Geniveria leaned back in her chair as she massaged her arms.
The Fireteam had all collectively decided to use Naclyd’s Tinder Rose Inn, one of the better inns in town, as their current ‘base of operations’ and as their current resting place.
A nearby waiter came by and placed three mugs of cordial on the table.
Thanking him, she pulled out a carving knife and began playing with it.
They received the compensation for eliminating those burdenbeasts but ultimately, Rayleigh decided to return the quest regarding the pestilent back.
Which made her very bitter, but she had to admit that getting knocked out by a horse definitely hurt. Everyone, with the exception of Rayleigh and kind of Nikeol, had an injury of some kind.
Kenhilt was still bedridden in a nearby clinic, but thankfully even if they didn’t have the higher-tiered benefits of the higher ranks, even a bottom-ranked indium questor had free healthcare wherever they went. Still, he had a broken spine and that was quite taxing even if the healers could fix it.
His armor was complexly destroyed and would have to be replaced which was quite unfortunate.
Nikeol only really had some magical exhaustion that could probably be dealt with a nap or two. Once it was confirmed that she was fine, Genivieria stopped paying attention.
She was given a cast for her leg but otherwise was mostly fine. She just had to not strain it extensively for a week or two.
Geniveria sighed, that was the drawback of the free healthcare that the guild provided, for anyone below the Copper rank they only got the bare minimum amount of treatment necessary before they were sent out.
Hence the cast.
But it was better than nothing she supposed.
Someone sighed behind her, and Geniveria turned around to see a disheveled Rayleigh. She still wore her AUAF exoskeleton which was still unrepaired. The burdenbeast that kicked her down, broke most of the armor that comprised the exoskeleton. Thankfully, the internals were all relatively fine because otherwise, she’d be moving at the pace of a limping dog.
“What did Rylian say?” Geniveria asked. In her head, she knew that the answer wouldn’t be positive considering the look on Rayleigh’s face.
Rayleigh sighed aggressively, “He can do it, but the problem is that he doesn’t have the right materials on hand.”
Genivieria blinked and tilted her head inquisitively, “But he does? He has armor racks with armor on them, so how’d he make them if he doesn’t?”
“He has the materials, but he refuses to use them.”
“What?” Another feminine voice exclaimed, “What kind of blacksmith is he to turn down a paying customer?”
Geniveria and Rayleigh looked behind to see Nikeol looking much more refreshed than before. And rather than wearing her cloak, she was in a much more casual jacket.
Rayleigh shrugged disparingly, “Professional–”
“--Pride.” Rylian finished as he put away a crate of materials into one of his back rooms.
“Why?” Rayleigh asked, “The blacksmiths at home would be completely fine with it.”
And she was telling the truth. In fact, the blacksmiths back home had practically become experts at replacing the armor on her exoskeleton, repairing in it less than two days.
“And that’s because they’re a bunch of third-rate hacks.” Rylian answered with no hesitation. He walked over to the counter and looked straight into Raylieigh’s eyes. His gaze showed that he was completely serious.
There was a slight pause before he turned to the side and motioned toward the armor racks he had nearby, “You see those?”
Puzzled, Rayleigh gave him an affirmative.
“Right, do you know what those sets of armor are?”’
Rayleigh took a moment to let her eyes roam on the three sets of display armor.
The one of the right was a set of full-plate armor, easily the most expensive armor there. It wasn’t anything intricate or artistic, but it was fully functional, covering all the necessary vitals while using more modern techniques to make it easier to put on and move around in. And yet despite there being little-to-no artistic flair, it seemed to shine and a stylized R surrounded by a ring of thorns was proudly stamped on one of its pauldrons.
The set or armor in the middle was nothing more than a more stylized set of modern combat armor. It was painted in a camo-pattern that looked right at home in a forest and even had a radio attached to its right wrist. The camo-pattern took up most of its surface area, still had enough for that thorny emblem as well as the emblem of the ADG. And while it looked much more lighter than the plate armor but Rayleigh wouldn’t have been surprised if it could take a similar amount of punishment.
The last set of armor on the left was nothing more than a bulletproof vest underneath what looked to be a regular coat. It looked almost lazily slapped together if not for how fancily the coat was designed that would have fit in with a party held by the nobility.
She turned back to see Rylian adjusting the bracelet that he wore on his right arm.
At his inquisitive gaze she gave her answer and Rylian nodded, “Yeah. That’s correct,” He smiled proudly and tilted his head slightly, “And each piece of armor on the rack is better than what you’re wearing right now.”
“He really said that?” Nikeol asked angrily.
At Rayleigh’s nod Nikeol began cursing up a storm.
Geniveria’s eyes went from Rayleigh’s dark expression to Nikeol’s not-so appropriate mutterings. She blinked, took a look at the mug of cordial on the table and took a small sip.
