Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

[Editor's note:

Hello hello, everybody!

It seems Fracaleza did get conquered and Don was BANNED? But is that the end of our story? Who is our story going to follow now? Buckle up for the final arc of the beloved series! ]

After the Fracaleza's battle, Sally, the last remaining member of Don's crew, finds herself tangled with the group of scoundrels who once included the very same Daniel who is now a treat to all of Continuá. They might be the only other group of people who unlocked secret skills, and they've been betrayed by the kid. Is Sally going to be able to rally them and make them take responsibility for their former member? 

"We already tried you guys' way! Now we're going to find Joy and try it my way and take the fight to the Kid!"

Undoubtedly, Biel and Lily would be pretty much useless in combat, but the other boy was very interested in reuniting with their dear estranged companion.

Even though she wasn't proven in combat, Joy had a very deep connection with her sword and is said to have been practicing ever since getting her hand on it. Not to mention, the Tear from Another World skill that is said to have saved them from certain death before. 

"Okay. I'll look for her in the outskirts, less likely to get caught by the law. You look into the inner walls."

She moves around the city, people recognize her, but don't engage — quite the opposite, try to keep further away as possible. Don might've been the very charismatic leader, inspiring people wherever he went, but Sally's stern and yet classy demeanor would always push people away. They'd think she was arrogant and inaccessible. This didn't get any better now that she walked about with raging flames into her eyes. 

She darted around towards the auditorium and would sporadically stop people, with a subtle motion of her hand, and ask.

"Excuse me. Do you happen to have seen a young long black haired lady, yellow eyes and probably wearing haute couture made from forest material."

"Eh …  Sorry, hmm … milady!? … I haven't seen anyone as uni… Distinct! I haven't seen any individual so distinct!" 

Say what you will at the guy, and Sally definitely wasn't his greatest of fans, but one thing he got right. If only these people would just have heard him and instituted a military institution it'd be a heck of a lot easier to find the girl, she would be either in jail or at least being tracked by the police. 

The city operated with only the few people who wanted to patrol as guards. They'd do it whenever they wanted and didn't answer to no one on a regular basis. 

Their idea was that, as nobody had anything excessive in this world and everybody could do the job of their dreams, nobody would resort to crime. If someone ever would, public unrest would rise, more people would want to be guards and the culprit would get caught.  

It might have worked for years in the past, but with an organized force clearly intent on opposing their way of life, things, Sally thought, were bound to get ugly.

By the end of the day, she was back at the criminal's camp to share their intel. Sally started.

"I've only managed this side of the river, around the auditorium, mostly."

"Me too, and apparently there is something matching her description who has been helping out with treatments of sick and hurt people and spouting some weirdly religious nonsense, but no idea where or if it even is real."

"Yeah, It is weird since people of Mar de Fevereiro are very skeptical. They don't have a religion or anything. But I've also heard about someone whose existence is questionable. Hey, did you also get a sense that you were being follo~"

"Wait. Did you say people aren't religious? What about that temple?"

"They gather there to talk mostly, it is the only point of interest other than the auditorium, but the latter isn't generally associated with fun, since it is used for political reasons — twice a week there are assemblies to decide anything the people think necessary."

"Who built it, though?" Biel interjects.

"No one knows. It has been there before anyone arrived."

That is the same for the auditorium, the inner wall and there used to be brick houses too. As the city grew, it was ruled that it was unfair and immoral for some to have brick houses while others didn't, so they were demolished and wooden houses constructed in their stead.

At this time, Sally realized the design of their house felt different from the city folk. It was still a big rectangle made of wood, but the careful arrangement of the wall logs and the lack of excess roofing on one of the sides weren't only more packed and solid, but seemed to invite expansions.

Their food also had more personality, but not like the type in Fracaleza, which lacked cohesion. There was something distinctive that spawned from their unique experience with this world. 

Biel noticed her eyes scanning the house.

"With the house finished, I'm thinking of moving to the engineering three, it'd be terribly useful to somehow get easier water. You know what we should do?  You should learn Terra Preta, Lily, that was how the indigenous people from Braxil solved the soil fertility problem."

"Really? We didn't even knew it actually was a fertility problem, there is so much flora around here. Now I'm excited!"

Sally was thinking, "If only these people were regular Fracaleza's townspeople, we could've grown so much. Her hearts heats up with aggressive beating at the image of what could've been if only Daniel didn't ruin everything. 

"Tomorrow we're checking the other side of the river!" She shouts before going to bed, followed by a baby caiman, that got fond of her, named Bruce.

The next day wasn't proving much more useful. Noon was already gone, and she looked below every rock in the inner wall. It was already raining — It would always rain an hour or two into the afternoon. The only lead is that mythological nonsense.

Sally decided to head to the temple. "Everybody who seems to have seen her has had a divine experience, so maybe there are more of them around the temple".

"Oh, yeah! She is helping my brother! He got stabbed in a bar fight and the wound got infected. He is alright now, but she is still giving us words of acceptance and gratitude. Somehow it moved me to come here. Hahaha" 

This young boy was one of the last hopes, he just arrived after at least an hour of fruitless questioning. Sally follows him into the area between the walls and sure enough she arrives just as the figure is saying goodbyes.

"Joy!?"

"Oh, hey, Sally. Good to see ya." Joy moves in for a hug.

Something about it boils Sally's blood. "A message of acceptance and gratitude? Is she going to forgive Daniel and that is it?". Instead of speaking her mind, Sally draws her sword. 

"I have to check something!" and lounges forward, slashing down.

Joy steps backwards and dodges. Her sword is on the right side of the belt, making it harder for a quick draw, since she is right-handed. But she doesn't bother to move for it, even having to deal with the increasing intensity of Sally's attacks.

"I see you really are a good fighter!"

Joy smiles and then answers, "Not really, I just understand how this world works. There is no poetry in your cutting me into pieces."

That aggravates her opponent so much she considers using her secret skill. Instead, Sally goes for a horizontal fast attack into a fullback downwards finisher. Joy crouches and then dodges to her right while holding the sword into place and letting Sally's stomach fall with full force into the hilt. 

"How poetic would it be for your own rage to be your downfall though?"

Faster than our hero could catch her breath and look back, her rival was already gone. She heads out of town feeling humiliated and meets with her search party companion.

"I found her. She would be really useful to us, but I think you'll have to talk to her."

"I can try, but I'll guess she is in better terms with Biel. We kinda drifted apart."

As they walked back they saw warm bright colors at the distance, in the middle of the forest and at night. An eerie feeling strikes then and a chill down their spine before they run. Heat increases as they close in. Their house is on fire.

"Did they drop lit fire into the house or something?" 

"No!" A unfamiliar voice , for Sally at least, answers.

"Omar!?" 

A man with dark hair, blood in his mouth and the sword in his left hand. There is yellow fur growing and his bone structure changing. 

By the end of the transformation, he lets go of the blond haired body, still warm, but falls to the ground lifeless. There is another one further to the left, close to the fire. 

An arrow flies towards him, but he runs into the woods. 

Biel was attacked first, there is a sword wound from the back and no signal of struggle. Lily was dragged around and forced to watch Biel agonizing and the house being burnt, and executed right before they arrived. 

He even stepped over Bruce. 

Sally's rage could barely be contained, and the Boy fell to the ground with his fists clenched, in a mix of rage and hopelessness.