Feeling surprisingly fresh, Erec pulled himself together as quickly as he could and went outside; upon Boldwick’s orders, the Knights gathered. Boldwick gave him a nod. In the distance, he saw more than a few Pendragons rubbernecking him. With how Enide made it sound, they likely thought he’d been torn to shreds. After the healing, though, he was left with soreness.
How much of the sudden healing was due to Olivia’s increasing proficiency with Faith or due to VAL? Who could say? But, he felt fine enough.
“We encountered a substantial monster yesterday; we’re in the field. We cannot afford to spend very long and dip too far into our resources repairing the damage on Erec’s Armor,” Boldwick summarized. Erec winced, but it was the truth, though he wasn’t sure how bad a state he left his Armor in.
They couldn’t have avoided that, aside from not getting in the fight, to begin with. But it didn’t make it less of a pain in the neck to fix.
“Bad news on that front. Especially given what we’ve discovered. But we’ll rush through it. We’ll head into the city to gather scrap steel, should be full of resources and enough for an emergency repair. The Armor won’t be pristine, but it’ll be functional. Erec, you’ll be spending your time repairing it. Begin with mending any wires. I believe you’ve taken an elective regarding repair, so it should be within your capabilities.”
“I did. I also have a lot of practice with an old model. Can’t say for sure right now how extensive the damage is, but I’ll do my best.”
[There’s nothing irreparable, not with me assisting.]
Thank the Goddess.
“Good. As soon as it’s repaired, we’ll investigate our discovery. The rest of the Knights have already been debriefed; Gwen and I spotted a column of smoke in the middle of the city. It’ll be a dangerous trek, but where there’s fire, there’s the potential for scavengers.”
“Why didn’t you investigate it yesterday?” Colin asked, with his arms crossed.
Yeah, his mood couldn’t be better. After attracting the mimic-maker, Erec could only imagine what words the Duke had for him. He frowned as he looked at Colin; his eyes were puffy and shadowed. Did he feel bad? Maybe, but things were not going well, and he needed to sort out his friend. Boldwick didn’t seem bothered by the question, thankfully.
“Before we made contact with the fire source, I’d heard a report about your fight. Risking two engagements while in the field and limiting the availability of backup is suicidal. To survive, you must learn that not every situation matches your skill set, prepare in advance, and minimize potential danger. The city's interior is a hotbed of monsters, and after some observation, the density of monsters had returned to what they were before the Stag appeared.” Boldwick responded in a calm voice.
Colin said, “Sorry,” and then looked away from Boldwick. His father put a hand on his shoulder, making him go as still as a statue.
“To reiterate, it’s a simple plan. Repair as fast as possible, so we can investigate where the fire was before it turns to night.”
“Understood.” Everyone responded, and then they split off.
Erec returned to the building, made a quick stop to grab his supplies, then screwed up his face and confronted his Armor.
It stood in the back of the building. The room was sealed from the outside by a roof. Out of anywhere in the building, it was the most strategically guarded place in their den. A few Knights lingered in the room, talking and donning Armor before their mission. He exchanged a couple of small pleasantries since, with the abrupt wakeup, they hadn’t had the time.
For the most part, everyone appeared focused. This fire being compelling enough for their leader to rush them made them eager. Everyone wants to leave Worth.
After their previous experience here and the day they returned already came up with a brush of danger, it was to be expected. The sooner they left the damn city, the better. That and being spoiled on the road with the Pendragons only made it worst.
As long as they were socializing with the group, Boldwick cut them more slack than usual. Even if Erec didn’t feel comfortable with social gatherings, the welcoming energy of their Pack made it easy to bridge the gap and join them at the bonfires.
Once the expedition ended, he didn’t know how to feel about being done with them.
The last of the Knights filtered out, and Erec shook his head. A small welder and solderer came, each equipped with glyph work to generate condensed heat on its tip. This let them avoid the need for fuel aside from their mana.
Erec took a long look at his Armor. Tears in the metal presented obvious weak points, some torn wires where axes had cut into him, and dents that threatened structural stability. VAL highlighted some specific concerns, mainly around the right arm joint. But, none of the subsystems were dysfunctional, thanks to the variety of inbuilt redundancies.
Using his welding tool, Erec pieced together the Armor.
Fire and metal melted, and he took a hammer to different places as VAL worked the interior with its nanites. At some point, the Knights returned and dropped off scrap metal.
As he worked, his mind drifted. He couldn’t get the night before out of his head.
That picture of Enide next to him reminded him of a bright maple-filled bio-cavern teeming with wildlife and plants. Her voice was as breezy as the wind. The amount of care she took towards him…
It was due to his connection with Vortex Industries. He kept trying to tell himself.
