Chapter 1: Job Offer

So uh, a new story. I kind of hit a sudden burst of inspiration for this one and I wanted to just put it out there to see what people think.

Don't worry about Fixing the Past, I'm about 4k words into the next chapter so that should pretty easily make the deadline I set for myself. Expect it to drop around next week Sunday.

With this kind of writing vigor, I may actually be able to get weekly updates out. We'll see how busy I get though since I've got midterms coming up in a few weeks.

So, what if Xenoblade… but fantasy? Not an incredibly unique idea but I feel like I could make an interesting story out of it.

…

The Argentum Trade Guild was as busy as ever, people and nopon wandering around the massive complex as they bought, sold, and traded goods from around the world. The Guild was the largest company in the world at the moment and as this was the headquarters of the Guild in Gormott, the building was absolutely massive. The wood and stone structure easily took up a square kilometer of land in the Capital of Gormott: Torigoth.

This space was taken up by thousands of different vendors and had tens of thousands of people coming in to buy or sell throughout the day. Of course the only way this gargantuan structure could exist was through the countless magically enchanted wooden support beams that ran through the entire complex.

Though as impressive as it all was, Rex wasn't here to admire the engineering, nor was he here to buy or sell. Well maybe he would buy something later. But right now he had to find someone he could swipe some money off of before he could really do anything today.

He noticed someone in expensive but stupid looking clothes pointing to some jewelry and a butler, already weighed down by several parcels, paid for the goods and the noble lady walked away with a new bracelet on her wrist. Probably some spoiled Gormotti noble, if the ears on her head was any indication, who didn't know any better.

Rex rolled his eyes as he casually crossed paths with the butler, accidentally nudging him slightly as he grabbed the coin purse and pocketed it while mumbling an apology to the butler who looked down his nose at him, as if he were something unseemly he had stepped in. Rex sneered over his shoulder as he wove his way through the crowd of people, counting the coins he emptied out into his pocket. Five gold coins. He swallowed, that was more than he managed to steal in the past month combined.

He was honestly surprised that there was such a noble lady walking around in the regular areas of Argentum. There were definitely higher class locations where the rich frequented and if he were to go up there in his simple tunic, he'd likely be thrown out by the bouncers. Normally, if they wanted something from here, they'd only send a servant down. A shame that she'd probably not come down here again though once she found out she was robbed. It was always nice to get some easy cash.

He made his way over to the massive set of stairs and joined the stream of traffic moving up. The second floor of the Guild was a bit more specialized than the mass of random vendors and stalls of the first which were designed to try to get people to impulse spend. Nothing was placed in the Guild by accident after all. Everything was meticulously calculated by different psychologists and economists to maximize profits. He made his way over to a forge he frequented, not because he bought stuff from it, but because the blacksmith was a friend.

Brandon Hunter, a talented young man with striking black hair and a weird fashion sense, preferring to wear clothes he patched together himself over anything store bought. Though that may have been a result of his frugality over actually liking the clothes he wore, which consisted of weird denim pants and weird white cotton garment on his upper body.

Compared to the more common tunics of the common folk and the silks of the nobles, he certainly stood out.

His forge was also unique. It was crammed into a small room since that was the maximum rent he could afford in such a hotspot location. Despite that, however, the room remained cool. Whatever ventilation system Brandon had installed was insanely good.

They had met when Rex had just started pickpocketing. He had been caught by a noble's bodyguard and Brandon had bailed him out. Now that was an embarrassing experience. Since then, he had become easily the best thief and pickpocket in the guild, if not all of Torigoth. During that time, he had paid off his debt to Brandon and they had become fast friends.

"Hey Rex," Brandon called out over the sound of his roaring furnace and the striking of his hammer on metal, "the usual?"

Rex simply nodded, choosing not to waste his voice yelling over the deafening racket and tossed the wallet over to Brandon who promptly chucked it into his blazing fire.

