Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Argentum Trade Guild was as busy as ever, people and nopon wandering around the massive complex as they bought, sold, and traded goods from around the world. The Guild was the largest company in the world at the moment and as this was the headquarters of the Guild in Gormott, the building was absolutely massive. The wood and stone structure easily took up a square kilometer of land in the Capital of Gormott: Torigoth. 

This space was taken up by thousands of different vendors and had tens of thousands of people coming in to buy or sell throughout the day. Of course the only way this gargantuan structure could exist was through the countless magically enchanted wooden support beams that ran through the entire complex.

Though as impressive as it all was, Rex wasn’t here to admire the engineering, nor was he here to buy or sell. Well maybe he would buy something later. But right now he had to find someone he could swipe some money off of before he could really do anything today. 

He noticed someone in expensive but stupid looking clothes pointing to some jewelry and a butler, already weighed down by several parcels, paid for the goods and the noble lady walked away with a new bracelet on her wrist. Probably some spoiled Gormotti noble, if the ears on her head was any indication, who didn’t know any better.

Rex rolled his eyes as he casually crossed paths with the butler, accidentally nudging him slightly as he grabbed the coin purse and pocketed it while mumbling an apology to the butler who looked down his nose at him, as if he were something unseemly he had stepped in. Rex sneered over his shoulder as he wove his way through the crowd of people, counting the coins he emptied out into his pocket. Five gold coins. He swallowed, that was more than he managed to steal in the past month combined.

He was honestly surprised that there was such a noble lady walking around in the regular areas of Argentum. There were definitely higher class locations where the rich frequented and if he were to go up there in his simple tunic, he’d likely be thrown out by the bouncers. Normally, if they wanted something from here, they’d only send a servant down. A shame that she’d probably not come down here again though once she found out she was robbed. It was always nice to get some easy cash.

He made his way over to the massive set of stairs and joined the stream of traffic moving up. The second floor of the Guild was a bit more specialized than the mass of random vendors and stalls of the first which were designed to try to get people to impulse spend. Nothing was placed in the Guild by accident after all. Everything was meticulously calculated by different psychologists and economists to maximize profits. He made his way over to a forge he frequented, not because he bought stuff from it, but because the blacksmith was a friend.

Brandon Hunter, a talented young man with striking black hair and a weird fashion sense, preferring to wear clothes he patched together himself over anything store bought. Though that may have been a result of his frugality over actually liking the clothes he wore, which consisted of weird denim pants and weird white cotton garment on his upper body.

Compared to the more common tunics of the common folk and the silks of the nobles, he certainly stood out.

His forge was also unique. It was crammed into a small room since that was the maximum rent he could afford in such a hotspot location. Despite that, however, the room remained cool. Whatever ventilation system Brandon had installed was insanely good.

They had met when Rex had just started pickpocketing. He had been caught by a noble’s bodyguard and Brandon had bailed him out. Now that was an embarrassing experience. Since then, he had become easily the best thief and pickpocket in the guild, if not all of Torigoth. During that time, he had paid off his debt to Brandon and they had become fast friends.

“Hey Rex,” Brandon called out over the sound of his roaring furnace and the striking of his hammer on metal, “the usual?”

Rex simply nodded, choosing not to waste his voice yelling over the deafening racket and tossed the wallet over to Brandon who promptly chucked it into his blazing fire.

Rex watched in amazement as Brandon worked, as usual, impressed by the man’s skill and dedication to his craft. Currently, he was working on a particularly impressive looking sword. Brandon had made a bit of a name for himself, so many fledgling knights came to him for weapons and armor as his prices were cheaper but offered similar quality to all but the best smiths. 

Of course, the organization of specialized knight pairs, Drivers and Blades, known as Torna, had the best of the best smiths in their employ already. That, on top of the highest quality enchanters, made it impossible for anyone to match their weapon quality.

Torna was not bound to any one nation. They were international peacekeepers, stepping in to maintain order and to stop wars. Rex had admired the knights of Torna for a long time. He had wanted to join since he first heard the stories of their heroic exploits and eagerly went to every yearly festival Torna held. There, they held a ceremony called the Architect’s Selection where Torna requested the Architect to choose worthy candidates to become Drivers. Those who were selected were bestowed a partner known as a Blade, beings who granted their partner immense strength and magical power.

But, alas, he was never selected, maybe being a career thief wasn’t the greatest choice to be selected to join an order of knights. Brandon had offered to take him on as an apprentice but Rex had declined, knowing Brandon couldn’t really afford to pay a full time employee despite fitting a niche in the market.

There was an alternative to being chosen directly by the Architect technically. All you had to do was catch the attention of a Flesh Eater, a Blade who refused to return to Elysium once their Driver dies and is merged with a part of their Driver to do so, marked by a red and blue Core Crystal instead of a pure blue one. There were a few ways to do so, like participating in the festival tournaments. Each Flesh Eater also usually had their own private showings where they would see who could potentially live up to their previous Driver through some competition of their own choosing. Of course that was assuming a Flesh Eater decided to take up a new partner. Most never did, the purpose of their staying behind was in memory of their deceased Driver after all.

Flesh Eaters were highly respected by Torna, but the Praetorium disagreed. The Holy Praetorium of Indol was the church dedicated to worshiping the Architect. According to the stories, the Architect was their creator who lived up high in a paradise called Elysium at the top of the World Tree. Humanity had apparently used to live with him, but one day, they did something to anger him and he had cast Humanity out to the lands below.

Rex guessed he mellowed out during that time or he wouldn’t still be granting them miracles.

The Praetorium called Flesh Eaters abominations, things that went against the Architect’s will. However, they were unable to act upon that due to Torna’s respect for Flesh Eaters for their service.

Those words still had an effect on the people of Alrest and as such, avoided Flesh Eaters as much as possible.

Rex wasn’t sure what to think there exactly. The Praetorium was right of course, their leader, the Praetor, had a direct connection to the Architect and was a mouthpiece for his words. But Torna were also his idols and members of their council were Flesh Eaters after all.

“Alright,” Brandon said as he finished up his work and put his tools back onto a rack, “how much did you get this time?”

“Five gold,” Rex said.

Brandon whistled, “that’s a lot of money. How did you get that?”

“Swiped it off of some rich lady’s butler. She was just walking around the first floor of Argentum flaunting her money so I took advantage of it.”

“Odd, usually their kind don’t want to even be seen around commoners. Whatever. Money’s money I guess. How much you want to send back to Fonsett?”

“Four, I guess. Unless you can make change for a gold coin.” Rex sighed as he slid the coins over to Brandon who pocketed them. Fonsett village wasn’t poor by any means. But it also wasn’t rich. It was an area that was mostly populated by older retired folk who sold everything to move to the quiet location. Rex himself had grown up in an orphanage, his parents having died of disease when he was young. He sent money back home through Brandon so the kids there could eventually be sent to proper schools somewhere. Maybe even magic school if they had the talent.

“I’ll get these sent over as soon as possible. Also, I could make change, but then I’d have to explain where I got one when I go to spend it,” he shook his head, “you’d have to be a lot braver than me to try to spend it.”

“I know some people,” Rex said.

Brandon shook his head, “don’t want to know. Plausible deniability and all that.”

“You literally know I pickpocket rich morons. How does plausible deniability apply at all?”

Brandon shrugged, “I-”

He was cut off by the bell above the door ringing, indicating a customer entering. Rex tensed as he and Brandon looked over to see a Gormotti girl in a yellow jumpsuit enter the forge. She had a short bob of silver hair and white stripes on her face. The only weapons on her person was a set of three short daggers on her belt.

Rex relaxed, it didn’t seem like she was there for him and he found his hand dropping from the small dagger he had hidden in his tunic.

“Hi,” Brandon said cheerfully, “welcome to Hunter’s Forge, what can I do for you today?”

The girl unhooked her sheathes from her belt and placed them on top of the counter dividing the small waiting area from the rest of the forge. “I need these sharpened.”

“Alright,” Brandon said, scooping one up and unsheathing it to look at the knife. “Uh, are you sure? It’s ten silvers and these are high quality knives already.”

She shrugged, “money isn’t an issue.”

“Alright, if you’re sure.” Brandon slid the knife back in and scooped up the rest to take them over to his whetstone.

The Gormotti then turned to Rex. For some reason she looked familiar, though he couldn’t place her face. “You there, you’re Rex, right?”

“Who’s asking?”

She smirked, “I dunno why people say that. It’s a dead giveaway more so than sayin’ yes or no. The name’s Nia Eschell.”

Rex’s eyes widened. Eschell was the name of a large city in Gormott a few weeks of travel from Torigoth. If her last name was Eschell, then she was the lord, or well the lord’s daughter.

“I’m the one you pickpocketed, well, the lady of the butler who you pickpocketed earlier.”

Rex drew his knife, falling into a defensive stance.

Nia rolled her eyes, “I’m not here for a fight, nor to turn you into the authorities. I literally just gave away my weapons to show that.”

Rex reluctantly accepted that logic and put his dagger away. “Why?”

“Why what?” Nia asked, humor sparkling in her eyes, “why am I here? Why am I lookin’ for you?”

It was Rex’s turn to roll his eyes, “I get enough of that from Brandon. What do you want?”

“You’re a good pickpocket. The fact that my butler didn’t notice that you had taken from him can attest to that. I hear from the people around here that you’re a good burglar as well.”

Rex narrowed his eyes, “wait, were you flaunting around with money to try to bait someone into stealing from you?”

“Yeah, if they couldn’t steal from my butler, then they’d not be good enough for the job I have in mind.”

“You want me to do a job?”

“Yeah, and I’m payin’ a thousand gold. Interested?”

Rex’s eyes bulged, “a thousand gold?!”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Uh, that’s a no until we hear more,” Brandon interjected, returning with the knives.

“Wha- how did you finish them this quickly?” Nia asked.

“I’m a good smith.” Brandon said, “you can drop a piece of paper over these babies now and they’ll be cut in half. Now I don’t know what you have in mind but you should at least give the job details before trying to get someone to accept. Though I guess I shouldn’t expect a noble to understand.” He finished snidely, indicating that he had, in fact, heard their entire conversation.

“Fair enough,” Nia took the insult in stride, making Brandon blink, a bit dumbfounded. Rex had expected her to go ballistic like every other noble did when they were even mildly insulted by a commoner.

“I have an item of interest that was taken from me by a group of thieves, their attire would suggest that they are Tantalese. Part of the job would be tracking them down then stealing said item back.”

Brandon scowled, “and what item would be worth the risk of stealing from a Gormotti noble? If not the possibility of an international diplomatic incident?”

“It’s an item known as the Omega Fetter.”

“Out,” Brandon pointed to the door.

“Excuse me?” Nia asked incredulously.

“Get out of my forge. You’re not welcome here.”

“What? I haven’t even paid you ye-”

“I don’t care. You’re asking for something insane. We’re not getting involved in whatever Tornan business you’re part of.”

“What if I want to do it?” Rex said.

“Then you’re fucking stupid.”

Rex winced, less so about the cursing itself since Brandon cussed like a sailor, but because he rarely took that language to Rex directly. “But-”

“No. Do you even know what Tantal’s like? It’s a northern kingdom so it’s freezing all the time. You literally don’t own any winter clothes.”

Rex glanced down at his blue tunic. “I can buy some if she pays up front.”

Nia cleared her throat, “to clarify, the thousand gold coins is just the advance. I’ll pay double that as well upon completion.”

Rex felt like he was about to pass out. That much money would set you up completely for life, as well as the lives of your children and grandchildren and maybe even their grandchildren as well. “See? That kind of money would mean we would never struggle for money again.”

“Yeah, and the risk is why the offer is so much. Do you even know what the Omega Fetter is?”

“No.”

“Ugh, for someone who loves Torna so much, you really don’t read a lot about them. The Omega Fetter is the control device for Artifice Ophion,” he said as if reading off a textbook, “a serpentine dragon which is a servant of the Architect. It’s meant to guard the World Tree from trespassers but was given limited access to Torna in case of emergencies. Which begs the question of why the hell some random Gormotti lord’s daughter was in possession of such an item and why people would go out of their way to steal something like that.”

“Both my father and my sister are trusted Drivers. I was simply with my father when the Omega Fetter was bein’ transported and we were overwhelmed.”

“A Driver and Blade were overwhelmed by common thieves? I don’t buy it.”

“No, they had elite trainin’, likely part of some countries special ops forces.”

“And that’s the nail in the coffin,” Brandon growled, “no means no. We’re not doing this. End of discussion.”

“Well you specifically don’t have to-”

“No. Rex is like a brother to me. I refuse to let him get himself into so much danger when he can barely fight.”

Nia sighed, “very well. If you change your mind, I’ll be at the nearby Goldmouth inn for the next few days. Just ask for me at the front desk.” She bowed, pushed a few coins onto the counter, and left, the bell clanging as the door swung open then back closed.

Brandon scoffed, “like that’s going to happen. Still though, I can’t help but worry a little bit. Artifice Ophion could level cities in the old stories.”

“All the more reason to go!” Rex argued.

“All the more reason to stay put and let the experts figure this out,” Brandon countered. “You’re good, but not good enough to steal something that’s likely going to be kept under heavy guard. Besides, some parts of her story don't add up. She may not be one of those stuffy uptight nobles, but she’s still a noble at the end of the day and they’ll slip a dagger into your back as willingly as manipulating you into doing their dirty work. As far as we know, it was never actually stolen and she just wants its power for herself. Just let this one go.”

Rex sighed, “alright. Fine.”

“Alright,” Brandon let out a breath in relief. “I’ll get your money sent back to aunt Corinne.” He said, quickly changing the topic. “It should reach her by the end of the week.”

Rex nodded, “thanks. I’m going to head out and get something to eat. See ya!” He waved as he left.

Brandon nodded, “stay safe.”

Rex found the people willing to make change for a gold coin. He had gotten short changed a bit but it was still more money than he knew what to do with. He ended up just going for a quick snack of some cheese before making a beeline for the Goldmouth inn. He dashed through the streets of Torigoth to get there as quickly as possible.

He looked up in awe as he reached the inn, the expensive looking building making a looming presence in the city.

When he stepped in, he noticed that the carpet was red, and that there was a carpet to begin with. He went up to the front desk, “hey, uh-”

“Are you sure you can afford this place?” The receptionist asked snidely.

Rex shook his head, “I’m not here to book a room. I’m here to see lady Eschell? She said to ask for her here.”

“I doubt lady Eschell would want something from y-”

“You know,” Nia said, coming up from behind Rex, “when I said to come find me here, I didn’t think you’d come right away.”

Rex turned around to see Nia in the outfit he saw her in before: a fancy white dress with red and gold trim.

“L-lady Eschell,” the receptionist stammered.

“That’s my name. Don’t wear it out. And next time, don’t assume anythin’ about my business.”

“U-understood.” The receptionist gave a cowed bow.

Nia gestured towards the stairs, “come, follow me. We’ll talk on the way to my room.”

“Uh, okay. I want to take the job.”

“Your very attractive friend was very much against the idea of you acceptin’,” Nia pointed out, “did he change his mind in the past hour?”

“First off, what? Ew. Second off, no. I respect Brandon, and I know he just wants the best for me. But he doesn’t control my life decisions.”

“What’s not to like? He seems athletic with a solid build, not unattractive face, and very intelligent. Plus his accent is very exotic. I’ve only ever heard it in Blades.”

“Actually, I don’t know where he’s from either,” Rex scratched his head, “I met him in Argentum and I’ve never bothered to ask. He’s also definitely not a Blade.” 

“Hm, do you think he’ll say yes if I ask him out?”

Rex coughed, “I think we’re getting a bit off topic.”

Nia laughed, a surprisingly pleasant and melodic sound, “I suppose I’ll shelve that conversation. Ah, here we are,” she said as she pulled out a set of keys and unlocked two locks to open her door. She gestured to it and let Rex go in first. He marveled at the extravagant room. Everything was made of high quality fabrics and wood. He tried not to touch anything, fearing damaging anything there. The room opened up to a rather spacious living area, with a couch, table, and other fancy looking chairs and accessories arranged nicely around the room. A door opened up to what looked like a bedroom and another he assumed led to a bathroom.

“Please, take a seat,” Nia said, pulling up a chair. Rex followed suit and sat down, though a lot more delicately than Nia did.

“Now then. Onto business. I’m payin’ three thousand gold total for this job. A thousand now, two after completion. Now, the job is to find the Omega Fetter and bring it back to me. I have an image of the Fetter which I will provide. I also have an artist’s rendition of the thieves for you to work off of. Unfortunately that is all I have. You’ll be effectively startin’ from scratch.”

“I’ll do it.”

Nia nodded and put a hefty sack of coins onto the table, “here’s your advance payment. You may spend it however you’d like, but I’d advise you to spend some of it on equipment you might need.”

Rex thought to himself, “could I ask you to commission a few weapons for me? I want Brandon to make them since I don’t trust any other smith to do as good a job but I can’t ask him myself.”

“Or he’d catch on and refuse,” Nia finished the sentence with a nod, “very well. Is he as good a smith as you claim?”

“He’s not as good, he’s better,” Rex boasted, happy to brag about his friend.

“Then I may go and commission a few things for myself as well. Is there any specific weapon you’d like?”

“Honestly those daggers you have on look good. Might be easy enough to ask for him to make replicas as spares to not draw any suspicion.”

“Sounds like a plan. Very well then. I’ll take whatever he charges out of the completion payment. Though, how often do you meet Brandon?” She asked.

Rex winced, “uh, daily.”

Nia sighed, “I thought as much. Well I’ll have to come up with an excuse. Hm,” she hummed in thought for a moment, “how about this. I’ll hire you in general as well. I’ll have an official contract drawn up for you to work in my manor. I’ll come up with some work for you to do durin’ your investigation.”

“What, really?” Rex exclaimed. That was an incredible deal for what was effectively just a chance meeting.

“Yeah, unless you’d rather return to a life of crime once you finish your mission.”

“No no,” Rex waved his arms frantically, “you’re more than generous, lady Eschell.”

“Please, call me Nia. Lady Eschell is my mother.”

“R-right, Nia then.”

“Mmhm. I’ll also give Brandon a job offer as well. Should draw suspicion off if I willingly invite him to come and likely won’t take me up on my offer.”

Rex bit his lip nervously, “gambling with Brandon is a risky move. It’s possible he sees right through your reverse psychology there, and if he does, he’ll be pissed.”

“If he does, I’ll take the fall for you.”

Rex nodded appreciatively. “Thank you.”

“I shall meet you back here in a few hours then. If I’m not here, you’re free to stay in the lobby and help yourself to any refreshments. If any employees give you trouble, say that Nia Eschell has given you express permission to be there.” She slid him a card, “if they keep givin’ you trouble, show them this and they’ll back off.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

“Hi! Welcome to the,” Brandon groaned, “oh it’s you. I thought I told you you weren’t welcome here. What do you want?”

“Relax.” Nia said as she unsheathed a dagger from her jumpsuit’s belt and set it down onto the counter, “I’m not here to trouble you further. I’m simply here as a customer.”

Brandon eyed her suspiciously, “buying my wares isn’t going to change my mind.”

“Oh I’m aware. But you seemed like a good smith and I needed some work done while I’m here anyways.”

“Alright. What are you looking for exactly?” Brandon grunted, easing his aggression for now.

“I’d like an extra set of these knives made. Three of them, as high quality as you can make them. I’d also like a set of chakrams made. Ten should suffice.”

“Alright. Any specific material you’d like?”

“Would that impact anythin’? Highest quality.” 

Brandon nodded his head, “yeah. Depending on what it is, it could take a few days for me to get a hold of the material. I would also ask for a payment in advance if the material is expensive enough. If you’re looking for the highest of high quality, it would cost quite a lot of gold, which would be paid in advance, and would take a few weeks to complete.”

Nia nodded, “money isn’t an issue.” She placed a small bag of coins onto the counter, “here, take what you’d charge and give me the change back later.”

Brandon nodded, “standard size chakrams?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay then. I can’t set an exact timeframe, but I guess you should come back in a few days, probably around two, and I’ll have a much better idea of when I’ll be done.”

“Thank you.”

“Just doing my job.”

Brandon finished up his orders for the day and hung up his hammer and apron, yanked out a pair of earplugs, and tidied his forge up before heading out and locking up. The bell rang as he shut the door. Brandon winced at the sound, normally quiet compared to the clanging of his hammer onto an anvil but this late at night with most people having gone home for the day, it was deafening.

Brandon jumped at a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Nia standing in front of him, fidgeting with her hands nervously.

“Gah! What are you still doing here?” Brandon asked, “if you’re worried about your order-”

“It’s not that…” Nia said, fumbling on her words, “uh… I was actually wonderin’ if you would humor me with a date.”

Brandon stared at her. “You serious?”

“I’m always serious,” Nia said, her confidence returning.

“Okay, personal reasons aside, wouldn’t it be a scandal for a noble to go on a date with a commoner?”

“Why do you think I’m wearin’ this kind of outfit?” Nia gestured down, “obviously I’m not goin’ to be wearin’ my stupid fancy clothes here.”

“Outside of baiting Rex you mean?”

Nia winced, a hint of guilt in her eyes. “I am sorry about that.”

Brandon shook his head, “honestly, if it were anything else with less risk, I wouldn’t have had an issue. But that… not to mention the kid has an obsession with Torna. I don’t know what your affiliation is but he’s been to their annual festival every year since he was about seven.” Brandon sighed as he started walking. Nia did a little hop step to catch up and kept up pace beside him. “Uh, I dunno what your plan is though. Most shops and restaurants are closed for today and you’ll forgive me if I don’t want to bring you to my house when we’ve known each other for all of a few minutes.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I can get us a spot in a restaurant nearby. It’s one of my favorites.”

“Uh, I don’t want to make people work overtime just for that.”

Nia shook her head, “what do you take me for? It’s a twenty four hour place.”

“I didn’t know that high class restaurants… it’s not, is it.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Sorry, prejudices die hard I guess. I assumed you’d be like the few other pretentious nobles I’ve met looking to get their son a weapon.”

Nia smirked, “better change your mind quickly or you’ll find it difficult to keep up with me. We do things quite differently in Eschell.”

“Seems that way. Torigoth’s your traditional city though so you’ll forgive me if I find your behavior a bit odd.”

“Heh,” Nia rubbed a hand under her nose, “does that mean you like me?”

“More now than earlier today,” Brandon admitted, “you’re a very direct person huh?”

“Yeah, I know what I want and I’m not afraid to work to get it.” Nia grinned.

“Well then, I look forward to this date.”

Nia was enraptured, the old stories that Brandon told got wilder through their dinner and his current crazy story of worlds beyond their own in the heavens was fascinating. In that time, Nia’s interest had developed into a full on crush.

That made it a lot harder to get this next part out.

“I don’t mean to be a downer, but I thought I should get this out before we get any further so there isn’t any tension between us.”

Brandon groaned, “Rex went to the inn didn’t he.”

“He did. I didn’t give him the job though,” Nia felt horrible lying directly to his face but she didn’t have much of a choice. She needed the Omega Fetter back and months of searching with some of the top investigators of Torna had yielded nothing. “I gave him a different job though, workin’ as a general employee around my manor.”

Brandon sighed, “I… thank you. It means a lot to me that you’d help him out like that.”

“Yeah, I want to extend the offer to you as well. It would be nice to have a dedicated smith around,” she smiled, “you’d get good pay, the best tools and equipment, a much larger forge, and you’d only have to forge whenever someone of my household has a request.”

Brandon shook his head, “I wish I could take up the offer, but unfortunately I’m locked into a contract here for the next year. Though…”

“Though?”

“Sorry, this is a bit unrelated. I’m just wondering why you’re doing all of this for me and Rex,” Brandon said, “I don’t mean to seem rude or ungrateful, but we’re just a few nobodies you didn’t know until today. I don’t see why you’re spending so much money and effort into this.”

