Riko walked up to his normal smithy, only to find it closed. A sign told him the blacksmith was out of town for a few months.
"This is a problem…" He thought aloud. He continued to check around only to find that every blacksmith he could think of wasn't available. As he continued searching, he happened to run into Anthony.
"What are you doing?" Anthony asked.
"Well I got the parts to upgrade my Tiger Jawblade, but no blacksmiths are around."
"Really? You tried down the street?"
"He's sick."
"Three streets down?"
"Broken arm."
"Across town?"
"Just vanished a few months ago, no one knows where he went."
"Huh…" Anthony fell silent, in thought.
Riko didn't have anything to say after this so he got ready to leave but found himself interrupted by Anthony suddenly speaking up.
"Wait… is it cool if I try upgrading it?"
Riko paused "Huh?"
"Well like, I know some stuff about blacksmithing, though I'm kinda out of practice, but like there aren't others around, so like-"
"Sure."
Anthony stopped explaining as he felt a sense of relief from this, before leading Riko to where he was gonna upgrade the sword.
As they reached Anthony's house, Riko was confused.
"So wait, how are you gonna do this?" He asked.
"Wait a minute." Anthony then reached underneath his bed, pulling out a bunch of a equipment.
"I keep it around, just in case I ever wanna use it like… right now."
"Sure."
Anthony took the sword and the materials and stared at it for a few minutes, before he started hammering away.
Riko had no idea what to do, so he just sat there and waited.
A short while passed, before Riko felt the need to find some form of conversation.
"So how'd you learn this stuff, anyways?"
Anthony took a while to respond, but finally went with "From a family of blacksmiths."
"Then… why would you become a hunter?"
RIko immediately realised he shouldn't have asked this, but surprisingly got an answer anyways.
"Well, I guess for it to make sense, I need to explain from the beginning. Like I said, I'm from a family of blacksmiths, back in Kotoko Village. As the oldest son, I figured I'd be the one to inherit it. I even showed some promise at it, early on. So, assuming I'd be fine I just did whatever I wanted, never focusing on it. But my brother had a different, way more respectable outlook on this, actually honing his skills unlike me."
"So it's like the tortoise and hare?"
"I guess. I was the one who got overconfident and lazed around, meanwhile the slow and steady one beat me easily."
Kotoko Village, 1340
There was a commotion about the village. Anthony had just about to managed to force himself awake in response to all the noise, but found himself completely confused to what was going on. He finally saw someone.
"Hey Jack, you know what's going on?"
"A hunting group's arriving soon." Jack answered.
"Oh, I see. Well, I don't care about stuff like that much, but it'll be good if they come here."
As he hoped, a few hours later one of them arrived. A woman whose most prominent feature was her brightly coloured hair, carrying a bunch of materials.
"I need a new gunlance forged, using Zinogre parts."
"Sure." The old man running the place replied. The hunter left the parts there, before leaving without another word. The old man then looked over this, before going to get his hammer, at which point he abruptly collapsed to the ground.
Jack was the first one to notice this, rushing forwards to help with Anthony shortly behind him. They both helped him up, then moved him over to a chair.
"Hey, dad, what happened?" Jack asked.
"Dunno, just kinda, collapsed. Must be sick or something. Still, this is a problem. I've gotta get that job finished by tomorrow."
"You can't work right now, can't you just leave it?" Anthony pointed out.
"Somehow I don't think the hunters will be okay with that. Still, if I can't do it then… Jack, I'm leaving it to you."
"Got it." Jack replied before running to get a hammer, while Anthony just froze up in shock.
A few hours passed, with him unable to tell why Jack was chosen over him. He wasn't able to do anything that day but remain there, in a state of confusion. Soon enough, Jack announced that he'd gotten the job finished and he went to sleep almost instantly after that. The hunter would be by to pick it up in the morning.
A few hours later he awoke to the sound of crashing in another room, so he grabbed a knife nearby and rushed in.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked, before suddenly stopping.
At the moment that Jack went to bed, an idea dawned in Anthony's mind. In the dead of night he snuck in.
"I just want to see it for myself. The difference between us." He justified to himself as he snuck around.