Rex watched in amazement as Brandon worked, as usual, impressed by the man's skill and dedication to his craft. Currently, he was working on a particularly impressive looking sword. Brandon had made a bit of a name for himself, so many fledgling knights came to him for weapons and armor as his prices were cheaper but offered similar quality to all but the best smiths.

Of course, the organization of specialized knight pairs, Drivers and Blades, known as Torna, had the best of the best smiths in their employ already. That, on top of the highest quality enchanters, made it impossible for anyone to match their weapon quality.

Torna was not bound to any one nation. They were international peacekeepers, stepping in to maintain order and to stop wars. Rex had admired the knights of Torna for a long time. He had wanted to join since he first heard the stories of their heroic exploits and eagerly went to every yearly festival Torna held. There, they held a ceremony called the Architect's Selection where Torna requested the Architect to choose worthy candidates to become Drivers. Those who were selected were bestowed a partner known as a Blade, beings who granted their partner immense strength and magical power.

But, alas, he was never selected, maybe being a career thief wasn't the greatest choice to be selected to join an order of knights. Brandon had offered to take him on as an apprentice but Rex had declined, knowing Brandon couldn't really afford to pay a full time employee despite fitting a niche in the market.

There was an alternative to being chosen directly by the Architect technically. All you had to do was catch the attention of a Flesh Eater, a Blade who refused to return to Elysium once their Driver dies and is merged with a part of their Driver to do so, marked by a red and blue Core Crystal instead of a pure blue one. There were a few ways to do so, like participating in the festival tournaments. Each Flesh Eater also usually had their own private showings where they would see who could potentially live up to their previous Driver through some competition of their own choosing. Of course that was assuming a Flesh Eater decided to take up a new partner. Most never did, the purpose of their staying behind was in memory of their deceased Driver after all.

Flesh Eaters were highly respected by Torna, but the Praetorium disagreed. The Holy Praetorium of Indol was the church dedicated to worshiping the Architect. According to the stories, the Architect was their creator who lived up high in a paradise called Elysium at the top of the World Tree. Humanity had apparently used to live with him, but one day, they did something to anger him and he had cast Humanity out to the lands below.

Rex guessed he mellowed out during that time or he wouldn't still be granting them miracles.

The Praetorium called Flesh Eaters abominations, things that went against the Architect's will. However, they were unable to act upon that due to Torna's respect for Flesh Eaters for their service.

Those words still had an effect on the people of Alrest and as such, avoided Flesh Eaters as much as possible.

Rex wasn't sure what to think there exactly. The Praetorium was right of course, their leader, the Praetor, had a direct connection to the Architect and was a mouthpiece for his words. But Torna were also his idols and members of their council were Flesh Eaters after all.

"Alright," Brandon said as he finished up his work and put his tools back onto a rack, "how much did you get this time?"

"Five gold," Rex said.

Brandon whistled, "that's a lot of money. How did you get that?"

"Swiped it off of some rich lady's butler. She was just walking around the first floor of Argentum flaunting her money so I took advantage of it."

"Odd, usually their kind don't want to even be seen around commoners. Whatever. Money's money I guess. How much you want to send back to Fonsett?"

"Four, I guess. Unless you can make change for a gold coin." Rex sighed as he slid the coins over to Brandon who pocketed them. Fonsett village wasn't poor by any means. But it also wasn't rich. It was an area that was mostly populated by older retired folk who sold everything to move to the quiet location. Rex himself had grown up in an orphanage, his parents having died of disease when he was young. He sent money back home through Brandon so the kids there could eventually be sent to proper schools somewhere. Maybe even magic school if they had the talent.

"I'll get these sent over as soon as possible. Also, I could make change, but then I'd have to explain where I got one when I go to spend it," he shook his head, "you'd have to be a lot braver than me to try to spend it."

"I know some people," Rex said.

Brandon shook his head, "don't want to know. Plausible deniability and all that."

"You literally know I pickpocket rich morons. How does plausible deniability apply at all?"

Brandon shrugged, "I-"

He was cut off by the bell above the door ringing, indicating a customer entering. Rex tensed as he and Brandon looked over to see a Gormotti girl in a yellow jumpsuit enter the forge. She had a short bob of silver hair and white stripes on her face. The only weapons on her person was a set of three short daggers on her belt.

