"So you're leaving already?"
Rueben readied his coat, wearing it over his shoulder as Uril watched him.
He nodded his head.
"..."
Uril bit her lips and nodded her. Then she hesitated before chuckling.
"Will we still meet again?"
Rueben stopped his hands, then slowly turned to Uril, finding her biting her lips as her eyes watered. Looking at her, he let out a chuckle.
"Of course."
"...With your line of work, i know im not going to see you for a very long time. It may even take years before i can see you again but..."
"..."
Clenching her mouth to stop herself from crying, she spoke aloud.
"I don't want that."
Uril turned her head up to see Rueben smiling at her.
"You know, someone told me something awhile ago." He fixed his cuffs as he spoke.
"That life, is fickle. Fleeting."
Pushing his hair to the back, he tied it slowly, "That everything you don't want to happen, will happen. Either pain, sorrow..."
Then he turned to Uril, "Or the loss of connections."
Finishing his hair, he grabbed a chair and sat across her.
"But she also told me to continue. To move forward, never to stop."
Remembering Sara, then Sasha. Then those he lost. His teacher, his parents, and his friends.
"I'll move forward, forever, ceaseless." He grabbed Uril's hand and softly clenched it. "So you too. Keep moving forward. Maybe one day, we'll meet again. It's a small city after all."
Uril stared at him, then let put a chuckle. "You shouldn't give motivational speeches. That was terrible."
Chuckling, Rueben smiled and scratched his cheeks, "That's so? Might've need to practice more then."
Uril nodded her head while smiling, she then looked down and gave it a thought. Then her eyes shone and looked at Rueben.
"Yes. Someday, we'll meet again. When that day comes, you'll see the best version of me."
Rueben let out a small laugh, "Yeah. Im looking forward to that."
***
Uril watched as Rueben left the medical center, he looked around for a moment, then turned to Uril and bowed his head slightly before dashing off.
She looked at where he dissappeared to before looking at a small bullet with a hole at the side. Shaking her head, she lamented the fact that Rueben is terrible at giving gifts.
But she smiled.
Her first friend. They will surely meet again.
***
"You sure took your time."
In an office, two men were sitting across each other. One man fixed his glasses as the other sat in a comfortable position.
"I assume your weapons have been forged?"
"Ah, no, not yet. My... "Blade" is still in the works. But my guns are here."
Arkan nodded his head and pulled out a document.
"Here. A letter of invitation from the Crown."
Rueben stared at the seal before turning to him in surprise, "The Crown?"
Nodding his head, Arkan pulled out a pipe and filled it with tobacco. Rueben on the other hand, picked up the document and unsealed it, then he read it.
I invite you to meet with me to discuss your role in the upcoming plans. All you need to know for now is that you will be dispatched to farther places.
Come whenever you like, Crown.>
"..." Rueben read it, then read it again before looking at it speechless.
"It's so informal."
"That's blasphemy."
"No, seriously. Look at this, there is no trace of formalities. The Crown is being so casual about it."
Arkan rolled his eyes as he lit the pipe. Continuing reading, Rueben let out a sigh.
"...Maybe they wrote this in a hurry? I mean, it looks like it." Looking at him, Arkan grabbed the letter and took a look. Reading it for a moment, he coughed and nodded his head.
"What do you mean? This is the epitome of perfection."
"..."
"Anyhow, you got the message?"
Rueben stared at him for a moment, then nodded his head.
He ignored Arkan's very obvious show of loyalty to the Crown as Arkan grabbed another cigar while looking at the pile of paper mountains on his desk.
Staring at it with blank eyes, Arkan coughed and smiled.
"If you complete whatever the Crown want you to do, i can help you apply for a promotion—"
"Rather, is this what you have for me? I still have somewhere to be today and im in a hurry..."
"..." Arkan glared at him for a while before shaking his head.
"No... No. You've already written your report, done some necessary paperworks, and received the Crown's letter. There's nothing else, so you can leave, Mr. Rueben."
Rueben nodded his head and put the letter into his briefcase before standing up and bowed slightly to Arkan while grabbing his hat.
"Then i will take my leave."
With that, Rueben left the room, leaving Arkan, who was sitting down while puffing smoke. Glaring at the door, he cursed Rueben's direct refusal of promotion before sighing.
"...I need someone else to replace me....."