“Well a number of reasons really. Nothin’ massive though, just a bunch of little things added up. First off, you’re cute.” Nia smiled at the little hint of color that rose to Brandon’s face, “definitely pleasant to look at. You’ve got a nice voice. Solid build. Hard workin’. And you’re able to match my wit. Though the kicker is that I like that you don’t treat me any differently knowin’ I’m a noble. Even people I’ve known for a long time act as though I’m above them. I’ve done my fair share of adventurin’ and people I’d have called friends immediately start treatin’ me differently when they find out I’m a noble. It’s refreshin’ not havin’ to deal with that bullshite.”

“And Rex?”

“Well I got him all excited about the money. Remember, don’t make assumptions about me. Just because every other noble wouldn’t have cared doesn’t mean I’d be the same. It feels wrong to just walk out and give nothin’. Especially since he seems like a bright kid, would be a shame for him to simply keep on stealin’ in order to survive.”

“So the same applies to me there?”

“The job offer remains open.”

“Come back in a year and I think I might just take you up on that offer. But on that vein of topic,” Brandon coughed, “how is this,” he gestured between the two of them, “going to work out? I’ve enjoyed my time tonight and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in pursuing this. But you live over a week’s journey away.”

“I’ll be here for a few more days to take care of some business. I do come up to Torigoth for business pretty frequently so I can meet you those times.”

“I’d like that.”

“Also a week?” Nia smirked, “what did I tell you about makin’ assumptions?”

Brandon blinked, “oh… you don’t ride in a carriage.”

“Precisely. I ride on horseback back and forth. I’m not waitin’ in some carriage to ferry me around for ages when I can save time by goin’ fast. Takes me a full day of travel at most.”

“Wait, a day though?” Brandon looked as if he was doing the math in his head. “Shouldn’t it still take at least three to four?”

“Not if the horses are the finest breed and magically enhanced to boot.”

“Magically enhanced horses,” Brandon mused, “isn’t that normally just reserved for just Drivers and Blades?”

“It is. But in case you couldn’t tell, I may be a person of some importance.”

“And here I thought you were different from other nobles and wouldn’t brag about your status.”

“I’m not doin’ that here am I?” Nia laughed, “besides, I don’t think you’re one to be much interested in wealth or status so I’d be kinda dumb flauntin’ that.”

Brandon tilted his head, “well, I wouldn’t say I’m not interested in money. But the nobility part can go suck it.”

“Well there you go.” She yawned, “alright. It’s gettin’ a bit late. Do you… want to meet again tomorrow?” She asked shyly.

Brandon rolled his eyes, not buying the act, “yeah. I’ll be in the forge tomorrow. Drop by whenever.”

Chapter Text

So Nia had really gone through with the whole asking Brandon out thing. Rex sighed, maybe he should have expected as much given how… forward Nia had been. It was the weirdest way to find out though, seeing the two flirting the moment he stepped into the forge.

Of course, that wasn’t the worst of it. Brandon had pointedly ignored him for a few hours, choosing instead to work and chat with Nia, who was surprisingly willing to get her hands dirty and help out with some forge work. She had the top of her jumpsuit undone to hang around her waist leaving her in just a tank top. Sweat dripped down her face and shoulders despite the cool temperature, though that was probably because she was standing right next to the fire and no amount of ventilation would stop that heat.

“Argh!” Rex finally got frustrated trying to get Brandon’s attention, “why are you giving me the silent treatment but she gets nothing?”

“Because she talked to me and let me know about what’s going on,” Brandon said, finally acknowledging Rex. “Whereas you went off against my advice. And before you say anything, no, just because everything worked out alright does not make your actions alright.”

“I was going to say that you just admitted it was advice.”

“It was. But it was still incredibly stupid. What happens if Nia wasn’t all that she was saying she was and had you tortured or killed.”

“I take offense to that,” Nia said.

“Or if she had actually sent you off on that mission?” He continued, ignoring her comment, “what the hell would I have told aunt Corinne? Or Gramps? That you were sent on some quest to be some kind of a secret agent stealing an item countries would go to war over?”

Rex cringed.

“Though speaking of which, without Rex, what were you planning on doing with that job?” Brandon asked, addressing Nia this time.

“Well it would be part of his job to assist me in the investigation, though not on the field,” she said quickly to assuage Brandon’s concerns, “he does have the mind of a thief so he may be able to provide some valuable insight. A few Torna Drivers and I will be workin’ on the field based on what intel Rex can give us.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this last night?”

Nia bit her lip, “I, uh, may have forgotten?”

Rex rolled his eyes. More like she made it up since last night.

“This can’t be traced back to Rex right?” Brandon pressed.

“No. Employees of nobles are never targeted. Everyone knows to avoid them. Other Nobles avoid it because then no one will want to work for them. Everyone else avoids it because it’s a cushy job that pays nicely and don’t want to be potentially killed if they ever get the job.”

“Wouldn’t that make it easy for nobles to get away with shit if they just have any in their employ do it then?”

“Well, technically yes. But servants are still bound by the law and while nobles can admittedly get around a lot of it, their servants can’t. Plus you know, a lot of nobles look down on their staff and wouldn’t trust them to do anythin’ private. What I’m doin’ would give most nobles a heart attack.”

“Speaking of which, why are you so different?” Brandon asked the question that Rex was wondering at that moment, “you say you are, and you act the part. But if you’re the daughter of Lord Eschell, one of the most powerful nobles in Gormott, which also has the largest agricultural economy of Alrest, how did you turn out to be a decent human being?”

“I mentioned my father bein’ a member of Torna yeah? The architect doesn’t exactly choose arseholes to be Drivers of Torna.” She huffed as she moved a large chunk of metal with a set of tongs, glowing red hot from the fires. “He raised me with a lot of the values he held up like virtuousness, kindness, and above all: humility. What about you then? You treat me like an ordinary person.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. If I thought you were like the prissy nobility of Torigoth, I’d grovel with the best of them since I like having my head attached to my neck.” He took the metal to his anvil and started hammering out a basic shape and spoke between hits. “I hear the King especially isn’t a particularly great person and has executed people for things that aren’t even considered offensive by most.”

Nia scowled, “King Dughall. He’s basically a puppet king to Mor Ardain and he gets away with his shite because of that connection. My father would have had him deposed long ago if it weren’t for that. Though if my sources are correct, the Emperor of Mor Ardain doesn’t really care for him, it’s mostly the imperial senate that use him for control. I’ve been workin’ behind the scenes to get that exposed but no luck so far. Mor Ardain is just too powerful for me to do much about.”

“You seem to have your foot in a little bit of everything huh.”

“Yeah. I technically don’t have any tasks of rulin’ or anythin’ yet since my father is takin’ care of all that. And since my education is essentially done, he’s been givin’ me stuff that he would do if he had more time.”

“Wait, your education is done?” Rex chimed in, “how old are you?”

Brandon covered his face with his hands.

“You know, it’s rude to ask a lady that,” Nia said, her tone of voice light but her eyes flashed dangerously. “A lady with less self control would have had you castrated for that.”

Rex backed up nervously, “uh, why are you reaching for your knives?”

“I never said I was a lady of self control.”

Brandon put a hand on Nia’s shoulder, “you’ll have to forgive this idiot.”

“Hmph,” Nia harrumphed and crossed her arms, “I’m goin’ to have to teach you some etiquette first thing or other nobles will make your life miserable.”

“I thought you said nobles wouldn’t harm servants,” Brandon said.

“They don’t physically or financially harm servants. They do other things though, usually stuff that can’t be traced back to them even if everyone knows it was them. You can get inexplicably blacklisted from shops, find yourself being checked by guards at every station, petty shite like that. It doesn’t stick for very long since their master will usually step in, but it’s still a pain in the arse.”

Rex made a face, “please don’t make me call you master.”

“You? No. Now Brandon on the other hand…”

Rex gagged, “too much information.”

“I’m not calling you master,” he deadpanned, “if you want to go for that route, the most I’ll give you is milady.”

“Ooh, a gentleman. Catch me, I might swoon,” she said, an equally deadpan expression on her face.

“Ugh, get a room.” Rex groaned.

“This is my room,” Brandon stuck his tongue out. “I rented this spot fair and square.”

“How mature,” Nia lifted herself onto her toes and patted the top of his head, “I’m so glad you’re a proper adult and not a child in a man’s body.”

“That’s no fun,” Brandon pouted.

“Very mature indeed. Though I suppose I wouldn’t like you if it weren’t for that.”

“MOVING ON!” Rex said loudly, trying to divert their focus, “can we please talk about something else while I’m here as a third wheel?” He begged.

“Alright alright,” Brandon laughed, “I suppose I should let up.”

“Let up? You were doing that on purpose?”

“Obviously. Yelling at you apparently has no effect so I decided to make you as uncomfortable as possible.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. Jeez.”

“Don’t think this is the end of it. I will be sending a letter to Gramps and I’ll send his response over to you.” He finally finished hammering out the shape of a circle and he took the rapidly cooling metal and put it back into his fire.

Rex sighed, “he’s not going to be happy about this.”

“Who is this Gramps, if I may ask.”

“Oh, he helps run an orphanage at Fonsett Village in Leftheria. His real name’s Azurda, though he doesn’t like people calling him that,” Rex answered, “he took care of me when I was younger and that’s where I lived. He wasn’t happy when he learned I was living by pickpocketing but,” he shrugged, “that’s just how things ended up.”

“Did I hear you right? Did you say Azurda?” Nia sounded surprised which immediately put Rex on edge.

“Yes?”

“Does he have green hair and purple scales on the side of his face?”

“Yeah? A lot of Urayans dye their hair and scales weird colors though…” He glanced up at Nia’s hair as he said that.

“My hair color is completely natural, thank you very much. Also, Azurda doesn’t use hair dye. He’s an old war hero of Torna who fought in the Great War five hundred years ago. He’s a Flesh Eater who retired decades ago but stories are still told of him even today.”

“I… what?” Rex felt like his brain had stopped.

“You never made the connection before?” Brandon commented, “I thought it was obvious.”

“Don’t insult me while I’m still processing. What?! How? He never mentioned anything about this, nothing about a Driver either. Don’t Blades and Drivers usually love each other?”

“Yeah, but it’s rare for those who live on to like talkin’ about it,” Nia said, “usually they like to keep those memories to themselves. There’s a reason why Flesh Eaters tend to be rare. Not only does the Driver have to consent to the process before their death, but the Blade has to be willin’ to continue to live on afterwards. Azurda had one of the strongest wills in Torna but apparently even he would avoid the topic of his old Driver. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if your Gramps was fulfilling’ his Driver’s last request by helpin’ out with an orphanage in his retirement.”

“Oh,” Rex said lamely, unable to think of anything else.

“Yeah. Also, I think he was surprised you never asked for real training,” Brandon said as he took the metal ring out to cool, “he even had a lecture prepared for you to make sure you understood the responsibilities of training and all that.”

“You’re telling me he could have taught me more than the few paltry knife fighting lessons I got?”

“Yeah, there’s a good chance that it would have been enough to maybe catch the eye of a smaller knight in search of a squire. Not Torna of course, no amount of training will help you with that if the Architect doesn’t deem you worthy. But being a knight of a small province in Gormott? Yeah.”

Rex clutched his head, “argh!” He yelled in frustration.

“Hey, at least you’ll be paid better under me,” Nia consoled the grieving Rex.

“Yeah sure, because life’s all about the money huh?”

Nia recoiled, a hurt expression on her face.

“Sorry,” Rex said, immediately regretting his words, “I’m just trying to process a lot right now.”

“I… yeah. I guess anyone would be if they found out their Gramps was a hero.” Nia tried for a smile.

Brandon sighed, intervening at that moment, “here. Rex, why don’t you go and pack to process everything. I’ll finish up here with this prototype for Nia and see if she likes it. We’ll meet back up for dinner, yeah? Your place?”

Rex nodded, “yeah. I’ll see you then.”

Brandon watched as Rex left, his signature bell on the door ringing as it swung shut. Nia lithely leapt over the counter and sat down in one of the waiting chairs.

“I… I’m sorry,” Nia said, “I overreacted to a simple comment.”

“I’m sure he didn’t fully understand what he was saying at that moment.”

“No, I know. I just… he sounded like everyone else for a moment there,” she laughed bitterly, “people accuse me all the time of doin’ what I do for money or power or reputation. I just want to help people, y’know? Make the world a better place. But all the thanks I get are accusations and threats. I don’t do it for gratitude, but it gets so tiring sometimes. Sometimes, I just want to lie down and close my eyes, forget about the world.”

Brandon sighed. He put down his tools, leaving his project to cool. He slid over the counter, a little clumsier than Nia did, and sat down next to her, putting an arm over her shoulder. “Hey, you’ve got me now. And Rex.”

“Heh,” Nia’s normal confident smile slowly returned to her face, “you’re assumin’ a lot about my character there.”

“Am I wrong?”

“No,” she mock sighed, her eyes twinkling, “I suppose I shall have to be a forgivin’ lady and pardon my wayward subject.”

Brandon laughed, “I suppose you are a benevolent lady. I have to give milady my deepest gratitude for her magnanimity.”

Nia giggled and lightly shoved Brandon’s shoulder, “you’re an idiot. And if you say somethin’ out of a bad romance novel like ‘your idiot’, I may rescind my decision to be merciful and strangle you.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Seriously though, thank you.”

Brandon flushed bright red.

“Point for Nia,” she smirked.

“Oh what? Come on. Are we really trying to get the other to blush more?”

“And I’m winnin’ easily,” she gloated, “I’m Nia the unstoppable.”

“And you were calling me immature.”

“No, I distinctly remember callin’ you very mature.”

“Yeah, because you totally weren’t being sarcastic there.” Brandon rolled his eyes.

“Hm. Is that a hint of sarcasm I detect? I shall have to have your head for that.”

“What are you now? The Queen of Hearts?”

“I’m surprised you know that book,” Nia mused, “it’s not a particularly popular one.”

Brandon shrugged, “I spend a lot of time reading when I’m not working. It’s a lot of fun, being able to delve into some of the worlds made by creative authors. I suppose I have you to thank for such an extensive public library selection across Gormott.”

“You’d have to thank my mother for that one. She loved readin’ same as you. She used to read me bedtime stories even when I was older.”

Past tense, Brandon noted. “I’m sorry.”

“Whatever for? I treasure my memories of her and I’ve had over a decade to accept it. I don’t have any regrets there.”

“Fair enough.”

“What about you?”

“Oh, my parents are retired, living in Leftheria. Not Fonsett though, a different town. My dad was also a smith, taught me everything I know. Though he used to work in Mor Ardain. I’m personally not a big fan of the desert, it’s why I moved out here.”

“No melodramatic line about hatin’ sand?”

“What? Do I look like a whiny teenager to you?”

“Sometimes,” she teased, “but I like you despite that.”

“Oi, no teen could hope to match my intellect.”

“Hm,” Nia mused, “extraordinarily humble too.”

“Oh yeah. That’s me. No ego here.” Brandon said as he hopped back over to his work station. He picked up the metal ring with his tongs and stuffed it back into the fire.

“Riiight,” Nia drawled, drawing out the I in a sarcastic manner, “that's why I can see your head from across the Argentum Trade Guild.”

“That’s an over exaggeration,” Brandon complained, taking the metal ring out one last time and began sanding it, “you could maybe see it from halfway.”

“How about I shrink it down to a manageable size for you then?”

“What a munificent offer. Regrettably, I must decline as such a procedure would be my undoing. It’s the only way I attract business after all.”

Nia laughed, “havin’ a massive head as an advertisement sign. What an outstandin’ move.”

“Why thank you. I too, believe it to be a move of genius on my part.” It was here where Brandon’s composition failed and he also broke out laughing, unable to maintain his poker face.

“You’re such a dork,” Nia said, still giggling.

“Hey, being a dork is a good thing.”

“Yeah, you’ve somehow made it part of your unique charm.”

“Yay! I have charm.” Brandon joked as he slid the mostly finished chakram over to Nia. She picked it up and inspected it.

“Why does it look like this?”

“Well, it still needs to be heat treated and sharpened to be finished but I thought I’d give it to you like this so you get a general idea of the shape and size.”

Nia waved it around in a few practice stances, testing its weight, before forming up to throw it at the straw test dummy sitting in a corner. The throwing weapon hit the dummy with a solid thunk but didn’t pierce it as it was yet to be sharpened.

“I like it,” Nia said as she walked over to retrieve the unfinished project and tossed it back over to Brandon who clumsily caught it, nearly dropping the weapon. “

“Cool cool. I’ll make the others like it when I get the material. Keep in mind they’ll be a little lighter once they’re finished since they’ll be sharpened.”

“That’s fine,” Nia waved a hand, “I can adjust to somethin’ as simple as that pretty easily.”

“Okay then. I’ve got other commissions to work on.”

“Is that your way of subtly kickin’ me out?”

“Yeah, and now this is my not so subtle way of kicking you out. Shoo. I’ll meet you here tonight and we’ll head over to Rex’s place.”

“Alright. Love you.”

Brandon blushed and stammered, “I- I… isn’t it a bit early for that?” Dammit, why couldn’t he just say the words back?

“I dunno,” Nia shrugged. “but I prefer sayin’ it every chance I get in case I don’t get another. I’ll see ya later.”

Nia sighed. Rex’s words, despite how unintentional they were, had gotten to her a lot more than she had let on earlier. Brandon had cheered her up with his goofiness, and she had fun bantering back, but it still stung.

She sighed, waiting beside the closed door to his forge. The sign behind the glass panel had been flipped to read ‘Sorry, We’re Closed.’ He had at least the decency to put up another sign below it in hastily scribbled handwriting: ‘had to get groceries, be right back’ so she knew he at least hadn’t ditched her.

“Hey,” Brandon panted, jogging up to her. Well speak of the devil.

“Hey yourself,” Nia said, noting the multiple bags of food he was carrying. It was honestly a sight a bit foreign to her. She didn’t like to admit it but she was kind of spoiled with her food usually being prepared by world class chefs.

“What’re we eatin’?”

“Uh, well I hope you don’t mind extremely unhealthy food since that’s about all I can make.”

Nia narrowed her eyes, “uh, like what? I don’t think my diet can handle somethin’ too fattening.”

“What? Really?”

“What? You don’t think I watch my weight?”

“Uh, I kind of assumed that you were somewhat physically active.”

“Well I am. But I also like to eat healthy. Veggies taste good if you cook ’em right y’know.”

“I lack the culinary talent for that,” Brandon shrugged.

Nia sighed, “and I’m somehow gettin’ the feelin’ that your bag is filled with nothin’ but meat.”

“And bread… and cheese.”

“Not fillin’ me with confidence.”

“Hey, I’ve got some other stuff. Onions, garlic, tomatoes… some parsley…”

“Mmhm,” Nia said, unimpressed, “sounds very… good…”

“Oh come on,” Brandon said as he started walking. Nia hopped a step forward to catch up and walk alongside him. “Have a little faith at least. Rex enjoys my food.”

“No offense, but it looks like Rex would enjoy anythin’ that’s not day old food left in a dumpster.”

Brandon winced, “I cook for him fairly regularly.”

“And he’s still thin enough to see his ribs stickin’ out through his shirt.” Nia shook her head. She wasn’t entirely sure what his finances were, but there was no way they were good. Being a small time thief only got you so far after all. From the rumors she found, he could have easily stolen from the palace if he really wanted to, but it seems like Rex only really took from those he actively witnessed being greedy like her when she was actively scouting for it.

And Gormott’s king, despite his… unsavory personality, was only greedy for power and actually spent quite a bit on improving Gormott’s economy. If it weren’t for such self serving purposes, she might have actually respected his work, even if not him as a person.

It was a conflicting feeling sometimes. There were a lot of people in the upper echelons of society who were just horrible people but did a lot of good work, but only to further their own needs. Whether it’s to gather the people’s support or simply to avoid holy judgment from the Praetorium. Any benevolent action was rarely done for the people’s benefit.

She, unfortunately, was the exception and not the rule.

“Yeah. I hope you can feed him more than I do,” Brandon said.

“Of course, what do you take me for?” She’d make sure he received the finest cuisine in Alrest.

Brandon shook his head, “I wish I could do more for him. He’s a good kid but it’s hard to do anything unless you’re born with money. And he was born with none. I guess we got lucky here though.”

Nia tapped his cheek, “and you got luckiest of all.”

“And you call me humble,” Brandon rolled his eyes.

“It seems you have much to learn about sarcasm my young apprentice.”

“I thought that was Rex. If anything, you’d be my apprentice.”

“Oho!” Nia grinned, “now those are fightin’ words. I daresay I’m a better verbal sparrer than you.”

“Oh really? I didn’t know sarcasm was a good substitute for wit.”

“Said with a healthy dose of sarcasm yourself,” Nia smirked, “you’re bein’ dragged down by your own words and I didn’t even have to do anythin’ myself.”

“Bah. You suck.”

“You mean I’ve thoroughly beaten you in the span of like two sentences and you can’t think of a response.”

Brandon sighed, rubbing a hand on the back of his head, “yeah yeah, you got me. I give. Jeez, how do you even get so good at that?”

“Experience mostly. You’ll find when interactin’ with nobles and politicians you either sink or swim with that. You don’t develop a silver tongue? You’ll get roasted alive.”

“Yeah… really glad I wasn’t born a noble.”

“Oh don’t worry, our banter isn’t exactly somethin’ common in the nobility. It’s a lot more subtle and based around underminin’ the other person instead of our transparent jokes.”

“Uh, that doesn’t make me worry less.”

“Hm. I suppose it wouldn’t.”

“I hate you.”

“Eh, love, hate. They’re pretty much the same thing.”

“They’re… really not.”

Nia patted the top of his head, a little annoyed at their height difference when she had to really reach up, “you have much to learn.”

Brandon pouted, the expression looking a bit odd on his large and bulky frame. “Cut me some slack here. You’re the first person I’ve met to really have a similar style of talking to me. It’s taking me a bit to get used to it.”

Hard to get used in a good way, Nia thought. It was hard for her to drop her normal shields when talking to Brandon. When people found her difficult to talk to, it was usually because she was more crass than most other nobles. But Brandon didn’t really seem to mind. He also swore a lot more than she did which was a pleasant surprise. Then again, it wasn’t uncommon to hear outside of the nobility.

“Of course,” Nia patted his shoulder, “I wouldn’t want to scare you away.”

Brandon sighed, “mmh, don’t push your luck. I don’t like you that much yet.” The small smile on his face really taking away any seriousness from the statement.

“Oh really? You don’t like the most amazin’ woman you’ve ever met in your life?”

“Are you really so amazing? All I’ve gotten so far is trouble.

“And yet you’re still stickin’ around. Hm. Either you like trouble or I’m not as much as you’re makin’ me out to be.”

“I’m slowly beginning to think it’s the first one,” Brandon grumbled.

“Oh you flatterer. You’re goin’ to make a girl blush.” Nia said, pointedly making the statement with as neutral of a face possible.

“Oh really. That’s surprising. I think you might have bad taste if that makes you blush.”

Nia made a face, “I can’t tell if you’re tryin’ to insult me or yourself.”

“A little bit of both.”

“Hm,” she flicked his forehead, “have some more confidence.”

“Understood ma’am.”

“And don’t call me ma’am. I’m not an old lady.”

“Of course, milady.”

Nia rolled her eyes. Of course he had the easy nickname to use. Just say ‘my lady’ sarcastically. Wow. Meanwhile she didn’t have anything easy to go for. Blacksmith boy didn’t exactly have the same ring to it. Perhaps Buckethead… no, that would be okay maybe for a knight. Something which he wasn’t. Hammer man perhaps? Eh, she’d figure something out later.

