thank you,” I said, looking at Gennady. “For everything. All of this— I can’t be more grateful.”

My Dwarven companion paused, eyeing me. He sighed, shaking his head. “I told you before, haven’t I? It’s no problem at all! And you’ve already thanked me once.” He strutted up to me and slapped me across the back. “Come on, let’s go back. And stop scaring me with the way you’re acting.”

I rolled my eyes and followed him back to the warehouse.

—--

Ginah Stormpest— or just Ginah, actually, since she had forsaken her family's name— did not like the looks she was getting here in Taw. Apparently Humans weren’t too rare in the city, since that was just how cities worked; yet she wasn’t exactly in the city.

The warehouse which had been made into the living space for her and her crew was located a quarter way between the inner city and the outer city of Jahar’taw. That meant she would go to the harbor and be treated like any other sailor, before returning to the warehouse and getting stared at for being Human.

It was… odd. She wasn’t really the type to look at someone else differently if they were a different species. In fact, she did not share the same qualms the smuggler Jack had against Dwarves— if you were a good person, you were fine to her. But she could still understand all the gazes she was attracting as she headed back to the warehouse.

“Come on, boys,” she said, turning to the three members of her crew that accompanied her to the harbor in the morning. “This is the last of our stuff. Just got to get things nice and cozy for our new home for a while.”

The pirate Captain wasn’t entirely sure how much she believed those words of hers. She had chosen to take Melas’s ‘deal’, as the girl called it, and even went as far as to come to Jahar’taw with her. But now she had to wait and see if it all paid off.

An hour after Ginah returned to the warehouse, she saw Melas and Gennady return as well from their trip to the inner city. The pirate Captain went to greet them and paused as she saw an uncharacteristically happy girl.

“I take it the meeting went well?”

The girl grinned. “It did— it went extremely well. I… I didn’t even need Gennady in the first place!”

“Oi!” The Dwarf smacked her across the shoulder. “You’d never have made it here without me, and don’t ye forget that!”

The two chuckled, and Ginah herself felt a slight smile draw across her face. It was good that Melas was in a good mood. The pirate Captain had known her for a while, and she noted how uptight the girl could be. But now, she was far more relaxed.

“So, any word on me?” Ginah asked once the light chatter died down. “Can my crew stay, or will we get in trouble?”

“Ah, that.” Melas exchanged a glance with her Dwarf companion. “Well, we spoke to King Adilet about it— mentioned it briefly— and he said you won’t be subject to any possible criminal activities you may have committed in another country. However, that doesn’t mean you will be immune to being persecuted for breaking any laws in the Taw— even if he wanted to, he couldn’t protect you beyond a pardon.”

Ginah sighed, shaking her head. “That was about what I expected,” she said. “At least we can move freely, right?” It was better than nothing— being reassured that she wouldn’t be just arrested outright.”

“Right,” Gennady confirmed, nodding his head. He scratched his beard and looked at her. “Also, I’ve spoken to Erzhan. Managed to get a meeting with him set up by the end of the week. Just a casual chat y’know, let him get to know you first.”

“Mhm, we can’t be too imposing with him right away.”

The two turned to the girl who spoke up. She blinked as they stared at her.

“What?”

The pirate captain glanced at the Dwarf then back at Melas. She took a deep breath and scratched the side of her head. “I… don’t think you should be coming,” she said.

The black haired girl cocked her head, slightly perplexed as Ginah explained her reasoning.

“I mean, you told us that you would help arrange meetings for us— with Gennady’s help, of course. And you’ve already done that. You showing up in these meetings is just… well, kind of awkward you know? Considering…”

She waved a hand at Melas, who seemed to only just take a good look at herself. “Oh,” the girl said, almost as if she didn’t know she were a child.

“Sorry, Melas,” Gennady piped up, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I know you want to help since you made your promise, but it’s not like you can do much there. You’ve been through a lot— but you’re still a kid.”

She scowled. “I can help.”

“You can fight,” Ginah said, nodding her head. “However, you don’t have to fight. If I had initially known you were a child a few months ago— sorry, I wouldn’t have accepted your help in the first place.”

Melas paused and stared at her as she continued.

