Vol.5 Ch.87 - My first creation

“Dobar dan, gdje idete?” The wagon driver kindly asked us.“(Psst, what did he say?)”“(No clue, probably something along the lines of ‘Where to?’)”Yep, we still barely knew anything about Cardinic. Although after a while ofliving here we could accurately surmise that ‘Dobar dan’ is a commongreeting amongst Cardinians. They’re a kind and charitable bunch after all,so whenever you heard that it almost always means they’re willing toaccommodate you. That being said, they do change said greeting according tothe time of day. Say for example, ‘Dobro jutro’ in the morning, and ‘Dobroveče’ in the evening, so I guess ‘Dobar dan’ means ‘Good day’ or somethinglike that. Even still, we had no idea what he was saying in the latter part ofhis sentence.“U-Uh… Centralis.”“Nema problema!”E-Eh? Did I misunderstand?! I heard ‘problem’ in his reply! Ugh, the lastthing I want to do is accidentally offend someone. W-Whoa!? The wagon’staking off! O-Oi, where’re you taking us?! I demand an explanation…!!!“Oh good, looks like he understood us.” Marina said calmly.“What’s so good about this!? Didn’t you hear what he said?!”“…” Marina blinked at me, “He said ‘No problem’, right?”…Ah, I thought as I timidly sat back down with an embarrassed expression.“Come on, calm down there, once we make it to Centralis, we’re apparentlyhome free!” She said, “Although I don’t really get the correlation between thetwo.”“It’s probably because of the Gryses.” I commented, “The Prince of theRoyal Family is a dear acquaintance of mine, so he’ll probably help us out inthat regard.”At this, Marina completely changed her tune from one of confusion to that ofabsolute excitement and surprise. It was actually kind of cute how much hereyes started shining the moment she learnt this new side of me.“Ehh?!? You’re friends with a Grys?!”“W-Well, calling Adam a friend feels kind of awkward due to the differencein our social standing. I mean, I’m just an adventurer (and technically a gangleader), while he’s the Prince of the Royal Family. Having him call me hisfriend makes it feel way too familiar.”“Who cares about that!” She shut me up, “More importantly, how’d you, alowly adventurer and certified idiot, manage to get the attention of thePrince?”Uhh, rude much?! Geez, I’ll have you know I built countless restaurants in myheyday, not to mention kickstarted a gang and made it sit at the top of theGreat Hiana underworld. That’s like comparing a dragon and a lizard, comeon!“I’m pretty sure I told you this once before, no? It was back during the NeoUrbana raid, I even used him as a meatshield to evade any attacks that camemy way.”“Wuh-!” Anna did a double take before bursting out into a fit ofuncontrollable laughter, “Phahahahahah! A meatshield?! You sure he’s notgonna kill us the moment we meet up with him?”Wait… you’re right. It might be okay for Marina to meet up with him, sincethey don’t know each other, but since Adam and I are acquaintances, he’dimmediately recognize that I’m Lune Grimheart (not Sol). This means there’sa high chance he’ll have to report us to the ITA, in which case we’re as goodas gone!“Right, about that…” I whispered to Marina, ”I think I’m gonna stay at theinn, just in case. If we get caught then we’ll be labeled deserters, and that’llcompromise the entire mission.”“Lune?”“Shh!! Didn’t we change our names? What was the point of that if you’re justgonna call me Lune?!”“Oh, right. Then Sol, ugh, I really can’t get used to calling you that. It feelsdishonest…”“Who cares about that, I’m fine with calling you Mariabelle, despite howstupid it sounds.”“You blockhead!” She hit me on the head, “Can’t I at least call you Lunewhen we’re alone?”Her brown eyes peered deeply into my own, staring up with an earnestnessthat can hardly be portrayed by words. In short, she’s giving me the puppydog eyes she’s so goddamned well-known for. God, I can’t say no to that…“F-Fine,” I said while averting my gaze from hers, “Just make sure no one’saround…”She giggled to herself, as if to signal that she’s yet again won. God, itreminds me of back when we played chess, in a way. She was always onestep ahead of me, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.“That’s because I do.” She immediately replied.“W-What? I-I didn’t even say anything!”“Humu, I know~”Okay, now I’m officially scared of her. That intuition was way too sharp justnow to be considered ‘her reading me’.“M-Marina?”“Oh look,” she opened the wagon door, “we’re here.”“Eh? O-Oh…”“And Sol?”“Yeah?” I listened to her next words very intently.“My name’s Mariabelle, remember? Use Marina only when we’re alone~”“R-Right (ugh, her phrasing…)”***“Good day!” Mariabelle said with a steadfast expression, “I would like totalk to Prince Adam!”