With those words in mind, one of the employees entered the room and dumped all the paper in her hands before leaving. Arkan stared at it blankly, then listlessly circle around and sat on his seat to do more paperwork.
***
Rueben got out of the Division Office and walked around, passing by a bridge, he went to an alleyway and found Mir Bar. He looked to the other side of the bar where he smelled smoke coming out of and smiled.
Rueben looked at the Mir Bar's sign and let out a sigh, he fixed his coat before twisting the doorknob.
"Oh, welcome —, Ah. Welcome back, how was your trip?"
"...It was fine." Rueben smiled blankly before taking off his coat and put it into the coat rack.
Looking around, he found that they were the only ones inside the bar, the tables were clean, the candles were lit but no hunter on sight.
"Where are your usual customers? Did they bail on you or something?"
"Oh no, there have been countless orders from the Crown to reinforce the southern front, something about invaders trying to find our city. More Hunters are being ordered to fill the ranks to stop them."
"Ah."
Rueben went to the counter and sat down. Robert put down a glass of milk wine and pushed it to him.
"The usual?"
Rueben smiled and nodded his head
"Yeah."
Robert nodded his head and went to the kitchen while May and Aya entered the bar and saw Rueben.
"Ah, Mr. Mortimer! You came back." The two ran towards him and sat down beside him without taking off their masks.
"Did you know the boss missed you a lot? He constantly grumbled about how stupid you are..."
"The missus too!"
"Hey now, defaming people is a crime, you know?" Robert appeared from the kitchen holding a tray with a plate of food.
"Eat up."
Putting down the tray, Robert placed some utensils as Rueben grabbed the plate and pulled it towards him.
"Thank you, Robert."
***
In a large room filled with broken walls and floors, weapons broken in half and scattered about, a man sat at the center.
In front of him, he was a large mechanical arm, which he stared at for quite a while now. The man touched his cut-off limb and gritted his teeth.
Arshavin attached the new version of the arm, now more efficient and more effective than the last version. He felt something stab his arm, connecting themselves to his nerves as he moved it about.
Putting in one glass of water, he watched as the mechanical arm powered itself through steam. Steam rises out of the metal pipe at the center of the mechanical arm, just above the elbow parts.
He watched as the water he put in didn't even get used that much, he remembered the Inventor's words.
"The arm will use less energy to power itself, we wanted to put in more weapons you can use in the arm but the engine powering it takes up most of the space and the circuits barely fit inside. We are trying to redesign the thing to further develop the arm."
Moving his mouth, Arshavin grabbed a spear broken into two and looked towards one wall. He let put a breathe and took a stance. Then he threw the spear into a wall, piercing it through the wall, a few moments later, cracks formed in the entire wall and it collapsed
Looking at the increase of power and control, Arshavin nodded his head.
Though there is still a lag... They should be able to find a way to lessen the lag even more.... Thinking to himself, Arshavin went outside of the room and entered a bathroom where he cleaned himself up.
He then put on his clothings before grabbing his trusted sword and left the area. Upon leaving, he ordered some of the knights to repair the training dome and left for the throne.
***
Rueben entered the smithy next door, upon opening, he was greeted with intense heat, prickling his skin. Looking around, he saw Riza hammering something in a workbench while her disciples moved about to assist her.
Staring at them for a moment, he took off his coat and hung it into a hangar. Fixing his cuffs, he strode inside.
He watched as Riza made a sword, putting it into the furnace before forming the metal rod by hammering. Sweat trickled down from all over her body, her skin tanned from the burns of the intense heat.
Her disciples wiped themselves from the sweat, fixing their gaze towards their teacher, eager to learn more.
"..." He turned his attention into a small glass case, a cane embroidered with red streaks, a simple tool not extravagant.
Walking towards it, he looked into it more deeply and found that it wasn't his caneswordwhipumbrella. His weapon was much more bulky than this one, it also had lines for the umbrella and it was designed more delicately than this.
Upon knowing that it wasn't his, he turned his attention back to the blacksmith and stared at the metal rod.
That must be mine then.
He thought to himself.
Judging from that, it may take a few more days to complete the weapon, and several more days to refine it. I should come back here after meeting with the Crown first...
Thinking to himself, he grabbed a chair and sat down. Before he leave, he must meet Riza first. If not, she will surely nag him to death.
Watching the scene, Riza finished forming the rod and grabbed some of her disciples. Teaching them how to do stuff, she felt Rueben's gaze and turned to him.
