Chapter 7: The Half-Fiend and the Strongest Leg Forward

Foreword: Ya know when ya make space to talk about stuff and then realise that you have nothing to talk about, ya that is this, onto the story!

Story Start: Fremy looked Adlet dead in the eyes and said, "you are serious about this aren't you? If anyone else said it I would think them both strange and delusional. I had heard of men of scientists trying to create replacement arms for wounded warriors but I heard none ever succeeded, that such a thing was impossible. But you probably already know of that and are still going to try anyway, right?"

Adlet returned her seriousness, "that is right. I don't know how long it will take, how much money, time, effort, I doubt it will be painless on both our parts but I still want to try! Fremy we both know you don't want to live your life like this! The wheeled-chair was just a temporary aid, it isn't the solution! No matter how hard it is I am going to help you walk again, Fremy, I am the Strongest Man in the World, if I can't even do this then, what is the point of such a title?"

Fremy sighed and said in response, "I want to say it isn't a big deal and don't waste your time on me but that isn't true, I do want to walk again to be a normal person, well as normal as a half-fiend gets anyway and I know whatever I say you won't consider this a waste of time. All I can do is promise to help however I can! I am not a scientist or a craftsman but whatever I can do, whatever it takes for this to work, if it hurts I will grit through the pain a hundred times, so do your best Adlet!"

The pair smiled and a soft silence carried the pair for some time until it was broken to talk about various topics. Eventually the pair made it back from the village and entered Atro Spiker's compound. The pair were both physically and mentally exhausted from what had gone on this day. The pair had multiple meaningful discussions and learned a lot about each other, they faced several various hardships.

During dinner Atro asked Fremy to explain the details of their trip and if anything notable happened.

Adlet was surprised to see how warm he acted towards Fremy when not just the other day he tried to kill her when they arrived. He was reminded of how favorably Rolonia was treated when she studied here compared to Adlet. He knew his master was not a feminist, he had taught against such thoughts lest a fiend with the face of a women steal your life.

Fremy explained the events that transpired, "me and Adlet had a nice long chat on the way there. We got harassed by some guards, the guards were saved by , he was nice. We got all of the things Adlet needed for his project even though most of the merchants gave me the cold stare and most of the townspeople stared but it was fine. We talked to Manuela and got nice new clothes from here, there was almost an incident between me and her…"

Adlet interrupted at the mention of this, "what incident? What happened in that changing room with you and Manuela?"

Fremy looked at Adlet and just said, "girl secrets, can't tell ya. Anyway back to it, I ran into some drunks who almost started something until an old friend intervened, it was nice to see her again. After we went to Gariss's tavern, Garris wasn't nice but we met some interesting people and we almost died. We ran into Axton, he was crazy so Adlet killed him and his friends…"

Atro who was quietly paying attention and nodding along with Fremy's story mumbled under his breath, "dropping kids off the mountain, no longer a thorough method of discarding insane apprentices."

Adlet said, "did you use that method often, master?"

Atro replied, "You train students as long as I have, most of which have lost everything to the monsters they wish to destroy, you don't know how many of them are more than a little unstable, when they show they can't be trusted and wield power to topple the mightiest of men, they must be dealt with. Comes with the territory."

Fremy sighed, continuing, "after that we got parts to build me a new pistol to replace the rifle someone destroyed." Giving an accusing glare at Atro who looked away. Fremy continued, "after that we returned and now we are here. Story over."

Atro nodded and thanked Fremy for the story then began to walk for the door.

Adlet asked, "where are you going? It's already past sunset."

Atro looked over his shoulder as he began to put on various pouches, he flashed his gauntlet blades then hid them, "I am simply going to clear out a town of people who can't follow instructions."

Fremy leaned over to Adlet and whispered, "how many do you think he will kill, he isn't going to be very kind is he?"

Adlet leaned in and whispered, "far more than I am okay with."

Adlet sprung up and grabbed his mentor by the shoulder. "That isn't really necessary, Yazzan saw to personally make sure the guards learned from their mistake and they won't repeat it. The others are just ignorant but they are harmless."

Atro with a small hint of enthusiasm in his voice, "they specifically ignored my warning, I have to keep my word."

Fremy called out as Atro stepped out of the doorway, "don't! If you kill, Yazzan said he will just end up with worse guards and it will only make things worse."

Atro sighed, turned around and came back inside and began to take off his gear, looking notably disappointed.

Adlet and Fremy shared a sigh and Adlet said, "how did I end up with the craziest master on the planet."

Atro shot back in response, "I didn't walk up to your door begging to be trained to be the strongest man in the world did I? I don't choose my apprentices, I just reject the ones I don't like."

Fremy added, "and kill the crazy ones!"

Atro said, "that too!"

Adet facepalmed, surprised again how well the two got along.

That night Atro swore he could have heard some noises coming from Adlet's room as he passed by, however he only heard anything due to his incredibly honed sense of hearing. What he heard caused him to say to himself, "I am glad I had those rooms noise proofed, if I had to hear the normal sound of apprentices all night I would never get to sleep. So many screams."