Nia breathed in a deep breath as the two stepped out of the Guild building and into the crisp, cool, and fresh air of a standard Gormotti night. Brandon beside her did the same, seemingly enjoying it much more than her. It does make sense since he was raised in Mor Ardain with the heat and sand everywhere. Not to mention the smoke clogging the air from the country’s massive metal industry.

She personally didn’t like Mor Ardain. From the masses of metal structures to the industrial complex it was built as, combine that with the heat of the desert and it made for an unbearable place to be in. Plus since there was a senate, it made politics much more difficult for her.

“So, how do we get there exactly?” Nia asked, watching several mages slowly walk through the streets and light up lamps with magic power. It was always fascinating watching the ghostly lights flicker in their glass houses, sitting on top of tall wooden poles. They didn’t require any fuel other than the initial cost of Ether when casting the spell, making that light spell the standard across all of Alrest. Those same mages went across the city in the mornings as well, taking down their spells using a little extra Ether to disperse the light.

“Just follow me,” Brandon said as he set off. Nia did a little skip hop to catch up and matched his pace. “Not sure if you’ve ever been to the… uh… less savory areas of Torigoth.”

“You mean the slums? I’ve been before.” She recalled the few times she had moved through that area with adventuring parties looking to complete quests.

Brandon winced, “I’d uh, avoid calling it that. People don’t exactly like being reminded that they’re poor.”

“That’s… fair.” Nia shook her head. It’s what everyone outside of them called them so she had never realized it might have come across as an insult.

“Yeah. Honestly, just call it part of Torigoth since that’s what it is.”

“Got it.”

“Rex has a little apartment pretty much right on the edge of it. It’s just cheap enough for him to afford since it’s still technically in that area. He doesn’t live further in since he’s more slippery than a fighter so it’s not really worth the risk.”

“I see.”

“Yeah. Despite his love for Torna, he doesn’t really like fighting, at least real fights. He thinks the tournaments Torna holds at their festivals are the funnest thing in the world.”

“I get the point,” Nia sighed, “he’s not a fighter. I wasn’t intendin’ on sendin’ him into combat anyways.”

“Sorry,” Brandon smiled apologetically, “just making sure you know.”

“Look, I swear to you now, I’ll die before letting Rex come to harm.”

Brandon sighed, “I know that was supposed to reassure me but I don’t want that either. Just make sure neither of you end up in a situation where your lives are on the line and I’ll be alright.”

“Will do.” Nia nodded. She didn’t really intend on sending Rex into combat anyways so that was fine. Even if she sent him in to steal something.

Brandon nodded, “that’s more like it. No gestures of heroism or self sacrifice on my watch.”

Nia smirked, “yes sir.”

“Whoa, I don’t get to call you ma’am sarcastically, you don’t get to call me sir sarcastically.”

“What sarcasm?”

“Why you-”

Rex didn’t have to be psychic to know when Brandon and Nia were approaching. He wouldn’t be surprised if their squabbling woke up the entire street they were on, if not the entire block.

Rex ran out of his little apartment, “hey! Could you guys keep it down? I don’t need people lining up at my door to threaten me over the noise.”

“Sorry,” the pair apologized together.

“Jeez. I thought I’d be the one sitting here apologizing.”

Nia waved a hand, “that’s not important. I’m hardly one to curl up over a few words.”

Rex noticed Brandon subtly shake his head from behind her. Rex nodded, “I’m still really sorry. Come in.” He held the door open for the two.

Brandon moved in with a practiced step, clearly knowing his way around and immediately popped into the kitchen. Rex heard the rustling of a bag as Brandon unloaded his groceries and utensils rattled around as Brandon started cooking.

Nia was a bit slower, walking through the short hallway carefully. “Cozy place you got here.”

Rex snorted, “don’t try to sugarcoat it. It’s a piece of junk. I don’t like living here, no feelings to spare here.”

“I’ve offered you a spare room in my apartment,” Brandon called.

“By spare room you mean your room. I’m not taking that.”

“I’m fine with the couch!”

“I’m not fine with that,” Rex said, rolling his eyes at their age-old argument as he sat down at his makeshift table, “it’s not fair.”

“The world isn’t fair. That’s why you should take the opportunity when given.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m taking Nia’s opportunity since she can actually afford it.”

“Okay, I guess that’s fair enough.”

“Yeah,” Nia snorted, “and you’d better be worth the money I’m spendin’ on ya or I’m dumpin’ you back here.”

“I’ll do my best.” Rex said honestly.

“Make sure you do.”

“Okay, no more serious talk,” Brandon said, “we’re meant to be having fun as one of our last get togethers for a while.”

“Aye aye captain!”

“I despise you.”

“Oh I know,” Rex said cheekily.

“Whatever happened to not biting the hand that feeds you? Literally in this case.”

“Well that hand would belong to me now.” Nia crossed her arms, a smirk on her face.

“Well the previous hand is currently preparing your dinner.” Brandon shot back, “and said hand isn’t afraid to withhold said dinner.”

“Oi, don’t threaten me with food because you can’t handle the banter.”

“Gasp!” Brandon articulated the word, “I have never been so insulted.”

“Yeah, that’s not like Brandon at all,” Rex chimed in.

“Why thank you. I see I spoke too soon about-”

“He loves food too much for him to use it as a threat.”

“Nevermind. You both suck. Also, I’ll have you know that food is great. You need to eat a lot if you want to work in the forge like I do.”

“Eh, you’re just a crotchety old man who can’t keep up with the younger generation.”

“And here I was about to actually compliment you.” Brandon sighed dramatically, “but it appears you don’t know how to respect your elders.”

The three of them burst out laughing, unable to really keep it down further.

“Y’know,” Nia said as she wiped away a tear, “I can’t remember the last time I’ve had this much fun just talkin’ to people.”

“I’ll bet. Can’t be much fun talking to a bunch of nobles.” Rex said, having to raise his voice as Brandon started up a fire and started frying up a storm.

“No, it’s not. Again, it’s why I warmed up to you two so quickly.”

“And we’ve accepted you… against my better judgment.”

“Oi, I’m tryin’ to have a heartfelt moment here. Do you mind?” Nia rebuked.

“Sorry, sorry,” he laughed.

“Ignorin’ the bumblin’ idiot who I apparently thought was a good idea to ask out.”

“Hey…”

“I like you two. Which I can’t say for most people I’ve met in the upper,” she said while punctuating the word with finger air quotes, “echelons of society. It’s only been a few days but I’ve already enjoyed my time here more than I have over most of my life.”

“I hope you’ll be happy for years to come then,” Brandon said, sliding over a plate of a few appetizers.

Rex dug in eagerly, used to Brandon’s unique cooking. Though Nia hesitated, clearly not really sure what half the foods were.

“Give it a shot,” Rex said, his face absolutely stuffed. “It’s really good.”

“I’m no professional chef,” Brandon said, “but I know that if you cook something in oil for long enough it’ll taste good… that was a joke.” He added on at the last minute since Nia looked a little queasier from that comment. “If you really can’t stomach any of that I could make a simple onion soup or just some bread and cheese.”

“No. It’s fine, I’ll give it a shot.” She said as she picked up one of the items in front of her.

“That one’s garlic bread,” Rex said.

Nia bit into it, and from the face she made afterwards, she seemed like she was almost instantly in a food coma.

“Good right?” Rex asked. He laughed at Nia’s nod, remembering the first time he tried Brandon’s cooking. He pretty much had the same reaction as her, being slightly confused by the selection. But the moment it touched his tongue he had been addicted. It wasn’t something most people would conventionally like, but after having it once, it was hard to go back to relatively bland bread and cheese.

“I regret this,” Nia said, “I’m going to be cravin’ this for a while.”

Brandon chuckled, “I’ll stock you up on food before you leave. Don’t you worry. And I’ll also make sure you get plenty when you visit. When are you leaving exactly?”

“Well, it’s really down to when Rex is ready.”

“I’ll be ready by tomorrow morning.”

“Well there you have it.”

“Alright. Meet me at my forge before you head out. Anyways,” he walked over and set down a bunch of plates, “dig in!”

Chapter Text

It was actually a bit later than morning by the time Rex was ready. He had woken up late in a panic and had rushed out of bed to the front of his house and found a small team of three people and a nopon waiting for him. He let them in with a red face, though they made no complaint as they started moving his meager set of furniture and boxes out to the cart waiting outside. Rex made to direct them but they had him wait outside. He supposed it was fair enough.

Rex winced at the attention it was gathering. There were quite a few people giving him weird looks as they walked by. Not for the first time, he was glad he lived on the edges of the poorer district. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he was jumped, riding on an expensive cart like this.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for the workers to get all his stuff on board and get ready to depart.

“Ahem,” one of the workers grabbed Rex’s attention, “Lady Eschell would like you to go to a place called ‘Brandon’s Forge.’”

“Uh, got it,” Rex nodded, relieved at the chance to leave. He jogged through Torigoth, breathing in the familiar air scented lightly of baking bread. Normally he’d have stopped to buy a roll or something, but right now he was already late. He wasn’t sure of how Nia would react but he knew it was a bad idea to be late for what was basically still first impressions.

He turned a corner and the Argentum Trade building hoved into view. He quickly made his way into the building and sprinted through the numerous stalls and vendors. He took the stairs up, leaping over two at a time, and made it to Brandon’s shop, chest heaving.

“Oh, Rex. You’re just in time,” Nia greeted calmly. A juxtaposition to Brandon who was red in the face, teeth grinding as he had apparently given up on an arm wrestle and was just trying to even budge Nia’s arm with both of his.

“Gah!” Brandon exclaimed, “I give up. How the hell are you so strong?”

“Forge work may be tough but that’s nothin’ compared to the work I had to do.” Nia responded.

“Mmh,” Brandon grumbled, “I shudder at the thought of such a workout.”

“Heh. Maybe you should join me at some point.”

“I’m going to have to decline. I prefer my lungs to stay where they are.”

“Hm,” Nia sniffed, “to each their own. Though you’d think you’d want to join me.”

“Hey, I’m a forward thinker. If my girlfriend can fold me in half, so be it.” Brandon winked.

“That had better not be you comin’ out with some kind of weird kink-”

“Okay,” Rex interjected, “can you guys not? I don’t need the image in my head. You can flirt later… if you can call this flirting.”

“How rude. Maybe you should find a girl before you talk.” Brandon said.

Rex rolled his eyes, “it’s more like Nia found then claimed you.”

“I take offense to that… but I’m not going to disagree with it.”

“Adorable,” Nia said, “now, let’s get a move on shall we? You were the one who wanted to move on quickly, no?”

“Yeah. So what’s the plan then?”

“Well, Brandon’s been kind enough to offer to pack us food for the trip so we’re set there. Do you know how to ride a horse?”

“Uh… no?”

Nia sighed, “yeah, figured as much. We’ll have to spend today learnin’ how to ride one. Normally that wouldn’t be nearly enough time but there’s not much choice there if we want to do anythin’ in a reasonable amount of time. We’ll set out this evenin’ and we’ll have to camp tonight before reachin’ Eschell tomorrow.”

“Uh. That sounds like a lot of distance to cover in a day.”

“Magic horses,” Nia said in a simple explanation.

Rex nodded, “I forget you’re a noble sometimes.”

She grinned, “in a good way or a bad way?”

“Good way,” Rex said quickly, “definitely in a good way.”

Brandon coughed, “yeah, except magic horses aren’t exactly a noble thing, it’s a Torna thing.”

Nia shrugged, “I won’t lie and say that my father bein’ who he is is a bad thing. I’m very fortunate, though it doesn’t feel that way sometimes.”

“Wait, I thought nobles all had their horses magically enchanted though?” Rex said in confusion.

“Well technically yes,” Nia nodded, “but not the way I have mine. Most nobles just have general enchantments like bein’ able to walk for longer without tiring. Tornan horses are enchanted by Blade spellcasters so they have effectively infinite stamina and can run on very minimal food and water durin’ the duration of a trip. Though the energy for the enchantments is provided by the horse’s own supply of natural Ether so once that runs out, they need time to recharge.”

“So it’s just a difference of stronger spells?”

“Well yes and no,” Nia explained, “technically yes, Blades are capable of castin’ far stronger magic than normal humans and even their Drivers. But only Blades can make use of the Ether of other beings. Everyone else is bounded by the limits of their own Ether stores. You can train and practice to use more complex spells and to increase your own supply of Ether. But only Blades can draw Ether from the environment and of other livin’ creatures. Obviously there’s a strict code of conduct when usin’ those types of spells otherwise you’d see Blades simply drain their enemies of their Ether and kill them that way. It’s the same reason why there are such a thing as war crimes.”

“Huh, learn something new,” Brandon mumbled.

“You’ll learn plenty new around me,” Nia nodded. “Alrighty then, let’s get goin’ Rex. Brandon, I’ll meet you a bit out of Torigoth’s main gate, say five ish?”

“Yeah, I guess I’ll wrap up a bit early today for that. I’ll see you then.”

Rex groaned. He was already exhausted and they hadn’t even left Torigoth yet. They had been practicing practically all day, only taking a break for a late lunch. He swore he’d never ride a horse again unless Nia ordered him to.

“Hey!”

Rex nearly cheered as the familiar voice called out. He dismounted after Nia did and watched as Brandon jogged over with a few packages in his arms.

“Alright,” Brandon handed the bags over to Nia, “I’ve made a few sandwiches and…” he reached into a bag and pulled out a sheathed blade. He waited for Nia to store the bags on the horse before unsheathing it and presenting it to her.

“I didn’t get enough materials for all three yet but I thought I should show you the first one and see if you like it.”

Nia accepted the Blade, taking it with both hands almost reverently. She held it up, putting it into a reverse grip and gave it a few practice swings. “It’s perfect,” she breathed. “How…?”

“I’m a good smith,” Brandon smirked confidently, “and a good smith never reveals his secrets.”

“Ooh, playin’ coy are we?”

“Yeah,” Brandon laughed, “gotta leave you wanting more or you may just leave me here.”

“Nah, I take good care of my strays,” she blinked, “which now that I think about it, is only you two, surprisingly enough.”

“So we’re special? I’m touched.” Brandon rolled his eyes, “anyways, you’d better get moving before it starts getting dark. I’ll have the rest of your commission done by the time you get back, which I’m assuming is in a month?”

“You assume correct.” Nia grinned as she sheathed the knife and put it away, “but that reminds me. I actually have somethin’ for you too.” She quickly looked into her saddlebag and pulled out a ceramic tube.

Brandon took it and looked it over before opening it and pulling out a scroll. “Uh… thanks? It’s blank? I’m assuming it has a use though.”

“Of course it does. It’s been enchanted to be a perfect mirror of an identical scroll in my possession. And vice versa of course. It’s basically instant communication… well instant as long as both people are usin’ the scroll at the same time.”

Brandon looked like he was about to drop the scroll with how delicately he was suddenly holding the object. “What? You’re giving this to me?”

“Well duh. I’m not exactly askin’ you to be a messenger boy am I?”

“But a treasure like this… surely it’s worth more than… well I don’t even know what it could begin to approach.”

Nia shrugged, “it’s a simple enough spell for a Blade, of whom I know plenty.” She muttered something in addition at the end that Rex couldn’t pick up on. Brandon clearly also didn’t hear what it was exactly since his eyebrows scrunched together but he didn’t pursue it.

“It’s not anyone who just casually knows Blades,” Brandon commented.

“And I’m not just anyone,” Nia pointed out, “anyways, basics on usin’ this thing. Avoid usin’ ink if you can, use a bit of charcoal to write on it so you can erase anythin’ you write on it later. I’d personally avoid erasin’ anythin’ you write though, let me erase what you write and vice versa so we know if the other person’s seen the message.”

Brandon nodded, “guess I’ve gotta go and buy some charcoal then.”

“You don’t have any charcoal to write with?”

“No. I just read a lot. I don’t actually write a lot so you’re going to be seeing really horrible handwriting when I use this thing.”

“Surely you have some kind of physical record to keep track of your finances.”

“Huh? Why would you do that? Don’t you just keep track of it in your head?” Brandon blinked, “oh.”

“Can you believe that he’s been scammed multiple times?” Rex stage whispered.

“I have not!” Brandon denied, “scam implies that I fell for a fake offer, of which I didn’t do. I just… miscalculated in my mental math.”

“Hm,” Nia raised an eyebrow and poked Brandon’s stomach, “I may need to sit down and teach you a thing or two about takin’ your responsibilities seriously.”

“I… noted.”

“I’d better see your handwriting improve over each message you send mister.”

Brandon laughed, “understood milady. I shall strive to meet your expectations.”

“Good,” Nia teased, “I’d hate to be dissapointed.”

“Of course, milady should only receive the best.”

“Mmh. I suppose that makes you the best then eh?” Nia ribbed, “better live up to those exact unrealistic expectations or you’ll find me unhappy.”

“Well we can’t have that now,” Brandon grinned, “I’d better get to work then.” He then turned to Rex. “So I guess this is bye for now. Take care of yourself, yeah? Don’t do anything stupid or I’ll get Gramps to bring hell onto you.”

Rex laughed, “yeah. I got it.” He stepped up and gave him a hug.

“Well then, off you go,” Brandon waved as Rex pulled away, “don’t forget to toast the sandwiches if you want the best sandwich experience. And Nia? Take care of him alright?”

“Yeah,” Nia stepped forward, paused to look Brandon in the eyes, then yanked him down and pulled him into a kiss.

“Wh-” Brandon looked gobsmacked as Nia took a step back, a satisfied grin on her face.

“Somethin’ to remember me by.”

“Guh?”

“Hm. I think I broke him,” Nia mused.

“I… think you have,” Rex agreed.

“Another point to Nia,” she laughed.

“I’m going to start taking points away from you if you keep referring to yourself in the third person,” Brandon said, making some comeback at least.

“Aw, you’re no fun. Anyways, we’re really goin’ to have to go now or I’m gonna really have a hard time leavin’.”

“Yeah. I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, stop here,” Nia said as she dismounted, “this is as good a spot as any to make camp for the night.”

Rex sighed as he slipped off. He immediately collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion as they’d been riding for hours at this point. Nia rolled her eyes but didn’t comment, empathetic but still annoyed that she’d have to set up camp by herself. She swiftly set up both tents, her practiced hands flying over the complicated rigging. She then put down a blanket to sit on and put their food down on. 

She set up a small fire ring and found a few dry sticks and brought out a flint to start a fire. Once she got that going she set up a small frame above it then paused.

“Uh… Rex?” Nia asked, hesitation in her voice.

“Yeah?” He responded from his position on the ground.

Nia felt her face warm up, a hint of red coloring her cheeks, “uh, how do you toast a sandwich?”

“Oh uh,” Rex scrambled up and over. “Did he include any butter at all?”

Nia shrugged and handed over the bag filled with Brandon’s food. Rex pulled out two individually wrapped sandwiches and placed them onto the blanket. He then quickly pulled out a smaller package and then a small metal pan, which he set onto the frame that Nia had set up. He opened the smaller package and dollopped a spot of butter on, which immediately started sizzling.

“Uh, let’s see,” Rex said, looking through the selection of ingredients, “do you want any bacon as well?”

Nia nodded. On went the bacon, and the smell of the cooking meat immediately filled the air, causing Nia’s mouth to water. Once they crisped up, the sandwiches, free of their paper wrapping, went on next. Rex moved them around a bit before flipping them over, letting both sides toast to a golden brown.

He picked them up, hissing from the heat as he moved them back to their paper. He took one side of the bread off then topped the sandwich with the bacon before putting the bread back on and handed one over to Nia. He took the pan off the top and put it to the side to be cleaned later.

“Uh, enjoy.” He scratched his head, “it really feels like Brandon should be the one saying that.”

Nia nodded then bit in, and was hit by an immediate burst of flavor. It tasted so good. Ugh, she really had to find the best guy then immediately have to leave him behind. Just her luck. At least he seemed interested in continuing what they had so far.

“Right,” Nia said in between bites, “here,” she handed the new dagger over to Rex. “Give it a shot.”

Rex polished off the rest of his dinner and wiped the crumbs from his hands on his tunic as he hopped to his feet. He grabbed the knife and gave it a few test swings. “It’s really damn good huh.”

“Yeah, perfectly balanced. It’s as close to a Tornan made weapon I’ve seen a normal smith make.” Nia was really impressed. Considering the quality of Tornan weapons, it wasn’t a compliment given lightly. “Are you up for some sparrin’ or do you want to rest for tomorrow?”

“I… think I’m going to rest for today.” Rex said as he handed the knife back.

“Tomorrow mornin’ then.” Nia nodded as she sheathed the blade and put it away. She’d be sure to work him hard tomorrow morning.

Rex swallowed, “yeah, tomorrow morning.”

Rex awoke the next morning completely sore all over. He groaned as he turned over, tossing the thin cover off of him. He groggily wiped the crust out of his eyes as he crawled out of his tent.

“Mornin’!” Nia greeted cheerfully. A fire roared in front of her with some meat cooking over it on a spit.

Rex grumbled a response, wanting to be mad but the smell of cooking meat was too enticing. “How are you so awake?”

“Early riser, always have been.” Nia shrugged, “my da used to get me up at five in the mornin’ to study. It was rough but it’s been ingrained into me at this point.”

Rex shuddered, imagining the horror of getting up so early every morning. Nia smirked, probably fully aware of what was going through Rex’s head.

“Also… why?” Rex pointed to the spit.

“I went huntin’ obviously,” Nia said.

“But why go hunting is what I was asking. We have enough food.”

“Oh that. Habit mostly. I just went out instinctively without thinkin’ really.”

“Yeah? You go camping often?”

“A fair bit yeah,” Nia nodded, “my da’s a knight of Torna yeah? He took me on a few missions before.”

“How did your dad do it all?” Rex wondered, “it seems like he wouldn’t have enough time to sleep.”

“He doesn’t,” Nia confirmed with a sigh, “he pulls all nighters way too often for his own good. But his Blade is a healin’ specialist so he can kind of get away with it without any real health complications.”

“Honestly, Brandon does the same thing,” Rex said, “but he’s also somehow a workaholic and lazy at the same time."

“Lazy?” Nia asked, intrigued, “how so?”

“He’ll do that thing where if you ask him to do something, he’ll do the simplest method to do it. He’ll headbutt problems like running into a brick wall until it breaks. He’s a bit of an idiot like that.” Rex rolled his eyes, remembering the time he spent literally an entire day bargaining for a piece of furniture which ended up saving him less money than if he had spent an extra hour working. “But at least you know he’ll never give up on anything though.”

“So he’s stubborn. I kinda already got that from him.” Nia shrugged, “nothin’ too surprisin’.” 

She finished cooking the roast and took it off and portioned it off for Rex and the two of them dug in. Nia finished and leaned back to wait for Rex. 

“Alright,” Nia said as Rex finished up, “let’s get some sparrin’ in yeah?”

Rex groaned, “do we have to?” He whined.

“Considerin’ I’m payin’ you? Yes. Now on your feet,” she ordered as she drew the dagger Brandon forged. She ran a finger over the edge and her finger left a gleam on the sharp edge of the knife. She tossed him the blade which he caught awkwardly.

“What did you just do?” Rex asked.

“A bit of water magic. I just put a layer of it over the edge so it won’t cut while the spell is active.”

“You know magic?” Rex gaped.

Nia rolled her eyes, “yeah, though I don’t go around advertisin’ the fact. Did you think I wouldn’t know magic?”

“Well, I just assumed…”

“Then don’t assume,” Nia said as she did the same for her daggers. “Now, ready yourself!” She exclaimed as she took a fighting stance.

Rex tried to imitate her but decided not to bother and fell into his own default stance. Nia nodded, clearly agreeing with his decision before striking first.

Her blade swung at his face and he barely managed to parry it and rolled past Nia’s guard and tried to stab up into her exposed belly. She somehow managed to dodge, her reflexes and agility almost inhumanly fast as she delivered a retaliatory kick to his chest. Rex cried out in pain as he went flying.

