"Save your... father? The Mayor?" Daz asked with a somewhat confused expression. 'Why would she ask me now, of all times?'

"That's right!" Fiona shouted before she lowered her head into a bow and tears started to trickle down her face. "Please, save my father! He's all I have left in this world..."

Daz frowned. He turned to look at Sandy as if to ask, 'Is that it? no other information?' Sandy shook his head and sighed.

"Ha-ah... Do you have any idea where your father might be? You can't expect me to search the entire city for him," Daz said with a gentle tone. Although his first interaction with Fiona yesterday left much to be desired, there was no point for Daz to be overly mean to the emotional teen right now.

Fiona sniffled and raised her head. "I-I think he would have run to the Military base since we don't have a bomb shelter here... can... can you save him?" Fiona asked as she made sure to make her eyes twinkle, accentuating her beauty.

As it would happen, Fiona's thoughts varied wildly from her words. 'Tch, you think I want your help? As soon as you save Daddy, he'll make sure to take this fort from you, you ruthless Overlord!'

'Scheming little Devil, huh? It would probably benefit the base in the short run if I kicked her out or killed her now, but... if I could get her on my side, her and her father, now that's an interesting thought,' Daz pondered as he held his chin.

"Okay. I agree. I was planning on going to the Military base today anyway, so this is a happy coincidence," Daz said with a reassuring smile.

"Thank you!" Fiona exclaimed with a joyous expression. "When do we leave?" she asked.

''We'? Interesting, well, I'd rather keep her by my side with her current attitude than let her stay in my base when I'm absent, so this'll do fine.' Daz closed his eyes and made it look like he was thinking rather deeply before he opened them a few moments later and said, "In three hours. We'll leave in three hours. Okay?"

"Why such a long time? Father could die in today's attack for all we know!" Fiona yelled with an anxious expression.

Daz shook his head helplessly. "For all we know, he could have died on day one or day two. I have other things to worry about. Don't be so upset, we'll go looking for him in three hours, not a minute later or sooner."

Fiona wanted to retort Daz further, but at this point, he had already walked towards his pile of scrap metal and started rummaging about for parts, completely ignoring the stroppy teen, so she was forced to go back to the centre of Fort Skip since Daz refused to budge on his given time-frame.

Sandy took a seat on one of the nearby chairs and looked at Daz with a smile. "So, Kiddo. Dorian, huh?"

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Daz continued to fish about in his pile of random metal items as he replied, "What about Dorian?"

Sandy crossed his arms and said, "I heard about your punishment."

"And?" Daz wasn't sure where Sandy was going with this conversation, so he was being slightly defensive.

"You're smarter than you look, Kiddo," Sandy laughed.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Daz asked with a slightly angered tone to his elder.

"C'mon, you're not gonna try to tell me that you punished Dorian because he deserved it? We both know that excluding him from the attacks wouldn't make a difference with that arm of his, and chances were, he'd have used up all of his points to help the base, or at least Lyle, just to help make up for his mistake," Sandy explained with a smug grin.

"..." Daz remained silent.

Sandy shrugged and stood up. "I know that you did it just to stop him from feeling guilty. I was a Supervisor before, remember? It's not hard to tell that you don't blame Dorian at all."

"What's your point?" Daz questioned as he pulled out a few lumps of iron and an old wooden door from his scrap piles.

"My point is, good job. That Dorian kid is even more unstable than you are, and that's saying a lot," Sandy chuckled.

Daz shook his head. "If you think I pitied him, you're wrong."

"Hm?" Sandy wore a curious expression at Daz's words.

"I only did what would benefit Fort Skip the most. Nothing less, nothing more. A stable Dorian happy at getting punished for his innocent mistake is more useful to me than a ticking time-bomb that could explode at any moment. People can do frightening things when they are desperate to atone for their sins," Daz stated as he stared right into Sandy's eyes.

Sandy immediately felt a chill go up his spine as his hairs stood on end. He didn't see a young twenty-year-old man in Daz's eyes, no, he saw a calculative mind that was endlessly pondering over an infinite amount of possibilities.

Sandy wasn't sure if this look of Daz's was a good sign or a horrendously bad one. What he did know, though, was that he'd have to keep an eye on Daz in the future. A very close eye.

"Ah, by the way, that Wasp Queen body you left to Bobby and me, I somehow managed to make some really shitty equipment out of it and Bobby has already started cooking her meat. Surprisingly enough, it's pretty tasty. If there's ever any more monsters that you think might be edible or that might be useful in creating some gear, let me know," Sandy said with a rather proud smile on his weathered face.

"Hmm, I don't mind, but why? Food won't be an issue from today onwards and we can buy decent equipment from the shop, so if it's too much of a burden, there's no need to waste your time on it," Daz said.

"Ah, well, Bobby said he really enjoyed cooking the meat of that Wasp Queen and he even bought a cooking related skill with the few points he had, so it's no bother, he'd really appreciate the chance to cook more strange things," Sandy explained before he scratched his head in embarrassment.

"And, um... I figured I won't be doing any fighting on the front lines. It's just not for me. At most, I can help from the wall with a ranged weapon. However, I really had a lot of fun making some gear from that body and I bought a blacksmithing skill and a crafting skill. So, if it's no bother..." Sandy had a hopeful expression on his face while he looked at Daz.

Sighing, Daz nodded his head. "Sure, I don't particularly mind."

Sandy clapped his hands in joy before laughing. "Thanks, Kiddo. Us normal people that don't wanna fight need something to entertain ourselves with, right? Hahaha!"

Sandy left after that, so Daz stuck his head down and focused on crafting. Little did he know how important the decision he had just made today would be in the future. The butterfly effect was a really amazing thing, and today, it had started Sandy down on his own journey to greatness.