She's gonna be a pain in the ass to deal with, that's for sure. She's still weak, but that's the problem here. Even if I was back in my body, I'd still have trouble holding back here. To make sure that I have enough space to work with, I move around until I'm facing the alley instead of the clinic. Noel hasn't attacked yet, but I can already see some of the villagers watching us. For some reasons, Litchi still hasn't appeared.
"We need this one alive, right?" – Nu asks with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Yeah, we d- Shit!"
As soon as I see the girl pull the trigger, I jump towards her and almost immediately, an explosion occurs where I stood mere moments ago. I've heard of long ranged weapons being developed and I've seen a few in action, but they are still early in development and can't do anything like this. I doubt she has to reload.
With my opponent so close to me, I prepare for an overhea-
"Back off!"
"Motherf-"
Even in her current state, her reaction is still good enough to shoot me in the face before I can knock her out. Somehow, that didn't even blow my eyepatch off as I can still feel it on my face. I guess she doesn't want me dead, huh? Well, that changes everything.
"Resist..and I WILL use force!" – Noel warns me, but I couldn't care less. I've got nothing to worry about here aside from accidentally killing the Lieutenant.
I manage to recover before I land, but now she is much farther away from me. So that's what she wanted. She's either at her best with long ranged combat or she's too weak to deal with me at close range. Let's fix this.
I run towards that idiot as fast as I can. I can see space warp in front of me, but knowing that they are not meant to kill, I keep running even as the air detonates. These explosions hurt, but I can take it. Once I get close enough, she tries to jump over me.
"Moron!"
I interrupt whatever she was trying to do with a rising uppercut and, once we're both high enough in the air, I rotate my whole body to slam Noel with the heel of my foot, sending her crashing to the ground. I usually start this with a sword, but this is all I can work with right now...Shit, I forgot about...Whatever, she's still moving.
She rolls out of the way before I can follow up with anything and tries to stand up. She's pretty much forcing herself to stand at this point. So much for following Litchi's advice...
"Look, you don't have to keep fighting. Just do me a favor a-"
That…! Here I am, trying to talk it out and she just shoots me in the abdomen! Now that hurts like hell…So Bolverk can change its form. What was a pair of weapons is now a singl-
"Don't resis-"
Fed up with her bullshit, I grab Noel's face and slam her into the ground. Looks like she didn't expect me to recover so quickly. I've got to end this right now.
"Why the hell…"
I grab her by her hair and lift her back onto her feet. I can see blood on that pretty face of hers and, judging by Nu's ecstatic giggling, she's pleased by the sight of it.
"Are you so STUPID?!"
I punch the girl in her gut, making sure to hold back so I don't end up punching a hole through her. The force of it is still enough to send her flying through the alley and so I follow her. This time, she fails to stand up in time. Unwilling to take any chances, I tear her weapons out of her grasp as soon as I reach her and throw them away, completely out of that damn brat's reach.
"Causality weapon threat level has declined. Beginning auto-repair." – Nu says and I don't understand much of it. What the hell is auto-repair supposed to mean?
"G-Give it back!" – Noel demands, reaching out to her Bolverk as if it isn't several feet away from her.
"Like hell I will!" – I yell at the girl.
"They're really important to me! So please…give them back!" – she pleads. I can hear Nu giggle at such request and it's pissing me off even more.
"Why would I do that, you idiot?" – I say in response. It is a Nox, but I don't think that's why she wants it back.
"Why…Why do you have to be so…" – the girl's voice trails off as she…starts…crying…
…And now I feel like shit. I'm not the only one to blame here as she didn't stop when I told her to, but I did just beat up a wounded girl who was doing her job…or…Maybe…Maybe it's just because she's…Damn it, why does everything have to be so difficult?!
…Alright, I'm gonna try something.
I sit down next to Noel and wrap my arms around her body, carefully lifting her off the dirty ground. She tries to push me away, but she's too weak to do it and so she gives up. I don't think I've tried to comfort anyone like this in years. It's…awkward and she's staining my already torn clothes, but I…Well, that's the least I can do right now.
"…I'm sorry…I'm just…I'm just too much of a blockhead…You didn't deserve any of this…" – I manage to mutter with some effort. This is the second time I'm apologizing to anyone today.
…Nu seems to be oddly silent. I expected her to get mad again, but she doesn't say anything. She's not even giggling at the poor girl's expense. Considering how much she hates seeing me get close to, well, anyone, it has to be something unusual. I don't mind it much, but I am curious.
Eventually, Sa-Noel stops crying and I let her go. This might be a stupid idea, but I stand up to retrieve the weapons I've thrown away and promptly give them back to their owner. That seems to confuse the blonde, but I can tell that she's relieved…Actually, she seems to calm down almost instantly as soon as she touches Bolverk.
"So, are you going to listen to me now?" – I ask, completely exhausted at this point.
"…Y-Yes." – the girl replies. She really needs these guns, doesn't she?
"Great. Alright, I've told you that there was something I wanted from you, didn't I? Well, actually, I need something from your superiors. I know that you folk like to get your hands on all kinds of fancy shit like the Nox Nyctores, so, it's a safe bet that you have the Azure Grimoire or at least know where it's at. Of course, I don't know where you keep any of that shit and that's why I need you. I could just kick the door down and beat the crap out of everyone there until I find out where I'm supposed to look, but that wouldn't get me anywhere in the long run. Now, any questions?" – I ask once I explain everything…Well, everything she needs to know.
"Why do you need this…um…Azure Grimoire? If it's something dangerous…" – she asks…Shit, I'm not prepared for this…and Nu is still silent…Goddamnit, why doesn't she say anything when I need her help?
"U-Um…Well, you see…I need it to…help someone. I've been told that it's the only thing that can help, but nobody bothered to tell me what it is or where to find it. That's all I can tell you." – I reply. I'm not lying, but this doesn't sound very convincing.
For what feels like hours, the girl thinks hard about whether to help me or not. It's really hard not to yell at her, but if I want her to help me, then I shouldn't do that. Nothing really stops me from forcing her to help me, but I ain't that much of an asshole.
"…I…I think I can help you, but…but wouldn't this be…treason?" – Noel finally gives her answer and a very good question along with it. I doubt she's going to go with this plan if she ends up getting screwed over by it.
"Give me a sec, alright?...That's it! Weren't you tryin' to arrest me or something? What if you led me there using that as an excuse? Sounds pretty good to me." – I reply with the best idea I can think of at the moment.
"E-Eh? But...But I'll have to restrain you first. Are you sure you can do this?" – the Lieutenant asks. She did see me jump around like a flea, but I've been holding back whenever I tried to hit her…even if I did go overboard with it anyway. I don't know what Nu is, but she certainly should be able to break out of any normal restraints.
"Yes. Absolutely. It may be hard to believe, but I'm not as frail as I look. Well, enough chatter. Let's get to wor-"
An odd noise interrupts me. I look around to locate its source…Why does Noel look so…Oh. She's been out for a while, so, she's probably hungry now. I'm kinda hungry too, so, I can understand her.
"S…Sorry…"
"…I guess we could stop for a quick bite. I'm not gonna pay for it though. I wish I could after all this shit, but…Well, let's just say that I've got a cat to blame for it."
And so Lieutenant Noel Vermillion joins the party. Someone's got to heal her real soon though. Can't have any of the party members be low on HP unless that somehow makes them better.