“What the hell?” Rex groaned, “that’s…” he doubled over.

“Sorry sorry,” Nia rushed over and knelt down next to the pickpocket, “I misjudged my strength for you.”

“Ugh.”

“I’m goin’ to have to rethink this. I’m such a bloody idiot. I should have realized that this was stupid for someone without any real combat trainin’.” She shook her head, “take a breather. I’m goin’ to figure somethin’ else out to start trainin’.”

Rex nodded, still curled up. He gasped for breath, realizing that it was his solar plexus Nia had whacked, as he forced himself to his feet and staggered over to the fire.

“You’re not going to make me do your training routine are you?” Rex wheezed.

“No.” Nia said, deep in thought, “it’s clear that the approach I took earlier was a massive mistake. I could simply take it easy on you but I don’t think it would be that easy. You simply lack the constitution and body type of an up front fighter. It’s clear that unless you spend the next decade trainin’, it’s best to develop your own kind of fightin’ style, which I assume is goin’ to be mostly hit and run.”

“Shouldn’t I train like a knight though?”

“No. I want you as my thief.” She smirked, “unfortunately for you, I have no intention of makin’ you a knight. You’d have to be selected as a Driver for Torna first, in which case you’d be under the employ of Torna, even if you’re allowed to do your own thing for the most part.”

“What exactly do you do as a knight of Torna exactly?” Rex asked.

Nia shrugged, “I’m not a member of Torna so I’m not the most knowledgeable about this. I know you’re to act as law enforcement in public. Members are duty bound to help those in need and to answer calls to action. But for the most part, Tornans can do as they please. Some choose to live out of different Tornan headquarters in the towns and cities across Alrest and act as direct law enforcement in conjunction with the local military. Others continue with their normal lives like my da, but obviously do as they’re required by Torna.”

“So if I were to become a knight of Torna…”

“I wouldn’t force you to do anythin’ you wouldn’t want. You’re here right now because you took the contract but should you decide that you’re not interested, I won’t force you to continue workin’ for me. Nor would I break anythin’ off with Brandon so you don’t need to do anythin’ if you’re worried about that.”

“Would I be allowed to attend their festival?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. I’m effectively required to be there anyways since both my da and my sister are Tornan Drivers.”

Rex sighed.

“Jealous?” Nia asked, though no mockery was present in her voice.

“A bit yeah,” Rex said, “it’s kind of incredible that two people in your family ended up as Drivers.”

Nia smiled sadly, “yeah… two.”

“Wait, was your mother a Driver as well?”

“Yeah, she was.”

“So your entire family are Drivers except for you?”

“Yeah,” Nia smiled sadly, “it’s just how it is.”

“Are you that different from your family?”

Nia raised an eyebrow, “yeah, really feelin’ the need to get you those etiquette lessons. But to answer your question, I don’t think so. I honestly don’t know what the Architect’s criteria for bein’ a Driver are. I suppose I just don’t meet them.”

“Well I don’t either I guess,” Rex said, “so we have that in common.”

“Well, even if the Architect doesn’t deem you as worthy, I’m sure if you train hard enough, some Flesh Eater will.”

“What?” Rex felt a little amused, “you’re going to use your Torna connections to get a Flesh Eater to notice me?"

“No. I’m goin’ to work you to the bone to get a Flesh Eater to notice you.” Nia grinned deviously, “now, I’m assumin’ you’ve rested enough so you’re packin’ up camp.”

Rex groaned, “yes ma’am.”

“And don’t call me ma’am!”

The pair made it to Nia’s estate by midday after just a quick lunch break. The rest of the trip was at full gallop, which wasn’t an easy ride by any means. Rex was helped off the horse by an attendant who then guided the horse away to some stables.

“Well then,” Nia spread her hands, “here we are: the manor of lord Eschell.” She rolled her eyes, “do you want the tour?”

“Uh… sure?”

“Great!” Nia cheered sarcastically, “then follow me.”

“Do you not want to give a tour?”

“Not particularly. This place is big. Not of our choosin’ mind you. It’s been in the family for generations and it’s not like we can sell it since literally no one else can afford it outside of literal kings or emperors. And it’s not like they’re willin’ to purchase an estate like this, given that they all live in much more luxurious palaces.”

“You seem a bit bitter about it.”

Nia shrugged, “perhaps I am. I admit I’m grateful, especially since I wouldn’t be able to do half the good I do without this kind of wealth. It also gives plenty of jobs to caretakers. It’s just that I just find useless shite like this distasteful. I mean, who needs this much empty land? What does it actually do other than look pretty?”

“Not much I guess.”

“Yeah. If you’re alright with it, I’d much rather just show you the important areas inside the manor house itself. I can have a map of the estate drawn up for you.”

“That’s fine.” Rex said, worried about annoying Nia more.

“Alright then,” Nia gestured, “follow me.” She guided him through the extensive gardens and pathways leading up to the mansion. The walk took them another half an hour, which was a mind boggling amount of time to walk through someone’s property.

At the very least, Nia seemed just as frustrated with the entire concept as well. Apparently, they couldn’t ride the horses since it was supposedly bad for them to move around too much on hard surfaces and the Tornan enchantments weren’t designed with that in mind.

Rex had never felt so out of place in an area before, and Nia’s bright yellow jumpsuit, that frankly brought up the image of a banana, didn’t really help. Even when compared to the Goldmouth inn, this was on another level. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what a king’s palace would look like.

“Well. Here we are,” Nia said as butlers waiting by the doors bowed and opened the large doors for her. She nodded in greeting as she stepped in. Rex followed in awe at the clean building inside. Polished granite floors with expensive looking rugs spread out across them made him want to take off his shoes. The walls were surprisingly bare though even though they looked as expensive as everything else, he suspected that they’d normally be adorned with expensive paintings and such. He wouldn’t be surprised if they had all been auctioned off.

Instead, there were occasionally large bookshelves breaking up the monotony of the blank wall which were all absolutely filled to the max with books and scrolls. Rex had never seen such a high concentration of books in one area before. Even the Torigoth library paled in comparison. 

“Alright,” Nia pointed, “you can pick whatever room you want in this hallway. Just let me know which one you want later. I’ll give you some time to look through them… say an hour?”

“Uh yeah. Could I get that map of the estate by the way?”

Nia nodded, “Dromarch?”

“Yes my lady.”

“Gah!” Rex nearly jumped out of his skin as a regal looking butler emerged from seemingly nowhere. He wore a sharp suit, a Core Crystal shining through the light fabric of his dress shirt. His hair was a distinct white with a gray pattern lining it, a pair of tiger ears resting at the very top. Though despite the white hair, he didn’t look old at all, the obvious outline of rippling muscle hiding under his suit and not a wrinkle was present on his face. “Where the hell were you hiding?”

The butler bowed, “I have been tailing my lady since your arrival.”

“Ah right,” Nia said, “sorry about that. Rex, this is Dromarch. He is the Blade of my father and he works as the primary butler here. Dromarch, this is Rex, the thief I picked up in Argentum.”

“A pleasure,” Dromarch held out a hand which Rex shook warily. Though unlike the butler who was accompanying Nia at the Argentum building in Torigoth, Dromarch didn’t look outright disgusted at touching a commoner.

“Dromarch,” Nia said to grab the Blade’s attention, “since you’re home, is da home too?”

“Yes my lady. Master Eschell is currently working in his office.”

Nia nodded, “okay. I’ll go and see him then. Get Rex a map, I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Understood my lady.”

Dromarch had fetched Rex several maps in scary time. The butler had simply bowed and left Rex to his own devices afterwards. It would have felt nice to be trusted but knowing that Dromarch could easily hide himself from Rex should he chose to do so, Rex didn’t feel super comfortable.

Rex just sighed and started looking at the rooms. After the first few were essentially the same, he reasoned that they’d all be the same. He wondered why then that Nia wanted him to pick a room. Just to be sure, he jogged down to the end of the hallway and nodded when the rooms there were basically identical.

Maybe it was just to be nice. Though that didn’t exactly help since he had no idea which one to choose. Ultimately it did come down to location and the most convenient location would be the first room in the hall. Though if it was a test then he wasn’t sure what it was exactly she was looking for. It could just be to see how he thinks, since he highly doubted she’d dismiss him at this point.

If he was to go for the safest room, he assumed it would be the ones near the end of the hall, but not at the very end. It would avoid notice from thieves… if they were brave enough to attempt to break into this mansion. It would also be an easy exit point should the mansion come under attack. But both of those scenarios were so unlikely it honestly wasn’t really worth considering.

“Ugh. Stupid Nia and her stupid mind games,” Rex complained to the air. He glanced around, almost daring someone to come up to him and chastise him for insulting the lady. No one was around though.

Whatever. He couldn’t be bothered trying to figure out what exactly was swirling around in Nia’s head. He was probably overthinking this anyways. He’d pick the closest room, not to the end of the hall though but to the kitchen and by extension their dining hall, which was the room near the center of the hallway since there was a branching corridor around there which led to that area. Of course since the dining hall was the most central location of the entire manor house it also meant he’d be somewhat closer to everything else in the building as well.

He stepped into his chosen room. Well… it didn’t really feel like home yet. Honestly the basic bed in this room was probably worth more than his entire apartment.

“So is this it?” Nia asked as she stepped in behind him.

“Oh for,” Rex gasped as he turned around, a hand on his chest, “could you people stop sneaking up on me?”

“Okay, how are you a thief with such poor instincts?” Nia raised an eyebrow. Rex noted that she had changed back into her noble attire.

“First, what does that have to do with being a pickpocket? Second, I do have good instincts. It’s just that apparently you’re beyond them.”

“Hm. I suppose I was trained by the best,” Nia mused.

“Is that a humble brag?”

“Hardly,” Nia snorted, “I was just fortunate enough to have good teachers. At any rate, if this is the room you want, I’ll have it noted down. Your stuff will get here in a few weeks' time. For now, I’m assumin’ you’re hungry judgin’ by how it looks like you’ve intentionally picked the room closest to the kitchen.”

“Guilty.”

Nia laughed, “it’s not a bad decision to be fair. Alright, we’ll grab dinner. Then you start work tomorrow.”

Rex nodded. Whatever it was, he’d be ready.

Chapter Text

Rex had awoken the next morning, still feeling some of the pains of the previous day but overall feeling very refreshed. The bed was the most comfortable thing he’d ever slept in. Honestly he initially found it a little hard to fall asleep on because of just how soft it was. It was also really weird sleeping in such a large room. Hell, it was bigger than his apartment. To be fair, it didn’t take much to be bigger than his apartment which was basically a tiny living room with a kitchenette and what was practically a closet for a bedroom. It didn’t even have a bathroom, he had to use the outhouse in the back and a communal area for a bath.

Brandon reckoned that it actually had been a closet before it was expanded slightly by the owner to be able to list the property as a one bedroom apartment to drive up prices. If that was true, it was really annoying since Rex couldn’t afford to move further out but was too weak to move further in.

He shook his head. It wasn’t important anymore. He just pitied the next person to get stuck with the bad deal.

Though even telling himself it wasn’t important, he couldn’t help but compare as he left his room and trudged over to the bathroom to wash up. Hell, if he was forced to either live in this bathroom or his old apartment, he’d choose this bathroom in a heartbeat.

Not for the first time, a sense of helplessness bubbled up inside him. He didn’t blame Nia, but the fact that lives were this uneven just because of who you were born to frustrated him to no end. And Nia was one of the few to actually give a darn despite her wealth.

Though it was nice to know that someone did care. Just a few days ago, he wouldn’t have believed that anyone who was born wealthy would really be upset at the power imbalance since it favored them.

He looked in the tall mirror that sat over the sink… that in and of itself being a massive luxury, having running water was on another level, being reserved only for the ultra elite and mages who could magic water around. And apparently it was also reserved for Brandon because he just knew how to rig pipes and stuff to get all of that working. How? He had no clue. At this point he was so used to waving stuff off as just ‘Brandon stuff’ it was a bit concerning.

At least the bathroom wasn’t lined with gold trim like the rumors said. Maybe it was just Nia and her family who didn’t use gold, but regardless it made him feel a little better. The tiled floor and walls still reeked of luxury though, and whatever the appliances were made of were clearly still made of high quality material. Brandon had much of the same but it was all forged out of metal, so while he wasn’t necessarily unused to running water, it was still uncomfortable.

He quickly washed his face and headed back to his room to change. He had been given a change of clothes the previous night but chose to disregard them. For as high quality material they were made of, they sure were really uncomfortable.

He had no idea how Nia wore these kinds of clothes all the time. It was so tight and itchy he really couldn’t wear it for too long. If Nia forced him to wear it, he’d refuse. He instead slipped into his regular blue garb. Brandon called it weird, but what did he know with his stupid fashion sense.

He headed to the dining hall, still occasionally glancing at the map that was given to him since the layout of the building still confused him. The long hallways and twisting corridors eventually led him to the massive dining hall.

“Mornin’,” Nia greeted cheerfully from where she was sitting at the head of the table and digging into a small mountain of food, which consisted of mostly vegetables, surprisingly enough.

“Bleugh,” Rex responded then cleared his throat, “ugh. I mean good morning.”

“Anythin’ you want for breakfast?”

“I don’t usually have breakfast…” Though, despite saying that, he still looked hungrily towards Nia’s food. Though that was something that didn’t exactly escape her notice if her eye roll was anything to judge by.

“You’re not a poverty stricken thief anymore. You don’t have to skip meals because you can’t afford it,” she shrugged, “also, small detail, but you’re probably goin’ to want to eat. You’re startin’ your trainin’ properly today.”

Rex’s stomach grumbled as the smell of cooking food properly hit him, “uh… can I have some of everything then?”

Nia nodded and got up and walked over to a wall. She knocked and a portion of it rolled up, revealing that it was a type of shutter separating the kitchen from the dining hall. She exchanged a few words with whoever it was behind it before coming back to the table and her food. “Someone will be out with it in a moment.”

“Oh. Cool.”

“Have a seat,” Nia gestured, her mouth stuffed with food, “so the basics. I’ve got an office set up for you. We also have a gym where you’ll spend some time trainin’. Meals are served here and normally that window to the kitchen is open. You can come in here whenever you want though if you’re hungry at all and ask the chefs for somethin’. My office will be right next to yours so just knock if you need anythin’.”

“Will do.”

“Yeah, once you get done eatin’, take like half an hour then meet me at the front entrance in whatever clothes you want to work out in. We’ll begin your trainin’ and probably go through the mornin’. Then you can grab lunch then start with your investigation.”

“Got it.” Rex said as a waiter came out and laid out several plates of food. Mostly eggs, meat, and fruits. Rex dug in greedily as more plates were laid out in front of him.

“Whoa, slow down there,” Nia said, “you’ll make yourself sick if you’re not used to eatin’ food like this.”

“Mmh,” Rex rolled his eyes but acquiesced.

“Look, the food here isn’t nearly as greasy as what you’re used to. Seriously, you’ll spend hours feelin’ nauseous if you’re not careful.” Nia said, though she wasn’t exactly articulating her point well to Rex as she was also stuffing her face.

“Yeah, I got it.” He stared at her plate.

She coughed, “look, you need to eat a lot of veggies to get the energy you need compared to other foods.”

“You also have a ton of other foods.”

She flushed, “I do a lot of physical work okay?”

“Sure.”

“You literally watched me demolish Brandon in an arm wrestle.” Nia pointed out, “I’m literally built out of solid muscle.”

“Uh huh.”

“Right, like you would know…” She blinked as something clearly went through her head before an evil grin spread across her face, “I guess you find out in trainin’.”

Rex proceeded to immediately regret his decision to needle Nia and choked on his apple as he cringed. “Please don’t. It was just a joke.”

“Oh, it’s far too late for that. You’ve dug your own grave here.”

“Oh come on, you haven’t done anything to Brandon for joking around.”

“Hm? Who says I’m not goin’ to do anythin’ to him?”

Rex made a face, “please, for the love of the Architect, no details.”

Nia laughed, “fine fine. I’ll save that for when I head back to Torigoth.” She licked her lips which Rex cringed at. Nia smirked, clearly having elicited the reaction she was looking for.

“I’m sorry!” Rex cried, “just stop, please!”

“Alright,” Nia sighed, “I’m done teasin’ you. It’s not as much fun anyways since you just get flustered.”

“I thought the whole point of teasing people was to get them flustered.”

“Maybe, but Brandon teasin’ back is fun.”

“You two really are a perfect match. I wonder what he would think of all of this though.”

“I’ve technically told him the truth…” Nia grimaced, “just not all of it. Best case scenario is that he never finds out. To which I’m assumin’ you’re not goin’ to tell?”

Rex nodded frantically, “he’d kill me before even beginning to accuse you of anything.”

“Good. Honestly, I hope I’m able to tell him once it’s all over and he accepts it. Worst case is that he hates me and leaves… but let’s not get bogged down by hypotheticals. I’m sure that won’t happen.”

“No,” Rex said, “it’s not in his nature to stay mad for long. He lets it out in a single burst and is quick to forgive. It’s just that initial burst that’s a bit scary.”

“He doesn’t do anythin’ violent surely.”

“No. He can get really loud though if you count potential hearing damage. Also, he gets really passive aggressive and petty for a while afterwards as well.”

“What? Really? How?”

“Well… I may have been messing around with his tools at one point. He caught me then gave me a lecture on how dangerous it was and that his work area wasn’t a playground. Then he proceeded to give me heart attacks for the next few days by pretending to injure himself.”

“That’s a thing.” Nia hummed to herself, “wouldn’t that put him in a bit of a boy who cried wolf scenario though?”

Rex tilted his head.

Nia sighed, “you really should read more. Basically, it’s a story of a boy who would lie to fellow villagers about a wolf attack so when there were actual wolves, no one believed him.”

“Oh, uh. Not really. I believed him every time and then I guess he thought I learned my lesson so he eventually said that he would stop.”

“That’s surprisingly ruthless.”

“Yeah. I hope you don’t do something like that.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not anythin’ like that. I’m a bit more of a direct person.”

“I dunno if that’s a good or bad thing.”

“I guess we’ll find out eh?”

“I guess we will.”

“One more lap, c’mon,” Nia encouraged as Rex lagged behind her in their jog. Rex wiped sweat away from his forehead and out of his eyes as he pushed to catch up. Annoyingly, Nia didn’t even look tired at all, barely a drop of sweat was rolling down her face… while in her full jumpsuit with the sun beating down no less.

She was a lot faster than him as well, having lapped him a few times already. Though if this was his last lap, he’d keep up with her even if it killed him.

“Found your second wind huh?” Nia teased.

“Just about,” Rex panted, “do you really do this every morning?”

“Yep.” Nia said proudly, “every day I can for the past t-ten years.”

“And I’m supposed to be able to keep up with you?” Rex noticed the falter. Seemed like she wasn’t as invincible as she made herself seem.

“No. Not yet at least. I need to keep up my own routine as well so I’m not expectin’ anywhere near that. Honestly, unless you train like I do for the next few years, I’m not expectin’ you to be able to catch up. You probably spent most of your life malnourished and without the proper balanced nutrition you need to properly build up muscle and endurance. It’s why I’m not restrictin’ your food intake or forcin’ you to eat specific foods like I would someone who’s had a somewhat healthy diet.”

“Oh.”

“I’m takin’ a somewhat unique approach to gettin’ you into proper physical condition. This is still a relatively light workout.”

“Figures.”

Nia snorted, “you’re too tired to give me real responses huh.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m goin’ to have to warn you that we’re not even close to done yet. This is just the warmup.”

Rex only groaned in response.

“Oh don’t look so down. At least you get weekends off. Plus you’re the one gettin’ paid for this. You know a lot of nobles pay personal trainers quite a hefty sum of money? You’d better be grateful.”

“While I admit I am,” Rex groaned, “I’m sure as hell not going to show it at this moment.”

“Hah! I guess that’s the best I’m goin’ to get. Maybe it is a bit much to expect any thanks when you probably want to vomit your guts out.” Nia laughed.

“Yeah, how about I vomit onto your shoes for gratitude?”

“Okay, I may not be super into clothes, but if you do that, I’ll have you hung.”

“And there goes my impression of thinking you’re a good noble.”

Nia laughed, “well I’m afraid I must disappoint you some more. We’re not takin’ a break from here other than to drink some water.”

“Of course we’re not. Can I at least get like an apple or something?”

“No. Didn’t you just eat a ton of food?” Nia glanced at him.

“Yeah, but we’ve been jogging for over an hour and I’ve never done that before.” Rex’s stomach growled to emphasize his point.

“Wha- how’ve you digested so much food already?”

“I don’t know. Brandon complains that I have a stupid metabolism if that tells you anything.”

“It does.” Her eyes narrowed, “which is a bit odd.”

“What is it?”

“It’s nothin’,” she waved a hand, “I forget that he’s well read. Metabolism isn’t exactly a common word in most people’s vocabulary.”

“Really? What does it mean?”

“It’s the chemical process in your body that converts food to energy.”

“Huh?”

“Exactly. It’s a word coined by alchemists who were studyin’ the human body centuries ago.”

“Alchemists were studying human bodies?” Rex suddenly felt queasy.

“It’s not what you would think. They were commissioned to learn as much as they could about human bodies by Torna to help with medical studies. Not to try to make gold out of a human body. We don’t tolerate that kind of shite. Every body was listed as a donation by the person to be used for research purposes when they die… of external causes obviously. We’re not goin’ around killin’ people.”

“That’s a relief then. I’ve heard stories.”

“Of what?”

“Those dark magic users,” Rex said, “like necromancers.”

“Necromancers eh? They’re obviously illegal since at best they’d be diggin’ up dead bodies, at worst, they’d be makin’ them. There hasn’t been a case of necromancers in centuries though since it’s widely known by magic users that it’s beyond the Ether reserves of any normal human. Only Blades have the ability to pool together the required Ether in order to do a resurrection. And obviously Blades tend to not do it since they don’t see the need.”

“Then why were there cases in the past?”

“Either their Driver was corrupted by somethin’, I’d assume usually the loss of a loved one, or the Blade became a Flesh Eater and centuries of existin’ without their Driver brought them to insanity.”

Rex shuddered, “that sounds unpleasant.”

“It is. Drivers to Blades, and Blades to Drivers. They are the person you end up livin’ the majority of your life with. That kind of loss is incredibly painful no matter the will of the person. That’s why you don’t see many Flesh Eaters since the vast majority understand the potential pain. I know my mother…” She took a deep breath to steady herself, “my mother died of sickness. Her Blade knew she was dyin’ and couldn’t do anythin’ to stop it. She… well. I dunno if she went insane or just broke mentally but she just sat at her side and wouldn’t respond to anythin’.”

“I’m sorry.”

“While the sentiment is appreciated, there’s nothin’ to be sorry about. She wouldn’t have wanted me to be all depressed about it, much less get someone she never even met depressed about it.”

“Right.”

“Anyways, come on then,” she started pulling ahead, “last lap! Keep your chin up.”

“Yeah!”

“C’mon. One more!” Nia cheered Rex on as he struggled with a set of weights. He puffed, red in the face as he lifted the barbell above his chest and finally Nia reached out a hand to help guide the weight to the rack.

“Ugh.” Rex pushed himself up to a sitting position, “is that it for weights?”

“Yup. You honestly did a lot better than I was expectin’.”

“What were you expecting?”

“A lot worse.”

Rex’s eyes went half lidded in annoyance, “come on.”

Nia giggled, “I’m honestly bein’ serious. It’s not like I had a number in mind for how many curls you could do or somethin’.”

“Well that’s reassuring.”

“Yeah genius? You want to give me an accurate prediction of how many burpees you can do?”

“Uh… I guess. Wait. You’re telling me to do burpees now huh.”

“Yup. Get on with it.”

“I hate you.” Rex sighed as he started the exercise.

“Don’t forget to count so we know how many you have to beat.”

“Yes ma’am.” Rex rolled his eyes.