Bang!
The two stared at each other, before Riza suddenly pulled out a rifle from below the counter and took aim at him. Prompting him to flinch and evade the incoming bullet.
Bang!
Clicking her tongue, she kicked her disciples away to safety while Rueben grabbed one of the swords in the stands and blocked the bullet.
"Are you crazy???" Rueben screamed out while glaring at her to which Riza just shouted back.
Bang!
"Motherfucker!! Crazy, me? You're the crazy one, insane bastard! Those things i made you are far more expensive than your whole body, and you lost all three of them!? All three!? You think just because i created those weapons for free, you can throw them away willy-nilly!?!?"
Bang!
Rueben grabbed a shield and shielded himself from the bullet before rolling to a cover. Hiding behind the corner, he screamed out, "I really lost them! The caneswordwhipumbrella—"
"Saif, Saif! That name is too long." Reloading, she aimed at him again and shot fire.
Bang!
"—Saif broke when i was thrusting it into the mouth of a beast! Then i had to abandon Adam and Eve—"
"Abandon!? Those two pieces cost more than your god-awful life, and you abandoned them!!!???" Riza swiftly rolled towards the corner.
"I— yes! I had to! It was my life or theirs!" Hearing no gunshots, he peeked a little. He grabbed a sword from the side.
Tak!
Just as Rueben was about to throw a sword, Riza appeared on the corner and bashed him in the chin with the butt of the rifle.
Rueben's head moved to the air from the impact, his brain was shaken and prompted his body to soften. Seizing the opportunity, Riza twirled the rifle around and aimed the nozzle towards Rueben's neck and pressed the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!
Riza clicked her tongue before grabbing the dagger hidden in her booths and moved it to stab Rueben in the shins as he dodged the bullet of the rifle aiming at him point blank.
Rueben grabbed her hand, twisted her wrist, forcing her to throw the dagger away. She swiftly span around while crouching and kicked Rueben on the neck.
Her kick connected to his neck and she grabbed his head and gave him a nasty headbutt.
The two flinched, then fell down on the floor while holding their foreheads, shaking in pain.
The disciples let out a sigh and went to their master, gently pulling her up, they let her sit down on chair while the others went to find some ice.
"Master, you shouldn't really headbutt hunters, they have far more durable skulls compared to yours..."
All the disciples, wearing a mask with a small compartment for filtering smoke, wiped their master's forehead while others pressed ice wrapped in cloth.
Riza gritted her teeth as she slowly breathed in and out. She opened her eyes and glared at the man infront of her, who was Rueben.
Rueben rubbed his forehead before crouching down infront of her.
"It seems Robert taught you alot. I didn't think you can do that."
Riza clicked her tongue and looked to the side with an annoyed face, "I'm his wife, after all. Im far more stronger than him."
Rueben just smiled, "I doubt that."
Riza clicked her tongue once more, she turned to the cane that she made him but it just made her even more annoyed.
"That's it. You pay for your weapon."
"!"
Rueben flinched, he visibly got nervous before speaking, "Eh, Ah, uhm... C-Can i pay you back later...?"
Riza and her disciples narrowed their eyes at him, before all of them clicked their tongue.
"..."
She grabbed the ice that her disciple handed her and pressed it to her forehead while standing up. She went to the glass case that he noticed a while ago and ordered her disciples to hold it infront of him.
"Here, your weapon. I made a lot of adjustments and redesign. My pride as a blacksmith couldn't handle such filmsy designs you proposed."
Rueben stared at the cane for a moment, then his eyes narrowed in disappointment. "So what did you take out?"
Already knowing her, Rueben let out a sigh and grabbed the cane from the glass case.
"I took out the umbrella and whip mode. It made the entire thing brittle."
"...But those are functional—"
"But at the cost of the weapon's durability."
One of the disciples held put a scroll and Riza opened it up on a nearby table.
"Just the whip mode alone, i had to make joints and chains to lengthen it, added that with an umbrella, everything was a mess! Back then, i didn't have that much of an experience yet, so i thought your blueprint was great invention for trick weapons."
Riza pointed to some parts of the old blueprint as she spoke.
"A blacksmith must always prioritise quality before inventions."
"..."
Rueben grabbed the cane and swung it around.
"That there is your "Saif"."
"...It's amazing."