I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.
My life has always been just me and mom, got no idea who was supposedly my father as I never met or saw a picture of the man. My life was good none the less, soon as I could I began taking odd jobs around the village. I had to help mom make ends meet, so I didn't have much time to play around with the other kids.
When I was six I took the job of cleaning around in the Item shop, the next year I took the job of folding towels, and sheets for the innkeeper, the next year after that I was off helping my uncle organize his herb pantry and symbology books. I looked putting those symbology books a lot, since I got to read them during my breaks.
My cousin did leave much to be desired though, she was more concerned about her hair, looks, and as she called it nurturing her figure. My uncle was always complaining about how she was supposed to be his successor as the village healer. I just had to tell him that maybe getting an apprentice was not something he should dismiss.
As I became nine I had been working as part timer in the weapon shop, and one day I was playing with a sword that looked awesome. The captain of the village defense force decided that he would take me under his wing, and just so that I accept he began to train me, but called it a job since I did get a regular pay.
Since I haven't told you my name is Roddick Farrance and I am the current Captain of a unit of the Village Defense force. My good friend Dorn is with me, and surprise, surprise so was his girlfriend my lazy, slacking cousin Millie. Today I had the wonderful job of staying in the office and watching out for the village. Millie loved this kind of thing a little too much in my honest opinion.
"Another wonderful, calm and peaceful day. Isn't life grand Roddick, we get a good pay and we get it when most days we do nothing at all." I sure hate that attitude of Dorn sometimes, I often think if he was turned to stone, and how he was sometimes there would be no major difference. I guess I really should have been more careful about making wishes now that I think about it.
"Oh, yes it is wonderful, spending day after day doing nothing. I am so freaking bored I sometimes find myself wishing some stupid band of bandits tries to rob our village, at least then I could actually do something."
Dorn had been my friend ever since I caught him trying to steal a piece of candy from the item shop. "I guess I can see where you are coming from, hey I never asked you but what do you think of Millie?" That was strange my friend asking me what I think about my cousin like that.
"Lazy, Undisciplined, Vain, Egotistical, Selfish, a poor symbologist, and I would highly suggest you learn how to cook or you will end up in an early grave when you taste the horrors she calls food." Dorn looked at me with his face showing that he was indeed surprised by my answer.
"What man? Do you expect me to tell you she is a wonderful, talented, caring person simply because she is my cousin? You are my best friend, and I don't lie. I don't even know what you see in her? She is a total nag and would make anyone married to her see hell before they die."
That is when I felt something behind my seat and that is when I felt someone punch me hard to the back of my head. "Roddick you jerk! If you have enough time to talk bad about me, why don't you get off your butt and do something!" Dorn was trying hard not to laugh about what he just saw, he did something I didn't expect instead.
"Cut Roddick some slack Millie, there is nothing to do around here. We are both bored stiff, and there simply is nothing for us to do, everything is calm and peaceful." Millie came up to me and made me stand from my seat. "Don't give me that, if there is nothing we can all go on a patrol of the village together!"
Both me and Dorn looked at each other and raised out right fists in the air pretending we were excited about this, "Yea, let's go on a patrol. Might as well move before we start growing moss." Millie didn't like my answer if the way the fur on her tail was any indication. "Or you could come to my house and try my latest recipe."
That was it for me I grabbed my sword and started running towards the door, Dorn still was not sure why did I feel the sudden urge to actually go on that patrol. "Come on Dorn, we got to do this patrol, or do you have a death wish, cause if you eat her cooking I am sure it would be granted. Hell I wouldn't feed bandits the gunk she calls food."
She was angry with me from that moment on, I visited all those places I had jobs growing up. The item merchant actually did me a favor by telling me sometimes when he got fresh ingredients, and even gave my mom a discount, well it is what he called an employee discount but it still was nice of him to do.
As we went around I met plenty of the people I worked for or helped before, it was sort of a walk through memory lane for me, and surprisingly relaxing. At least it would be until a group of strangely dressed people started to make trouble and scaring people.
"These idiots think our village in defenseless, come on guys let's show them how wrong they are!" I don't know why Millie usually gets fired up when she sees this sort of thing, it's not like she has not seen idiot bandits do this before.
"Come on cheer up Roddick, maybe these losers will give us a good fight." Looking at these idiots I would be surprised if they knew which side of the sword to hold, let's face it these guys acted like absolute brain dead fools.