“Don’t call me ma’am.” Nia rolled her eyes back, though Rex could see the smallest hint of a smile as he jumped. His muscles were burning at this point, though he could keep going for now. He didn’t know if going this far was healthy but he wanted to be able to stand toe to toe with Nia.

He eventually stumbled, and Nia stepped in quickly to catch him. “Alright, no need to go that far. No point in injurin’ yourself.”

“Yeah.”

“Hm, maybe I should have just assigned a number. You are technically supposed to do this in sets.” Nia hummed to herself, “I guess we’ll finish it off quickly. Just go through the basics, pushups, situps, squats.”

“Right.” He panted, “I still don’t understand how you do more than this.”

“Consistency is the key. If you keep on doin’ it every day, it becomes part of your routine and it gets easier as it develops into habit. Also, I reckon that bein’ paid to work out might be a decent incentive, hm?”

“I kind of forgot about that if I’m being honest.” Rex said.

“Ungrateful brat. How do you forget that you’re technically on the job now?”

“Probably because I’m sweating buckets with my muscles screaming at me to stop.”

Nia tilted her head, “yeah, fair enough.”

“I’d also like to point out that there was nothing formal about this at all.” Rex said, “even making deals with other criminals-”

Nia coughed, “I’d advise you don’t say anything specific with that. I’m effectively an honorary member of Torna so I am honor bound to report anythin’ you say. You’re only fine because we’re allowed to act on our own discretion to deal with large crimes.”

“Uh… then… deals with other people… of dubious background…”

Nia nodded for Rex to continue.

“Those felt more professional than what we’re doing here. No offense.”

“Career criminals are more professional than me,” Nia grumbled, “and the worst part is I can’t even disagree.”

Rex grunted as he finished up, he got to his feet and hacked his lungs out with his hands resting on his knees.

“Catch your breath. We’re done here for the day. By the way, I’m not too sure how true this is, but I’ve had people tell me that you should stand up straight and put your hands on your head to help with breathing. I think it’s bogus personally since my recovery time is practically the same either way but hands on your knees is more comfortable.”

Rex tried to stand up but immediately gave up when it felt like pressure built up on his chest. “I think,” he said in between gasps for air, “I’ll stick to this for now.”

Nia shrugged, “fair enough. You know where the water is?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright then. Once you’re done restin’, go and wash up. We’ll have lunch in say twenty?”

“Yeah, sounds good.” He said shakily.

“You remember the way?”

“I think so.”

“Alright, I’ll finish up here. You go on ahead.”

Rex nodded and stumbled his way out of the gym. His entire body had reached a state of soreness that he had never thought possible. It would only be worse tomorrow, since it was always the second day that was the worst. He could only imagine it now. He made his way over to the kitchen where he gratefully accepted a cup of water from one of the servants there. He slumped on a chair to rest for a bit before heading back to his room.

He grabbed a change of clothes and took a quick bath. There was a weird thing above the tub that looked like a tap but he couldn’t figure out how to get it to work. He climbed out, freshly cleaned, and took a towel off the towel rack. He sighed, even the towels looked stupidly expensive. It almost physically pained him to use one when the towel probably cost more than his entire wardrobe.

He shook his head, hard. No point in dwelling on prices. This was his life for now, though honestly, while he trusted Nia so far, he wasn’t sure how long this would last. He already kept the money Nia had given him as an advance ready in a travel bag on the off chance that he had to run.

Instead, he hastily threw on his clothes and rushed over to the dining hall, his grumbling stomach overriding any sense of soreness his body felt. He found his way to the dining hall and he took a seat next to the head of the table where he had sat before. The hall itself was empty but the sounds and smells of cooking food came through the open window connecting to the kitchen.

His stomach was really complaining now, the smells really making his mouth water now. Honestly, it didn’t smell as good as Brandon’s cooking but he had also never been this hungry before.

Nia came up and joined him a bit later, hair still moist with a damp towel around her neck. Though she had shed her jumpsuit and was wearing a simple tank top and leggings.

“Anythin’ you want?” She asked, pulling out a chair.

“Nothing in particular,” Rex said, “uh… I’ll just have whatever you’re having.”

Nia nodded and called over a waiter to put in the request.

“Uhm. Nia?” 

“What?”

“I was wondering. I haven’t seen any sign of your father or sister yet.”

“Yeah, they tend to be busy. Both my sister and my Da are workin’ on the same stuff you’ll be, which is findin’ the Omega Fetter.”

“Then shouldn’t I be working with them?”

“Honestly? I dunno. For now, I want you to work alone though since the whole point of recruitin’ you is to get a fresh perspective from someone who would know their way around thievery like this.”

“I don’t do hit and runs though…”

Nia waved a hand, “you should, theoretically speakin’, know how stolen items move. Where criminals meet. And other things.”

“Yeah. I can’t guarantee anything though.”

“Well, it can’t hurt at this point.”

“... You know, I’m wondering something.” Rex said.

“Yeah?”

“Why trust me with this?” Rex asked, “as far as you know, I could be working for whoever stole the Omega Fetter.”

Nia shrugged, “that I doubt. You’re simply not fit enough. Plus there’s Brandon, and the bond between the two of you seems real. If you were genuinely workin’ against me, it would be simple enough to have either of you threatened to have the other back down.”

Rex winced, “that’s… a bit extreme.”

“You presented me an extreme scenario.”

“I guess so.”

“But I doubt I have to worry about any of that. If you were actually workin’ against me, I suspect that you’d have already tried to kill me or my family. Not that you would have succeeded in your state.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, that’s the other reason. Even if you were completely untrustworthy, you wouldn’t do any more damage here than if you were out there doin’ whatever.”

“So you wouldn’t be affected if I directed you in the wrong directions?”

“Considerin’ we’re drawin’ a blank even without interference, not really. Honestly, if you tried to throw us off, it might even help us look in locations we didn’t even think of.”

“So basically, the only thing that I can actually accomplish is help.”

“Basically yeah. I trust that you’re able to benefit me. Though I do trust you since you’ve done nothin’ to earn my ire so far.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

Nia nodded as a waiter came out and laid out their lunch, “we can talk work later. For now, just enjoy!”

Rex sighed. His first few hours properly on the job had not gone well. He received instructions and the materials from Nia but he had made effectively no progress. It didn’t help that it was hard to focus with his entire body begging him to just lay down and do nothing.

He had made effectively no progress so far. 

Well… he had a start at least. He knew that they were in Tantal, as Torna seemed to have narrowed it down to. He was currently poring over a map of the country, scanning the layout of their landmass and cities to see where he would hide if he had to.

He also had lists of goods moving in and out of major cities, lists of known criminal organizations, lists of large companies who could be interested. It was a mess of papers sprawled over his desk with basically everything he could think of that could help drawn on or written down.

Honestly, the first place he’d start would be the capital: Theosoir. Apparently, to his annoyance, Torna hadn’t even begun to search the capital city. It’s literally the most obvious place to search. Maybe they weren’t there, but it still should still have been the first place to search.

It was some of the basics after all. Hide in a place so obvious they wouldn’t think to look. That of course made it a double mind game, but that meant that you should at least give it a once over.

There was a fair amount of criminal activity in Tantal, most of which were black market transactions. But because of Tantal’s poor economic status, their officials mostly ignored black markets since that was one of the few things keeping their people from starving.

The annoying part about that was that black market transactions were practically impossible to track. So worst case scenario, if the thieves wanted to sell it on the black market, it would likely be gone for good until the buyer, whoever they were, decided to use it. The only saving grace there was that the Omega Fetter is a fairly conspicuous item. Not to mention, the price would likely be so expensive, any list of potential buyers would be reserved to effectively all but the richest nobles and kings.

There was at the very minimum word of mouth if the money was good enough. Though with the kind of item the Fetter was, it was unlikely that the thieves would risk so much just to attempt to sell it. It was a link to the most powerful weapon in Alrest after all. There was definitely some kind of plan to either destroy or threaten. The question was who would want to do that? The two biggest suspects would be the Empire of Mor Ardain and Uraya considering the current Cold War that they were in.

That weapon could easily force the other country to immediately give into the other’s demands or risk annihilation. And Torna couldn’t do anything to stop it either since they weren’t allowed to interfere in international politics.

This was all a massive headache but the first step was clear: they had to go to Tantal.

Chapter Text

“It’s so cold.” Rex shivered, really feeling the icy bitter wind biting into his body as his teeth chattered. The group was huddled around a fire at their campsite, having stopped for the night before they could reach Tantal’s capital of Theosoir.

He had gone out to Eschell for the first time with his first paycheck to purchase a bunch of winter clothes. Apparently he didn’t prepare enough.

He had been a bit overwhelmed by Eschell, his shopping trip being the first time he actually entered the city itself. It was somehow both smaller than Torigoth, but somehow had more in it. It felt more prosperous, with much taller buildings and larger crowds of people milling around the streets, heading back and forth between establishments. Aesthetically, it very much resembled Torigoth’s layout and architecture, but because it was so much more compact, it didn’t really feel like it was a city in the same country.

“I did warn you,” Nia snarked, having donned a thick winter coat and pants herself, in the usual weird banana reminiscent coloring and design. She had her hood up which was surrounded with fur, something that Rex regretted not buying.

“Here,” a very similar yet distinctly different voice said. Rex felt an extra layer of clothing, a poncho, go over his body. He turned around and nodded his thanks to Mio, Nia’s sister.

She heavily resembled her sister, a short bob of white gray hair with matching cat-like ears blending into it. She had piercing yellow eyes, somehow more intense than Nia’s, though she lacked the harshness of the rest of Nia’s face, having a much softer resting look. She also lacked the white facial stripe markings that Nia had. He had no idea what they were and he was a bit too nervous to ask.

Much like Nia, she was wrapped in thick winter gear, though hers were colored dull white with red and gold colored highlights around the edges. She also wore some Tornan style armor with the distinctive segmented plates, particularly on her arms and legs. He thought it was a bit odd to cover that instead of vital points but Mio had said that she liked the mobility and that her limbs were the most vital parts of her body in combat.

“Thank you,” Rex said, still cold but touched at the gesture. Nia would have just rolled her eyes and told him to get his butt in gear.

Nia snorted and poked the fire with a stick, stirring it up a bit.

“You could stand to be a little nicer,” Mio chastised as she sat down next to Rex, “he is the employee that you sought out for yourself.”

“He can take care of himself. I shouldn’t have to baby him.”

“He’s, how old are you?”

“Fifteen.”

“He’s fifteen. He should be attendin’ school, not bein’ picked up by some weird girl.”

“Weird? I-”

“If you two could stop fighting,” a new voice sighed, “you’re going to talk my ears off.” The Blade of Mio was sitting a ways away from the fire, cross legged with his arms resting on his knees. His eyes were closed as if he was meditating. A sword was resting in its scabbard on his back, under an odd greenish feathered scarf. His blonde hair swayed in the wind, though he didn’t seem to feel the cold at all in his thin looking clothes, but that wasn’t too surprising for a Blade.

“Are they always like this?” Rex asked, ignoring the complaints from Nia.

“Yup! It’s almost as if they’re real siblings!”

Rex blinked. It was said cheerfully but the actual words themselves came off as super sarcastic. He heard Nia suck in a breath then coughed having inhaled something she shouldn’t have, probably saliva. “We hardly fight, Corvin. You just only catch us at bad moments.”

“You must have had a lot of bad moments then.” Corvin said. What Rex found odd though was Corvin’s constant cheerful tone. The words themselves were something that he could easily see Brandon saying in response but with a much more sarcastic tone. The way Corvin talked, it sounded like he was just being genuine.

“Corvin?” Mio said.

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

“You got it, my lady.”

Rex hummed to himself, “should I be calling you my lady?”

“Only if you want,” Nia said, “I don’t really care either way.”

“You seem to like it when Brandon calls you that.”

“That’s different,” Nia scowled.

Mio laughed, “I still can’t believe that you just asked out a stranger havin’ met them earlier that day. And that he actually said yes! No accountin’ for taste I suppose.”

“Oi. No insultin’ my boyfriend.”

“Huh, you really are enamored with him. Mind introducin’ me sometime?”

“You’d have to come down with me to Torigoth then,” Nia said, “he’s probably not goin’ to come up to Eschell for a while.”

“Oh no, did you scare him away?”

“More like he’s stuck in a contract.”

“Couldn’t you just pay it off for him?” Mio asked.

“He didn’t want me to,” Nia sighed.

“Ah, a hard workin’ man huh? I can respect that. Seems a bit stubborn though.”

“You have no idea.”

Mio laughed, “of course he is. I hope he’s not as abrasive as you are.”

“Abrasive? I’d say that applies more to you.”

“Me? Hardly. I’m as gentle as a summer breeze,” Mio said, clasping her hands together innocently.

“You? After you beat my ass in trainin’ daily? You’re more beast than girl.”

“Says the one who now beats me,” Mio crossed her arms, “and you’re the one who specializes in healin’ and not combat.”

“You know healing magic?” Rex gaped.

Nia sighed, “yes. Somethin’ I didn’t want said.”

“Oops. Sorry.”

“It’s whatever. It’s only Rex.”

“I don’t know if I should be offended by that or not,” he pouted.

“I’d be,” Mio advised sagely, patting his back. “I can even help you with the lawsuit if you’d like.”

Rex scowled, “you people sue over being offended?”

Mio blinked, “it was a joke.”

“No, I know it was a joke. I’m asking if nobles genuinely do that.”

Mio winced. “Well we don’t…”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“But others do.” Nia sighed, “it’s petty, but I did say that nobles were petty before. Again, we’re the exception, not the rule. Mio here is a Driver as well. Like I said, the Architect doesn’t exactly go around choosin’ arseholes as the world’s protectors.”

“Yeah,” Mio added as she crossed her arms, “as far as I’m aware, we’re some of the only nobility to be Drivers. Though there are a few other exceptions. The princess of Mor Ardain, Morag Ladair, is one of the most powerful Drivers in our ranks. So is the crown prince of Tantal.”

“Wait, the crown prince of Tantal is a Driver? Why isn’t he the one doing this? Or at least here with us.”

Mio sighed, “long story short, he’s been banished from the kingdom. He’s only crown prince in name since his father never technically revoked the title. If his father died one day without namin’ a successor, he’d have to take charge as king, but it’s likely he’ll be replaced at some point.”

“What did he do?”

“Apparently he liked to goof off, never studied and ran away for extended periods of time to explore Alrest. It got even worse after he got his Blade. He didn’t even know he was banished for an entire year before he returned home and found himself barred from the palace.”

“That’s gotta suck.”

Mio shrugged, “honestly? He wasn’t really bothered. He works as a kind of liaison between Torna and Indol now. He’s pretty good at his job as well, really good at talkin’ to people and gettin’ them to agree with what he says.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ in there.”

“But I don’t like him,” Mio said frankly, “he’s a bit… over the top.”

“Hm?” Rex’s curiosity was piqued, “how so?”

“Like, he goes around with an eyepatch on claimin’ he wears it to contain a primordial chaos power that could destroy the world if unleashed.”

Nia snickered. “I call him shellhead since he walks around with his pet turtle on his head.”

“Of course you do.” Rex said, “and the other one you mentioned? Morag?”

“Oh her? She’s practically the opposite. She’s Ardanian military so she’s super strict and uptight.”

“She can be in the military as a Driver?”

“As long as she doesn’t actually fight in any real conflict between two nations, yes. Her title is ‘Special Inquisitor’ so she acts more like special ops police than a military officer.”

“What happens if she does?”

“She won’t.”

“How do you know that?”

“Again, the Architect chooses people for a reason. The chances of a Driver puttin’ personal feelin’s over the greater good is slim. And if they do, it’s usually for good reason. On the off chance a Driver does do somethin’ bad though, their Blade will refuse to work with them and they’re made to reflect on their actions until their Blade is satisfied they’ve fully understood their actions and repented. Again though, I wouldn’t worry, we haven’t had an incident like that in five hundred years.”

“What happened?”

“The Great War,” Mio answered, “the largest scale conflict in history. Coeia, Judicium, Mor Ardain, Uraya, and Gormott were all involved in the war. Torna tried its best to be a mediator but many Drivers ended up fightin’ for their own countries. Eventually the leaders of Torna had to step in and put an end to the fightin’ for the people’s sake since Drivers can tear through normal soldiers without a problem. Even the Architect intervened at one point, sendin’ his artifices to split a battlefield in half to prevent the sides from fightin’. It’s what that massive crack in the ground is in Mor Ardain.”

“Oh.” Rex said dumbly, not really sure what to say in response.

“Yeah, it’s a heavy topic. Usually covered for a long time durin’ school to make sure it never happens again. Though I suppose you never went to school.”

“Guilty. Gramps and Brandon taught me a lot though.” Rex said.

“Not school stuff though I take it.”

“Not really.”

Mio sighed, “come on Nia, you should hire one of our private tutors for him.”

“I mean, there’s not much reason to know all that,” Nia said, “as long as he does his job properly I don’t think it much matters. If he wants to learn, he can seek it out for it himself.”

“Then at least give him their contacts.”

“Ugh, fine. I’ll have them written up when we get back. Happy?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, if that’s all settled now, you should get some sleep. We need to head into Theosoir tomorrow and start early.”

“Yeah, g’night.”

“Night.”

When they awoke the next day, they had quickly packed camp and headed into the city. It was an odd city, being built on a rather precarious looking cliff. Rex would have, and still kind of did, feel paranoid about the city collapsing. But Nia had reassured him that the entire city had been built and reinforced with magic, making it less likely to crumble down than even Torigoth. Even if the magic ever failed for any reason, metal beams went through the cliff, reinforcing it physically as well as massive stone pillars that went all the way down from the cliff.

Nia said that it was built that way to make it incredibly difficult to attack since invaders would only have a single choked area to attack into. Spellcasters and siege weapons would just rain fire down onto that area, making it practically impossible to approach by any kind of ground troops. The cliff was unreachable by anything other than spellcasters from the lower levels of Tantal and magic defenses made it impervious to that.

If the pillars were knocked out, it would be fine since the city didn’t actually need them for structural stability and could be detached from the cliffs to fall on top of invaders from that angle if necessary.

It was genius if you looked at it like that. But no invaders had made it as far as Theosoir before. The basic temperament of the climate itself was a much more effective defense than anything man made. Soldiers would freeze and starve to death as they made their way into the country since they couldn’t live off the land and supply chains were bogged down by constant blizzards.

Their party had an easier time thanks to both having magically enchanted horses and Blade and Driver support.

Walking into the city felt like he had stepped hundreds of years into the past. The buildings were made almost entirely of stone with designs that looked absolutely ancient, probably because they were. As far as he was aware, the city had been built almost a thousand years ago. Compared to Torigoth which was only a little over four hundred years old, with most of its buildings being modern constructions it felt a lot more advanced and generally pleasant to be in.

Theosoir on the other hand, was mostly gray and dreary. He also had no idea the levels of poverty he would see in town. There were braziers with burning fires scattered around town, though it didn’t provide nearly enough warmth as people were walking around with thick but tattered looking clothing.

“Ugh, I’ve always hated this place,” Nia said quietly, “the days of this kingdom’s greatness are over and the poverty is clear as day, yet the rulin’ class won’t let anyone outside help.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, a mixture of stubborn pride and tradition. They’ve always been an isolationist country, their politicians bein’ suspicious of all outsiders. Not that there’s anythin’ to be suspicious over since there’s nothin’ here of value.”

“You seem… a bit bitter.”

“Oh, I’m extremely bitter. I’ve tried to make progress but…” she shrugged helplessly.

“That’s our Nia,” Mio patted Nia’s shoulder in consolation, “overly stubborn herself, but tryin’ to make the world a better place. You’ll never meet a more genuine person.”

“Who are you pitchin’ me to exactly? I’ve got a boyfriend and he’s not here.” Nia grumbled but her lightly red cheeks said she didn’t mind the compliments.

“I’m sorry, can’t I be proud of my older sister?”

“I’m supposed to be the one proud of you,” Nia said, brushing Mio’s hand off before getting her into a headlock and rubbing her knuckles across Mio’s head.

“Hey!” Mio whined, “you said you wouldn’t do that anymore."

“I can baby you if I like. Younger sister.”

Mio grumbled but stopped resisting before Nia let her go.

“Brandon used to do that to me all the time,” Rex said, “is that just a universal older sibling type thing?”

“Yes.”

“Ugh. If you do that to me…”

Nia laughed, “honestly you’re more in danger of Mio doin’ that to you than me. You’re effectively the younger siblin’ now after all.”

Rex swallowed nervously at Mio’s evil grin, as if the thought had just occurred to her as well. He moved a bit over to the side, making sure to put a bit of distance between them. He really didn’t appreciate the glint in Mio’s eyes.

“If you try anything, I’m going to run away screaming that you’re molesting me.”

Mio pouted, “you’re no fun.”

“I’d prefer to not get noogied, thanks.”

“Ugh, fine. No babyin’ you. Spoilsport.”

“Just do it back to Nia,” Rex said.

“I can’t,” Mio pouted, “she’s too strong.”

“What? Aren’t you a Driver?” Rex asked, “how’s she stronger than you? Aren’t Drivers supposed to have superhuman strength?”

“Technically, but only just. It’s not like we’re multiple times stronger. Also, Nia’s just a freak of nature.”

“Oi! What the hell do you mean, freak of nature? I just work out.”

“And who likes workin’ out?” Mio said as she poked Nia’s stomach, then recoiled like she touched a hot pan, waving her finger around feigning pain as if she had crushed her finger into a brick wall.

“Very funny. Now, shall we actually get a move on and do what we came here to do?”

“Right,” Rex said as he unfurled a map of the city, “so uh, we should start about here,” he pointed at a specific section.

“The back alleys? Aren’t those too obvious?”

“That’s the point,” Rex said, “we’re staring in the obvious areas since they’re so obvious, they suddenly become good hiding spots.”

Nia blinked, “wow I’m dumb. That just never registered.”

“There’s a good chance that they’re not there,” Rex shrugged, “but it’s a starting point. Better than flailing around in Eschell doing nothing.”

“Fair, okay, let’s go.”

“Still nothin’,” Nia growled, obvious frustration edging into her voice. Most people hadn’t even bothered responding to their questions and it had taken all of her self control to not break something. Well, technically her self control hadn’t been enough, Mio and Corvin had to physically restrain her from punching a hole in the wall next to them.

She already disliked Tantal, she never did well with the cold, but this just made it even worse to be here. Admittedly, she had no excuse for it, Rex had told her with the full disclaimer that this might reveal nothing so she should have come in with that expectation. But she had been searching with the rest of Torna for months with no luck yet.

And as each day passed, she grew more and more nervous. A weapon of that firepower being just held onto didn’t sit right with her.

Not to mention, the guilt of failure. No one blamed her or her father for it, since if they lost it, pretty much anyone else in Torna would have, except for maybe their council members.

It still fucking sucked though. If the weapon was used and it killed people, it was on her head.

But the fact of the matter at the moment is that they don’t even know which party it was that stole the Fetter. There had been no ransom, no threats, no action. Just an eerie silence. And that was almost worse than something actually happening. At least they could have some kind of target goal if the thieves actually did something.

A raid would be so much easier than searching based on no leads. For all she knew, the thieves could have just been wearing Tantalese style clothing to throw her off their trail. Though they did have the pale complexion that most Tantalese had from living in a country of perpetual winter. Zeke didn’t, but that was because he hardly spent time in Tantal. He rarely sat in one place for more than a few days at a time.

“Let’s take a break, shall we?” Nia felt Mio put a hand on her shoulder. Nia sighed, releasing the tension from her arms she didn’t realize she was holding.

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Rex said, “I’m starving. What’s for lunch?”

Mio grinned, “are you any good with spicy food?”

“I think I’ve got some tolerance.” Rex crossed his arms confidently.