Rex relaxed, it didn't seem like she was there for him and he found his hand dropping from the small dagger he had hidden in his tunic.

"Hi," Brandon said cheerfully, "welcome to Hunter's Forge, what can I do for you today?"

The girl unhooked her sheathes from her belt and placed them on top of the counter dividing the small waiting area from the rest of the forge. "I need these sharpened."

"Alright," Brandon said, scooping one up and unsheathing it to look at the knife. "Uh, are you sure? It's ten silvers and these are high quality knives already."

She shrugged, "money isn't an issue."

"Alright, if you're sure." Brandon slid the knife back in and scooped up the rest to take them over to his whetstone.

The Gormotti then turned to Rex. For some reason she looked familiar, though he couldn't place her face. "You there, you're Rex, right?"

"Who's asking?"

She smirked, "I dunno why people say that. It's a dead giveaway more so than sayin' yes or no. The name's Nia Eschell."

Rex's eyes widened. Eschell was the name of a large city in Gormott a few weeks of travel from Torigoth. If her last name was Eschell, then she was the lord, or well the lord's daughter.

"I'm the one you pickpocketed, well, the lady of the butler who you pickpocketed earlier."

Rex drew his knife, falling into a defensive stance.

Nia rolled her eyes, "I'm not here for a fight, nor to turn you into the authorities. I literally just gave away my weapons to show that."

Rex reluctantly accepted that logic and put his dagger away. "Why?"

"Why what?" Nia asked, humor sparkling in her eyes, "why am I here? Why am I lookin' for you?"

It was Rex's turn to roll his eyes, "I get enough of that from Brandon. What do you want?"

"You're a good pickpocket. The fact that my butler didn't notice that you had taken from him can attest to that. I hear from the people around here that you're a good burglar as well."

Rex narrowed his eyes, "wait, were you flaunting around with money to try to bait someone into stealing from you?"

"Yeah, if they couldn't steal from my butler, then they'd not be good enough for the job I have in mind."

"You want me to do a job?"

"Yeah, and I'm payin' a thousand gold. Interested?"

Rex's eyes bulged, "a thousand gold?!"

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Uh, that's a no until we hear more," Brandon interjected, returning with the knives.

"Wha- how did you finish them this quickly?" Nia asked.

"I'm a good smith." Brandon said, "you can drop a piece of paper over these babies now and they'll be cut in half. Now I don't know what you have in mind but you should at least give the job details before trying to get someone to accept. Though I guess I shouldn't expect a noble to understand." He finished snidely, indicating that he had, in fact, heard their entire conversation.

"Fair enough," Nia took the insult in stride, making Brandon blink, a bit dumbfounded. Rex had expected her to go ballistic like every other noble did when they were even mildly insulted by a commoner.

"I have an item of interest that was taken from me by a group of thieves, their attire would suggest that they are Tantalese. Part of the job would be tracking them down then stealing said item back."

Brandon scowled, "and what item would be worth the risk of stealing from a Gormotti noble? If not the possibility of an international diplomatic incident?"

"It's an item known as the Omega Fetter."

"Out," Brandon pointed to the door.

"Excuse me?" Nia asked incredulously.

"Get out of my forge. You're not welcome here."

"What? I haven't even paid you ye-"

"I don't care. You're asking for something insane. We're not getting involved in whatever Tornan business you're part of."

"What if I want to do it?" Rex said.

"Then you're fucking stupid."

Rex winced, less so about the cursing itself since Brandon cussed like a sailor, but because he rarely took that language to Rex directly. "But-"

"No. Do you even know what Tantal's like? It's a northern kingdom so it's freezing all the time. You literally don't own any winter clothes."

Rex glanced down at his blue tunic. "I can buy some if she pays up front."

Nia cleared her throat, "to clarify, the thousand gold coins is just the advance. I'll pay double that as well upon completion."