“Phah! And who do you think you are, commoner girl?” The guard saidwithout a hint of holding back, “Someone like you wanting to talk to hisHighness?! The mere idea makes me laugh uncontrollably! Alright, alright,I’ll amuse you for a bit, seeing as I’ve nothing better to do. What, pray tell,would be the reason for you seeking an audience with his Highness?”Man, this dope talks too much, Marina thought, but decided to just keep thecomment to herself and instead said, “I was instructed to specifically talk toPrince Adam. The reason for this is cumbersome to explain, so I wouldreally appreciate if the talk was to be held just between the two of us.”“Ah, I see what you’re getting at.” The guard chuckled while raising oneeyebrow, “Access denied! If it was that simple to have a one-on-one talkwith a member of the Royal Family, then the assassins would be having afield day!”“E-Eh, I guess you’re right about that…” Marina couldn’t refute the guard’slogic, “But even still, could you at least call him up to talk over here? He’llsurely understand if I just told him what I had to tell him.”“Absolutely not-!”Just then, a young man with a childish face appeared behind the very guardwho denied Marina’s request wholeheartedly, asking what all the fuss wasabout.“Well well, to what do I owe the pleasure of stumbling across such a beautyduring my regular walk around the castle?” Adam said while giving Marina astandard greeting (a peck on the back of the hand).“Yo,” she returned the gest in a rather poor way, “You’re Adam, right? I needto talk to you about something.”“A-Ah, y-yo to you too, Milady…?” Adam was off put by her strangelycasual way of addressing him, “In any case, isn’t it basic courtesy to at leasttell me your name before asking anything of me, Milady?”“Sure, I’m Mariabelle Pandora. I got stranded on Cardina and need money toget out.”“That’s a rather blunt way of putting it, Miss Pandora, but we Gryses arenothing if not a charitable bunch.” He said, “That being said, I can’t just giveyou the money.”“M-Milord?” The guard turned to face his superior, “What are you talkingabout? We give out money to people all the time-”“Did I give you permission to speak, guard?”“N-No, Milord, sorry, Milord…”Heh, these guys are a riot, Marina thought. I can definitely see this Adamguy being used as a meatshield now, he talks big, but at the end of the dayhe’s nothing more than a pushover!“So what do I need to do?” Marina asked, choosing her words carefully.“Become a maid in our Castle!” Adam surprised everyone with hissuggestion.“Milord?!”“Yeah, what he said!” Marina agreed with the bewildered guard.“The pay is good, you can probably make it back within a couple of monthsof working here, and we offer benefits such as free food (provided you, themaid, makes it) as well as a room specially made for you (and the othermaids working here).”“Well, I’m gonna have to talk to Lu-err, Sol about that, so I’ll get back to youon that.”“Sol?” Adam’s brow furrowed, “And who might that be?”“He… also got stranded with me. He sadly couldn’t make it here with metoday, but I’m sure you’ll meet him someday soon.”“Ah, I see…” Adam thought for a moment, “Then it might take a while beforeyou can make enough money for the both of you to make it home. I wasmistaken in thinking you were here alone, so that’s why I offered you this job.Do you two have a place to stay?”“Yeah, but without money, not for long.”“Then I suggest he finds a stable income as well. Like I said, the pay here isenough for you to go home alone, but together, you’ll need a lot more money.”“I see. Well then, I’ll discuss what we’ve just talked about with him, then I’llcome back tomorrow and give you the final decision. Thank you foreverything!”“No problem, Lady Pandora.”“Oh please!” She turned around, “Isn’t that way too formal? Just Mariabelleis fine!”At these words, the Prince’s chest could almost be heard knocking at hisribcage with every beat. No doubt, this transient beauty of the young maidenwould surely leave a lasting impact in his mind. There was no other way toput it, Prince Adam was in love.***“Alright!” Lune sat himself down at the table in his room, “Time to put thisbrain of mine to good use! Now that Marina’s not here, there’s nothing todistract me from trying my hand at making something to upgrade Fireball!”So you see, right now Marina’s at the Grys Royal Castle negotiating withAdam about somehow giving us a small loan. I instructed her not to under anycircumstances give out my name, but something tells me I shouldn’t be gettingmy hopes up.Certainly, giving out my name to Adam would probably make it easier forhim to give us the money, but then we’d have to deal with the ITA after wegot back home. I really don’t want to have to do that, so I’d much ratherAdam didn’t know about me.But then how do you know that Adam’ll just give us the money? I hear youask, and that’s simple to answer as well! You see, the Grys Royal Family areknown for helping out lost travelers get back home by giving them the moneyrequired without any strings attached. It’s certainly an easy to exploit way ofdoing things, but it’s been proven successful for centuries by now, as most ifnot all adventurers would be reasonable and pay back the money in someform of way eventually. That being said, if you asked for too much, orwronged the Gryses in any way, then I’ve heard stories that they actuallyissue a bounty on you, so they’re not complete pushovers.