“It’s a good thing, actually. I still feel sort of bad making you fight for us. You get to live in peace now, no? Just… live like a normal girl.”

“I can’t just go back to living like a regular girl,” she replied, folding her arms.

“So do you want to go back to fighting every day of your life?” Ginah asked the question as her gaze bore into the black haired girl.

The pirate Captain looked up, remembering something from her past. She had never been given a normal childhood— her father had ensured she would grow up to be a warrior: a pirate like him. One who always defied authority.

But that was not Ginah. That had never been Ginah. And it was perhaps Neville’s biggest mistake to raise her to be that type of person— because she eventually defied his authority and killed him.

She turned back to Melas.

“You’re here now. And you’re safe, right? This was what you wanted.”

“I…” the girl trailed off, averting her gaze to the side. “Maybe. Lilith could still be up there. The Church could still come after me. And the Dark Crusaders too.”

“C’mon lass,” Gennady chimed, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You were doing so well acting like a normal girl today. You’re being paranoid again.”

She sighed, placing a hand on her head. “Maybe you’re right. I’ll just leave you two at it. It makes sense, right? There’s no reason for you to bring a child to some business meeting.”

Ginah nodded and turned back to the Dwarf. “So I’ll meet with him and introduce myself and my circumstances?”

“Bah, don’t worry about that. I’ve already given him some context. He’s a good lad, just trust me—”

—--

Sevin looked up from the torch— that was the name Melas suggested— as the aforementioned girl stepped into the room. “Hey,” he greeted her,

“Hi.” She peered over his shoulder. “You’re still working on that?”

“Yeah, I’ve got the design and everything down, but I feel like it could be more efficient. Too much light is escaping from the sides— and the current runes eat up too much energy. Master Gennady said I should rework it.”

“Mhm, he always has something to say about our tinkering, doesn’t he?” she chuckled and took a seat.

“How about you? Are you going to start work on your thing?” He cocked a brow as she took out a handful of Inferior mana crystals and her carving needles.

“My cluster bombs? I showed you my blueprint for it, didn’t I?”

The young man nodded. “I’ve seen it— and even Master Gennady thinks it’s feasible. I just never would’ve thought of that. Destabilizing an Inferior mana crystal to explode— intentionally- but setting a delay on it with a shell.”

“And it’s composed of smaller Inferior mana crystal shards. So once the main body explodes, the others will scatter and blow too.”

“Where’d you even get the idea for it?”

Melas shrugged nonchalantly. “Flowers, I guess?”

“Ah, right. I read about that once. It’s really an interesting process, isn’t it?”

“Mhm.”

“I wonder how they do it.”

“Who knows?”

The two worked on their individual projects in silence until Sevin looked up.

“Is something wrong, Melas?”

The girl lowered the mana crystal and sighed. She glanced to the side and spoke slowly. “Well, not really— I mean, kind of?”

The young man gave her an odd look as she just sighed again.

“Sevin, what do you plan to do here in Jahar’taw?”

He paused and considered this question for a moment. He placed a hand on his chin, thinking it over before he got his answer. “Improve my tinkering, I guess? Master Gennady is already teaching me, but I can still get better. You know— he has a lot of contacts. He can probably get me to meet with the top Scientists in the country!”

Sevin looked back down and raised an eyebrow at the girl as she chewed her lip. “You really know what you want to do, huh?”

“Of course. I always had a dream to come here. Being here right now— it’s surreal.”

“You’ve reached your dream, then?” Melas asked, meeting his gaze.

“Yep.”

“I see. Well congratulations,” she said, smiling.

“Thanks— oh, before I forget, how did your meeting with King Adilet go?”

“Oh, it went great—”

—--

“I win!” Lisa grinned as she threw her cards down to the table. She eyed the three members of Ginah’s Crew she had just beaten and opened her hand. “Now pay up.”

The men grumbled as they forked over a silver coin each. Elda called out from the side.

“Told you lot you shouldn’t have played her! Damned smugglers have to impress their clients, so they learn tricks like this.”

“Hey,” Lisa said, turning to the pirate with crossed arms over at the kitchen counter. “I’ll have you know, I have to purposefully lose most of the time for my clients.”