The next day came and Adlet and Atro began working on their next project, creating artificial legs. It would take three weeks before they finished their first attempt. In the meantime Fremy began her apprenticeship with Manuela in the village. Fremy worked hard and learned quickly and was quite skilled with using her hands. She often interacted with the Nikola sisters, their company made for loud days, Neneriel began teaching Fremy her tricks and helping her improve her cooking skills. Lucia was always happy to swap stories with Fremy and talk about all manner of girl talk and gossip, Fremy knew more about the daily affairs of the town then she ever thought she would. Manuela had several stories about her family, her interactions with Adlet when he was younger and her customers she had encountered. Every day was full of hard work, but the trio of very excitable girls became the first people she felt she could call her friends. Even if after every interaction she felt very tired, she still enjoyed her time with them and their teachings but she couldn't understand how they had so much energy.

Fremy spent much of her time in the village and only came back to the mountain once a week to spend some time with Adlet before returning with Manuela.

Fremy enjoyed the time she spent in the village but it helped her to learn how much she took for granted the time she had with Adlet, both Adlet and Fremy realised how much they liked being each others presence and how comfortable they had become with each other and how different that was when with their respective mentors.

At the end of the third week Fremy and Manuela went to the Mountain to visit Adlet and when they arrived they heard. "We finished, finally!"

Manuela wheeled Fremy into the room and they saw Atro and Adlet covered in sweat standing over a pair of metal legs that came up to the knees, the sides were exposed which showed the various mechanisms that were far beyond Fremy or Manuela's understanding.

Adlet walked up to Fremy and they hugged and he greeted Manuela. Adlet said, "Fremy we finished our first attempt at it, in doing so we figured out how the technology should in theory work. If it works properly it should connect to the nerves which likely will be painful. If it works you should be able to move them as if they were your original legs. Do you want to go ahead and try it or do you need some time to steel yourself first?"

Fremy took a deep breath and said, "we might as well try it now, no reason to wait for me."

Adlet nods and says, "if you're sure then let's give it a shot!"

Fremy moves to the legs and with Atro and Adlet's help attaches them to her body. The pain is instant and intense, a scream leaves Fremy's mouth and tears roll down her eyes as her body shakes in pain.

Adlet, very worried, says, "Fremy, are you okay?"

After a full minute Fremy finally stops shaking and says, "it's fine, it doesn't hurt as bad as when I lost my legs, I am fine."

Atro said, " when you are ready, try and move the legs."

Fremy nodded and tried to move her leg and it did move but then the leg shook and a couple parts exploded out, followed by a few others, then all the rest of the leg exploded out in hundreds of pieces and parts. Everyone stared at Fremy, both her new legs having exploded into little parts all across the room.

Everyone shared a collective sigh. Fremy looked at Adlet and said, "well it seems you need to start working on your next attempt."

Manuela looked at Fremy surprised, "you still want to keep trying even knowing how painful it is?"

Fremy nodded, "Adlet isn't giving up and neither am I!"

Adlet and Atro smiled and Atro said, "well it seems we have to get back to work."

To Be Continued in Chapter 8: The Strongest Man, The Half-Fiend and the Strongest Leg Forward Part 1

Afterword: Why was this chapter so short? I didn't have a ton of dialogue or any action scenes I wanted to go have in this chapter to fill it out and I had a goal where I wanted to end the chapter so it is shorter than a lot of my other chapters. I apologise and will hopefully fill out the next chapters a bit more to compensate, can't say for certain though, haven't written them yet!

What if I want to make fanart of this story or its character's? This is another one of those things I forgot till just now I wanted to address. I doubt anyone would care enough to want to draw the characters of this story and I also doubt you need my permission to do it if you actually wanted to but I would love to see it if people actually did. I am horrible at art but my time in art classes has taught me to appreciate those that can draw or even take the effort to try regardless of the product so I am always impressed with those who draw fanart! Not trying to beg for fanart, just felt like saying I support it and love to see it instead of being like "original characters don't steal!" and getting mad anytime I saw a fanart of this.

How much longer at this point do you see this story continuing? To be one hundred percent honest, not too much longer. I have always had a hazy idea where I wanted to end it going as far as saying I had no idea when the story would end. I have put a lot of thought on this, I could stretch out the story for a long time, but at that point it would just be filler. And not really filler in the sense that it is meant to delay a story until the other can return to the plot, but as that to add more content to the story it would be a story without a plot. I don't want to finish my story off at a point where I have just ran out of random things for Adlet and Fremy to do, I want it to end when they have accomplished their main goals. Or died horribly as I pull an Akame Ga Kill, whichever happens. If I ever ignore the fun possibility of character death then I do myself a disservice, I to this day put akame ga kill in my top 5 favorite anime/manga for its large usage of character death so don't underestimate this crazy man! I don't have plans to retire this work in a way but that I will leave for when the end comes.

Till Next Time!