“Well we’re about to find out then,” Mio pushed Rex, making him hurry along, “Tantal’s famous for its spicy foods. Come on, hurry up Nia.”

She laughed, “yeah, I’m comin’.” Mio’s appetite was insatiable sometimes. Nia had to shield her eyes as they stepped out back into the main streets of the city. It may have been cold and gray in Tantal, but the main streets were a lot brighter than the alleyways which were mostly covered by stone buildings.

They walked around for a few minutes before spotting a street vendor selling some kind of spicy meat stew. Mio rushed over and ordered for the three of them, and Nia sighed as she paid for it. They sat down on a set of stairs to dig in.

“You know you can pay for your own food right?” Nia asked with her mouth full.

“Yeah, but it tastes better when someone else pays.” Mio said in between bites.

Nia rolled her eyes.

“Oh.” Rex’s face was clearly turning red at this point.

“You sure can handle your spice huh,” Mio smirked. 

“Shut up,” Rex panted. “This is… fine. I’m fine. I can take this.”

His burning face said otherwise.

“You know this can be bad for your health,” Corvin said, ever the chipper one, “there’s no shame in getting something to drink.”

“No no, I’m fine.” He was actively fanning his mouth at this point with his eyes brimming with tears. A very reassuring sign indeed. He tipped the cheap container up to his lips to finish off the stew, though Nia wasn’t sure if it was to put on a brave face or because he was genuinely enjoying the food. Honestly, it could have been both since Tantal’s food was pretty damn good.

Tantal had a very specific taste for food. A lot of their foods were extremely spicy, usually being soups and stews, which makes sense for a nation in a permanent winter. That was pretty much their primary export as well, aside from animal pelts and a few other things. Kept the people from starving at least, even if they were poor.

She should probably make it a point to buy their food, might help at least make a small difference for the people, even if their government refuses to accept aid. Aaand there was the frustration again. That was a familiar feeling. She had actually managed to drown out her worries in good food for a moment.

She felt a sigh growing but it was Rex’s hand, of all people, that stopped her.

“Hey, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Am I so easy to read?”

“Nah, it’s just that you’ve been clearly frustrated so it would make sense if that was what was on your mind,” he reasoned.

“Well deduced genius,” Nia teased, “must’ve taken all your brain power to figure that one out huh?”

“Well, no need to be mean about it.”

“She does this a lot by the way,” Mio said, “deflect when she’s anxious.”

“False accusations,” Nia deflected, and winced when she realized.

Rex snorted, “I see what you mean.”

“Now who’s bein’ mean?” Nia sighed, “but you’re right. I dunno, I’m just scared. Scared that I’ve screwed up, that I’ll continue to screw up. I’m scared that if news of this broke out, it would spark the largest war in history as nations blame each other for the theft.”

“Well that’s why we’re out here. It’s only been a few hours as well. It’ll probably take a few days to sweep a city this large.”

“I know that.”

“Well, you know that logically, but obviously your emotions don’t.”

“Hah, when did you become an expert?”

“Huh? Oh, I guess Brandon's had a bit of an influence on me. He talks like that a lot.”

“Now I kinda want to meet this Brandon fella as well,” Corvin said.

“Not sure if you’d get along,” Nia warned, “he’s a lot like I am and I know you don’t like my brand of humor.”

“It’s not that I dislike it. It’s just that I don’t have fun partaking in it.”

Nia waved a hand, “same difference.”

“I get along with him,” Rex said, “and I get along with Corvin.”

“Rex, you think you get along with everybody.”

“I don’t think I do,” he said, “I know I do. Like how everyone here has been talking to me and not you.”

Nia harrumphed, “that’s just because you know how to talk to criminals.”

“No, I’m just friendly. You’re going up to these people dressed as a bounty hunter and demanding information. Also rude, not all these people are criminals. Just some of them.”

Mio laughed, “he’s got you there.”

“Ugh. Fine, you take the lead from here then.” Nia huffed, “I’m goin’ to sit this out.”

“Oh don’t be like that,” Mio said, “you’re still number one in my heart.”

“I despise you.”

“You’re so mean. What kind of example are you settin’ for your adorable younger sister?”

“Even if I agree you’re adorable, you’re definitely not innocent. Frankly, if I have to worry about the example I set at your age, I think I’d have to worry about your mental age.”

“I’m plenty mentally mature. If anythin’, you’re the one who acts more immature than I do. Plus you only have a few years on me.”

“Some of those years count more.”

“Which makes it even worse then, huh,” Mio teased as she collected everyone’s disposable bowls to toss them in a nearby trash can.

Nia made a face at Mio.

“Alrighty then,” Mio said as she brushed her hands off, “shall we continue?”

“A group that deals in rare objects? Yeah, I’ve heard of something like that. I think they call themselves the Saviorites, I think they have a shop in Pillar city. Not sure if you’ll find what you’re looking for there.”

“Thank you,” Rex bowed, giving the man a coin in thanks. “See, that wasn’t so bad.” It had only taken them a few more hours to actually find someone who knew something. For a single day? That was fine.

“Sure. How far out is Pillar city exactly?” Nia crossed her arms.

Rex drew out a map and traced a finger over the path. “Uh… Mio?”

She glanced over, “at least a week, maybe more. Reason bein’ is that we can’t take our horses. The problem is that it looks like it’s down in the lower levels of Tantal which apparently gets a lot more snow than up here. Our horses can’t really do anythin’ in that kind of weather and there’s a good chance we get completely snowed in for a few days.”

“You’ve gotta be shittin’ me.” Nia groaned, “do we actually have the supplies for that? Or are we goin’ to have to go shoppin’ around.”

“I don’t think we have enough if we get caught by a storm.” Rex replied.

“I guess we’re goin’ to go buy some food then. We’ll book an inn for tonight then set out tomorrow mornin’, sound like a plan?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, Rex, you’re with me. Mio and Corvin, go and get some more campin’ gear, restock on what we’re runnin’ low on. Rex and I will go and get some food for the journey.”

Mio saluted, then dragged her Blade away by the collar.

“C’mon. Let’s get this over with.”

Chapter Text

Rex somehow managed to put on more layers than he had on before. He also got a pair of snowshoes, which was a new experience. It almost felt like they were overpreparing but he was sure it was all necessary in order to traverse the harsh landscapes of Tantal.

Mio and Corvin came back pulling a small cart between the two of them. While it was only about half full, it was probably only possible to drag around with the increased strength of being a Driver and Blade.

“Uh, how are we supposed to bring this around?” Rex asked as he dumped his load of bags into the cart.

“Oh, that’s easy enough. You can adjust it so the wheels come off and you pop skis out on the bottom.” Mio said.

“Oh.”

“Good, I was about to ask the same thing myself,” Nia said, “and if you make me drag that thing around, I’m afraid I would have to kill you slowly.”

Mio raised her hands placatingly, “of course not. I’ll have Corvin pull it.”

“What? Hey, I didn’t sign up for that.”

“Too bad,” Nia snickered, “you’re the one who picked this slave driver.”

“It’s an unconscious choice,” Corvin said, “since we’re not conscious until we’re on Alrest.”

“I am aware,” Nia rolled her eyes, “every Blade says that in their published diaries and journals. But the decision is still made from your unconscious personality. Means you're a masochist or somethin’.”

“I’d say that more about your boyfriend,” Mio countered, “you’re the one who’s practically a sadist.”

“I’m not a sadist. I just like bein’ in control.”

“That sounds like sadism to me.”

“It really isn’t. I don’t like causin’ physical pain.”

“Mmh. Bet you’d think he’s hot in a leash and collar though.” Mio said suggestively.

Nia paused for a moment before blushing furiously and angrily shoved Mio who was cackling her head off. “You don’t even know what he looks like.”

“You thought about it,” Mio laughed.

“That’s like sayin’ don’t think about gogols and expectin’ me to not think about gogols. Of course that’s what’s goin’ to pop into my head.” Nia said, defending herself.

“Yeah. Ooh, what do you think of handcuffs?”

“Oh, that’s kind of- no wait,” Nia shook her head, “I’m not doin’ this with you.”

“Hey, I’m not kink shamin’. If that’s what you’re into, that’s what you’re into.”

“Mio?”

“Yeah?”

“Please, shut up.”

“Why? I’ll even buy you the stuff you need.” Mio teased, “I know a good shop.”

“I hate you.”

“Why? Just because I make a compellin’ offer?” Mio blinked innocently.

“Wait, just how do you know a good shop?” Nia narrowed her eyes, “have you been to one?”

“Well… yeah.”

Nia blinked at the candidness. “Huh? How did I not know this?”

Mio shrugged, “it was an experimental period. Was embarrassed back then, but not ashamed of that now.”

“All the teasin’ potential… gone…”

“Heh. Got one up on you now.” She put a thumb on her chest, “I know what I like. If only you’d admit to what you like.”

“What would you even get if I was actually a sadist?” Nia crossed her arms.

“Satisfaction in callin’ it mostly.” Mio shrugged, “also, at least you’d know it and can tell your boyfriend so he isn’t blindsided by it. Also, you can stop with the gaggin’ noises, Rex.”

“It’s too much information.” Rex complained. “I don’t need to know all that.”

“Grow up, it’s a perfectly natural part of life. You’ll be singin’ a different tune when you get a girlfriend.”

Rex laughed, “girlfriend. Sure. Like anyone would like me.”

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short,” Mio patted his shoulder, “you’ve got plenty goin’ for you.”

“Sure. Tell you what. If I ever get a girlfriend, you’ll be the first to know.” Rex shook his head with a scoff. Girlfriend, right. Even if he was interested, he was short and scrawny with not much going for him in the looks department. No family name, no formal education, not much money. To be fair, he could probably change some of that with time. But he’d always be a nobody.

And if you wanted someone’s attention, you needed to be somebody. At best now, he was a noble’s servant. At worst, he was still a scavenger. He had been effectively a common crook for most of his life.

“Mmh, we may need to work on that self confidence,” Nia said, “but that’s neither here nor there at the moment. We need to slowly get goin’. Accordin’ to the locals, we need to hurry since there’s a pretty bad storm comin’ in a few days. If we get caught out on that, we’re goin’ to be stuck for a few days since we’d have to hunker down to survive.”

Rex sighed, “why did I say we should do this?”

“Because you’re bein’ paid.”

“I… ugh, let’s get this over with.”

The first few days of the trip had been relatively uneventful. They had to fight past a few winter gogols and a few other groups of local wildlife, but thanks to the help of Mio and Corvin, it had been a fairly simple matter. It had been a struggle getting down from the upper levels occasionally. Sometimes, they had to scale down sheer rock walls or navigate through slightly unstable ruins.

It didn’t help that it was freezing, and it was only getting colder and colder as they descended. Nia’s ears felt like they were freezing off, even with two hats on. It really sucked to be Gormotti sometimes.

It was on day four when they finally reached properly level ground at the bottom when the storm hit them. Seemed the local’s predictions were slightly off. They had to take shelter quickly at the base of a cliff, hunkering down with their tents right up against a stone wall. 

Luckily, Corvin had fairly high endurance, so he was able to brave the storm for a short time, a few hours into the storm, with his light powers and carved out a small crevice for the group to cover with their tents so they had a common area where they could light a fire for warmth and to cook warm meals.

Nia was currently spending her time huddled around the fire with several layers of blankets surrounding her. And she was still shivering.

“H-hey,” Nia glanced up to see Mio come over and sit next to her, wrapping them both in more blankets. They sat there for a while, both trying to keep some body warmth shared between them as they listened to the wind howling outside.

“Y-you know,” Mio said, her teeth still chattering, “this isn’t so bad.”

“I-I hope that was sarcasm.” Nia responded, her voice hardened, “this is the worst.”

Mio chuckled, though it sounded more like she was coughing with how badly she was shuddering. A thought suddenly went through Nia’s mind. Hopefully they don’t get sick during this trip. The sheer cold of Tantal usually severely weakened the immune systems of those not used to it. Getting sick out here could be a death sentence. She could heal damage done by the body to itself fighting off diseases but she couldn’t just cure the disease itself.

“Obviously, I dislike this as much as you do.” Mio groaned, “I just want to go home and curl up and take a nap in the sun.”

Nia snorted, “way to not live up to the stereotype.”

“I live up to the stereotype? You’re the one who likes fish and gets distracted by bugs.”

“At least I don’t lick my hand and paw at my ears.”

“Okay, you know that’s to pat down annoyin’ fur that sticks up. I’m not groomin’ myself like a cat. Besides, we both wear our emotions on our sleeves, or rather our ears.”

Nia’s ears flicked, “I guess we do.” She chuckled.

“Hey,” Rex said as he entered the area. He pulled up right next to them, his normal nervousness around them seemingly forgotten due to the cold. 

“Hey. Where’s Corvin?”

“He says he’s keeping watch. Though I don’t know what he’s keeping watch for.”

“He’s like that.” Mio shrugged, “I dunno what goes through his head sometimes. He’s very big on chivalry and loyalty and all that. Pretty much the embodiment of a knight of justice.”

“Huh. So he’s old fashioned?”

“I… guess? Is that a Brandon opinion?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah.”

Nia sighed, “he’s not a big fan of Torna, is he.”

“No, not really. But he also doesn’t really care either way.” Rex shrugged, “how’s he doing by the way?”

“He’s doing fine.” She pulled out her half of the paired scrolls. “He’s currently forgin’ the last of my commission apparently.”

“Oh shoot. You gave him a communication scroll?” Mio peaked over to get a glimpse of the text on it.

“Oi,” Nia put a hand on Mio’s face, “privacy.”

“What? I just wanna see what he’s like.”

“You’ve already got plenty of descriptors.”

“Your descriptors make him sound like a grumpy old man.” Mio said, “which I’m assumin’ he’s not.”

“No he’s not,” she sighed, “what exactly do you want to know about him?”

“Well like, what does he look like? You haven’t told me anythin’ about him, I’ve only heard bits of your conversation with Rex.”

“Where do I even start?”

“I dunno, what physical traits are there?”

“Well… he’s tall, I guess.” Nia shrugged, “uh, black hair, brown eyes, glasses. Hm, he works in a forge. He’s really smart. Reads a lot.”

“Sharp tongue?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay yeah. Basically what I imagined your type to be.”

“So my type is generic male?” Nia rolled her eyes, “that still wasn’t enough to give you a clear picture.”

Mio hummed, “it gave me a good enough idea. Still kinda want to meet him though.”

“You’ll get to meet him soon enough.”

“Uh, did you have to phrase it so… menacingly?”

“Huh? I just meant I’ll bring you to Torigoth with me next time.”

“Just sayin’. There’s probably a better way to phrase that.” Mio said, “whatever. You’d better hope that I don’t steal him away from you.”

“You lost some of the oomph in that statement huh.”

Mio sighed, “a bit yeah.”

“Besides,” Nia snorted, “there’s not a shot you’d be able to take him.”

“Yeah! My brother isn’t a cheater.”

“That’s… not what I meant, Rex,” Nia said, “but good to know.”

“What did you mean?”

Nia sighed, “it was meant to be banter that I’m more attractive than her. But I’ve kind of lost momentum on that banter so…”

“Uh… sorry about that.”

“Ugh, you don’t need to apologize for something so pointless.”

“Okay.”

“At any rate, is there any sign of the storm slowin’ down?”

“No,” Rex sighed, “if anything, it looks like it’s getting stronger.”

Nia shuddered, “we’re going to be buried in snow at this rate.” She breathed onto her hands before tucking them back under her blankets, along with her communication scroll. “Well, at least if we do get snowed in, it’ll provide us some insulation.”

“Sure. That’ll be nice. Wait, insulation?”

“Yeah. Water doesn't conduct heat very well so you can use it as an insulator. So if you have a bunch of snow or ice like this, you can construct something of a shelter. It's the basic principle that igloos work on.” Nia explained, her eyes staring into space as she tried to remember all her old lessons.

Rex made a noise of vague interest. “So did we not need to have Corvin carve this alcove out?”

“Well, if we had just built an igloo, it's possible that the storm would have brought enough snow down on us to threaten its structural integrity. Then we get buried alive and die.” She shook her head, “at least from here, even if we do get buried, we can tunnel our way out.”

The tents rustled as Corvin entered the area, dripping snow from his clothes as it slowly melted away.

“Finally had enough of the cold?” Nia asked.

“Yup. As have all the animals. There shouldn’t be anything moving around out there anymore. We shouldn’t be bothered for today.” Corvin declared.

“Any human worries?”

“No. I think we’re the only ones crazy enough to travel in this kind of weather. Anyone else would probably be dead by now.”

“That’s… reassuring.”

“Oh, it wasn’t meant to be.”

Nia sighed. “Corvin? I’m already stressed enough bein’ pinned down out here by a blizzard in the middle of a frozen wasteland. Could you not?”

“Sure.”

Nia shivered as she pulled her blankets closer to herself despite the heat of the fire slowly warming up the area.

“How are you doin’ so well in the cold?” Nia asked, looking at Rex who seemed to be doing fine with just the extra winter clothes they had picked up in Theosir. He just shrugged in response, which didn’t make her feel any better.

“Ugh,” Nia groaned, putting her head down onto the blankets over her knees. “I want to go home. I want to go to Torigoth and be in Brandon’s forge.”

“Is it warm?”

“Well… it’s a forge. So yes. When you’re actually workin’ in it.”

“Wait, you did forge work in Torigoth?” Mio asked.

“Yeah, he asked for help so I pitched in.” Nia shrugged, “it’s not a big deal.”

“Did you…”

“Huh? Oh that? No.” He didn’t want to get involved, so she wouldn’t tell him. There was a part of her that wanted to tell Rex but he’d just go and tell Brandon.

“You said it was hot in the forge?”

“I’m good with the heat.”

Rex coughed, “I feel like I’m missing some context here.”

“You sure are!” Corvin chimed in.

“Not helpin’,” Nia hissed.

“I wasn’t trying to…” he met Nia’s narrowed eyes, “message received.”

“Look Rex. I’m sorry I can’t tell you since it’s important Torna stuff. Hey, maybe you’ll find out if you’re granted a Blade.”

“Oh sure,” Rex waved a hand, “I’m not bothered by it. Just a bit curious.”

“Oh hey,” Mio said, “the festival’s comin’ up in a month. You goin’ to go for it?”

“I don’t know. Probably,” Rex shrugged, his movement dampened by his thick clothing, “but I’ve tried for years. I don’t think that the Architect thinks I’m worthy.”

“Oh don’t think like that. The Architect can change his mind,” Nia felt Mio elbow her lightly through their cloth barrier, “she doesn’t think that apparently though. But there’s literally been proof with people not bein’ selected the first few times then bein’ chosen a few years after.”

“That’s not the Architect changin’ his mind, that’s the people goin’ through change themselves. It’s usually through severely traumatic events as well. Remember what Zuo went through?”

“What did Zuo go through?”

“Lost his entire family. He never gave the specifics beyond that but whatever it was, it was because of his own selfish actions. Made him reflect on his life for a long time.”

“Well, I don’t want to lose Gramps or Auntie Corinne or Brandon or any of the other kids at the orphanage.”

“Well it’s not a trade,” Nia said, “it’s just that trauma is usually a catalyst of change.”

“Oh. Well, I’d rather not go through something just to get into Torna. If I’m getting in, I want to do it my own style.”

“Well,” Nia stuck a hand out from under her blankets to ruffle his hair, “good for you.” She yawned, “alright, I’m gettin’ tired. Corvin, can you keep the fire runnin’ tonight?”

“Yup, my Ether stores are still plenty high. I could keep this running all week.”

“Cool. I’m turnin’ in for the night… here. I’m goin’ to sleep here.” She turned onto her side.

“Alright,” Mio said, “we’ll try to keep it down.”

“Thanks. G’night.”

The storm lasted for another few days. They had an opportunity to stick their heads out of their little cavern as the storm lulled lightly. Enough for them to go hunting for some of the smaller game that actually moved around during those portions of time. Though they barely made it back to their camp after the hunting trip before the storm started up again.

Corvin had carved out enough space for Rex to swing his daggers around so he continued his training with Nia watching over. Mio offered some of her own advice as well but since she was a sword fighter, her knowledge wasn’t as extensive as Nia’s.

Though oddly enough, they both used chakrams. Apparently Dromarch’s weapons were chakram style dual rings so they got a lot of practice with their dad. They were terrifying when used correctly, thrown with deadly speed and accuracy and yet could also be used aggressively as melee weapons.

He had yet to be on the receiving end of the chakrams since Nia didn’t have her new set done yet and he hadn’t had the opportunity to spar against Mio yet. But what he had seen didn’t exactly make him eager to take them on.

Most of his coats were off at this point, the heat from his body doing movement reps over and over again making the cold feel negligible. He was currently practicing throwing chakrams, Nia having tasked him with doing so since she considered that a useful skill.

Nia finally told him to stop and handed him a canteen of water that they had boiled from the freshly fallen snow.

“Rest up. You’re done for the day.”

“Cool,” Rex panted as he took off his shirt and toweled himself down with it before putting on a fresh one then layering up again.

“Storm should be done by tonight. If it ends early enough, we may travel a bit before pitching camp again.” Nia’s ears flicked, listening in for the sounds of the storm to see if she could read its trend. She had been the most fidgety out of their group. She was clearly anxious to get going again. Must’ve been frustrating being stuck in such a claustrophobic area when she was probably used to the open grassy plains of Gormott.

Mio also seemed fairly antsy. Made sense for the siblings to both be more comfortable in open ground compared to being holed up in a cave. Corvin on the other hand, was fully alright with chilling out. Despite his sometimes weird talking pattern, he was fun to hang around when the constant barrage of sarcasm from Nia was too much.

“Are you sure it’ll be done by tonight?”

“It’s what the locals said. We were hit a bit early to be fair so I’m not too sure if we can take their word at face value. But just from the sounds, it’s not as loud as it was durin’ the worst of it and it’s been a consistent droppin’ of volume.”

“Hm. What’s it like having those ears?”

“Wow, rude.”

Rex felt his face go red, “oh, was that something offensive? I’m-”

“No, Nia’s just messin’ with you,” Mio said, “but there’s not really a way to answer the question. We don’t have the same set of ears so we lived our entire lives probably hearin’ different but we don’t have a reference to compare.”

“Right. I’m assuming you can hear better than us though.”

Mio shrugged, “I think so. I don’t think we’ve ever conducted tests with it but usually us Gormotti tend to hear things that are further away. Of course if you’re not observant, it probably wouldn’t make too much of a difference listening for minute details.”

“Can’t you hear higher pitched things better?”

“Well we can hear things outside the range of normal audible frequencies sure.” Mio shrugged, “not that it actually does anythin’ other than be annoyin’.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah,” this time it was Nia who responded, “imagine walkin’ through a forest and hearin’ every stupid bug in the area.”

“Don’t I already hear them already?” Rex asked.

“Not all of them. You mostly just hear the ones that actively make noise like cicadas or crickets. I doubt you hear all the wing flaps unless they get close to you like with mosquitoes.”

“I guess not. That’s kind of weird to think about.”

“Well, think about it like someone who’s colorblind. To you, green is green, but to them, green may appear more brown or yellow. They’d have no concept of what you’d consider green.”

“Never thought about it like that.”

“Yeah, everyone’s got a different perspective of the world. Hard to explain differences or understand the other side if you’ve never actually experienced the other side.”

“Words of wisdom eh?” Mio elbowed her sister, “better take notes, it’s the wisest she’s goin’ to sound.”

“Laugh it up you arse. I’m plenty wise.”

“Sure you are.” Mio grinned, “my dear wise older sister.”

“Oh shut up.”

“Love you too Nia.” Mio said as she leaned her head on Nia’s shoulder.

“Whatever. I’m goin’ to go and pack up my stuff in case we do head out tonight,” she said as she stood up, picking up her blankets along with her making her look like a ball with legs and a head. “I recommend you do the same.”

