"Spitz says we’re almost there!"

Hephy announced from the driver's cabin.

I walked inside to check where we were from the front windows. It appeared that we had stopped right in front of a shadowy alleyway. Unlike many parts of the city, there was not a single glimmer of Glowgrass in sight that illuminated the area. The alley was devoid of plant life, and all one could see was a void of black. It reminded me of the streets of Sector 24, where you needed lanterns to explore the city.

“Wait….is this really the right place? This feels way too creepy.” A drop of sweat dripped down Hephy’s brow.

I turned on the communication device on my ear to listen to what Spitz was saying.

“Exactly. It does its job quite well,” Spitz said. “Most of Dober and Kangal’s men tend to avoid these types of areas due to the lack of visibility. Even if they have the resources to bring lanterns, they would prefer not to risk exploration here, because they’re constantly on the edge for enemies.”

“I’m not convinced.” Hephy shook her head. “How do we know there aren’t any enemies hiding around these places? Shouldn’t we also be on the edge?”

“Ah, right. I forgot to mention. They’re afraid of the secretive and mysterious Rus Gang. None of them can understand, nor predict what they’re up to.”

“The Rus Gang! Why shouldn’t we be afraid then?!”

“That’s because I’m the leader of the Rus Gang. It’s me they’re afraid of. ”

“I’m not even surprised at this point.” Hephy said and moved the Wagon House forward. 

She flicked a lever, and a ray of light came out from the vehicle, exposing the area just a few feet in front of us. To me, it appeared just like any other ordinary alleyway, surrounded by tall structures with windows and doors stuck to their walls. That was until Hephy made a right turn, then a left turn, and another right turn soon after.

“Wait….what?” I placed my hand on my chin.

Hephy scratched her head. “This place goes deeper than I thought.”

“Yep, that’s why I consider this place as one of the best hiding spots in the city.”

“Why didn’t you just bring the children here before?” I asked.

“I couldn’t risk bringing them back out into the warzone. I don’t have any means of transporting them safely. That’s why I decided to ask for your assistance in the first place. And besides, the safehouse was already good enough before Hephy arrived.”

Hephy rolled her eyes. “I get it already, it’s my fault! I’m sorry! Moving on!”

After one more turn, we had finally reached the end of the dark maze, only to be greeted by the shining verdance of Glowgrass and the shimmering of colored Glowflowers. It was a garden hidden by the darkness. No one would have expected to find anything like this in such a gloomy place. 

And stuck to the wall of the dead end was a red wooden door, with what appeared to be a big neon sign above it that had long lost its light. It read, ‘Drunk Doggie’s Tavern.’

“And I thought this place was supposed to scare people off.” Hephy placed her hands on her hips.

A sudden knock on the door caused Hephy to jump in place. She clutched her heart and took a deep sigh.

“N-Nevermind….”

I opened the door to see Spitz’s head poke itself inside, which made a heart jump a little because of that scary mask of hers.

“Are the kids doing well?”

“Y-Yes…...”

“That’s good.” 

Her soft-spoken voice and caring words had contradicted her appearance. Beneath that menacing mask, was simply just a person with a compassionate heart to help others. It didn’t matter what her face looked like or how scary she appeared on the battlefield. What truly mattered was her actions, and that was enough for me.

After we let all the children out of the Wagon House, we approached the door in front of us. Hephy looked back at the vehicle with a concerned expression. It was already parked on the corner of the garden, but I could understand why she would still be worried. This was our only mode of transport. Plus, this basically acted as our home.

“What’s wrong?” Spitz asked her. 

“Is it okay if I set up some defenses here?” Hephy asked. “If there was one person brave enough to get through here, this safehouse would be in potential danger. It would be nice if we could take precautions.”

“Sure. Go ahead. I would appreciate it. But please don’t overdo it to the point where it would be obvious.”

Hephy lifted a thumbs-up. “Don’t worry. My inventions can be pretty sneaky.”

Spitz nodded and escorted the children over to the red door. Before I could follow them, something grabbed my arm. I turned back to see Hephy tugging down with a stern look on her face.

“Lars and I will be waiting here,” she said.

“All right.” 

“Bye, Big Bro and Dwarf Lady! Thanks for the ride!” Finn waved before entering the safehouse.

“Call me that again and I’ll break your bones you damned brat!” Hephy’s head steamed like a hot kettle.