Rex felt like he was about to pass out. That much money would set you up completely for life, as well as the lives of your children and grandchildren and maybe even their grandchildren as well. "See? That kind of money would mean we would never struggle for money again."

"Yeah, and the risk is why the offer is so much. Do you even know what the Omega Fetter is?"

"No."

"Ugh, for someone who loves Torna so much, you really don't read a lot about them. The Omega Fetter is the control device for Artifice Ophion," he said as if reading off a textbook, "a serpentine dragon which is a servant of the Architect. It's meant to guard the World Tree from trespassers but was given limited access to Torna in case of emergencies. Which begs the question of why the hell some random Gormotti lord's daughter was in possession of such an item and why people would go out of their way to steal something like that."

"Both my father and my sister are trusted Drivers. I was simply with my father when the Omega Fetter was bein' transported and we were overwhelmed."

"A Driver and Blade were overwhelmed by common thieves? I don't buy it."

"No, they had elite trainin', likely part of some countries special ops forces."

"And that's the nail in the coffin," Brandon growled, "no means no. We're not doing this. End of discussion."

"Well you specifically don't have to-"

"No. Rex is like a brother to me. I refuse to let him get himself into so much danger when he can barely fight."

Nia sighed, "very well. If you change your mind, I'll be at the nearby Goldmouth inn for the next few days. Just ask for me at the front desk." She bowed, pushed a few coins onto the counter, and left, the bell clanging as the door swung open then back closed.

Brandon scoffed, "like that's going to happen. Still though, I can't help but worry a little bit. Artifice Ophion could level cities in the old stories."

"All the more reason to go!" Rex argued.

"All the more reason to stay put and let the experts figure this out," Brandon countered. "You're good, but not good enough to steal something that's likely going to be kept under heavy guard. Besides, some parts of her story don't add up. She may not be one of those stuffy uptight nobles, but she's still a noble at the end of the day and they'll slip a dagger into your back as willingly as manipulating you into doing their dirty work. As far as we know, it was never actually stolen and she just wants its power for herself. Just let this one go."

Rex sighed, "alright. Fine."

"Alright," Brandon let out a breath in relief. "I'll get your money sent back to aunt Corinne." He said, quickly changing the topic. "It should reach her by the end of the week."

Rex nodded, "thanks. I'm going to head out and get something to eat. See ya!" He waved as he left.

Brandon nodded, "stay safe."

Rex found the people willing to make change for a gold coin. He had gotten short changed a bit but it was still more money than he knew what to do with. He ended up just going for a quick snack of some cheese before making a beeline for the Goldmouth inn. He dashed through the streets of Torigoth to get there as quickly as possible.

He looked up in awe as he reached the inn, the expensive looking building making a looming presence in the city.

When he stepped in, he noticed that the carpet was red, and that there was a carpet to begin with. He went up to the front desk, "hey, uh-"

"Are you sure you can afford this place?" The receptionist asked snidely.

Rex shook his head, "I'm not here to book a room. I'm here to see lady Eschell? She said to ask for her here."

"I doubt lady Eschell would want something from y-"

"You know," Nia said, coming up from behind Rex, "when I said to come find me here, I didn't think you'd come right away."

Rex turned around to see Nia in the outfit he saw her in before: a fancy white dress with red and gold trim.

"L-lady Eschell," the receptionist stammered.

"That's my name. Don't wear it out. And next time, don't assume anythin' about my business."

"U-understood." The receptionist gave a cowed bow.

Nia gestured towards the stairs, "come, follow me. We'll talk on the way to my room."

"Uh, okay. I want to take the job."

"Your very attractive friend was very much against the idea of you acceptin'," Nia pointed out, "did he change his mind in the past hour?"

"First off, what? Ew. Second off, no. I respect Brandon, and I know he just wants the best for me. But he doesn't control my life decisions."

"What's not to like? He seems athletic with a solid build, not unattractive face, and very intelligent. Plus his accent is very exotic. I've only ever heard it in Blades."