“Right, and how is that important?”
Nikeol shot her a look, “Of course you don’t know about these kinds of things.”
“Yes, I don’t. That’s why I’m asking.”
Nikeol sighed, “Am I really going to become the fireteam’s historian.”
“I can explain if you want,” Rayleigh interjected. At Nikeol’s thankful nod she turned to Geniveria, “What do you know about AFTs?”
“That they’re basically the entire reason that we exist and that they’re very important.”
Rayleigh coughed, “Well yes, but how are they important?”
At those words, Geniveria blanked.
Rayleigh began to answer her own question, “AFTs are Archaeodom Federation Templates. They’re blueprints of things that we don’t exactly know how to make anymore.”
Nikeol spoke up, “Items and equipment that range from power armor and ancient weapons to more mundane things such as…” Nikeol trailed off.
“Such as my exoskeleton,” Rayleigh finished.
“Eh?” Geniveria vocalized.
“Well–”
“–I am aware that your exoskeleton is an AFT.” Rylian continued with the smile still on his face, “The thing is, the AFT used to make your exoskeleton is incomplete.” He leaned over the counter and reached toward the broken exoskeleton but stopped himself, “May I?” At Rayleigh’s nod he gently grabbed it and pointed at the broken portions, “As you can see its broken when the proper AUAF Exoskeleton would’ve easily held. That’s because we use regular materials rather than the ones that we’re supposed to use.
“And I can’t in good faith, make a cheap copy of something that can be better. Especially when I know where to get better materials. ”
He leaned back, “If you’re willing to wait then I can get the materials and properly repair that exoskeleton by the end of the month.”
Rayleigh coughed, “The end of the month? We can’t wait that long!”
Rylian gave her a sideways glance as he began fiddling with some display cases, “Then find another blacksmith in town. Because trust me, it’s better to wait and properly repair it then do what you, and presumably your family, have been doing for quite a while now.”
He raised a hand before Rayleigh could speak, “How much has your family spent on this AFT?”
Rayleigh paused, and with a heavy sigh answered.
“There you go.”
Nikeol let out an aggravated sigh, “I hate to say that he’s right about that at least. If he’s getting what I think he’s getting then it’s better in the long run to wait.”
“What’s he getting then?” Geniveria asked.
Nikeol snorted, “It’s not like you’d know what it is anyways.”
“Just because I’m from the frontier doesn’t make me unknowledgeable!”
“Oh? And yet you don’t know what an AFT is. When even a poor orphan from the coty knows what an AFT is, it doesn’t exactly prove that you know things.”
“Well I have more practical knowledge than you!”
“Girls!” Rayleigh slammed her hand onto the table getting their attention. She motioned toward the other people in the inn staring at them awkwardly. Some were laughing though, noticeably the ones with their questor badges hanging proudly on their armor or backpacks.
“Oh,” Geniveria whispered in mortification.
“Let’s just go somewhere private.” Rayleigh said darkly, “I need to have a talk with you two about your behavior.”
An Elementary Guide to AFTs:
“AFTs stand for Archaeodom Federation Templates. AFTs can be pieces of paper with an essay’s worth of written text to full holohraphic projectors containing terabytes of data. However, what separates an AFT from regular data and blueprints? The answer to that question is that AFTs hold data that change the entirety of a field, i.e. data which upturns our current knowledge base.
In layman’s terms, AFTs have knowledge that was lost in the war
A perfect example of this is the Schild AFT discovered in an old AUAF Stronghold in Rashiel. That AFT was in the form of a simple paper notebook. One that was heavily damaged, but the text that was in good condition and decipherable held the knowledge required to make pillen van herstel (Pill of recovery) which are not only still in production but are now one of the most common remedies for battlefield injuries.”
-Elm Camomile, Machina Ingenieurin
Rylian’s Questor Compendium:
“The Stålskjold or as I like to call it, the lazyman’s version of an AUAF exoskeleton. I’m 90% sure that if an AUAF engineer sees the damn thing, he’d laugh at the poor recreation before crying as he realizes that its used by our version of the Motorized Cavalry Regiment and a slightly better version for FIST (Foniks Infiltration and Sabatoge Teams) our not-so secret spec-ops forces.
The Stålskjold is a pile of junk masquerading as an exoskeleton. It can barely take damage compared to its original counterpart and even when compared to its modern counterparts, it still fails to measure up. The main selling point of the Stålskjold is that its durable.
It is not durable.
It is durable when compared to regular armor.
It is not durable when compared to the other exoskeletons.
In all honesty, the best selling point this thing has is that it’s relatively cheap compared to other exoskeletons and it’s relatively easier to find. But why would you get this over some other kind of lightweight armor and transition to a different exoskeleton?”
-Rylian Quinn, Retired Questor