The storm did in fact calm down by that evening. Nia decided that there was enough light for them to set out for at least a few hours so they packed up camp once they finished digging themselves out. Though by the time they did dig themselves out, they were really only able to walk for an hour before having to set up camp again, which took them another hour to clear out the snow and light a fire.

The hour of walking didn’t take them very far either with the sheer amount of snowfall. Their snowshoes and the skis on the cart made travel actually possible but it was still fairly slow compared to when there was only a few centimeters of snow.

They had a light sleep before setting out early the next day. They traveled for the next few days mostly in silence, only chatting when they stopped to make camp.

They finally arrived at Pillar city, their provisions completely exhausted, a few days later. Exhausted, they decided to simply rest at an inn before resuming the search the next day. Nia found that the inn actually had a hot spring in the back so she went in with Mio. To their joy, it was completely empty, which made sense since it was pretty late at that point.

She sighed as she sank into the water up to her nose, relaxing in the steaming water as snow fell lightly around her.

“We don’t get to do this often huh?” Mio asked, her arms resting on the bank behind her.

“Hm,” Nia agreed without moving her mouth out of the water, her ears flicking at every little sound around her. The water was super nice, especially after trudging through the freezing snow for so long.

“When’s the last time we’ve done this? Five years ago?” Mio hummed.

“I think three?” Nia said, finally sitting up a bit, “it’s been a while since da’s had any business in Tantal. Do you even remember what we were here for?”

“Not really. Somethin’ somethin’ chasin’ criminals. Not a big deal. Hm. Do you think-”

“No.”

“I haven’t even asked the question yet,” Mio whined.

“No, a hot spring wouldn’t work in Gormott."

“How would you know?” Mio crossed her arms.

“It’s too hot all the time. It’s fine for me but I don’t think people would want more heat.”

“Hm, I doubt that. I’m sure it would work in Gormott.”

“How about a bet then?” Nia proposed, “when we get back, I want you to start up a hot spring resort in Eschell. If it turns a profit in the first month, I’ll… uh. Is there somethin’ you want me to do?”

“Hm, I’ll have to think about that. But you’re on.”

“That means that if you make a loss though…”

“Yeah yeah. What do you want?” Mio sighed, “spit it out. You wouldn’t have brought this up if you didn’t have somethin’ in mind.”

“Yeah. You get to train Rex for a week.”

“That’s it? I’d have done that if you had just asked.”

“Well I do plan on askin’ for when I visit Torigoth next month. This would be a week on top of that so I can just take a vacation.”

“You’re takin’ a vacation?” Mio asked incredulously, “you never take vacations.”

“Well, if we haven’t arrested our thieves by then, I figure I’d need some time off so I don’t go crazy. If we have, then I’d like to rest since I’ve been workin’ non stop for too long at this point.” She sighed, “plus the festival’s around then as well. I’m beginnin’ to suspect that the festival might be the target if they haven’t acted by then.”

“Hm, you think that they’d actually risk attackin’ Torna?” Mio put a hand up to her chin, “Artifice Ophion is strong, but Lady Haze is fully capable of disablin’ it if need be. Not to mention the other council members.”

“Obviously I know that. Kasandra-”

“Lady Kasandra,” Mio interrupted.

“Kasandra,” Nia rolled her eyes, “could block its attacks as well. Or theoretically speakin’, Corvin could deflect its attack. But do they know that?” She shook her head, “I’d assume that if they had the preparation to steal from us they’d have some idea, but I’m not sure. There’s nothin’ else big happenin’ for a while after the festival and they haven’t made a move yet. I’m just worried, is all.”

Mio nodded, “I’ll warn Lady Haze with your thoughts. We’ll shore up our defenses for the festival. And, before you say anythin’, we’ll keep it subtle. I’d also get opinions out of Rex and your boyfriend. Not sure how valuable their insight would be but it’s probably best to get second opinions out of people you trust.”

“Yeah. I’ll do that.”

Chapter Text

‘That’s a definite possibility,’ Brandon had responded on their linked scrolls, ‘there’s a real possibility that whoever’s got the balls to steal from Torna probably want something much bigger than just money or small amounts of land and power. It’s possible that they’d want the destabilization of all of Alrest to swoop in later. The festival would have both most of their old members as well as all their prospective candidates in one location. If that’s the case, they’d wipe out Torna in a single attack. They’d have control over all of Alrest with no resistance from Torna if all their members were wiped out in one swoop.’

Shite. Nia suspected that it was a possibility but seeing Brandon write it out made it seem that much more likely in her head. 

‘Also, I’m okay, thanks for asking.’

Double shite.

‘Sorry. I’ve been distracted.’

‘Haha, no worries. Just messing with you. But seriously, you’d better keep Rex safe. Good luck.’

Nia sighed. What an arse.

Rex expressed a similar sentiment as Brandon in a hushed tone at breakfast. Mio had rushed through breakfast and went back to her room to get the message sent back to Torna.

They then started their search again, asking around the back alleyways if anyone had heard of the Saviorites. They had asked around for a few hours before finally getting a lead.

They followed the directions to a small warehouse tucked away in a back corner of the city. Mio scouted it out first, nimbly scaling up the side of the building and up to the windows near the top of the building. She peeked inside before darting in. Nia waited for a few tense minutes before Mio emerged from the building and parkoured down. To which Nia rolled her eyes. What a showoff.

“There aren’t many people in there,” she whispered, “seems like a skeleton crew at best. Not sure if there’s even a higher rank among them. If this group even has higher ups.”

“What else?”

“Collections of stuff. A lot of it stolen as far as I can tell. They’ve got some stuff that’s disappeared from other noble’s collections that they tried to commission Torna to find.”

“Tried?” Rex asked.

“We don’t do noble’s dirty work,” Mio said, “obviously we tried to track down the thieves and apprehend them without the incentive of gold, but it was relatively low in priority. Savin’ lives is much more important than some noble’s lost trinket.”

“At any rate,” Nia said, “is the Fetter in there?”

“Not as far as I can tell. But there are a lot of crates. It could be in any of them, or not at all.”

“Shite. We can’t just barge in there. If the Fetter isn’t in there, then the other branches shut down or relocate and we’ll be back to square one.”

“So then what do we do?”

“We’d have to get back to Torna. Don’t let the Saviorites know we’re onto them. We track down the rest of their bases and hit them all simultaneously.”

“Then we just let these guys go?” Rex looked almost offended by the idea.

“We don’t have much other choice. Unless- shite!” She instantly drew a dagger and flicked it towards the side. A startled yelp came from the direction the dagger landed and Mio raced to the area.

“Augh!” The man Mio captured yelled in pain, his arm twisted behind his back.

“Shut up if you know what’s good for you,” Mio said, drawing her sword and pressing it to his throat. She tossed Nia her dagger she had retrieved from where it had stuck into the wall.

“Are you Saviorite?” Nia asked.

The man clammed up, “I won’t tell you anything.”

Nia sighed and shook her head. She nodded at Mio who slammed a fist into his head, instantly knocking him out.

“Was that really necessary?” Rex asked.

“Not strictly. But it’s the easiest method. And Mio knows what she’s doin’, he won’t be injured at all. Well, permanently injured at any rate.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to like it. But if he saw through our bluff and realized we weren’t goin’ to kill him, then he yells out for help and jeopardizes the mission.”

“So then what do we do with him?”

“We’ll have to drag him back to Torna for interrogation. If he’s innocent, then we pay reparations and drop him back off here.”

“It took us a week to get here. How do we get him to Torna?”

“We’ve got some tonics and stuff to keep him asleep. Perfectly safe and harmless.” Nia reassured Rex before he could protest more. “Developed by the best Drivers and Blades in Torna.”

“Okay…” Rex still seemed uneasy with the idea of effectively drugging up their captive. “So then after that, now what?”

“We do as planned. Even if these guys actually don’t have the Fetter, they’re still obviously a criminal organization that needs to be shut down. It’s not like they’re sellin’ food or other necessities. It’s all rare items and stolen goods. I’m assumin’ the best and assumin’ that they’re only still around because the Tantalese government doesn’t have the resources to shut them down.”

“Alright. How do we drag him back?”

“We use the cart. Unless Mio wants to call in a favor to get us transport back.”

“Can you do that?” Rex asked in wonder.

“Well… Torna’s got some dragon stuff. Theoretically I could call for someone to pick us up.”

“You could’ve done that this entire time?!”

“No. The other Drivers and Blades have stuff they need to do as well. I’d only be able to do this since we have something substantial to show.”

“Yeah,” Nia said, “do you really think I’d have trekked all the way out here like this if I could have taken a dragon here? No way in hell. You know what? Mio, do it. I refuse to walk back.”

“Alright, lazy bones. It’ll still take them a day or so of flight so we’ve got a day to burn while we wait. Well… technically less than a day since we’d probably want to head out early tomorrow to meet them outside of the city unless we want to advertise ourselves.”

“Um, what do we do with him? We can’t just drag him across the city.”

“Well technically we could, but that would also mean revealin’ ourselves as Torna.” Nia hummed, “you have a point. We can’t just leave him here. Hm. I suppose we drag him behind the building over there and wait for one of us to fetch the cart with a tarp we can cover him with.” She glanced around. “Oh, don’t make me do this. I’m not the one with super strength.”

Mio punched her arm.

“Ow!” Nia glared at Mio, “what the hell was that for?”

“You know exactly what that was for. You get the cart.”

Nia grumbled as she got moving. “You’d better put that request in for transport.”

“Um, what was that about?” Rex asked as he watched Nia leave the alley. Mio knelt down to deal with the Saviorite member, doing whatever it is she needed to do to keep him asleep before dragging him away with Rex and Corvin to a further area.

“Oh uh, if you could forget that.” Mio said, “it’s nothin’ you need to worry about.” She nodded to Corvin, “oh right. Oi Corvin, go catch up to Nia and get that message sent. We’ll wait for you here.”

“Alrighty.” He merrily walked off.

Rex scratched his head, “but-”

Mio shook her head, “look. It’s not my story to tell. If you really want to know, ask Nia. I doubt you’ll get an answer out of her either though so I’d just drop it.”

“But why?”

“You know it’s kind of rude to keep pushin’,” Mio sighed, “but just so you stop. It’s somethin’ she doesn’t like talkin’ about. Troubled past and all that. Don’t tell her I said this, but she’s really brave for bein’ able to make it this far. There are a lot of people in her position that have taken their own lives.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”

Mio waved a hand, “maybe it’s fine, maybe it’s not fine, but I’m not Nia so I couldn’t say. Just… be more gentle around her. Despite how she tries to portray herself, she’s not an iron wall. She forms attachments really easily once you get past the prickly exterior and she cares deeply for everyone she does get close to. I’m sure you noticed how weird it was that she latched onto her new boyfriend so quickly.”

“Well actually, I didn’t think it was that weird.”

Mio rolled her eyes, “right. I forgot who I’m talkin’ to. Well, it’s a bit weird. Not how they got together necessarily but how much she’s already devoted to him. That scroll for example. Technically, they’re fairly common within Torna thanks to our Blades, and any other larger group with competent spellcasters. But I assume you’ve never heard of them before she pulled it out, yeah?”

She waited for Rex to nod in confirmation. “She said they were common though. I think she said something after that as well but I didn’t catch it.”

Mio sighed, “well, technically they are common, within the organizations that own them. Outside of these organizations, those scrolls are supposed to be rare gifts, given to only to the most important and trusted individuals. Not someone you’ve only known for a few days. That’s probably the general idea of what she said there. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was along the lines of: I shouldn’t be doin’ this.”

“Hm,” Rex hummed, “it didn’t sound like that.”

Mio shrugged, “maybe it’s not, but again, it’s just the general idea.”

Rex shrugged, accepting her explanation. Though it did seem a bit weird, he was sure one of the words she said was Blade. Actually, what Mio had said had indirectly given him more information to work with. He had thought it was kind of weird when she said that her entire family were Drivers but she wasn’t. Could it be that she actually did have the potential to have a Blade?

That felt like a slap in the face. Of course it was. It felt so obvious now. She must’ve been a Driver in the past but tragically lost her Blade. Which was why she was so intertwined with Torna and didn’t travel with a Blade when the rest of her family did. It added up with what Mio had just told him as well. The stories of Drivers who lose their Blades was almost always a tragedy. Most Drivers suicided within a year or two of the loss, usually after falling into extreme depression and turned to drinking.

It also made sense why she, as Mio put it, latched on so quickly. If Brandon had been the first person to treat her like a normal person and not as a noble since her Blade… after she had lost someone she would have been a close companion with…

That made his respect for Nia skyrocket. He also instantly felt about a billion times more guilty. Wow, he felt like an insensitive butt, his face turning red at the realization.

“At any rate,” Mio said, glancing at the expression on Rex’s face, “I’m sure you got an idea of why you shouldn’t push now?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Also, don’t tell Brandon anythin’ about this, yeah? If Nia wants to tell him, she’ll do it herself. Nothin’. Includin’ whatever half baked theories you probably have circulatin’ in your mind.”

“Got it.”

Mio nodded, satisfied. “Besides, you should be more concerned about yourself?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“As in you should probably get yourself a girlfriend first before you start concernin’ yourself with your brother’s significant other.”

Rex blushed, “well, she also happens to be my employer. I think it would be weirder if I wasn’t at least partially concerned.”

“You know, most people don’t give a shite about their employers.”

“Yeah, but I’m not working for a big faceless company like the Argentum Trade Guild. I know Nia.”

“Eh, you’re an exception then.” Mio lifted a shoulder.

“Is that a bad thing?” Rex asked.

“No. It’s not normally either good or bad, but in this case since it’s my sister,” she winked, “it’s a good thing.”

Rex grinned, “family bias huh.”

“But of course. And now you’re one of us.” Mio wrapped an arm around his shoulders, “you had better treat me well, my junior.”

Rex blushed, “y-yeah.”

“Aw, you’re so cute.” She twisted Rex into a headlock and ran her knuckles through his hair.

“Hey!” Rex whined, “I thought I said no noogies.”

“Sorry sorry,” Mio laughed as she let him go, “I couldn’t help it.”

Rex pouted. “You’re so mean.”

Mio stuck her tongue out. “You’re the younger one.”

“Well, I don’t actually know your age, so am I actually the younger one?”

“Hm,” Mio poked Rex’s forehead, “it’s rude to ask a lady’s age.”

“Yeah I know that, but you’re not much of a lady to be honest.”

“Oi!” Mio said, smacking Rex’s shoulder, “you arse. Fine. I’m seventeen. Been a Driver since I was fourteen.”

“So you are older than me,” Rex sighed, slightly disappointed. “Ugh. I don’t turn sixteen for a few weeks.”

“Wait, it’s your birthday in a few weeks?!” Mio exclaimed, “why didn’t you say anythin’?”

“Huh? Why would I say anything?”

“Well, to celebrate of course.”

“Celebrate?”

“Like, a birthday party… wait. Oh come on, have you never had a birthday party?”

“No, I’m not that out of touch. I’ve had a few… just not for a while. I haven’t had the money and Brandon doesn’t do birthdays.”

“Okay first off, what the hell. I should go give this Brandon a piece of my mind. Also, he’d better start doin’ birthdays and related shite or Nia’s not goin’ to be happy. Second, we’re givin’ you the best birthday party you’ve ever had. When is it exactly?”

“Uh, I actually don’t know. We’ve never really had a specific date, just that we decided that it was sometime in the first week of next month.”

“Hm, around when the festival is huh.”

“Yeah.” Rex said sheepishly.

“Hm,” Mio’s ears flicked. “Well, here they come. I’ll let them know about your birthday. How about we celebrate at the festival?” She gave him a wink, “you can even go and meet your favorite Blades and Drivers.”

“Really?!” Rex exclaimed, suddenly perking up, “even Herald?”

Mio chuckled, “you like Herald? Of course you do, she’s practically a superhero to most people. Well, you’re in for a surprise. But yeah, you can meet her.”

“Yes!”

“What’re you shoutin’ about?” Nia said as she arrived, dragging the cart behind her. Corvin right behind, linked scroll in hand.

“Apparently his birthday’s around the day of the festival. Thought we’d show him a good time.”

“What? And you didn’t tell me?”

“No, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Also, yes, it’s partially because of Brandon so yes, you should probably warn him about yours in advance or he’s not going to do anything. Also yes, you should ask him for his birthday in advance or he’ll never bring it up. Yes I just had this conversation.”

Nia snorted. “Seems like Mio ran you through the obstacle course. Does he really not care about birthdays? They’re like, sacred.”

“I know right?” Mio said.

“No,” Rex shrugged, “apparently he just never really cared about it growing up. He doesn’t put much emphasis on a lot of dates, saying that they’re stupid and arbitrary. He says that if you really wanted to celebrate, you should do it after a big event in your life.”

Nia sighed, “I don’t necessarily disagree. But come on, life is already too short to find reasons to not celebrate.”

“Life is short,” Mio rolled her eyes, “yeah, sure. Kind of depressin’ to think about it that way though.”

“Well whatever,” Nia said as she dragged the unconscious man up and into the cart, covering him and the rest of the cart with a tarp. “I’ll be talkin’ to Brandon in my room. The rest of you can go and do whatever you’d like until tomorrow.”

“Yes ma’am,” Mio said cheerily.

‘Uh…’ the response from Brandon came. ‘I’ll be sure to remember.’

‘What about you?’ Nia wrote back.

‘Is it really that important?’

‘YES!’

There was no response for a while, Brandon clearly thinking through his next words.

‘It’s December 20.’ The response came finally.

‘Okay. Expect something big.’

‘Sure.’

Nia sighed. This was surprisingly difficult. She liked him because his way of thinking was so unorthodox, but it also made some things hard to communicate certain ideas and to relate to him.

Maybe she should have followed Mio, who had dragged Rex away to go exploring. Actually, this was Tantal. Strike that, that sounded incredibly boring.

‘Don’t forget about Rex’s either.’

‘I mean sure, but what am I supposed to do?’

‘Take a break for that week. Come to Torna’s festival with me. If it’s money you’re concerned about, I’ll pay for everything.’

‘I’ll come. No need to pay for me.’

‘Cool. So… what have u been up to?’ Nia asked.

‘Huh?’ Brandon responded, ‘oooh. Got it. Taking a break right now. Your order’s nearly done by the way.’

Nia giggled. It was kind of cute watching someone familiarize themselves with shorthand text communication.

‘Btw, we mostly use btw as by the way.’

‘Huh. I’ll have to remember that.’

‘Anything else?’

‘Yeah actually. I’ve been researching a few things. Seems like your Saviorites operate pretty much globally.’

‘What? How have I never heard of them before?’

‘They’re hard to come by unless you know the right people… forget you read that.’

Nia rolled her eyes as she erased the message. Adding that last part made it seem way more suspicious than just the first part. What an idiot. ‘Right. Do you know where else they are?’

‘Well, I don’t know much, but I do know where their main base of operations is though. They’re operating out of the Praetorium.’

‘What? How?’

‘Not a clue. The Praetorium’s quite a large city though. I’d imagine that they’re holed up in some backstreet area.’

Nia nearly screamed in frustration. She calmly stood up and walked over to her bed, and slammed a fist into it. She sat back down at her desk. The Praetorium was one of the few areas they couldn’t search because of their relationship and treaties with the institution. It was the perfect spot to hide from Torna. If they had that all planned out, it was genius. Why couldn’t they have just been dealing with petty thieves? If that was the case, the Fetter wouldn’t have been stolen in the first place.

‘Are you still there?’ Brandon’s message was written out, staring back at Nia.

‘Yeah. Just annoyed. Not sure if I can use that info, but thanks anyways.’

‘Do you want me to look into it more?’

‘No. I don’t want you to put a target on your back in case they decide that you’re pushing too hard.’

‘Alright. When are you coming back btw?’

Nia smiled, ‘a few weeks. Give or take.’

‘Bring me back some food.’

‘Will do.’

Rex’s feet hurt. He probably should have expected as much when Mio had taken him to go exploring but didn’t for some reason. He had expected a relatively calm outing, though when Corvin declined to go along, his suspicions were raised.

Then, as it turned out, Mio was incredibly energetic when she wasn’t forced to slow down to stick to the group. At some point, when she spotted something she was interested in, she had sprinted away at an absurd speed. She had completely left him in the dust and returned only a few seconds later.

“Hey Mio, how fast can you run?” Rex had asked.

“Uhm. I don’t remember the last time I measured it. I think it was about a hundred meters in seven seconds.”

Rex felt his jaw drop. It was technically slower than the fastest Blades, but it was way faster than what any normal human could run. He thought of himself as pretty fast but his hundred meter sprint was way slower than that.

“Are all Drivers superhuman?” He wondered aloud.

“Yes. We’re all granted something of enhanced physical traits. Corvin gave me more speed. Though of course all Blades are all physically better in every category compared to us humans.”

“They are?”

“Oh yeah. Corvin’s way faster and stronger than I am. Also, just to let you know, don’t take him up on it if he challenges you to an arm wrestle. No knock on you, but you will lose.”

“I’ll have to remember that.”

Mio raised an eyebrow, “you’re the first person I think I’ve met who hasn’t complained about that.”

“Does it matter that much? Everyone’s got stuff that they’re good at. I don’t think Corvin could pickpocket someone or forge a sword.”

“Fair point. Really mature point of view.”

Rex shrugged, “Brandon kind of drilled that into my head.”

“I really can’t tell if this Brandon is a good or bad older brother,” Mio shook her head, “anyways. Let’s keep goin’. I’m gettin’ kind of hungry. You good for more spicy food?” She asked with a grin.

“Of course I am.”

“Oh, up for the challenge huh? Well then, let’s go.”

The group awoke kind of late the next day. They kind of lazed around for a little bit since they had to wait a little into the day for their ride to arrive. Rex worried a bit but Mio told him that the incoming Blade would have set down to rest at night.

They had a light breakfast before heading out.

Nia’s ears flicked as they walked out of the city gate. Something felt wrong. Nothing ever worked out this well for her.

They walked a ways away from the city, making sure to get out of any kind of vision of the people. They moved slowly through the piled up snow, their cart leaving behind tracks in the snow.

That actually concerned Nia a bit. Surely the Saviorite members must have noticed their missing colleague by now. Nia cursed, what if they followed them? She had gone back to the site later to leave behind traces of a fight, but she wasn’t sure how convincing it was. She also couldn’t do anything about the dagger mark in the wall which betrayed them a bit.

They eventually reached the rendezvous point, and with no one there yet they sat down to rest. Before long, a dot appeared in the sky above the horizon.

Mio stood up with a grin, “there she is! We’re almost ho- AUGH!” She cried out in pain as an arrow slit her arm, coming from seemingly nowhere.

“Shite. I knew it,” Nia said as she drew her daggers, “get ready to fight!”

Chapter Text

“Shite!” Nia cursed as she held up a hand, pouring out Ether energy to heal Mio’s wounded arm. She cursed again, realizing that she had poured way more Ether into the spell to heal Mio quickly than should have been possible. She’d have to pray that their assailants wouldn’t realize that.

“Rex!” Mio yelled, “run towards Herald, try to get her attention!”

Rex agreed and started sprinting away. A few arrows followed him but he was already out of range.

Their assailants started revealing themselves, bursting out of the deep snow that they had apparently been tunneling through to track them undetected. They were wearing Tantalese military garb, but she couldn’t tell anything else about them since their uniforms completely covered their bodies.

Several of the ones with bows started chasing and shooting at Rex while the melee combatants immediately engaged Mio and Nia.

“Mio!”

“On it!” She flung out a chakram, slicing through some of the attackers pursuing Rex.

Mio then drew her sword and met the spear-wielding soldiers head on, Corvin supporting her through their Ether line, linking a constant source of Ether from Corvin to Mio. Corvin also moved to save Rex, engaging the rest of the bow wielding fighters and forcing them off of Rex’s trail.