Spitz turned back at the response, which brought shivers down my spine.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean that!” I said.

Spitz held and shook her head. After all the children went inside, she closed the door shut, leaving me and Hephy all alone. 

My eyes leaned downwards towards hers, who were already deadlocked against me as she crossed her arms. We gave each other a long stare. Not a single word was said. But I could sense that there was anger written on her face. It was getting awkward between us, so I decided to break the ice.

“So….what did you want to talk about?”

The next thing I knew, the redhead had tackled me to the ground and grasped my shirt.

“You think I haven’t gotten over it yet!” Some spit came out from her mouth. “I haven’t forgiven you for letting Scarlet get away! How are you gonna take responsibility for this?!”

“I-I’ll get her back! I promise!” 

A slap struck my face.

“Have you even decided what you have to do?! Last I checked, you weren’t planning on killing Dober at all! And I’m pretty damn sure you have no idea where Kangal is! Please…do entertain me, how the hell are we supposed to get her back?!”

I winced. 

She was right. There were only two ways of getting her back. The first choice, which I considered as the most rational, was to take down Dober. But I wanted to settle with the second choice, to find Scarlet and save her from Kangal, which was much less plausible. 

However, I wanted to believe that it was possible. That it could all be settled without killing. There’s no point in being undecided. There’s no point in hesitating. If I show weakness in my resolve, then I’ll never be able to stick to my ideals. 

“I’ll find Scarlet!” I grabbed her arms. “Give me 3 days to do it! If I fail, then I’m going all in on killing Dober!”

“You still insist on that no-killing route, huh….”

“If I’m correct, then I still have 4 days if we don’t include this one. If I fail to find Scarlet by the 3rd day, then I’ll do whatever it takes to kill Dober on the final day. How does that sound?”

“Are you serious about this?!” Hephy glared into my eyes with a misty gaze. It looked like she was on the verge of tears.

I chose not to blink and maintain eye contact.

“Yes. Please give me another chance. I’ll make up for my mistakes. If I fail, then you can kill me yourself.”

Hephy gritted her teeth and let go of me.

“Fine!”

“Wait…you’re just going to trust me?” I asked and picked myself up from the ground, dusting off some of the grass that ended up on my cloak.

“You’re my only hope in saving Scarlet,” she said, looking away. “If Scarlet thought so highly of you, then you better live up to those standards, you bastard.”

Hephy turned back to gaze at me.

“But, the way you are now, is not enough.”

I took her words not as an insult, but rather as a criticism to learn from. However, my fists tightened in instinct. It felt like there was something lacking with me. Was I supposed to train even harder with my sword techniques?  Was I supposed to work my body to its limits? I know I’m still a long shot from my master, but I’ve done everything to the best of my ability to improve. How else can I get better on the battlefield?

“I acknowledge your skills as a swordsman, I’ll tell you that. But there’s something I’d like to show you.” Hephy gestured at me to follow her.

She led me back into the Wagon House and we both entered inside.

I had found myself sitting on the second floor, with Hephy sketching a stick figure version of me holding a sword  on the drawing board.

“This is you.” Hephy pointed with a stick. “A former Enforcer who spent most of his life training in the art of the sword. Correct?”

“Yes.”

“Based on what I’ve seen from my drones, I can safely say that you are a talented swordsman-no. A genius with the sword.”

A tint of red entered my cheeks. “I-I can’t say I’m a genius.”

“No-no-no!’ Hephy shook her head vigorously. “An idiot who brings a sword to a gunfight and still somehow comes out victorious is definitely a genius. Not to mention, with a magical sword that isn’t even lethal for some reason! If it were a normal sword, you would have destroyed most of them with ease.”

“But I had Scarlet’s help-”

“Cut it out and stop being so meek!” Hephy hit me lightly on the head. “We’re wasting time having these back and forth conversations.”

“S-Sorry.”

Hephy cleared her throat. “Ahem! Now that leads to the main question of the day. What is missing?”

Before I could answer, Hephy raised her hand to stop me.

“Equipment.”

“Equipment…?”

“You’re already a genius with the sword overall and have magical abilities to boot, so how else can we improve your efficiency? That’s right, through equipment! You just need good gear to capitalize on your existing skills!”

Hephy drew four objects around the stick figure and drew lines to connect them together. Then, she walked away and traversed through the sea of endless junk around us, scavenging for certain items. When she finally finished, she returned with three pieces of equipment.