"Actually, I don't know where he's from either," Rex scratched his head, "I met him in Argentum and I've never bothered to ask. He's also definitely not a Blade."

"Hm, do you think he'll say yes if I ask him out?"

Rex coughed, "I think we're getting a bit off topic."

Nia laughed, a surprisingly pleasant and melodic sound, "I suppose I'll shelve that conversation. Ah, here we are," she said as she pulled out a set of keys and unlocked two locks to open her door. She gestured to it and let Rex go in first. He marveled at the extravagant room. Everything was made of high quality fabrics and wood. He tried not to touch anything, fearing damaging anything there. The room opened up to a rather spacious living area, with a couch, table, and other fancy looking chairs and accessories arranged nicely around the room. A door opened up to what looked like a bedroom and another he assumed led to a bathroom.

"Please, take a seat," Nia said, pulling up a chair. Rex followed suit and sat down, though a lot more delicately than Nia did.

"Now then. Onto business. I'm payin' three thousand gold total for this job. A thousand now, two after completion. Now, the job is to find the Omega Fetter and bring it back to me. I have an image of the Fetter which I will provide. I also have an artist's rendition of the thieves for you to work off of. Unfortunately that is all I have. You'll be effectively startin' from scratch."

"I'll do it."

Nia nodded and put a hefty sack of coins onto the table, "here's your advance payment. You may spend it however you'd like, but I'd advise you to spend some of it on equipment you might need."

Rex thought to himself, "could I ask you to commission a few weapons for me? I want Brandon to make them since I don't trust any other smith to do as good a job but I can't ask him myself."

"Or he'd catch on and refuse," Nia finished the sentence with a nod, "very well. Is he as good a smith as you claim?"

"He's not as good, he's better," Rex boasted, happy to brag about his friend.

"Then I may go and commission a few things for myself as well. Is there any specific weapon you'd like?"

"Honestly those daggers you have on look good. Might be easy enough to ask for him to make replicas as spares to not draw any suspicion."

"Sounds like a plan. Very well then. I'll take whatever he charges out of the completion payment. Though, how often do you meet Brandon?" She asked.

Rex winced, "uh, daily."

Nia sighed, "I thought as much. Well I'll have to come up with an excuse. Hm," she hummed in thought for a moment, "how about this. I'll hire you in general as well. I'll have an official contract drawn up for you to work in my manor. I'll come up with some work for you to do durin' your investigation."

"What, really?" Rex exclaimed. That was an incredible deal for what was effectively just a chance meeting.

"Yeah, unless you'd rather return to a life of crime once you finish your mission."

"No no," Rex waved his arms frantically, "you're more than generous, lady Eschell."

"Please, call me Nia. Lady Eschell is my mother."

"R-right, Nia then."

"Mmhm. I'll also give Brandon a job offer as well. Should draw suspicion off if I willingly invite him to come and likely won't take me up on my offer."

Rex bit his lip nervously, "gambling with Brandon is a risky move. It's possible he sees right through your reverse psychology there, and if he does, he'll be pissed."

"If he does, I'll take the fall for you."

Rex nodded appreciatively. "Thank you."

"I shall meet you back here in a few hours then. If I'm not here, you're free to stay in the lobby and help yourself to any refreshments. If any employees give you trouble, say that Nia Eschell has given you express permission to be there." She slid him a card, "if they keep givin' you trouble, show them this and they'll back off."

"Okay, sounds good."

"Hi! Welcome to the," Brandon groaned, "oh it's you. I thought I told you you weren't welcome here. What do you want?"

"Relax." Nia said as she unsheathed a dagger from her jumpsuit's belt and set it down onto the counter, "I'm not here to trouble you further. I'm simply here as a customer."

Brandon eyed her suspiciously, "buying my wares isn't going to change my mind."

"Oh I'm aware. But you seemed like a good smith and I needed some work done while I'm here anyways."

"Alright. What are you looking for exactly?" Brandon grunted, easing his aggression for now.

"I'd like an extra set of these knives made. Three of them, as high quality as you can make them. I'd also like a set of chakrams made. Ten should suffice."

