"Huff... Arghhh..." Issei barely lugged himself up to the other three's leisurely picnic.
"Welcome back." Aaron smacked his lips as he greeted him, "Did ya' have fun on your little ride here?"
"The damned battery started malfunctioning halfway up, I thought I was gonna die for real." He gulped, "Anyways, about that food..."
"Mh, oh yeah." Maxwell turned to his left, "Kid, hand him his rations."
"Sorry, ate 'em all." Lem shrugged, smugly slapping his full stomach.
"You're horrible!" Issei cried out.
All that effort to look cool in front of his new acquaintances just for Issei to end up embarrassing himself and even missing out on the food because of it. Naturally, a lot of feelings of regret began to fester within him, but he couldn't bring himself to hate on Lem just over this. The kid probably didn't eat much before waking up either, he reasoned to himself, so if he so shamelessly ate Issei's portion too, then he must've needed the food a lot more.
"Well, at least you're not hungry anymore." Issei flashed them a grin, "Now we can continue up the tree way faster!"
"...You're weird, dude." Lem looked irked by this reaction.
"I think you're the only weird one here, kid." Aaron patted him on the head, "Don't you know? When out on the frontline, every soldier matters. What you did was already rude enough to Kaido, but even getting your disgraceful display excused by him proved to be too much for you."
"It's good to have an appetite, but only when you know you can afford to satiate it." Maxwell lectured, "Rationing your food not only for yourself, but for your friends too is a very important skill to learn."
"Shut it, I haven't eaten solid food in who knows how long!" Lem defended his actions, "If he wanted to eat so badly, then he should've let his pride aside and walked up here with us!"
"Yeah, it's alright guys, really." Issei tried calming them down only for his rumbling stomach to drown his voice out.
"Here, it's not much, but take what's left of my sandwich." Maxwell provided.
"While you're at it, top it off with the pickles I discarded from my burger." Aaron pointed to his wrapping, "Don't worry, they're still safe for consumption. I'm just not a fan."
"Thanks, guys. That's more than enough for now." Issei smiled, "Hey, this wrapping... Arthur's?"
Aaron's Eye twitched upon hearing his father's name all of a sudden, but quickly understood he was talking about the brand instead. With a sigh of relief, he nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, we had "the two up top" get it for us." He explained, "Where we're from, the assortment of food is essentially porridge and beans, with barely any proper taste to it. Max really likes these, so y'know..."
"Hey, don't make it out to be like I begged "them" for it, that was all you!" Max panicked.
"He's just a shy boy." Aaron patted him on the shoulder.
"Porridge and beans. The only people I can think of who eat a diet like that are soldiers and bums." Lem looked them both up and down, "You two at least don't look like the latter."
"Good Eye, and an even better compliment!" Aaron smiled, "Then again, I guess you could say we're something in between."
"In between?" Issei raised an Eyebrow.
"We're the Generals Aaron and Maxwell of the ARA gang!" They both saluted in a proud and flashy display, "The largest and only gang in the entire underworld of Great Hiana!"
Their latest introduction was met with confusion, however. Neither Lem nor Issei could understand the full capacity behind this title, since ARA is indeed a very local term. That isn't to say it hadn't rung any bells for one of them.
"So you're from Great Hiana too, eh?" Lem chuckled, "Geez, 's bin so lon' since ah've spoken tha' dialec'!"
"Uoh, fulla' sahprises, aintcha'?" Max replied in kind, "But let's be real here, no one speaks like that anymore. Still fun to confuse foreigners, however."
"Yeah, I can vouch for the confusion part." Issei scratched his head, "My Japanese brain just can't keep up. And to think I finally got pretty good at English, too..."
"Well now, it's not like no one used Hianic." Aaron cleared his throat respectfully.
"Ah." Max recalled, "Yeah, Carter spoke like this, didn't he?"
"Carter?" The two tilted their heads.
"A former General, and a friend of ours." Aaron recalled with a warm smile, "Loved by all, died saving a young baby girl's life. He was around your age, kid."
"Whoa, that's young." Lem still crossed his hands however, "Still, if he was so well-loved, isn't it kind of a shame to throw his life away for some coughing baby he hardly even knew?"
"He knew her, and he knew her well." Aaron shook his head, "She's his niece."
"Ah, that makes sense now." Issei reasoned, "Still, though I don't agree with this twerp's suggestion to just ignore a baby's cries for help, I do have to admit it's a shame it had to end that way for him."
"Yeah right, and where were her parents if that's the case?" Lem still refused to concede on his point, "If it were me, I'd leave the kid be! Teach mommy and daddy to take better care of their tyke next time."
"Her mom and dad still weren't her parents yet, though." Maxwell chuckled.
"Ehh?"
"You still don't get it?" They both revealed with a hearty laugh, "Carter never met the kid before, and they're not blood related either. Still, he saved her like she was his own, and when his best friend came to take the girl from his dying arms, he had but one wish to give in order to rest in peace:
"Take gud cahre 'f 'er fer meh, mah sister can help ya' with that." "
"Wow..." Issei's Eyebrows were raised super high by this point.