After a few minutes, he found it. The gunlance and shield sat before him, barely illuminated by the moonlight. An Usurper's Roar. While he had never seen one before, he knew that without a doubt this was a perfect creation.
That's why he couldn't stand it. It was too perfect.
The one who was supposed to inherit this place was him. He, the oldest, the one who deserved it. It didn't matter how much effort his brother had put in. This couldn't happen.
So, he had to break this reality. To destroy it. It couldn't be real. He wouldn't let it be real. Such a thing wouldn't be allowed.
All he had to do to escape this reality was break it. Which he did. He grabbed the nearest hammer and smashed the gunlance, until it wouldn't work anymore. He did the same to the shield. A pile of metal was all that remained.
Jack rushed in, asking who he was, before stopping, stunned into silence.
"This is how things should be." Anthony thought.
The next day, the hunter arrived. As much as their father tried to explain, she wasn't satisfied with this. While it was out of their control, that didn't matter to her. All she saw was the result. A few days later, the hunters left, presumably never to return.
Anthony got punched to the floor by his dad.
"Do you have any idea what you did!?" He yelled.
Anthony didn't respond.
"Destroying the weapon was bad enough, but this job was extra bad. This village doesn't have any popular hunters. We needed them. For one thing, protection from any threats that could suddenly arrive is important but we've also lost so money that we could've made by them sticking around! You just went and ruined that!"
Anthony remained silent as he got kicked, not bothering to get back up.
"Aren't you going to say anything? What made you do something like that?"
Anthony remained silent for a little while longer.
"Why did you choose Jack? Why not me?"
There was a confused silence.
"Is that it? That's the reason!? Of course I'd choose Jack! He's the one who's good at being a blacksmith! You ruined everything out of jealousy?"
Anthony didn't have a new response to this, he just continued to ask "Why not me?" until he got thrown out of the house.
"Just get lost already! This village doesn't need someone like you!"
Anthony's eyes were barely focused but he glanced over, seeing Jack almost attempt to help before stopping himself. It was obvious from Anthony's point of view that he didn't want to make himself a target. Which meant that he had no allies here.
So, still in a trance like state he got back up and started to walk. He left the village, left the area, heading for something without knowing what it was yet.
A few months passed. Anthony wandered from place to place, not sure of what anything was anymore. He'd stolen a carving knife and a BBQ spit, so while his situation still wasn't good he could at least acquire cooked food.
He'd stowed away on more than a few ships, just looking for anywhere to stay. This is why he ended up around the Deserted Isle, feeling like he was about to starve to death.
A carving knife was handy, but only after the target was dead. It was the only weapon he had, meaning he needed to be tactical to obtain food.
He saw a herd of Aptonoth nearby. They hadn't yet picked up on him as a threat.
"If I don't eat something soon I'll seriously die." He thought, before beginning to slowly approach.
As he did this, he noticed the approach of a Lagiacrus nearby.
"Seriously?" He thought, but despite his expectations the Lagiacrus continued to sneak around, in a way completely unbefitting of the Lord of the Seas. Unfortunately for it, it was far more suspicious to the wild Aptonoth than Anthony was, causing them to flee.
Anthony wanted to scream but didn't have the energy anymore so he began running after the Aptonoth.
The Lagiacrus did the same, causing them both to become incredibly competitive.
The herd took this distraction to run further ahead.
Both the pursuers temporarily set their differences aside to give chase.
In his weakened state, the Aptonoth moved far too quick for Anthony. For whatever reason, the same seemed to apply to the Lagiacrus, also barely able to keep up.
Then, a miracle appeared. An elderly Aptonoth, lagging behind. Anthony pounced, stabbing into its side. He stabbed repeatedly, until it collapsed, unable to put up much of a fight.
The Lagiacrus caught up quickly, seeing the rest of the herd escape. It moved for the corpse, which Anthony shielded with his body.
"This is mine." He stated.
The Lagiacrus tried to fight for it, but collapsed to the ground almost immediately, having no energy.
A few seconds passed.
Anthony turned around.
"Fine you can… have half."
The Lagiacrus regained its energy in reaction to this, enthusiastically tearing into the Aptonoth.
