Points of View
A Star Ocean 3 fanfic
by Intrasonic
Setting: Castle Aquaria, Runological Weapon Research Facility
"You'll want to reinforce here and here, to keep the device from tearing itself apart when it fires. And if you want to make it mobile, this area looks pretty fragile. You'll want to insulate it from any shocks or bumps..."
Nel looked on from across the room, more than a little impressed with Fayt. Apparently, despite his earlier protestations, he was more than capable of delivering the assistance that she had always hoped for. Admittedly, she had still harboured some doubts, even after he initially declared his intention to help out. But by this point, those doubts were gone, replaced by the evidence of her own eyes and ears.
And lo, it was a good feeling.
And not only that, he had been quick to volunteer to assist on an expedition to gather some necessary copper from the Bequeral Mines... it was almost enough to make her feel a little guilty.
And a little curious, that someone so young would know so much. He didn't strike her as the studious type, like Dion, yet talked about certain things as though he took the knowledge for granted...
Cliff was next to her, seemingly content to watch the scene from afar. He and Fayt had engaged in some last minute discussions when seeing the weapon, but there had been no sudden reversals of decisions made, and things were finally progressing.
Glancing sideways, Nel gave him a small smile. "Well, it looks like your hunch was correct," she admitted.
"My hunches are always correct," he agreed modestly. "He's a good kid, like I said. Pretty bright, too."
"What about you? I saw you making a few suggestions too."
Cliff brushed the comment aside. "Nah, I'm just a field grunt."
"If you say so. Although, I couldn't help but notice that, for a 'field grunt', you displayed a surprising degree of royal etiquette when meeting my queen."
"Eh, nothing wrong with being polite once in a while, right?"
"Or even on a regular basis, but I would hate for you to strain yourself."
"Ouch."
"So tell me, are we as much of a 'primitive tribe' as you originally thought? If your conversation with Fayt was any indication, we appear to be more advanced in some areas than you expected."
Cliff gave her a surprised look, but it soon faded into a more resigned one. "You're a chronic eavesdropper, aren't you?"
"On matters of my country's security," she agreed, unrepentant. "Or perhaps your race's hearing is less acute than mine?"
"Could be, could be. But don't think this changes much. I'm not going into details, but that comparison I gave you the other day wasn't much of an exaggeration. This place is nowhere near advanced enough to justify what Fayt's doing right now."
Nel frowned, having almost forgotten about a piece of Cliff's earlier explanation. "He will... be punished for this?"
"He'll have a lot of answer for, yeah. Worse case scenario, he could be seeing some pretty serious prison time. But he knew that before he agreed, so let it be. If you want to go against the rules, you've got to be willing to face the consequences, right?"
Nel nodded, making a mental bookmark to make sure Fayt knew how grateful she was for his assistance. The rest of her mind was busy trying to process what Cliff had claimed regarding the 'advancement' of her people. She could admit that that wherever Fayt and Cliff were really from, it clearly possessed knowledge and abilities beyond what Aquarias and Airyglyph could claim. But how far beyond them could it possibly be?
Sharper swords? Stronger armour? While valuable, such things weren't exactly earth-shattering in nature. She had already had opportunity to see that Cliff's clothing, despite it's lightness and flexibility, possessed a toughness and durability to rival heavy chain mail. Interesting, but still only a difference of refinement, surely.
There was the flying object they had crashed into Airyglyph with, but even flight wasn't entirely unthinkable. Elena and Dion had occasionally toyed with levitation spells in the past, although nothing yet was developed enough for practical use. But that still didn't seem adequate to classify her people as a 'primitive tribe' by comparison.
So what exactly made the difference?
end