"Well, there was that other thing too." Aaron recalled, "Give 'er a name—Nelly."
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Astonished, the two boys could hardly believe the coincidental name imposed upon the baby girl. It's an uncommon name, certainly, but no one would realistically assume they were talking about THE Nelly. Still, the world is Vast, and despite only meeting one so far, Lem knew there had to be tons of other Nellies out there somewhere.
"I guess I might've been too harsh..." Lem looked away bashfully, "I dunno what I'd do if I was in his shoes, maybe I'd even do the same."
"This kid's hopeless..." Issei smirked.
----------------------------------------
***
----------------------------------------
"Hold on, now that I think about it again..." Lem complained as they made their way further up the tree's inner walls, "If you're the only gang in Great Hiana, then what use is there in saying you're the biggest?"
"I don't follow." Maxwell shrugged, "The hell does that mean? You calling us frauds?"
"Don't take the edgy teen seriously." Issei chimed in.
"Zip it, Slanted-Eyes." Lem hissed.
"Well kid, you'll be pleased to hear there's a good reason we called it the biggest." Aaron explained, "What's the point of a gang if there isn't anyone to rival it? We've had our fair share of territory disputes until we reached this stage. The reason we pride ourselves on being the biggest and only is because we crushed the competition."
"That's badass." Issei sounded intrigued, "So you guys are like hardcore yakuza, then? Real mafia types?"
"Ya-who-zza?" Max tilted his head, "Ma-what-now?"
"Ignore him, he's an idiot." Lem groaned.
"Wait, so Kaido here says not to take the kid seriously, but the kid tells us to ignore Kaido." Aaron thought, "Thus, the only reasonable conclusion to make here is to ignore both of you and move on in silence. Ah, unless of course you two wish to make amends."
"Nope~!" They both sang in tune by sheer chance, "Hey, the hell was that tune you just did!?"
They're too similar, the Generals thought to themselves, yet they can't get along. A young adult and an even younger teen traveling to such a remote, faraway place such as this... Never mind the fact it's illegal to even set foot on this island, but what could their goal even be to begin with? Could they perhaps also be looking to save the world from Olyahim? Are they hostages or something? Too many questions clouded their way forward, so the Generals were left with no choice but to prod them with questions regarding just this.
"By the way, we never heard your story." Maxwell glanced back at them, "The hell are you doing here?"
"I-" Lem got spoken over.
"This dope got his ass kicked and kidnapped by an old man residing in the island across from this one." Issei explained with great brevity, "I just came here to save him and his crush."
"Hey-!"
"An old man on the island?" They worriedly glanced back at each other, "You think it's him?"
"Let me just say this-!"
"You know him?" Issei tilted his head.
"She's not my crush!" Lem shouted, "...We dated for a bit, so calling it one-sided makes no sense!"
"...Who's talking about that, kid?" The Generals stood confused, "Besides, doesn't that make her your ex?"
"No!" He panicked, "She's my unofficial girlfriend! Yeah, let's go with that title!"
To the adults, such a correction seemed way too insignificant to even be mentioned, but Lem just couldn't accept the slander tossed on him by Issei. That man had already pestered him enough with all the rude comments he's been making in regards to his relationship with Nelly, and he wasn't gonna let that impression be passed onto anyone else. After all, the memories he made with her during that two week trial period were something he kept very close to his heart.
"Kid, how many others did that man kidnap?" Aaron asked him.
"Hrm... No one else but us two." Lem thought about it, "I think so, at least. All the other islanders I saw there already had pretty heavy tans, so I assume those guys are residents."
"So it's an inhabited area..." Max worried even more now, "What are we gonna do? We can't just storm a random people's island, no matter the situation."
"You hearing yourself, Max? The hell would Jorgen say to you right now if he heard you?" Aaron rolled his Eyes, "Think about what's at stake here. Our mission is to kill the old man as soon as "they" come back from saving this tree from burning."
"So you guys DO have a mission." Issei noticed, "We told you why we're here, so come on now—why don't you tell us the same?"
"Because." A third voice entered the scene, "It's top secret."
"Huh!? Who are you?!" Issei and Lem jolted upon hearing his deep, thundering voice.
"Don't be scared, hehe, he just has a naturally deep voice." A tad rounded and mustachioed man with a bright and friendly smile somehow stepped out from behind him, "This is my brother, Jorgen, and I'm Pierre. We're with them."
"State your name and affiliation." Jorgen kept talking without a hint of mercy.
"They're not enemies, Jorgen. Calm down." Maxwell vouched, "Just hostages that haven't saved every one of their own yet."
Just like that, two strangers became four, and Issei and Lem found the power dynamic between the two parties to have become rather skewed. Not only that, but though the other three seemed quite friendly, this Jorgen fellow was mortifying. Looking at all four of them now, these two finally understood what it took to lead an entire country's underworld with but a single iron fist. This was ARA, in all its glory and power.
"I-Issei..." Issei yelped, "Kaido, sir!"
"L-Lem..."
"No last name?" Jorgen raised an Eyebrow in spite of his frown.
"Please don't hurt me!" He sobbed, "I'll get a last name if I need to, just please spare me!"