“Archrhyder!!!”

  Something very heavy crashed into the back of his head. Joe winced, recoiling from the hit. His arms were flailing around, bumping into shelves around him.

  Joe blinked several times, as his dream reality and actual reality finally sorted out their differences. He raised his eyes up.

  Something long, metallic, and weighty dropped on his forehead from above.

  His vision turned all woozy. He couldn’t even figure out what was going on, as several more things rained down on him at once, burying him underneath.

  Joseph was lying on the floor, with the pile of weapons on top of him, not moving an inch. He heard a long sigh, coming from the outside of his tomb.

  “Kid. I would really appreciate, if you would not ruin my beautiful arrangements. It took me quite a while to get everything organized, you understand.”

  “Sorry, Ralf…” was all he could say in response.

  The armsmaster chuckled, as Joe emerged from the pile and ran his hand across his face, forcing his own mind to finally accept the world around.

  “Bad dream?”

  “Yeah…” Joseph nodded. He got up on his feet, groaning all the way.

  It would be nice to fix the damage he caused, so he turned around and picked up the weapons.

  After putting everything back, he returned his attention to Ralf. The big man waved his hand.

  “Good afternoon. Seems like the beast wouldn’t let you go now, huh? Well then, I think you will like this.”

  The package was lying on the table, wrapped in fabric. It was quite large too, taking up half of the surface of the table.

  “Is this a present? For me?”

  Ralf briefly laughed.

  “Why, it is indeed. Xander came by a couple of minutes ago. Said that you kicked his arse and sent him to snore.”

  “I would gladly do it if I could. He was going to be up all morning too, so I had to tell him that there are some people that could use him sober and awake.”

  The armsmaster rolled his eyes.

  “Really? It’s all it took? Kid, you are killing me. Next time, just punch his face, because if he works himself to death, we will lose a very important meat shield.”

  “So he is demoted to just the ‘meat shield’ now? Seems like the title of quartermaster is a fancy name for a secretary at this point.”

  Ralf burst into laughter.

  “Right?! Tell that to the kitty too, he just doesn’t want to get it into this brain of his, that he has to do more, than stroll around with Grigory, counting coins, when the lizard can do it alone just fine!”

  Especially with Alchfrid leaving…

  “But enough of him. He left this for you, you figured right. Care to guess what’s inside?”

  Joseph caressed his chin. He knew that Xander was supposed to get him the skin of the Archrhyder. And then he said something about loot being shared at the safe place.

  He got the watch from his pocket. It was three o’clock already.

  “Are we near our destination yet?” The armsmaster nodded.

  “Should be quite close by my estimation.”

  “Then, I think I have an idea. This is Archrhyder’s skin.”

  The grin on Ralf’s face told him that he wasn’t exactly correct.

  “Wrong, kid. Try again.”

  What else could there possibly be? Other weapons? Money? Something unimaginable, that he would never comprehend in the next thousand years? He was running out of options at this point.

  “Money? Weapons?”

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  The cook leaned back in his chair while scratching his double chin.

  “You have a good aim, but you are shooting one target at a time.”

  “Both, then? Skin and money?”

  “Who could tell? Open it up, scout.”

  Sure, why not? Joe pulled out Ralf’s knife. The previous owner smirked.

  The wrapping fell on the table. In front of him was a folded black coat with a hood. Joseph picked it up to straiten it when a huge leather pouch dropped on the floor from the inside.

  Judging by the clanking sound, there was little doubt as to what that pouch contained.

  Joe crouched down to pick it up. It was stuffed full of coins. He juggled it in the air.

  “I wonder how much it is?…”

  “A lot. At least five thousand without a doubt. Xander did get you a generous reward. I can’t call him unfair now. Curses! For the guy, who didn’t have much to his name, five thousand is a sizeable amount, trust me. Usually, new crew members get much, much less, if they join in similar circumstances and get their share at the same time as you did.”

  Joseph nodded. His Fate was on a roll for a time being, but there was going to be a moment when his luck will run out. He knew it all too well.

  The black coat was made out of similar material as his previous uniform was. His fingers touched the surface.

  He felt a solid plate underneath.

  “No way.”

  “Yes way. Now you can carry your trophy on your shoulders like a caveman! Zan told me, that you wanted the beast to be with you forever - well, now you can wear him for all of eternity!”

  He did this to himself. He deserved it in full.

  Well, no way back now. Joe sighed and put his new friend on. It fit his size quite well. The coat was long, borderline reaching his calves. The inside of the clothing felt stiff, but not solid enough, indicating the presence of additional padding. He felt protective plates with his fingers near his head too, when he put the hood on.

  Ralf was watching him with a strained smile on his face.

  “You know… if you put on a white mask, you are going to look like one of the Doves.”

  Joe removed the hood.

  “Doves?”

  Ralf nodded. He was looking at the wall, unfocused.

  “They were maniacal rebels… if we go by the official story. They blew up the parade in the Emperor’s Heart. A lot of heads were chopped off that day in the military… not literally, Joe. That was the blunder of the millennium. Somebody had to answer for that.”

  “But did they actually blow up the parade?”

  The armsmaster clasped his hands together. His expression became serene, reflecting his immersion into days of long-buried past.

