Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

After the battle in Y-City, Cade had still not decided to quit, but she had asked Leana for a vacation and a quiet task. Since Leana had chosen to join Minas Mar, Cade had also passively become part of the Guild, but she was not in the inner circle.

The quiet task Leana was able to fix up for her was supervising the construction of the facilities for the Pythian Games. Technically, this meant she was something like a foreman and security guard, but actually, she just had to show up and make herself look busy.

It was like a paid vacation and Cade was ready to spend her time leisurely. At least that was her plan, until she was actually here. Little Gamma, formerly Tree Station 2, was the place where the refugees from Gamma had gathered and since she arrived she had felt a weird tightness in her chest.

These parades, if one wanted to call them that, didn't really make it better. They heralded the return of the raid parties of an organization that called itself Gamma Resistance. It was a group consisting of various guilds and led by a small number of Chosen from Gamma and their goal was the rescue of Gamma Citizens still stuck in Arget Nore.

Arget Nore, which had annexed the territory of former Gamma, was still holding many of the natives as slaves. Despite their deal with Princess Leana, they had only released the people of Gamma they knew and had imprisoned at the time. Everyone they caught afterward was subjected to their control.

She had not heard much about it in Delta. With everything going on, it was not something that was able to step into the foreground, even if people worked hard to promote it. Only recently, with the betterment of Delta's management, it became a growing topic, especially in Little Gamma.

According to the rumors she heard, Gamma Resistance was split into various teams that were either training in the Holy Land, or out to stage raids on Arget Nore and free their fellow Gammarians. Cade knew this cause of the tight feeling in her chest, although she hated that she felt like this.

She had thought she had gotten over her past, but once again confronted with the people of Gamma, she couldn't help feeling resentment for them. In her mind, they were the people that had betrayed her and deep down she couldn't let go of this grudge.

Logically, she knew that many of them were not among those who had betrayed her, but she couldn't change her feelings. Did these people deserve such peace? Watching the return of the raid parties, bringing with them the former slaves they had rescued from the hands of the undead, she couldn't help the feeling that these people didn't deserve salvation.

If she was really honest with herself, maybe it was also a little envy mixed in with those feelings. Why would these traitorous, abominable... people deserve these? When it was she and her family who would have really needed a savior?

She ground her teeth and used her to put away these emotions that were flaring up like an inflamed scar. She knew she was in the wrong, projecting her feelings onto them, but all she could do was control them and concentrate on her task.

She equipped her new weapon and armor. Although she was not part of the inner circle, a nice Dwarf called Wedan had made her a relic-rated set of armor, tailored to her specifications. Her new weapon was the spear of the man of the Scene she was able to strike down with much difficulty.

According to Seth, who gave her a rundown of the appraisal, this spear called Niwal, was used by a man called Ivan, the Gapslipper who became a legend in Spatia. The spear had the ability to ignore defense and directly deal damage. Leana had told her that Ivan used to fear for his spear technique that could find the gaps in armor.

As for what the spear could do, Cade had experienced it directly. It had the unworldly power to force a gap in the opponent's defense. This spear was the reason, she needed a new armor in the first place, but now it was hers, so everything was good now.

Checking her equipment and inventory, she got ready and left for her new workplace. Although her task only existed on paper, she still took the preparations seriously. If she had to step in during some kind of situation, she would be ready.

It was not too far, and she simply walked on foot, getting a hot cocoa on the way. At the outskirts of the wooden city, the massive roots of the Guardian tree surfaced and formed a domineering oval. These were the foundations built by Karina, for the massive stadium that would house the Pythian Games.

As she arrived, her gaze wandered over the many workers busy with processing and refining the place. Many were cutting structures into the woods, building walls and rooms. Others were setting up energy lines and water sources. They made sure everything one needed for a big event was prepared.

Apart from staying on standby to interfere if anything happened, Cade didn't really have anything to do, so she sat down and read grimoires to work on her illusion magic. Since it had been the final straw that allowed her to win her fight, she intended to improve more on these skills.

It was around lunch break when she was called by security because of a situation that needed her attention. Putting the grimoire back in her inventory, she followed the guard to the break area. One of the first to be finished was a canteen for employees where the workers could come to get a warm meal for lunch.

When Cade came in, she found a crowd of people and a security guard holding back a single guy, while several people were already on the ground, covered in blood. It seemed like a rather strong adventure came in to settle a score, however, what shocked Cade was that she knew the face of the guy going wild.

The next moment, hot rage bubbled up in her. Swift like a shadow, she weaved through the crowd. Nobody noticed her move or passing by, but in the next moment, a delicate fist sank into the rowdy's face, knocking him out cold.

Surprised, the people that had done their best to suppress him, stumbled back, as his resistance vanished. The man slid to the ground, but before he could completely land, the that had demolished his face the first time, returned for another reverberating punch to pulverize his jaw.

With a thoroughly broken face, he finally hit the ground, only for an armored boot to kick his guts. The light armor he wore had no chance to mitigate the might of the relic-rated footwear. By the second time the boot came in, the armor had already surrendered and broken.

Maybe the man had slightly come to his senses, or it was a pure instinct of the body to preserve itself, but after the second kick, he turned on his belly, protecting his soft belly. Only for the fist, which was already smeared with the blood on his face, to make its comeback and not just shatter his armor, but also his shoulder blade in three quick strikes.

The workers and security around were thrown into an awkward situation. They had never seen Cade too furious with a troublemaker and they were facing the question, of whether they were supposed to stop her or keep watching this merciless beatdown.

“Lady Cade! Please stop! We are the ones who will have to clean this mess up!” one of the kitchen personnel shouted at her. She finally halted, after getting one last punch in. Her golden pupils focused on the kitchen chef, before wandering over the crowd around her.

Her fists still clenched, she took a deep breath and calmed her raging emotions. She had been surprised at the sudden outbreak herself, but it just felt too good, to just let it flow. Cade looked a last time at the whimpering misery on the ground, before nodding at the staff.

“You are right. I'm sorry for the mess,”, she then turned to the security guard, “Lock this guy up in a room. I will look for him when I calmed myself.”

She had resolved not to blame the people of Gamma for what happened back then, but who could tell her to hold back if one of the culprits who were directly at fault for the death of her sister was right before her?