"Alright. Any specific material you'd like?"

"Would that impact anythin'? Highest quality."

Brandon nodded his head, "yeah. Depending on what it is, it could take a few days for me to get a hold of the material. I would also ask for a payment in advance if the material is expensive enough. If you're looking for the highest of high quality, it would cost quite a lot of gold, which would be paid in advance, and would take a few weeks to complete."

Nia nodded, "money isn't an issue." She placed a small bag of coins onto the counter, "here, take what you'd charge and give me the change back later."

Brandon nodded, "standard size chakrams?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then. I can't set an exact timeframe, but I guess you should come back in a few days, probably around two, and I'll have a much better idea of when I'll be done."

"Thank you."

"Just doing my job."

Brandon finished up his orders for the day and hung up his hammer and apron, yanked out a pair of earplugs, and tidied his forge up before heading out and locking up. The bell rang as he shut the door. Brandon winced at the sound, normally quiet compared to the clanging of his hammer onto an anvil but this late at night with most people having gone home for the day, it was deafening.

Brandon jumped at a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Nia standing in front of him, fidgeting with her hands nervously.

"Gah! What are you still doing here?" Brandon asked, "if you're worried about your order-"

"It's not that…" Nia said, fumbling on her words, "uh… I was actually wonderin' if you would humor me with a date."

Brandon stared at her. "You serious?"

"I'm always serious," Nia said, her confidence returning.

"Okay, personal reasons aside, wouldn't it be a scandal for a noble to go on a date with a commoner?"

"Why do you think I'm wearin' this kind of outfit?" Nia gestured down, "obviously I'm not goin' to be wearin' my stupid fancy clothes here."

"Outside of baiting Rex you mean?"

Nia winced, a hint of guilt in her eyes. "I am sorry about that."

Brandon shook his head, "honestly, if it were anything else with less risk, I wouldn't have had an issue. But that… not to mention the kid has an obsession with Torna. I don't know what your affiliation is but he's been to their annual festival every year since he was about seven." Brandon sighed as he started walking. Nia did a little hop step to catch up and kept up pace beside him. "Uh, I dunno what your plan is though. Most shops and restaurants are closed for today and you'll forgive me if I don't want to bring you to my house when we've known each other for all of a few minutes."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I can get us a spot in a restaurant nearby. It's one of my favorites."

"Uh, I don't want to make people work overtime just for that."

Nia shook her head, "what do you take me for? It's a twenty four hour place."

"I didn't know that high class restaurants… it's not, is it."

"No, it's not."

"Sorry, prejudices die hard I guess. I assumed you'd be like the few other pretentious nobles I've met looking to get their son a weapon."

Nia smirked, "better change your mind quickly or you'll find it difficult to keep up with me. We do things quite differently in Eschell."

"Seems that way. Torigoth's your traditional city though so you'll forgive me if I find your behavior a bit odd."

"Heh," Nia rubbed a hand under her nose, "does that mean you like me?"

"More now than earlier today," Brandon admitted, "you're a very direct person huh?"

"Yeah, I know what I want and I'm not afraid to work to get it." Nia grinned.

"Well then, I look forward to this date."

Nia was enraptured, the old stories that Brandon told got wilder through their dinner and his current crazy story of worlds beyond their own in the heavens was fascinating. In that time, Nia's interest had developed into a full on crush.

That made it a lot harder to get this next part out.

"I don't mean to be a downer, but I thought I should get this out before we get any further so there isn't any tension between us."

Brandon groaned, "Rex went to the inn didn't he."

"He did. I didn't give him the job though," Nia felt horrible lying directly to his face but she didn't have much of a choice. She needed the Omega Fetter back and months of searching with some of the top investigators of Torna had yielded nothing. "I gave him a different job though, workin' as a general employee around my manor."

Brandon sighed, "I… thank you. It means a lot to me that you'd help him out like that."

"Yeah, I want to extend the offer to you as well. It would be nice to have a dedicated smith around," she smiled, "you'd get good pay, the best tools and equipment, a much larger forge, and you'd only have to forge whenever someone of my household has a request."