  “They did… they even admitted it themselves, with calling card and all. The citizens were up in arms, demanding their execution on spot.”

  Ralf chuckled, without his usual energy. His grim voice darkened the atmosphere in the room.

  “Couple of them were caught. Want to guess what happened? The methods of Imperial interrogators are effective and brutal, you know...”

  Then he giggled right after. This genuine emotion gave Joe shivers. He felt like the freezing hands of Aeriessythys were pulling him into her Plane.

  “They never broke. They were young, too. Younger than you. But they gave up their lives for the cause. Died in agony, all alone, when their lives had only begun to bloom… Yet, the dogs could never bite the information out of them. So they put the propaganda article out instead, to stroke their fragile void-sized egos.”

  He grinned. Grinned, like a crocodile, who saw his prey drowning in the river near him.

  “And Doves did it twice. They blew them up twice, in the exact same place. Around two years ago, give or take a few months, Empire’s finest were schooled once again. Isn’t it hilarious?”

  What kind of cause could lead to such an atrocious fate? Joseph wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer to that question…

  But something in his mind was forcing him to spit it out.

  “What was their goal? Killing soldiers?”

  “Stopping the war.”

  The answer was sharp and brutal.

  “Stopping the war by killing people?!”

  He received a nod. Ralf’s expression was colder than the Arctic Ocean.

  “A task for a madman. I thought just like you back then - who in their rational mind could hope to jam the militaristic grinder, by throwing even more bodies on the conveyor? But now, after all these years… you know, maybe they had a point, after all.”

  Joe didn’t know what to think. He knew some examples from his world, of course, but he could never really sympathize with them.

  Not to say that their logic didn’t have its merit, however.

  The targets were wrong. They should have aimed for instigators instead.

  Ralf was looking at him, with his mouth wide open.

  Did I say it out loud?

  Yep, brother.

  The armsmaster shook his head.

  “I never knew you had it in you, kid… But I like it! Now, to reach the bloated frogs on the throne… That was never going to happen. The Emperor is in a hole, and plucking him out of it is the mission that takes balls with the size of the Threshold itself.”

  Joseph tried to imagine the size.

  Don’t even try, brother. I am not doing it. You can’t force me to.

  Oh, come on!

  But no means no. Ralf called the Emperor ‘he’. He heard Amelia referring to him as ‘it’. So, who is in the right?

  “Wolfhound said ‘Emperor itself’. Why ‘it’?”

  Ralf ran his hand through his hair.

  “I don’t really know myself. Xander might have an idea. I reckon it has something to do with the title itself. The public face is a woman, for those last six years, or so. But Emperor is a ‘he’. Or ‘it’ now, I guess. Either way, Zan is the one for legal stuff.”

  “Legal stuff? Like laws and such?”

  Cook nodded.

  “Yeah. He knows a lot about it. Titles, laws, procedures… His father was a judge-”

  The moment Ralf said it, he shut his own teeth together. Then he rapidly shook his head.

  “...Don’t tell him that. Don’t tell him, that I blurted that out. Please, Joe.”

  Joseph had no issues with his request, but what was the reason? Why Xander having a judge for a father was a problem?

  Upon hearing his question, Ralf put both of his hands on top of his head. His eyes were looking elsewhere, avoiding Joe himself.

  “Not a problem, kid… there is a history involved. The history, actually. It’s a very famous event. So famous, it burned down half of the country. All because of one man. But…”

  He lifted his head. His sharp gaze was piercing through Joe.

  “Xander hates talking about the reasons, that lead to that event. When you figure out, what event I am talking about, do be careful around him with your questions. To him, they are personal. To us, they are one painful lesson. The lesson, we will never forget and are trying to make up for. Even now.”

  “Is this a part of my promise to you before?…”

  Ralf lowered his eyes.

  “...It is. This is exactly why I want you to keep our conversation between ourselves. No reason to dig up ancient graves. Let the dead rest where they belong.”

  Joseph nodded. Now he finally got the idea, what kind of topic he wanted to research next. History wasn’t his favourite subject, but in this case, it was part of the investigation into the past of Morning Star.

  And to get to the bottom of this, he was ready to join forces with history for the time being. Then, he could get to the conclusion on his own, without asking anybody else.

  He had two clues already - ‘Royal Conqueror’ and Northern Horn Revolt.

  Captain Alchfrid of the ‘Royal Conqueror’… hey, what do you all think?

  You are on the right track, Darling.

  Nothing else to add to what Memory said, bredda. Keep digging, you’ll get there.

  Have you invited her to WSG yet?

  Joe heard a faint laugh in his head.

  I sure did. She keeps being tsundere about it.

  Wha-?!! I am not a tsundere!

  True. Memory is a yandere, Understanding. Know the difference and keep your distance.

  Hey, Logic, don’t be mean to her! She is nice when she wants to be! Right, Memory?

  …I hate you all.

  He would too, if only for bringing up long-forgotten anime terms, that Kate loved to use at the drop of a hat. It was embarrassing most of the time, and just plain dumb otherwise. Good thing, that Ekaterina eventually listened and stopped her practice. He had nothing against terms themselves since they did describe Memory pretty well…

  Honey, I hate you too.

  Sorry.

  He shook his head, getting back to reality.