"Wait- You- That's way more than half, did you even listen!?"
A short while passed, with the two working together to get food. After being over competing for food, Anthony noticed the scars on the Lagiacrus' chest. He also noted his refusal to ever really get near the sea, for whatever reason.
One day, a man suited in armour appeared.
"Stay back, citizen! I will deal with this!" He yelled.
"Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Gilbert Reknaw. I've come here to finish off this Lagiacrus. You're safe now. Stand aside."
"Seriously, what are you on. This dude ain't harming anyone."
"I said stand aside." The hunter replied, drawing his sword and charging forwards.
Anthony barely dived out of the way in time to avoid this attack, but the monster was less successful in dodging. The hunter didn't stop there, continuing to attack relentlessly. While he had recovered somewhat, the leviathan was still hardly in top condition, meaning it wasn't able to do much to fight back.
The hunter kept slashing, but Anthony noticed an opening to grab him, attempting to stop this.
"Why are you doing this!? I thought hunters weren't supposed to hunt things unnecessarily! He's no threat!"
"Ok fine, you got me. The scars make it pretty obvious that this one got into a fight underneath the sea and lost, forcing it to leave and stay here. It's still recovering, so it's weak. I just want the credit for killing a Lagiacrus. Now get lost."
This set something off within Anthony.
He grabbed back onto the hunter and slammed him straight into the ground.
The hunter had no idea how to respond to this, being caught completely off guard.
Anthony started yelling as he stomped on him.
"What the hell's wrong with being injured? Huh!? You think that just cause someone messed up once they're as good as dead!? Screw you and your glory seeking! You don't get how this feels at all! It must be nice being a hunter huh, you assholes seem to have it great, ruining everything. I mean sure, it was mostly my fault for ruining things, but it was at least partially theirs, like it wasn't just me right? But anyways, get out already!" He yelled, kicking the hunter away. He spun a short distance before stoping, already unconscious.
Anthony tried to catch his breath, before realising he might've broken his foot doing that, collapsing to the ground. The last thing he heard before slipping away was the sound of waves.
Anthony woke up a little while later. The hunter seemed to have left after that, for whatever reason.
Anthony started at the sky for a while.
"You don't have a name, right? How's Wave?"
The Lagiacrus seemed to accept.
Anthony sat up.
"Well then, Wave. I've got an idea. I'm gonna become a hunter. If that guy can do i, so can I, right? Besides, hunters… are really flashy, right? I saw it before. Those hunters, they attracted a load of attention. Then… maybe I can go back if I become someone as important as that. So in that case, I'll be leaving here now."
He got up. Wave started to feel disappointment, feeling he was alone again.
"But there's one thing first. From what I heard from that guy, you got into a bad fight in the sea, now you're stuck up here, unable to go back. I… feel like I'm in the same exact situation, honestly. So, if you want to, come with me. I don't know where I'm going, or if it's gonna work out, but it'll be better than here."
Wave seemed to approve of this, following straight behind him as he walked off, headed somewhere or other.
So began the two's long journey, leading to this very moment.
"That's the end of it, I guess. In the end, I'm still on my way to becoming someone famous enough to go back, so its not like it's got a proper ending."
Riko had no idea how to process this, he was just expecting a few sentences, not an entire chapter's worth of backstory.
"I mean… sure. So I guess you've never been back after that, huh?"
"Nope. I can't go back. Until I'm someone important enough to be beneficial."
"And when will you know that you're important enough?"
Anthony went silent to that.
"I just will."
He looked for a distraction.
"Anyways, I'm almost done on the weapon, so I'm just gonna focus on that."
It was pretty clear that Anthony didn't want to discuss this further, so Riko tried to find something else.
"Well, having a blacksmith nearby is pretty useful, so I guess I'll be using you from now on."
"Sure, but at least wait until I'm done first. Oh, I'm done."
He picked up the sword.
"Well, I'm a little outta practice, but I think it turned out well."
Riko looked at the sword. It was slightly off, some parts in completely the wrong place and it looked as though it might snap in half if he hit something the wrong way.
He looked up at Anthony.
"It's great."
TO BE CONTINUED