Nia on the other hand was forced to fight more defensively since she couldn’t get past the reach that the spears had with just her daggers. She considered her options as she ducked and weaved through spear thrusts before coming to the conclusion that she’d have to throw them.

She instantly chucked one past the guard of one of the fighters, and the dagger pierced through his chest and impaled the ground behind the fighter, painting the snow with blood. He let out a pained gurgle as he fell to the ground, dead.

The ones she was fighting froze. “W-what?” One of them stuttered.

“Shit! Careful you morons, this one’s another Blade. That boy must’ve been her Driver. Must be a fairly new one. Keep your heads screwed on, we’ve trained for this. You mess up once, you’re dead.”

Nia growled, though she glanced back to make sure that Rex had been out of hearing range. “Hmph. Guess I have to go all out now.” She said aloud and sighed in relief internally as the enemy combatants backed up a few steps at the words. If they believed she was a Blade, she could milk that for all it’s worth.

“Fuck this,” one of them said as he started retreating, “I’m not paid enough for this shit.”

Nia watched as he turned and sprinted away. She then stared the rest of them down. They looked at each other as panic started spreading among their ranks.

“It’s still just one pers-” his words were cut off as a roar echoed through the land. One that would be recognizable to everyone: a dragon’s roar.

“Well, there’s my reinforcements,” Nia said, “think you can kill me before they arrive?”

The one who seemed to be the leader looked to be steeling their nerves, “get her!” They yelled. The entire group doubled down, charging forth. Nia cursed as she leapt backwards and threw another knife, instantly killing another fighter.

But that was just one combatant, and she was fighting several with just a dagger. Her advanced strength, conditioning, and training being the only things keeping her alive against the relentless onslaught of weapons.

“Nia!” Mio yelled. She found the opportunity against her own opponents to throw out one of her chakrams to interrupt Nia’s opponents. The chakram sliced through one of her assailant’s arm, knocking one more opponent out of the fight as they clutched their bloody stump of an arm with a scream. Nia plucked the weapon out of the air before doing a spin and using the momentum to send the sharp circle through the chest of another combatant.

Nia’s ears flicked, hearing the telltale whistling of something aerial diving. She noticed Mio’s ears doing the same and Corvin had already started running, much to the confusion of their opponents.

Both Nia and Mio disengaged and started sprinting away as realization started dawning in the ranks of their enemies. Nia jumped forward and covered her ears as she felt the burning heat of dragon fire washing over her back and the roaring of the dragon flame covered the screams of the burning fighters.

She got up slowly once the heat subsided and glanced around. There were few bodies left, most of them having been burnt to nothing but ash while the few remaining bodies were left over from Mio and Nia earlier.

“Go, find Rex,” Nia said as Herald landed.

“Got it,” Mio dashed off, waving for Corvin to follow her.

“Herald,” Nia nodded at the dragon rider as she dismounted from said dragon. It wasn’t a real dragon, well, real as in biological. It was made purely of metal armor that was hollow on the inside except for an orb of energy in the chest that gave it the energy to function from Herald’s Core Crystal. 

Herald herself wore gray-black armor with her helmet in the shape of her dragon’s head. Her gauntlets were large and clawed. There was a large ornamented cylindrical object on her back that Herald says was a powerful weapon but Nia had never seen her use it. She preferred to let the Dragon under her control do the work or use the sword she had strapped to her waist. Her Core Crystal glowed blue and red, the signature mark of a Flesh Eater.

“Nia,” Herald nodded, “it has been a while.”

“Appreciate the help,” Nia said as they hugged.

“A Tantalese crime syndicate. Who would’ve thought,” Herald said, “though I suppose it makes sense with how large the black market is here.”

“Yeah,” Nia sighed as she walked over to one of the intact bodies and nudged it with a foot.

“I believe he is dead,” Herald said.

“Yeah, the hole in his chest would indicate that,” Nia said as she knelt, “I’m just procrastinating since I don’t want to do this.”

“I could do it for you. It doesn’t bother me.”

“Really? I’d appreciate it.” Nia said as she backed off.

Herald nodded as she took Nia’s place, dismissed her gauntlets into Ether, and began searching the body. “Hm?” Herald made a puzzled noise, “blue skin? An Indoline?”

“Odd,” Nia muttered, “rare for an Indoline to not work for the Praetorium.”

Herald moved over to another body, “another Indoline.”

“What?” Nia’s eyebrows furrowed together and her ears flicked in agitation.

“I believe this is an issue,” Herald said.

“Thanks for pointin’ out the obvious,” Nia frowned. Solo Indoline working outside the Praetorium was rare enough, for there to be two… “check the others.”

“I apologize, the rest have been burned past recognition.”

Nia sighed, “it could just be a coincidence. I don’t know if there’s enough evidence to say anythin’ beyond that.”

“It is an odd coincidence,” Herald nodded, “however, you are correct. Otherwise we would send a delegation to the Praetorium.”

“You mean the council.”

“Ah yes, apologies. The council would send a delegation. I do not wish to put pressure on you, but when do you think you will rejoin our ranks? You were one of our best.”

“If you could not mention that when Rex comes back, I’d appreciate it,” Nia sighed, “but I probably won’t. I’m not really willin’ to risk losin’ another partner.”

“Then what is Rex?”

“The kid? I like him, but he’s here for a job. Just a pickpocket I picked up at Argentum. I wouldn’t lose sleep over his death. I’m more concerned over what his brother’s reaction would be.”

“The boyfriend.”

“Word spreads fast, huh? Yeah. There’s a reason I haven’t tried to bring him into the field. He also hasn’t shown interest in Torna, if anythin’, he resents it.”

“Hm, is he someone to watch out for?”

“No. He doesn’t like Torna because his brother is interested and of course that comes with danger.”

“Ah. Humans.” Herald nodded as if that explained everything.

Nia snorted, “you’re partially human as well. And even if you weren’t, you’re still a rare case for a Blade. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who shows as little emotion as you.”

“I can show emotion,” Herald protested in a monotone voice.

“Sure. I’ll believe that.”

“Hey!” Mio called from a distance, Rex in tow.

Rex took one look at the scene and immediately turned to the side to throw up.

“Whoa,” Mio put a hand on his back, “you alright?”

“I’m… ugh… fine. I’m not used to… this.”

“I was more askin’ emotionally,” Mio said, “I doubt you’ve seen anythin’ like this before.”

“I… don’t like killing. I think it’s wrong. But I don’t think there was any other option here.”

“That’s a mature view,” Nia complemented, relieved Rex wasn’t turned off, “sometimes we don’t have much choice in the matter and we have to make tough decisions.”

“Indeed.” Herald nodded in agreement.

“Holy Architect!” Rex exclaimed and ran up to the Flesh Eater, “you’re Herald right?”

Nia laughed, “you’ve got a fan.”

“It would appear so,” Herald nodded, “hello there.”

“You’re so cool!”

Nia chuckled as Mio walked over. “He’s a big fanboy huh?” Mio said. “Maybe I should have put more effort into my popularity.”

“What? You just want a mega fan to fawn over you?”

“Heh. It wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

“Uh huh. It might be if you reach celebrity status. You’d be hounded anytime you go anywhere.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.”

“Hmph. Attention hog.”

“Not goin’ to deny it.”

Nia rolled her eyes, “I should have used a worse word than hog.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t given your mouth,” Mio teased.

“We are in earshot of,” she tilted her head towards Rex. “Probably shouldn’t let the kid pick up my foul mouth.”

“Surprisin’ly self aware,” Mio smirked, “you acknowledged a flaw for once.”

“Ugh, I should never be candid with you.”

“Aw,” Mio put an arm around Nia’s shoulder, “c’mon. Don’t be like that. I’m sorry.”

“You’re an arse.” Nia sighed.

“Come on, forgive me?”

“I despise you. Alright, let’s go.” Nia said as she walked towards Herald’s dragon. “I can’t wait to get out of this frozen wasteland.”

Despite flying via dragon, it still took quite a few hours to fly back to Gormott. Nia, Mio, and Corvin seemed fine, but Rex was in quite a bit of pain, especially his back. Nia and Rex got off when they finally reached the Eschell manor and they said their goodbyes as Herald dropped them off then flew off to Torna’s headquarters with Mio and Corvin.

“Alright,” Nia stretched, “take the rest of the day off. I’ll let you know if I need you for something tomorrow. Feel free to take whatever food and drink you want. Though there shouldn’t be anythin’ until after the Torna festival unless there’s somehow a massive development on the Tornan side. There might be somethin’ but I doubt it.”

“Okay,” Rex said, “I think I’m just going to lay down for a while.”

Nia laughed, “I’m about to do the same. Get some rest, you’ve earned it.”

Rex nodded as he slowly trudged over to his room. He finally made it to his room then flopped onto his bed, absolutely exhausted.

He rubbed his eyes, with his mind now free to wander, it wandered back to the scene at Tantal. The corpses, the burned husks of humans with even their armor melted into a puddle.

He covered his mouth as a fresh wave of nausea washed over him. No, he shook his head, he had to be able to take this. It was part of being a knight of Torna. It was all in the name of pursuing justice.

But… was that really the right thing to do?

He clutched his head.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a knock on his door.

“Uh, come in!” He called as he sat up.

“Hey,” Nia walked in and held up the piece of magical paper, “do you want to talk to Brandon?”

“Um,” Rex blushed, “I can’t really write.”

Nia waved a hand dismissively, “that’s no problem. I can write for you.”

“O-oh, you can? Sure, I guess.”

Nia nodded as she pulled up a chair at the desk in his room. “Here,” she pulled out another chair.

“He’s askin’ how you are.”

“Um, does he know about…?”

“Tantal? No. And I’d prefer it stays that way.”

“Okay, tell him I’m okay, just a bit tired from work.”

Nia nodded and wrote down what he requested. They waited a moment and Rex watched as a messy scrawl slowly appeared on the page, distinct from Nia’s own neat, print-like handwriting. 

“What did he say?”

“He’s tellin’ you to work hard so that you’re worth the money I’m givin’ you” Nia snorted.

Rex sighed, “of course that’s one of the first things he says. Tell him I’m working hard.”

Nia chuckled, “I’ll mention that you’re doin’ a good job.”

She wrote a few lines, hopefully exaggerating how good he was doing. Nia hummed as she waited for a response. She smiled, “he says to keep at it. And to make sure that you’re eatin’ and sleepin’ well.”

Rex rolled his eyes, “tell him thanks dad.”

Nia laughed, “I’ll do that.”

A minute went by. “Hm, he’s tellin’ you to just do it. Figures. I’ve told our chefs to work in shifts overnight so you can go at any time today. If you want, you could sleep now and get up at night to eat.”

Rex yawned, “I think I’ll do that.”

“Alright,” Nia said, “I’ll probably keep on chattin’ with Brandon. You get some rest.”

“Okay. I’ll see you later then.”

Even though he was exhausted, laying down on a soft bed, and had his room blacked out with thick curtains, Rex still found himself having trouble falling asleep.

And when he finally did get to sleep, it wasn’t exactly the most restful sleep he had ever had. He awoke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. It was annoying enough to go and run a bath for himself. He sighed as he lowered himself into the steaming water and tried to relax.

He scratched at his hands, the uncomfortable feeling that he had done something wrong still not dissipating. Both Nia and Mio seemed unbothered, and of course the Blades being created as living weapons wouldn’t have issues. He curled up. He wondered what Brandon would say, what he would do, what he would feel.

Well, if there was one thing Rex knew, is that what Brandon would feel if he knew about this would be fury. Yeah, he couldn’t let Brandon know about this. Otherwise he’d have issues. He’d probably immediately break up with Nia and tell him to either stop working for her or he’d stop interacting with him.

Rex sighed, maybe this all hadn’t been such a great idea.

He slowly got out of the bath and dressed. He yawned as he trudged over to the dining hall. He wasn’t sure what time it was, only that it was pitch black outside. He felt bad going now in the middle of the night, but Nia had said that she had the chefs stay on standby the entire night.

And sure enough, the candles and lanterns were lit with chefs busy moving about.

“Master Rex,” Dromarch bowed, “I was told to expect you.”

“Um, okay.”

“Here is the menu,” Dromarch placed a sheet of paper on the massive dining table, “please, take your time.”

“Sure,” Rex said as he pulled up a chair. He slowly read through the menu, running his finger over the lines as he tried to make out words. His face slowly turned redder and redder as he went through it, not understanding any of the words beyond the simple stuff.

“Um… I don’t know any of the words on here,” he said, embarrassed. He didn’t have to deal with this before since he had basically just had what Nia had. This was the first time he was here alone.

“Oh, apologies. I had forgotten about your educational status. Do you wish for me to describe each dish for you?”

Rex waved a hand, feeling incredibly out of place, “no, it’s fine. Can I just get like a sandwich?”

Dromarch bowed and took his order to the kitchen. Rex sighed and put his head between his hands. He didn’t belong here. At first, he had been so excited to care, then he had been too busy to notice. But now, he was feeling it in full force.

His forehead tapped onto the table.

“Apologies master Rex,” Dromarch said as he returned, “the chefs don’t know what a sandwich is.”

“Huh?” But Brandon made them all the time, and even some of the street vendors he’d occasionally buy from. Was there really that much of a difference between them and the nobles?

“Uh, well, it’s like some meat and cheese and butter between two pieces of bread.”

Dromarch nodded, “I shall tell the chefs your request.”

Rex shook his head as Dromarch left again. No, he had a purpose now, and was making good money. He didn’t have to spend every day worrying whether he’d have anything to eat. He didn’t have to worry over his few possessions and life every single day. He’d just have to get used to this. No matter what it took.

It took a few days for Rex’s sleep schedule to fix itself. Luckily, Nia didn’t saddle him with more work and just let him take the time off. It seemed like he wasn’t needed at the moment as Torna worked out the details with their knights.

“You know,” Nia said at lunch a little while later, “the Torna festival is comin’ up soon. Do you have any plans for it? Other than just attendin’ of course.”

“I was just going to try the Blade ceremony again. Oh, and eat all the food I couldn’t afford before.”

Nia chuckled, “of course. I suppose it’s a good thing that you didn’t even think to try to take advantage of my status to try to get special access. That said, would you like special access?”

Rex’s face lit up, “really?”

“Yeah. It would be my pleasure. And I suspect that the people I know in Torna would not be happy if I had you walkin’ around the festival like everyone else. Mio especially.”

“How would that work?” Rex asked, “would I be following you?”

Nia snorted, “no.”

Rex blinked, “that hurts.”

“Oh,” Nia laughed, “sorry. I meant that as in I’ll be with Brandon. I presume you’ll be accompanied by Mio. Either that or you’ll have some other Tora member with you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. If it can’t be Mio, I’ll see who I can get,” she winked.

“Cool!”

Nia smiled, “well that’s settled. And who knows, maybe the Architect will grant you a Blade this time.”

Rex nodded, “I hope so. What about you?”

“Me? I’ve given up. Besides, I already work closely enough with Torna anyway. I don’t really see the need to have a Blade.”

Rex instantly felt bad. Right… He wished he had the courage to ask her what really happened in her past but he didn’t want to bring up bad memories.

“Uh, right. I hope you have fun.”

Nia smirked, “I’m sure I will.”

The weeks passed with no new news. Nia supposed that that was a good thing. It meant that things were quiet. It did mean that it was more time the thieves had to plan, but it also meant that nothing too massive was happening. Plus, Torna had more than enough time to prepare. Lady Haze had taken the threat quite seriously and had installed far greater security than any previous year.

Every single Flesh Eater had been recalled back to Torna’s headquarters to prepare for the multi day festival. The vast majority of Drivers and Blades who weren’t in active duty across Alrest had also returned. Hidden weapons were being set up across the entire area designed to attempt to disable Ophion should whoever stole the Omega Fetter made a move. There was enough firepower gathered there to take down whatever potential threat showed its face.

And all that was just enough to reassure Brandon that things would be fine. And it had been enough to convince him to follow her into the carriage that she had brought to Torigoth.

And Brandon had already thrown up twice on said carriage over the course of the few days they had been traveling.

“How are you this motion sick?” Nia sighed, “you’d think you’d have gotten used to it by now.”

“You overestimate me,” Brandon groaned, “I don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to get back home after this.”

“I’ll get someone to fly you back honestly.”

“What? Ugh. Don’t want to spend time with me?”

“I’ll fly you back then spend time with you on solid ground,” Nia rolled her eyes, “since you’re not exactly much of a conversationalist right now.”

“That’s… fair enough. Ugh.”

“Haven’t you made this trip before?”

“In shorter segments and in an open wagon, not this… carriage.”

Nia sighed, “sorry, I wanted to make this fancy for you. I didn’t realize it would have been like this.”

Brandon chuckled weakly, “it’s fine. Just have to remember this for next year, right?”

Next year huh…? Nia smiled, “yeah.”

“Also, how much were those cushions I threw up on?”

“You don’t have to pay for them,” Nia rolled her eyes.

“Well I feel bad. I’ve even been making us stop for meals.”

“First off, I made sure that even if we hit delays, we’d get there on time. At the rate we’re goin’ right now, we’ll reach Torna the night before the festival starts. Second, you don’t want to know the price. It’s definitely more than you can afford.”

“That’s uh… a cushion is more than I can afford?”

“Well I’m sure that if you took your savin’s and pooled them all together you could. But I also imagine that would put you into financial ruin… over a pillow.”

“... Yeah, that might not be the greatest thing in the world.”

“Yeah, no duh.” She leaned over and flicked his forehead.

“Ow,” he rubbed the spot she flicked. Nia leaned forward and gave him a peck on the lips and she smirked as she watched Brandon’s face light up bright red.

“Love you.”

“I-I-I-” he stuttered, “I… it’s hard to say.”

“Aw,” Nia pouted, “don’t you love me?”

Brandon scratched the back of his head, “you really know how to pressure a guy huh? Alright, fuck it. I love you too.”

“There now,” Nia teased, “was that so hard?”

“Yes! Because it’s weird. I like you, but we’ve only really been face to face for a few days. I don’t know. I feel like I need more time.”

“Well, whenever you’re ready. I’ll be here.” Nia smiled.

“Next year,” Brandon promised, “it may be dumb, but I’ve got my pride. Once I’ve gotten this contract done, I’ll take your offer.”

Nia rolled her eyes, “pride. Hm. What’s your opinion on warrior’s pride then?”

“Huh? Like the legends you hear about with heroes fighting until their last breath?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh that’s really dumb. The only reason I could think of to stick around in a lost fight is if the alternative outcome is worse than death.”

“What could be worse than death?” Nia asked.

“Well I don’t know. It’s the only thing I could think of that would make sense in that kind of situation.” He thought for a moment, “I guess if you’re protecting other people and the only way they escape safely is if you fight to your death?”

Nia snorted, “that already makes you better than many Tornan knights.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ve met a lot of Flesh Eaters. They almost all have one thing in common: their Driver died in combat. An avoidable death, one that happened because of pride or stubbornness.”

“I… why the sudden question?”

Nia hummed to herself, “just wanted to know what you thought. The leader of Torna: Lady Haze, is one of the few Flesh Eaters who’s Driver died of old age. Her Driver was also one of the few Drivers to ever be granted a second Blade. She was a hero of old, shame I never got to meet her, since her time on Alrest was five hundred years ago.”

“Five hundred years ago. The Great War?”

“Yeah. She was a big player in endin’ the war. Her other Blade decided to ascend back to Elysium after her death. Lady Haze, on the other hand, chose to stay behind.”

“So she’s been Torna’s leader for five hundred years?”

“More or less. They vote yearly for a leader, she usually wins but there’s occasionally the Driver or Blade who beats her in votes.”

“Could you be elected leader?”

Nia raised an eyebrow, “considerin’ I’m not part of Torna, no? Even if I was officially a member of Torna, I’m not a Blade or Driver so I wouldn’t be eligible to run for leader anyway.”

“So you have to be chosen by the Architect huh?”

“It’s the most foolproof way to ensure whoever is leader at least has a good heart.”

“Makes sense. Though having a good heart doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be a good leader. Honestly, sometimes it takes having not so great of a heart to be a great leader.”

“And what are you implyin’ by that?”

“Well… man, it’s hard to phrase without me sounding like a lunatic,” he sighed, “uh, well. Think about it this way, if you have to choose between two bad options. Let’s say there are two groups of people who are going to die and as a leader, whatever your decisions are, you can only save one of them. If you try to save both, they both die. A leader with a good heart would try to save both groups even if it was hopeless. And that would make them a hero, sure, but not a good leader.”

“Hm, I see what you’re sayin’. Though I imagine your tune might be slightly different if you were in the group of people not bein’ saved.”

Brandon chuckled, “probably. That’s one of the, admittedly many, reasons I haven’t tried the Blade ceremony. I doubt I’m as ‘pure of heart’ as the Architect requires.”

Nia snorted, “and I know for a fact that I’m not.”

“Right… you’ve mentioned that.”

Nia smiled. She could tell he was trying to be considerate, “it’s fine to talk about it. I don’t really care. Other people have their paths and I have my own.”

“One that hopefully overlaps with my own,” Brandon said.

“Ooh,” Nia purred, “where’s this romantic side been?”

Brandon blushed, “apparently going back to where it came from.”

“No no, please, keep goin’.”

“Well now it’s embarrassing.” Brandon pouted.

Nia laughed and booped his nose, “better than throwin’ up everywhere right?”

Brandon blinked, “huh, I don’t feel as sick now.”

“Guess you just needed a distraction.”

“Yeah…” Brandon groaned as his cheeks had a hint of green, “probably shouldn’t have reminded me then.”

“Dammit, I’m a bloody idiot. And things were goin’ so well,” Nia sighed, “I’ll get the bucket.”

Brandon yawned as he woke up the next morning. He tried to reach his arms up to stretch only to find them restrained by Nia, who was currently hugging him from behind. Ugh, why was she so strong? He struggled to free himself to no avail.

Shit, he didn’t want to wake her. Did he really have to just sit and wait until she woke up naturally?

“Mmh…” He heard Nia grunt from behind him, thank the Architect. “Up already?”

“Yeah… so if you could let go?”

“Hm?” She hummed lazily, “you have to go to the bathroom?”

“Not really.”

“Then no.”

“Are you serious? Today’s festival day, it’s probably already started.”

“Five more minutes.” Nia mumbled.

“Oh for…” Brandon groaned, “you know you’re really hot, right?”

“Of course I’m really hot.”

Brandon rolled his eyes, “I meant temperature wise.”

“I think you meant the other one.”

“I meant both then. Get off.”

“Ugh. Fine.” Nia let go then rolled out of bed. Brandon sighed in relief as he finally stood up and stretched. He walked over to Nia who was also stretching and gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head.

“Mm. This is nice,” Nia said.

“Yeah? Well, let’s get ready for the festival, shall we?”

“Agreed. I’ll go and take a bath,” Nia said.

“Alright, let me know when you’re-”

She grabbed his shirt with a grin, “and you’re takin’ one with me.”

“Brandon!” Rex exclaimed as he ran up to Brandon and wrapped him up in a hug.

Brandon grinned, “heya kiddo,” he ruffled Rex’s hair. “Been a while huh? How’ve you been?”

“Good!” Rex laughed, “can you believe it? I got to explore the Torna headquarters yesterday!”

“That’s awesome,” Brandon chuckled, “did you get to meet anyone?”

“No,” Rex said, “I saw a few Drivers and Blades but they were busy.”

“Well,” Nia smirked as she tapped Rex’s shoulder, “today’s your lucky day.”

“Is this the kid you were talking about?”

Rex looked over to see who just spoke. “Zenobia?!” Rex’s eyes lit up.

“That’s me!” Zenobia said proudly.

“Mio has other stuff to do, so Zenobia will be your guide today,” Nia explained and tossed Rex a bag. “Oh, and here’s some gold. Spend it wisely.”

Rex nodded, “I will!”