Brandon shook his head, "I wish I could take up the offer, but unfortunately I'm locked into a contract here for the next year. Though…"

"Though?"

"Sorry, this is a bit unrelated. I'm just wondering why you're doing all of this for me and Rex," Brandon said, "I don't mean to seem rude or ungrateful, but we're just a few nobodies you didn't know until today. I don't see why you're spending so much money and effort into this."

"Well a number of reasons really. Nothin' massive though, just a bunch of little things added up. First off, you're cute." Nia smiled at the little hint of color that rose to Brandon's face, "definitely pleasant to look at. You've got a nice voice. Solid build. Hard workin'. And you're able to match my wit. Though the kicker is that I like that you don't treat me any differently knowin' I'm a noble. Even people I've known for a long time act as though I'm above them. I've done my fair share of adventurin' and people I'd have called friends immediately start treatin' me differently when they find out I'm a noble. It's refreshin' not havin' to deal with that bullshite."

"And Rex?"

"Well I got him all excited about the money. Remember, don't make assumptions about me. Just because every other noble wouldn't have cared doesn't mean I'd be the same. It feels wrong to just walk out and give nothin'. Especially since he seems like a bright kid, would be a shame for him to simply keep on stealin' in order to survive."

"So the same applies to me there?"

"The job offer remains open."

"Come back in a year and I think I might just take you up on that offer. But on that vein of topic," Brandon coughed, "how is this," he gestured between the two of them, "going to work out? I've enjoyed my time tonight and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in pursuing this. But you live over a week's journey away."

"I'll be here for a few more days to take care of some business. I do come up to Torigoth for business pretty frequently so I can meet you those times."

"I'd like that."

"Also a week?" Nia smirked, "what did I tell you about makin' assumptions?"

Brandon blinked, "oh… you don't ride in a carriage."

"Precisely. I ride on horseback back and forth. I'm not waitin' in some carriage to ferry me around for ages when I can save time by goin' fast. Takes me a full day of travel at most."

"Wait, a day though?" Brandon looked as if he was doing the math in his head. "Shouldn't it still take at least three to four?"

"Not if the horses are the finest breed and magically enhanced to boot."

"Magically enhanced horses," Brandon mused, "isn't that normally just reserved for just Drivers and Blades?"

"It is. But in case you couldn't tell, I may be a person of some importance."

"And here I thought you were different from other nobles and wouldn't brag about your status."

"I'm not doin' that here am I?" Nia laughed, "besides, I don't think you're one to be much interested in wealth or status so I'd be kinda dumb flauntin' that."

Brandon tilted his head, "well, I wouldn't say I'm not interested in money. But the nobility part can go suck it."

"Well there you go." She yawned, "alright. It's gettin' a bit late. Do you… want to meet again tomorrow?" She asked shyly.

Brandon rolled his eyes, not buying the act, "yeah. I'll be in the forge tomorrow. Drop by whenever."

…

So things happen a bit quickly in this chapter admittedly. I kind of wanted to kickstart Brandon and Nia's relationship since this story's protag is Rex and it'll mostly focus on him. Not to mention the next few chapters will be a bit slower since it's going to be Rex moving to a new location then slowly starting his investigation.

Just to say it now, there will be a little bit of sci-fi in this story so it's not pure fantasy/ It really wouldn't be Xeno without it. But it's mostly going to be reserved to Brandon and it's barely going to have any real importance outside of giving Brandon some unique utility.

Blades and Drivers function a bit differently in this story. No Titans means no cyclical process of birth and rebirth. Core Crystals exist but they're fully implanted into Blades and Blades get recalled back to Elysium when their Driver dies.

The Praetorium is also a much larger entity in this world, much like how the Roman catholic church was in medieval Europe, if not bigger because of the fact that the World Tree is a physical entity.

Of course with no Aegis war, many nations are still around like Coetia and Judicium. Tantal exists in a different form this time around and isn't just the dregs of Torna.