[Watch your work, Junior Researcher. Sloppy welding.]
Erec winced; without thinking, he’d induced another flaw. Carefully, he pried the scrap metal away and used another piece.
No matter what, she kept creeping into his head. He found himself rushing the repairs, hoping without a real sense of logic that if he completed early, Boldwick would give them a few minutes to relax with the Pendragons before heading back into Worth.
For some odd reason, today, he didn’t feel the need to walk into another fight.
VAL sensed that Erec’s head was not in the right place and took on a managerial role in the workflow. Between the two of them, finishing the repair job went quickly. And it wasn’t new, but in two hours, the Armor was just about as good as it could get out here.
Unlike he secretly wished, there was no time to spend with the Pendragons.
After finishing, Boldwick inspected the Armor, then approved it. He then told Erec to get in it.
Like that, they were marching back into Worth.
Erec got one last look over his shoulder at the Pendragon cars. The pack was watching them with weary admiration. Sitting on a car hood, Erec made out Enide, who was staring with her arms crossed and a frown. Her eyes locked right on him.
— -☢ - — - ☼ - — - ☢ - —
“I cannot continue like this.” Colin said, marching with dim enthusiasm. Boldwick and the Duke cleared this street, and Dame Robin and Dame Juliana watched the alleys. An efficient tactic and one that maximized security while strolling through a dangerous city.
Erec side-stepped a corpse of a beheaded lizard, its warm blood still soaking into the road.
“Aw, c’mon, man. He cares about you, maybe a bit too much, but I’m sure that’s all there is to it.” Garin said, walking next to Erec and Colin.
The girls were a few strides behind, talking about whatever it was that’d piqued their interest. The longer the expedition went on, the closer Olivia and Gwen got, which made Erec glad. For both their sakes, more friendship only strengthened the group.
“It’s as if I’m living back at home, only worse. I cannot lock myself away in my room or yell at the servants to have them quit trying to get me to go to his study; everywhere I go, there he is. Offering unwanted advice, finding fault with me, or otherwise going out of his way to explain why I’m an incapable heir.”
“Everyone has issues with their parents; my dad isn’t quite happy with me from time to time. When it comes to our bio-caverns, he thinks I will lead it all to ruin.” Garin shrugged.
“My father doesn’t care much at all. Even after letting him live at my new place, he still prefers to go and spend nights at his job.”
“Neither of you knows what I’m dealing with!”
“I know what it is to live in the shadow of your family. Did you forget I was a second son and who my brother is?” Erec said. “It isn’t easy. I know that.”
“That isn’t fair! Look at you and Garin. Both of you have your Divine Talents, providing you an edge.”
“What? Do you think talking to an overweight squirrel is doing anything useful for me?” Garin asked, only for a chorus of angry squirrel noises to erupt from his suit. Munchy disagreed with him.
“Fine, I’ll concede your talent is useless—“ More upset squirrel noises and curses came from Garin “—But it’s better to have a Talent than not have one.” Colin sniffled.
Really? Crying? Erec knew it wasn’t going well with his father, but there were deep-seated issues here.
“Garin’s talent isn’t useless.” Erec felt like he had to add, even if his friend disagreed. It was more a matter of Garin failing to utilize it. In the chaos of Dame Morgana, his friend had yet to test the limits of his Talent.
Later. He’d drill Garin on it later.
“Colin, you'll never be satisfied if you measure yourself constantly against others. There will always be people above you, someone who has more or is stronger. Dwelling on that only makes you unhappy, not better. It sucks when you’re close to someone like that, even more, when they measure you by their standard. But they’re not you, and they don’t have to live with the weight of that judgment. Your father probably doesn’t realize the impact it has on you. Have you ever tried talking through any of this with him?” Erec asked.
They crossed by an intersection; Dame Robin gave Erec an approving nod as she overheard what they discussed. To the left and right were more buildings. They’d reached the thick of the city. Each street, by now, was absolutely crowded with rusted vehicles. Some of the buildings collapsed upon one another into a mound of ruined brickwork and destruction.
But it wasn’t all dead civilization. Some greenery was starting to grow out here in the recesses of the buildings. Vining plants that looked a tad dry but otherwise found refuge from the overbearing sun started reclaiming bits of the city.
“How do you talk to a man like that?” Colin asked quietly, and neither Erec nor Garin had an answer. “…I must find a way to be better.”
Erec sighed. He wasn’t even good at talking to other people, not the one to offer advice for such a thing. But things were fundamentally broken in the Nitidus household.
Not long after, they reached a four-story building. From a long way out, and to everyone’s surprise, a pillar of smoke still rose from its roof.