“But who cares about that!” I said with a glimmer in my eye, “Let’s go makemyself an upgrade!”First off, planning. You can’t just jump into making some form of tool orinvention without first drawing out an extensive blueprint on a sheet of paper,can’t you? That’s why I need to make sure that the design is right no matterwhat, otherwise I’d be wasting my materials for naught!“And those materials were hard to acquired too, I basically had to rummagethrough thousands of trashbins just to get this little bit of scrap.” I said as Ilooked over to my right, “I don’t think even Prylos could get this much trashin his room and justify the reason behind it. I need to act fast, otherwiseMarina will come back and berate me for hoarding trash.”Let’s see, I had read something about flame powered mechanisms before in abook I read back in Great Hiana, but who knows if it’s fact or fiction. Theidea is to make some sort of miniature handheld cannon, with the firingsystem requiring me to use Spark to make it go boom. It shouldn’t be toosimple, but it’ll definitely help out in a pinch, as it’ll essentially make me beable to shoot out power equivalent to Fireball while actually just using upenough energy for a Spark. In theory, it’s genius!“Alright…” I drew and drew, “Oh, I should add this! And this should gohere! Ah, can’t forget the wick! And the barrel should go at this angle! Wait,this looks sorta cool!”Aaaaand… done! It’s perfect! But will it hold up once I actually make it?Well, only one way to find out…!Taking out a spare piece of metal from the box of trash I had next to me, Ibegan slaving away, assembling it slowly yet steadily. I’m gonna be usingthis in the heat of battle, I thought, and the last thing I’d want is for it toblow up in my face when I need it the most! And so, after a couple hours ofwracking my brain over something that was probably most akin to anamateur’s display at best, I finished my first invention!“I did it!” I yelled out as the front doors opened, making me quickly hide itunder the blueprints.“And what exactly is it that you did, darling?” Marina said, briskly plantingherself down on her bed.“I uhh-nothing! Nothing of importance, in any case. But that doesn’t matter,how’d it go with Adam?”“Well, apparently he wants me to work as a maid in order to pay off all thatmoney they’re lending us.”“Eh? That’s dumb! Charitable bunch, my ass!”“Hmm, I dunno. Sounds kinda fun, honestly!”I was all but expecting her to agree with me on not wanting to be anyone’sslave or worker, but she was surprisingly enthusiastic about it. I mean, comeon, she’ll poison the man if she ever makes him food, not to mention she’s aslob beyond slobs, and he wants her to keep the place tidy?“You’re okay with working for him? I mean, I’d rather we go for anotherway.”“Do you have a better idea?” She motioned for me to go to bed as well, “Orare you just feeling some jealousy about me being with another man?”She really just said that, didn’t she?“I really don’t know how to tell you this, but I’d literally sell you for a glassof fountain water.”“That’s free though!”Hehe, yeah. But seriously, she’s gonna work for the Gryses, eh? That’sactually kind of relieving in a way, since it means we get a good source ofinformation from her spending time with them, all the while we’re hiddenaway from external affairs of the ITA and the likes. Add to that the fact thatshe gets paid? Buddy boy, you’ve got yourself a deal!“Okay,” I laid on my bed, “I don’t mind you working, but then what will I dowhile you’re away?”“Maybe sell that thingamajig you’ve been tinkering with in your room thisentire day?”“How’d you know about my Firestarter Pistol?!”“Whoa, that’s a helluva name! Now I gotta see it for myself!”This girl is scary! How does she seemingly always know what I’m thinking!?Maybe I was talking to myself too loud and she heard me? Gahh, that’s waytoo embarrassing! I’d rather die! Well, no matter, if she’s asking to see it, I’llhappily oblige.“Here,” I handed it to her, “It’s like a mini-cannon. I light the fuse withSpark, which cocks it. After that it’s primed to fire something that’s,hypothetically at least, akin to the firepower of a Fireball.”“Hmm, cool, cool…” Marina fiddled with it without listening to a word Isaid.“Just be careful though, I’m pretty sure it’s primed right no-!”*BANG*A powerful bullet came flying out of the pistol with a trail of fire followingit. Magnificent, ephemeral, heck I’d call it celestial if I knew what that wordmeant. Even still, it was terrifying. It made a horrible ear-piercing noise, andthe flash from the muzzle almost blinded both of us.“…” Marina stood in shock, “Coool…”“Not cool!” I immediately went to reprimand her, “You dumbass! Thelandlord’s gonna make us pay for this hole in the wall now!”“Not if I just…” She said, hanging a picture frame in place of where thebullet went.