We took turns and Millie did her best to provide support while I and Dorn took care of one group of bandits after another. This was a good fight? I had tougher fights peeling garlic for mom when I was five years old.
The boss was a large, fat and if the cap he was wearing was any indication he was also bald. "What the hell are you guys playing at? Taking it easy on them because they are some brats? How can you let a trio of kids beat us so badly?"
I had enough of what the boss of this bunch of idiots was saying about my friends. "Hey listen up and listen good, I don't care who you think you are, but to me you are no different than the last idiotic bandit gang. We are members of this Village's defense force. Now why don't you shut your traps and come and fight us yourself or are you too cowardly to fight yourself?"
I saw the guy run towards me and he tried to kill me with his large club, where did these idiots learn to fight, his fighting style was full of openings, Dorn took care of the other two bandits that came running towards us and Millie did her best to provide support. It was until the boss bandit decided to insult my mother that I became so mad that I stopped holding back.
I reversed the grip on my blade and just as he was about to try and strike me with his club, I used my Wind cutter skill. It was a skill I learned from the leader of the defense force, it was supposedly use my symbology and give my sword an extra cutting edge that could cut or be sent for a distance attack.
The idiot boss bandit didn't understand what happened till his left hand came clean off his arm and dropped on the ground. I kept attacking next his right ear was cut off, then his nose, and then his left eye. I kept using my skill and attacking, until I felt someone hold my arm trying to get me to stop. "Roddick he is dead already, you don't need to shred his corpse! Come one Roddick the fight is over, please stop you are scaring me."
I looked at Dorn and he backed off, he seem to be trembling as he walked away from me. "You know that I lose control when I become really angry Dorn, and nothing upsets me more than an idiot who insults the people I care about. Sorry to scare you both, but I sort of lost it when he insulted my mother. As for the fighting, these bandits were just pathetic."
I walked off as Millie and Dorn looked as I began to gather the corpses of the bandits by dragging the bodies outside of the village walls, one hand and a quick set of words and with a quick slash my sword sent a wave of flames burning the corpses to ashes, and only the corpses.
I walked back towards where I was before the idiots tried to ransack our village, I walked into our forces' office and sat down on my usual seat. I sat there reading a book on symbology as the head of the defense forces came with the other members. They had gone on patrol the surrounding area. "So Roddick did anything happen while we were on patrol?"
I put the book by in the bookshelf and looked at our leader, he was a kindly old man, but I knew he was a master using his sword. I always admired the level of skill and strength of his attacks. "Not really chief, just some trouble with some idiot bandits. Nothing really worth mentioning about."
Dorn coughed and looked he had almost choked on something, "Nothing to say? Roddick went all bezerker on the bandit boss, he mutilated his corpse and then he dragged his and the bodies of his men outside the village wall. He then used his symbology to cremate the corpses to ash."
The leader looked at Dorn and the still scared look on Millie's face. "So nothing out of the ordinary happened. Good decision in using fire to cremate the bodies Roddick, I would expect nothing less from a Captain in the village defense force. Since you, Dorn and Millie did such a wonderful job you three can take this weekend off."
As night came Dorn and Millie thought it would be best if they checked to see if my mother was alright, at least that is what they told me. Just as mom brought us something to eat, I knew that what they told me had been an excuse but I didn't know the reason.
"Thank you very much for the food ma'am. I guess my cousin is not exaggerating when he always says that there is not better cook in the entire village." Mom laughed as Millie said that, what's the deal? Millie and Dorn eat sometimes here, they never compliment my mother's cooking before.
"You know I don't know what is up with you Dorn, for some time now you don't look relaxed at all. Things are quite, you should be happy things are peaceful, but you been brooding about something for weeks now."
Mom looked at me and began shaking her head as she finished hearing my friend say that, "Don't you worry Dorn, it's just that my son is suffering from the same thing his dad was. Can't really help feeling the way he does, when things are peaceful the men in our family begin to worry, and if that feeling goes on for too long they begin to brood."
"His father used to say some weird things back when Roddick was small, things like Peace is a lie, That the feeling of peace we got was just the prelude to something else happening. The calm before the storm he used to call it. I didn't believe him, and one day Roddick's father ended up dying when that storm hit the village all those years ago."
Millie began to shake her head, "So my uncle also was as paranoid as my cousin. Honestly it's like they live to expect some major disaster. When the disaster doesn't happen they brood like there is no tomorrow. Come on Roddick, we got the weekend off, why don't you go to the mountain and kill a few dozen fellworms, that always cheer you up."