“Didn’t say otherwise.”

She snorted as the pirates slowly left the room. The young woman leaned back in her chair, grinning as the coins gleamed in the palm of her hand. Then she jolted back as the door swung open and Melas entered the room.

“Oh hey Melas. You’re back already?”

“Mhm.” The black haired girl made a noise as she walked over to the chair across from her. “Were you gambling?”

“Yeah, a card game— you wouldn’t get it,” Lisa said, pocketing the coins. “How’d the meeting go?”

“Good. I can stay here. I’ve been granted political asylum— it doesn’t even have to go through the House. That’s fully within King Adilet’s power and his power alone.”

The young woman hopped off her seat, strutting around the table to Melas’s side. “And that’s good, isn’t it?” she asked, cocking her head as she leaned in. “I expected you to be… elated.”

“I am!” Melas said, standing up. Then she hesitated, looking away from Lisa’s narrowed gaze. “I’m very happy. It’s just… am I supposed to pretend nothing that happened… happened?” I can’t just go and live a normal, average life now, can I?”

“Why not?”

The girl let out an irritated breath at Lisa’s blank look. “Because,” she said, raising a hand pointing at herself, “I don’t actually know how to live a normal life. My mom was— she was my life here in this... in the world. I barely interacted with anyone in my village. So I’m not really sure what to do now…”

Melas trailed off as Lisa considered this. She sunk back onto her chair and folded her arms. “I see…”

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to bother you with my problems. I just… don’t really know what to do now that I’ve reached my goal.”

Lisa nodded along, listening intently. She looked at the girl who almost reminded her of herself before she had met Jack right now. She smiled as Melas finished.

“You keep talking about doing something different. But why must you do that?”

“What do you mean?” Melas cocked her head.

“I mean you can just continue doing the same things as before,” Lisa said, leaning back on her chair. “Why must you change things up? Sure, you’re in a different place, but you could always just continue doing what you do. That’s what I’m doing.”

“What are you going to do here in Jahar’taw?”

Lisa shrugged nonchalantly. “What I usually do— if it isn’t smuggling, it’s something else that’s illegal.”

Melas stared at the young woman with a frown. “You know I can’t help bail you out if you get into trouble, right?”

“Same thing with Luke. And before I came to Luke— when I was still living with my family as a poor, noble girl.” Lisa grinned as she blinked.

“Wait… you were a noble?”

The young woman just nodded, before continuing on without giving a proper response. “So, why must you do things differently now that you’re in Jahar’taw? You’re safe— it just means you can do what you did previously with less worry, right?”

“...maybe.” The black haired girl glanced down, as if in thought.

Lisa shook her head. She’s not going to find resolution just yet, she thought. But Lisa had already said her piece, so she was not going to force Melas to find it now. She changed the subject.

“What did you come to speak with me about, anyway?”

“Oh.” Melas blinked, glancing past her at the kitchen. “I just wanted to grab some food.”

“Oh.”

—--

I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling as the clock ticked on without stopping. I was elated. I was happy. I finally found my peace.

But after the high of experiencing the joy of just relaxing ran out, I was now simply exhausted. So I relaxed, choosing not to move my body now that I had reached my goal. It was an amazing feeling— accomplishing what you set out for. It made you feel good about yourself.

That was why people always set goals; that was why people felt good when they did things; and that was why completing a goal was always praised. However, one thing that was never mentioned when it came to achieving a goal was what came next—

“...what do I do now?”

I asked myself the question as the clock continued ticking.

Author's Note:

Shorter chapter than usual. Technically an interlude. Sorry about that, but I don't think slice of life is my strong suit. I might have to study up some books to improve writing these kinds of character interactions, but that'll be after my finals unfortunately.  If you have any recommendations, I'd gladly read them to maybe help better my writing. Bonus points if it's steampunk, or something similar to steampunk like 17th or 18th century England.

Anyway, next chapter few chaps will be Adrian as I head into my finals to give me easy chapters to write, and time to plot out the next few events, because... yeah. I'm really not proud of how the previous arc ended. I know what I want to happen, but I want it to happen well.

Thanks for reading as always.