“First up, we have Scarlet’s favorite, Smoke Bombs for suppression!” Hephy wrapped her hand around the familiar looking metal sphere. “I’m sure you’ve already seen it before. Just double-press on the red button and smoke comes bursting out after two seconds! But please, don’t play around them so much like that idiot Scarlet does. Use it sparingly. I’m gonna run out of supplies to make this stuff at this rate!”

After seeing how often Scarlet wasted those little orbs, it was easy to empathize with Hephy.

“Next up, for mobility, the Grappling Gun!” 

The word ‘Gun’ made my nerves tremble. As expected, it resembled the shape of the all too familiar pistol, except it had a metal hook attached to the end and gears sticking out slightly from the sides.

“This one’s a little more difficult to deal with, but once mastered, you can use it to get to places much faster and reach greater heights! Just shoot the sucker towards anything you can hook onto and away you go!”

“Uegh…” I let out a sound of aversion.

“Ya got something to say about my invention?” Hephy raised an eyebrow.

“Well…” I scratched my head. “Ranged weapons aren’t my thing. I’m terrible at aiming.”

“I already know that. You wouldn’t be so insistent on running around with a sword otherwise. But not to worry!” Hephy let out a smug look. “You don’t need to be good at guns to use this thing! It can hook into almost anything, so as long you hit something, it’ll work just fine!”

“Have you actually tested if it works?” 

“Nope, this is all just theoretical! I do know that it shoots and hooks onto things with ease, but I’ve never tried pulling my weight along with it.”

“Um…has Scarlet tried this thing at least?” I said, with an obvious look of concern.

“She said she wasn’t interested. The brat’s already having fun jumping around with those cybernetic legs of hers.”

I sighed. “So I’m supposed to be your guinea pig?”

“Just test it out later if it works. I’ll take responsibility if you injure yourself due to any faulty functioning, but have some faith in my tinkering. I’ll have you know I’m very meticulous when it comes to my stuff. It’s why I have a ton of trashy devices lying around unused. ”

I nodded.

Guess it doesn’t hurt to give it a shot.

“Third, we have the Spyglass!” Hephy handed over a cylinder-shaped object rod with lenses. “Great for scouting purposes! Helps you see things from a distance away!”

I peeked inside the spyglass, only to find myself looking straight towards a close-up view of Hephy’s nostrils.

“And last but not least, let’s talk about defense! I present to you, the Prototype Lightweight Magion Chestplate!”

The chestplate had a black silvery color, indeed reminiscent of the Magion metal from the mines. Its lines shaped the muscles of a defined human body, from the pectorals down to the rectus abdominis to the obliques and lats on the sides. 

“As the name suggests, it is a piece of armor crafted from Magion, a powerful type of metal that allows its user protection from both physical and magical attacks! Normally, it’s only used for mechs or heavy pieces of armor, but I’ve found a way to make it feel more flexible while maintaining some of its protective properties.”

“I see….but why is it so….defined?”

Hephy frowned for a second, then let out a light smile.

“An old friend of mine….he told me he wanted it to look aesthetic. He was insecure about his body back then.” she chuckled. 

Based on her initial expression, I figured I shouldn’t ask any further.

“Why don’t you try it on?”

“All right.”

I took off my cloak and removed my upper garments. 

“Gyak!”

Hephy let out a loud gasp all of a sudden, which immediately tensed up my nerves. I put on my guard and frantically looked around. Whatever shocked Hephy must be just around here somewhere. I have to make sure she’s safe from harm!

“Hephy! What’s going on?! Is there an enemy somewhere?!”

“N-No…..it’s just that…”

Hephy slowly lifted her hand and pointed at me. Shivers ran down my spine. I swiftly turned back, but there was no one there.

“Where did they go?!”

“I’m talking about you, you dimwit! Y-Your body!” Hephy chattered her teeth on her fingers.

“W-What?! My body?!” I clutched myself everywhere. “You mean it entered my body?! No way!”

“N-No! That’s not it! How do you have such a sexy body, Lars?!”

I stared at her blankly for a few seconds, then looked down at my six-pack abs.

“Looks normal to me.”

“It looks exactly like this piece of armor! It’s a perfect fit!” Hephy said as she looked back and forth towards me and the armor.

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“You expect me to believe that as you stand there shirtless?!”